Chapter 777: Chapter 777 - An opportunity?
With the last loose thread taken care of, it was finally time for Naeku to enter seclusion and hopefully come out at a higher rank. Together, they entered the training room in Erik’s dimension.
Several people were there. Astrid and Seraphina were both training, as they usually did, and two dark isolation spheres represented Emma and Alice, both still busy with their own advancements.
"Good luck," Erik whispered in Naeku’s ear as they hugged. Grinning confidently, Naeku kissed him and then shook her head. "I don’t need luck! I’ll be with you again soon."
Astrid came over for a moment to wish Naeku good luck, as well as steal her own kiss from Erik’s lips.
Not long after that, Naeku took a seat on one of the pillows, and a black sphere erected around her as well. With that, her training period had started.
After they were alone, Astrid playfully pestered Erik for a sparring session, and he gave in without much resistance... It’d already been a few days since his last fight, and he was getting antsy.
Still, he had a lot to do, so after an hour of sparring, he left the training room again. Inwardly, he put his remaining tasks in order.
’Still three things to do before I can focus on my spatial affinity for a while,’ he thought to himself with a frown. ’Or rather, three people I still need to talk to. Emily, Nobuntu, and Ankhur.’
Leaving his dimension, he turned in the direction of Ankhur’s study. Currently, most of the administrative side of the Silfrmáni empire fell on Ankhur’s shoulders, and this kept him quite busy. Any time he wasn’t in his study, he was training, and any scraps of time left after that were spent on his wives.
Truly, the man was busy, and that was partly why Erik didn’t mind going to him rather than summoning him. The other reason he didn’t mind was the stunt he pulled with Leia, but especially sending her to her brother with his cum still sloshing around in her stomach.
Truthfully, he felt a tiny bit guilty... Ankhur was a good man with incredible patience, and didn’t deserve Erik’s testing of that patience.
In fact, it was Leia who told him Ankhur wanted to talk. Apparently, Ankhur asked her to tell Erik after Leia and he were done talking. It felt kind of like being summoned by a subordinate, but considering the circumstances, Erik let it slide.
After a few moments of walking, Erik ended up at his destination. As a basic sign of respect, he decided to knock. It took a moment, but then he heard a tired sigh from the other side. "Yeah, come in..."
Smiling confidently, Erik did just that. He’d been in the study before, and it looked no different from other times. Behind the large desk, Ankhur was busy typing away on a scruffy laptop, with stacks of paper and tens of communication sigils surrounding him.
One of Ankhur’s arms was still the light-blue, glowing sigil construct arm that Elora had created for him as a replacement to the one he’d lost fighting Edda. Fortunately, he’d gotten increasingly proficient with it, to the point where it might as well be his true arm now.
The laptop worked by virtue of Elora’s electricity sigil, but it wasn’t perfect. Without the internet, there was no reliable way for Ankhur to send data across the kingdom. Thus, paper was still king, but sometimes he could send data via some of the last remaining usb-sticks to some of the leaders in other cities.
Mostly, though, orders and data was send using those sigil stones and a group of assistants who essentially read whatever Ankhur wrote down on paper, and communicated it word for word through the sigil stone, to whoever was on the other side, so they could write it down word for word.
It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked for now.
As soon as Erik entered, he was met with Ankhur’s sombre expression. "Erik... Thank you for coming," he grumbled. Erik had a hard time determining Ankhur’s feelings right now, but decided to simply let things play out.
"Sure," he nodded with a smirk. Even now, he wore only harem pants and nothing else. He truly was his mother’s son now, as he, too, preferred less clothing over more. Erik took a seat across from Ankhur and shrugged. "It’s the least I could do."
As soon as he sat down, Ankhur closed the laptop and sighed again. Leaning forward on his arms, he looked at Erik intently. Erik looked back curiously, casually lounging in the chair. Silence fell, as neither spoke.
Finally, Ankhur sternly asked a question. "Are my wives safe...?"
Erik nearly did a spit-take. He’d definitely not expected such a direct question. Sitting up, he looked at Ankhur with wide eyes... but seeing how serious he was, made Erik relax back in the chair and look at his father-in-law with amusement.
"Don’t tell me you have so little faith in their feelings for you?" Erik grinned teasingly.
Ankhur didn’t answer. Rather, his gaze intensified as he glared at Erik, waiting for an answer.
Seeing this, Erik chuckled awkwardly. It’s not like he didn’t understand where Ankhur was coming from. His faith in his wives’ love for him was unshakable, but if a predator started prowling around, he’d still do something about it.
With a sigh, Erik decided he really should start treating Ankhur a little better. Perhaps he was simply still being influenced by the initial conflict between himself and Ankhur, where each of them pursuit a member of the other’s family.
"Your wives are safe, Ankhur," Erik spoke with pursed lips. "I won’t pursue happily married women—certainly not those of an ally."
He then looked at Ankhur with a little more of an apologetic smirk. "I know my presence has probably been somewhat of a thorn in your side, Ankhur... If another man came into my life to pursue not only my daughter but also my hypothetical sister, I might not remain as calm as you have."
A little relieved with Erik’s first statement, Ankhur scowled and leand back in his chair. "Yes, well... it’s not been easy, I’ll give you that. If it hadn’t been for the safety of my people and the smiles on Naeku’s, and now Leia’s, faces, I probably would have already died fighting you."
"Fair enough," Erik chuckled. "I must admit, I would probably have regretted that." His grin widened. "Especially because of all the administrative work I’d have to start doing!"
Ankhur snorted an involuntary laugh and shook his head. "As a man, you’re really easy to hate, you know that? Enkai needs to learn to prioritise and keep calm, but it’s not like I can’t see where he was coming from."
Erik grinned. This felt like the first time he was speaking this openly with Ankhur... and he enjoyed it. He had too few male friends in his life. Perhaps there was an opportunity here?