A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Slowly, the battlefield's chaos started to sink into the background. Soon, to the perception of Erik and his wives, only the five of them were left. Huddling together, they revelled in their relief over Erik's survival.

"Do you have any idea what just happened? Because… that was not our magic," Elora whispered, her arms wrapped around Erik's neck.

Each of them had their own space on his body

Elora was wrapped around his neck and front, her brows furrowed, and her body still. She exuded an aura of stern love and relief. Clearly, she had a lot to say, but she wanted to enjoy this moment first.

Astrid had his left side. She was quiet and relaxed. His survival removed any tension from her body, and that was really all she cared about. Her questions were few, and she had little complaint about Erik's actions because she understood.

Emma was on his right, and she was sobbing softly as all the emotions she'd been building up from the moment he was wounded were rapidly released. Previously, she'd barely reacted outwardly, but only because she knew she had to stay focused on healing him. Before, she couldn't break down… but now she could, and did so gladly.

Emily pressed her face into his back. Her body trembled softly, as grief and self-reproach flooded her mind. Unsurprisingly, she blamed herself for the state Erik was in before.

Finally, Eira also made her presence and relief known by tightening his armour, ever so slightly, as if she was hugging him as well.

"What did it look like to you?" Erik asked, softly, his arms doing their best to make them all feel his presence. He had no intention of keeping anything from them, but he asked his question out of pure curiosity.

"Like… your flesh just started knitting back together, as if out of nowhere," Elora muttered into his neck. "Although, with omnisense, I was still able to notice a massive amount of energy leaving the ground to infuse your body. Do you… know where that came from?"

Erik chuckled and nodded. "It seems Ymir has been keeping tabs on us…. and decided I need to stay alive for a while longer."

"What?!" Elora's reaction was immediate. She pushed herself off him, and frowned deeply. "Did you actually meet him!? Did he want something in return for saving you?!"

"Not explicitly," Erik denied thoughtfully. "Just to continue following Audumla's plan… even though he doesn't actually know the details of said plan," he finished with a chuckle.

Immediately, Elora parted her lips again, but Erik shook his head and interrupted her. "Let's talk about this later, alright? When we're not in the middle of a bloody desert."

Despite sighing impatiently, Elora still agreed with him. So, Erik set about comforting his wives—or, more specifically, Emma and Emily, as they were clearly the most affected. That didn't mean Astrid and Elora loved him any less; they just dealt with these things differently.

After disentangling from the mass of limbs, he first send Elora back into his dimension, then kissed Astrid's forehead to convey his feelings. Smiling, Astrid simply nodded at him. Knowing the state Emma and Emily were in, she gladly gave up some of her time with him.

Soon, she, too, was back in the dimension, and Erik turned his attention towards his remaining two wives. They still sat down on the desert, but now he simply had one wive in each arm. Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire

Both their bodies still trembled a little, but Emma's tears had finally dried up, and now they both simply hung on to his body tightly, clearly unwilling to let go.

Around them, the fleeing Arcanists had been replaced by chasing Runebound, but the many noises that still permeated their surroundings didn't penetrate their way through the barrier Elora had set up before disappearing.

As for Ankhur and Enkai, they'd left to find out how Naeku was doing, as well as start the process of corralling their massive army back into some semblance of order.

"M— Master, I— I want to take a break from my maid duties," Emma suddenly whispered in his ear with a surprising amount of determination. It was clear she'd come to some kind of decision.

"You know you don't have to ask my permission for that, Emma," Erik answered softly, his arm wrapped around her waist. "But can you tell me why?"

Emma nodded slowly, her head buried into his chest. "I— I want to focus on reaching the third rank, just like big Em. I— I need a better healing spell, Master. I don't care about being a fighter anymore, I just… I just want to be able to heal you properly."

It was true that, aside from the fact that Emma had entered the second rank much later compared to Astrid and Emily, another reason she remained in that rank, was that she lost a lot of time tending to Erik. Time the others usually spent training.

Erik understood her desire, of course, but… he wondered if this was a good thing. It wasn't Emma's duty to keep him alive, and he certainly didn't want her to stress over it. He wanted her to be happy. On the other hand, he knew there was no way to turn her away from this path.

'Well, I've always strived to make sure they make their own decisions,' he sighed inwardly. 'But, even if it makes no difference, she still needs to know.'

"You know the only requirement for being my wife is to be my wife, Emma," he stated, more as a fact than anything else, a gentle smile on his lips as he cupped her cheek. "I don't want you to… feel responsible for my continued survival, alright?"

But, Emma answered with unshakable determination. Her brows furrowed, as her heterochromatic eyes looked straight into the fierce amber eyes of her husband. "It's only not my responsibility if I tried everything I could to keep you alive, Master…"

Erik blinked and parted his lips to answer… but then closed them again. He had no good answer. Instead, a small smile spread on his lips. "Well… I will certainly miss your morning breakfasts."

"And I'll miss bringing them, Master…" Emma smiled in return, even as dried tears still covered her cheeks. "But it would be worse if I could never serve you again!" she chuckled a little strangely.

Soon, Emma, too, was sent back into the dimension, and Erik turned to a miserable looking Emily…