A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Unfortunately, there wasn't much else of interest. There were no giant armouries with magical weaponry, which Erik was okay with since he preferred making his own weapons anyway, nor were there any 'get-strong-quick' machines.

It seemed that the biggest benefits of this space were its extensive library and the transference core. Technically, there was the isolation and secrecy aspect as well, but Erik's dimension was already able to fill that role.

Perhaps it wasn't too surprising. Lemayian did talk about this city as a centre of study and learning for advancing Ymir and Audumla's experiments, not as a military bulwark.

Still, that didn't mean there wasn't anything else of interest. There were crafting areas and training rooms, for example… but they weren't as good as the ones Erik had in his dimension.

Still, this represented an opportunity for making access to this place a reward for the most proficient runesmiths, sigil crafters, and other professions they were creating around the kingdom—and later, Empire—as well as the most talented fighters.

Erik would never have opened up his dimension for such a thing, after all, but this place was a different story. Of course he'd discuss it with Naeku, but he doubted she'd have a problem with this.

There was one more noteworthy event that happened down there, however, before Erik returned to other matters.

Just as he teleported into the library, he heard two people arguing. Looking around, he saw that there were a few people here. Elora was studying slabs and oblivious to her surroundings. She wasn't involved in the argument, and Erik doubted she even realised it was happening, which made him smile a little.

His mother was there as well. She was leaning against a table, arms crossed in front of her chest, lips pursed, eyes narrowed, brows creased. Erik knew that look well: she was stopping herself from interfering, even though she wanted to.

The argument came from two people who stood in a corner: Leila, and her father, Tarek. The latter was trying to keep his tone low, obviously wanting to do this quietly, but as an old first-ranker, he probably didn't realise that even second-rankers like Runa could overhear easily.

Meanwhile, Leila wasn't trying to keep quiet even a little.

"Would you stop lecturing me, old man?!" she cried out angrily, her lithe body trembling as she balled her fists. "I can live my life as I like!"

"Hmpf," Tarek snorted softly, arms crossed in front his chest, his old body stiff with stubborn frustration. "Yes, little Ankhur loves you, so he lets you do as you please, but don't you think it's time to start giving back to this family? I don't much care for the situation we find ourselves in, but I realise this Erik brat isn't going away anytime soon, and we still need him."

It was then that Erik joined his mother by leaning next to her against the table, his eyebrow cocked as he glanced at her. He didn't much care what Tarek had to say about him, of course.

Runa looked back at him grumpily and shrugged. "They've been at it for about ten minutes, already. I tried to take her side at first, but I don't think she wanted me to interfere. The way I understood it, something like this happens every time these two are together without Fatima or Ankhur around."

Nodding, Erik turned his attention back to the argument, mostly just out of curiosity.

"But we can still strengthen our current position!" Tarek continued with an angry growl, completely unaware of Erik's arrival. "You may be nearing forty, but there are still men interested in marrying you! If we can forge an alliance with a powerful family outside of the kingdom, we can use that, and our new Emperor's expansion ambitions, to our advantage!"

Leila's eyes bulged with anger. "They're not still interested in me, old man! They're interested again!" She grabbed her own modest breasts and pushed them up in anger. "Those pervert bastards think the awakening must have tightened up my body again, so now they're okay with a woman below thirty!"

"Tsk," Tarek grumbled, glancing away. "Don't be obscene, girl."

Leila ignored him and continued. "Little do they know, I've always taken care of my body! The awakening barely did anything! I look as good as I did back then, but they'll never see it! If I'm going to be dealing with men only interested in my body, then I may as well stay here and be free to do so with whoever I like!"

Tarek narrowed his eyes. "Our famil—"

"Our family is fucking fine!" Leila snarled, interrupting him as she crossed her arms. "Little Naeku has married a man she loves and ended up as Erik's wife. We've become the first ruling family under his new Empire, ruling what will probably be the largest city and capital of this empire! What more could you want?!"

"I want my daughter to be responsible and contribute to our family's prosperity!" Tarek countered grumpily. "You think I like watching you throw your life away?! Contributing will make you happier!"

Leila's eyes bulged even further, and Erik could feel his mother suppress the desire to beat Tarek up a little. Erik himself felt… a little annoyed.

He certainly didn't agree with Tarek—Alice would be free to do as she damn well pleased, and he'd show anyone trying to obstruct her how misguided they were in their attempts. The only limits he'd put on her and any other children he might have were his own distinction of right and wrong, but he believed simply being a good father would solve that issue on its own.

At the same time, in his thoughts, he'd already claimed Leila as his. He wouldn't marry her, but he actually did have a specific plan for her… and Tarek was trying to ruin it.

Still, he didn't interfere either. It looked like Leila was handling herself just fine, and he saw ways of using this to his advantage if he let it play out.

Her voice was high pitched and loud as she responded to her father. "You think I'll be happier entering some old pervert's attempt at a harem when I already know none of them can hold a candle to Erik?! Not to mention that I've finally made real friend, and now you're expecting me to move away from her?!"

Tarek narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why bring the brat Emperor into this, Leila? So what if they can't hold a candle to him? And your friend is his mother! Our family needs to have avenues of influence beyond his family!"

His first question caught Leila off-guard a little, as she herself wasn't a hundred per cent sure why she brought him up. But his second point brought back the fire.

"I can't believe that's all you're thinking about!" she cursed, balling her fists. "What would Mom think about this?!"

"Hmpf," Tarek snorted indifferently. "When you reached adulthood, your brother had already taken over the throne from Fatima. You never experienced her rule. You think she was always the doting grandmother she is now? Fatima thinks the same as I do, she just willingly lets her love for you blind her."

Leila flinched back a little. Somewhere, she'd known that, she just didn't want to think about it. "S— Screw you, old man!" she cried out, her eyes now becoming a little wet.

Before Tarek could respond, Leila looked up at the ceiling. "Eira! Get me out of here!"

With no reason not to do as she asked, Eira did just that, leaving a furious Tarek, and a thoughtful mother-son pair.