With the situation developing like this, slightly veering towards machines, bondage, and R18G (guro/hardcore), Al felt some regret.
No matter how angry he was at the time, there were plenty of other punishment methods. He shouldn't have handed the swordswoman over to Claudia under the guise of "education."
As expected, Claudia truly lived up to being a corrupted Paladin who believed in the Reveler.
She immediately cooked up a whole set for him:
Full-Body Tight Bondage, Forced Machine 1.0.
He didn't even know how Claudia managed to build this thing.
Although he angrily rebuked her at the time, lecturing her on the principle that "a warrior can be killed but not humiliated," it was true that this alternative experience seemed...
Coupled with his lingering anger, Al felt that, aside from the one Claudia he had touched, he provided the other two with good food and drink, hadn't starved them or laid a finger on them. He just had the Huntress go work as a ransom payment. Weren't such generous conditions enough?
Weren't they reasonable!
Let alone the Chaos faction, even the Order faction wouldn't treat prisoners this well!
And in return, he got two more assassination attempts.
Al's anger and lust intertwined. Under the ecstatic gaze of the Reveler, and with Claudia's assistance, he tried out brand new playstyles on the red-haired swordswoman Ann.
Dolls, servitors, and the like...
Al massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling his moral compass was slipping a bit too far. Ultimately, this wasn't entirely the swordswoman's fault.
The latter saw what Claudia had become, believed the Paladin had already been corrupted and fallen, and feared that she and her companion would suffer the same fate in the future. Deciding to burn her bridges and strike first, she attempted to assassinate Al at all costs.
She also planned to kill the little nun before making her move, to spare her from facing a tragic end.
As time passed, Al had also relaxed his supervision of the two, giving them moderate freedom. The nun often hung around with the goat and bunny girls. Her originally firm faith in the Goddess Myrmidia seemed to gradually become mixed with other things, developing in a strange direction.
Ann couldn't find a good opportunity, and it just so happened that Al recently felt he had been indulging too much in lust and decided to practice abstinence for a while. Taking advantage of a brief moment when there was no one around him, she attempted to assassinate Al.
However, what she didn't expect was that someone had been monitoring her every move. The moment she decided to strike.
Ann's former companion, the corrupted Paladin Claudia, had already been lying in ambush in the royal tent for a long time... (The assassination plot is in the group chat).
The Everchosen's private life is merely a minor detail (spoken loudly)!
An Everchosen who can lead everyone to victory is a good Everchosen!
Al pulled Claudia outside, leaving the armored beauty alone where she was.
Outside the royal tent, the sky had grown dark. The bodyguards still stood on both sides holding their weapons.
Silent, not uttering a single word.
Only loyalty!
Al warned Claudia not to go too far. Severe punishment is one thing, but don't break her. He repeatedly emphasized that he (currently) didn't like things that were too hardcore. The Paladin nodded, though it was unclear if she actually listened.
Al sighed, mourning the fact that his moral standards, which had barely managed to climb back up a bit after interacting with the Grand Sister, had plummeted back to rock bottom.
In certain aspects, like smut, smut, and more smut.
Al corrupted, or rather, indulged himself extremely quickly, yet in other aspects, he retained an astonishing stubbornness.
When the Four Gods gave him power, they also gave Al certain other things.
"How are the people returning from Cerebrio doing?"
Al summoned his scion, a goat girl he had previously left to guard the main tribe. She was one of his first batch of scions, the first generation of the Sons of Al.
Because she preferred administration and handling domestic affairs over war, she was trained and utilized as a civil official.
"Initially, their frequency of praying in the camp and seeking guidance from the Shaman priests was very high. Afterward, it gradually decreased. Recently, quite a few people have started trying to understand and accept the orthodox faith of the Four Gods!"
The goat girl bowed her head, her right hand resting on her chest.
Her little father didn't like his scions kneeling, so aside from very special, solemn occasions, they generally used simple gestures to show respect to their father.
"The Sagegor advisors proposed a suggestion. They hope that through a massive miracle, those people will realize the true faith of the Four Gods and the supremacy of the Everchosen, completely surrendering to Father's command!"
Al stroked his chin, feeling this plan
was feasible.
Then he reached out and rubbed the goat girl's downy, furry hair.
"Very well done, I will make the arrangements."
"It's getting late, hurry and go rest. There's more to do tomorrow."
He gently pushed the goat girl forward. The latter was clearly invigorated and energized by her little father's praise. If Al didn't forcibly order her to, she would probably work through the night and do overtime for the tribe's cause.
These scions, almost from the day they were born, carried an inherent firm conviction and fanaticism toward Al.
Al highly valued his first two batches of scions. Misha and the others went without saying; because the first-generation scions grew incredibly fast and, led by Misha, loved clinging to their little father all day, Al had no choice but to deal with them, so they could barely be considered "raised before his eyes" and "brought up by his own hands."
There was a deeper emotional bond.
Strictly speaking, the second batch was the true first batch of "Sons of Al." That is, according to the original design, they were fast-growing, highly capable, short-lived, sterile expendable warriors.
Although, compared to the first generation, the time of "fatherly love and filial piety" between them and their little father was not much, and Al's feelings for them weren't as deep as for Misha and her group, they were still born while he was around, so there was barely an emotional connection.
The later ones were all scions cultivated by the first-generation scions themselves using their little father's blood, so that special layer of relationship was absent.
Even though all the scions born bearing Al's bloodline shared the same traits:
Firm will, and fanaticism toward their shared little father.
Still, it was hard for Al to immediately and calmly accept having so many "sons and daughters" and instantly insert himself into the role of their father.
Although this was somewhat cruel to the later scions...
"Cerebrio..." Al walked the goat girl back to her quarters, ordered this daughter to go to sleep like a good girl, and then took his bodyguards outside the camp.
This city was destined to leave a very important mark in Al's heart.
It was the first, the very beginning.
That was after the Battle of Demontrei and the eastward migration. Because the campaigns since leaving Piña had been too smooth, Al had become somewhat complacent.
After migrating east, upon learning that there was another Estalian city not far to the south, namely "Cerebrio," which had not yet fallen or been swept by the Greenskins, Al believed that saving two cities was fine, and saving three just took a bit more effort. However, because the distance was quite far this time, he didn't personally lead the army. Instead, he stayed at the main tribal camp to manage affairs.
He dispatched half of the Estalian Auxilia, three thousand men, along with two thousand Khorngors, the Troll Bombardier Regiment, tamed Wyverns, the Blessed Minotaur Commander, Sagegor advisors, and two of the first-generation scions.
In Al's eyes, this lineup should have been a guaranteed win against a Greenskin force of the same size. Furthermore, they marched the entire way under the cover of the Inara Mountains, with wolf pack scouts lighting up the vision, so there was no possibility of an ambush. Even if a squad of Greenskins suddenly charged straight at them, the Expeditionary Force, based on Al's deployments, had nearly an hour's buffer distance to fully prepare.
But what he absolutely never expected was that the accident didn't come from the Greenskins.
Cerebrio!
Al's thoughts drifted back to that betrayal that made him furious beyond belief.
Raze it!
It must be razed to the ground!