Back when I decided to end these two I didn’t quite know when or how I would go about it. They were the daughters of one of the most powerful men on the whole continent, after all. Now, however, my mind was cleared of any unnecessary doubts. There was only one possibility I could take.
<Ayame, gather the Ascendants.>
Now or never.
I turned toward the purple-haired princess who nestled into her new throne over the dozens of minutes she sat in my lap to quite the degree, “Princess Felicity, I have to take my leave. I’m sorry about the abruptness, and I’m grateful beyond what words can convey for your help. I didn’t deserve it, yet you were ready to part from such wealth for my sake.”
Felicity looked up at me with saddened eyes, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help more…”
I shook my head. “It was more than enough. Don’t blame yourself.”
She nodded and then gasped as if something suddenly came to mind before reaching into her storage ring and handing me a little crystal. “Lord Black, can you call me when you have the time? I would like to properly thank Miss Elf as well as you for solving my problem…”
“Sure.” I accepted her crystal which was the same sort of item Vex gave me so that I could call her with the communicator artifact. I just had to embed Felicity’s crystal into its surface. “I’ll call you as soon as time permits me to do so.”
Now I had established a direct contact line not only to three incredibly powerful women but also a royal princess.
With that done, I stood and hinted at one of the staff members before commanding; “Take me to the inventory room. I wish to depart right now.”
Seraphiel, Kaelira, and a thoroughly confused Jasmine followed me to the room where I handed over the gold for the set of elixirs and Clarisse. I put the set into my ring for now, I didn’t have the time to study them. I wasn’t going to chug these mysterious concoctions down so recklessly, doing so could easily be the end of me.
“My lord, I’m grateful to have been selected into your serving staff. I will do my utmost to be of use to you.” Clarisse said while bowing to me regally, with one leg behind the other and her hands lifting her maid’s skirt a bit.
My beyond eager maids practiced these exact motions a lot, but even my untrained and relatively uncaring eyes could immediately tell that she was miles ahead in the gracefulness department. The difference was so stark that if Clarisse was a maid, then my six servants could only be called pretenders.
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Anyhow, it was time to move on. “Have you taken part in grooming children to become sex toys of the ultra-rich?” I skipped over the formalities and asked the only question I cared about. Now that the situation came to this, I didn’t have time to mess around. If she said yes, I would just kill her on the spot and move on.
Clarisse was brought out of her rhythm due to my abruptness, but she quickly collected herself. “No, my lord. I was sold because I refused to assist the madam in doing exactly that. Thank the Goddess my contract clauses allowed me to do so. Her finances took a turn for the worse and she elected to transition to this disgusting business about a year ago. Before that, we were a proper establishment I was proud to be a part of.”
“Thank you. Follow me, all will be explained soon enough.” The old maid was quite a bit confused, but to her credit, she did as told without asking questions.
And just like that, The five of us walked into a hidden spot and teleported to my stronghold, where my combat-ready allies waited for us.
“W-w-what in the Goddess’ graces…” Clarisse murmured with a ghostly pale face. Jasmine grabbed onto her shoulder and sighed, “You’ll get used to it. Try not to have a heart attack before you do that, though…”
Hearing this, Clarisse straightened her spine and grumbled, “I’m a proud and professional maid, I would never have a heart attack from my lord’s powers!”
Jasmine giggled at this nonsensical line before glancing around at our surroundings. “So this is your home. I already love it.”
“Good, I’m sorry for having to cut our date short, I’ll make it up to you.”
Jasmine flashed me a beautiful smile before shaking her head, “There’s no need for that. I already had a wonderful time. You’ll attack the twins, won’t you? Good luck, husband… I’ll think of you with a heavy heart while praying to the Goddess for your safe return like any good wife should.”
She followed her declaration up by quickly dashing into my arms for a warm hug before detaching herself as she knew I was in a hurry.
“Anna, Beatrice, she is Jasmine, my fifth woman and she is Clarisse, your new tutor. Show them around my home.”
“Yes, Lord Quinlan!” They bowed and scurried to carry out my orders.
“Quin, I’d already informed the rest of our members but only you can get them with your gate,” Ayame stated in a serious tone. I didn’t give her any specifics of what was going on, but just from the seriousness of my tone, she must’ve understood that it was not time for games.
I did just as my samurai suggested; I brought Cedric, Selene, Abudha, and even Iris joined us when I asked if she wanted in on the fun. I would’ve loved to call Vex, but the Consortium had an amicable relationship with the Greenvale Duke, I knew they wouldn’t upend the current order of things just because I asked them to.
Despite all our banter and flirting, Vex was not an ally I could trust for now.
I glanced over my group of elites, my Ascendants, and pride swelled in my chest. We were growing stronger at a rapid pace.
However, I had no time for sentimentality.
It was time to roll.