Harem Overlord: I ALWAYS Finish Quick!

"Darius," the Grand Empress started, but couldn't help but thrash the man again with her whip.

*Smack*

"I know men are incompetent, good for nothing, with zero worth in the Multiverse, but you are the lowest of the low."

*Smack*

"I'm sorry, Grand Empress," Darius tried to say, but as he was gagged, all that came out was: "Sow-wa... sow-wa... sow-wa... sow-wa..." It sounded like the wheezing of a broken car engine. His body shook from fear and pain as he hung over the ground, his legs tied together so they didn't fall apart under him.

The Grand Empress walked back and forth before him. Then, she stopped suddenly, turning around slowly.

"Every one of the people you send to watch subject one is dead. And nothing! Nothing! Nothing to show for it!" she screamed.

"No intelligence on why they died or who killed them," she continued. "You have failed me."

"You have failed me. In the last millennia, you are the only man I gave responsibility to since I sealed off the men from this world from cultivation," she repeated angrily. "Do you know what the punishment is for failure?"

"Death!"

Slicing his abdomen open, she watched as the gagged man's organs spilled onto the floor of her room in the palace. The blood spurted out in every direction, making a large puddle underneath him. After a few seconds, only a slight tremor remained on his body, and then he became still.

"Bee?" the Grand Empress called.

"Yes, Grand Empress?" Bee asked, ignoring the stone floor's red pools and wet splatters.

"Have him disposed of, would you? My chambers are starting to smell again."

"Yes, Grand Empress."

"Oh, and bring me, Dr. Rubenstein. She will be taking over the project from now on."

===

Ryan left the Duchess's abode feeling half-dead. After the brief fight with the archer killed the mood for Duchess and Ryan, they made plans to meet back up the following evening to complete what they had started.

Although his aunt hadn't died, the arrow was laced with a potent poison.

She was currently being treated by his servants with healing specialties inside his palace but was unconscious.

'All I can do is pray they can save her.'

Early estimates by his servants looked promising, but they said she would likely remain unconscious until Hannah returned from the mission Ryan had sent them on.

'Although my aunt could tell me a lot of useful information, the mission Hannah would tell me even more.'

Visions of his childhood with his aunt played like a movie reel flashing over and over.

'I know who I am.'

Ryan knew for certain that he came from the Dawn Pavilion, and his original name was Velox Metam.

'I wonder what that translates to in Latin?' Ryan thought, but he shook that thought aside as an idea began to form.

'If my mother is this Aurora, then why am I in this predicament in the first place?' Ryan thought.

'Surely, if Aurora owns the Dawn Pavilion, she's powerful enough to protect me.'

'That might not be true, Master,' a voice inside his head responded.

Luckily he had Yoko now. He had almost forgotten Yoko at the Duchess' mansion until he saw Volf prance into the room, his slobbering maw holding an egg, acting all innocent.

Yoko had ranted for at least ten minutes about Volf's torture. Ryan chuckled at the memory.

'What do you mean, Yoko?' Ryan asked the egg, now safely tucked away in his palace.

'I mean,' Yoko responded. 'That, based on what I was able to gather while being stuck inside Sienna's garbage dump of a house, is that the Dawn Pavilion isn't a Heavenly Kingdom.'

'Correct,' Ryan replied.

Using their connection, the two could talk telepathically if they were close enough, and thankfully that applied if Yoko was in his palace.

Ryan could also allow Yoko to look through his vision, which would be extremely helpful as she could give him tips and tricks while Ryan wouldn't have to expose the fact that he had an evil dragon talking to him.

'Then she probably can't protect you. At least not against this Grand Empress.'

'Why?'

'Because,' Yoko sighed. 'A Heavenly Kingdom has many advantages, like its famous protection, but it also has offensive advantages.'

'Such as?' Ryan asked, intrigued.

'They can launch an invasion at any time against merchant forces like the Dawn Pavilion as long as they pay an appropriate amount of Heavenly Credits.'

'The crux is that it sounds like the Holy Alliance controls the Dawn Pavilion and probably has what's known as a 'voters veto'.'

'They could veto the invasion and change it to a duel, forcing Aurora into a one-on-one challenge, or she could lose her ownership.'

'They haven't done it yet because they don't want to give the other alliance member power, and using someone like Aurora to hold power is the perfect solution.'

'But if she refuses to give you up, that could force the Holy Alliance to act,' Yoko finished.

Ryan thought about the dragon's words. 'Thought the Holy Alliance supports the Grand Empress, they might not be involved with my brainwashing.'

As far as he knew, the Grand Empress was acting on her own, and the rest of the alliance wasn't the wiser.

'What if only the Grand Empress is involved?' Ryan asked.

'Well, you've said she's likely the owner of this world, correct?'

Ryan nodded and then, realizing that Yoko couldn't see his nod continued, 'You know, although I can see your vision shaking, I can't actually see you nod,' Yoko said, chuckling.

'Well, if that's the case, that would be worse.'

'Why?' Ryan asked, perplexed.

'Because that would mean she's more likely to get desperate, and a world owner has a lot of ways they can screw someone over if they get desperate.'

Scratching his chin, Ryan sighed. 'Guess I can't go run to mommy.'

Seeing a flashing exclamation mark in the top right of his vision appear, Ryan clicked, and a notification came into view.

[Harem Message Alert!]

Clicking to open the message, Ryan saw it was from the Frost General.

[Harem Member: Ester Frost]

[Message: We need to speak. Come meet me at my mansion as soon as possible.]

Raising his eyebrows, Ryan asked Yoko, 'Could you see that?'

'See what?' Yoko asked, confused.

'Never mind. Change of plans, we need to go to the Frost General's house.'

'Why?'

'Oh, I guess you wouldn't know,' Ryan said, chuckling. 'She's in my harem now.'

'What?!' Yoko squealed. 'She allowed you to sleep with her?'

'I overheard from the Duchess that her personality is as cold as ice and that she hasn't had any emotions in thousands of years! So how did you do it?' Yoko asked.

'Let's just say it wasn't my personality that won her over.'