The next morning, Redfern Village did not wake to the crow of a rooster. It woke to screams of terror.

Just as Judas expected, the soldiers stationed at the nearby checkpoint arrived in the village. They marched in with heavy boots and annoyed expressions, expecting to break up a brawl or chase off a few drunkards.

Instead, they found a graveyard.

The bandits were already dead.

This discovery did not make the Military Commander happy. In fact, it made him furious.

He stood in the center of the village square, his face turning a shade of purple that matched his uniform's trim.

"Who killed them?" he roared at a trembling villager. "Who denied me the credit?"

The villager could only stammer and point toward the Village Head's house, where the massacre was even worse.

The Commander ground his teeth. He ordered his elite team to hunt in the Willow Mountains for any remaining bandits. He needed someone to blame. He needed someone to arrest to save his reputation.

Redfern only had forty-five families. By the time the sun was fully up, the soldiers had discovered the grim truth.

All of the women in these families had been assaulted. The men had been beaten or cowed into submission.

Incidents such as this weren't rare in the Wastelands. Unlike the civilized Empires, the Wastelands were places for outcasts without citizenship. It was a haven for criminals on the run and people the world wanted to forget.

Usually, the military would never care about them. They would take a bribe and look the other way.

But the timing of this incident was dire.

The apocalypse had opened a rift in the Northern Mountain Range of the Wastelands. This was a minor rift; it was stable and filled with low-level monsters, making it the perfect training ground for Awakeners of the Apprentice rank.

The world powers had taken notice.

The Seven Kingdom Alliance, the Apocalyptic Guild, the Dragon and Phoenix Riders Alliance, the Beastfolk Alliance, the Elven and Dwarf Alliance, and the Beast Masters Alliance had all come to an agreement.

They decided to make this rift a training ground for the younger generation.

It was to be a grand tournament. The three main academies had even changed their recruitment methods. They would recruit purely depending on the performances of the youngsters inside the rift.

The stakes were massive. The challenges would be projected to the entire world by Crafters.

Because of this, all the major factions in the world had sent their men to the Wastelands. They were setting up camps, securing routes, and clearing dangers to ensure the tournament proceeded smoothly.

To the absolute horror of the Military Commander, the faction stationed near Redfern Village happened to be the Apocalyptic Guild.

The men of the Guild were straightforward. They valued righteousness. They hated the strong bullying the weak.

When the news of the massacre spread, it reached the ears of the Guild members stationed nearby.

The leading mage of this group was an Adept Ice Mage. She was a woman known for her cold temper and freezing justice.

She personally led her team to the village. When she saw the state of the women and the cowardice of the military, the temperature in the village square dropped by ten degrees.

She looked at the Military Commander with disgust.

"You let this happen under your nose?" the Mage asked coldly.

The Commander sweated despite the chill.

"I... we were just..."

"Silence," the Mage ordered. "My team will handle the Willow Mountains. If I find out you were negligent, you will join the bandits."

The Military Commander could only grit his teeth and nod. He watched the Guild members march toward the mountains with killing intent.

"It's over," the Commander whispered to himself. "My dream of escaping this hellish place is shattered because of those idiots."

He cursed the bandits. He cursed the villagers. He cursed his luck.

While such commotions were happening outside, the atmosphere inside Judas's house was very different.

It was warm, quiet, and sinful.

Judas was sandwiched between his naked wives.

His head rested on the soft chest of Ezra. His mouth was latched onto her nipple, suckling gently even in his sleep.

Nina was sleeping sprawled on his chest, her limbs tangled with his, her face buried in his neck.

Luna was lower down. Her face rested on his crotch. His morning hardness pressed against her cheek, and she hugged his hip as if it were a pillow.

The scenery was too criminal for anyone innocent to witness.

So, one could expect what would happen if Zephriya, the virgin Abyss Princess, entered the room to start her morning cleaning duties.

The door creaked open. Zephriya stepped in, holding a bucket and a mop.

She froze. Her eyes went wide.

All the cleaning supplies in her hand fell onto the ground with a loud clatter.

"What the hell," she yelped.

The noise cut through the silence.

Ezra opened one eye. She didn't move her body, but she gave Zephriya a sharp look that promised pain if she made another sound.

Nina tilted her head up. She shot daggers at the princess with dissatisfaction, her ears flattening against her head.

Luna didn't even open her eyes. She just scoffed, her expression clearly saying 'get lost'.

Then, they tentatively looked at Judas.

He stirred slightly but didn't wake. His breathing remained steady.

They breathed a sigh of relief.

They gazed at each other with a tinge of embarrassment. Then they closed their eyes again, returning to act asleep.

They hoped their husband would return to normal after waking up, and they wanted to preserve this peace for as long as possible.

Zephriya scrambled to pick up the bucket and fled the room, her face burning.

Although Judas hadn't said anything first last night, his wives had extracted the truth from him.

After their constant questions and promises of rewards, he had told them everything that happened in the village.

They were horrified. But their indignation was not for the villagers. It was for the bandits who had traumatized their poor husband.

The terror the villagers experienced was never a consideration for them.

They all remembered how the three men from the village came the previous night. Those me had greedy looks gazing at them. They had also tried to drag them away to sell them to the bandits.

They were sure of one thing: If those villagers had been given a chance to save themselves by handing the three of them over to the bandits, they would have done it without hesitation.

Also, their experiences of the outside world made them incapable of empathy for strangers.

Luna had grown up in a palace of snakes. Ezra had survived a war. Nina had been treated as livestock.

Perhaps only Judas in this world was the person they trusted wholeheartedly.

Of course, as his wives, they also mutually accepted and trusted each other. But the rest of the world could burn for all they cared.

Judas slept in his wives' warmth until the evening.

Zephriya had cooked them noodles as per Ezra's order.

She wore a blindfold covering her eyes as she entered the room. She navigated by memory and sound, placing the pot of food on the table with trembling hands.

"Food is ready," she squeaked, and then she rushed to the side room, slamming the door behind her.

Ezra tapped the other two and motioned for them to move.

She then slowly shook Judas.

"Husband," she whispered. "It's time to eat."

"Mm..." Judas groaned. He moved his mouth away from her breast.

Ezra looked down. Her nipple was red and swollen from his constant suckling.

'It looks like he really milked me,' she sighed internally.

Judas sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

He saw Ezra looking at him with a soft gaze. He gave her a kiss on the lips. Then he repeated the same with Luna and Nina.

"Thank you for yesterday," he said seriously.

He held their gazes one by one.

Even though he hadn't shown it on the outside, yesterday's incident deeply affected him. His overthinking brain also made him ask a terrifying question.

If he hadn't transmigrated into this world, would his wives have shared the same fate as the women in the village?

Would Nina have been sold? Would Luna have been broken? Would Ezra have been killed fighting?

This imagination made him angry. It made his blood boil.

He swore in his heart that he would hunt every bandit in the Willow Mountains.

The poor bandits in the Willow didn't know it yet. When the guild completed their hunting game there, there would be a lone man coming for them.

He would take revenge against his own dark imaginings.

Judas and his wives sat across the table and began eating.

The noodles were warm and comforting. The atmosphere in the room lightened as they ate.

That was when Nibble and Nubble arrived.

They squeezed through the small gap under the door and bounced into the room. They jumped onto Judas's shoulder, squeaking urgently.

Judas stopped eating. He listened to their mental report.

His brows furrowed slightly.

'The Guild is here? Why did they come?'

He expected the military to come to question the villagers. But he never expected it would be the Apocalyptic Guild.

'The Guild and the military are not on good terms,' Judas thought.

Everyone knew the friction between the two factions. If not for the Guild's rules and protection, the military would have already drafted all able-bodied men as cannon fodder for the front lines.

The Guild checked the military's power.

'Could there be some kind of event happening?'

If not, he didn't see any reason for Guild members to be here.

The apocalypse in the Wastelands wasn't their business. The loot here was poor. The resources were scarce.

Also, the rifts here were mostly low-level, as the mana in the air was lower here than in the central continent.

For high-ranking members of the Guild to descend on a place like Redfern, something significant must be shifting in the world.

'It seems things are turning complex,' Judas mused, tapping his finger on the table.

He looked at his wives. They were eating happily, unaware of the shifting tides outside.

He needed to be ready. If the Guild was here, it meant order was coming.

But order could be just as dangerous as chaos for a man with secrets.

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