Harem Overlord: I ALWAYS Finish Quick!



After laughing, Zizi looked at Ryan, but seeing his tense stance, she shook her head.

"You don't have to be wary of retribution from me," Zizi said, wiping a joyful tear from underneath her eyelid. "They treated me like I was a slave. They deserved far worse than that."

Ryan frowned. "You don't care that they were family?"

Ryan understood that he didn't know the full extent of the evils those sisters had committed, but growing up without a family, Ryan couldn't fathom someone being wonderful with their family members being killed.

Zizi snarled. "Maybe once they were considered my family. But after the years of torment I spent under them. I have no love for those two creatures."

Shrugging, Ryan let the matter subside as he sensed no hostility from the woman.

Besides, she was a C-Ranked cultivator. So she couldn't harm Ryan even if she tried.

Moving his focus back to the fight, Ryan saw that things looked successful as he received an alert from the heavens.

[Quest Complete]

[Reward: Military Tactics]

As soon as the prompt appeared in his vision, Ryan felt a torrent of information enters his mind.

Battle strategies, troop positioning, military espionage, and more poured into his mind.

Ryan was amazed at the amount of new information he held. He felt he majored in military tactics at the world's best university and was a straight-A student.

But what came next further knocked his socks off.

[Bonus Achievement Met]

[Reward: Upgrade to Military Tactics]

A piece of information flowed into his mind, allowing him to understand the upgrade.

While no new battle tactics were endowed, his ability had significantly changed.

Instead of being simply a passive ability, it was now an active one.

Activating Military Tactics would bring up a real-time battle map with all his troop locations and list several possible strategies that could prove helpful in fighting any combatants.

He could also mark hostile forces on this map, simplifying planning and organizing troop movements.

'I guess this means someone has already reported the false news of the Dawn Pavilion's involvement to the Holy Phoenix Empire.'

Although he was happy with the upgrades, there was no going back now that this plan had been set in motion.

Turning to Zizi, Ryan somberly said, "Although I would love to sleep with you, I don't think we'll have the opportunity now. I can't explain everything to you now, but I need to know…"

Ryan's voice turned deeper. "Are you willing to betray the Holy Phoenix Empire?"

Ryan knew she hated her sisters but did Zizi also hate the rest of her family?

A grin spread across Zizi's face. "I was wondering who my savior would be."

Right as Ryan said those words, her ability to discern the fate of others activated, but for the first time, it was used on herself.

She saw a vision of a life filled with happiness. Although hardships were involved, she constantly smiled, something she hadn't done in years.

Zizi's resolve hardened, and she said, "It's not betrayal if they did it first."

===

Ryan made Zizi swear an oath of servitude. However, after Zizi disclosed her unique ability, Ryan wanted to make her a harem member on the spot.

Unfortunately, the heavens informed him that he couldn't receive her gift even if she became a harem member.

What Zizi had was a special blessing from the heavens known as the gift of fate.

Yoko said she had never heard of it but claimed that it was probably a new initiative the heavens were trying to do to combat the number of diviners.

[Diviners can see people's fate, but doing so not with heaven's blessing, but going against them makes them a strict target of the heavens causing them to be labeled heretics in the eyes of many,] Yoko had claimed.

Yoko added, [But more saw them as a necessity in the Multiverse, so the heaven's probably decided to give people this gift to allow the illusion of the same. But in reality, the heaven's still decides what fate will be shown and when.]

Ryan's reason for coming to the Holy Phoenix Empire was complete, so he decided that his time was up.

Ryan gave Zizi some simple commands, such as not exposing anything, trying to climb in social status, and, most importantly, rising in her mother's eyes as fast as possible.

Ryan departed after picking up Lizzy, Izzy, Grace, and Zoey.

As he left the city, Ryan felt a pang in his chest and realized he had forgotten something.

Stacy.

Although his time with the inn girl was short, Stacy was an earthling like him, and he felt she could help him understand how earth and Ravier were connected.

Even if she wasn't, Ryan didn't relate to anyone more than Stacy, as they were practically in the same boat, although Ryan transmigrated here and wasn't reincarnated.

At least, he thought.

Entering the inn he had been staying at, Ryan walked up to the counter where Stacy was sleeping.

"Sleeping on the job, we'll have to fix that," Ryan said, lightly scratching Stacy's hair.

Stacy rubbed against the touch. Her hazy eyes opened, and a smile formed on her lips.

"It's not like we get any customers."

Stacy frowned, then looked at the clock.

Gasping, she looked at Ryan. "Why aren't you at the arena? You're going to lose your place!"

Ryan stopped rubbing Stacy's hair and cupped her cheek. "I'm leaving the Holy Phoenix Empire. I came here to say goodbye."

Ryan wouldn't force Stacy to leave with him, and according to Aliza's teachings, it was best if she did the asking rather than him.

"You can't!" Stacy said, tears starting to come to her eyes.

She frantically exited from behind the counter and came to stand before Ryan.

"I believe you're the one I've been looking for. So please don't leave," Stacy said, hugging Ryan.

Ryan let out a long sigh and stroked the back of her head as she clung to his abdomen. "I have to leave, something is happening soon that will change Ravier forever, and I have to be prepared."

Stacy's eyes suddenly shot up to Ryan's. "Take me with you!"

Ryan arched his eyebrow. "What? Why should I?"

Stacy's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Stacy tried to form a reason why Ryan would take her, and then a lightbulb came on. "You're a man. I can protect you. This isn't earth where men are stronger. In this world wo-"

Stacy was cut off by Ryan executing his energy to bring a glass of water to himself.

Stacy blanched as she saw the floating cup enter Ryan's palm and stared wide-eyed as Ryan took a sip of the refreshing liquid.

"You were saying?" Ryan asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

"I-I… what?" Stacy huffed, "I thought males couldn't be cultivators. It looks like I was lied to."

Ryan shook his head. "No, actually it's a long story, but men on Ravier can't cultivate."

Stacy narrowed her eyes. "By the way you're talking, it sounds like on other planets men can cultivate."

Ryan nodded. "That's true. But you still haven't told me why I should take you."

Ryan pretended to look at a watch. "And I don't have long before I need to be going so…"

Seeming to contemplate somehting, Stacy's face hardened, apparently making a decision.

"If you take me with you…"

'Does she have some magical treasure?' Ryan thought. 'Perhaps another artifact like the Holy Dragon Blood?'

Ryan's thoughts grew wilder as the potential of what Stacy would offer made his hearrate increase. 'Maybe she has a gift like Zizi or something even crazier!'

"I'll be your girlfriend."

"What?" Ryan asked, thinking he heard wrong.

"I'll be your girlfriend."

Ryan looked the girl up and down.

Stacy was cute, but she wasn't that pretty. All of his harem members were better looking than her, although he considered his harem members top class in this world.

The only thing Ryan considered 'girlfriend material' about her was that Ryan could relate to her.

Their shared experience of coming from earth into this vast and unknown planet was something Ryan did find sparked a flame inside him.

But Ryan wouldn't accept just anyone into his harem.

'Besides, it seems she thinks she can have me all to herself.'

"I'm sorry, but while I think you're a good girl, I have plenty of women," Ryan said, walking toward the door.

Ryan was cautious about accepting Stacy, for the same reason he wanted her.

She was an earthling.

While an inhabitant of Ravier might be willing to sign a slave contract because they knew what the world was like, an earthling would scoff at the notion. 'If she wants it, she'll have to give me more of a reason than that.'

Stacy bit her lip. "I don't have anything other than myself to give. I know this world is a cruel place. I thought I would be special since I was a baby with the mind of a fourteen-year-old, but I was wrong."

"Nancy saved me once from the terror that was the orphanage of the human empire, but I don't want my second life to be wasted like my first one was…"

"I want to have the strength to change, and I can't stay cooped up in my mother's inn to do that."

"I don't know exactly who you are in this world, but since you're the only male cultivator I've ever heard of, you must have a special identity."

"Please allow me to accompany you, I swear that I will not betray you and will follow your commands…"

Stacy looked into Ryan's eyes with a determined look. "And I'll be your wife."