Al woke up the next day feeling his hands and feet were completely numb.
His chest felt as if it were being pressed down by some mysterious weight, making his breathing difficult.
Opening his eyes, on the left was the cow-girl holding his left hand and clamping his left leg.
Looking to the right, it was Hera holding his right hand and leg, her body curled into a ball, with her large tail draped across his chest.
The tip of her tail occasionally brushed across his chin and lips.
The wolf-girl's expression was sweet and naive, radiating an aura of simple-minded wisdom.
There was a massive gap between her and her three elder siblings; she was a large wolf-girl who was a fusion of wildness, recklessness, naivety, and rage.
Al recalled that, apart from the cow-girl, the sequence of the first batch of original scions had never been systematically arranged.
It was just that four exceptionally outstanding scions, including Misha, had become Legion Masters and were ranked one through four.
Hera had completely fought her way up by sheer force.
She had beaten every scion who didn't recognize her status as an older sister, except for Misha, Barbatos, and Kael'thas.
Ultimately, she rose to power and entered her Little Father's sight through matchless energy, formidable combat power, innate terrifying battle intuition, and a level of dorkiness that made Al feel an involuntary affection for a comedy character.
She had never given up on challenging the three sisters and brothers ranked before her to prove she was the most capable.
Kael'thas's method for dealing with Hera was magical restriction followed by outwitting her, forcing the wolf-girl to realize she couldn't quite knock over this seemingly frail brother, leading her to give up.
Barbatos simply didn't want to fight the wolf-girl.
He—er, she—dragged Hera to drink heartily for two consecutive days, successfully becoming very close buddies, causing Hera to abandon her challenge against Barbatos.
After all, this dorky big wolf's simple cognition meant there weren't many people she could get along with; Barbatos was the best among them.
Finally, Misha relied on her status as the "Eldest of all Scions" having gotten ahead by one step—when the first batch was born, she was the first, and the first infant Al ever picked up was also her.
Combined with equally formidable combat power, she suppressed the wolf-girl in restricted duels.
This forced the wolf-girl—who felt stifled and aggrieved because she couldn't use her full strength or fight a life-and-death battle with a blood-sibling—to feel powerless, and she finally gave up.
Such an oddball was rare even among Al's scions.
And because she was dorky like a husky and very clingy, with a personality that would obediently follow Al's words even if she was incredibly reluctant, she was deeply loved by Al.
Although the other scions weren't particularly close to this "Fourth Sister," and the centaur girl disliked the wolf-girl because her head seemed to lack a few screws and she was too clingy—
Mostly because the target of her clinginess was her adopted son and little husband.
But at least Al very much enjoyed Hera's personality.
Al gently attempted to retract his pinned arm.
With just a slight movement, the wolf-girl, with her acute senses, woke up, her movements so slick that Al suspected she hadn't been asleep at all.
Hera opened her eyes, stretched her body, and seeing the boy awake, excitedly rubbed her face against Al's.
"Father!"
Her tail finally retracted from Al's chest; she stared with wide eyes, rubbing against Al's right cheek with sparkling eyes.
The gazes she cast at Al were always of those few types:
Excitement, obedience, longing, joy, satisfaction, curiosity, and feeling wronged...
Hera's way of expressing emotions was very blunt; her body language and eyes could always most intuitively convey her inner thoughts, though this was mostly reserved for Al.
"Mm."
Al responded, taking the opportunity to liberate his long-suppressed right limbs.
Although still entangled by the wolf-girl, he could finally move a little.
Simultaneously, he began to think about why he would...
Wait!
Al's pupils shrank violently.
Waking up with a beauty in each arm, a man lying beside two big girls...
This was normal for Al; in the past, even when busy with affairs, he almost always slept with one or more harem members to maintain self-discipline.
Although it was like that...
But Al didn't trust himself!
"Oh, it's Misha and Hera, so it should be..."
The two were half-daughters in terms of bloodline; Al figured father and daughter occasionally sleeping in the same bed should be...
Dammit, it seems even more terrifying!
I am already a heavy-duty furry fan and a MILF fan.
If I'm labeled as someone who doesn't even spare his own blood scions, I might as well change my title from Everchosen to the Prince of Darkness!
In his panic, Al discovered the three of them were still fully clothed.
The restless Hera was wearing very little, looking quite hot; her full pair of breasts—though no match for the centaur or the widow—
were rubbing against Al's arm as she moved.
Misha had only removed her outer coat. The cow-girl was already awake too.
She opened her eyes, staring blankly at her little father who was being pampered by the wolf-girl, her thoughts unknown.
Al's heart was as still as water.
He crawled out from the pincer formation of his two daughters, putting on his coat and trousers.
The daughters also rose from the bed. The wolf-girl yawned, smacked her lips, and sat kneeling on the bed, licking her lips and teeth while waiting for Al's next move, looking incredibly dorky.
Compared to the always serious cow-girl, who only showed her cute side to Al in private, they seemed to be creatures from two completely different art styles.
#Query Hera's bloodline.
If it was like this, it made sense why the unreliable Barbatos could get along so well with Hera.
Both of their art styles were more or less eccentric.
But Al felt they were very genuine and unique, possessing a kind of...
Pure beauty?
Al's body had completely recovered; the biggest stimulus earlier had been the mental shock.
Since the centaur girl wasn't around, he temporarily pushed it aside. He sat down and lay his head on the big wolf-girl's lap.
Hera enthusiastically gave her father a lap-pillow, though her clumsy hands couldn't help but want to touch Al's face and body, or pinch his short hair.
Al exchanged thoughts with Misha regarding the next arrangements for the tribe.
There wasn't much to discuss; the plan was already set, needing only the victorious conclusion of this war.
The next stage of the tribal plan was still centered on digesting those two hundred thousand refugees.
Capturing every Chaos Beastman in the Piña Forest might not even yield one hundred and fifty thousand people.
Furthermore, since Al intended to find a way to annex Estalia and replace it, absorbing its manpower and resources,
it was impossible to rely solely on Beastmen to manage Estalians who outnumbered them ten to one.
That would inevitably lead to a path of domination and enslavement.
He still had to rely on qualified, loyal Estalians selected from the bureaucrats, priests, and scholars to build various levels of institutions and complete the construction and management of the new nation.
Without external threats, the resource crisis was actually easy to overcome.
In the rapidly developing Piña Forest, the growth cycles of flora and fauna had changed drastically.
Taking the edible fungi discovered and cultivated by the Beastmen as an example, it used to take at least half a month to harvest a batch.
Now, after just one night, the spores sown might have already developed into mushrooms ready for harvest.
Sometimes it took three, four, or six to seven days; while the patterns weren't fully mastered yet, the time cost had indeed been significantly reduced.
And the growth and breeding speed of common prey like wild rabbits and forest rats had seen a corresponding increase.
As long as there were no external threats, Al could easily split off hundreds or thousands of settlements and organize expansion on a family basis.
Pure food scarcity was no longer the primary issue troubling the tribe.
He mainly wanted to solve the problem of truly grasping the hearts of these roughly two hundred thousand refugees who had converted from Myrmidia to the Four Mothers and joined the tribe from the Kingdom during this precious developmental period.
Transforming them from a group of mortals burdened with labels like "traitors," "apostates," or "insincere converts due to circumstance,"
Into true warriors of the Four Mothers who understood the faith, understood the grand cause of the Everchosen, and were willing to become his hammer, sickle, spear, and shield to fight for him and the Gods!
This was the foundation for Al's subsequent three-step strategy of "Punishing Crimes on Behalf of the People," "Entering the Pass," and "Establishing the Nation"!