In her divine realm, Io looked over various reports and issues in the world. She was constantly busy dealing with domestic matters and consistently trying to stave off infiltration attempts from Tartarus. Lately, the world has been so hectic in some areas while others were seeing improvement.

“Io!” Sylfaerune rushed in and hugged her petite yet older sister.

“Yes? What is it, Syl?” Io asked gently, petting the head of her sister.

“He did it! The bastard did it!” Sylfaerune cried.

“Who did what?” Io asked.

Tilra appeared and answered. “A temple was attacked by the Demon-Lord, or more of, an avatar of it.” She took her seat.

“Oh, dear. Was anyone hurt?” Io asked.

“Surprisingly, only Syl’s Hero, and it was only his pride.” Tilra snickered.

“It’s not funny!” Sylfaerune stood and glared at Tilra, who merely grinned widely.

Orbus appeared laughing. “That is hilarious!” His demeanor changed to a serious one. “Though it is disconcerting that the Demon-Lord targeted a lone hero.”

The god could not keep his serious demeanor when Tilra made a farting sound with her tongue. Orbus broke down laughing once more.

Nanduun appeared, wiping a tear from his eye and a tense smile on his face.

“I’m afraid I don’t get what is so amusing?” Io smiled lightly and tilted her head.

“Don’t say it!” Sylfaerune tried.

“Her hero crapped himself in the presence of the avatar. Not to mention getting hit with a curse.” Tilra began giggling.

“Syl….” Io held her head, feeling a migraine coming on.

“He destroyed the idols in one of our temples!” Sylfaerune exclaimed.

“But I didn’t feel one of mine being destroyed.” Io tried to remember if anything felt different.

“Don’t try to remember Io. The only symbols that got destroyed were hers. So, I got to ask. What did you do to this Demon-Lord to make him only target you?” Tilra asked.

“I did nothing!” Sylfaerune yelled.

The three gods eyed her suspiciously.

“My hero was cursed!” Sylfaerune cried, trying to change the subject.

“Yes. With impotence as I have heard.” Nanduun said before having to turn away and cover his mouth.

“So, Io, you know anything about this Demon-Lord? This is its, whoops, his first appearance. I have heard odd things.” Orbus asked.

“Yes. The Demon-Lord seems to have become a bit more active. I have confirmed a report from weeks ago about the Demon-Lord destroying an idol of Syl’s. It surprised me to learn that he has quite a grudge against you, Syl.” Io turned to her silent sister, who turned away, refusing to answer.

Io sighed and continued. “Not much is known about what happened in the first dungeon he conquered as the entire thing collapsed in on itself, leaving no evidence. The next dungeon he conquered was the one in Flower. Strangely, he changed the dungeon system.”

“What changed? I have been a bit busy with issues among the demons to keep up with it.” Nanduun asked.

“Dungeons no longer take lives. They expel people from the dungeon, taking their equipment as compensation. I actually rather like the new system. People seem to be happier because of it.” Io smiled.

“It was rather funny when Syl’s hero tried to enter the dungeon,” Tilra commented.

“Why are you so obsessed with vexing me!?” Sylfaerune growled.

“Because I think you deserve it. ‘Garbage’ goddess.” Tilra stated with a mocking grin.

Sylfaerune stood with a furious look. After glaring at the goddess for a moment, she left the meeting.

“Tilra.” Io looked at the goddess with a furrowed brow.

“So, what happened?” Nanduun asked.

“The dungeon banned him for trying to mine it. Kept him from entering a few times before taking all his stuff and tossed him back out bare assed.”

Nanduun and Orbus laughed briefly before seeing Io was unhappy and quietly sat in their seats like children who got caught.

“Tilra, you are not allowed to call my sister garbage goddess anymore. That goes for you two as well. Understood?” Io scolded.

They agreed cheerily.

“Io.” Tilra turned to the goddess. “Are you hiding something from us?”

Io tensed before looking away guiltily. “I’m sorry. I am trying to resolve it right now. Please… Give me some time.”

Tilra sighed. “You really need to get out of the habit of trying to shoulder everything. You are just too caring for your own good.” Tilra picked up a document. “At least let me help with some of your documents here.”

Io smiled and thanked Tilra. Nanduun apologized that he could not stay to help. He still had a lot of work to do. Orbus decided to stay for a bit and help Io before heading off to help Nanduun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caeldaemos returned to Thomas’ home using his domain. He sighed, happy he was back.

“Dad!” Lily hugged him. “Hmm?!” She leaned away from him.

“What is it?” He asked.

“You smell like Lady Temerilla.” Lily’s eyes narrowed toward him.

“I, SWEAR, by Io, I did not sleep with her!” He exclaimed, the silver haze rolling over him.

“Okay!” Lily smiled and hugged him again.

Caeldaemos sighed, thankful that Divine Oaths existed in this world.

“You better take a bath before Mom or Liara get back. They will pick up the scent better than me.” Lily advised.

“Thanks, kiddo.” Caeldaemos ruffled her hair before heading to the bath Thomas had.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Entering the bath, he found Thomas was already inside, cleaning himself with soap.

“Hey, brother. Come on in.” Thomas welcomed him.

Caeldaemos chuckled and joined his friend.

“So, was everything okay?” Thomas asked.

Caeldaemos rushed off, giving only a brief explanation of trouble back in Flower.

“It… wrapped up nicely,” Caeldaemos replied, wondering if he might have taken things too far with the temple.

Thomas snorted and rinsed himself off while Caeldaemos soaped himself up.

“That is clearly a response of something either went wrong or you feel guilty about something.” Thomas chuckled and continued to sit on the stool next to Caeldaemos.

“Well… After punishing a rapist hero with a curse of impotence….”

“Harsh. But deserved.” Thomas inserted.

“Then… to protect our ally in Flower… I might have created an avatar of myself and sent it into the temple to wreak havoc and destroy all of the garbage goddess’ symbols and statues….”

Thomas stared at the Demon-Lord with a flat but narrow-eyed expression. “Michael.”

“I-if I didn’t tell him that I was the one who put the curse on him, he would have targeted Lady Temerilla!” He exclaimed.

“That’s fine. But you probably took it too far in destroying the temple.” Thomas said, a bit disappointed in his friend.

“I didn’t destroy the temple! Like I said, I only broke Sylfaerune’s symbols! I didn’t even touch the ones of the other gods!” Caeldaemos tried but slumped his big shoulders.

“Truly? You didn’t hurt anyone, right?” Thomas asked, a small smile coming to his face.

“I didn’t! Oh, well… I did make the hero shit himself.” Caeldaemos reported.

Thomas blinked a couple times before laughing loudly, nearly falling off his stool.

“You gotta be shitting me!” Thomas slapped Caeldaemos’ shoulder as he continued to laugh. “Please tell me you have a recording. I gotta see what you did to make a hero shit himself.”

Caeldaemos smiled. “Course, I got one. I made sure to get a copy from Lady Temerilla.”

The two men lounged in the bath. Thomas was watching the recording crystal as it played the scene for the second time.

“Hot damn! That is what I would expect of a Demon-Lord! Power, fear, terror, a force to be reckoned with!” Thomas said.

“That was half-acting. I was pretty mad at him.” Caeldaemos replied.

A knock came to the door. “Thomas. Are you almost done hogging our husband?” Liara called through.

“Oops. I got taken in too much by that.” Thomas handed the recording over to Caeldaemos, stating he wanted a copy later.

After Thomas had changed and left, the ladies of his party entered the bath.

Originally, Thomas’ bath was only big enough for a couple of people, but Caeldaemos upgraded it with a copy of his portable bath domain.

“Yay!” Lily hopped into the tub, splashing him.

“Hey!” He jokingly scolded her.

“Whoops! Sorry!” Lily went up and nuzzled against his chest.

He smiled and patted her head.

“We will talk about that later, Lily.” Rana glared at the now tense Lily.

“Dad! Save me!” Lily hugged him.

“You knew better,” Caeldaemos replied with a smile.

Lily frowned at him and went over to Mari for support.

Listamati took his left side. Liara took his right. Rana sat on his lap since the day was her turn.

“How did it go, my lord?” Orelia asked.

“See for yourself.” Caeldaemos held up the recorder and used the projection function.

They got angry when they learned that the hero hurt their friend but laughed when they learned that the hero was cursed with impotence. The three wives felt that Caeldaemos took things a bit far in his temple invasion. Lily and Mari were in cheering him on. Orelia was singing praises.

The recording came to an end.

“MY LORD!” Orelia dove against his chest, hugging him, nearly pushing Rana out of the way. “THAT! That is what I was speaking of! Majesty! ABSOLUTE Majesty! My body is tingling right now!” Her cheeks were red, her eyes wild, and her breathing was becoming lewd.

“UH?! CURSE OF SLEEP!” Caeldaemos threw a curse in her face.

Orelia immediately fell asleep against his chest, and he sighed in relief.

“Cael! Did you just curse her!?” Liara demanded to know.

“I adjusted it correctly! She’ll wake up in five minutes, and the curse will go away,” He explained.

“I know she can get wild sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you should be cursing your allies.” Liara chastised him.

“She’ll probably like the idea he cursed her….” Listamati commented while Lily and Mari moved the sleeping priestess to the edge of the bath.

“Next time, we chain her to a chair,” Rana stated, upset she got elbowed in the shoulder.

Caeldaemos chuckled and used a healing spell on her.

He glanced at the still image floating in the air. “Do you think I went too far?” He asked, putting the crystal aside.

“Well, one thing is for sure, the heroes will not be far from each other from now on,” Liara commented.

“True. The nations may take it as I might be targeting the heroes.” Caeldaemos began regretting his decision.

Rana leaned into him. “Don’t worry, Cael. You did something good.”

“Mom’s right! That garbage hero deserved to poop himself!” Lily cheered.

“Huh? He crapped himself? Liara asked, picking up the recording to check again.

“He most definitely did,” Listamati said with a smirk. “Cael, from a logical standpoint, people will question what you said. A hero accused of rape? More than likely, the imperial family will keep him on a short leash and keep the news quiet. People will wonder, ‘Why did the Demon-Lord only destroy symbols of Sylfaerune?’ ‘Why punish the hero that way?’ ‘Why did he leave the symbols of the other gods alone?’ These questions will spread amongst the populace, leading people to question the goddess and her hero. Their suspicions will only build more if you do no harm to the other heroes or their gods.”

“Do you think the other heroes will question this too?” Mari asked.

“More than likely. If you remember what Geon showed us before teleporting us out of her dungeon, the other heroes seem to not like this Gabriel.” Listamati pointed out.

Caeldaemos tilted his head momentarily and summoned his Crys-Link, checking for messages.

“What is it?” Rana asked, looking at the screen. “Oh!”

Caeldaemos smiled as he read the message from Lady Temerilla. “The imperial family has ordered the shitty hero back to the capital of Vauldulin. They requested news of the rape accusation be kept quiet but investigated.”

“Did you do anything with Lady Temerilla?” Liara asked.

“I did nothing of what you suspect,” Caeldaemos stated.

“It’s true! I thought he might have, but he did a Divine Oath.” Lily smiled.

“Must you be such a… gentleman?” Liara asked.

“He is quite the gentleman.” Rana agreed.

“Truly a gentleman,” Listamati stated.

Caeldaemos looked down to see all three ladies smiling while blushing, pressing their bodies against his.

“Uh, oh. Strategic retreat, Mari!” Lily ordered.

Mari saluted, and the two girls carried the now waking-up Orelia.

“Huh? What’s going on?” The priestess asked.

“We are retreating from battle! The Mighty Dragon Daemos is about to wake!” Mari jokingly said.

“Wait!” Orelia woke up fully. “NO! I want to stay!” She was dragged out.

Caeldaemos sighed. “Alright.” Daemos had awoken. “Let’s do battle.” He grinned and created a soundproof domain around them.

Outside the bathroom, Thomas looked at the strange scene before him. A crying priestess leaned against the bathroom door, a blushing demi-cat, and a demi-canine giggled at a scene in the recording.

“Uh, do I want to know?” Thomas asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Um. They are doing battle with the Might Daemos.” Mari commented, blushing a bit more.

“My lord…” Orelia sobbed.

After a moment of thinking, “Oh, come on! In another person’s bath!?” Thomas complained, realizing what was happening within.

“Technically, it is partly Dad’s bath since he upgraded your small one,” Lily commented.

Thomas looked at her and frowned. “Still, that is just bad manners.”

“Tell that to my mom, a fox demon and a demoness,” Lily replied, replaying her favorite part.

Thomas raised both eyebrows while tilting his head. “That’s… a fair point. I’m glad I got my bath out of the way already.” Thomas headed to his couch to read a book.

“Thomas!” Yuna cheerily called in, carrying a bag and Arthur.

“Arthur!” Lily got up to see the boy.

Arthur giggled as Lily took him into her arms.

“He really likes you, Lily.” Yuna smiled.

“Something up, Yuna?” Thomas asked from his seat.

“Everything is good. My seamstress business is going well. I have been getting more orders thanks to Michael’s ideas for business suits. I even had a couple nobles come by today. Has Michael returned?” She asked.

“He’s, uh, preoccupied. Doing battle, was it, Mari?” Thomas said, trying to avoid the subject.

“Yes! Daemos has awoken, and the four of them are doing battle!” Mari replied, burying her head in her arms on the table.

“Daemos?” Yuna asked.

“He’s a mighty dragon. They have yet to defeat him.” Lily said while playing with Arthur.

“Hmm. Perhaps you should help them, Thomas.” Yuna joked, knowing full well he would not be able to take on a dragon.

“There is no way in hell! That thing would kill a human!” He quickly yelled. Thomas had seen it and knew that there was no way in hell a human could handle that thing.

“I was joking, Thomas. I would not expect you to combat a dragon that even the Demon-Lord has trouble with.” Yuna took several ingredients and a cake out of her magic bag.

“Y-Yeah. Demon-Lord, fighting, yeah….” Thomas felt awkward, his face turning red.

Yuna giggled and turned to start cooking. She had been coming over when she could to cook for her benefactors as thanks for giving her a chance to provide Yan and her son a bright future.

Arthur turned his head toward Yuna. “Ma!”

“Huh?!” Lily looked closely at Arthur before turning him toward a frozen Yuna. “Come on, Arthur! You can do it! Say mama to your mama!” Lily goaded the baby on.

“Ma! Mu. Breeeeeeeeeee.” Arthur began babbling.

“Ma-mu-bree? Eh. Good try. Now, ‘ma-ma.’” Lily continued her lesson while pointing in Yuna’s direction.

Yuna’s heart brimmed with happiness. Seeing her son so happy and full of joy.

“MY LORD!” Orelia whined, still in front of the bathroom door.