Chapter 24
Podni unlocked a balcony door in Lord Ulric’s Minsic mansion.
I jumped his wall, landed on the second-floor patio, and ventured inside with my silk saboteur holding the door open for me.
Lord Ulric was in his bedroom, bound to a chair and gagged.
He started to kick and yell when he saw me enter, but all he could manage was to wiggle forward a few inches.
“She has a rare silk class,” I explained. “It gave her an ability called Silk Step, which allows her to travel between pieces of silk. If you’re wondering how she got inside, your own expensive tastes were your undoing. I wanted to speak with you before I decided what to do next.”
Lord Ulric’s breathing quickened, creating a cadence of soft hisses as he forced air through the fabric in his mouth.
“Love,” I said to Podni. “Lift your shirt.”
She bunched the cloth into both of her hands and raised the front, revealing her generous breasts and nipple piercings, as well as the abyssal scales highlighting the curves of her ribs.
“They’re perfect, aren’t they? I’ve seen those pieces of art thousands of times now, and every time is fucking amazing. Do a little bounce for me.”
Podni obliged, and I savored the ripples of motion moving across her chest.
“Mmm mmm mmm. Incredible. Thank you for the show. I can take it from here.”
Podni sauntered over to me with Lord Ulric watching with wide-eyed confusion.
“I’ve finished myself seven times to a new fantasy I came up with,” she purred.
“Do you think I could survive the full force of your fucking if Penny were nearby to heal me? And I mean everything you have, as many dicks as you want.”
“My strength stat is a bit high,” I replied.
“I’m willing to take the risk. Dying with three of you in every one of my holes sounds beautiful.” She kissed me on the cheek. “With your Silk Walking and my Air Steering, you could destroy me hundreds of feet into the air, literally amongst the stars. I’ll miss you, Father.”
She touched a silk pillow and disappeared.
Air Steering was one of Podni’s relatively new abilities, but our generally overpowered nature on crawls and climbs hadn’t given us much need for it.
In short, Podni had mobility similar to Silk Walk–she could jump in mid-air as if another surface appeared beneath her, and she could change course while in motion too.
“This is awkward,” I said to Lord Ulric.
“I came here to threaten you, and I’m going to have to do it with a full-on erection the whole time.
Shame you don’t have any wives or daughters to help me with that.
Oh, is your mum still around? How about grandma?
Grandmothers fucking love me. It’s the weirdest thing. ”
Ulric managed to replace much of his visible fear with hate, but desperation still swam in his eyes.
“If you’d like to speak, I can remove the gag, but if you yell for help, it’s only going to get your people killed.
No, wait. You wouldn’t give a shit about what happens to a few servants, so that’s not a very good threat.
How about this: if you yell for help, I will kill the people who come, and then I’ll bring them back as zombies.
They’ll be hungry, but I’m undead, so none of my flesh will do the trick.
We can carve off pieces of you instead.”
The nobleman stared.
“Do you understand?”
He nodded.
I removed the gag with Silkmancer.
“You won’t get away with this,” Ulric spat.
“Talking like that won’t keep you alive.”
“I’ll give you everything. Take it all. I’ll empty my accounts. I’ll sell my lands.”
I frowned. “That’s also not very convincing. You’re tied up. I can take anything I want already.”
“Then what the fuck do you want?”
I sat on the edge of Ulric’s bed. “You know, that question gets harder and harder for me to answer. ‘More’ and ‘everything’ are still true, but the specifics are difficult to nail down. I own this kingdom, and I’ll have the rest of the plane under my control in short order.
From there, I plan to conquer a few other planes to be certain my position is secure, but what does that get me, really?
“I own a bar and a bathhouse, and I hardly visit them. I have Temples all over the kingdom, but now that I have my own city, I won’t see much of those either. Who has the time, really? Yes, yes, being king over multiple planes has advantages, but what fun do any of those provide?”
“You’re a psychopath,” Ulric said.
“Leveling and debauchery are the only things that bring me genuine joy. I should clarify that I don’t mean the beverage in this case, but drink and dreamdust fall under the debauchery category in my mind, so I guess I do mean it in a collective sense.”
“My men can help you level.”
I laughed hard at that. “How about you tell me where to find more paladins?”
“All of the paladins I know attacked you in Sanctuary.”
“I don’t think I believe that,” I said. “Paladins are becoming harder and harder to find. That’s partially a supply issue caused by yours truly, but the ones who are still around seem to have gone to ground. Any suggestions for how to find them?”
“If I tell you, do I get to live?”
“My philosophy hinges on a key idea: Good behavior should be rewarded. Right now, you’re definitely going to die.
If you help me, you could choose between dying and becoming a soulstone.
Help me even more than that, and you can live if you swear a soul contract to me.
In theory, if you were good enough, you could take that progression all the way to true safety and freedom, but that’s a high bar to reach, and you’re a very little man. ”
Lord Ulric studied me. “Paulson the Pure is the leader of all paladins. I contacted him for help with you.”
“Good boy. Continue.”
“He is rallying every paladin in the world to defeat you, and he’s pleading to the Goddess for more divine support.”
“How do I find him?” I asked.
“He operates under Tailwind Merchants Incorporated. That’s his cover. They have offices in every major city, and they can get messages to Paulson.”
I clapped. “Well done. You’ve earned the option to become a soulstone instead of dying a painful death.”
“What? That’s all? I just told you so much!”
“Trying to kill me puts your balance well into the negative, I’m afraid. You had to dig yourself out of that first and then earn the soulstone option. Is that where you want to stop, or would you like to keep trying?”
“I’ll work for you. Anything you want.”
“You don’t have the competency I’m looking for. Are you out of ideas?”
“Please. Please don’t hurt me.”
“Would you like to take the soulstone option?” I asked.
“You’ll never get my soul.”
In my mind, I said, “Abby.”
My liluti landed on the balcony and strolled inside. I had her waiting outside of Lord Ulric’s walls for this exact moment.
Ulric went back to screaming and rocking in his chair when the void-black demon stood before him, her tails dancing and the stars in her eyes twinkling, so I gagged him again.
“My beautiful treasure,” I began. “This is a gift for you. My only stipulation is that he not be able to interfere with my work ever again. Otherwise, do whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want? Truly?”
I nodded. “I know your tastes. Nothing is off the table. Have fun.”
“Thank you, Master,” Abby replied with a grin.
I patted Ulric on my shoulder on the way out. “Should have taken the soulstone option.”