WIEDERGEBURT Act V: CHapter 26

The silence was so absolute I was certain I’d be able to hear a pin drop. Even the sound of everyone’s breathing had stopped. It was as if the people present had all been frozen in time.

My rejection must have come as a great shock to them. Commander Ashten wore a blank expression like he hadn’t heard correctly, Rainere was gawking at me with his mouth wide open, Cathrine and Dagan blinked rapidly several times as if they were having trouble processing what I’d told them, Morrigan and Ming Shen stared at me with bemused expressions, and Alexis looked like someone had decked her in the face.

“I’m sorry.” Commander Ashten finally raised his hand as though telling me to slow down for a moment. “I don’t think you heard us correctly. We want to give you a seat on the Council of Six.”

“I heard you just fine.” I couldn’t help but chuckle. “And I still refuse. I’m not interested in having a council seat.”

The seven gathered individuals all looked at each other in silence, like they couldn’t figure out what to do. I didn’t mind. I waited and contemplated important matters like whether or not I’d be able to have sex with one—or more—of my wives tonight. Fay and Lin should be arriving soon. If I played my cards right, it was possible Kari would seduce the other women into my bed.

Only after several seconds had passed did they look back at me.

“Eryk…” Alexis finally said, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Are you really sure you want to turn something like this down? I’ll be the first to admit I don’t want to give up a spot on the Council of Six, but this is the most prestigious position you can have in the Northern Plains. You will be in direct control of setting down rules, creating new policies, and your influence will spread far and wide. This isn’t something any normal person would turn down.”

I shrugged. “Consider me abnormal then because I still have every intention of turning this position down. I have my own goals, and being on the Council of Six is just adding additional burdens I don’t need.”

I had several reasons for coming to the Northern Plains. The first was that I wanted to establish friendly relations between Nevaria and the Northern Plain’s sects, the second was finding an S-rank Demon Beast with a light element, and the third was killing the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain while he was still sealed up inside of that floating dungeon. Once I had accomplished these goals, I planned on returning to Nevaria with my wives. I neither needed nor wanted a position on their council.

The sect leaders once again remained silent, perhaps unable to understand my own position, and I suppose that made sense. Many powerful sects longed for the position they were handing to me on a silver platter. In some ways, my refusal was an insult to them.

“You realize what you are turning down, right?” Commander Ashten said, placing his elbows on the table and leaning forward, his stare intensifying. “If you joined the Council of Six, you would be able to accomplish whatever you wanted here in the Northern Plains. You could do almost anything… within reason.”

“I know what I am turning down. I am perfectly aware. I think you are the ones who don’t realize what my intentions are. I have no real desire for power. I also know that none of you will try and force me into accepting this position. That would lead to… some unpleasant consequences,” I finished saying all this with a smile.

I had been told a long time ago by Kari that anytime I disagreed with someone who was trying to force something onto me, I should smile at them. At the time, I had not understood why. It was only later that I realized just what kind of effect a smile can have on someone’s psyche.

When most people think about smiles, they imagine something pleasant. Smiles reassured people, warmed the soul, and made people want to be closer to you. A smile was a great way to make someone feel at ease around you.

However, what would happen if you smiled at someone while telling someone no? On most people, that sort of smile would probably be irritating. But what happened if the person who told you “no” not only did so with a smile, but you just witnessed them single-handedly slaughter several hordes of enemies that you couldn’t without breaking a sweat?

That smile suddenly turned terrifying.

Commander Ashten, Alexis, Rainere, Dagan, and Cathrine had all been present when Kari and I closed the portal. They had all seen what I could do. What’s more, they knew from the powers I displayed that none of them were my equal, and now I was smiling at these same people and rejecting the reward they tried to thrust onto me.

Rainere coughed into his hand. “W-well… if you really don’t want the position, I suppose no one can force it onto you.”

Morrigan nodded. “It seems you have some other desires or obligations keeping you from accepting. It may have been presumptuous of us to assume everyone wanted to be on the Council of Six.”

“Are you really sure about this, Eryk?” asked Alexis, who probably knew me the best out of the seven. After all, I had stayed with her Battling Valkyries for quite some time.

“I am sure,” I said.

“Well… I guess that’s that,” she said with a sigh, and I thought I sensed both relief and bemusement.

“Even if you don’t want a position on the council, you still need to be suitably rewarded.” Dagan stroked his beard and gazed at me with a thoughtful expression. “Is there anything you can think of?”

“I do have a few requests,” I said.

“Name them,” Commander Ashten said.

I nodded and soon began listing off what I wanted. “The first request is to give the position of Sixth Great Sect to the Battling Valkyries. I think they are better suited to being considered a Great Sect, and Alexis is more capable of being a council member than me. The second let me register my sect so we can accept quests in the Northern Plains. The third is to establish diplomatic relations with Nevaria. The fourth is to have an alchemist exchange program between your Alchemist Association and the one in Nevaria. Of course, my fourth request will not come with no benefits to you. The Alchemist Association has the recipe for several lost alchemy pills like the Immortal Phoenix Pill.”

“You know how to make the Immortal Phoenix Pill?!” Cathrine suddenly stood up and slammed her palms on the table. Her eyes were wide and contained a frightening intensity.

“I do,” I announced. “My wife also knows how to make it. Furthermore, several alchemist masters know how to make it, and the head of our Alchemist Association in Nevaria is an alchemist grand master who can also make it and several other alchemy pills you won’t find here.”

Feinrea Kunis was a woman who’s alchemical abilities surpassed even Fay. She knew all the alchemy pills I could create with the exception of the Yin-Yang Spiritual Enhancement Pill, which I refused to share knowledge of because I feared someone else might discover and misuse it. She had also created several of her own pills. The Rejuvenation Pills were, in fact, something Feinrea had concocted on her own.

Cathrine took a deep breath and sat down. She looked calmer, but her gaze was still intense.

“Regardless of whether any of your other requests can be met, I will at least make sure that my Alchemist Association meets this one,” she proclaimed.

I nodded, then continued where I left off. “My fifth request is that I would like to have access to the Spiritual Research Sect’s library. There is something I am studying, but I have hit a roadblock. I’m hoping you might have the information I’m seeking.”

Morrigan straightened in her seat. “What kind of information are you looking for?”

I debated telling her a lie for the moment, but then decided against it. Her knowing about what I wanted to know would not harm me. She might even be able to help me search. I’d never seen the Spiritual Research Sect’s library, but I’d heard rumors of its vastness. It would take months to search the entire library on my own.

“I am looking for information on higher level concepts like dimension, time, space, and the Void.”

A frown crossed Morrigan’s face. I could tell she was thinking hard from the way her brow furrowed. A small part of me wanted to tell her she’d get wrinkles if she thought that hard, but the other part of me realized that was a terrible thing to say to a woman.

“I do not recognize any of those terms,” she reluctantly admitted. “However, I will admit to not knowing about all the knowledge our library has cataloged. It has existed for hundreds of years, so it might have what you seek. I will let you search the library and will even assist you to the best of my abilities.”

“Thank you.”

“Are those all of your requests?” asked Commander Ashten.

I shook my head.

“I have one more,” I said, pausing for effect. “I want you to help me find an S-rank Demon Beast with a light element.”

***

I returned to the Battling Valkyries’ branch office with a miffed Alexis, who didn’t even spare me a glance as she headed up to her office. The meeting seemed to have left her frazzled.

Traveling to the room my family and I had been given, I was about to enter—when voices reached my ears.

“Daddy beat up bad guys! Like boom!”

“Daddy is very strong, isn’t he?”

“Yeah!”

The person Raul was speaking to was not Kari but Fay, meaning she had arrived some time during my meeting with the Council of Six.

“This princess is strong too. Tell Raul, Fay. Tell Raul how strong this princess is!”

“I am sure Raul is already aware of your strength.”

Lin’s voice also echoed from the other side. I paused for a moment before opening the door to discover about what I’d expected. Fay was sitting on the cough with Raul on her lap as he told her the story of how I’d “beaten up the bad guy.” Lin was not sitting on the couch but on the ground, her long tail spread across the floor. Sitting on the couch next to Fay was Siv, and on Siv’s other side was Kari.

Only Kari and Siv seemed to have noticed my return.

“But really, couldn’t Darling have taken us with him when he flew off like that? This princess could have helped if he’d just let her come along,” Lin grumbled as she leaned back, hands being used as support pillars for her torso.

“Sorry for leaving so suddenly,” I said as I closed the door behind me. “When I realized what was happening, I panicked and took off as quickly as I could. Had I been even a second later, Raul and Kari probably wouldn’t be here.”

“Darling!”

“Daddy!”

Raul and Lin spoke up at the same time, but while Raul looked excited to see me, Lin appeared a little uncomfortable. She wiggled in place a little and looked away.

“This princess… didn’t mean anything she said just now. You understand, right? This princess was just venting.”

“I understand. Don’t worry. I’m not upset or anything,” I said.

“How was the meeting?” asked Kari as she gracefully stood up and offered her seat to me.

I frowned for a moment before sitting down, but then I grabbed her hand and pulled her onto my lap. Kari only looked startled for a moment. Once she recovered, a happy smile blossomed on her face as she snuggled into me, and I was finally able to do something I hadn’t had the chance to in a while—relish in the warmth of my first wife.

“The meeting went fine.” I wrapped my arms around Kari’s waist. “I managed to convince the Council of Six to agree to all of my requests.”

I informed everyone about what happened during the meeting, from how they tried to foist the position of council member onto me, to how I turned them down and made six requests instead. During that time, Siv tilted in my direction and placed her head on my shoulder. Lin also looked rather put out when she saw how affectionate I was being with Kari and Siv. She moved over and rested her head on my thigh. The only one who didn’t seem intent on cuddling with me was Fay, who wore an amused smile at my predicament.

“It sounds like a lot happened while we were traveling back here,” she said, then sighed. “I am sorry. It seems like we weren’t much help this time.”

I shook my head. “All of us were almost fooled by those people. This is definitely not something you need to apologize for.”

Fay wore a smile that said she didn’t quite believe me, and I understood her inferiority complex was making her second guess herself. She was much better now than she used to be. However, it was impossible to change completely. She no longer lacked confidence in herself as a Spiritualist or a woman, but she still had a habit of blaming herself for things that were outside of her control.

As evening turned into night, our family traveled into the cafeteria for some dinner, where we found a celebration in full swing. It seemed Alexis had informed everyone about her appointment to the Council of Six. The many women of the Battling Valkyries, hardened Spiritualists who had experienced countless life and death struggles, were now completely wasted and singing marry, if off-tune, songs.

“They funny,” Raul said from his mother’s arms.

“They are very funny,” I admitted.

“Isn’t that the man of the hour?!” A red-faced Janet wandered over to us, grinning. “You know… when we… when we first met… hic… I didn’t like you one bit.”

“Is that so? I hadn’t noticed,” I said dryly. Kari giggled, but Lin hissed at the memory.

“But now… hic… I heard you gave Alexis… Alexshish… I heard you gave her a council seat.” Janet clapped my shoulder several times and breathed her alcohol breath into my face. “You’re all right. Hic.”

“Well… thanks,” I said, not sure what else I should say.

“Anyway! You guysh should join the party! We’re—hic—shelebrating!”

I wasn’t really interested in joining these people as they got wasted, but Janet and the other Battling Valkyries dragged us into the room… and that was how I found myself being force fed more drinks than I knew what to do with.

It was a good thing my alcohol tolerance was stupidly high.

***

I couldn’t sleep. The hour was late, the twin moons hung in the sky, surrounded by a sprinkling of stars, and I was surrounded by three beautiful women, but my mind was too active to sleep. I kept thinking about what I had learned from Dunherr. My mind was plagued with all the things I needed to do. I was also thinking about Dunherr’s presence in this world, in this time. There was just so much on my mind that I…

Wait.

Why were there only three women in bed?

It took me a moment to realize that Kari was not sleeping on my right like she usually did. I wasn’t sure when she left. Had I been so preoccupied with my own thoughts that I missed her slipping out of bed?

Now curious, I began removing the various limbs wrapped around my body. Fay had wrapped an arm and leg around my chest and hips respectively. Siv was lying on my chest. Lin, meanwhile, had coiled her tail around my legs. Removing her tail was always the hardest part of this process.

“Nom… nom… this princess is gonna eat you… Darling…”

I almost snorted at the lamia princess’ words. Once I had removed her tail and Fay’s arms, I slipped out of bed. Siv shifted as I slid out from underneath her, and I feared she would wake up, but then her wings flapped once and she settled back down. Withholding a sigh of relief, I wandered around Raul’s bed and made for the door.

Finding Kari was not hard. She was sitting on the couch when I exited the bedroom. There was a large tome in her hands, though it looked to me like she wasn’t paying it any attention. Her eyes were glazed over. It was like she was looking at the pages but not actually seeing what had been written down. She didn’t even react when I walked over to her, though she did shift in surprise when I sat down and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“Can’t sleep either?” I asked.

Kari shook her head and smiled, but it was self-deprecating. “After what happened today… I’d be surprised if I could sleep.”

Silence passed between us as I thought about today. Kari had almost died. Had I been even one second slower, that giant beam of darkness would have destroyed her and Raul. The very thought of that happening again chilled my blood.

After another moment, I came to a decision. I didn’t want to think about what happened today. Not right now.

“You know, I heard when you’re having trouble sleeping, you can exercise to release all that excess energy,” I said in a serious voice.

“Oh?” Kari tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear as she stared at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. A smile of anticipation lit up her face. “What sort of exercise did you have in mind?”

“Just some small exercises… maybe a few stretches…”

I turned on the couch and leaned forward, pressing my lips to Kari’s, who moaned into my mouth as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Her tongue was faster than mine even though I’d initiated contact. It moved past my lips and teeth to plunder the depths of my mouth and coax my tongue into a twisted dance.

Kari pulled me backward as she fell onto the couch. Our kiss continued as I pressed my body against her. The way her breasts smashed against my chest, the feeling of her hips pressing into mine, all of it culminated in my dick growing rapidly under the intense stimulation.

Kari’s current outfit consisted of a button up pink shirt and shorts of the same color. She wasn’t wearing her breast bindings, so when I undid the buttons, her massive chest sprang free with a soft jiggle. A loud moan, muffled by my mouth and tongue, filled the air as I began pinching and tweaking her nipples. They grew into hard points.

“Mmm… it’s been too long since I got to suck on these,” I mumbled.

An amused smile crossed Kari’s blush-stained face. “You’re like a kid. Are my breasts really that—ahn.”

I smiled around Kari’s nipple as I sucked it into my mouth and swirled my tongue around it, then took it between my teeth and gave a gentle tug. Since her breasts were so big, the act caused hers to jiggle even more. It was such an enticing sight that I couldn’t stop myself from sinking my fingers into her pillow-like chest. The way my fingers seemed to disappear in her soft flesh was mesmerizing.

“Ha… ha… ahn… Eryk… don’t just… play with my breasts…” Kari bit her finger as though using it to muffle the sound of her voice.

She had a good point. Kari’s breasts were great, but there was a lot more to her than just her boobs.

I moved down Kari’s body, kissing my way along her stomach, using both my lips and my tongue. Kari’s breathing was heavy by this point. She released several noises that would have been quite loud if she hadn’t bit down on her index finger. When I finally reached her shorts, I sat up, grabbed them by the band, and slid them off. I needed to raise her legs above me as I worked, but once they were gone, Kari’s left leg fell off the couch and hit the floor with a soft thump, while her right formed a triangle with the padding.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful your pussy is?” I asked as I placed my hands on her thighs.

“You… might have said something… like that… at some point,” Kari said. I smiled as I trailed my finger up and down her vagina, which was already wet and a little puffy. The petals of her pussy were slightly engorged. “D-don’t tease me…”

“But I like teasing you,” I admitted.

I leaned down and kissed her inner right thigh, enjoying the way her muscles twitched. Her toes were curling and uncurling in anticipation as I worked my way over to her pussy. The scent of her arousal drove me insane. It wasn’t a scent you could compare to anything else in this world.

Finally reaching the puffy lips of her vagina, I leaned forward and began licking her. Kari’s body clenched up as I used my fingers to spread her lips and push my tongue deep inside of her. Deep and heavy breathing echoed around the room, though it turned into a loud cry when I began massaging her clit with my thumb.

“Ahn… ha… Eryk… you’re driving me crazy! Ahn! Ah! Haaan!!”

I was almost surprised when Kari’s juices flooded into my mouth. Maybe it was because we’d been too busy to have sex, but when she orgasmed, she actually squirted into my mouth, which almost made me choke. I leaned back and let the rest of her splash against the couch and my shirt and pants.

“Ha… ha… ha…”

Kari’s eyes were glazed over as she laid on the couch, her head resting against the armrest, breasts shuddering with every intake of oxygen. Sweat covered her body and her cheeks were flushed red.

I removed my shirt, pants, and loincloth. Now as naked as my wife, I leaned over and rested my hard cock against her entrance. Her lips engulfed my dick. They seemed a little puffier than usual, but that usually happened when she was aroused. Leaning over even further, I placed my hands on either side of Kari’s head and kissed the woman.

Kari twitched as though she’d been shocked by a Spiritual Lightning Technique. Then her hands were behind my head, fingers making a mess of my hair. Her nails were a little long. They scraped pleasantly against my scalp.

Our sweat-slicked bodies rubbed and ground against each other, creating an electric feeling that I couldn’t get enough of. The scent of Kari’s skin and the taste of her mouth left me in a delirious state of ecstasy. I filled her mouth with my tongue and saliva.

I couldn’t recall when I slid my dick inside of her, but I knew when I began rocking my hips. Kari locked her legs around my waist, heels digging into my lower back.

The feeling of my cock trapped within her slippery warmth was divine. Kari’s pussy was so warm and tight, so perfect. I felt every centimeter of her rubbing against me as I pulled out, then pumped back in, my hips jerking, stomach tightening with every thrust.

A loud slapping sound echoed around the room, mixed with the heady pants, moans, grunts, and groans we released. Our kisses were sloppy and rasping. When kissing became too hard, I pulled back and ravished her neck, laying a trail of kisses and love bites down her skin.

“Ha… ahn… hyk… Eryk… harder… do it harder!”

I listened to Kari’s commands and increased the power of my thrusts, until a loud slapping sound echoed around the room. Part of me worried Fay, Siv, and Lin would wake up to hear us. The rest of me didn’t care. As Kari moaned beneath me, I found myself only interested in pleasing this woman.

Thanks to my position, I was hovering just above Kari. Her eyes were glazed over and half-lidded. Haloing her beautiful face caught in the throws of ecstasy was her golden hair, which had been turned into a mess by my hands and the jostling motion as we made love. Her breasts jiggled and shook with every thrust of my hips, sweat gathering on her skin.

I leaned down and kissed her cheek, then her neck. Kari’s breathing hitched and her pussy tightened as I found her pulse point. I used rough kisses to stimulate the more sensitive areas of her neck. Kari tilted her head to grant me better access as she pulled me deeper into her.

It was hard to describe the sensations I experienced during sex. Kari’s walls were soft and pliant, caressing every inch of my cock as I pumped it inside of her, but she was also tight. Not Lin or Siv tight. However, it was definitely a challenge to keep my pace. At times it felt like she was sucking me in, refusing to let go, and at other times it felt like her pussy was trying to push me out.

My balls suddenly tightened.

Realizing I was about to climax but Kari wasn’t, I reached out, found her clit, and began rubbing it. Kari squealed seconds before I came. As I pumped my seed inside of her, I felt her pussy suddenly spasm and tighten around me. Her locked legs became almost painfully tight before, as though they had turned into rubber, her legs slackened. Her left one fell off the couch again, hitting the floor with a thump. Her right one extended straight across the couch.

“Haaa… haaa… mmmm… Eryk… that was nice…”

I felt a little tired and rested my head on Kari’s chest as she played with my hair and hummed contentedly. Her chest was covered in a combination of our sweat. The scent of sex hung heavily in the air.

“It was nice,” I said, lifting my head to look at her. “But you know, I’m not really tired yet.”

“What a coincidence,” Kari replied, her own smile growing. “Neither am I.”