Richard didn’t want to deal with a crying woman, it was one thing if they were a kid but a grown ass woman crying means something extremely deep-

Well, with the current state of affairs, her problems were surely to be serious.

A kid calling out to their mom and dad could still be seen as a tantrum but an adult?

They were either a great actor or someone who was really drowning in whatever wonderful emotion it is that caused them to shed tears.

Richard had no plans to go through the torturous mental gymnastics of trying to understand her issues.

While he could make out a bit of it through the inner monologue she had which was not as private as she thought. Maybe she should have gotten a mental VPN or something.

Either way, Richard just took her back to the manor and shoved her into Hana’s arms.

It worked once- it should work again right?

Hopefully, this woman was not a honey trap. But with how she acted and the lamentations she was screaming internally-

It’s safe to say that she was safe... for now.

"Why would you bring in an enemy?"

Cindy spat out as she watched Hana bring the poor girl to the bathroom to get her cleaned up.

Although she tried to hide it, the smell that was practically oozing from the girl who likely hasn’t had a proper shower in months was hard to ignore.

Even CIndy who was used to the musky scent of mold and rotten stench of death and decay, was unable to stomach the foul odor that was oozing from the poor girl.

While she sympathized with the poor woman a little bit, that was not reason enough for her to suffer and endure the awful air.

Although she didn’t have any hate for the girl, Cindy’s unwillingness to breathe in the same air as her was a product of both the girl’s current state and Cindy’s own annoyance at the insurgents.

Her frustrations and anger had no outlet and she was left with no other choice but to let it simmer within her mind until the insurgents make a move and Richard starts his counterattack.

"She’s not hurting anyone is she? Also, how about knowing of her story before making an abrupt decision of marking her as an enemy?"

Richard tried to calm Cindy down but his words only increased the young witches’ frustrations which made her flare up unintentionally summoning her pets around her.

Large monstrous arms manifested next to her body a clear threat towards Richard who didn’t flinch at all as he extended his hand towards CIndy’s cheeks.

"Don’t worry, we’ll deal with the asshole who threatened to violate you. You don’t actually believe that I’d let them waltz into my home and do whatever they wanted to my people right? Especially to the women I trust the most-"

Richard’s words provided comfort but it also showed a clear distinction.

While Cindy and a few others could feel the warmth of his "protection" from his words. The others who rejected his deal were not so "safe".

After all, Richard’s distinction between trust and suspicion all boiled down to whether they were "marked" by him or not.

Many of the young witches under Morgana who were brought along when they escaped the UK had rejected Richard’s offer.

Most of them became true witches and became stronger to avoid the fate of becoming a cock sleeve and dumped in the English channel after they served their purpose.

They didn’t spend their blood, sweat and tears just to become some spoiled mystic’s cock sleeve.

After all that they’ve been through, the younger witches would rather die virgins than waste away the chastity they desperately protected for years.

But not all of the witches in Morgana’s group were young, some of them were older, a couple decades over the median age, some even reaching or far surpassing the centenarian label.

Those who were under the literal age of 30 were the ones who rejected Richard.

The rest? All of them took the deal, though most only wanted to enjoy the services of a young man. Some had long given up their chastity while others were only willing to offer it to a powerful mystic.

Richard checked the boxes for most of the older witches’ standards, this left Richard not caring if the younger witches agreed to the deal or not.

Moreover, while he had already developed a method that did not involve sex, Richard still continued with the intimate method.

Partly because he had to calm down the lust that would not be completely satiated.

But mostly because the intimate contact and bond formed through intercourse was like a safety net.

You can’t earn someone’s loyalty through a contract, but intimate contact, especially when it’s treasured, has a deep meaning.

By maintaining intimacy, Richard was able to satiate his lustful soul through a pseudo-harem situation. This prevented any long build up of desires that would surely explode eventually.

In this way, he won’t be able to reach the point where he would get driven mad by his lust creating another Morgana punishment moment.

Though this also had some unexpected benefits that Richard was not really expecting.

The biggest being competition, although the contract he had made with most of the witches bound them to him like a pact. It also strengthened them.

But the strengthening is not a flat value or enhancement.

It changes depending on how much contact they had with Richard.

Some witches would maintain a certain level of empowerment by doing a daily "quickie", some prefer longer intimate contact done every other day while others used it as an excuse to invade Richard’s privacy.

These things weren’t really stuff that Richard cared about, since it allowed him to stop thinking about the problems that were constantly revolving around him and just deal with whatever comes his way.

No matter how smart he was, Richard was still human and he can’t deal with the international reaction to mystics.

The international witch hunts...

Rise of a new Crusade...

If he tried to look at everything and find a way to resolve it, he would just end up burning out.

The constant stream of witches coming his way allowed him to invest more of his energy thinking of how to maintain a leveled relationship with all his companions while also dealing with the immediate problems within his vicinity.

In fact, Richard could have easily dealt with the insurgents.

Even if they had actual tanks and other powerful tools, Richard could still deal with them so long as none of their equipment had any enchantment or support from mystics.

His first investigation proved that they were just a bunch of average insurgents.

They were a bit smart as most of them were college dropouts, former high profile activists who had advanced knowledge, high IQ’s but devastatingly low EQ’s.

The whole reason they got into the mess they were in was because they focused too much on the "logic" of what was happening and got swept up in the wild emotions of instigators.

EQ was believed by many to be the ability to "empathize with others" but that is merely a part of it.

As a whole, EQ would involve one’s own "self-awareness", "self-management", "Social-awareness" and "relationship management". Those are the four pillars that dictate one’s EQ.

Empathy was only a factor related to the four, not the core of EQ.

After all, empathy could lead a person to lose themselves and become a follower of others emotions. Empathy allows you to manage relationships and be aware of social interactions but too much empathy would stop you from being able to "think for yourself".

The kids who all ended up in the mountains thought they were being "heroic" since they "stood up for others" and "fought for the rights of the minority".

In reality, they were just smartasses who got lost in their own pride, thinking that they were smarter than everyone else and now they were knee deep in mud, eating canned food for all their meals and constantly having one eye open and their gun ready to fire.

Students who could have become doctors, engineers and architects of the future were now crawling on mud and fighting for their lives.

These kinds of people were easy to deal with.

Richard was able to decimate soldiers, specially trained to combat mystics and armed with weapons that could take down said mystics.

Compared to those guys, the insurgents were just a bunch of hot blooded idiots stuck in a mire of their own making.

Yet Richard didn’t deal with them quickly, because what he needed now was not strength and power.

That he could build, he had a foundation and all he needed now was-

People.

With the current state of things, Richard would sooner or later get found, he can’t just run away forever.

Hana was dealing with the matters in Japan and the US, her skills as a secretary were in full display and Morgana was a skilled craftswoman.

With Nyx as an international delivery service at the ready, coordination was easily done without the need to expose themselves.

Still, that only gave Richard a bit of time, he still needed to prepare things which he lacked and that was a proper group.

"The girls a test case, if all goes well, we could take away some of the disgruntled youths, the perverts would be left for you to handle but we need individuals that have more than just brute strength and immortality"

Richard said while hugging Cindy, wrapping the young witch in his arms and calming her down.

"Trust me, everything will be alright"

"That’s not it though"

"Hm?"