Shaman looked down the hall where the voice came from and her eyes landed on a blonde she-wolf on a throne. The she-wolf wore the clothes of an emperor made from expensive black cloth and embroidered with gold. Her grey eyes gave her this dead and intimidating look as if she had no interest in the scene before her.
The hall was rather impressive but not too big, looking more like a mansion than an actual palace. 2 flights of stairs were on either side of the hall with a small balcony just above the throne. There was also a red carpet that went from the door behind Shaman to the Throne indicating this hall might be the manor's front reception room.
Around the throne were women of varying races all dressed in rather provocative clothes. The women consisted of a brown-furred cat girl, a red lizard girl, a white-furred wolf girl, a black-furred dog girl and a snake girl, each of them sitting to the sides of the blonde woman.
Kiruya could also be seen standing by the throne but was not as close as the other women were.
Shaman instantly knew who this was and only 2 words had come out of her mouth upon seeing her.
"Ah shit." Shaman got flashbacks to how Freja treated her when she was younger and was scared that Elysia was going to do something stupid.
"Is that all you have to say to your dearest Freja?" Freja leaned forward smirking, placing her head in her hand. Everyone except Shaman was too afraid to say anything as Freja had an intimidating presence that made it seem like one wrong word would court death.
"No, but I don't know if getting dropped from the roof deserves a proper hello." Shaman got up from the ground standing on the red carpet looking rather annoyed. She knew that Freja would not harm them so Shaman was more willing to talk back.
"Oh don't be so dramatic. You should know I don't like people that don't pay me respect." Freja suddenly raised her other hand and the red carpet Shaman was standing on turned into blood. The blood then wrapped itself around Shaman pulling her towards the throne in front of Freja.
Shaman's confidence was slowly being crushed as she stared into the dead eyes of Freja and was scared of what she was going to do.
"Ara~ you have not grown much since the last time I saw you." Freja put her hand under Shaman's chin. Shaman's missing confidence was replaced with defiance from having her height called out to her.
"Not my fault, just you wait, I will be taller again soon." Shaman pouted and tried turning her head away to get out of Freja's grasp.
However, as Freja was playing with Shaman, fire arrows came flying toward them.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtFreja did not move a muscle, yet suddenly the flames of the arrows turned black and stopped in mid-air. The arrows then turned around and shot back at Elysia, who was the one to shoot the arrows to begin with.
The black flamed arrows were too fast for Elysia to dodge, but it was not directly aimed at her but the ground right in front of her. Elysia fell back with cold sweat running down her face as she thought she was going to die.
"Looks like we have a feisty one, reminds me of that hot-headed Himeko." Freja had let go of Shaman and released her from the blood. The blood surprisingly did not stain Shaman's clothes which she was thankful for.
Freja got up from her throne, Showing her height was around 5'7, making her taller than Shaman and slightly shorter than Elysia. Freja then began to approach Elysia who started to back away out of fear.
Shaman could do nothing but facepalm as this was the exact scenario she did not want to have. The women around the throne were the opposite and were giggling to themselves as they watched the scenario play out in front of them.
Clara and Wolfy had gotten up and watched Freja slowly approach Elysia, worried about what Freja might do.
Elysia tried crawling faster but a blood wall appeared behind her and when her back touched it she felt herself get stuck to it, preventing her from moving.
Freja leaned down, getting her face really close to Elysia's and also grabbing her chin.
"Now what made you attack the Empress?" Freja stared intently at Elysia awaiting an answer.
"I.. T-that is my g-girlfriend you were touching." Elysia struggled to get the words out as the pressure she was feeling from Freja made it hard to speak.
"Oh? Girlfriend you say, what a shame and here I thought I was going to be able to keep you." Freja smirked and gave Elysia a quick kiss on the forehead before using a bolt of black lightning to go back to her throne.
Elysia's fear had turned into anger thrashing around as the kiss was going too far and now all she wanted to do was kill Freja.
"Quite the handful of a girlfriend you have there Shaman, are you sure you're okay?" Freja looked at Shaman who had the look on her implying this wasn't the first time this has happened.
"It's a work in progress." Shaman shook her head to hopefully tell Freja that she was indeed having a hard time.
"Well let me know if you need some help, I have always treated your family as my own." Freja winked telling Shaman that Freja got the message.
Elysia continued thrashing around, unable to break the blood wall even with her fire. However, at least she was slowly starting to calm down after letting out some of her frustrations.
"So is that demon girl over there also your girlfriend? Because seeing how the fox girl is reacting I doubt it." Freja was rather curious about the demon girl and figured she might be a runaway.
"She is not my girlfriend and her name is Clara. Also, the wolf next to Clara is Wolfy and the fox girlfriend that you have just angered is Elysia." Shaman introduced each of her party members.
"Hmm, so I can keep the demon girl?" Freja looked intently at Clara causing her to blush and look away.
"No! You are not keeping anyone." Shaman knew exactly what Freja's intentions were and she was not going to let her party members be taken away.
"Hahaha, I'm only kidding, how else are you meant to build up your own harem if I take them all." Freja leaned back on her throne with a smile and waved at a maid which was her sign for some wine.
"I don't want a harem, I only want one person!" Shaman wanted to hit Freja over the head but she knew exactly how that would turn out.
"Then why won't you let me have Clara?" Freja had backed Shaman in a corner making it hard for her to refute Freja.
"Tch, If I let you have her, Clara will probably never be seen again plus she has more important things to take care of than be your plaything." Shaman refused to back down but she was running out of things to say back.
"We will see about that." Freja was just about to get up again but then the maid returned with wine saving Clara from any torment.
'Thank you maid whoever you are.' Shaman was relieved as she did not want Clara to go through the same teasing Shaman went through.
"Better hold her close tonight, you're lucky I won't do anything for now." Freja took a sip of her wine and Clara who was listening was now completely red as she imagined sleeping in the same bed with Shaman but also wondered what Freja planned to do.
"FREJAAAA!!!!" Shaman disregarded it would be pointless and she went to bonk Freja anyway.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmFreja covered her hand in a black flame and grabbed a hold of the ice club that Shaman created on her hand and melted the ice. Shaman retracted her arm in defeat, not bothering to try again.
"Hmph" Shaman crossed her arms and turned her head looking at Elysia who seemed to have calmed down.
"How cute, I would love to talk to you more but that will have to wait till tomorrow, so go rest up in a spare room upstairs." Freja had also released Elysia who by then had given up on breaking free. After watching the back and forth, Elysia came to think Freja was more of a family member of Shaman than a potential threat.
"Kiruya, take them to their rooms then come meet me in mine, I have a reward to give you." Freja ordered Kiruya and she started to blush as she knew exactly what Freja was going to do to her.
"Also one more thing, if you hear any noises, I am not sorry fufu~." Freja clicked her fingers and a pool of blood appeared under her and the harem members, teleporting them somewhere else.
"This bitch." Shaman rolled her eyes as she now wondered if it was going to be a sleepless night.
"Aha, sorry about her but not much we can do." Kiruya was still blushing, but she still held it together.
"I know but damn did she have to tease us like that." Shaman felt like she was always on an uphill battle with Freja regarding how she treats Shaman and her friends.
"Anyway let me take you to your rooms, Freja has a lot of things to discuss with you regarding your family." Kiruya let out a little more information which had caused Shaman to get nervous as the part of her soul belonging to this world's Shaman trembled.
Shaman nodded and she quickly went to Elysia to help her up and make sure she was okay.
Elysia seemed calm and was able to stand despite feeling paralysed when Freja was in front of her.
"If you are able to control yourself next time, remember I will reward you." Shaman was on her toes while whispering into Elysia's ear causing her to blush, but also giggle at Shaman because of how she was struggling to reach her ear.
Shaman stared blankly at Elysia for a moment before turning away without saying a word, walking back to Kiruya.
"Oi, I didn't mean to laugh." Elysia followed Shaman and Kiruya who began to walk up the stairs while shaking her head. Clara and Wolfy were right behind Kiruya, with Shaman catching up and Elysia chasing her.
They all followed Kiruya to their new rooms which will be their new base of operations for however long they needed.