Chapter 465: A squadmate.
After the fight that took place, the group was relaxing in a hot spring.
Created by Victor and Eleanor.
Eleanor made the 'bath' with her earth element. She'd made it quite deep since all the people in the group were over 190 CM.
Victor supplied the water with his water element, and heated it with his fire. He'd conjured a small mini-sun under the hot spring that served to heat water.
Of course, without the insulated protection of Eleanor's very resistant earth element, the earth would have burned, and he would not have been able to continuously heat the water without being personally present on the spot.
"To think that we are using the most respected powers of the Clan of Vampire Counts in this way..." Eleanor commented with a tired sigh, as her long white hair fell into the water.
She was lying lazily against the edge of the hot spring with her eyes closed, her armor and weapons nearby in case she needed to get dressed quickly.
"Elder Vampires who cherish the customs would be pissed off right now~." Rose added while laughing lightly.
"Fufu, who cares about those old men-..." Anrietha stopped talking when she felt Rose's gaze on her body.
"... I'm sorry." She quickly spoke up.
"...I don't care, it's not like you were talking about me or anything." Rose huffed and then leaned back against the edge.
'Lies!' Anrietha wanted to scream, but she consciously closed her mouth and was silent. Nothing good would come of teasing this woman.
And she wasn't in a fighting mood right now. She just wanted to rest. Despite being fine physically, her mind was quite exhausted. Out of everyone in the group, Anrietha, Eleanor and Victor were the ones who used their powers the most.
Eleanor and Victor mainly.
One opinion all Valkyries had in common was that they loved to fight, but rest was also important.
Currently, Eleanor and the group of Valkyries were all the way they came into the world relaxing in the hot spring. The environment was quite silent, they all didn't want to talk, they just wanted to rest their minds.
"... Come to think of it, where is Victor?" Alexa asked.
"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since he made the hot spring." Dorothy commented.
"...He's patrolling~..." Judy spoke in a tired tone:
"I was going to do that, but he offered, I didn't argue because I know his senses are more efficient than mine~"
"...."
"Does that man have infinite energy? How is he not tired?" Martha commented.
"...well he fucked an Elder Vampire and kept up with her; he definitely has a lot of energy." Julieta commented in a neutral tone.
"...." Some girls, that included Eleanor, were a little red in the face when they heard Juliet's words.
"I'm not talking about that!" Martha snorted.
"Why are you acting embarrassed? I'd understand if you were Eleanor, but you're not that young of a..."
"Keep going, and I promise that tomorrow you'll wake up in an ogre's belly."
"..." Julieta closed her mouth and was silent.
All Valkyries knew not to tease Anrietha and Martha. The two women are the kindest and quietest of the bunch, but there was that saying about the 'quite ones' for a reason.
The quiet ones are the most dangerous.
"What should we do now? Back to town? Victor's armor has been blown up into thousands. He's walking around in just his pants."
"Judy's gun is a little damaged too."
"Ugh, if this kind of expedition is going to be frequent in the future, we need to recruit a blacksmith for our group, at least she can do basic repairs." Eleanor muttered.
"I agree." Rose decision support.
To this day, no one had attempted such a long expedition before. They'd never dared to go beyond the 30,000 km limit, but Eleanor had a feeling that this sort of thing would be normal now in the future.
Mainly because Victor was moving closer to her territory and building his own.
'Speaking of which, he will be my neighbor… We should ally with him as companions who fight monsters. But what kind of thing can we offer as an alliance?' Eleanor had thought about it in the past, and the only conclusion she had come to was to use her Clan techniques as a bargaining chip. She would offer these services for a small fee, after all, they would be close allies.
Was Eleanor worried about Victor stealing her Clan's forging techniques?
Not at all, she completely trusted Victor. She knew he was not that kind of stingy man, and even if he wanted to, Victor wouldn't be able to steal it. After all, monster materials could only be handled by someone from Clan Adrasteia.
He must have the monster's bloodline, or he could die from the monster's venom. Not to mention the material wouldn't'shape' without the Adrastea Clan bloodline.
"Haaah, those monsters are quite sneaky, huh." Hearing a sudden voice, the girls looked to the side and saw Victor completely the way he came into the world walking towards them.
gulp.
Unconsciously, they all gulped.
"Tsk, Tsk. And to think that they'd use these kind of methods to observe, they are quite resourceful, huh." Victor openly complained as he approached the hot spring and casually walked in while ignoring the girls' shocked/lewd looks.
"... Take it." He threw something in Rose's direction and stretched out on the edge of the hot spring.
"…Eh…?" Instinctively, Rose raised her hand and took it, when she looked at the contents she'd caught and she saw a small brown insect, it looked like a grasshopper.
"One of the methods they used to spy on us to find out who invaded the forest~." Victor replied in a satisfied voice, as the temperature increased a little around him.
"…One of the methods?" Eleanor narrowed her eyes when she saw the insect in Rose's hand.
"Yes, I've seen other small animals with the same level of intelligence, and acting strange."
"What do you mean acting weird?" Judy raised an eyebrow.
"I have very good eyesight. While patrolling, I kept my sights on this little bug, and every time I went somewhere, it would follow me and just stand there watching me.
I found this very strange, until I noticed several similar behaviors from other insects, and smaller monsters.
"I was even ambushed by a horde of predators."
"!!!"
"Why didn't you call us!?" Eleanor spoke.
"Mah, Mah, you deserve to rest, and they're easy to deal with if you can see them."
"....." The girls didn't know how to feel about it. It was a strange feeling to have someone protecting you. Victor, from the beginning, fulfilled his promise not to let any real harm come to the Valkyries.
And he'd saved the girls several times, even putting himself in danger the last time.
It was a strange feeling... But it wasn't bad, they liked it.
But that didn't mean they were okay with it, they were warriors! They could protect themselves.
But if there was one thing they all understood, it was that Victor only saved them when death was an imminent danger. He respected women, and didn't treat them like delicate flowers.
In a way, they knew that Victor treated them like squadmates, and a squadmate's duty was to protect their members, and fight together.
The girls were just impressed because they'd never had the experience of a man doing that for them.
After all, even the male Vampires of their Clan weren't on the same level as the Valkyries. Yes, they were strong, unlike Nightingale's untrained trash, they were all quite trained.
But they were not 'elites' like the Valkyries.
After a moment of silence Alexa spoke:
"...Wait, can you see them!?"
"Yes~~~...."
"I had my doubts about your abnormal detection ability, but this answers a few questions, it's a visual power, right?" Rose spoke up.
"Yes." Victor didn't deny it, but he didn't explain much either. It's not that he didn't trust the girls, but he couldn't casually talk about the exact capabilities of his visual power without being 100% sure the enemy wasn't watching.
They had already proven more than once that they had quite an ingenious ability to spy on people.
And not to mention that his power of observation helped him several times, it was his hidden card that wasn't so hidden.
"...Changing the subject, are you guys really going to ignore the fact that he got NAKED in the hot spring!?" Dorothy commented.
"...Oh." They all spoke at the same time, they got caught up in Victor's rhythm that they totally forgot about that fact!
"Not wanting to defend him, but... It's not like it's the first time." Rose commented in a lazy tone.
"And he also sat quite far away from us." Eleanor surprisingly spoke up.
"He's also a squadmate." Anrietha commented.
Of course, Anrietha wouldn't allow another man to see them. The Valkyries were warriors, but that didn't mean they weren't women.
If it had been any other man, he would have already been beaten, and in the worst case he would have been castrated. The girls were proud women and they wouldn't allow that humiliation.
She didn't talk about Victor because...
Well... He was Victor.
The fact that he'd saved them, was handsome, acted like a knight, and didn't lust after them like a degenerate and just enjoyed their figure added more positives to his dictionary.
"...He's also eye candy~." Julieta commented with a slightly heavy breath.
"..." The girls looked at the woman with long blonde hair.
"What? I just spoke the truth, I know you all think the same as me."
The girls rolled their eyes but didn't affirm or deny anything, but their own silence acted as a response to Juliet's statement.
"Girls, Girls, look." Judy spoke as she pointed at Victor.
The girls looked at the man and saw him lying with his head on the floor with his eyes closed as he breathed in a steady rhythm.
The girls' eyes visibly softened, and they couldn't help but show a small smile.
"Fuck, I should have brought my cell phone, I need to save this image!" Dorothy complained.
"I brought mine." Anrietha got up from the hot spring, approached her armor, and took out a cell phone that was in a compartment in the gigantic shield.
Eleanor was speechless when she saw the small compartment in Anrietha's shield.
"Just how many things do you keep in that shield?"
"Few essentials, as it is made of a very robust material, improved with my charms, the shield will hardly break. Because of that, this is the best place to put my stuff."
When Anrietha was going to take Victor's picture, she heard from Rose:
"Stop, don't do it."
"Why...?"
"Would you like Victor to take a picture of you while you were sleeping and without clothes?"
"..." Anrietha and the girls fell silent.
"Just as he respects us as warriors, squadmates, and women."
"We must do the same, and respect his privacy." Rose closed her eyes, and went back to rest.
"Just let him rest."
Anrietha nodded and tucked her cell phone back into the shield, she realized her commander was right.
"..." Eleanor looked at Victor out of the corner of her eye, she looked like she wanted to do something, but she didn't want to do it in front of the Valkyries, so she just stayed silent next to Rose.
Rose showed a small smile. She more or less understood what Eleanor wanted to do, and if it was any other time, she would have come out of the hot spring and ordered the girls out too to make room for their leader to take the initiative.
But currently, she wasn't in the mood to do that. The girls needed rest, Eleanor included.
And Victor earned her respect by saving all her 'daughters' from that bomb. Consequently, he'd entered her 'protection' area.
Victor, who had entered the realm of unconsciousness, had no idea of the small commotion he'd caused just with his sleeping appearance.
...
Looking at the castle with an expressionless expression.
"Fuck, I slept." Victor facepalmed. It might not look like it, but he was very tired mentally, and when he felt the hot water on his body, unconsciously, he started to fall asleep.
He didn't really want to sleep; he knew that every time he slept, he would wake up in this place, and he really didn't like it here;
"Now, where is that bitch?" Victor looked around with strange eyes.
Normally, the Goddess would be sitting on her throne with that arrogant smile on her face.
"I'm here~." Feeling a pair of hands trying to embrace him, he disappeared, and appeared a little distance away.
"Tsk, petty."
"What are you doing, Persephone?"
"I'm doing what I want."
"Hugging me?"
"You let Aphrodite do this!" Her eyes gleamed dangerously, and an overwhelming sensation left her body.
"...." Victor remained with the same Poker Face, but inside he was saying some bad words to Aphrodite.
But if you asked Victor if he expected that from Aphrodite, he'd say, yes. He expected it. He knew how vain women were, especially the Goddess of Beauty.
Aphrodite wasn't going to miss a chance to rub it in Persephone's face.
"That bitch used it to tease me for a week! One week!"
"Because of that, I'll do whatever I want-."
"Are you thinking I'm Adonis?" Victor's eyes glowed blood red, and the scent of blood began to leak from his body.
The image of the castle began to warp between thousands of bodies, and the castle itself.
"..." Persephone narrowed her eyes when she felt something.
'He got stronger... His soul is stronger, what happened?'
As a Goddess, she knew how difficult it was to strengthen your soul, this was a process that took years, but in less than a few months, had he managed to do it? Impossible.
"Tsk." Persephone clicked her tongue, and disappeared. Soon she returned to her throne.
"Let's talk, about anything, I don't mind."
"Just stop acting like an indulgent, spoiled brat."
"...." Victor narrowed his eyes when he heard Persephone's tone.
'Is she angry? But it looks like it's not because of anything related to Aphrodite... Should I dig it up?'
It only took a few seconds for him to make his decision.
'I'll try to find out what it is. If I'm lucky, it will be something related to the invasion of demons.' As the Queen of one of the 7 Hells, Persephone must have some kind of information about what's going on.
At least that was what Victor had hoped for.
....
