Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

We ran through the forests of the Greenvale Duchy with very little obstruction. The greenskin invasion was still ongoing and even gaining momentum, but with Vex’s leadership, we had no trouble dodging them altogether or just descending on them if their numbers were lacking to pose a challenge.

The woman with the epithet of ‘Hexblade’ stopped leading the way and gestured for us to remain quiet. “First patrol of the Greenvales is ahead, right, Ghosty?”

She asked while glancing at Blossom, whose adorable brain didn’t manage to pick up on her being spoken to due to the nickname Vex used. “She’s talking to you, Ghost.” Aurora giggled while touching Blossom’s shoulder to ensure she got the message just in case she forgot her criminal alias, as it hadn’t been used for a few days.

“Ghost is Ghosty?” It was Vex’s time to snicker at my dog-girl’s antics.

“Yes, but if you don’t like it, then I’ll use Ghost. I just thought Ghosty sounded cute.”

Her explanation was more than enough to get a few energetic tail wags out of Blossom, who liked to be cute – at least in front of me. I doubted she felt the same while lunging at her prey from the shadows with her menacing claws drawn. “Ghosty is Ghost! Ghosty smells ten humans ahead, four males and six females. Ghosty also smells a male dog-kin and a female elf. The wind is favorable; the dog-kin can’t smell Ghosty and the others until they move closer.”

Canine-kin and elves were excellent additions to any border patrol squads; many of them had a few such slaves added to their teams to round out the group’s capabilities. Humans alone weren’t overly effective at catching sneaky trespassers.

“Thanks, I sensed something along those lines as well. We should be out of the elf’s detection range as well for a few more steps.” It seemed Vex was an exception; she somehow had great detection abilities.

“We won’t kill humans because some wield artifacts that will make our lives more difficult should we slay them, just like our Phenom rings that will track whoever kills us. I’ll neutralize the nose of the dog-kin but the elves are a pervert foot fetishist’s wet dream because their feet are magically sensitive, allowing them to converse in a supernatural way with the surrounding nature as long as their limb touches the ground.

The easiest and simplest counter to them is to never touch the ground but traverse through the branches of trees; their detection range will narrow down significantly when it comes to targets that are not on the ground. To that effect, if you can’t move from branch to branch, climb onto the back of someone that can carry you. Other than that, just maintain formation and trust in me.”

<It’s official, I don’t like this foul-mouthed bitch one bit.> Seraphiel grumbled; she felt as if she was insulted twice in a single minute. First, when Vex called her race a foot fetishist’s wet dream, and second, when she offered such an easy counter to their supernatural senses. And yes, Seraphiel – while rather reluctantly – was indeed wearing boots; we’ve been hiding her race from the organization.

I had to give the kendo-uniform-wearing woman my respect; Vex’s leadership abilities were shining brilliantly after a few short minutes of the mission’s start, letting me know the Consortium heads weren’t insane when they named her the leader.

As for jumping from branch to branch, while it might sound like an insane task to give people who never did it before. However, a lot of the trees in Greenvale were gigantic, with their branches being proportionally just as girthy and firm. This tree-running maneuver didn’t require the finesse and balancing ability of a monkey to pull off as long as one had enough Strength stat to jump longer distances.

“Can you…?” Aurora asked me with a strangely worried tone; she wanted to be carried. I didn’t know where her anxiety in asking me this was stemming from; maybe she felt a bit embarrassed that she was the only one who didn’t feel confident in her acrobatic ability among my ladies? That was a nonsensical thing to be worried about. The only other potential explanation for her uncharacteristic reservation I could conjure was that I was currently Devil, not Quinlan. Maybe Aurora assumed I was currently in my badass terminator mode.

Well, whatever the truth was, I didn’t care. I leaned under her heavenly thighs with one arm and her back with my other, lifting her into a princess carry. Aurora yelped at first but then quickly found her rhythm when she nuzzled her head into my chest and brought her arms around my neck.

Aurora had already yelled ‘Daddy!!!’ in front of tens of thousands of witnesses when I gave her Kael’s Epic-tier staff, which was generously donated to me by Black Fang after slaying the man. Therefore, our relationship should already be long since out of the bag.

“Solace, are you good?” I asked using Seraphiel’s official criminal alias. She had a higher level than Aurora and was a forest dweller, so I assumed she could manage, but I asked nonetheless. She was sore all over due to my hedonistic actions, after all.

“Hmph. I’m good.” Damn. My bombshell of an elven healer was officially grumpy, acting like a girlfriend who had some grave grievances with her boyfriend’s recent actions.

Blossom, Ayame, and Lucille were more than good enough to excel at this task by themselves, so I didn’t ask. If one wanted to be carried, they would’ve let me know anyhow. Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire

Sadly, Lyra was not here with us. I didn’t dare bring her because Vex met the pink-haired tanker during the second event of the Phenom Trials. She was Soren’s slave back then, so her presence in my team could be rather troublesome.

To that end, I was doubly happy with Iris’ addition; she could act as a sub-in. She wasn’t as good at tanking, but beggars can’t be choosers; her Child of Agony class should let her increase her Vitality stat should the situation demand it, and she had an amazing healer ready to keep her in fighting shape just behind her.

The only other tank I had was Kaelira, who wasn’t added to the team by the seven heads. I could bring my own subordinates, but I wasn’t sure how they would take another Phenom’s presence. Even if they all knew she listened to me, Kaelira was technically my equal who should follow the orders of Black Fang, not me.

“Ryker.”

Selene 2.0’s words sounded more like a command than a request, and the brawler-type combatant listened to his master like the obedient dog he was. I didn’t care about the relationships of other people, but this one just gave me the urge to spit. Women could be dominant – that was not the issue here.

What made me feel something was wrong while watching them was that technically Ryker was the boss here, the Phenom, while this cunning fox somehow subjugated him and treated him like a slave. It was an overly pathetic sight to behold.

Selene 2.0 was a ranger based on the bow hanging on her back, so she should be more than capable of moving on her own… She likely just wanted to be taxied around like a princess.

“U-umm… C-c-can you carry me too?”