Chapter 966: Foolish Beings.
"Are you done?" Kaguya asked curiously when she saw Victor in silence.
"Yes," Victor nodded as he pulled Kaguya into his arms and began to stroke her head.
The eyes of Pepper, Lacus, and Siena gleamed slightly at this display of intimacy; they wanted that too!
"Why were you so serious that you even fell silent? What did Hela say to you?" Kaguya asked a simple question with a complex sentence, admitting that she was curious about something was difficult for Kaguya.
The reason for this is due to the fact that she was raised as a servant, always expecting the will of her 'master,' a custom that did not die even after she became Victor's wife, something she was actively trying to change much more.
Although her essence wouldn't change so easily, at the end of the day, she was a Maid, that was her job for most of her life, and it could also be said that it was her greatest hobby; she takes pleasure in serving her husband.
As a Maid, she is a perfect Maid, but recently she found herself trying to be a more dominant Maid wife.
'Maid wife... hehehehe~' She smiled obscenely internally while her expression in reality remained as cold as ever.
"I found out some things about creation which led me to reflect on this discovery," Victor replied, remembering that the conversation he had with Hela was private; not even Roxanne and Amara knew about this conversation.
A choice Victor made of his own free will; there were things his wives didn't need to know. The fact that there is another Victor who is taking care of them as a whole is one of those things; after all, it was better for these things involving creation to be only spoken about when they had enough understanding of creation... It definitely wasn't because she was jealous and possessive.
Definitely not, he wasn't that petty.
"...I see. Is this something important?" Kaguya asked while snuggling into his body.
These words made him look at her a little surprised; after his supercomputer-like brain analyzed her question, he quickly gained his answer.
A smile appeared on Victor's face, and he said, "No... It's not particularly important."
And it definitely wasn't. That was a problem for his future self, not him now. Just like the moment he became a noble vampire and had a whole new supernatural world to discover, the same is happening now; he just discovered that something much bigger is happening out there, and unfortunately, he had no means to interfere with it now.
It's pointless to think about the unpredictable future; he must focus on the present; after all, the journey towards the goal is as important as the goal itself, and his current goal is to prepare for the transition in his sector to a higher-level sector where there are several beings as powerful as the highest-ranked gods in his world.
Who knows? There might even be someone as strong as him; after all, that's not something impossible considering the universe is a very large place.
As a wise man once said: Enjoy the journey, young ones! Because it is what makes us who we are in the future.
'Well, it's comforting to know that my other self is protecting everyone. It proves that even in the future, I won't change,' Victor nodded satisfied; for him, that was the most important.
Regardless of the dangers he faces, regardless of what kind of being he becomes, he doesn't want to lose his essence. The essence of what makes Victor... Well, Victor.
"I see... So there's no need to dwell on it, right?" Kaguya spoke as she snuggled into him.
"Indeed," Victor smiled.
Pepper sneakily approached Victor and hugged him. Due to her transformation into a true dragon, she wasn't as short in height as before; one could say her current appearance was quite characterized as that of an older woman... Although her 'innocent' attitude continued as always, after all, that was Pepper's essence.
Victor looked at Pepper and smiled gently as he began to stroke her head too. Pepper showed him a big satisfied smile and snuggled closer to him. For a few seconds, she breathed deeply as if she wanted to fully inhale Victor's scent, and then she became even more comfortable.
She doesn't know why Victor brought her from her lazy moment, but she doesn't care about that now; she just wants to be close to him.
Siena and Lacus looked at this with jealous glances; they wanted that too!
Seeing this look, Victor couldn't help but smile. He doesn't know if it's because of the dragon race influencing the girls or if they naturally developed to become like this, but lately, there's been a constant healthy competition for his attention.
His wives, who are extremely competent, do everything to perform their work as competently as possible, and when they finish, they come seeking 'praise' or 'affection' from him. Usually, the latter involves more spicy activities.
Victor opens his left arm and looks at Siena and Lacus. A simple gesture that the girls immediately understood; they promptly jump on him and snuggle up to him, as if he were a very large plush toy, they even decreased their heights proportionally until they reached 160 CM in height.
A gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Pepper, who promptly used her powers to revert to her previous height and hugged him even tighter.
Seeing this 'rosy' moment for some reason, Hela, the Norse underworld goddess who holds the concepts of death and time, felt quite... Unjustified.
Her stomach churned at the sight; she felt like she had eaten a large pink cake with plenty of sugar; it was so lovely it was disgusting! And she wanted that for herself!
She wanted this pink-filled moment, full of love, something completely different from her tastes as a gothic goddess of death... Even if she wasn't a gothic goddess in appearance, in terms of appearance, she looked like an extremely beautiful noble girl with long curly hair at the ends and sapphire green eyes.
'Ugh, I shouldn't have stayed here.' Hela thought she was suffering more critical damage from this sight than the time she felt betrayed by her father for isolating her in this hell.
After all, this sight only pointed out what she really wanted: a family to take care of her, a family of her own. Now, she loved her siblings, that wasn't something to doubt, but she knew very well that her siblings were very... Independent.
They don't have that feeling of 'attachment' she desires. Yes, Hela, the underworld goddess, is hungry for love and family, something completely normal if we consider how she lived her existence.
... A solitary existence, completely alone, where her only companions were the dead people, or the souls she 'stole' from other pantheons.
Beings that only treated her as a goddess, not as someone close to them.
"Despite the destruction, this place is quite beautiful," Siena spoke as she looked at Asgard.
"Hmm, our world is better," Pepper pointed out.
"There's no comparison, Pepper. Of course, our world is better; after all, it's OUR world," Lacus scoffed.
There's a different touch in their personal world; after all, there is their home, the whole planet was their home; the girls were free to do whatever they wanted there; they had complete freedom in their native world.
Even if they wanted to walk completely naked, they could. After all, on the entire planet, there were only them as sentient beings.
Their planet was like their big home. A home they take great care of and try to avoid harming as much as possible, even though they knew the world wasn't so weak; after all, Victor is nurturing it; they still take care of it as if it were their own room or precious possessions.
Victor observed with interest this interaction; the reason being he saw a family aura with his Hearth deity.
'I see... It seems like the sense of unity has increased even more due to having two Hearth dragon deities around,' Victor chuckled internally.
This was also why Hela was feeling jealous; besides her obvious feelings, Hestia's and Victor's Hearth deities made their interaction seem completely livelier and comforting for someone who sincerely desires a place to call 'home.'
'As expected of Bestia,' Victor laughed at the nickname Aphrodite gave her, a nickname he completely agreed with. Hestia was too kind for her own good, much like Sasha in the beginning.
[Darling, preparations are underway.]
Victor suddenly heard Violet's voice in his head.
[How are things?] Victor asked curiously. He could personally see with his ridiculous draconic senses, but why should he do that? He should let the women work too; everyone should do their part, that way, the feeling of uselessness won't grow.
Not to mention, they all need a purpose, or they'll just be lazy around like Pepper, Siena, and Lacus, who most of the time only move actively when Victor kidnaps them or they go to train and study to become rulers.
[The ice and fire giants accepted after... Some gentle persuasion.] Violet's voice was very gentle, even though the implications of her words weren't.
[The elves were easier due to our race; they take pleasure in 'serving us' in the best possible way.]
[Seems like they're like fairies, huh.]
[Yes, they're very attached to nature, and since we embody that, they accepted us easily. Although there were some who didn't agree, something that was completely resolved with a gentle and persuasive smile from Natashia.] Violet spoke.
And Victor couldn't help but laugh internally at that; he knows very well that his sadistic wife was anything but gentle with those who annoyed her.
[I presume there were some issues with the dwarves?]
[Yes, they are... Unpleasant. Honestly, I'm glad you weren't there, or the entire race would be extinct.]
[Oh?] Victor's eyes shimmered slightly with a dangerous tone. [What happened?]
[They demanded Natashia's armor to 'research,' and in return, they would 'consider' her request.]
[Heh... They really have nerve.] Victor said, and it wasn't in a good way.
[And what happened next?]
[Nyx made them experience the 'eternal night,' and now they're all very loyal and docile.]
The eternal night... A technique derived from Nyx's deity of humanity's fear of starless nights, a technique that makes all those who experience it vividly live through their greatest nightmares, nightmares that are completely enhanced in various points due to this deity.
It's worth noting that the dwarves were really unlucky; they probably won't ever be the same.
[Good, keep me updated, Honey. And make sure everything goes as planned.]
[Yes, Darling.]
...