Chapter 86: A Smooth Ride!
After struggling to reach the main lobby, he found Enzo and the black-haired wolf named Jack waiting for him. Asmodeus didn't feel the pair were threatening, and he knew the old man wouldn't attack him again.
"Hey, kid."
"Hah?"
Enzo always called Leonhardt with strange names and never his actual one, but he didn't mind. Somehow, it felt fitting for this man to be insufferable.
Leonhardt glanced at Jack, who nodded in return, and then looked at Enzo with suspicion.
"What do you want, old man?"
"Hey, watch your manners in front of your seniors."
He laughed and placed an arm around Leonhardt's shoulder, pulling him in as if he were about to whisper into his ear. The fact this man looked so young made Leonhardt curious if he was really a human.
"I hope you can take care of my daughter..."
Leonhardt didn't miss the hidden threat in his tone, but there wasn't a need to worry.
Erina was someone that Leonhardt would never let escape him. He found her abilities and personality quite charming.
"Don't worry about such things. I plan to keep Erina close, and if anyone tries to hurt her, I will kill them."
Enzo's eyes widened for a moment before he nodded... muttering, "I see" to himself. However, Leonhardt did not care. Enzo turned and walked towards the exit, before he stopped and looked at him...
"If you want to become stronger, try not to be so reckless and think about the women who are supporting you."
"I see..."
"You'll regret being so reckless one day... trust me." Enzo's words didn't sound like a threat or warning; rather, they sounded like an echo of his own regrets.
'Well, I should improve the way I fight...'
He became too focused on fighting alone, which was the reason for his dangerous style, but with the bloodlines of three different races, four with the red dragon blood... Leonhardt should be able to find a more graceful and secure style of combat.
'I should practise using my webbing for manoeuvrability more... flying through Munat using them was quite exhilarating.'
With those thoughts, he left for the lobby, where the girls were waiting for him...
"Leonhardt!"
Erina's voice sounded anxious as she rushed up to him and grabbed his hands. He didn't know what made her react in such a way until he noticed the other members of Enzo's team leaving while gazing back at him.
'Oh, I see...'
"Don't worry, your father gave me his permission."
"Really?"
What made Leon so fond of these three women was how different they acted... since knowing she didn't have to return and receiving Leonhardt's promise that she could help in the village during weekends or time off from missions. She seemed to have opened her heart completely.
'If she learns the village is my village... will she be the same?'
He didn't want to put things in danger, so he matched her energy and reached out, brushing her hair back and stroking her head. To Leonhardt, she was something akin to a sibling, a stupid sister for now.
Unlike Sylvie and Asuka, who appeared to be women in his eyes... he became protective of Erina due to how useful and naïve she could be.
'Humans will take advantage of her... I must help her grow stronger.' Were his thoughts.
"Asuka, hows your body?" He asked while threading his fingers through Erina's hair, amused by her pleasant expression.
"It feels fine... I feel like a new woman." She said with a coy tone, but Leonhardt knew it wasn't her trying to seduce him, but because she also evolved again since coming to the inn.
He didn't know the method, but when they had sex, his current EP would be transferred between them and slowly evolve her red dragon bloodline.
*Cough*
Sylvie covered her mouth, pretending to look away. Leonhardt couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or annoyed he wasn't paying her attention.
The elf accepted to join his forces so easily, despite being the one who rejected him the most fiercely. That was something he didn't expect, but he wanted to learn more about her reasoning during the carriage trip.
'Though I could teleport now... I paid for the trip, and it's a good chance to train these girls.'
This time, Leonhardt signed up as the guards.
Because of what happened last time, the merchants became a little wary and fearful of his group after all the other guards mysteriously died upon reaching this city.
'Well... they shouldn't have insulted Asuka.'
Obsessive and violent emotions started to dwell in Leonhardt's chest after he slept with her, and thus... the people who insulted her had to die.
That was the answer the monster in his mind came up with.
"Are you all packed up and ready to go?" He asked the three women.
There didn't seem to be any issues with this travel, but he wanted to avoid taking too long.
Since he met Enzo and learned someone was targeting both the dungeons and the hero in this small basin, Leonhardt needed to move faster to avoid any future issues.
"I'm fine, as long as I have some ale." Asuka shook her huge jug. Meanwhile, Sylvie held several books in her hand and nodded.
As for Erina, she seemed to be a little irritated about the treatment and pulled away from Leonhardt. She then stood beside Asuka and Sylvie, while pulling out her tongue to him.
"Let's go to the carriage. They planned to leave before afternoon."
In a moment of silence, they greeted the innkeeper and checked out. While Leonhardt led the women, he noticed many unsavoury gazes on him.
What made him feel irritated was how the people here still rejected outsiders, even after all the help they received.
'Ungrateful...'
However, his dislike soon turned into a grim smile as he stepped towards the carriage, helping the girls pack their last few things.
Because the dungeon needed defenders in his absence, he chose a fitting type of monster for this area, and because of his arachne genes and the brood mother living in the cave for so long, he managed to summon them.
The moment they loaded onto the carriage, Leonhardt filled his eyes with mana and gazed up at the mountains... and his lips twisted into a gruesome smile.
Beautiful women for an upper body, and deadly, venomous lower halves.
Arachne females.
He summoned more than fifty of them, thanks to his DP, evolution and the current area; soon, the people would be overwhelmed and replaced by the villagers who could change to a human form or spider form as they wished.
Pale white skin, red eyes and silky black hair.
The easiest way to identify them was the bright red tattoo on their buttocks, in both forms.
From the start, Leonhardt didn't plan to let this village survive. It wasn't like Arlet... and now that he made his choice to dominate the Astrea basin.
He would no longer hold back from doing so!
'Don't blame me humans! You are the ones that sent someone to take my life and harm my lovely slaves!'
"Leon, what's so funny?"
"Yeah... you look strange smiling like that."
"He looks kinda cool... no?"
Asuka finished the other two women looking at her with a dead expression; before long, the three of them started fighting in the carriage...
Leon leaned against the window and saw the carnage unravelling from a distance.
"Ah... what a great day."