Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1124: Abrupt Woman

Quinlan’s steps echoed against the floorboards until he reached the center of the room. There, he reached out and grabbed onto two shoulders. One belonged to Iris, the other to Jasmine.

The two women paused in their actions to turn and look up at him. Two delicate faces welcomed Quinlan’s eyes. Both women sported extreme amounts of blood on their skin, previously belonging to their personal trauma-relief tools. Now, it was only serving to adorn their expressions.

And how beautiful those expressions were. As both Iris and Jasmine looked up at him with innocent eyes, wordlessly asking what he wanted, he couldn’t help but think there was something truly wrong with him, for they were extremely gorgeous in this moment. ’... Maybe I shouldn’t call the Black Fang gang a bunch of crazies...’ he thought inwardly.

Then, Quinlan managed to collect himself and speak up. "Girls, you’ve been at this for a long, long time. How about you leave some of them for tomorrow? Especially you, Jasmine. You and your mother are low-level; you shouldn’t skip nights. Your Vitality stat isn’t high enough to brush it off."

Jasmine blinked cutely, "Wait, what’s the time?"

"Early morning."

Her blinking intensified. "... Oh."

"Oh indeed," Quinlan chuckled.

Jasmine blushed and looked back at her mother, who was currently applying a pair of pliers to Aurelion’s balls with the most blissful expression ever.

"... I’ll speak to Mom," Jasmine nodded and scurried away.

"You’ll send this one back now, won’t you?" Iris asked, using the question to explain why she was at it for so long.

Quinlan observed the raven-haired girl for a moment longer before nodding. "Yeah. I don’t need her and the son anymore. I’ll let the count house these nervous wrecks. Then, soon, I’ll use them to help me rob the guy blind. Anyhow, did you get some good info from her?"

Iris’s expression darkened immediately. "Yes, but not the whole story... It seems to be a deep conspiracy. I was thinking it would be a smaller-scale criminal organization, as my impoverished family didn’t need a Consortium-size syndicate to be toppled, especially with my retard of a father at the helm, but it doesn’t seem to be the case."

"Oh?"

"..." Iris nodded. "Yes. I get the feeling that not only did the Covenant of Eternity have a hand in it, but that... Maybe... The Ravenshade duke himself might be involved in the brutal torture and murder of my poor brother."

Her expression instantly turned troubled at the memory of Damian. The poor boy truly suffered a horribly cruel fate, and he did so while sacrificing himself for his little sister.

Quinlan’s hands traveled up from her shoulder and gently stroked her lush, black hair. "We’ll get them, no matter who they are. The undead liches of the Covenant or the Duke himself, I don’t care. Nobody is positioned too high up to escape our vengeance."

Iris’s lips trembled hearing that, and, entirely uncharacteristically, allowed Quinlan to continue stroking her hair.

He didn’t want to push his luck, however, so he turned around. "Iris, please help the girls clean up. I’ll go ahead."

Quinlan didn’t manage to take more than a single step before someone stepped up and enveloped him from behind for a hug. <I... I’m grateful,> Iris muttered.

<Hmm? What brought this on?> Quinlan asked, curious.

<I feel like I’m using you.>

’What an abrupt woman... Whenever I feel like I start knowing what to expect from her, she keeps blindsiding me,’ Quinlan thought inwardly.

<Explain, please.>

Iris did exactly that. <You’re my best chance at achieving my lifelong desire of exacting revenge. I’m here because of that. You even took me to the royal ceremony so I could gather information, and now you have delivered this woman to my hands... I keep taking, taking, taking... While barely giving anything in return. I’m taking advantage of your generosity.>

<Come on... You’re one of our best fighters.>

<Am I? I’m spitting blood just to keep up with that infuriating midget wife of yours. Soon, no matter my efforts, I’ll be left behind. And now, with you being able to even [Subjugate] people like that Cassandra woman, my value as a fighter keeps plummeting.>

<The lack of the 3X XP buff, huh...>

Iris nodded weakly against his bare back.

Quinlan’s earlier note of this girl being far too abrupt became even more apparent with her next words.

<I... I thought about offering myself up to you in my entirety... But then I realized that even that would be me taking advantage of you.>

Quinlan turned around and enveloped the woman in a real hug. <Your trauma is my trauma, Iris. Your revenge is my revenge. Don’t think too deeply about this. Also, about the last part...>

He stroked her back calmly, <We’ll see what we can do about it, alright? I don’t want to take your innocence just for the sake of it. I’m a hopeless romantic who doesn’t want to have sex for the sake of sex. But if you can’t take it any longer, if Ayame is leaving you in the dust no matter your efforts, you can reach out to me. We can do it without making it sexual. Blindfolds, earplugs, and maybe even take some sense reducers.>

Iris bit into her lip out of frustration. <Which would mean you don’t even get to enjoy the emotional or the physical aspect of it... You’d only do it for my sake, letting me take advantage of every part of your existence. All your skills, all your experience, all that you have built will soon be used for my sake.>

<Why is that such a big problem? I’m a primordial entity, armed with immense advantages mortals can only dream of. Why is it a bad thing if I share my advantages with the people I care about?>

<It’s not!> Iris instantly protested, voice coming hurried in alarm. <It’s wonderful. You’re building a real thing, a true family. You have changed many of our lives for the better.>

Iris then began blinking timidly, uncertain. Her voice, when it came, was weak. <At the risk of sounding anything but the Iris Ravenclaw you know...>

She audibly gulped in his mind, then her shaky voice came.

<Quinlan Elysriar, to us, you’re the blessing of the universe.>

Iris then laughed dryly. <I’m just a hopelessly stubborn person who struggles to take others’ generosity without being able to pay back. I hate this feeling of crushing debt weighing down on me all the time, knowing full well that I will never be able to repay even a fraction of it.>

<...> Quinlan was entirely taken aback. Iris had been showing signs of opening up to them, but if this was not a giant leap, then nothing was. She opened up to him so much, voicing her deepest thoughts when before she didn’t even want to talk to him about the most superficial things if it was avoidable.

<Who are you and what have you done to my sexy but oh-so-moody, unhinged Iris?>

<You’re not funny. I’m not unhinged. You’re confusing me with the type of women you seem to be into based on the questionable members of your harem.>

Quinlan, instead of responding, shifted his attention to the countess, who was tortured until her mind unraveled and her body collapsed. She was a ruined woman. No amount of healing would help her.

He felt a sudden tightness around his waist as Iris strengthened her hold around him. <Don’t look!>

Iris instantly earned herself a hearty laugh from Quinlan.

<Alright, alright... You’re a saint, Iris. If you ask the Goddess, I’m sure she’ll grant you the Healer class without blinking.>

<...>

<Let’s go then, woman with a totally sane mind. I plan to deploy in Greenvale; it’s about time we stopped hiding. You can outdo Ayame there.>

Quinlan felt her spirit instantly light up. <Today is the day I butcher the ugly slut!>

<You mean like defeat her in a competition by killing more enemies, right?>

She strategically chose to remain quiet.

<... Right?>