Draco entered the Evergreen Manor with Natasha in tow. The first thing he noticed was that the presence of people had greatly increased… almost staggeringly so.
He had never stayed long in the other villages while he was enlightening the natives, so the girls who were selected to 'care' for him had been unable to do so.
As a clever compromise, the lords simply sent them over to Evergreen Manor, where Doris and Hoover had situated them and prepared them for Draco's return. The old butler was quite strict with the maids, taking no nonsense from these girls regardless of whatever personalities or prior standing they had.
In his beloved manor, they were all simple maids who would serve the manor - and more importantly - its Lord wholeheartedly or get lost! The girls were somewhat fine with serving the Lord, yet many of them were indignant about being made to work as maids given their other talents, but what could they do?
The only silver lining was that there had been barely any work aside from Hoover's training since Draco had left to enlighten the people only returning today. As soon as he appeared, Hoover was the first to greet him with Doris by his side, while the various girls from the other villages rushed over as the news spread.
They had seen Draco before when he came to their villages of course, but for the majority, this was their first time actually meeting him as he never really paid them any attention. As such, they were curious to see how he planned to handle them.
"Welcome back, my Lord." Hoover and Doris greeted him with servile bows.
"Welcome back, our Lord." The other ladies quickly greeted, copying the two professionals before them.
Draco simply nodded with a light smile and took in the sight of the various beauties. Seeing that they were all specced to his taste, he commended those politicians for knowing how to handle matters that yielded them great benefits.
"I am back. I managed to help my fellow crafters attain some minor enlightenment through my actions, so I'm satisfied. With this, the extremely talented people of the Refinement God's World should be able to take a sure step forward in honor of the Supreme Ancestor." Draco managed to utter those pleasant words with a straight face.
This made the hearts of all listeners soften. They knew that Draco had done them a great favor in their path to becoming descendants that their Supreme Ancestor could be proud of, a wish they all collectively held.
Not only that, but he didn't extract anything in return. Simply sending women over for him to play with was not an equivalent exchange, especially since most of them came willingly. They would have done it based on his talent alone, not just his deeds.
This was a selfless act that moved every resident in the inner section, even if many did not say it out loud. Their notions that the outsiders were evil and murderous rogues had been snuffed by Draco up to this point, and they all began to idolize him.
After all, the competition to acquire the inheritance could begin at any time really. To enlighten everyone regardless meant he would also be giving his rivals a gun to shoot him with.
Yet, he still did so. How could they not be impressed?
Especially the people here. From Natasha to even Hoover, they were all greatly touched. Their respect for Draco had soared to untold heights, as they realized that this was a visionary fellow who cared more about the essence than the form.
"Mn. Lord Draco should be tired, so let me fix your bath for you." Doris suggested with a smile, moving towards the washroom to get things ready.
Draco chuckled and spoke with the various girls here, getting their names and their Tradeskills. He even asked them about various difficulties they had and gave some suggestions on how to bypass them.
Of course, not everything he said was utter perfection, as he didn't know everything about every Tradeskill. Still, his attempts to know more about them and assist their craft made their initially good impression of him soar once more.
Already, it was less about climbing up the ladder and more of a genuine growing affection for this handsome fellow who was so gentle and thoughtful.
Sigh, when could the heavens finally lay their eyes upon this shameless fellow and strike him down…?
Draco finally noticed something missing and turned to Hoover. "Where is Ophie?"
He had yet to see the halfling, and his Control was on passive mode. Hoover scratched his head and laughed awkwardly. "Well, in order to adhere to your request, I suggested that she enter hibernation as she was suffering from neglect."
Draco's lips twitched as he slapped his forehead. That was right, he told the halfling not to touch herself in any way for one week, and as a reward, he would satiate her l.u.s.t and bring her to euphoria.
However, he ended up spending two weeks away for the enlightenment stuff. Towards the end, he even forgot about everything else as he wholeheartedly explored the changes in his two techniques.
Not only was that double the time, but many new girls must have been popping up here over the last few days, giving Ophie untold pressure. It was likely that she would doubt herself and her importance to Draco compared to those coming in.
After all, any fool could see the one trait they all shared, namely nice and shapely butts that were either medium or large-sized. However, Ophie was blessed with a powerful bust and her butt was just a little above good.
If Draco was to devour all these ladies, when would her turn finally arrive…?
Not to mention that the reason Draco told her not to touch herself was to spike her l.u.s.t and raise her sensitivity. For a person who had recently experienced the pleasure of climax through masturbation, they would quickly become addicted and have a hard time stopping.
However, once they did so for a certain period of time, their sensitivity would spike to crazy degrees. Draco wanted to use that plus his own s.e.x.u.a.l prowess to break Ophie's mind during her first time, drowning her in pleasure till she turned stupid.
But he had overshot the due date, and Ophie was struggling to resist her new addiction. Each day was torturous as something in her mind whispered to her to let go and just enjoy the pleasure, after all, how would Draco ever find out? Besides, with so many girls, it would likely be months before she got a turn.
It was likely that Hoover had noticed that she had become clumsy, distracted, and fatigued due to her stifled desires. As such, he quietly put her in an induced coma so that she could skip the torturous period until Draco came back.
Draco could only sigh. He owed the halfling for doing this. A promise was a promise, so he shouldn't have gotten too caught up in his own machinations to ignore the kind of pain that Ophie was going through.
Not only that, but Draco was also once again moved by Hoover's foresight and wisdom. This was a butler who was extremely aware and astute, always silently cleaning up after his master and paving the road before him to make his steps smoother.
Draco nodded to Hoover. "Well done. A hard-working servant requires an equivalent reward for his work."
Draco tossed over a medium-grade Aether Crystal to Hoover, who received it with a servile kowtow. This sight also shocked the girls to their core, including Natasha.
For them, this was their first time seeing a legendary Aether Crystal thrown about so easily. This was something that was not organically produced here, and its quantity in every generation decreased.
These ladies were quite clever themselves, and they finally realized something they had not taken into account in all their deliberations.
Draco was an outsider!
Of course, this had a different tune than what went through their heads before. It was no longer about his specific identity as an outsider, but his status as an outsider.
Or to put it simply, who was he in the outside world? This was not something anyone cared about or bothered to think about because many outsiders had come in, but the people of the Treasury could not go out.
In that case, why should it matter? Even if someone was to win the Inheritance, the natives subconsciously felt that it would be one of their own. They had the heritage of the old era as well as the wonderful talents of their Supreme Ancestor flowing through them. Who could possibly stand a chance against them?
However, Draco had managed to make every native feel that this competition would be different. After all, it was likely that Draco would become the inheritor this time around with his supreme talent.
As such, it meant that they would be able to go out with him! If that happened, then who Draco was on the outside would obviously be important, as it would determine their future!
Realizing this, the girls felt their eyes brighten. If that was the case, then Draco must certainly be someone great! Not only was he a great talent in Tradeskills, considering the current era's likely drought in terms of techniques and heritages, but he also had a wealth of Aether Crystals judging by how he tossed this one about.
Suddenly, these girls wanted to know who Draco was, and even Natasha was pulled into this maelstrom. She deeply realized that she had severely misjudged Draco and hadn't used her logic to assess him.
Now that she had seen bits and pieces of the whole picture, she desperately wanted to see the rest. However, Draco simply nodded to them all and went over to the bath.
This left them dismayed as their enthusiasm had not received an outlet. Before they could decide what to do next, they heard a stiff snort, turning to see the goatman butler gazing at them sternly.
"What are you ladies standing around for? Your Lord has returned, so assume your duties! You, Maybelle, proceed to dust the tables! You, Christine, proceed to clean the sinks! You, Kayla…" Hoover mouth rapidly fired out commands, getting these distracted ladies to work immediately.
Only Natasha was left alone, and Hoover only nodded to her before leaving to handle his own tasks. The birdwoman was lost as to what to do next as well as this strange special treatment she was being given.
Natasha took in a deep breath and calmed herself down, trying to figure out what she should do next. She decided that improving herself would be the best option, as she still had to digest what she learned from Draco.
With that in mind, the birdwoman determinedly walked out and headed to the work area to climb from the Master Rank to the Grandmaster at all costs!
However, before she could do so, she felt the whole mansion trembling and shaking like there was an earthquake going on. All the maids - and even Hoover - were shocked by this light tremble that shook the whole building.
They all noticed that there was the sound of fearful, agonized yet… euphoric? screaming in the background. Many of the maids were clueless as to what was going on, yet Natasha recognized that voice, and as she put two and two together, she blushed slightly.
Soon, the shaking subsided. By this time, Hoover stood outside the bath to welcome Draco who was looking refreshed with a towel wrapped around his waist.
Draco shrugged. "She asked for it."
Hoover smiled wryly. "No worries my Lord, I understand."
Draco smiled and left, heading towards Ophie's room to check up on the halfling. As for Hoover, he called some of the girls over and said: "Go and summon the best village healers and bring a stretcher."
The girls were puzzled, but the followed the orders dutifully. Hoover went in to clean up the storm that went on in here and put what was left of Doris back into one piece.
(Author's Note: She's not dead, obviously. It's just an expression.)
As such, when she was eventually carried out on a stretcher by two traumatized looking girls, the rest saw her form and screamed or shivered with fear.
Describing her form would be too shocking, but it was enough to know that her expression was one of ecstasy, with her eyes rolling back into her head, her tongue lolling like a dead person, while saliva, tears, and snot leaked down her face.
No matter what would happen, these girls would always remember this shocking expression for the rest of their lives, for it represented something unholy and the epitome of debauchery.