The Elder looked just as confused as he felt, which somehow made the situation worse. If she didn't understand what was happening either, then they were both working blind.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding," William called out, trying to keep his voice steady. "We've never actually met before."
The lamia remained kneeling, but William could see their faces clearly now. They weren't quite what he'd expected from the term "snake women." Their upper bodies were distinctly human, though marked with reptilian features that were actually quite striking. Small iridescent scales decorated their cheekbones and a single elegant scale sat centered on each forehead. Below the waist, their bodies transitioned smoothly into muscular serpentine tails. Even their hands, while human in shape, bore delicate claws that managed to look refined rather than threatening.
The Tribe Elder recovered faster than William did. "You came here specifically for Master William?" Her voice carried that particular tone she used when gathering information while revealing nothing of her own thoughts.
"Yes!" The leader's enthusiasm broke through her formal bearing. "We wish to serve him as personal guards. It would be our greatest honor."
The Elder studied them carefully, and William could practically see her weighing options and calculating outcomes. "And your clan? You left them to come here?"
"Our loyalty belongs to Demon King," the leader said simply, as if that explained everything.
William watched the Elder process this. He could guess what she was thinking because the same thoughts were running through his own head. Ten trained warriors would transform the tribe's capabilities. Hunting expeditions would be safer, defenses would be stronger, and they'd have experienced fighters to learn from. The benefits were obvious, even if the situation itself made no sense.
"Master William." The Elder turned to face him directly. "This is ultimately your decision to make. If you choose to accept them as personal guards, I'll support that choice. However, I would strongly recommend establishing a magic contract to ensure their loyalty is genuine and binding."
"Hmm... Magic contract? Sure," William agreed, relieved to have some kind of protocol to follow. "A magic contract would be good."
"We've already done that!" The lead lamia pressed her hand over her heart, and the others mirrored the gesture. "We bound ourselves to you through blood oath before we even arrived here. Our loyalty and our lives belong to you completely."
William felt it then, a sensation he had almost missed in the chaos of the moment. A faint pull, like thin threads stretching from his chest toward each of the ten lamia. He hadn't noticed it earlier because the bond was so weak, its signature nearly nonexistent. He understood why, because the contract these lamia girls had signed was the lowest tier, barely above a magic slave pact.
"I can feel it," he said, mostly to the Elder. "They're telling the truth."
The Elder's ears flicked forward in acknowledgment, then she turned to address the fox girls still holding their defensive positions. "Lower your weapons. They're members of our tribe now."
The response was immediate. The fox girls relaxed their stances and stepped aside, creating a clear path into the village. The lamia rose gracefully, their serpentine lower bodies allowing them to move with a fluid gliding motion as they gathered their weapons and entered.
As they crossed the threshold, William felt that familiar pulse of crimson awareness. Ten new points of sovereignty flowed into him, joining with the twenty he'd claimed from the Dire Wolves.
The Tribe Elder excused herself quickly, claiming the need to handle preparations for the evening. William suspected she wanted to give him space to figure out exactly what he'd just acquired, and he appreciated the consideration even if it left him alone with ten mysterious snake women who'd apparently traveled here just to serve him.
William gestured for them to follow as he started walking toward his dwelling. "Alright, someone needs to explain what actually happened here. You had your own tribe, your own lives in the marshlands. Why leave all of that to follow someone you've never even met before?"
The ten lamia exchanged glances, some kind of silent communication passing between them. Their leader moved to walk beside William, and he noticed the pink tinge coloring her pale cheeks.
"Last night, several of us went to the downstream river to drink water, as we usually do," she began, her voice steady despite the blush spreading across her face. "The water tasted different, we realized it carried someone blood essence. Once we understood what it was, we followed it upstream to find the source of the blood essence, turns out it was you, Demon King!"
William's steps faltered slightly as his brain processed what she'd just said. "You tasted my blood-essence in the water?"
"Yes." The lamia's pupils dilated, her voice taking on a breathy quality. "It was unmistakable blood-essence from highest being. We followed the trail all the way here."
He remembered the moment the direwolf monsters breached the outskirts of the fox tribe's territory, how their howls shook the forest and sent the fox tribe into panic.
When it was over, he simply flew home, thinking only of getting the tribe safe again.
He hadn't paid attention to the blood that trailed from him as he crossed the sky, blood that drifted into the river streams below.
And that river… flowed straight toward the lamia's tribe.
"Oh no," William muttered, realization spreading through him like cold dread.
He turned to look at the other lamia and immediately regretted it. All ten of them were displaying the same signs. Flushed faces, heavy breathing, eyes that held a particular heated focus he recognized all too well from his experiences with Alice and Arisu. Their movements had become subtly more languid, more deliberately sensual, and several of them were pressing their thighs together in a way that suggested they were fighting against some kind of physical reaction.
They were walking through the middle of the tribe. Other tribe members were going about their activity, some of them already noticing the new member and the strange procession they made. This was absolutely not the place for whatever was about to happen.
"Let's continue this conversation somewhere more private," William said, picking up his pace toward the cave. "Much more private."
The lamia followed eagerly, gliding smoothly across the ground on their serpentine tails. Their expressions held a mixture of anticipation and barely restrained desire that made William's guilt intensify even as other parts of him responded to the attention.
Whatever had brought them here, whatever had compelled them to abandon their clan and seek him out, William had a sinking feeling his life was about to become significantly more complicated. The Tribe Elder had worried about territorial expansion and political pressure, but the real problem was apparently much more immediate and much more personal than either of them had anticipated.