Chapter 22
"Imust say, this is far better than the city," Venthra said, lounging back in one of the hot springs in the First Garden with a decadent sigh, leaning her head back and letting go of all her stress.
"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it," I said with a chuckle. "Should I build something like this back home?"
"We already have the baths," Nyx said quickly. "They are, dare I say, better in temperature and more convenient. But there's just something about the tropics," she added, waving a hand vaguely at the lush greenery around us.
Meanwhile, the other ladies all bobbed their heads in agreement.
"Your baths are surrounded by cold stone," Nyx added.
"Totally like a man," Venthra said, and they all sighed.
"Et tu, Merlin?" I said, with a pained clasp of my chest.
"You're supposed to be a guy," Merlin said, peeking out from under her eyelashes before closing them and continuing her relaxation. "It's not bad that you're a guy, but you are absolutely a guy."
Almeria had her face lowered in the water so that only her eyes showed above the surface, small bubbles coming from her lips. She peeked up just enough to speak over the water. "Being a man is good. I like men."
Others joined in with agreement.
"Me too."
"Me three."
"Duh."
"Well, I'm glad," I said, not entirely sure if it was a good thing, a bad thing, or simply a thing. It was moments like this that I sometimes wished I had more men in my entourage, but somehow, between the Mul Branova and Simone, they sort of flooded out any male friend. Save for Bobby, but he was getting busier with his own things, and I wasn’t exactly rife with free time.
I doubted there were going to be many more. And while I remembered Cao from a previous life, in this one he was well and truly a drunk monk, fairly useless outside of drinking or fighting with poisons. Rogers… well, he was an ass.
"Oh, there you are." Eve approached our group casually, though I highly doubted it was as casual as she wanted to appear.
She stepped up to the hot spring and dipped her toe in. "Aw, you guys are wearing clothes," she said with a light chuckle, puffing her cheeks out in an exaggerated pout.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course we are. We can't run around naked all the time." I gestured at her. "You at least wear leaves."
"I do, and I hate them," she said, plucking at the leaves that barely covered the bare minimum. "I'd love an excuse to take these off." She pulled at the leaf bra with delicate fingers, teasing me, and I shook my head.
"Somehow I suspect you didn't come here just to taunt and tease," I said.
"No, I suppose there was a reason," she said, tapping at her lips in thought. "Oh, right. Several demons have discovered the instance you left."
I sat up in the water. "That would have been better to have said first. We need to go now."
But Eve shook her head. "There's no rush. The two demons that found it immediately departed to run back and get more or tell their superiors…I'm not sure which. What it does mean, though, is we have some time before they enter with their group."
I paused halfway into getting out of the spring. "I suppose we have some time. Thank you for the heads-up."
Eve nodded, then gave me a slow, measured smile. "I have it on good authority that you've been having fun in the city. At least, I assume it was you who ran around pretending to be demons."
I blinked and looked at her with all the innocence I could muster. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Of course." Eve winked.
I kept my face decidedly neutral.
"Fine, fine." She held her hands up. "Just letting you know demons are sniffing about your trap.
And that I have my eyes on another instance.
The trouble there is, if I don't do anything about it, then I'm practically handing it over to the Demon Lord.
" She waffled her head back and forth. "Since we're going after them, I'm loath to let either opportunity go. "
I narrowed my eyes. "And what would you do with this opportunity, as you see it?"
"Well, of course, I'd go kill plenty of demons, clean out an instance, or both." She grinned. "If you're simply clearing out your trap, I might have a solid opportunity to make my own attempt at the other instance. You've made the protections around my sect strong enough."
"Eve," I warned, "this may not be the best time to go hunting for yourself."
My words seemed to draw her ire.
"Is that so?" She narrowed her eyes at me, and not in the playful way. "So I should allow you and your people unfettered access to the stronger instances in this area? I do ask how that makes you any better than the Demon Lord."
I tried not to grind my teeth together. First, I'd been compared to Vidar, then to the Demon Lord. A man had to have some pride, and I was finding mine pressed between the two comparisons.
"Fine. Do what you want," I ground out. "But if you make this decision and lose your people, it's not on me. I came here to make traps for the demons and get rid of them. I came to solve this problem for you permanently. I will not babysit your sect."
She watched me carefully. "Of course. Any good agreement, however, benefits both parties. And right now, I am not reaping the rewards I should."
I closed my eyes, wanting to explain that her reward was getting rid of the demons, but knowing it wouldn't be such a simple conversation, I waved her away. "We'll keep an eye on the trap."
She grinned, then danced away, having only dipped her feet in the hot spring. Ultimately, she had gotten what she wanted. But pushing too hard against her was unwise if we wanted her help in controlling the area.
"Fuck her," Venthra bit out before I was even certain Eve was out of earshot.
I turned and glared at her.
"Oh, please," she said. "We were all thinking it, right?"
I held my hands up. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"She's smart," Merlin commented while nodding at Venthra.
"Sure. We can leave it at that." I nodded along slowly. "Now… who's going to keep an eye on our situation?"
The group looked among themselves. It took a minute before Almeria let out a sigh.
"I'll keep an eye on things," she said.
I bobbed my head and checked with the others. "Let's make sure we aren't caught with our pants down for the fight," I said with a chuckle.
***
Merlin dropped all of us off at the trap instance.
So far, the demons had yet to return, but there was a fair chance they would be here soon.
If for nothing else, demons were very eager to grind strength.
If one of them had discovered this instance, they would undoubtedly be tempted to keep exploring what else might be here for themselves.
It helped that they were also fueled by self-preservation.
Among demons, being weak was practically a disability.
"So, we'll go in," Nyx said, pointing to herself and Venthra.
Unlike when we were on the defense and I only had to trap the demons inside, if we let them go in first, Nyx and Venthra could be far more subtle and clean them up as they moved through.
And that became an even safer plan if I sat outside with Merlin and made sure nothing too powerful went inside with them.
"Merlin has to stay outside," I said, glancing at the Monarch of Shadows. Her ability to teleport was simply too good to tie up in the instance.
While I wanted to go in and get experience for myself, if someone attacked the sect, I had no option but to be the one to go back and protect them.
I wasn't about to let the sect suffer, even if it meant letting Eve push me around for the moment.
I could and would make her make it up to me later.
After all, once the demon threat was scoured enough, Eve's ability to negotiate with me would tilt far better in my favor.
I needed a second power here to provide a counterbalance to the demons.
The group looked at me and nodded, standing and waiting for our next step.
It didn't take long after our arrival for several demons to appear.
They were insectoids that sniffed around the edge, spinning and swirling, trying to understand why the instance had been left alone after it had been cleared several times.
They could see the area around it had been cleared.
Their wariness wasn't without cause, but it didn't last long.
Their greed was too much, and several dozen of the insectoid demons buzzed excitedly into it, hunting for their next opportunity.
I paused, waiting to see if a second wave would come. When it didn't, I nodded to the two of our group heading in. "Give them a minute, then go in. I suspect they'll do their best to rush it rather than be overly cautious.”
Both of them nodded, and one of Nyx's serpentine hair strands stretched over and pecked a kiss against my cheek.
A part of me was dying inside as I let them go in without me, but I also knew they were each powerful warriors in their own right. I was just brutally overprotective. So instead of continuing to worry, I took a deep breath and let them go.
They split off from our group and went inside, while Merlin patted my knee. "They'll be fine. Nyx is great at this sort of thing, and Venthra's a tough cookie. You sent her into the city after demons.”
"I did, but there's most likely at least a low-level ambush on the other side of that portal they have to get through. The city was, in my opinion, less dangerous,” I grumbled.
Merlin nodded, smiled, and patted my knee again.
"I will stay out here and make sure nothing too dangerous goes in," I said. "What level were those demons?"
"The highest was level eighty." Merlin barked a laugh. "They'll make absolute mincemeat of them. I'll bet on it."
I knew she was trying to bolster my confidence and reassure me, even though I still found it difficult to completely let go.
I took a deep breath. "I don't suppose you have seen anything else worth killing?" I asked with a smirk and a touch of hope.
"No, but I'm sure we can find something. Did Eve give you any indication where she was going?" Merlin asked.
I frowned as I thought about the answer. "No. She's probably just as wary of us. She'd already compared our work here to the Demon Lord starving her of instances.”
"Which was a very poor comparison," Merlin said. "She's a short-sighted bitch."
I was shocked at Merlin’s cursing.
"She is," Merlin emphasized, noticing my reaction. "She was only looking at short-term rewards. Someone like that doesn't deserve to be a leader. She can't understand that clearing the way for her and her people has immense value."
I laughed. "Don't hold it against her too much.
Right now, everyone's arming up, and denying leveling is the same as weakening yourself.
In that context, I don't think her comparison was completely out of the question.
However, I do think it was a poor decision when it comes to our overall cooperation," I added, after she gave me a dry look that seemed to question my sanity.
"Fine." Merlin tilted her head to the side. "It's not like she's going to join the harem. I've decided I don't need to care much about her."
I smiled at that and bobbed my head. "You don't. She'll be gone before long."
The woman nodded with a faint smile. I'd have to keep in mind that if someone wasn't right for the harem, they simply weren't. It wasn't about giving veto power; it was simply about building a family full of love and respect, rather than adding splintering elements that would ultimately make life harder in the long run.
Everyone present was someone to spend the rest of my life with, and I would give them the world if I could.