Chương 50: I Explain the Harem...?

POV: The Dark Lord, Milo Miles I know a lot of guys imagine that being in a group made up mostly of women is some kind of wonderful thing, and depending on the circumstances, sure, it can be. Just maybe not in my specific case. I'd be lying if I said none of it delighted me; Lunessa is sweet. Evelisse is, well, Evelisse, which is complicated, but she's honest and earnest. Mel the support mage was currently glaring daggers at me, which, in fairness, was a perfectly reasonable response to a Dark Lord.

Realistically, though, none of this was heading anywhere good. More people meant more eyes on everything I did, more debate before every decision, and I could already tell that not one of these three women was going to be remotely comfortable with the whole terrorizing-towns part. They also, very clearly, weren't here for anything resembling romance. Lunessa had come to hand me an earful over letting Nyx wreck half of Eremiah, and probably to extract some spectacularly difficult favor while she was at it.

Mel, still watching me with open hostility, her grip white-knuckled on her staff, had most likely come to keep tabs on me; to make sure the Dark Lord wasn't up to something bad with her friend. Which at least meant she was still on good terms with Evelisse. That was something. I really didn't need another wave of guilt piling on. There was also the matter of telling Nyx about all this, and I couldn't imagine that going smoothly. More people meant more resources, and all we had were the deliveries from Milly.

Plenty for two or three of us. Six was another story entirely, unless we all committed to a punishingly frugal lifestyle, which seemed unwise given how often we were likely to be fighting for our lives. No money, not enough food, and a house too small for six. Fantastic. Then again, Nyx could still expand the place; the Terror Level 30 upgrade hadn't been claimed yet. So really the problem came down to money and food. Actually, wait. Did they even mean to stay long term? Maybe I was overthinking the whole thing.

"So, um," I ventured.

"Do we just head to my place, do whatever it is you all want to do there, and then you head back to Eremiah?"

"Well..." Evelisse started to answer. Before she could, the mage girl cut in.

"I-I'm staying with Eve. Indefinitely." She planted her staff against the ground like she was staking a claim.

"I know you might be doing... something to her. She says you aren't, but I need to see it for myself. I need to be sure." She looked genuinely nervous saying it, which I couldn't hold against her. The last time we'd met, I'd knocked her out cold with Sleep Gas. I turned to Lunessa, opening my mouth. She got there first.

"The same goes for me. We've still got a matter to settle, but I'm not about to leave my baby sister alone with the Dark Lord. Especially one who so conveniently lied to my face." She finished it with a wink, which somehow made my stomach drop further than any glare could have. So, a real problem, then.

I had been quietly working through the transportation issue, since carrying them back to the kingdom one at a time would take quite a while, and there was the matter of them needing to be pressed up against me to do it, which would require mutual consent that I think I would not get. I had started to consider mental-linking Nyx and having her fly Luke over so we could all ride back. Then I remembered Teleport. I had only used it the one time, so it had slipped my mind entirely.

It couldn't take me anywhere but the kingdom, but for a situation exactly like this, it was perfect.

"Okay. I need all of you to get close and hug me." Evelisse's eyes went wide. Lunessa's eyebrows climbed with obvious interest. Mel went a blotchy shade of red and looked ready to bolt.

"No, no, it's not like that." I put my hands up.

"We need to get to my place, and I can teleport us there instantly, but everyone has to be touching me or you'll get left behind." Evelisse hesitated, then stepped in and put her arms around me, quick and careful, keeping as much of herself as far from me as the hug allowed. Oh damn, is this the first time a girl ever hugged me?

"Does holding a finger do the trick?" Lunessa asked, wiggling one at me. Oh. Right, why on earth had I said hug, of all the options? I was fairly sure I'd only grabbed Nyx by the wrist last time, and the spell had worked perfectly well. The finger, I wasn't sure about. So I told Lunessa that gripping my wrist would almost certainly do it. The instant the words were out, Evelisse let go of me and stepped back, red to the ears, clearly mortified. Which made two of us.

I had basically just made myself sound like a creep who pretended not to know a workaround so he could trick people into hugging him.

"Oh, the wrist counts? Wonderful." Lunessa strolled over and took hold of my left wrist. Evelisse, recovering, claimed my right. That left Mel. She stood glancing between the two women, her face caught somewhere between confused and flustered, clearly weighing her options. After a few seconds she edged around to Evelisse's side and gripped my forearm, up near the elbow, keeping the maximum possible distance while still technically touching me. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen.

Report the violation. I cleared my throat.

"All right. Everyone ready? Don't let go until it's finished." They nodded, and I cast Teleport; t he world folded in on itself for a heartbeat. There was a sharp pull behind my navel, a lurch like missing a step in the dark, a rush of cold nothing, and then solid ground pressed up under my boots again. The grassland was gone. In its place stood the kingdom, or the house.

Luke was the first thing I saw, up on her feet and instantly alert, three heads swinging toward the four bodies that had just popped into existence in her yard. I looked around for Nyx and spotted her a little way off, crouched by one of the delivery baskets, evidently hunting for whatever scraps of food might be left in it. She looked up. Her eyes moved across me, then Evelisse, then Lunessa, then Mel. Then back to me. Her face settled into a flat, pointed squint. Oh boy, I had some explaining to do.

Nyx and I were alone in the living room. The three women were outside, waiting for us to settle the 'accommodation situation'. Nyx didn't bother sitting. The moment we were inside she crossed her arms and started tapping one foot against the floorboards, which I had assumed was her irritation looking for somewhere to go.

"Explain the harem," she said. It wasn't a harem... I think. But she needed to know what had actually happened, so I did my best to explain. I told her Evelisse had decided to come with us, which we'd more or less expected. But when Eve went to tell her sister, Lunessa had insisted on coming too. And by pure coincidence, Eve's friend Mel, the support mage, had happened to be at Lunessa's place, and she'd decided to tag along as well.

"Milo Miles." Nyx's eyes narrowed.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I saw the three of them standing out there with you. Obviously they decided to tag along. What I want to know is why they decided to, and why you let them." So I tried again. I explained that Lunessa had come partly because she wanted me to do something for her, as an apology for wrecking part of Eremiah—" Apology?" Nyx's foot stopped tapping.

"She wants compensation? That's absurd. We don't apologize. She should be grateful I didn't kill a single person back there. I can't believe you'd be enough of a spineless little pushover to actually—""I know, I know! Just—listen. Let me finish. Please?" She snapped her mouth shut and glared, but she let me go on, which I took as a win. So I told her the rest; that Lunessa simply couldn't leave her sister behind, and that I thought I understood why Evelisse had agreed to it.

If the Church wanted Evelisse, it wasn't a stretch to think they'd go after her only close relative to draw her out. Beyond that, Lunessa was a trade liaison. She knew places, had contacts, had resources. Having her around could genuinely help us. Nyx looked frustrated, but she didn't argue the point.

"And the mage girl?"

"Uh, same reason, mostly. Plus she wants to make sure I'm not, you know. A terrible person. I think."

"That's ridiculous. Of course you're a terrible person." Nyx said it flatly.

"We still have to terrorize people to raise your Terror Level. Or did you forget?"

"Yes, but we'll deal with that later! She's just worried about her friend. It's like…you know, how when your best friend suddenly gets a crush, and you want to make sure the whole thing is healthy and they're not being taken advantage of?" Nyx tilted her head.

"Oh, so you're saying the two of you are in that kind of relationship now?"

"Huh?"

"Don't make me repeat myself." She wasn't loud; her voice had gone level and quiet, and she was watching me in a way that made it clear this wasn't a jab. It looked like she genuinely wanted the answer.

"No, no, it's not like that. Evelisse and I aren't—it was a metaphor! That's all." And it was the truth. Not that I didn't want things to go that way, somewhere down the line. But after the Eye of Love, after everything, we weren't that, and I wasn't in any position to want us to be. I didn't deserve it. Not now. Being allowed to be her friend was already more than I had any right to. Something in Nyx's face eased, just slightly, at that.

Then, a half-second later, it closed back up, her jaw tightening, her gaze cutting away to the wall like she was annoyed at herself for the first part. She started to say something. Stopped. Started again.

"And what if I told you to send all of them away and keep only the former Hero?"

"Huh? Well…that would be hard. For me, and for Evelisse too, I think." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"I mean, part of the reason the Church wants her at all is because of me, Nyx. She saved me. For whatever reason, she chose to save me—a pathetic guy who'd tried to rearrange her feelings with the Eye of Love. I even told her that. Told her exactly what I'd meant to do, and she still didn't beat me into the ground for it. She was still willing to be my friend." Nyx was quiet for a moment.

"She doesn't have any other options anyway," she said.

"If she didn't stay with you, she'd be on the run alone. Harder that way. Especially with her sister and her friend exposed to the same risk." A beat.

"What if she's only pretending to be fine with all this, so you'll take them in? So you'll be their shelter?" That gave me pause. Not because it made no sense; it made perfect sense. What caught me was that it wasn't like Nyx to argue a point in that way. Usually she'd just tell me I was an idiot and be done with it, or describe the reason in a more aggressive way. I thought for several seconds.

"I don't think Evelisse is that kind of person," I said. Nyx's expression flickered, something I couldn't quite name passing behind her eyes.

"And even if she were," I went on, "I still think taking them in is the right thing to do. I owe her my life, and I need to make things right, eventually, somehow, for dragging her into all of this in the first place." Nyx looked like she had a retort loaded and ready. Then she just turned her back to me instead. I felt bad. Usually I'd fold and do whatever Nyx said, but this time something in me wouldn't bend.

Sending Evelisse away, or Lunessa, or Mel, wasn't going to sit right with me no matter how I turned it over.

"Nyx, I know this is sudden, and I know it makes everything harder for us. You're not wrong about any of it, but I really need to do this." I kept my voice steady.

"You saved my life too, I'm thankful for that, and I want to hear whatever you have to say, about anything, always. But on this one thing, the extra people, I need it. I don't want to screw things up again, especially when they can help us." She said nothing.

"You can tell me anything you want about it, and I'll listen to all of it, but I need you to understand that I can't just abandon them. If they choose to leave on their own, fine, but I'm not going to be the one who throws them out." There was a long pause. Then a sigh.

"Do whatever you want," she said. And she walked to her room, fast, and shut the door, and left me standing alone in the living room.... I still needed her to upgrade the kingdom.