My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

Chapter 1472

{Harem Master has increased to level 65.}

{You have unlocked the skill, Gift Strength}

As I stepped out of the portal, I noticed that Harem Master had seemingly gone up. Did that mean that this world still considered her part of my harem, or was it more a reflection of me as a so-called Harem Master? This job was ultimately the similarity that bound me to King Roth, although where I was a level 65, he was likely level 100, and that was assuming there wasn’t some higher job beyond Harem Master.

It was nice to think that somewhere deep in Lydia, she still loved me. However, after fighting her, I knew that this wasn’t the same girl that I knew. After all, I had directly touched her soul and worked with it. I had seen first hand that the parts that connected us were all gone. She was not my Lydia, and I could only accept that truth rather than desperately cling to what was essentially a different person now. In that respect, I assumed the Harem Master had more to do with me and my lore than Lydia.

I had always thought the close the girls got to me, the more experience I’d get. That wasn’t true. The thing that earned experience was my greater understanding of what it meant to be a Harem Master and my slow and gradual development as a person who would have a harem of women to call upon. Of course, a romantic gesture like cutting out your soul and giving it to another was the kind of gesture that made harems, but it wouldn’t affect a woman who didn’t even remember it happening.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit to a small hope that this piece that gave up on would somehow lead Lydia to return to me someday, but I had no clue when that time would be. It would be assuredly a long time from this day.

“What happened? Did he hurt you?” Bernice’s hands were on her guns, and for a moment a dark aura seemed to emanate from her. “Did that bastard forget whose city this is?”

“No…” I lifted my hand. “No… he didn’t hurt me. This is… well, it is what it is.”

She frowned, looking me up and down. I had left the underground to met with Bernice one last time before returning to Chalm. Of course, I couldn’t hide the paleness in my face or the weakness in my body from Bernice, even though I had tried. I pulled out and drank some water of life. In time, it would heal all of the damage, so as romantic a gesture that it was, I hadn’t done much.

However, in the next few days, Roth would attack, and if I couldn’t throw him back, I’d lose access to this medicine. More than likely, I’d lose my life too. Now, I was in a weakened state, and this was the time when I should be strongest. I didn’t know if my decision was foolish, but I would make it again if I had the chance. Besides, this wasn’t a personal battle between him and me. This was a war. If a single person could change the tides of war, then there would be no point in the war.

Ultimately, when our armies combined, my strength didn’t matter. It would be the strength of my girls and the strength of my people. That was ultimately what would win the day.

“Master, you’re going back to Chalm… aren’t you?” Bernice sounded slightly reluctant.

“I will be.” I nodded. “After my display in that last fight, I think I lost all of the cred I had. I think I blew my chance to recruit my fighters too.”

Bernice shook her head. “It’s not true… the Kingpin still promised to advertise. Also, I want to fight by your side.”

“Really?” I looked up at her, and her face turned red once again.

“Don’t get the wrong idea! You’re just… my liege… yes… and so, I wish to support you. So, I will recruit as many as I can. Send for me in two days, and I’ll have more soldiers for you.”

I reached out and touched her cheek. “Thank you, Bernice.”

She pulled away, turning her back to me. “N-now… go away! Get out of here before you cause me any more trouble. I’ll continue to take care of Alerith. Just you watch.”

I nodded and opened a portal home. “Thank you.”

I left Alerith for the last time. Now, I had to focus on the upcoming battle.

Chapter 1473

“So, that is the situation.” I responded.

“I can’t believe Lydia doesn’t remember us anymore,” Miki responded; her eyes teary.

“She’ll be back… right?” Celeste asked, looking no better.

“I don’t know…” I sighed. “Only time will tell. At least she’s alive for now. I gave her a chance. However, in the upcoming fight, I’m going to need to depend on all of you even more.”

“I see it this way…” Shao spoke up. “This just gives me one more reason to bring King Roth down. He deserves to be destroyed!”

Shao had a dangerous expression on her face. She wasn’t necessarily the most romantic or loving person. Rather, her love was shown in her actions, which admittedly could be scary at times. It was clear she loved Lydia as well. All of the girls did. Lydia was always so confident and mature. She fought with a smile on her face, and always considered not just me, but the bigger picture of us. She may have been raised to be a prostitute, but she was the one who understood everyone’s needs the most, and she always acted to make sure those needs were fulfilled.

“Yeah…” Celeste nodded. “I want to take him down too… and get my mother back!”

Celeste rarely got angry, but there was a hint of it on her face when she spoke of King Roth and her mother. She was the only one who truly understood how bad he had hurt Astria, and I had taken her aside and explained that it was King Roth who also murdered her father. Everything that had happened in her life, being trapped in Karr’s Dungeon and used as a puppet, had been his fault. There was no saying what life she would have lived if he hadn’t had been involved. She wanted vengeance.

“However, we’re down Master, Lydia, and Terra. Half our form is knocked out. Our formation is full of holes. Elaya doesn’t fight in a team. Maybe, we can depend on Bernice, but we haven’t spent that much time with her. This has only become a more difficult fight.” Shao admitted bitterly.

“Actually, I have an announcement for everyone. I think this might cheer you all up.” Miki declared.

“What’s that?”

“Since my village showed up, I’ve been helping them come to terms with their spiritual sides. Many of them have unlocked their Spiritualist job, and a few show quite a bit of aptitude in working with spirits.” She explained. “Some of them have gone so far as to unlock Resurrection. Others can summon ghosts to fight for them. I believe we can use the foxkin in this battle. In fact, considering the inherent fear that other animalkin have for the foxkin, I believe they can be a great asset. Imagine even a single ghost appearing in the middle of a battlefield of squirrelkin. They would scatter.”

“That’s true!” I straightened up excitedly as I imagined just how much havoc a ghost would bring to those supernaturally terrified.

Not only would they be frightened, but they would have little defense against them. Ghosts were immune to physical defense. They’d need to get the magic wielders to fight them, and they’d be too scared to cast their spells.

“Resurrection is also important. We’re at our home territory, and we have the support of the mana spring.” Miki reminded me. “If fallen soldiers were being resurrected quickly, then even if our army was a tenth their size, we could easily overwhelm them.”

I nodded excitedly. “I had almost forgotten about that.”

This was a war, not a dungeon fight. The same rules didn’t apply here. As long as we could hold out and resurrect, we could keep the battle going. Admittedly, as people were being resurrected three or four times in a row, this could lead to significant trauma, but that trauma could be remedied with time using the spring! I had been sitting on these waters of life spring for all this time, never realizing just how much of a cheat-like asset it was.

“How many can you bring?” Shao asked.

Miki’s smile flickered slightly. “My village isn’t that large, and most of the most promising ones are children. I only have a little under 50.”

“It’s okay…” I stroked her head, causing her ears to lay down. “Every little bit helps. It’s already amazing that of a village of a few hundred, you found so many talents.”

When I had allowed the foxkin to stay, it had been an impulsive decision aimed mostly at making Miki happy. She had spent some time with them after, and while she had become a bit melancholy the last month or so, seeing her parents once again had seemingly given her a purpose and a desire to redeem herself. I had some thoughts of them being useful to me, but I never thought their usefulness would bear fruit so soon.

Miki gave one of her rare smiles these days as I continued to stroke her head. I just hoped there were a lot more little bits.

Chapter 1474

As I was still striking Miki’s head, a voice cleared its throat to catch my interest. It was Sapphire. She hadn’t been present at the last few meetings. Her time had been used by her uncle as he taught her blacksmithing at the same time they guided the rest of the deep dwarves in settling down. She had been sending Lapis in her stead. The current meeting was something more intimate, where I was telling them about the damage to my soul and Lydia’s condition, so I wanted her to be there.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Since we’re sharing things that may please Master, some of the Deep Dwarves are fighters, and we still feel we owe you a debt, especially after rearranging your dungeon to give us a safe place to live. Your home is now our home too, and we want to fight to protect it. You don’t need a blacksmith while the battle is going on, so a few want to pick up arms. Don’t forget that mining in the Deep has its dangers, so there isn’t a Deep Dwarf who doesn’t have at least some ability to fight.”

“The Deep Dwarves will fight with us?”

I hadn’t considered it before, because the majority of those that had been freed were blacksmiths, miners, and other city folks. There weren’t very many guards or soldiers, and I had not depended on them too much during the dungeon battle against Twilight. However, that was down in the deep, where mana was richer and the proximity of Gaia meant that experience was earned quicker. People leveled faster in the deep. Therefore, a commoner on the surface would probably have about the same combat ability as a low-rank adventurer up here.

“Yes… mother has gathered two hundred men who will march to protect Chalm at that time. She held off announcing it to you until we were certain of their support, but they will fight for Master.

“I see… thank you.”

“However, that’s only part of what I wanted to tell Master.” Sapphire continued.

“What is the rest of it?” I asked.

“It’s… well… it’s better to show you.” Sapphire looked somewhat uncertain, but after a moment, she gestured to the door.

I could hear the thudding of feet. Something large was moving through my mansion. It reached the door and opened it, revealing a wall? No, a form crouched down, barely managing to move through the door as it entered the room. It was a creature of solid rock, with a squat head and almost no neck, but broad and powerful shoulders. It also had red glowing eyes.

“A golem?”

“Using what we had on Terra’s work, we did our best to construct this body.” Sapphire declared.

“Body?”

“Hello, Master…” A familiar voice came from the golem.

I jumped up. “Terra?”

“Yes, Master! It’s me!” Terra cried out, suddenly holding out her hands and rushing toward me.

“Ahhh! Help! I’m being crushed!” I cried out as she wrapped her arms around me and started squeezing.

“M-master!” Terra let go. “I-I can’t help it! She’s turned me into this monster.”

“It’s the best we can do! We don’t have the knowledge to do that fine-work to create your body.” Sapphire defended. “This is just a temporary body until we can make a better one. It’s still made of some of the finest materials. Its combat potential is top-notch! It should be an improvement over your last body.”

“Combat? What is combat when I look like this!” Terra wept. “I can live with anything, even a flat chest, but why this?”

“It’s not that bad…” I tried to reassure her, even as she hulked over me by about two feet.

“Do you still find me pretty?” She sniffled.

“Geh!” That question was a landmine, so I turned to Sapphire. “Why did you choose to resurrect her now?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Sapphire shot back. “So, Master doesn’t forcibly inject me with more life again!”

I blinked. “Ah… that’s right, it has been a week. I would need to do that again… was it so bad…”

She turned away, touching her fingers together. “It’s not that I don’t want it, but when I have it, I want it to just be me and Master. Is that too much to ask?”

“Sapphire… I’m sorry. When this is all over, I will make it up to you.” I declared.

“Make it… with that! Ahhh! Is it hot in here?” Sapphire stood up. “I’m hot… I think I’ll go back to the forge for a while and cool off.”

“Isn’t the forge heated by actual lava?” Miki inquired.

“Bye!” She fled the room.

Just as I was about to relax, a massive golem put its hands on its hips and stood before me. “Master still didn’t answer my question!”

“Y-you’re still beautiful.” I lied.

“M-master!” She threw herself at me.

“Ahhh! I’m dying! The monster is crushing me!”

It was great that Terra was back, but things would take some getting used to until her body was restored. However, our prospects for fighting King Roth were only increasing. We just might win this.