Interstellar Age

Tia piloted the Vigilance back to Germanic space, where Erich quickly returned to his home. Interestingly enough, he now had Mala following him. As for Mirage, she stayed behind on the ship, not wanting to interfere in the man's personal life.

The moment the door opened to reveal Erich's wife and fiancee, they both frowned. After all, there was a massive woman, even taller than Erich, wrapping her arm around the man. Erika simply sighed and shook her head, before asking the thought that was on Ayumi's mind.

"Am I to presume you have collected another bride?"

Erich had an awkward smile on his face, as he confirmed indeed, this woman was his wife, but he also made it clear that he had accidentally fallen prey to a prank.

"Technically, yes, but I know what you're thinking, and it's not like that. I was pranked! And it ended up in a marriage!"

Ayumi looked at Erich as if the man were an absolute idiot, before expressing this sentiment aloud.

"Erich you dummy..."

She did not know how the man had managed to fall into a marriage, especially with an Orc of all species, but unlike Erika, she knew enough about Orcs and their customs that someone had tricked Erich into a proposal duel.

As for Erika, he was livid, but also, at the same time, exasperated. Since she had already decided to share Erich with Ayumi, she figured she could do so with one more woman.

"I don't even know what to say.... How does one get pranked into a marriage?"

Mala could instantly tell that these were Erich's other wives and introduced herself to them properly.

"Mala Ironhand... I am Erich's new wife, am I to presume you are my sisters?"

Erika gazed up at the muscular beauty, and was confused. But Ayumi answered for her, knowing fully well that Orcs were polygamous, and that the strongest of their men had multiple wives. Sometimes in the hundreds.

"That is correct, although Erich and I are not currently married yet... He seems to be very good at running away from the ceremony..."

It had indeed been years since Erich had been engaged to Ayumi, and during this time she had lived at his place. However it wasn't entirely Erich's fault, Yumi wanted to organize a massive ceremony for her niece, and Erich kept either getting deployed to battle, or in one instance outright kidnapped by the Alfheim Empress.

However, seeing that he was now no longer beholden to the Germanic Military, Erich grabbed hold of Ayumi's dainty hand and promised to marry her soon.

"Although it is not entirely my fault, I did owe you a proper wedding, and I am sorry that I have failed to do so until now. However, you will be happy to know that Empress Lunaria has granted me the title of Archon, and thus, I am now free to choose how I live my life. Thus, I will not leave again until we are married."

This caused a twinkle to appear in Ayumi's amber eyes as she asked for clarification whether or not Erich was being honest.

"Do you really mean that?"

Erich simply smiled and nodded his head before confirming that those were his true feelings. Though at the back of his mind he felt a little guilty, knowing that when S'aleth was finally freed, there would be a million questions he would have to answer about how he ended up with so many women.

But he did not let such a petty matter worry him, and thus he escorted Mala inside the home. Mala looked around and was surprised. The mansion was a quiet luxurious and had a tall enough roof to easily make her feel comfortable. As someone who came from a civilization of nomadic savages who had been uplifted to the interstellar age by the Alfheim Dominion, she was not accustomed to such comfort.

In fact, when she sat down on a sofa, she sprawled out across it, wanting to take in every inch of the leather. As she moaned out loud.

"By the spirits, this is so comfortable...."

Erich smirked when he saw how cute Mala was being. She was acting like an otter as she sprawled out across the leather sofa. He couldn't help but make a comment about it.

"If you think that's comfortable, wait until tonight when you go to sleep. The beds in this house are top-notch."

Upon hearing this, Mala jumped up in excitement. She could hardly believe her ears. She thought the leather bound sofa was the most comfortable thing she had ever sat on. Yet there was bedding that was even better. She could not wait to lie down on one, and she quickly grabbed hold of Erich's hand, while forcing him to show her to a bedroom.

"Come husband, we must go lie down on this bed now!"

Erich chuckled, as he looked towards his other two girls with a helpless gesture. The two women simply shook their head as they watched their man get dragged away by what they thought was a savage. Ayumi could not help but sigh as she let her true thoughts aloud once Erich and Mala were out of earshot.

"It takes a special kind of man to attract a female orc.... Let alone one of the most fearsome War Chiefs in the galaxy."

Erika looked over at Ayumi with a questionable gaze, before asking what the woman meant by her words.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

Ayumi simply sighed before explaining just who it was that Erich had brought home as a wife.

"As a princess of the Great Oni Empire, it was my responsibility to learn about galactic powers, and those who might be a threat to my homeland. The Ironhand Clan is one of the most fierce Orc Clans in existence, and our troops have lost several battles against them over the millennia.

Mala Ironhand is their Warchief, but judging by their customs, the fact that she is now married to Erich essentially means that he is now their War Chief. I don't know where the rest of the clan is, but I hope Erich has ordered them to stop raiding.

After all, it is the fear of many humanoid species, especially their women, that they will be taken off to be little more than breeding sows for the Orcs, who use most half-orcs as cannon fodder. And I would like to see at least one Orc clan stop engaging in such savage behavior."

Erika shivered when she thought about such a fate, before wondering how Erich had managed to win the heart of such a fearsome warrior.

---

While Erich was showing Mala the comfort of his bed, Tia was busy with a personal task. She had come to the understanding that she would never win her master's love without a physical body, and because of this, she had come up with two ways to achieve this. The first was the easier of the two, but it meant she would have to wait longer before she could be intimate with her master.

Theoretically, Tia could hijack one of the many artificial wombs that were now producing Germanic children left and right, and download her consciousness into the fetus. But there were obviously many problems that could result from this. For example, she would lose the ability to be with her Master at all times.

Which was something she did not want to do. Thus, she had instead begun thinking about having an advanced synthetic body being created. There were two routes she could go with, an android body, which was virtually identical to a biological lifeform in every way. Down to the fact that it could bleed.

Or an actual robotic body which took the shape of a female. Naturally, she could customize this robot to look almost exactly like her holographic projection, and it could even change colors based upon her mood, like her current form. But making a robot that could do all of this while also performing the roles of both a lover and a combat assistant. Was difficult. She would need to gather hands on rare materials that were exceptionally expensive.

Which was actually not a problem for her now that she had access to the Alfheim network. She could easily manipulate the galactic stock market to her bidding, in a way that would near instantly grant her the funds she needed.

But then again, there was also the fact that, as an Archon, Tia's master possessed a damn near infinite operations account for him to bill the crown for whatever expenses he needed to perform his duties.

Of course, this would incur the risk of an investigation if she used up too many expenses in such a short time. Thus, Tia decided to hijack the funds of a Ghimderi Cartel, and send them to an anonymous count, where she would invest them in the stock market, while also manipulating the market in a way that instantly gave her a massive return on her investments.

All for the sake of making a body so she could be among her Master's many women. If Erich knew that Tia was playing with the galactic economy as if it were a game of monopoly, all for the sake of being with him. He would have to have a word with her.