by Dante King
“Hey there,” Hazel purred, pressing her face to my chest. I rolled back the comforter and got underneath it with her, savoring the feel of the rich fabric and her smooth skin against mine. Hazel had the arms and legs of a warrior, but the rest of her body was soft and fine. She’d definitely fit right in with Anna and Lyra. “How’d you like that, Eric?”
“Very much,” I murmured, stroking the back of her head with my fingers. “That was definitely worth waiting for.”
Hazel chuckled in the darkness, then rolled over to press her ass against my cock. For a moment I thought she was going for round two, then she stretched with her back against my chest and tucked her arm beneath her head.
“For me, as well,” she admitted, glancing at me over her shoulder. “I can feel my power again. You’ve restored what Guildmaster Ji stole from me.”
The edges of my vision went red. “That’s not all I’m going to do to Guildmaster Ji,” I told the girl. “Both of us owe that man some serious payback.”
Hazel nodded, her face expressionless in the dim moonlight. “I really am sorry I was so rude to you before, Eric. It… it hasn’t been easy for me, losing my cultivation. It was such a large part of my identity, and to have it ripped away… it felt a little bit like dying.”
I slid my arm beneath her breasts and held her close. “I can understand that,” I told her, thinking it over. What would my life be like if someone drained my cultivation away? I’d only had it for a short time, yet the thought of losing it now felt utterly intolerable. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the hell Hazel had gone through, losing the path she’d followed since girlhood. The hurt feelings I’d experienced at her hands, the arguments… all of it melted away as we curled up together beneath the blankets.
Okay, sure, maybe a lot of it came from the fact that I’d just given her a good, hard fucking. But not all. Hazel seemed genuinely contrite. Remorseful, even.
“Either way, it’s all over,” I told Hazel. “You’re one of us now. I can’t wait to re-introduce you to Anna and Lyra. In fact, do you want to go over there right now?”
The thought excited me. After all, the girls were waiting for me in my bedroom—and I was sure they’d be so happy to see Hazel in the group that they’d immediately propose a foursome. I was definitely ready to go again.
But then Hazel yawned, snuggling up against me deeper, and the fantasy of ending the evening with a red-hot foursome dissolved.
“I think you’ve tired me out,” Hazel said with a faint smile, moving my arm from beneath her breasts to over her breasts. I gave them a squeeze, of course, which made her smile widen even further. “I’m going to sleep. Maybe… maybe we could do all that in the morning?”
“The morning,” I said, holding her close. “Sure.”
It would have to be a long morning. Kim wanted to hook up with me before we left Jinshu, as well. Maybe I’d find some way to bring all five of us under one roof before we finally packed up and departed town.
True to her word, Hazel nodded off almost immediately. I’d hardly planned out my tomorrow when she began to snore, gently nuzzling the hollow beneath my shoulder.
Practical as always, I thought, rolling onto my back. I knew I ought to go check on Anna and Lyra—they were waiting for me, after all—but having Hazel’s naked, freshly-fucked body next to mine after so long was just too good.
Besides, they’d forgive me in the morning. As soon as I told them Hazel was part of the group…
I closed my eyes, nodding off next to my newest harem member. A deep, dreamless sleep enveloped me, full of warmth and the feeling of body on body. When I opened my eyes the next time, beams of early morning sunlight streamed through the window. I lay back with a gentle smile, listening to the sounds of the inn’s employees beginning their day, then rolled over to wake Hazel up in the sweetest way I knew how.
The bed was empty.
Hazel was gone.
Chapter 13
Calm down, Eric, I told myself, staggering down the steps to the common room. My steps felt heavier than usual, and I belatedly remembered I’d had far too much of the town’s rice wine to drink last night. I ought to have drunk some water—but then again, I’d been saving rehydration for after I brought Kim to meet Anna and Lyra. Since that hadn’t happened, I’d never had time to ward myself against the hangover.
I’d thrown my robes on in a rush in my hurry to get down to the common room, and they fit me poorly. I looked like I’d been partying all night—a glance in a mirror along the stairwell confirmed I had that ‘walk of shame’ look I remembered from so many early Sunday mornings on my college campus. I picked up the pace as I descended, opening my senses a bit through cultivation in an effort to battle the pounding in my head.
Hazel was downstairs. She had to be downstairs. Any moment now, I’d turn the corner to see her sitting at a table with Anna and Lyra, the three of them gossiping incorrigibly about what we’d done last night. How hard I’d fucked her, how big I was—what weapon she’d turned into when she’d cum. I was sure to be the butt of a bunch of jokes, but I wouldn’t care. I always had the last laugh when I had a harem of gorgeous women at my beck and call.
I turned the corner. Lyra and Anna indeed sat at a table near the bar, drinking orange juice and nursing their own hangovers. The common room was nearly unoccupied this early in the morning, and my girls had the place all to themselves. To my surprise, Kim sat behind the bar, looking fresh as a daisy. She waved at me as I reached the bottom step, the motion alerting my women to my presence.
That wasn’t the problem. The problem was, Hazel was nowhere to be seen.
“Good morning, Eric,” Lyra said, her voice somewhere between reproach and a practical joke. “Did you have a good night last night?”
“You must have,” Anna said with a trace of bitterness. “We waited up for you for so long. Eventually we both passed out, and when we woke up this morning, we realized you hadn’t even been in the room!”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. As I spoke I scanned the common room, hoping like hell that Hazel was about to emerge from behind a pillar or from the kitchen. “Last night was pretty crazy—”
“I’ll say,” Lyra giggled, cutting me off. “After a decade or two of selling beer, I thought I knew a thing or two about parties. That rice wine these people drink though, whew! I swear that stuff could strip paint.” Lyra took another sip of her orange juice, then tucked into what looked like a meat pie. “That sort of thing’s for the young, not me. The new girls, you know?”
“Yeah, speaking of which.” Anna pointed a finger at my chest, grinning. “Where were you during the party, Eric?”
“You didn’t make a new cultivator last night, did you?” Lyra added, meaning it as a joke.
The look on my face must have given me away. Both women fell silent, their jaws dropping open.
“Actually,” I confessed, “I kinda did.”
I took a seat, and Kim brought me my own portion of food and drink. I wolfed it down despite the urgency of the situation, because I had a pretty good idea that I was going to need the energy soon enough.
As I ate, I explained the situation with Hazel. Both women’s eyes lit up as I told them about the blonde warrior propositioning me. I held no details back. There was no point, as the common room was practically deserted save for us and Kim. I told them about the sex, and the beams of light, and how the Metal Cores got absorbed through Dual Cultivation to give Hazel back her powers. Lyra cheered at that, giving the news a round of applause, while Anna just glared straight ahead, no doubt waiting for the end of the story.
“Now she’s gone,” I said, my story trailing off. I was well aware it was a lame way to end, but I’d been hoping they could help me with that last part. “You didn’t see her this morning, did you? Maybe she came down here for a quick bite to eat before running an errand in the village?”
It was a foolish thing to hope for, and their looks told me so. “Not a thing,
” Lyra said sadly. “She must have slipped out early, before anybody else in the inn was even up—”
From the bar, Kim cleared her throat. “That’s not entirely accurate,” the slender beauty said, catching our attention. She most certainly had our attention now—all three of us stared at her.
“Oh really?” Anna asked.
Kim blushed—it made her look even cuter. “I got up extra early to wash the dishes left over from last night,” the bartender explained. “I saw your friend—the one with the blonde braid from last night—leave the bar right at daybreak. If I’d known it was a problem, I’d have let you know right away. I just thought she was going for a jog or something…”
Lyra’s expression hardened. “I know where she went,” the redhead said.
I was pretty sure that I knew as well, and I didn’t like the answer. “Seth,” I whispered.
We’d learned yesterday that the cultivator had been in Jingshu recently, and he’d only just run off into the woods. Considering the way he’d treated Hazel during their last meeting, it was only natural that she’d want revenge against him. But to abandon the whole group in pursuit of it…!
“Damn it!” I growled, thumping the table with a fist. “How dare she!? I gave her the gift of cultivation just so she could abandon us?”
Anna looked like her thoughts followed my own. “That bitch,” my girlfriend snarled, shaking her head. “I don’t believe her.”
Lyra gave both of us a harsh look. “Neither of you really understand, do you?” the redhead asked, shaking her head. “You’ve been cultivators for so long, and you still don’t get it.”
I could feel my brows furrowing together. “What don’t I understand?” I asked.
“It’s a matter of honor,” Lyra pronounced. “For a cultivator to have offended her so greatly—and one represented by a Guild, besides—the only answer is that it be repaid with satisfaction. With a duel. Anything else would paint Hazel as a coward, as someone unwilling to defend herself against insults and threats.”
Her words thrust the situation into a new light. “So it’s kind of like with Gentry,” I said, remembering the Governor’s son and what Hazel had done to him.
“Worse,” Lyra said with a cluck of her tongue. “Because this boy Seth is a cultivator himself. It makes it so much worse.”
Behind the bar, Kim nodded along with the explanation. “That’s how cultivators are,” she said, as if it were a simple fact of life. “I don’t know the nature of this insult against your friend, but if it impugned her dignity as a cultivator, she’s not just expected to get revenge—she’s compelled.”
I swallowed hard. “He, ah, threatened to do some pretty fucked up stuff to her,” I admitted.
Kim nodded sagely. “I can imagine.”
I was sure she could. But what I couldn’t imagine was myself being that kind of cultivator—the sort of person who couldn’t let words roll off them without a fight. I was beginning to understand the ways of this world a little bit better, but not everything I learned was something I wanted to incorporate into my own way of life. I wanted to be a leader—the kind of cultivator people looked up to. The sort who could make the Peak Supreme God proud enough to stay his hand before the prospect of annihilation.
No, petty revenge didn’t help my cause. And now it was actively threatening my new relationship with Hazel.
As I met the gazes of my harem girls, a disturbing possibility occurred to me. “You don’t…” I said, almost choking on the words. “You don’t think Hazel fucked me specifically so she could go get revenge, do you?”
Anna and Lyra shared a look. “I have no idea,” Lyra said after a beat, “but there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of now, Eric. That girl needs a firm male influence in her life to keep her on the straight and narrow. Once we get her back, I suggest you put her on a much shorter leash.”
“You almost make that sound like you mean it literally,” I chuckled.
I’d meant it as a joke, but Lyra’s expression was dead serious. “If that’s what it takes to make her obey the leader of her Guild, then yes,” the redhead said—and Anna and Kim nodded along! “You need to drag that girl back here and give her a good spanking, Eric. It’s the only way she’s going to learn.”
Anna looked thrilled by the idea. “Ooh, can I watch?” my girlfriend cooed.
“We have to get her back first,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. The chair tipped backward, I rose to my feet. “Which way did she go, Kim? Fuck, it’s going to be hard to find her. She travels through the forest like a damn ghost. This is going to be worse than finding a needle in a haystack.”
Kim pointed down one of the village’s main thoroughfares, flashing a guilty look. “That’s about as specific as I can remember,” she admitted with a shrug. “I’m really sorry! Like I said, if I knew it was unusual, I would’ve told somebody.”
Just then, a figure descended the stairs. It was Regina, the last member of our party. Unlike the rest of my group, she looked like she’d turned in early with a book. There wasn’t a hair out of place in her exquisite coif, and her robes looked as if they’d been freshly laundered. She looked like a professional in a team of ruffians—which I guess she was.
“Morning, everybody,” Regina said, practically salivating as she saw the table laden with food. “What’s going on? What’s with the sad looks? Oh no, what did I miss?”
“I’ll catch you up as we walk,” I told the woman. “Grab something to take with you and eat. Hazel’s gone, we’ve got to find her.”
“Hazel?” Regina’s brows furrowed together. “No offense, but can’t that girl handle herself? She’s not even really a member of the group…”
“She is now,” Anna said with a wicked grin. “Eric gave her back her cultivation last night.”
“He did!” Regina’s jaw dropped open. “But that means… oh my goodness…”
I had no idea she could flush that particular shade of red. Regina’s embarrassment was infectious; soon both Anna and Lyra were giggling good-naturedly at it. “It’s just the way of things,” Lyra told the woman with a shrug. “Anna and I aren’t put out by it—it’s how we get stronger, and how Eric gives the gift of cultivation to new people.”
Regina looked like she couldn’t believe it. “But you’re really…I mean, you’re alright with sharing Eric?”
Both girls started to laugh, as if to say there’s plenty of him to go around.
“You can have this conversation while we search,” I snapped, already heading for the door. “We’ve got to find that girl before she goes too far. And once we do, Lyra, I’m taking each of your suggestions under advisement.”
The redhead grinned from ear to ear. “Good,” she purred. “And like Anna, I also want to see it first-hand. I’d love to see you lay down a little discipline, Eric.”
Alright, that thought would have to wait. There was rescuing to do.
* * *
As it turned out, the citizens of Jinshu hadn’t been idle overnight either. Just like Hazel, they’d been hard at work—though with a completely different task than my newest harem girl and cultivator.
A replacement cart waited for us at the corner of the intersection, shiny and new.
As we reached it, a small delegation of the town’s citizens emerged. “Ah, Eric Hyde!” a man in purple robes with a mustache reaching almost all the way down to his belly said. He was one of the elders I’d spent so much time with the previous night—and from the slight family resemblance, I realized this man was also Kim’s father. So he owns the inn, I thought, returning the man’s bow with one of my own.
“Good morning,” I said, looking at the cart with a confused smile. “I have to ask—did any of you see the blonde warrior who travels with us this morning? She may have been heading into the woods in pursuit of someone or something.”
Confused looks greeted my proclamation. The citizens of Jinshu, who’d expected to be presenting me and my group with a new cart in some sort of official ceremony
, had just been put on the back foot. From the elder’s expression, I’d clearly committed some minor breach of protocol. His face smoothed over, blandly handsome as he returned to his duties.
“I’m not certain if we’ve seen your friend,” the man said, his voice deep and sonorous. “The citizens of Jinshu desired to present you with a gift this morning, Governor Hyde. In recognition of your service to the city, and your deep civic discipline…”
I had less ‘civil discipline’ than a trash can, but there was no reason Kim’s father needed to know that. “Anyone?” I asked, lifting my voice above the elder’s. “Blonde ponytail, serious expression? Great legs?”
“And butt,” Anna added.
“Not to mention breasts,” Lyra said with a wistful sigh. “Enough to make you understand why Eric puts up with all of her shit…”
This remark made several men in the audience smile ruefully. Just then, a fisherman piped up. “I saw the girl this morning,” he said, lifting a hesitant hand. “I was in my usual fishing spot when she travelled past me, moving from tree to tree. I thought it very unusual, to say the least…”
One of the other villagers gave him a sock on the shoulder. “You were just trying to look up her skirt, I bet!”
“Was not!” the fisherman retorted. “I’m happily married, and if you insult me again, we’ll have a problem!”
“Enough!” I roared, shocking the crowd into silence. “Where is this fishing spot, and where was Hazel going?”
The man looked as if he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “The location of my fishing spot is a secret,” he said, prompting groans from the villagers nearest him. “It’s been passed down from generation to generation in my family, a code of silence under penalty of death—”
“Oh, come off it!” an elderly woman said with a cackle. “We all know you go to the Kang River to try and catch the salmon as they swim upstream to spawn!”
“Or to watch them spawn!” someone added.
