Chapter 83 - The Wild Hunt

—Cole POV—

"The Wild Hunt…", I said recalling where I had seen the armor from in the Church's portrait.

"Is that what they are called?", Medea replied with surprise, "I have spoken to several Otherworlders about them before, but you are the first to recognize them. Are you familiar with them then?"

"Loosely familiar, yes.", I answered honestly, "They are a military order that traverses the Omniverse in search of new lands to conquer and humans to enslave. Their race, the Aen Elle, abandoned their homeworld long ago and took over a new one after many centuries of war. Their Order consists of powerful swordsmen and mages called Navigators, these Navigators are the ones responsible for their World Traveling."

Even though I said I was loosely familiar with them, I really didn't know all that much. I couldn't remember any of their names, I vaguely recalled their use of Unicorns, and that their leader was the one responsible for killing their former King. Only one of the Aen Elle knew of his treachery, and that man was helping keep Ciri out of their reach.

'Speaking of Ciri, the poor girl is going to have a much harder time staying out of their hands.', I thought sending positive energy her way.

"Why bother with us then? If they wanted to take humans, most of us wouldn't have lifted a finger to stop them.", Medea huffed in annoyance, "Personally I preferred watching the mortal worlds rather than intermingling with the populace. Mortals are such finicky beings, one moment they are praising your name then the next they are cursing you for a perceived betrayal of faith. I gave up blessing beings eons ago for that reason."

"I see, I am sorry to hear.", I said with a sarcastic tone as I raised my hand to Malty's face, "Moving on, now that I know who harmed Cis and killed all of you…I see no reason to keep you alive. After all, you are the one aiding the Wave Organization and the one fusing the worlds together. Killing you now saves me a lot of future headaches and will free the Legendary Heroes of their obligation of fighting you."

"You wouldn't dare, if you kill me this girl dies with me.", Medea replied with a smirk, "If she dies the Royal Family will be in an uproar."

"You make it sound like I don't have a workaround for that.", I informed her with an equally devilish smile, "I have the ability to Time Travel, all I need to do is go back and smother Malty in her crib and you disappear without any trace. In fact, killing you that way means the Heroes will get summoned properly, all the misdeeds Malty did will be undone, and the Wave Organization will be left without a benefactor. If you ask me, those are all very good reasons to eviscerate you."

Staring into my eyes to see if I was bluffing, sweat started to form on her forehead as she realized I wasn't. Quickly switching to bribing me to spare her, Medea offered to give me a large assortment of rare items and wealth for her life. Showing her a portion of my own personal wealth, I told her I did not need hers.

"Maybe you would like this girl's body then! If you want, I can make her do-", Medea started to say before I grabbed her by the throat.

"Apparently you weren't paying attention the last time Malty suggested such a wretched thing. I wouldn't consider sleeping with Malty even if she was the last woman in this world. I'd sooner put a bullet in my head than consider her a partner.", I mocked her as I started crushing her throat, "Times running out…"

Thrashing around trying to break free, Medea quickly realized Malty was far too weak to break out of my grip. Closing her eyes, she waited for me to snap her neck and end it all. Before I could do that, Melty came barreling down the stairs from where she'd been hiding for the past few minutes.

"Please wait!!", Melty shouted as she ran into the kitchen.

Holding onto my arm, Melty pleaded with me to let her sister live for now. Melty insisted on trying to find a way to separate Medea from Malty without killing her sister.

"That isn't possible, part of Medea's Soul makes up Malty's. Removing Medea will at best put Malty in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, and worst make her experience feeling her soul crumble away. As someone who has had their spirit hit before I can assure you that it is far worse than any physical pain you can inflict on someone."

"Still though, I refuse to give up on her!", Melty said firmly, "If there is even the slightest chance to save her, I will do it!"

Realizing that I wasn't going to win this argument with her, I let Malty go and told Melty I would spare her for now. Thanking me, Melty turned to Medea and demanded that she give Malty back immediately. Seizing the opportunity to retreat into her subconscious, Medea relinquished control of her body leaving Malty in a flustered state.

Pissing herself as she sat on the floor, the blood from her face vanished as she regained control of her body. In a moment of weakness, Malty latched onto Melty's dress repeatedly thanking her for sparing her life. Apologizing to her for being a wretched sister, she knew that she didn't deserve to be spared after everything she'd done.

"Why didn't you tell us about the voice in your head?", Melty inquired.

"I didn't want to end up in a Sanitorium!", Malty remarked, "I have seen what the Church did to people in there, I didn't want to be experimented on by them. Besides…I was rewarded handsomely for my work."

"We will need to tell Father and Mother about this. While it won't absolve your sins, it will certainly help them feel that they did all they could to raise you right. Both of them think they failed you, and it's eating them up.", Melty said, "Let's go get you cleaned up and changed into clean clothing."

—A Few Hours Later—

Heading to the Castle with my family, Malty, and Melty, today the Queen would formally grant me the title of Archduke. Having teleported the Queen's entourage and King back home the night before, they had made all the necessary preparations for this prior to our arrival this afternoon. As we were walking through the city, the place was a buzz as nonhumans were hurriedly packing up their belongings and making a beeline out of the capital.

"Are they all going to our territory?", Aria spoke up as we let a wagon by, "I expected a lot of people to move, but this is way more than I thought."

"This is about what we expected.", Melty admitted as we continued on, "They are moving while things are still chaotic. If they wait too long, noblemen are going to start blocking them from moving out of their territories. Part of the reason Mother is pushing the ceremony up is to distract the nobleman."

Melty wasn't wrong, Nonhumans were taking advantage of the chaos in the ranks to get out before things got crazy. The noblemen were too preoccupied with sucking up to the Crown to notice that the majority of their labor force was fleeing their territory. The populace understood this chaos wasn't going to last long so everyone was using it to their advantage.

"It's a good thing we have lots of workers preparing our territory for them, otherwise we'd have nowhere to house them.", Gearnia remarked waving at the children who passed us by in the wagons, "They will have a much brighter future under our care and protection."

Agreeing with her, I reminded everyone that we had to hurry to the castle. Picking up the pace, we managed to reach the castle just as they were about to close the doors. Letting us in without any problems, Melty and Malty broke off to join their parents who were already waiting in the Throne Room. Hanging around outside, waiting for our authorization to enter, several of my wives wandered off to explore the Castle and its contents.

"Is it usual to make nobles wait like this?", Ryuko asked having never been in this position before.

"Depends on what is happening, given the circumstances the noblemen are likely being berated by the Crown for their actions.", Yesenia said swimming through the air around us, "Seeing as how they were bidding for the Queen in secret, I am surprised she hasn't killed them all."

'Haha…Game of Thrones much…', I thought with a smirk as I heard the door begin to open, "Alright, everyone get ready!"

Forcibly teleporting my missing wives back to me, I found them eating food they found in the kitchen. Rubbing my forehead in embarrassment as the doors opened up completely, I led us into the massive stone room. Taking a knee at the foot of the throne, as a sign of respect, the Queen gave me a happy smile as she nodded her head.

"Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come today. I apologize for making you wait outside…we had to discuss some financial issues with my Court.", she said with a pleased smile, "It seems some of them accidentally forgot to pay their dues to the Crown, but that's been cleared up now."

"I am happy to hear that.", I replied holding back a chuckle.

Presenting me with an ornate cloak, Queen Mirellia bestowed my new title on me. Making sure that all in attendance knew I answered only to the Crown, I watched her let off a toothy grin of amusement as they shifted around uncomfortably. Turning to one of the Shadows, she asked that a large map be brought forward so she could mark out my territory. Doing as they commanded, the map was quickly carried out along with a quill and inkwell. Watching her mark off nearly a third of Melromarc, the nobles quickly rose to their feet in protest.