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I had to admit, when an old hag like Ferti’nier wanted to be shameless, she really was invincible. More importantly, I actually didn’t have a way to deal with her. She knew that too; that was why she was always so flippant with me.

In order to preserve a soul, asking a high level Devil who had traded in souls would be the first choice. If that wasn’t possible, the next option would be to deal with the only occupation that transacted in souls… the Necromancer!

Speaking of Necromancers, I myself was half a Necromancer, and then there was Mo Na…

“Baby, Daddy has something to ask you, do you know how to create a Soul Phylactery?” The moment it occurred to me that my precious little daughter might actually know the method, my face lit up with expectation. “Daddy over here wants to bring back these souls, but he doesn’t have a container for them…does Mo Na know how to make a phylactery?”

“Mo Na does know how to make a Soul Phylactery, Mama. But… doesn’t Mama always gobble up all the souls in one go anyway?” Mo Na nodded her head, confirming my suspicion, before throwing me a puzzled look. “It’s not like Mama will get full no matter how much she eats, so why make one?”

“…”’

‘This isn’t a problem of whether or not I have a huge appetite, it’s just I have a black hole living in my body!’

‘Bah, pointless jibes aside, what’s urgent now is that Mo Na creates a Soul Phylactery. Without one, these souls can’t be transported back.’

“If Mama wants a Soul Phylactery, just use this.” Just as I was about to ask my precious little baby about the materials she needed to create a Soul Phylactery, she pulled out a ring adorned with a blackish-green gemstone. She handed the ring over, completely ignoring the wide-eyed look I had on right now. With a tinge of pride in her precious cheeks, she gave me that “praise me now” look. “So Mama does need Mo Na some of the times!”

“So no materials then?” My face was about to fall apart as I fingered the blackish-green gemstone ring.

“Oh Mama, isn’t it obvious? Mo Na already had a Soul Phylactery since a long time ago.” My baby girl pulled a face at me before cheekily continuing, “Mo Na is a Necromancer after all, why would she not have a Soul Phylactery to store souls?”

“…”

That was right, unlike a half-baked potato like me, she was the rightful necromantic successor to the Grimoire of the Dead. To a Necromancer, souls were an important reagent for their spells, and also an important experimentation subject. There were plenty of spells that required souls to cast, like the most recent one I learnt from Mo Na, the Vengeful Soul…

“That’s a Soul Ring Mo Na specially prepared for Mama, don’t lose it, okay Mama?”

“Yes yes yes. Daddy will treasure it.” I finished with a sigh.

Yet just as I was about to wear the ring on my middle finger, Mo Na acted first by slipping it onto my left ring finger at lightning speed.

“Baby, is there any reason why Daddy can’t wear the ring on his middle finger?” I asked, puzzled by my daughter’s strange actions.

“That’s because Daddy once told Mo Na during storytime that there’s a blood vessel extending from the ring finger that links to the heart.”

‘Did I say that?’ I was a little taken aback by that revelation. There were countless stories I told her so I couldn’t confirm if I had ever told her such a story. Plus, I was very responsible when I told her stories; all blood vessels led back to the heart at the end of the day, no matter which finger.

‘Hold on, all that talk about blood vessels aside, the key is why did she slip the ring onto my left ring finger?’

“Even if Daddy did mention that in the past, Daddy never said that a ring had to be on the ring finger right?”

“Mhm, Daddy never said that. But Mo Na just wanted to put it on Daddy’s left ring finger.”

‘Was this some kind of riddle?’ I thought to myself.

“But what’s the main reason?”

“The main reason is…” She dragged that last syllable. Having made sure my entire focus was now on her, she happily said, “The main reason is that this ring is Mo Na’s engagement ring for Daddy!”

‘Oh…an engagement ring…that does have to be worn on the left ring finger then…hold up…why does she have to put on an engagement ring for me?!’

“Since Daddy is wearing Mo Na’s engagement ring, Daddy is now Mo Na’s!”

‘Hmm being a bleep father does sound rather exciting…but…’

Thwack

I unceremoniously knocked her cute little noggin, causing her to reflexively cover her head with both arms while she crouched on the floor and gave me a rueful look.

“What was that for, Mama?”

“When children speak out of line, they need to be punished.” I glared at her fiercely and silently. I then turned around and began sucking up the souls with the Soul Ring. Even though I wanted to change the position of the ring, after giving it some thought, I decided against it. It was just a tool after all, no point being so serious about it.

Just like how I was busy sucking up souls, a certain dastardly female Devil was busy filling my head with her laughter. “An engagement ring of all things…hahahahaha, how much funnier can this get…hahahaha…”

‘Go on, laugh. Keep laughing, take care that you don’t choke on your laughter!’

Other than cursing, I actually had no other way to get back at Ferti’nier. It was precisely because I was so helpless that this blasted Devil queen kept acting more and more lawlessly. Her dominance was my submission…thankfully she couldn’t take over my body, else I would really flip my bleep.

Having been with her for a while, ignoring Ferti’nier was now a daily routine. “You lot, are you all hungry?” I turned around to face the four Imps who were all huddled up till this very moment due to their sheer fear. “If you are, these ant corpses are yours.”

“…”

The four Large Imps were stunned for a moment but quickly recovered, scurrying off in an instant, not forgetting to express their hasty thanks. Perhaps they were truly hungry or perhaps not, either way, they ravenously tore into the ants… a horrific scene which I won’t go into details… just disgusting…

“Woof woof~~”

Cinderel seemed a little tempted by the ant corpses as well. Her little Hellhound paws ever so slowly inched towards the four feasting Large Imps… was this her trying to sneak a bite?

‘Well, that won’t do. She can’t just go gobbling up some random trash.’ I hurriedly scooped her up into my arms, not forgetting to give her a friendly fur ruffling on the head. “You need to be careful about what you eat, if it’s not clean, it might just give you an upset tummy.”

Hearing that, Cinderel whimpered, stuck out her little tongue and licked my palm gently.

“Alright, alright. I know you’re hungry. I’ll split some of the souls we harvested with you.”

Those words were the exact words she was waiting for it seemed, based on her happy yelping.

As for those four Large Imps busy feasting on trash…well…

Now that the Black Blood Ants were dealt with, we continued westward for about a day before we came upon another ant nest. This time, the Black Blood Queen Ant greeted us in a decidedly different manner. Upon recognising my Fallen Angel form, she immediately surrendered to us, using the humblest possible posture a queen ant muster to wiggle her way towards me and swear fealty.

It was then that I understood something: there were two major factions within the Black Blood Ants. One that was still loyal to the Fallen Angels, and another that refused to be enslaved once more.

For the most part, both factions weren’t at war with each other since the entire Sable Radiance had been sealed up for over eighty thousand years; there was no actual ruler to be loyal to or be enslaved by. In that case, there was no reason to fight either.

It was precisely this reason that led to the peace enjoyed by the Black Blood Ants, each nest basically having their own territory full of resources and free from strife. In fact, it could be said that for eighty thousand years, the idea of two factions wasn’t even a thing. And that was where I came in -the problematic factor.

My appearance was destined to stir up waves in the Demonic Kingdom of Sable Radiance, that much was certain. Yet, what I never expected was that the first wave would come crashing down upon the Black Blood Ants.

Upon ascertaining the fact that there were two factions amongst the Black Blood Ants, a rather amusing idea occurred to me. I could just recruit the surrounding nests which were friendly to me and have them attack the other faction. That would allow me to bring their entire race into my fold in the shortest possible time.

It wasn’t a complicated plan, but what was truly problematic was that I lacked the manpower to enact said plan.

‘Well, I could just let Mother Black Ant take charge, if worst comes to worst. She seems to be able to communicate with her nest even at a distance too.’

Mother Black Ant’s loyalty to me was unquestionable, plus it would be better if the matters of the Black Blood Ants were settled by one of their members.

Just like that, I proceeded to recruit another two more queen ants. Including Mother Black Ant, I now had four queen ants working together. In other words, they had an ant army that could essentially sweep through the four corners of the lands.

Now that the first steps of my anty conquest were complete, I finally had the time to bring Mo Na, Cinderel, my golems, and those four scaredy cat Imps back to our base.

That’s right, it was now time to return to the Palace of Sable Radiance…