Peace Interrupted
“Just to make sure, but when you say ‘man to man’, you mean having sex with women while we are in the same room, right?”
“Yes, but it can also mean us double-teaming the same wench”
For some reason, it only occurred to Chang Sheng to ask for clarification once they were already walking alongside a forest path outside of the Elt clan. Edrick could have gotten them a carriage easily, but he thought that it would be nicer to actually walk through the bountiful nature before ploughing a whore.
“I don’t think I should be bedding other women when I want to make things as official as they can get with Alilah…”
“Did she say anything about that?”
“Well… Huh… No, she didn’t”
“I bet she even said that you should bed whoever you want”
“...I suppose that you heard about it from her friends?”
“They speak about everything and anything when it comes to pillow talk, heheh”
Chang sighed. He knew that Edrick was way more experienced than he was, but he wondered if it would really be wise to imitate him in all aspects. The golden-eyed scion had frankly not cared much about women other than Alilah ever since he had taken a liking to her. He knew well that there wasn’t anything weird about a man doing this–Anoteros was the perfect example of that, but the Sheng descendant felt that it wasn’t really his cup of tea.
Nonetheless, he supposed that he could try it once and see how it went.
The Elt scion made one of his thumbs crack.
“Are you not planning on taking more wives after Alilah?”
“Not really, no. We never know what the future has in store for us, but I doubt I’ll meet another woman whom I’ll be able to love like I love Alilah. Though… To be frank, she does encourage me to bed other women a fair bit. The other day, she told me that I should get a maid to lie in bed with the two of us, and that she and her could service me at once, or that she and I could double-team the maid, can you believe that?”
“Absolutely, I’ve seen Alilah a few times, and she definitely struck me as the sort to do this, especially since I heard from Bedi that they used to make out quite a lot”
“Used to?”
“Of course, she stopped doing anything with anyone else. That’s why she asks you to make the decisions. You’re the man of the relationship, and you’re the stronger cultivator. It is up to you to decide such things. If you don’t allow it, then she won’t do it…”
“...You’re a lucky guy, Chang. Not everyone is like Alilah. She’s obedient and understands the rules. It might make you a bit uncomfortable, but the important questions will be up to you to decide. You and she are a family now, and you’re the patriarch. Even if she’s the matriarch, she’ll still follow you no matter what”
The Sheng scion rubbed his forehead in thought.
“It’s actually obvious, but I somehow ignored this until now. I don’t really want her to just be my follower, though. I would prefer if we were more equal. I know that ultimately I am the one who wields the power in the relationship, but… I want my future Allins to grow up in a way unlike the way I did. The way the clan works is too… Business-like to my tastes”
Edrick thought that this was a silly way to think, but it wasn’t his place to criticise what someone wanted to do with their own family. He could understand that his view of having Allins wasn’t exactly common either. He might seem to be more along the line of clan traditionalism, but really, once the Nursery Wing would be in full swing, it would be more akin to a factory than anything else. This was quite the departure compared to most of his fellows, who usually had either only a handful of Allins or who would have many, but spread out over many years.
His output would be more akin to a constantly flowing river–Especially if he ended up having more Simis.
‘Mmh… I wonder if triplets and so on are also called Simis?’
“Who knows? You’ll live for a very long time, Chang. Maybe you’ll meet more girls that you like”
Edrick marked a pause as he smiled widely.
“Perhaps one of my Allinas?”
The golden-eyed scion almost choked on air.
“That’s… That’s a bit disturbing to think about, no?”
“Why not? We’ll preserve our youthfulness, and even if not… Women love older men, whether you like it or not. You’ll get hit on by girls who could be your Allinas… Or Grand-Allinas”
“By the heavens, I never even thought about that… The future will be a weird one…”
Suddenly, the two scions glanced at one another.
“Did you sense that?”
“Did you sense that?”
They both spoke in unison, reflexively bumping fists as if to commemorate their momentarily unified line of thought.
“These energy signatures contain a kind of energy unusual to us Leynlorndians”
“I know these energy signatures”
They whispered to one another, quickly coming to the conclusion that cultivators from Journomanp were nearby. They were a fair bit away from the Elt clan now, but it was nonetheless quite ballsy of those guys to get this close, and frankly, they would probably get swept by a wandering patrol soon enough.
Especially since it was currently the hour during which Princess and her master would be on a walk. Anoteros remembered how Wenxiong once told him that Princess had been trained not just to differentiate between smells that were nearly identical, but that she had been trained to recognise the smell of foreigners.
Those guys would be massacred if they dared to poke too far, but it seemed like they were in a hurry to check out the other side…
Chang and Edrick stepped into a clearing, coming face-to-face with more than a dozen Journomanpian cultivators.
They were all wearing the same style of robes–Clearly showing that they belonged to the same sect. Which wasn’t surprising, as tensions and rivalries remained even if they were supposed to ally together against a large enemy.
The one who was the strongest opened his mouth to speak, but the two scions just looked at each other.
“I was expecting an ambush, but it seems like they are all here just waiting”
“I get the feeling that folks from Journomanp have a knack for theatrics, especially since it would have been smarter to ambush us in the forest instead of fighting in a clearing. They could have attacked and then regrouped here to try and score some hits before a head-on confrontation”
“I completely agree, Edrick. Besides…”
Chang narrowed his gaze and spoke in a clear, loud voice.
“...They are all weaklings”
“You…!”
Edrick then spoke his piece in a chilling tone.
“That's good. We can fight and do what we were going to do with those guys”
The foreign cultivators didn’t have the context to know how horrifying his words were, but they nonetheless felt like a cold gust of wind passed by their napes.
They were, however, easily angered and quickly moved to strike.
“That’s it, come to Valdry!”