With the room having settled down a little, Erik sipped his drink as he inspected his newest subjects standing below the throne he sat on.

"So…" he began, after declaring they had more important matters to deal with. "Have you three fully come to terms with the new situation? Have you understood why this is the only way forward for you?"

The trio didn't need any more time to deliberate or hesitate, as they'd had plenty of time to do so already. All three of them nodded grimly, with little to no resentment.

"That Gabriel was monstrously powerful," Nasir said sombrely. "I'm still recovering from our battle with him."

Indeed, despite Emma's healing, Nasir still limped a little from the wounds he'd received to his legs. At the same time, the protective clothes he wore were torn everywhere, exposing his pale vampire skin to the harsh desert sun, and his eyes shone with hunger, clearly having not drank any blood since the battle started.

Neither Zohran nor Zahra was doing much better than him, with bloody streaks covering the werejackal's half-exposed body, and Zahra looking like she'd not slept in about a week.

Zohran smirked, nodding in agreement. "Our first battle with you made us truly realise the world held people more powerful than us, but the fact we came out of that with a near-victory made us overconfident," he admitted without shame. All the while, he looked at Erik with an obvious desire for the kind of power Erik wielded.

Sighing, Zahra agreed with her two comrades. "Right… After facing both him and you, I'm honestly surprised you won…"

Erik's lips curled into a half-smirk, and Zahra quickly realised her mistake. "Ah!" she yelped, flinching a little. "N— Not that you were weak, just…!"

Chuckling, Erik interrupted her with a wave of his glass-filled hand. "It's fine. Not only did I grow more powerful since then, but I also didn't have a good counter to your ability back then. Gabriel did have that counter, and then I countered him perfectly. I don't mind what you said, but just realise the reason for your perception of these battles."

Not only Zahra, but her companions nodded as well. It appeared their encounter with Gabriel and subsequent rescue by Erik had truly humbled them.

"Anyway," Erik continued with a shrug. "You'll soon notice there are many more benefits to being a part of my empire than just protection. But I'm glad you three aren't being stubborn."

Taking his hand from Emma's head, he instead used that hand to lift her chin a little and whisper softly in her ear. As usual, Emma was happy to fulfil any order given by him and jumped off his lap with a gentle smile. With one hand now freed, Erik produced a heavy, rolled-up piece of parchment before handing it to Emma.

Taking it, she turned around to walk down the steps, then rolled the parchment out on the triangular table below. It revealed a lot of text, and two blotches of dried blood at the bottom, one of which was located in a specific box, the other was not.

The trio looked curiously at her actions, still standing a few steps away from the table as they talked with Erik. "This is a covenant contract," Erik provided helpfully, before taking a little time to explain what that meant. Naturally, this was the same contract he'd established together with Ankhur, and currently, he and Erik were the only signers.

That said, any covenant Erik engaged in automatically involved Elora as well, and vice versa.

After his explanation, the trio looked at the parchment wryly, with Emma still standing next to it like an elegant maid, smiling serenely. "So, no handshake agreements, huh…?" Zahra smirked.

"Not for something like this, no," Erik chuckled, before waving invitingly at the piece of parchment. "Take your time to read through it before signing, but make yourself no illusions about negotiating. Ankhur made sure this contract is more than fair. This is the contract you'll sign."

His voice brooked no refusal, not even leaving a possibility for a future in which they didn't sign the contract.

Because there wasn't one.

And these three knew it.

With a collective sigh, the trio walked over to Emma and started reading through the contract together. Most of it covered subjects they'd barely ever thought about in the past. They'd governed their region in very different manners compared to Ankhur, focusing far more on a kind of tribal, warlike hierarchy, compared to Ankhur's structured, almost bureaucratic version.

Only Zahra, who mainly ruled over this city, found some similarities with Ankhur and Erik's style.

Still, eventually, they all signed the contract. They knew significant changes were coming to their realm, but they'd accepted that. It was inevitable, and the contract offered enough protections for them not to worry about losing their way of life.

After it was done and they officially became Erik's newest subordinate rulers, Emma rolled the contract back up and returned to Erik with it. With a small, elegant bow, she handed it over to him. "Here you go, Master," she smiled.

"Hehe, good girl," Erik chuckled, never seeming to get tired of Emma's insistence to serve as his maid, despite being his wife as well. "Thank you, Emma."

A noticeable shiver travelled down Emma's spine on being called a good girl—something that didn't go unnoticed by any of the trio, either—before she hopped back on Erik's lap and kissed him deeply. Meanwhile, the contract disappeared back in Erik's dimension.

The trio watched their display of affection awkwardly, though one of them was perhaps more curious than anything else.

Meanwhile, Astrid was still leaning back comfortably in a chair with a bored expression.

Elora, however, wasn't interested in letting them go on for long. "Alright, alright!" she groaned from Erik's shoulder, while waving her hand towards Emma. "This is very cute, but I want to go on!"

She jumped from Erik's shoulder, flew to the front of the throne, and enlarged herself. "I want to see what secrets this place holds, and what you've been hiding from us!" she grinned widely, pointing at the trio.