Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1952: Looking For Life

Quinlan curved the wind carrying his companions eastward, following the direction they had chosen together. Iskaris’s southern coast receded behind their left shoulders.

Ayame leaned against his arm as the beach dwindled behind them. Her hair brushed his cheek, and he reached around her waist, holding the petite woman close before looking toward the open sea.

"Do you think we’ll go all the way to the eastern human continent?" she asked. "Or will we find other lands before we get there?"

Severely lacking in information, the gang decided their best bet was to go eastward, as they at least knew there was the eastern human land somewhere out there. However...

"There could be whole continents between us and it for all we know. I’d like to explore whatever we come across, at least from a distance."

"Hopefully the first people we meet can sell us a map," Aurora said from beside Lucille.

"It’s enough if they have a map. We’ll just borrow it," Lucille grinned. Despite being a delicate woman, she perfectly resembled her Bloodmonger class.

"..."

Ayame gazed ahead, her fingers tightening around his. Somewhere beyond all that water lay the homeland of the eastern humans, the place her ancestors had left.

She knew painfully little about what they might find there. Even reaching it would require better directions than the ones they possessed.

Still, the possibility made her heart race.

"I’d like to see it eventually," she admitted.

Quinlan smiled at her. "One day we’ll get there for sure. But let’s see what we find along the way."

"Preferably somewhere with people who know how to cook well," Serika added. "I’d love to try a new cuisine."

"We just ate a sea monster," Aurora reminded her.

"And it was both delicious and exciting, wasn’t it? I’m feeling encouraged to be adventurous~"

Below them, the shallows darkened into deep blue. Quinlan raised the group on a climbing current, giving them a wider view as they passed beyond the pale seabed.

The coastline stretched away on either side behind them. Ahead, sunlight flashed across an expanse of water so vast that he kept searching for a break in it.

He wanted to know what lived beneath that surface and what waited on the far shore. Perhaps the first town they found would have something worth buying, or someone who could give him a proper fight.

His girls were discussing the same things around him, their voices overlapping in the sheltered air.

"Quin, look over there!" Seraphiel pointed down past his shoulder.

He followed her finger to a scattering of pale shapes beneath the water. As they drew closer, a school of fish broke the surface, their broad fins spreading to carry them over the waves.

"The fishes are flying!" Blossom exclaimed.

One skimmed above a crest before dropping back into the sea. More followed, flashing silver as they leaped.

Quinlan eased their course toward the school. The fish scattered beneath them, leaping in a widening fan, and his wives crowded closer to watch.

"Look at that one!" Serika laughed. "It went so far!"

"Blossom thinks it wants to come with us!!"

"It might be trying to get away from us," Aurora suggested.

The dogkin considered the fish vanishing below their feet.

"...Oh."

Quinlan chuckled and carried the group onward. Blossom kept watching over her shoulder until the last silver flash disappeared.

Farther back, Lilith had turned toward Iskaris. Void, for once, didn’t hang on anyone’s shoulders. Mostly because Quinlan was already carrying her. Scar flew motionless while Bronnya was talking to Jallen about the size of the serpent they had eaten.

The captain’s silver hair stirred in the breeze Quinlan allowed through his shelter. She watched the distant land, her lips parting as the low hills began to merge with the haze.

"We’re really leaving."

Bronnya stopped talking and looked back too.

Lilith had wanted this for centuries. Every failed attempt to cross the Restriction had ended with the same familiar shore waiting for her, the same places to hunt, the same ceiling above her head.

Now she was watching that shore disappear while her company travelled beside her.

She could keep going.

The thought filled her with such fierce happiness that she began laughing again, helpless to contain it. Bronnya joined her, throwing an arm around Jallen as the captain faced the open ocean.

"Wherever we land, I’m finding something to fight."

"You might get destroyed in one attack," Jallen muttered.

Lilith grinned at the spearwoman. "True. Isn’t it exciting?"

"...Haaah." Jallen could only exhale. Her team was full of nutjobs.

"Ah," Lucille murmured behind Quinlan. "I just realized something."

She was also looking toward their receding home. Aurora followed her gaze, then glanced at her face.

"What is it?"

"Jasmine is the only wife staying home with Rosie."

"Yes?"

Lucille smiled.

"All that time with her. Every meal, every evening... By the time we visit, our little girl might have a favorite mommy."

Aurora’s mouth opened, then closed as she considered their governor’s opportunities.

"Oh, she’s absolutely going to take advantage of that."

"Jasmine wouldn’t!" Blossom protested.

Ayame turned toward the dogkin. "She’ll have Rosie helping with something important. Give her a little place beside her desk. Tell everyone what a wonderful assistant she has."

Blossom’s ears sank. "That... Might work."

Their daughter would adore every moment of it.

"And when Rosie asks for a treat," Lucille continued, enjoying their dawning understanding, "who will be there to give it to her?"

Blossom caught his free hand, looking up at him with sudden urgency.

"Master, Blossom needs help choosing gifts! Rosie has to know Blossom was thinking about her too!"

"She knows. But sure, we’ll find her something she’ll love."

His reassurance brought her ears back up, though she continued studying the horizon as if a suitable present might appear at any moment.

Quinlan smiled toward the distant land, knowing that the girls were absolutely right. His Tyrant of Commerce absolutely would make use of the opportunity.

"You’re very pleased about this," Ayame accused, watching his face.

"My daughter has a lot of wonderful mothers. I chose well."

"Hmph."

...

Once Iskaris disappeared behind them, the journey proceeded into the long hours of the evening.

"Still nothing, huh?" Kaelira muttered.

"Thalorind is truly a giant place..." Seraphiel agreed.

Despite the passage of time without finding any land, every member retained their full excitement for the adventure.

But mood alone wasn’t enough to fill his women’s bellies, so Quinlan conjured earth beneath his companions and compressed it into a long stone craft with swept wings. His wind supported its weight as he shaped a raised rim, curved seats, and a table with hollows for their cups.

"Oh, lovely," Lucille sighed, unpacking their food.

"Others row boats, and we travel like this," Kitsara grinned, getting seated.

Her lover had carved a special holding zone for her five tails.

Quinlan sat near the front, facing forward like a pilot, while the girls spread blankets over the seats. Vex joined him with a plate of meat, tucking herself beneath his arm.

"The foxy is right. This is amazing, so you deserve a reward. Here, Hubby~"

He accepted the bite she offered without a second thought. Vex smiled and leaned against him, choosing his next bite while he watched the ocean ahead.

Once everyone finished eating, they packed their belongings away. Quinlan lifted them from their seats with wind magic, then crumbled the empty craft into sand with his earth magic and let it fall into the sea.

The broad body had made them easier to spot from below. He preferred to approach unfamiliar lands as a group of distant figures, easily mistaken for birds.

More hours passed with his companions talking around him, their excitement renewed whenever someone thought they saw land. Each distant shape resolved into another bank of clouds.

By night, they had seen neither a shore nor a sail. Iskaris seemed very remote along this route.

In a sense, that was good news. At least the chances of hostiles finding the land seemed lower.

Tonight, not one of them slept.

...

Morning found Quinlan carrying his companions over another empty stretch of ocean, with the rising sun ahead of them.

The girls were about to start eagerly theorizing what their next destination might look like when Black Fang spoke up suddenly.

"There."

Her violet eyes were fixed on a point to the right of their course.

He followed her gaze. A dark thread rose against the brightening sky, and Quinlan curved the wind carrying his companions toward it.

As they approached, the smoke thickened into a smear above the horizon, and thin shapes began to rise beneath it.

Masts.

"Ships!" Seraphiel exclaimed, pointing at the masts.