Chapter 1303: Quest To Find Hope

"What are you doing?!" Dominic's soul shouted as he was being carried away by a Ferryman of the Underworld. "Where are you taking me?!"

The Ferryman didn't reply and simply dragged the struggling Dominic away from Lust's abode. Half an hour later, the blonde prince's eyes widened in shock when he saw a raging river made of flames, whose current was so fast that he felt that the moment he was dropped in there, he would be trapped for eternity.

"Wait!" Dominic shouted in fear. "D-Don't tell me you are going to..."

The Ferryman grabbed Dominic's neck and pulled him close to his face.

"If you want someone to blame, blame yourself for being stupid," the Ferryman stated coldly. "You dare lay your hands on a Ferryman of the Underworld? Fool! You courted death ten times over."

"I-I don't know!" Dominic shouted hysterically. "I will apologize! Allow me to apologize! I will set this righ—aaaaaaahh!"

Perhaps getting irritated with his pleading, the Ferryman tossed Dominic towards the River of Flames, making the latter scream his heart out as he fell on the fiery waters to be tortured for over a hundred years.

"Nooooooooooooo!"

"Arghhhhhhhhhh! It Burns!"

"Save me!"

"Have mercy! Forgive me!"

The Ferryman sneered at the suffering blonde prince whose face had already melted, along his body, making him wail in despair.

Five minutes later, the Ferryman sailed his flying boat away, leaving the lustful prince to suffer the punishment that he so rightfully deserved.

——-

Somewhere in the Underworld...

"Is it done?" a man wearing a black robe asked as he sat on a throne made up of skulls.

"Yes, Your Excellency," the Ferryman knelt as he replied. "A hundred years of torment in the River of Hell, a Hundred Year of torment in the plains of Hell."

"Two Hundred."

"Your, Excellency?"

The man wearing a black robe shifted ever slowly as his powerful gaze locked on the Ferryman who had become frozen in place.

"Make his sentence two hundred years each."

"A-At once, Your Excellency. It will be done."

The Ferryman hurriedly left because he still needed to handle the paperwork of Dominic's forceful punishment. They needed to keep tabs on the punishment of each soul to ensure that their punishment didn't exceed the necessary sentence that was placed on their heads.

Only after they had been judged, and paid for their sins in full, would they be allowed to enter the Cycle of Reincarnation as pure souls who had forgotten all of their memories of, including the crimes they had committed in, their past lives.

"Erinys...," the cloaked man muttered softly. "Child, you're playing with fire."

—-

Somewhere in Lust's Abode...

"So, your name is Erinys," Morgana said. "I've heard many things about you from my husband. He said that he wanted to XXX you after breakfast, XXX you after lunch, XXX you after dinner, and XXX you in his dreams. I thought I've seen it all, but for him to target someone smaller than Chiffon makes me worry about what the future holds."

"Pffftt!"

Erinys spat out the mouthful of tea she was drinking and coughed repeatedly after hearing Morgana's words.

William, who was seated beside her, sighed as he rubbed the Half-lings back, in order to allow Erinys to recover from his wife's teasing.

"I'm no longer a child," Erinys replied. "I'm already eighteen years old. Also, I'm small because I'm a Half-ling!"

Morgana covered her lips and giggled because Erinys looked so cute and adorable with her cheeks puffed up in anger.

Princess Sidonie and Ashe, who calmly drank their tea at the side, glanced at the Half-ling who was blushing profusely after correcting Morgana's statement.

They could understand why Morgana wanted to tease Erinys. She was simply too cute to ignore.

"I'm telling you now, although our handsome husband looks like a gentle soul, he is a wolf in sheep's clothing," Morgana stated. "He will eat you up, and spit out only your bones. It is best if you don't bind your fate with him. I mean, look at us. We love him so much that we ended up here in the Underworld.

"You should learn from your seniors. That handsome, charismatic, delicious, titillating, and peerless hunk seated beside you is one of a kind. I doubt you'd survive a single round in bed with him. You can still turn back, Erinys."

The Half-ling snorted as she gazed at Morgana fearlessly. "I think you're making a mistake. I am not interested in Will. We are merely travel buddies."

"Friends with benefits? I like that term."

"Tra-vel Bud-dies!"

"That's what I said. Friends with benefits."

William sighed for the second time before glancing at his seductive Succubus wife.

"Don't tease her too much, okay?" William said. "If not for her, I wouldn't have arrived here so early. She saved me a lot of trouble by teaching me how things work in the Underworld."

Princess Sidonie placed her cup on top of the table before voicing out her thoughts.

"Erinys, in the past, our husband said that he would only have ten wives," Princess Sidonie stated. "Now, he has surpassed that number, and I believe that it might continue to grow in the future. There might be times when you will feel that you are being ignored, but don't worry. We can just pin him down on the bed together. This big sis of yours will teach you the ropes."

"What are your three sizes by the way?" Morgana interjected. "Don't worry. Will doesn't care whether they are big or small. He loves all sizes equally."

William was at a loss for words due to how the conversation was turning out.

He thought that his wives would just ask Erinys things about the Underworld, and what he had been through to meet them. However, before he knew it, they were already asking her for her three sizes and other very personal questions.

They like the managers in a job interview who were interviewing an aspiring employee. However, from the way he looked at it, they were just like Aunties who were looking for something to gossip about.

Ashe giggled after seeing the Half-Elf's expression, so she decided to take him outside the residence in order to take a stroll.

"I really thought that I would not see you again, Will," Ashe said as she walked holding onto William's arm. "If not for the fact that I am with Sidonie and Morgana, I might have felt so lonely that I might have died a second time."

The Half-Elf stopped walking and kissed his wife's forehead.

"I will go to Hell and back, so that all of us can be together," William replied. "Don't worry. I will negotiate with the God of Death and ask for him to release your souls."

Ashe nodded before resting her head on William's chest.

"Be careful, Will," Ashe said softly. "The price of our release might be something that will make you lose something important in return."

William didn't reply and just hugged the beautiful mermaid in his arms. He had the same opinion as Ashe, and was prepared to bargain with the God of Death until they reached a proper settlement.

With Adephagia's promise to cause havoc if Chiffon wasn't released, he believed that even the God of the Underworld would have no choice but to compromise. Princess Sidonie had already told him that her Patron Goddess, Lady Eros, had also visited the Underworld before William came.

She said that if Thanatos wouldn't budge, she would charm all the souls in the Underworld and start a civil war. Princess Sidonie didn't know if her Patron Goddess was joking or not, but she could tell from her teasing voice that she was half serious about it.

After cuddling for quite some time, the two found a bench. William laid on Ashe's lap, while the latter brushed his black hair.

"Will, what is your relationship with Erinys?" Ashe asked. "I can tell by the way she looks at you, that are someone special to her. Also, I can tell the way that you look at her that she is also special to you. So, spill the beans. What is your relationship with her?"

"... it's a bit complicated, but are you willing to hear me out?" William replied.

"Of course. It's not as if I have anything to do here in Lust's Abode, except from getting attacked everyday by Sidonie and Morgana in bed."

"You've suffered so much..."

Ashe chuckled because she found WIlliam's words funny. Indeed, she had suffered so much from the pleasure that the two succubus ladies had given her for the past few months, but she'd rather suffer in their hands, than suffer in the hands of others.

"Come on, start talking," Ashe urged. "Sidonie and Morgana will probably come looking for us soon. You better finish your story by then."

William smiled bitterly as he started to retell his story about the Deadlands.

"Haleth, Amelia, Pearl, Priscilla, a pretty lady with a single horn on her forehead (Anh), a green-haired beauty with a tail that resembled that of a lizard (Vesta)," William said as he ended his tale. "And a Half-ling who looked like a doll that was only a little more than three feet tall. In that dream, someone told me that if I gathered all of them together, I would find Hope."

Ashe listened silently as William finished his tale. A few minutes later, she playfully pulled on the Half-Elf's ear with a smile.

"Are you sure that what you are looking for is Hope, and not to add more girls into your harem?" Ashe inquired. "Those are seven girls all together. Also, don't you think it is quite convenient that you already know some of them, while the rest you were able to meet in your journey?

"Does that mean that if we hadn't died. You would not have gotten the opportunity to meet Erinys, who is the last girl to complete your quest to find Hope?"

William blinked when he realized what Ashe was hinting at. Just like the beautiful mermaid said, more than half of the girls he was looking for were the ladies that he had already met. As for Vesta and Anh, he only met them when he went to the Demon Continent.

Erinys, who was the last person missing to complete the set, was found in the Underworld. Even the Half-Elf had to agree that if his wives hadn't died, he wouldn't have had an opportunity to meet with the doll-like Half-ling, who longed for the Surface World, while trapped in the Underworld.

It was as if Fate had played her hand in order to allow him to meet the ladies that would play a major role in his life, and lead him to finding the fleeting Hope, whom everyone chased after during the darkest moments in their lives.