Chapter 112
"Which leaves the Sword Will Demonic Domain as the only one still outside, doesn’t it?"
Soren nodded. "Correct."
"Its position is critical, we have to have it."
"I had some free time, so I took it for you." Victoria smiled faintly and drew a scroll from her spatial ring.
A master-servant contract.
"The contract scroll of Oberon, Great Demon Emperor of the Sword Will Demonic Domain."
"His blood essence and soul power are already in it."
"Imprint your own blood seal..."
"...and the master-servant contract is finalized."
"I know at your current strength you don’t need this to hold anyone down."
"Having it still beats not having it."
"It binds the soul hard, he can’t act against you."
"And this was Oberon’s own idea, a man who volunteers to be a slave is, to a degree, surrendering in earnest."
Victoria’s efficiency pleased him enormously, he’d been planning to handle the Sword Will Demonic Domain himself after the Great Desolate Beast Domain, assuming she was buried in the Endless Demonic Domain’s affairs.
Bruce and Lysara were only at the Lower-Tier Emperor Realm and couldn’t take the domain.
Orathis had to hold Black Dragon Mountain against the Heavenly Demon Alliance, he hadn’t expected her to hand him this.
He didn’t reach for the contract.
"Ahem."
"You know how it is."
"Even if I sign it, I won’t have the time or attention to run the Sword Will Demonic Domain."
"Why don’t you sign it for me?"
Victoria raised a fine brow. "You want me to run the Sword Will Demonic Domain."
Soren rubbed the bridge of his nose and nodded, he was short on capable hands.
Oberon volunteering meant he could be left to govern the place, but Soren had barely dealt with the man and couldn’t relax about it.
The domain’s position was too strategic to hand off carelessly.
Victoria looked at the scroll, her mouth twitched. She dropped normal speech and sent a transmission wrapped in demonic energy.
You bad man, am I a pack animal to you?
Nonsense, this is proof of my absolute trust, Soren sent back, besides, you told me you like being worked hard and want more on your plate.
Victoria had nothing to say to that, she really had said something along those lines.
It’s not that I can’t do it.
But even a pack animal needs feeding before it works hard, doesn’t it?
I haven’t been fed in days.
Soren wasn’t an idiot, he knew what sort of food she meant.
Seeing he’d caught it, Victoria smiled and sent one last line.
I’ll head back first.
When you’ve finished your business...
...come find me first, don’t forget.
Or I might go on strike~
With that she turned and left.
Victoria left, Soren and Bruce went too.
Orathis laced his hands behind his head and watched Lysara with half a smile, she was still staring at the horizon where they’d disappeared, refusing to look away.
"My, my"
"You little brat of a girl, how come Master didn’t take you this time?"
"Did you do something to upset him on that trip to the Human Domain?"
"Stupid dragon!" Lysara huffed, pulled her eyes off the sky and walked away without looking back, leaving Orathis stamping and shouting after her.
"Hey, hey, hey! You little brat!"
"How can you insult a dragon like that?"
Lysara had been wondering the same thing, why hadn’t he taken her? Is he still angry with me? No, that wasn’t it, Soren was direct with her about everything.
Unhappy, he showed it, pleased, he showed it, unhappy meant punishment, pleased meant praise.
There had to be a real reason he left her behind.
Lysara was no fool, and her tier with Soren had reached Absolute Loyalty.
She turned it over, and something warm opened in her chest, the stiffness went out of her face and her cheeks flushed.
I understand now, Master’s intentions run deep, he wants me using this time to cultivate in peace, so I can push from Lower-Tier Human Emperor to Middle-Tier as fast as possible.
And the Great Desolate Beast Domain means dealing with beast tribes.
Taking Bruce, who carries beast race blood, makes far more sense than taking a human like me.
Master doesn’t say it out loud, but he’s thought of everything, on that trip to the Moonveil Human Domain I couldn’t help at all, he had to wrap me in demonic energy just to keep the shockwaves off me, leaving me here is about my safety.
Her eyes hardened, her pulse picked up, and her blood ran hot.
The corners of her mouth got away from her, curving into a smile she couldn’t have stopped, and her eyes shone.
That’s it, that has to be it, doesn’t this prove I finally hold a place in Master’s heart? I have to use this stretch and cultivate with everything I have, I’ll become a woman who can handle anything.
That’s the only way to stay at Master’s side forever, the only way to be valued.
Looking straight ahead, Lysara closed her fists as something fierce lit up in her, she turned on those long legs and marched toward one of the clan’s cultivation halls.
Orathis was still leaning back with his hands behind his head, whistling out of boredom, muttering to himself.
Bizarre, why was her reaction the opposite of what I wanted? I thought a joke like that would leave her moping until Master got back, so I wouldn’t be the only one moping around Black Dragon Mountain, she looked thrilled.
Did her brain break? A woman’s mind is unreadable, which is exactly why this dragon hates women.
Gasp!
The second that thought finished, a graceful figure in flowing snow-white robes surfaced in his mind’s eye.
She looked at him with no expression and reached one pale hand toward his throat, nothing but a mental image, and it still emptied his lungs, he was suffocating.
He grabbed his own throat and shook his head hard.
Sister! Sis! I misspoke!
I hate every woman in this world except you! I don’t hate you at all, I swear it!
I swear to God!
The icy figure faded from his head, and the choking went with it.
Mother of God, Orathis shook himself violently, his sister’s presence was too much.
She’d burned herself into his mind deeper than any devil he could imagine, two hundred thousand years gone and the terror was still as fresh as yesterday.