Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 757: Flawed Reasoning

Black Fang and Orianna. Neither said a word.

They walked straight toward us with emotionless faces as if they were out on a casual stroll, ignoring the chaos unraveling all around them.

The pair stopped right in front of us and began observing the woman in my arms, who, for some odd reason, didn’t feel like meeting their gazes. Instead, she turned her head toward me, hiding away in my embrace.

Black Fang didn’t seem to care, though, as she decreed with an emotionless tone. “I was the one who exacted revenge on your family because you were lacking in strength.”

“!!” Vex only whimpered in response, clutching my clothes even tighter. She was squirming in my arms, reminding me of a misbehaving child getting reprimanded by her strict mother.

”Look at Master when she’s speaking to you, Vex,” Orianna commanded.

”I don’t wanna! She’s so mean and cruel!”

The pink-haired beauty sighed, mental exhaustion evident in her features. “Vex, I’m not asking.”

The white-haired beauty strongly shook her head, signaling her firm refusal. It was clear that despite Seraphiel’s healing, which made it so she was no longer in danger of death, her mental state wasn’t returned to normal.

I elected to spare this adorable creature from further scorn when I spoke up. “First of all, I’m truly happy to have met you at long last, Lady Black Fang. Please allow me to introduce the ladies who are my teammates: Blade, Ghosty, Scourge, Solace, Dream, Moon, and well, Juggernaut, and lastly, Sorceress.”

I decided on Lyra’s and Kitsara’s criminal aliases on a whim, for they didn’t have one beforehand.

Despite my gentlemanly introduction, the cold woman offered no reaction whatsoever. She kept staring at her disciple with unimpressed eyes. I knew she planned to meet me sometime in the future, but perhaps she was displeased with Vex because it happened in this manner. Vex forced her hand, making our first meeting quite the abrupt and chaotic one.

Seeing I wasn’t going to get a reaction, I elected to continue. “Vex fought admirably well. It was I who got in her way instead of helping her out. To begin with, she was fighting in a one-versus-five battle, and I just grabbed onto her and took her into the heart of the city because I needed her help in getting there without being detected. Once there, she not only gave me nearly all of her mana, but she also saved my life twice, which caused her to bleed in my stead. It was my fault.”

”Hubby…!!”

Unlike Vex, Black Fang wasn’t moved by my words one bit. She kept observing her disciple, who still refused to look at her, before addressing the woman. “You chose to shield a weaker combatant with your life. Illogical. Was your death intended to trigger a latent awakening in him? A calculated gamble to achieve victory through emotional provocation?”

No! I just didn’t want to see him get hurt!”

”Flawed reasoning. Your actions had a high probability of mutual death. Had I not been in that location and didn’t happen to be ready to head out at a moment’s notice, both you and he would’ve died. The best move would’ve been to let him take a hit while you countered, injuring and possibly killing the enemy.”

Upon hearing Black Fang’s last sentence, Vex’s incessant squirming stopped instantly, replaced by complete stillness.

Slowly, she raised her head from my chest, turning her head toward Black Fang. “Master… I know you won’t understand, and I’m ready to accept whatever punishment you have for me so that I can repent for this failure.”

She said, before sighing weakly, looking at her mother figure with tender, loving eyes. “But… I sincerely hope you’ll one day meet a person who’ll make you see logic in my actions.”

For the first time, I saw Black Fang display emotion on her doll-like, perfect face when she raised an eyebrow in surprise, clearly not expecting this response from Vex. However, it only lasted for a moment, after which her expressionless features returned.

She nodded at Vex. “I accept your explanation. I see no value in subjecting you to punishment.”

Not waiting for her disciple’s response, the black-haired woman bent her knees ever so slightly before she vanished into the sky, becoming a silent shadow leaping toward the distant city wall, heading toward the location where the initial clash took place outside the walls.

”Raika?” Vex asked ambiguously, to which Orianna nodded with a second tired sigh. “Yep. Her life signals are very weak and plummeting as we speak.”

With that, the ‘Flower Queen’ summoned two vines that she used to follow after her master by using them as if they were grappling hooks, jumping from one ruined building to the next.

We were left flabbergasted, watching the two ancient women’s rapidly shrinking backs. To call them eccentric, especially Black Fang, would be an injustice to actual eccentrics.

”I accept your explanation. I see no value in subjecting you to punishment,” Lucille mimicked Black Fang’s words with the woman’s cold, emotionless tone before shaking her head in disapproval. “Was that her way to say she’s glad to see you’re alive and well?” Ꞧ𝘈ꞐȪBЁŝ

”Right?!” Vex cried like a woman who’d been wronged to her very core, regaining her extremely expressive, gossiping schoolgirl persona. I didn’t know if it was still the lack of blood in her system doing it, or if she was just showing her true colors now that we’d lived through all that stuff together. Such life-or-death (and we can’t forget the sensual kissing either) experiences are truly the best at breaking down barriers in budding relationships.

”She’s so damn mean to me!” Vex continued her tirade of whining. “She dropped me into a forest teeming with monsters when I was a 10-year-old peasant girl who only knew how to draw water from the river and plant crops in our fields! Armed with nothing but a knife, and she didn’t even teach me how to use it! I know that we’re criminals and all, but that’s horrible child neglect and abuse!”

She huffed, pouting strongly with teary eyes. “Every time I make even the smallest mistake, I get her cruel, expressionless eyes staring right into my very soul! Let’s not even mention my workload!! She’s been sending the three of us everywhere just so she can continue soaking in her damned posion bath and keep reading her dusty tomes! She once made me buy poison for her bath from across the country because she heard a new upstart alchemist devised a strong venom that I had to carry across two whole dutchies and the Central Region in my hands because ‘storing them in pocket rings makes the toxins unstable.’ I almost passed out from the fumes! And I didn’t even mention how she threw the concoction out after a single sniff, saying her poison was stronger! She’s nothing but a heartless dictator! Black Fang?! More like Venom Tyrant Bitc-!”

”Alright, we get it,” I stepped in before she could finish the final word. I didn’t know if Black Fang had a way to listen in on our conversation, and Vex didn’t seem to be in a mental state where she would particularly care even if she knew her master was listening to her words.

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