For the return of the soldiers to the capital grounds, Sol had made sure to organize an entire Parade in their name. It was a very 'impromptu' parade, made by a few 'civilians' or citizens who, happy about the work the knight had done in making the kingdom safer for them, decided to align themselves on either side of the main street and welcome the knights with applause, gratitude, and a shower of flowers.
While Sol did not like using derogatory terms, there was a simple cause for the masses. When many people did something together, there were high chances that many more would soon follow and do the same thing even without knowing why they were doing so.
In a way, it was no different than acting like a sheep but this mentality was very useful for rulers like him.
By making sure to have many agents of his secret order disguised as actual citizens, Sol was able to make this event even more grandiose and beautiful than what the impromptu preparations could ever hope to achieve.
Citizens who knew nothing about this plan of his would see the sudden gathering of the people and be happy, knowing that the knights did their job and kept them safe. Some of them would also grow envious and wish to join the military and thus secure a new batch of recruits for the militia.
At the same time, the military would feel a greater sense of pride and feeling of recognition from the country and its people. Thus this would result in them having even more desire to lay down their lives for the protection of the Kingdom and mankind.
The final advantage was of course promoting Lilith in a more open manner to the populace of the Kingdom which would advertise his presence in one go.
People would know he was indeed here just that he did not show up. This would prove that he was not someone using his power to steal the achievements of his subordinates, leaving an even better and deep impression on everyone involved.
It would be very useful for him in the long term.
Lilith only gave a smile full of mirth at everything that was happening here. She was happy to see that Sol was stepping more and more into his role as king of this country. And manipulating the entire populace to advance his popularity and credibility among the masses was indeed a good first step in the right direction.
If it was her in his shoes, then she would have just ordered the knights to not change their armor so that they would look worn out and wounded or bleeding from their wounds in some cases. It was far easier to attract attention and goodwill when you were on the side of the weak. The underdog always garnered the most attention and adoration of the masses after all.
Furthermore, no matter how many tales you made, without the correct look... life would not go easy on you and it would be harder to sell things out to the crowd when everything looked picture perfect. The small bits of imperfection were generally what changed a great work into a complete masterpiece.
While the Parade was short, it was undoubtedly a great success in Sol's eyes and he was sure that if it were to be a Kingdom building game he would be seeing the love and respect of his citizens climb through the roof in real time.
"How insidious."
"I call this technique and strategy marketing."
"Heh..."
Like this, under the cheers full of joy and appreciation of the populace, they have finally reached the Tower of Babel- their home.
The Citizens were happy...
The Knights were happy...
Sol was happy...
Everything was good in the best two worlds and everything was swimming well.
While Setsuna was showing signs of slight unhappiness in her brows, she was able to cast that feeling aside pretty fast. She still had deep feelings for Ayame but she knew that her once close confidant and caretaker had died happy and with only a single regret in her life. A regret that she was about to turn over so that her soul would find peace, wherever it may be.
For the entire day after her return to the Tower, Setsuna stayed inside her room, letting no one in as she proceeded to mourn for the dead on her lonesome and settle the grief in her heart.
At this moment, she simply wished to think for herself for some time with no one to interrupt her. She also needed to get used to the new feeling of her body and adjust herself to her newfound powers to fully utilize them in the future.
Initially, the first thing she wished to do was to call Kali and tell her the good news about her awakening and her ascension, but it seemed like the Witch of Destruction had vanished alongside all the other witches somewhere goddesses only knew.
However, after thinking for a bit, the only conclusion that she could come to was that they were now in Salem- the City of Witches. Probably, they were discussing the future of the witches there and were busy sorting through their ideas about it.
Sitting in a seiza position, with her knee gathered under her butt while her two swords lay on either side of her body, a faint flicker of mana covered her whole being as she closed her eyes and deeply meditated with utmost concentration.
There were many things she needed to think about, but an important point was what kind of contract she would end up binding herself with Sol.
In a way, what Ayame did was close to a Wrath-type contract. Setsuna knew that her wrath and anger would one day end once her family was avenged, but what would happen after that?
As such, she realized that there was only one possible contract that she could do with the love of her life.
A contract she knew that she would never regret no matter how much time went by or whatever happened in the future.
How long did she stay in that state? Thinking so endlessly? She did not exactly know. But when she opened her eyes, the moon was shining high in the skies above.
It was time for them to sign the contract.
But before that, she had to find someone to help her in the act.
Sol was sitting alone in his bedroom when they knocked on the door.
He had obviously heard their footsteps long before they even reached the door of his bedroom, so he showed no surprise outwardly at the mesmerizing sight of the two beautiful young women standing in front of him.
Still, his facade did not mislead them. After all, their senses were powerful enough to clearly hear the loud and powerful beating of his heart, signifying the excitement he was feeling right now.
They entered the room simultaneously before turning to look at him in perfect synch. Setsuna couldn't help but question him with a mischievous smile on her face,
"So, what do you think of my little surprise?"
Sol had to fight himself to not gulp down as a response. He certainly had a great variety of experiences throughout his sex life. But there was no way he would not get excited by what he was seeing and by the thought of what was about to happen very soon.
"I think I am perhaps one the luckiest bastards in this fucked up world."
After all, now inside his bedroom, stood two young and gorgeous women clad in only see-through negligees that stopped just a little above their round and sumptuous butts. Underneath that thin clothing, all they had on them was a pair of panties each. One blue like the summer sky and the second purple like the ethereal eyes of its wielder.
They were his two childhood friends. Lilin and Setsuna.
Setsuna grinned at those words and did a small twirl of showmanship to show off herself in front of her lover. Her tail that was moving up and down and her twitching ears added to her exotic charm and conveyed the emotions of anticipation and excitement that were coursing throughout his body.
At the same time, Lilin was not in her human form either. Her eyes were of a deeper shade of purple than usual with a black slit in between, and she had a thin long tail with a heart-shaped protrusion forming at the end that had come out of her tailbone, as well as two curved horns which were jutting out of her silky purple hair.
Her form seemed to have taken a small boost as it looked like the negligee could barely cover her entire body.
"I initially wanted a new dress. But I wouldn't have guessed my fur would change color."
"As for me, I didn't think about how my proportions would change when transforming."
Sol grinned, feeling his heart burn with a fire hotter than the flames of a phoenix. His form slowly changed and his body grew a few centimeters as he went from his human form to his hybrid one.
A dragon, a succubus, and a wolf entered inside of a room.
This seemed like the start of an interesting joke.
Obviously... It would be one with very lewd and hedonistic undertones.
[AN: So here we are. Setsuna and Lilin will have their first time together. This is pretty rare for me as until now this only happened with Nent/Nefertiti. But in a way, this won't be the first threesome between Lilin/Sol/Setsuna. The first one happened way back around ch 84 and was named Lilin (1)
