Acedia held the back of William’s head, while he slept soundly with his head buried in her chest.
He didn’t do anything to her aside from kissing her lips, and suckling her breast while drinking her blood.
The two of them had an unwritten understanding with each other, that—although the two of them wanted more—this was not the right time to do it.
In truth, Acedia used a bit of her Divinity to allow William to sleep peacefully because she sensed that the latter hadn’t gotten any good sleep as of late. Her Sin was the Sin of Sloth, so she could immediately tell if someone was slacking or not.
For the most part, the Half-Elf had been too busy to even sleep properly, and this concerned her greatly.
William might look fine on the surface, but deep inside, he was nearing his limit. This was why Acedia didn’t hesitate to forcefully make the Half-Elf sleep after he finished drinking her blood.
When Arwen came to the Spring of Life to check on William, she saw him and Acecdia hugging each other, while they were submerged in the water. The doting mother gave Acedia a thumbs up, which the latter ignored her completely, pretending to be asleep.
Several hours later, William finally opened his eyes. The first thing he did was kiss Acedia’s cleavage, leaving a kiss mark behind. This was his way of getting back to her after she used her Divinity to make him sleep.
In truth, William could have resisted her attempt to make him rest, but knowing that she was doing this for his own good, he decided to just allow her to take care of him, and embraced a refreshing and dreamless sleep.
William didn’t pull back right away from Acedia’s embrace. Instead, he hugged her back and just listened to her heartbeat. The Lazy Elf, in turn, lightly petted his head as if patting a little boy who had done a good job.
They stayed like this for a few more minutes before William reluctantly pulled back, and carried Acedia to the surface of the spring.
There, they exchange kisses for a few more times before the Half-Elf bid his farewell.
He didn’t promise Acedia anything like “I will come as soon as I can, so wait for me.”, because that would be the worst thing to say to the lady who had already waited for him for a very long time.
Instead, he just showered her with kisses, and told her he loved her because that was enough to convey his feelings for her.
When William returned to the surface, Arwen came with him to talk to his father.
Maxwell had woken up from his slumber a few days ago, so it was possible to have a dialogue with him. When they arrived at the World Tree, William pressed his right hand over its trunk, and closed his eyes.
The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself in a white world, where his Father, Maxwell, stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I have an idea why you came to see me, but just to be sure that we’re on the same page, tell me why you have returned to the Silvermoon Continent,” Maxwell said.
William held Maxwell’s gaze as he spoke his reason for coming to see him.
“I want to go to the Underworld,” William replied. “Can you help me?”
Maxwell sighed before nodding his head.
“Your mother and I share a special connection so whatever she hears, and see, I can hear and see as well,” Maxwell explained. “Good job in defeating Felix and his minion Aka Manah. As for Ahriman… well, I hate to tell you but it takes more than killing a Primordial God to kill him. Even if his body is destroyed, his Divine Soul could leave his body and escape.”
William nodded in agreement with his father’s words. Although the attack he dealt to Ahriman was lethal, no traces of him were seen after the battle, so the three Goddesses, Eros, Astrid, and Lyssa, believed that Ahriman is still alive.
“Well, let’s not talk about that Primordial God. It will take him a very long time to recover, so let the future generations deal with him,” Maxwell changed the topic as he eyed his son. “Let’s talk about the goal you want to accomplish by going to the Underworld. If you’re asking if it’s possible for me to open a path to the Underworld then the answer is yes.
“However, that’s it. I can just open a path that leads to the Underworld. As to how you can actually get to the place you want to go, you will have to handle it yourself.”
“I understand.” William nodded. “As long as there’s a way, I will find it.”
Maxwell smiled as he walked towards his son and patted his shoulder.
“As expected of my son,” Maxwell said. “If not for the fact that Arwen is a very jealous lady, and being forced to become one with the World Tree, I might have had four wives by now.”
William gazed at his father with a calm expression on his face. A part of him wanted to say “Rookie Numbers” to his father because he had far surpassed ten lovers already. However, for the sake of the family’s peace, he kept his mouth shut and just nodded his head.
Seeing that his son was such an understanding and supportive person, Maxwell decided to tell him the 100 ways on how to make any girl fall in love with him.
William listened to this, and just kept on nodding as if he was learning a lot of things from an expert. After Maxwell finished his coaching session, he told William that he needed to wait until midnight before the boundary between the World of the Living and the World of the Dead became thin, allowing him to briefly open a passageway to connect both worlds.
Since he still had a few more hours to spare, the Father and Son pair continued to talk about the future.
“I know that this is a bit late coming from me, but are you interested in having a little brother or sister?” Maxwell asked.
William blinked once then twice before looking at his father with the “Are you on drugs?” gaze, making the latter chuckle.
“I am now able to materialize my original body out of the World Tree for an hour or two,” Maxwell said. “I still haven’t told this to your mother because I didn’t want to give her false hope. I only experiment whenever she is asleep.”
“I think Mother will be happy to know that you are able to leave the World Tree for brief periods of time.”
“I’m sure she will, but let’s just keep it a secret for now. I want to make sure that there will be no problems when I embrace her again.”
The Half-Elf smiled because he felt as though his father’s worries were quite funny. Clearly, he didn’t want any mishaps to happen after years of being unable to hold the woman he loved, due to being assimilated by the World Tree.
“I understand,” William replied. “I will keep this as a secret from her.”
Maxwell happily patted Wiliam’s shoulder as if a great burden had just been taken off his shoulders. “Great! As expected of my son.”
After a few more minutes William opened his eyes and returned to the real world. Arwen who was standing beside him looked at him with a hopeful look in her eyes.
In truth, she was quite worried that Maxwell wouldn’t be able to help William with his goal to go to the Underworld, but after the black-haired teenager assured her that his father was going to help him, the beautiful Elf hugged her son in happiness.
Clearly, she was also looking forward to talking to William’s wives, whose bodies had been lying peacefully within the Spring of Life.
Suddenly, several Elves appeared in the Sacred Grove, including Princess Eowyn. Now that the battle against the Heir of Darkness has ended, most of them felt relief because their race was no longer in danger.
However, none of the Elves still had reverted to their original forms, because William wanted to make sure that none of them disobeyed his command.
Still, he assured them that he would return them to their original forms after five years, or when the Ahriman’s death was confirmed.
Until then, the Elves would remain as Drows and follow William’s orders.
For the Elves, five years was nothing. They were a long-lived race, so their sense of time was different to that of a Human. As long as William kept his word, they would not disobey his commands, and follow his lead wherever he may go.
“Good Day, Your Majesty,” Princess Eowyn bowed respectfully to the black-haired teenager who had now become the Emperor of the Ainsworth Empire. Since this was the case, the Princess of the Elves, treated him in a manner befitting of his status.
“Eowyn.” William gave the Elven Princess a brief nod. “What brings you here?”
“Your Majesty, I came here to ask if it is safe to return the Elf children back to their territories since the fight against the Heir of Darkness is over,” Princess Eowyn replied.
William rubbed his chin as he pondered the answer to this question. Although his battle with Felix had ended, he would still be fighting against the Holy Order of Light, and he wasn’t sure if they would attack the Silvermoon Continent or not.
Since he was also the temporary ruler of the Drows, it was up to him whether the Martial Law Decree would be lifted, so that all the Elf children could return to their respective hometowns.
“Ahriman’s death still isn’t confirmed, so it’s too early to think that the battle is over,” William replied after careful consideration. “For now, let them stay in the shelters for three more months. If nothing happens during that time, you can give the order for them to return to their hometowns.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Princess Eowyn bowed her head respectfully.
Beside the Elf Princess, Pearl remained silent and kept her head lowered. William had allowed her to stay by Princess Eowyn’s side as her protector, to ensure her safety.
While she still harbored a grudge against William, it was no longer as intense as it was in the past. Part of this was the fact that the Half-Elf had fought for the sake of the race, and rid them of Felix’s and Ahriman’s threat.
“Is there anything else you need from me, Eowyn?” William asked. He had long stopped calling Eowyn, Princess Eowyn, because he needed to act as someone with the bearing of an Emperor.
This was to ensure that his subordinates would understand the role he played, allowing them to adapt to their Master’s new rank and responsibility.
“Yes,” Princess Eowyn answered. “Thank you for your time, Your Majesty.”
William gave the Princess a curt nod before turning around to open a portal that would lead him to the Thousand Beast Domain.
The path to the underworld would open in several hours, so he decided to make some last minute preparations before entering the Domain that belonged solely to the dead, where the God of Death was supposed to reside.
Princess Eowyn glanced at William’s retreating figure with a complicated look on her face. In truth she wanted to say more things to the Half-Elf, but after seeing his reaction, she could tell that he wasn’t in the mood to talk about politics.
In truth, the Royal Family, and the Elven Council, had already lost the power to make decisions regarding the affairs of the Elven Race.
They only took orders from William, who held the power to lift the curse from their bodies.
However, the Half-Elf wasn’t always there to oversee the Elven Race, because of this, she wanted to ask him to delegate a person who would handle the affairs of the Elven Kingdom, and give them a sense of security in these troubled times.
‘I guess I should talk to Master first and let her handle this,’ Princess Eowyn thought as she glanced at Arwen, who was currently communicating with the World Tree.
Although the Prince of Darkness was a mighty existence, he deeply cared about his family, and Princess Eowyn hoped that Arwen would help them deal with the current problems that their entire race was facing at this point in time.
