Primordial Villain With A Slave Harem - Chapter 788

Chapter 788: Goodbyes and Trial Start
I took a breath, raised my hand, and called forth a doorway made up of violet and black. The Warp Gate materialized with its usual hum, casting its light on the cobblestone walls around us.

Vex turned to me. She rose up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me into a deep kiss. It was soft and slow, and lingered long after it ended.

She whispered, “Good luck on your trial, Quinlan. Come back stronger, but most importantly, just come back to me. It’s ok not to gain another new power… You already have access to so many classes and spells, I can barely wrap my head around them. So don’t stress yourself out. None of us will fault you. Just try your best and whatever happens, happens.”

Her warm words forced a smile onto my face without my permission. I hadn’t expected these words from this eccentric creature. I truly had the best taste in women. They were wild on the battlefield, utterly ruthless against their enemies, uncaring toward strangers, but when it came to those they loved… There were no obstacles that would stop them.

Fierce combatants and even fiercer lovers.

They were all perfect.

Every single one of them.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about me, Vex. I’ve got this.”

She observed me for a few long seconds, ascertaining I wasn’t trying to hide something from her, until she nodded with a gorgeous smirk, sent a sexy kiss my way, and stepped through the gate, vanishing like moonlight through mist.

I stood there, unmoving. It wasn’t that I lied to her. I just wish we could’ve spent a bit more time together after all we’d been through in recent days.

But all it did was harden my resolve. I had a trial to complete. And nothing would stop me.

I opened a second gate. This one led home.

I stepped through.

…

I stepped through the gate near the familiar clearing where Rosie’s tree stood tall and proud. The moment I emerged, I blinked in surprise.

Silence.

No elven guards were standing at attention like usual. Rosie was nowhere in sight either.

How strange.

I reached out with my senses, trying to locate the nearest people to me, and then I heard it.

“DADDYYYYYY!!!”

A small blur of green barreled straight toward me like a guided missile.

Before I could brace, Rosie slammed face-first into mine, her little arms wrapping around my head like an octopus made of affection. I stumbled back half a step, chuckling as I peeled her off.

“Still haven’t figured out how to slow down when you do that, huh?”

Rosie beamed at me, her tiny cheeks puffed with pride. “Rosie doesn’t slow down!”

“Oh?” I mused with a smile, ruffling her hair affectionately. “And how did you know that I was here?”

She closed her eyes and raised her chin proudly. “Rosie’s roots travel far and wide under the earth. She can sense everything! Trees, bugs, water, soldiers, portals from which a person giving off such unique signals steps out that Rosie knows he can only be her Daddy—she sees everything!”

Her grin was contagious.

“Impressive,” I said, brushing my knuckles against her cheek. She let out a pleased little squeak, leaning into my touch like a pampered cat.

“Where are your mommies?”

“Mommy Ayame and Auntie Iris dug a hole,” she said innocently.

“…A hole?”

“Mhm! A biiiiiig pit! And they’ve been punching and yelling in it for, like, hours!”

“Hours?”

“Rosie will show Daddy!” she declared, seating herself on my shoulder like a tiny queen. She wrapped her arms around my head for support and began dangling her legs against my chest. “Go that way!”

She pointed dramatically, as if I couldn’t already hear the violent symphony of curses, fists, and cracking bones echoing from the distance.

Still, I humored her, acting like her royal chariot.

We walked together, moving through the outskirts of the stronghold and past the mansion. The sounds of combat grew louder with every step, all the while Rosie was humming merrily as if we were going to watch a fun puppet play instead of a brutal brawl.

Eventually, the terrain shifted. At least the two fierce kittens had the sense in them to move away from the buildings before starting the pummeling. And then we saw it.

A pit. Roughly twenty meters (65 feet) across, crudely carved into the ground like a training arena dug not by Ronan’s professional architect hands but by the two raging ladies who couldn’t wait to throw punches at each other.

Honestly, I was surprised they had the self-control to do this before the brawl began.

… Now that I thought about it some more, it must’ve been the others who forced them to do it.

At the bottom of the pit, two very familiar women could be seen, both looking like they had spent the last few hours inside a blender.

Ayame’s neatly kept, lush hair was undone. Her yukata she liked to wear at home was torn to pieces, and her jaw was red and bruised. Iris’s nose bled freely, and one of her eyes was swollen shut, yet both kept swinging. Neither held their weapons. This wasn’t a duel. This was a grudge match: bare fists, sheer stubbornness, and no ounce of grace left.

Rosie blinked. “Auntie Iris called Mommy Ayame a female goblin among many other colorful names, and said she’d prefer Vex to be the second-in-command. But Mommy Ayame isn’t innocent either. She insulted Iris about having a horrible sense of humor.”

“Haaahhhh…” I sighed, rubbing my temple.

If this was how they acted before Iris officially joined the household, what fresh chaos would blossom once she became a part of it?

“…How am I supposed to make these two friends? Or at least not act like they murdered each other’s loved ones…” I muttered aloud.

“Oh, you’re here already?” Lucille purred from the side. I turned my head and just now realized they’d been having a picnic nearby. “How was your time with Vex? You usually take much longer when you welcome a girl into the harem…”

“She was utterly delicious, a heavenly meal. But sadly, duty called her away rather quickly. Your dearest papa declared war on the Consortium. And thanks to our machinations, the odds aren’t in the syndicate’s favor…”

Upon my statement, her cheeky smile evaporated, replaced by one of surprise. It was Aurora who spoke up next. “Have we been called as well?”

“Nope.”

I heard a sudden feminine giggle, signaling Seraphiel had found something amusing. “Why do I get the sense that you’re planning to sit out the war of your own making…?”

“Sit out? No…” I shook my head, letting an admittedly rather cruel grin. “We’re just… pushing it lower on our list of priorities. I’m about to begin my primordial trial, while I want you girls to spend a bit of time studying your classes in more detail. Once our more pressing matters have been concluded, we’ll see if there are any opportunities to help the Consortium out.”

“Help, he says…” Lucille chuckled amusedly.

“In the dictionary of Quinlan, the word ‘helping my allies’ refers to ‘making opportunistic gains under the veil of supporting my allies.'” Aurora chimed in while nibbling on a snack, sending me a playful wink.

Well, what could I say?

They were all goddamn right.

I wasn’t going to bleed for the Consortium in a losing war, much less risk the lives of my lovers just so that they could continue existing. If the organization was meant to fall here, then so be it.

I’d already gotten immense benefits from them, such as letting me level up under their protection, getting artifacts, and meeting good friends among their ranks and on their missions. But most importantly, my all but secured alliance with Black Fang and her three mighty disciples.

If the worst came to be, I could also just move to dogkin lands and have Papa Vargis assist my future growth. I’m sure he would be delighted to see me back in his palace so soon after saying goodbye.

As such, I allowed myself to focus on what mattered the most: increasing my personal might and the power of the Ascendants, my faction of rapidly rising fighters.

Now, it was time to initiate my Primordial Rank-Up Mission!

[Ding!]

[Primordial Rank-Up Mission initiating!]