Primordial Villain With A Slave Harem

Chapter 1791: Leaving Thalorind

"But then an unknown nobody had to walk out of the woods and start eating the board I worked hard to set up."

Quinlan grinned at the old king, and the grin held no remorse whatsoever.

"My sincerest apologies."

"Your apologies are worth less than the oaths my dukes take, you infuriating bastard," Alexios grumbled, though the corner of his mouth twitched toward a shape he’d rather die than call a smile.

He composed himself, straightening, and swept the moonlit room with practiced calm. "I must say, you’ve shown remarkable restraint regarding Black Fang’s claim on the elder."

His attention drifted to the ice casing where Hozumi’s thrashing kept up with admirable determination despite the magma pulsing through the frost in slow, cruel rhythms.

"But what about mine?"

Quinlan tilted his head, not understanding. "What about him?"

"..." Alexios looked at him for a long second.

Then he sighed. "It’s fine. Just make sure he’s recognizable."

"Sure." Quinlan nodded along nicely. "Patching him back up will be a nice exercise for the healers."

"..." Alexios couldn’t believe how this foul creature could somehow keep getting more and more shameless than he already was.

Quinlan turned back to the obsidian blade resting across his palm, turning it in the moonlight.

"Potion-gulping geezer." He turned the blade again, watching the moonlight slide off the edge without resistance. "Is it just me, or are the Fujimori useless? They know nothing of importance."

Alexios looked ready to slap the back of his head.

"...I must agree, you foul-mouthed brat. It appears they were all puppets of their ancestors’ will."

Quinlan looked at Ayame.

She met his stare instantly, because she’d been watching the blade since the moment it came out, and the composure she wore for the room thinned by a fraction as his question arrived without him needing to say most of it.

"Do you mind?"

She looked at the obsidian edge. The blade that had drunk her father’s blood to awaken. The blade whose voice, according to Kaede, had never sounded like him.

But she instantly knew the answer to her partner’s question.

"Even if he’s in there," she said quietly, "it’s worth trying."

"..." Kaede’s tears only flew stronger upon hearing the choice her big sister had made, how little she cared about her family that once was.

But she could not fault her for it.

Quinlan’s smile for his samurai was the real one, warm and full of a pride he’d never once bothered hiding.

Then he stood in one sharp motion. "I need to get this piece of junk speaking, but I can’t do it here."

"Do you need a smithy?" Myrasyn asked. "I can guide you to the royal dwarven smithy."

"No, I need a specific someone to help me," Quinlan spoke mysteriously, causing the elf queen to perk her ears. Then, Quinlan added a beat later, "I’ll take you up on your offer later, though. There must be a lot of goodies there."

"...Alright," Myrasyn giggled.

Quinlan then turned toward the human king. "Old bastard, take a few deep breaths before we go in there. I’m afraid your heart might give out."

"In where?" Alexios rose with a scowl.

Quinlan raised his palm and pulled.

The air split.

A seam of pale light opened where nothing had been, and beyond it hung a sky full of stars that no navigator on this continent had ever charted, low and close and achingly still.

"In there."

"This... This is different than [Warp Gate]!" Myrasyn yelped, flabbergasted at what she was seeing. "Such an otherworldly magic..."

"You have great intuition." Quinlan smiled, then looked at the remaining guests.

Iris had already taken Gorthrax downstairs to interrogate him about her family and the Covenant’s role in what happened to them. Black Fang stood at the edge of the seam, ready to walk right into the portal, her prisoner left behind in the corner.

His eyes found Elisabeth first, then moved on to the Scarlet Lilies, and a half-apology touched his face. "This part is private. I’m sorry."

Void’s head rose from Bronnya’s shoulder. "...I would like to see."

"Maybe later."

Her half-lidded gaze drifted to Elisabeth, displeased. "The screecher gets to go in, but we can’t?"

"Hah?" Elisabeth’s eyes narrowed at the mage.

"She’s a fanatic of the Goddess," Quinlan said to Void, ignoring Elisabeth completely. "I might not like her one bit, but I know she won’t give me trouble in the future."

"The feeling is mutual, Villain. And why are you so sure I won’t harm you?" Elisabeth threatened, voice low.

The corner of Quinlan’s mouth lifted, still leaving the Dawn Breaker on ’read’ as he explained, "You ladies, however, I’m not fully certain of."

Quinlan was thinking about the very distant future here. His soul realm could not be attacked by mortals like the Lilies, but if they switched sides and fed intel to a hostile god, Quinlan could be in trouble.

Frankly, he didn’t know exactly how secretive he should be, feeling it was rather safe to show the realm. That’s why he allowed Alexios and the elves to enter.

But there was no real drawback to keeping the Lilies outside.

Inviting them into his home and letting them listen in on their talks was already a great showing of courtesy, as far as he was concerned. Especially considering their history with him and his family.

"Protect our home in my absence?" he asked for a favor instead.

Void’s pout deepened into a feat of facial architecture. "...Protect your home in your absence."

She surveyed the moonlit room through half-open lids, the puddles of melted ice, the slumped elder, the broken girl in the corner. "From what?"

Quinlan smirked and stepped through the seam without answering.

One by one, they followed, and the pale light sealed shut behind them.

"He ignored me..." Void muttered into the quiet that remained, in utter disbelief.

"How does a taste of your own medicine feel?" Jallen asked, smiling at her whiny friend. Void was the personification of selective hearing, so she really didn’t have any right to complain.

"This is because we kept being antagonistic toward him," Void kept going on, eyes on Lilith while ignoring Jallen’s words.

The Spellblade didn’t look at her friend as she spoke with a voice holding zero sincerity. "Forgive me for not trusting the man literally called Primordial Villain who just happens to be the killer of our friend."

"Hmph. Bad Lilith..." Void did not forgive. She shifted from Bronnya’s shoulder to Scar’s side, settling against the blue-skinned woman. "Put in a good word for us, please..." She paused. "Or at least for me..."

"Hey." Bronnya looked at the shoulder Void had just vacated, wry.

Void did not hear her.

...

The soul realm opened around them.

"What the hell..." Alexios murmured under his breath.

Soft grassland rolled away under a sky of burning stars, closer and denser than any constellation on the continent, arranged in patterns no astronomer had charted.

The air carried no temperature and tasted clean in a way that made the room they’d left feel stale.

At the heart of it all, a tree rose from the soil with a pale trunk and faintly luminous leaves, roots curled protectively into the earth. Demonic vines wound through its bark in slow helical paths, pulsing with a soft pink light that made the whole thing look like a shrine with a heartbeat.

A small blue figure sat on the lowest branch with her feet dangling, and the moment the group appeared, both tiny arms went up.

"Scary Uncle! Everyone! Welcome back!"

Mimi launched from the branch and landed squarely in Serika’s arms, burrowing into the redhead’s chest with full-body enthusiasm, and Serika caught her without breaking stride, settling the little dryad against her shoulder with a gentleness she reserved for very few things in this world.

"Missed you too, little one."

Jasmine appeared from behind Serika’s shoulder. "Grah!" She pounced on the blue girl with a scary snarl, fingers reaching Mimi’s ribs before the dryad registered the ambush.

"EEEP!!" The shriek was instantaneous. Mimi thrashed, blue skin flushing violet, and scrambled up Serika’s frame until she was clinging to her neck from behind with all four limbs. "P-protect me big sis Serika!!"

"Jasmine is a good girl..." Serika chuckled. "She’s also very weak without her summons..."

Mimi only shook her head in response frantically and hid even further behind her sister.

"There’s two of these wonderful existences?!" Isveth yelped. Myrasyn was no better. "And she’s even smaller than Rosie?! My heart will melt...!"

Then the pressure arrived.

It came from everywhere at once, falling from the sky, rising from the soil, pressing in from the dark beyond the canopy. Silent, windless, patient, as if the realm had drawn a breath and refused to release it.

Alexios and Elisabeth reached for their swords before their minds caught up.

Isveth let out a strangled breath as her knees buckled. She caught herself on Myrasyn’s arm, and Myrasyn, rigid with the effort of remaining upright, barely managed to do so.

Quinlan’s girls stood easy. They’d felt this before.

The luminous leaves dimmed.

The pink light in the vines deepened. The stars, still recovering from their earlier blackout, burned a fraction brighter. The grass beneath his feet deepened in color, as if the soil itself exhaled.

At the base of the tree, a throne of braided vine and dark bark materialized from the roots, and on it a woman with one leg crossed over the other and her fingers draped along the armrest.

Demonic markings glowed steady across her skin, pulsing in time with the vines behind her, and the clothes that clung to her frame left very little to interpretation and nothing to modesty.

Nyxara rose.

The motion was smooth and unhurried, yet the weight in the air doubled as she left the throne, then tripled with the first step she took down the slope.

Alexios’s vision tunneled.