Interstellar Age

The moment Erich stepped through his front door, he was greeted by the sound of women bickering. Something he had severely hoped he would never hear again in his life. Of course, where women gathered, fighting was bound to happen, and because of this Erich could only sigh, as he tossed his field bag on the floor and headed towards the shower. 

Erich felt the filth wash away from his hair and body as the water cascaded over his pale skin. It was a feeling he had actually missed. After three months of nonstop combat, Erich had gotten used to living in squalor. But now that he had the luxury of a nice cold shower, he felt as if he could finally die in peace. 

That is, until the moment he stepped out of the shower, and saw the figure of a familiar woman crying alone while lying in his bed. Erich was so stunned by the sight of the young Oni Princess crying, that he had completely forgotten that he was completely, naked, and instead acted on instinct as he walked over and comforted her. 

“Ayumi, what’s wrong?” 

The moment Ayumi heard Erich’s voice, she looked up in disbelief. She did not care that the man was completely nude, or the fact that his body was glistening with the water from the shower. Instead, she simply dragged him into his embrace and began to kiss him. Whatever sorrow she had felt prior to this moment had suddenly disappeared the moment her lover had returned to her. 

As much as Erich wanted to sleep with Ayumi, he was still concerned about the fact that she had just been crying. Thus, he forcibly pried herself from her arms, before reiterating his previous question. 

“Ayumi, is something the matter?”

The young woman wiped the tears from her amber eyes and shook her head. There was a genuine smile on her beautiful lips, as she assured her lover that everything was okay now that he had returned to her. 

“It’s nothing Erich. It’s just that… Ever since Aunt Yumi left to become the new Empress, it has only been me and Erika here. But, now that you are home, everything will be okay…” 

Erich was slightly depressed after hearing that Yumi was no longer living at his place, but he was still glad that Ayumi had remained behind. Still, he felt a bit guilty considering he was only going to be home for a mere two weeks, before deploying back to some battlefield for another mission that would last god knows how long.

Yet, he did not want to dash Ayumi’s hopes so quickly, and thus he sighed and nodded his head, assuring her that indeed everything would be fine now that he was home. 

“Of course, I’m sorry for being gone for so long. But it’s the nature of my job. Still, while I am here, I promise to make it up to you both.” 

Ayumi’s smile turned bitter when she heard that Erich would also be spending his limited time with his wife. While Erich may have left with things being relatively harmonious between his three women, he had been gone nearly a year, and that was long enough for old wounds to fester.  Of course, Erich noticed this, and was quick to ask just what had happened in his absence. 

“Don’t tell me the two of you are no longer getting along?”

Ayumi was just about to speak of what had happened, when the door was kicked open, to reveal a furious Erika. However, her fury lasted for all of two seconds, until she realized that Erich was back. Of course, the moment she realized that Ayumi had run off to greet her husband, without informing her that she was home, she instantly grew angry once more. The sudden shift in her emotions had actually caught Erich by surprise and he was the only one. 

Tia’s voice interrupted Erich’s thoughts, as Erika began to scream some incoherent nonsense towards him and Ayumi. 

“Master is strangely popular with women, isn’t he? Tia feels somewhat jealous…” 

Erich simply scoffed at Tia’s comments, believing that she was simply incapable of actually feeling jealousy. After all, he was completely unaware that some time ago, the adorable artificial intelligence had begun to develop sentience, and because of this, he had no idea that she was genuinely jealous at this moment. Something that would come to bite him in the ass later. 

Because he ignored Tia’s statement, she only became even more bitter, as she watched Erich try to resolve whatever dispute was happening between his wife and lover. 

“Enough, the both of you. What the hell has happened since I left? Why are you so angry with one another?” 

Erika instantly grabbed hold of Erich from the back of his neck and looked deeply into her eyes. Before asking one simple question. 

𝑂𝓋𝓁xt.𝒸𝑂𝗆

“Who have you been fucking besides us?” 

Erich was surprised to hear these words, and looked at Ayumi, who also appeared curious about the answer, but was not even remotely furious with him. Erich then quickly tried to deny these allegations, not wanting to inform his wife just how many women he had been with. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, other than you two, it has just been Yumi…”

However, contrary to Erich’s expectations, it was not Erika who called him a liar, but rather the meek voice of Ayumi, who immediately voiced what had caused this sudden rift to appear between herself and Erika. 

“Liar…. Aunt Yumi once showed me a video of you, and a blue-haired woman… It was quite… enthralling.” 

The moment Erich heard the words blue-haired woman, he immediately knew who they were talking about, but he had no idea how either of these two women, or Yumi for that matter, had found out about Mirage. And he instantly made the mistake of voicing her name. 

“How do you know about Mirage? What video?” 

Ayumi was about to answer this question, when Erika’s furious voice interrupted her, and echoed throughout the entire mansion. 

“Who the fuck is Mirage!?!”

Erich suddenly realized he had just fucked up, and tried to calm down Erika so she would not be too furious with him. 

“Erika, baby, calm down. She was a woman I knew before you and I were married.” 

These words only temporarily calmed Erika’s wrath as she stared at her husband with a scrutinizing gaze before asking the next question she had. 

“So… You’re not still fucking her?” 

As much as Erich wanted to lie to his wife at this moment, he chose not to, and instead looked away with a guilty expression. This once more caused the woman to become livid, as she once more asked her unfaithful husband yet another question. 

“How many more are there, Erich? How many women are you fucking that you haven’t told me about?”

Erich sighed heavily before revealing the truth of the matter, which did not exactly help his case. 

“Only one, but she died a long time ago. As for Mirage, it’s a non-issue. She means nothing to me. I just used her body to satisfy my needs when we were deployed together. She feels the same way, so you don’t need to worry so much.”

This sudden news did not sit right with Erika, who was quick to interrogate her husband on the matter. 

“Deployed together? That doesn’t make any sense! Women aren’t allowed in the military, Erich! Just who the hell were you fucking?” 

Erich scoffed when he heard this, before lecturing his wife in her own ignorance. 

“I never said she was in the military. She’s an agent with the IIS. And yes, women are fully capable of performing that role.”

Erika still did not quite understand what Erich was telling her. After all, as far as she knew, he was a pilot in the navy, and there was no reason for him to be deploying with intelligence agents. Thus, she was quick to counter this claim once more, as if she were certain that the man was lying to her. 

“And why would you be deployed with an agent of the IIS? You are a fucking pilot, Erich!” 

Erich immediately realized he had never actually told his loved ones that he had undertaken a far more dangerous task, and thus he was quick to counter her claim with the truth. 

“Not anymore… I was transferred to Military Intelligence, where I just completed my training to be certified as a W-2.” 

The moment Erika heard these words, her already pale skin turned absolutely ashen. She could not believe what she had just heard. Her husband was now serving as one of the Empire’s most elite operators? Which also meant he was at a much higher risk of suffering a permanent death? Why had this happened? 

All the fury that was previously been in Erika’s body had completely fled from her system, and was instead replaced with intense anxiety, as she latched onto her husband with a horrified look on her face. 

“You’re okay, right? I mean…. Nothing bad has happened to you?” 

Erich smiled, for perhaps the first time in recent memory, as he petted the woman’s silky bubblegum pink hair, and assured her that everything was fine. 

“I’m alive, aren’t I?” 

Despite his words, Erika was not reassured, and instead clung closely to Erich like a frightened little rabbit. Something that shocked Ayumi. She had only accidentally let it slip that she had seen a video of Erich fucking another woman before actually meeting him. And that had been enough to cause Erika to revert to her former self. 

For months, Ayumi had been forced to endure Erika’s harassment while she waited for her man to return so that he could set everything right. And just when she realized that Erika might really kill the man, all the woman’s anger and fury had suddenly deflated. 

Obviously, Ayumi had no idea what a W-2 was, or the gravity of the situation. Thus, she could only stand by in disbelief. After that little incident, Erich spent the night making up for his absence with his wife and concubine. Both of which were thrilled to have their man back in their lives.