Chapter 100: Five seconds each

Erik stared at Laviana for a long time, clearly still unable to understand what this woman had just come up with.

"You want me to lead the Angel Succubi against men?"

"Correct." Laviana nodded with complete seriousness, both hands still resting on his waist. Her expression did not resemble someone making a joke in the slightest. Her red eyes glimmered faintly beneath the firelight. The long tongue that had been teasing Erik’s neck moments ago had obediently withdrawn, but the smile on her lips only made him feel even more certain that whatever came next would not be normal.

Erik frowned and asked, "Didn’t you originally say that world had no men?"

"Only at the beginning." Laviana tilted her head slightly and was about to continue explaining when a hesitant voice suddenly came from behind them.

"Lord Erik..."

Erik turned and saw a female captain standing several meters away. She was the one who had commanded part of the eastern defensive line and had also participated in the reconstruction meeting that afternoon. The blood-covered battle armor she had worn during the day had been replaced by a black shirt and simple combat pants. Her long brown hair was still slightly damp, showing that she had only recently bathed.

What was strange was that this woman, who had stood against a massive monster horde without shedding a tear even when the defensive line was on the verge of collapse, was now standing so rigidly that her shoulders were slightly tense. She held a pale-blue crystal in both hands. Thin streams of light flowed continuously inside it, making it especially conspicuous in the darkness.

Erik recognized it at a glance as a Rank B energy crystal.

To him, it was no longer an especially valuable asset. To Meira, it was even less worth mentioning. But from how carefully the captain held the crystal, almost as though she feared dropping it, Erik immediately understood that its value to her was entirely different.

He looked at her and asked, "Is something wrong?"

The Succubus lowered her head slightly and pressed her lips together for several seconds before finally gathering the courage to step forward. "I... I have something I want to give you."

As she spoke, she held out the crystal. Erik did not take it, merely looking at her gradually reddening face.

"What do you want in exchange?"

The perfectly ordinary question made the captain tremble slightly. She drew a deep breath, looking no different from when she had been summoning all her courage to face the monsters during the day, before finally raising her head to look at him.

"I know a Rank B crystal isn’t worth much to you, but this is the best thing I still have."

Her eyes gradually turned red, making Erik pause slightly.

Behind her, several Succubi who had been eating dinner began noticing what was happening. Another female captain’s expression changed the moment she saw the crystal in her companion’s hand, seemingly realizing at once what the woman intended to do.

The woman standing before Erik tightened her grip on the crystal, her voice growing softer and softer. "I only wanted to ask... may I hug you once?"

Erik froze. Even Laviana raised an eyebrow slightly.

When he did not answer immediately, the captain’s face rapidly turned pale. She hurriedly explained, "Just a hug. I won’t do anything else. Even for a moment... Even five seconds would be enough."

By the time she finished speaking, her eyes had truly reddened.

The other captain immediately hurried over, seized her companion’s arm, and pulled her back while hastily bowing to Erik. "I’m sorry, my lord! She didn’t mean to offend you."

After speaking, she turned and glared at her companion with an expression filled with both worry and anger. "Have you lost your mind?"

The woman parted her lips. "I..."

"Don’t say anything else." The second captain interrupted her, then looked nervously at Erik. "We’ve been stationed in this region for too long. Many people have... have been starving for too long, and so much happened today that she temporarily lost control of herself. Please don’t blame her."

The woman who had been pulled back immediately lowered her head as well and whispered:

"I’m sorry."

The surrounding area gradually fell silent, but none of the Succubi watching them laughed or mocked her. On the contrary, sympathy appeared on many of their faces.

Erik slowly looked around. Only now did he realize that the gazes these women directed at him did not contain mere fascination with his face or body.

There was also a kind of longing that had been suppressed for so long that they had almost come to regard enduring it as normal.

It was not hunger for food.

Erik looked back at the female captain and extended his hand.

"Give me the crystal."

She paused slightly, but immediately placed it in his hand. The woman’s eyes lit up instantly. Yet before she could rejoice, Erik returned it to her palm and gently closed her fingers around it.

"Keep it."

The captain stared at him blankly. "But..."

"It’s only a hug." Erik smiled, then opened one arm. "Why would you need to pay for it? Come here."

The entire area instantly fell silent.

The Succubus stared at him as though she could not understand what she had just heard. Only when Erik raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, "Don’t you want one anymore?" did she finally snap back to her senses.

"I do!"

The captain answered almost immediately and quickly stepped forward. But when she reached Erik, she suddenly slowed down, as though only then remembering that the person standing before her was a man.

Her arms rose halfway, but she had no idea where to put them, so Erik ultimately had to take the initiative and wrap one arm around her back.

The woman’s body instantly stiffened.

For the first two seconds, she barely dared to move. Only during the third did she slowly wrap both arms around Erik’s waist. Her touch was so light that she almost seemed afraid to press against anything more than his clothes, yet even such a simple embrace made her entire body tremble.

Her breathing grew chaotic, and the eyes that had already reddened quickly filled with tears.

Erik said nothing. He held her for exactly five seconds before releasing her.

The Succubus remained standing there as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. She hurriedly lowered her head, seemingly deeply embarrassed to have been seen crying.

"Th-Thank you."

Erik looked at her expression, and his heart grew slightly heavier.

In his old world, a hug had never been something worth mentioning. Yet here, someone had been willing to exchange the most valuable possession she had left for five seconds of one.

At that moment, a soft hand took his.

Meira had approached at some point. But this time, she did not tease him as usual. She merely stood beside Erik, looked at the surrounding Succubi, and sighed softly.

"Erik."

Erik turned toward her. "Hmm?"

Meira looked at him for a moment before slowly saying, "Many people here have lived like this for a very long time. Some have never had a Partner. Some have lost theirs. Others are still nominally connected, but their men left the outpost long ago. A few receive only the minimum replenishment needed to prevent them from losing control."

Erik listened in silence.

Meira looked toward the captain, who was still wiping away her tears, and continued:

"Refined blood and crystals can help to some extent, but the feeling of being genuinely accepted by a man is different. You appeared today, remained on the battlefield, cooked for them yourself, and treated them like ordinary people. To you, those things may not mean much, but to them..."

She paused, then did something rare and lowered her posture before him.

"I know you have no obligation to do anything. But if it’s only a hug, and if you can give them a little more hope to continue living here... then I’m asking you."

Erik looked at her for several seconds before placing a hand on Meira’s head, making her pause slightly. He gently stroked her golden hair and said calmly:

"I never said no."

Meira’s eyes immediately curved into crescents.

"Master is the best."

"Stop flattering me."

"I mean it."

Erik shook his head, then turned toward the surrounding Succubi.

"If you want a hug, that’s fine."

Many pairs of eyes instantly lit up. But before they could celebrate, Erik raised one finger.

"However, take a bath first."

No one said anything.

Erik pointed toward several women who had only just returned from the battlefield, with dust and monster blood still clinging to their hair, and said helplessly:

"I don’t want to smell like a battlefield after tonight."

One Succubus could not help laughing, quickly dispersing the tense atmosphere from moments earlier.

Erik had no idea just how terrifying the consequences of those words would be.

Twenty minutes later, he began regretting them.

A line of Succubi stretched almost all the way from the clearing to the entrance of the administrative building. Every one of them had bathed, freshly washed their hair, and changed into clean clothes. Quite a few had clearly even taken out their carefully stored perfume.

The only problem was that each one had used a different scent.

When dozens of fragrances blended together, Erik began feeling slightly dizzy as he stood in the middle of the courtyard. He rubbed his forehead and said helplessly:

"I only told you to bathe."

The Succubus at the front of the line answered seriously:

"We wanted to show our respect."

Erik looked at the heavily perfumed air, so thick it almost seemed visible to the naked eye, and sighed.

"I can feel it."

Laviana stood behind him, covering her mouth as she laughed. Elowen, who had just returned from the treatment area, stared blankly at the line before her.

"What is happening?"

Meira cheerfully explained:

"Master is giving out free hugs."

Elowen immediately turned toward Erik.

He sighed.

"Only five seconds each."

Elowen looked at the line, then back at Erik. Without saying anything else, she walked over and stood directly beside him.

"I’ll stay here."

Erik raised an eyebrow slightly and asked:

"What for?"

Elowen answered with complete calm:

"To supervise."

Meira immediately burst out laughing, and Laviana quickly understood as well. Elowen clearly did not feel comfortable leaving her husband alone to embrace an entire line of Succubi.

Erik did not expose her. He merely looked at the first woman in line and opened his arms.

"Come here."