A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

When Erik stopped in front of them, Emma quickly jumped off Astrid's back and ran to Erik with a broad smile on her face. "Master!" she exclaimed with clear joy in her voice. "I knew you'd make it back! You never let me down!"

A deep conviction was buried behind her final statement, and it only got more profound with every one of Erik's victories.

One could only wonder what would happen when Erik failed for the first time. Would it break her, or would she become the rock shielding him, as she stated back in Frostvik?

Only time would tell.

When Emma nearly reached Erik, she suddenly stopped. Concern marred her face as she frowned. "Master?" she asked. "W— What's wrong?"

Emma's uncanny intuition was at work again when Erik's smile didn't fool her for a second. His wrath and desire for revenge may have been pushed down further, but his concern for Elora was still barely below the surface, and Emma easily picked up on it.

Instead of Erik, it was Astrid who answered after she came to stand next to the girl dressed as a maid. "He's heavily wounded," she frowned, her expression matching Emma's. This was no intuition, however. Instead, it was the experience of a seasoned fighter.

Erik's transformed face was a little beaten and bruised, but the real damage to his body was hidden under his slightly dented armor. Yet, just by watching his movements and slightly jerking motions, Astrid could tell that his body was in bad shape.

But Emma disagreed, and her eyes narrowed in concern and suspicion. "No, that's not it…" she mumbled.

Finally unable to continue to stand their scrutiny, Erik rolled his eyes and sighed. While his actions may seem like he was annoyed, the concern he felt from both girls filled him with warmth.

He decided that honesty was the best policy and also simply what would get them moving again the fastest, so he admitted, "You're both right."

First, he turned to Astrid, "Yes, I'm wounded. But it's not so bad. I'm fine to move, and we need to start doing that again soon."

Then he turned to Emma, "I'm concerned for Elora. She got wounded near the end and is currently resting in my soul. Don't worry, though. She should be fine."

Despite his words, Emma could feel the concern that continued flooding his mind.

His answer relieved them both about their previous issues, although Emma became worried about his wounds instead.

Frowning, she ran to him and began casting her first light spell. "Let me help, Master!"

Her first-rank magic had little effect on his power body, which had already begun to border on the third rank, yet it still felt good. He smiled at Emma and petted her head, "Thank you, Emma. You're a good girl." His second wife smiled brightly and nuzzled against his oversized, transformed, claw-like hand. The fact that it looked so savage appeared to have little effect on her.

Luckily, his armor's gauntlets only fully covered his hands in human form. In his transformed state, they only covered the back of his hand, leaving the paw untouched.

Thus, his head pats were actually quite soft despite his armor.

Meanwhile, Astrid looked at their display with a strange smile. 'To think such a devoted, wholesome girl could be such a massive pervert on the inside,' she smirked to herself as she recalled the night of passion she had witnessed on the sigil stone.

In fact, she never gave the stone back, nor had Elora asked for it back.

Instead, she had continued to use the stone.

This meant that the first night was not the only time she had witnessed Erik satisfying his two wives. The allure of the stone turned out to be too much for Astrid, who had, by now, lost any shame regarding her voyeurism.

At least when it comes to admitting it to herself.

While Emma enjoyed her head pats and continued to flood Erik's body with her light spell, Erik turned his attention to Emily in Astrid's arms with a cocked eyebrow in curiosity. "So… what happened to Emily?" he asked.

Emma looked sad for a moment but then refocused on healing Erik, while Astrid answered with an unsure frown, "I'm not sure. She just kind of seemed to go a little crazy when you told us to run. Something about not letting Frostfang take you away from her?"

Despite the situation, Erik couldn't help but burst out in laughter, causing pain to shoot through his body. The complete departure from her usual behavior simply got to him.

Immediately, he felt the lightest of thuds against his armor and looked down, only to see Emma staring at him with an angry pout and a tiny fist against his armor. "It's not funny."

Noticing she was actually a little angry at him and very worried about Emily caused Erik to quickly calm down and scratch his head awkwardly. "Sorry, Emma. You're right. I shouldn't be laughing at that."

Despite his words, he couldn't help but be a little happy. The only way for her to react that way was if her positive emotions towards him were already pretty strong, allowing what little darkness corruption was left in her to latch on to that and do its work.

Erik smiled at the still-pouting Emma and kept patting her head. "Don't worry, little glimmer. It was probably just a temporary burst brought on by strong emotions. She'll be back to normal when she wakes up."

Emma's expression lost its worry and returned to a bright smile. "Thank you, Master! I was worried!"

"Anyway," he said while looking at their surroundings. They were currently in the middle of a small clearing in the taiga forest. Wilderness, snow, rocks, and pine trees were all around. Erik could even smell a large number of rank-one beasts roaming around.

"We should get moving," he continued.

"Right," Astrid nodded. "Where to, though?" she asked curiously.

"We have two destinations currently, but one of them can't wait," he said thoughtfully.

Turning towards the south-west, he picked up a yelping Emma into a princess carry.

"We're going to the Swedish border," he said before he took off running.