A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Later that day, Erik went to find Astrid and found her training, dressed in sportswear that was barely better than underwear.

She was contorting her body in strange ways, not only exercising, but also improving the influx of aetherium enhancing her body. She did this by following the guide Katya had once given Erik.

'It's almost a shame she won't need to do this anymore if my plan works out,' Erik chuckled in his mind, watching her beautiful, athletic body writhe in place.

She hadn't noticed him yet, but after a few minutes of watching her, Erik decided to get this show on the road. "You look beautiful, Astrid."

"Of course I do!" she responded proudly, bending forward to give him a good look of her ass, while looking at him from between her legs. "Is it finally time to go?" she grinned excitedly.

Erik nodded as he admired her "It is, but I don't mind watching for a little while longer."

Astrid righted herself, and sauntered over to him, still grinning. "I bet you don't!" she said, before kissing her husband, pressing her sweaty body against him.

But after they separated, one snap of her fingers was enough to clean her body, and put on her usual armour. "Let's go!" she smirked slightly. "I've gotten my expectations up, so it better be good!"

* * *

This time, Erik took his date outside again. They walked out of the castle, laughing slightly.

"She was talking about everything you did to her, non-stop, and with a wide grin," Astrid chuckled and shook her head. "That girl is a true pervert. She still hasn't taken those cat things off!"

Erik grinned slightly. The fact Emily still hadn't taken the tail out was exciting. Still, this was Astrid's date, so he should be focusing on her, even though it was she who brought it up. "Tell me, Astrid, are you talking about this because you'd like to try out this BDSM club?"

Astrid narrowed her eyes and looked at her side, "Try it and see what happens…"

Erik glanced at her with twinkling eyes. "I should be saying that to you!"

"Hmpf," Astrid snorted, fighting intend sparking between them. "You've lost Elora… I think this might be the best time for me to earn that big sister title!"

But Erik wasn't deterred and smirked smugly. "Please, you know I'm never merged with her during our spars! Besides, I'd never allow myself to be beaten by you, I enjoy your obedient wife persona far too much!"

Astrid blushed slightly and finally broke eye contact. "Hmpf… just you wait until I beat you, and turn you into my obedient husband! Perhaps I'll even let you keep the others!"

Erik chuckled and didn't take her words seriously. Even if she did manage to beat him one day, only their individual relationship might change a little, but nothing else.

They continued bantering all the way to their destination: Enkare Nkai's training grounds. This place existed in an area worth several football fields, with a surface of hard dirt, filled with thousands of training puppets and parkour installations.

Astrid hadn't been there before, but the purpose of it was easily recognizable.

When she looked around the large, walled off space, Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Are we going to spar?" Astrid asked curiously, and with a hint of disappointment. "I mean, I like doing it, but… we can do that any day."

Erik chuckled and shook his head. "Hehe, I know, don't worry. I've got something special planned."

As if called out at that moment, a large group of around sixty people came in from the same entrance they did, gathering in front of them… at their head stood Naeku.

They all looked at Erik and Astrid curiously. They hadn't heard much about these two yet, aside from rumours, but a large portion had seen them during the battle where Erik first met their princess.

"Well, here we are," Naeku said, spreading her arms, and looking at Erik curiously. "I've gathered every second ranker I could, which makes up about half our total numbers. You said you would make it worth their time? I put my name on the line here, so you better make it good!"

Astrid, too, looked at Erik curiously, wondering where he was going with this. She didn't much like the fact Naeku was here, when it was supposed to be her date.

"I propose a contest!" Erik grinned confidently. "Your people, against me and my lovely wife." Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire

Instantly, everyone became sceptical, including Astrid, even though the prospect of fighting by his side excited her.

"You want to fight all of them? At once?" Naeku asked with a strange expression.

Erik shook his head, "No, that might be a little much, even for us. I propose they split up into groups of ten people at most. They can be smaller, but not bigger"

Before she could respond, Erik waved his hand, causing several items to appear: three metal spears, three oval shields, and three bound books. "Of course, I've prepared some prizes. The weapons I've created myself, and the books are Arcanists techniques for first- and second-ranked affinities… I think you'll find the weapons are all of far higher quality than any of you have ever held."

Instantly, the group of fighters became excited. Spears and shields were very popular weapons among the Runebound of Enkare Nkai… and these did indeed look like high quality. The Arcanist among them couldn't see inside those books, but they didn't even know such things existed, so any quality was an improvement.

To Erik and his wives, these techniques were useless. Even on Söl, techniques for third-ranked affinities and higher were rare, and those were the only kind of affinity they had. Elora had a few of these techniques, but nothing that was of use to them.

Naeku looked at the pile of nine treasures curiously. "Alright… now it's becoming interesting. What are the rules? Am I allowed to participate?"

Erik chuckled amusingly, "I think every single one of the people behind you would want to be in your team, so I suggest you simply play referee… If you're interested in these weapons, I wouldn't mind forging some especially for you," the finally winked.

Some grumbling arose among the fighters behind her.

"Is he… flirting with our princes?! Right next to his wife?!" were only some of the indignant whispers going around.

Astrid, too, narrowed her eyes and turned to him. She was enjoying the prospect of Erik's plans, but he'd need to tone down the flirting with Naeku while they were on a date! Naeku's clear interest didn't help, either.

Sensing the vampiric storm rising next to him, Erik chuckled awkwardly and moved on. "Anyway, here's the rules: we fight until one group gives up. Injuries are fine, but no killing, obviously. The group that lasts the longest against us can take three treasures, the second longest two, and the third longest can take what remains. If any of you wins against us, you can take it all."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that acceptable to you? As I said earlier, you'll be the referee."

Before Naeku could answer, Erik turned to Astrid. "What about you, my dear Astrid? Is this acceptable entertainment, as first step on our date?"

Astrid grinned, her eyes shining with excitement. Standing shoulder to shoulder with her husband, she eyed the group of sixty second rankers intently. "That depends on if they make us break a sweat…"