Chapter 71
For now, at least, he had no plans to eat her.
"Ethel understands now."
"The Demon Emperor must think Ethel’s strength is insufficient..."
"You’re afraid Ethel’s body couldn’t take it, right? You’re so kind, Demon Emperor."
"But it doesn’t matter."
"As long as the Demon Emperor is happy, whatever happens to Ethel doesn’t matter at all!"
How did she talk herself into that on her own? Fine, let’s use it.
"That’s right, Ethel."
"Your strength isn’t stable yet, you only just broke through to Upper-Tier Spirit Venerable, your body needs time to adapt to the realm."
She asked anxiously. "Then what realm does Ethel have to reach before I can serve the Demon Emperor the way Miss Lysara does?"
Innocent as she was, Ethel hadn’t noticed she was being turned down, he didn’t dare put it bluntly, because he could already see the little pearls of tears lining up behind her eyes.
"Wait until you... break through to the Emperor Realm, we’ll talk about it then."
She had only just hit Upper-Tier Spirit Venerable, and that was off the back of an Upper-Tier Emperor’s soul power, Lower-Tier Spirit Emperor would take a very long time, something to aim at, no danger of her actually getting there.
"Ethel understands."
"Ethel will break through to Spirit Emperor as fast as she can!"
"For the Demon Emperor’s sake, Ethel is willing to do anything!"
"Alright, do your best."
"Hehe, yes!" She hadn’t repaid him, but she had something to aim at now, and the gloom lifted.
"By the way, the Demon Emperor promised I that if I found the Regenerative Divine Wood Root and the Grand Sun Heaven-Bearing Fruit..."
"I could make one small request, right?" She said it very carefully.
Soren nodded. "That’s right."
"As long as it isn’t excessive, I can agree to it."
By excessive he meant the kind of thing that would cost him an enormous price with no guarantee of success, that stopped counting as a small request.
Not that he had any real worry, Ethel was fundamentally incapable of asking for something he couldn’t do.
"Hehe..."
She opened those watery gem eyes wide, wearing the most innocent expression in the world.
"Ethel wants to scrub the Demon Emperor’s back."
He suspected he’d misheard, he was a dignified Upper-Tier Demon Emperor, was one request from him really worth that little to her?
If anyone else had said it, he would have gone hunting for the ulterior motive, it just had to be Ethel.
"Are you sure you want to spend it on that?"
She nodded her chin like a chick pecking at rice.
"And not just once!"
"From now on, you have to let Ethel wash you every time."
Ethel, Ethel, why are you this cautious even when you’re asking for something? And you picked the one thing that gets you nothing.
Simple didn’t mean stupid, she caught the puzzled look on his face, understood what it meant, and argued her own case.
"Demon Emperor, I beg you!"
She was sincere enough that he gave in.
"Hehe, the Demon Emperor has stayed by my side these past few days, and I am beyond moved."
"Please step into the pool, Demon Emperor."
"So that I can..."
"...offer what meager effort I can, in the things within my ability."
By the time Soren and Ethel got back, Orathis had returned from the Endless Demonic Domain as well.
It briefed him on handing control of the Great Emperor Palace over to Victoria, then its enormous head edged closer, wearing a dragon-shaped smile, voice dripping.
"Master~"
"I haven’t really eaten anything these past few days."
"This little dragon followed Master and turned the Endless Demonic Domain upside down, even if I didn’t earn great merit, I put in the work, don’t you think?"
It ground its two massive claws together and swallowed with an audible gulp.
Its gigantic eyes fixed on Ethel, standing behind Soren.
"Master, why don’t you reward this little Spirit girl to this little dragon as a meal?"
Ethel went rigid, her pale little face lost what colour it had, heart hammering, she watched Soren from behind his shoulder, terrified he was about to nod.
Orathis was a Middle-Tier Spirit Ancestor, its help in sweeping the Exalted Continent, in swallowing the Azure Spirit World, would be enormous.
She was an Upper-Tier Spirit Venerable carrying borrowed memories, there was no comparison to be made.
She was a humble little maid at his side, her status wasn’t worth mentioning.
Boom!
Thud.
"Aooow!"
Soren’s flying kick landed square on Orathis’s massive head, a hundred meters of dragon went out of the clan plaza and into the ancient forest thousands of meters off.
It came down with a crash and left a crater, Ice Heaven Alluring Fox clansmen across the territory stumbled and fell, shouting, convinced a mountain had collapsed.
They worked out quickly it wasn’t a landslide, and every eye turned toward the plaza.
Soren stood with one hand behind his back, his voice carried as though the whole of Black Dragon Mountain was meant to hear it.
"No one is allowed to touch Ethel."
"Harbor thoughts of eating her again and I will rip your tongue out."
Orathis lay with all four claws pointing at the sky, one forelimb came up, trembling, and shaped a thumbs-up.
"Good, as expected of this little dragon’s Master..."
"To think you broke through to Upper-Tier Demon Emperor so fast!"
"That kick really hurt this little dragon~"
It hadn’t taken any real injury, with the Dragon Pearl back it had its Middle-Tier Spirit Ancestor strength again.
The kick did hurt, though, so it rode the momentum and lay there whining, playing comedy for the crowd.
On the Strategy Encyclopedia, the relationship between Orathis and Soren finally met the criteria for Absolute Loyalty, it came up blinding.
Soren’s strategy for conquering Orathis came down to two words.
Beat it.
The harder and more often he beat it, the more obedient it got, that kick had contributed a great deal.
Ethel stared at the airborne dragon, then back at Soren’s back, her chest went sweet as honey, warm as standing in the sun.
For reasons she couldn’t explain, tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks with no permission from her at all.
"Demon Emperor, thank you for valuing Ethel so much."
"You are truly a good person, Demon Emperor!"
"Ethel likes the Demon Emperor the absolute most!"
Soren was speechless.