The interior of the cave had also been cleaned. What was unexpected was that Marigold seemed to have arrived earlier than William had thought, 'Maybe the tribe elder asked her to come to my place.'
"Marigold!"
William's voice came from the doorway. Inside the cave, Marigold, who had been folding clothes, suddenly froze. Her pair of fox ears that had been relaxed shot straight up, and her fluffy tail quivered.
She turned around quickly. Too quickly. She nearly dropped the bundle of clothes in her hands.
"M-Master William!" Her voice jumped up an octave higher than usual. Her cheeks were already flushed even before their eyes met.
Although William didn't show much expression, he could still hear the overflowing joy in the fox girl's voice.
Marigold's hands gripping the bundle of clothes tightened slightly, and she stammered, "Master William... although it's very presumptuous to say this, but... yesterday I also learned the secret method of producing that 'holy water.'"
Her cheeks reddened even deeper, her voice almost a whisper. "So... if Master needs it, I... I can..."
Her words trailed off, but her meaning was already clear.
William turned to look at her. His gaze lowered for a moment. The full curve of Marigold's chest pressed against her clothing, the very deep cleavage clearly visible. He nodded, his voice low and calm. "Alright. That will be very helpful, besides, I'm quite thirsty after moving around for so long..."
William's direct and firm gaze made Marigold even more nervous. Her head bowed even lower, as if wanting to hide her face in her own large chest. Her fluffy tail swayed restlessly behind her back. Her thighs rubbed against each other, producing a soft, wet, and sticky sound.
"Then..."
---
Outside the fox tribe village, two of the ten lamia led by Serena held others' weapons, while the remaining lamia all carried magical beast corpses.
Faced with their bountiful results, the fox girls guarding the walls watched in amazement.
"Did you all hunt for Master William?"
Glancing at the monster corpses behind Serena, one fox girl asked curiously.
Hearing this, Serena didn't hide it and nodded slightly. "Yes, this is what Master William ordered us to hunt. We've surveyed around the fox tribe, there are no monsters with high risk factors. When these monster corpses all become equipment in your hands, you can also go serve Master William. As a demon king, Master William will surely need meat in the future."
When the other fox girls heard this, they all glanced at Serena with gratitude.
"Thank you."
Serena gently shook her head. "No thanks necessary. We all work for the Demon King."
After saying that, Serena led the other nine lamia into the village, heading straight for William's cave. When she returned to the cave, Serena caught the scent of heather flowers in the air with her sharp nose. She glanced at Marigold beside William and wisely understood something.
Serena nodded slightly toward Marigold, acknowledging her fortune. Regarding William's combat effectiveness, as someone who'd experienced it firsthand, she remembered clearly.
That this fox girl Marigold, could withstand so much intense bombardment from William made Serena feel ashamed by comparison.
Marigold, on the other hand, noticed Serena's gaze. Her cheeks suddenly reddened, and she didn't dare meet eyes directly, lowering her head instead.
"Master William, what should we do with these magical beast corpses?"
"Keep some of the meat, give the rest to the fox girls. You all, call some people to take these skeletons and materials to be processed into equipment for everyone." William glanced over, then used his demon claws to divide out a portion before speaking to all of them.
"Yes, Master William. We'll do it now."
After Marigold finished speaking, she led several fox girls to cooperatively carry down the skeletons and fur for processing.
As for the meat, it was handled by Serena and the other lamia.
After all the women left to attend to their respective tasks, William focused his attention on the Ring of Abyssal Oath.
He now planned to use this ring.
"Great Sage, activate Ring of Abyssal Oath."
As soon as the words fell, William suddenly felt an indescribable sensation, as if something had brushed against him, yet he couldn't quite touch it.
Opening his eyes and reminiscing about that feeling, William murmured, "So this is what it feels like to have an aura buff? Speaking of which, it's quite strange. Since I've used the Ring of Abyssal oath now, I wonder how Marigold and the others feel. Having all attributes suddenly increased by ten percent? This feeling of sudden strength enhancement should be quite shocking for them, right?"
Just as he finished saying this, two figures suddenly rushed in from outside the cave. Looking closer, they were clearly Marigold and Serena.
It seemed that after using the ring of Abyssal Oath just now, they were also quickly affected, with their whole body attributes increased by ten percent.
"Master William..." Marigold and Serena called out simultaneously.
From their exclamations, William heard questioning, but he quickly interrupted what the two women would say next.
William explained directly, "You feel your strength suddenly increased, right? This is my passive magic buff. Don't panic, you can inform the others of this news later to avoid unnecessary panic. The extra strength you have was granted by me. As long as I don't die, this power will always exist, wherever you are. This could also be a sign of my life, as long as my magic buff is active, you shouldn't be easily provoked by enemies if they think I'm already dead."
Hearing William's explanation, both Marigold's and Serena's eyes shone brightly. If not for needing to clearly explain to others, these two girls probably couldn't suppress the feelings in their hearts and would 'wrestle' with William on the spot.
Serena and Marigold finally withdrew, going to inform the others of this news.
William chuckled, then murmured in his deep voice, "I should go out and see where these Devourer Seeds should be planted first. I'll ask the fox tribe which location has the weakest defensive measures, and when the time comes, we can reduce the number of guards and move them to other positions."
Currently, the entire fox tribe's population was too small, yet the village territory was quite large, requiring many guards stationed across various points. Every fox girl had no time to rest properly.
In William's view, their current guard rotation wouldn't last long. Setting aside whether they could physically sustain it, the mental aspect alone was suffocating enough.
And listening to Serena's report last night, he'd also learned that the magical beasts in the nearby forest had become somewhat chaotic for some reason recently. In the past, hunting parties would go seek out these monsters, but now the creatures were actively coming to attack the fox tribe.
This was highly abnormal. There were very few strong monsters with active aggression near these lands. Pack-hunting creatures like Dire Wolves rarely took the initiative to attack a monster tribe if not feeling hungry or threatened by other, stronger monsters.