Dungeon Builder's Harem Book 01 Ch. 31

I nodded and then gasped in shock as I felt the power rushing into me. I hadn't killed him but... One of my followers had. I stared at Halia, stunned as the magic flowed into me. I felt the two new runes settle onto my body. I ripped open the front of my robes and there they were, two new designs branded into my chest.

Both were made of the cuneiform-like arrows as my other glyphs. One was three chevrons pointing up, each flowing into the next, the middle one taller. They reminded me of waves. The other one was made of four of the arrows, two stacked on each other with two more branching off at upward angles. It reminded me of the peace sign. Or maybe it was a tree. Water and Life runes.

I could feel the new magic in me. The new additions to my harem. Baaghi, lying stunned, suddenly felt like she was mine. I swallowed and bent down. I touched her and said the words that I had heard Jindag say a few times. They were now echoing in my soul.

"Blossom and regrow with life, let the vitality of Lord Dumazid heal!"

The restorative magic flowed out of me and into Baaghi's body. She spasmed a few times. Her whiskers twitched. Then her eyes opened. They stared up at me with feline confusion. Then she shuddered and rose.

"Lord Leo," she said and rolled into a kneeling crouch. She bowed to me, her pale, striped body looking submissive. Orange hair tumbled about her face.

I shuddered. She was mine now. So was the naga. I could feel her distantly in my Void Crystal. She slumbered. I glanced at Halia. Then I touched her and muttered the same spell. The bruise on her stomach faded. Her breathing grew less coarse. I mended myself as I rubbed at her belly, prodding at her wound. As my wounds healed, she smiled at me.

Then, to my shock, she put her arms around me and kissed me.

I stiffened at the feel of her lips on mine. They thrust into my mouth. Her lips worked on mine. This heat rose inside of me as I slid my arms around her. I held her to me as she whimpered against my mouth.

She broke the kiss. I panted as I stared at her in shock. She licked her lips, her breasts rising and falling. Then she fell to her knees before me. I stared at her in confusion. I could taste the sweetness of her on my lips.

"Halia?"

"I, Halia, daughter of Anguin, do pledge my sword to you, Leo Dungeon Builder. In the name of Lady Sherida, Goddess of Light, I vow to serve you in all things."

Light flared around her, a column of it focused down on her, bathing her. Then she gasped as it changed into gold. She shuddered and then lifted her sword. It had a nimbus of light around it. The blade felt holy.

"She has made me into a paladin of light," gasped Halia in shock. She stared up at me. "She approves of my service to you."

"Yeah," I said, feeling more than a little stunned by it. "Why?"

"Why?" Halia smiled as she rose. "Isn't it obvious, Lord Leo? You have proven yourself with your actions. You want the world to be better. I want the same. I will work with you. Be your blade. Your protector." Her eyes grew smoky. "Your lover."

"You mean that?" I asked.

"You are..." She stepped forward. "Exhilarating." Ecstasy crossed her face. "You are worthy of my heart. I am a virgin."

"Damn," I muttered. Then I glanced at the imprisoned girls. "We should, uh, we should get them back to the village."

She gasped and whirled. "You're right."

As she marched to the girls, I headed to the door at the back. I had something I wanted to see. I marched through the door. This place felt... dead. The magic that maintained it gone. Baaghi walked with me. She sauntered at my heels, saying not a word.

The hallway led to a living area. Furniture similar to what I built though there was an Asian feel to it. He must have been from India, or maybe Bangladesh. I looked around it before passing into the bedroom.

"You don't have a problem with following me, Baaghi?" I asked as I moved to the vault.

"Of course not, Lord Leo," she said. "You own me now."

"Did you love him?" I asked, moving around the bed.

"What a curious question," she said. "I was his teacher before he brought me to this remarkable world. He freed me from a cruel marriage and gave me power. But did I love him...? I don't think so. He didn't love me. He didn't love anything but himself."

My monster girls loved me. Right from the start. What was the difference between Jindag and me? Was it how we view the world? Did we imprint something on our monster girls when we made them?

I opened the door and there lay the Void Crystal. Inert. It didn't absorb energy any longer. I had taken its essence. I wondered what happened to the Souleen that lived in it. So I thought the question to mine.

"She's gone back to the source," said Souleen. "Her consciousness gone. Merged back into it to await another chosen."

"What's the source?" I asked.

"I really don't know."

I looked around the walls. "What's to become of this dungeon? Will it crumble?"

"It will remain. Real monsters might set up nests in it. Or it may lay forgotten for eons. It is now subject to the normal decay of the world."

I nodded and turned. This place would be a tomb then. Jindag would lie in his throne room slowly rotting away. A pity he didn't have a dungeon builder to mentor him. To show him that there was another way to go about these things.