Chapter 22: The Executioner

I sat alone in the kitchen waiting for Pothesly after I’d kissed Maelise good night. She had a sour look on her face, but she decided to retire for the night, leaving for her bedroom. But not before giving Faye a mouthful of heated words. Predictably, Faye had no apologies in her arsenal. The priestess had said that she’d met up with Pothesly after trying to give Pochi a bath and he slipped from her. A believable excuse—the moment was just timed horribly.  

It was almost two in the morning according to that freaky looking hellhound clock on the wall. Nearly ten minutes had passed, making me think that this meeting wasn’t as urgent as Faye made it seem. I snorted to myself, a cheeky smile stretched on my lips—she wanted to separate me and Maelise, didn’t she? Sneaky girl, but I couldn’t stay mad at her. She did however leave me with a pair of blue balls, hence my being so close to the table. I needed to distract myself, and distract myself I did, the predicament I was in with my locked skills storming through my thoughts the moment I stopped thinking about Maelise.

How much longer did I have to fight in a handicap? I kept thinking that maybe if I had my special abilities unlocked, I could have taken Rodon on. Yet, we had no idea how to unlock it, not Maelise, not Nayla, and not even Lady Lucile.

Regardless, I needed to buff up level wise if I wanted to face him again. And it was going to be a while too, kill system or not. I didn’t want to wait and see how detrimental not having my skills would be. I’d be putting my party in danger, so I had to figure this riddle out quick…

“Quite embarrassin’ really, being seen by my queen’s legendary knight with my guts hangin’ on the floor,” Pothesly said lightheartedly as she walked in, then took a seat across from me on the round table.

The lights were dim, making my eyes focus on her features more. I didn’t have the opportunity before, being in the heat and the moment and all, but I could easily see where her daughters got their beauty from. Despite her age, she could easily put most of those Litheenian women back in the castle to shame. She had a warm earthy tone to her skin, her hair streaked with silver but silky, thick and very long. Her locks framed her face beautifully, her almond eyes a shimmering sea blue color. She reminded me of a gypsy woman, dressed in bright scarves and shawls with accentuating beads and long earrings. She had the same pair of horns and pointed ears as Emera, but shorter.

I could tell she wanted to strike a long conversation with me, and I was also eager to hear what Pothesly had to say.

“I want to formally thank you for bringing my daughters back, and helping this old woman stand again.”

I smiled. “My pleasure.”

“Where are you from, Knives?” the first question of the night took me by surprise. I thought the answer was obvious, seeing as I looked fairly human. Maybe she wanted me not to feel so out of place, and honestly, it was considerate of her.

“Ebonmere,” I said straightly. “Of Earth.”

“How old?”

“Thirty-one.”

She gave me a cheeky smile. “You look good for your age, young blood squire!”

I took the compliment happily. “Nothing I’ve heard before, truthfully.”

“Not for the sake of flattering you, just making a fair observation. Honestly, I am rather impressed, all things considering. I wasn’t expecting our hero to look so very handsome.”

I would say something cheeky, but I held my tongue. If I wasn’t so sure, I could have sworn she was hitting on me.

“Tell me, Knives, what brings you to these parts of Litheenia?”

“I feel that you already know that answer. To save Onessa.”

“But first?” she started for me, as if she were reading my mind.

I snickered. “All right. You got me. We actually have business with you. It was but sheer coincidence that we ran into your daughters.”

“I call it fate.” She smiled sweetly. “Someone sent you to fetch my great sword?”

“Is it that obvious?”

She shrugged. “You know, one day I figured the great blood squire will come here and take my most prized possession.”

“Not by force, mind you,” I teased. “Besides, Lady Lucile sent me for it.”

“Oh, really? It’s even more popular than I thought. But I hope that she told you more about me than how long my sword is.”

“Unfortunately, no.”

She scoffed. “Typical. I tell you, all they ever see in me is my ability to create weapons, and warriors.”

“Warriors?”

“I’m over five hundred years old, young blood squire,” Pothesly confessed with a confident smile. “Poppin’ out babies for our goddess ‘til I couldn’t do it no more. I stopped breeding about a few years ago, and I was mighty good at it, too.” She winked at me, my collar getting stuffy. “It only took me two months to give birth, opposed to the typical nine. Not only that, I carry a variety of demonic genes in me, from arachnes to vampires. I was breeding around the clock for her army, and my, it was work. Real honest work.”

“I could imagine. How are you still walking?”

She snickered. “Most of my children went out to war. My job was to breed warriors while my husband trained them. We did this out of faith that one day Lady Lust will take her rightful throne, and end this meaningless oppression upon our people! It was so very hard, Knives… having to watch my babies walk out of their nest, knowing that they probably wouldn’t survive… I tried telling myself to stop being so attached. Maybe then, it wouldn’t hurt as much. Nearly three thousand children... all slain by soldiers of Greed, Wrath, and Pride.”

I couldn’t process the bloodshed, and the weight of guilt Pothesly felt. She didn’t say she felt this way, but I could see it. It was all too common to me. That expression was what I had to see every time I looked at my own reflection when I couldn’t save my sister from being gutted out and eaten. But Pothesly’s pain… it was something else entirely. These kids, no matter how many, they were all of her children.

“At some point, my husband grew tired. He sought out the front lines himself. He figured the master of warriorship could finish this endless savagery. I begged him not to go, but of course the stubborn meathead wouldn’t listen.” She sighed. “I am just so very tired, Knives. But seein’ you here gives me the faith that I’d lost so long ago. Who would have known that the legends were true? A blood knight, who gets stronger the more he kills? A kill system to defy all odds.” She snorted. “Makes you wonder why she hadn’t summoned you sooner.”

“Why hasn’t she?” I said, irritation evident in my voice. “I hadn’t thought about it until you mentioned something. It isn’t a question I even came across around other Litheenians. If things have been this bad for so long, why is she only now calling upon me?”

You are reading story The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure at novel35.com

“She was recently captured,” she answered plainly.

“Then that is quite selfish, don’t you think? By the sounds of it, Onessa thought that she could defend her nation all by herself. Up until she was captured. So far, all I’ve heard was how bad things have been for years, decades even.”

She chuckled humbly. “Well, those are the gods for ya. Very independent. To be fair, Onessa has saved plenty more. Things could have been worse without our goddess.”

“While she is trying to tackle her demons head on without my help, I have to watch my people suffer on the other side. If she had called me sooner, then we could have ended this war already.”

“Heh, pretty eager warrior, aren’t you? But tell me, up until recently, did you have a way to come to us?”

“If you’re talking about the portals, they just seemed like an extremely convenient route she took when the opportunity presented itself. I’m still not sure how she did it, but if this was in fact her doing, then she did her people a misfortune. I was chosen, Pothesly… Why did Onessa make it harder on her nation by picking a random child off the streets on Earth?”

She grinned. “You are not random, blood squire. It takes a very special someone to be the savior of our people. And you are that special someone, a man who fights for peace, selfishly, endlessly. Without doubt or question. You shed the blood of your people’s demons without restraint. You are as dedicated as you are skilled. In this waiting, she wanted you to sharpen your skills. And as I’ve heard, you’ve been doing pretty well without your skillsets unlocked.”

I cocked my eyebrow at her. “Who told you?”

“Oh, just your chatterbox of a first mate,” she snickered. “She paid me a quick visit before she retired. Very lovable girl. I can see why you chose her.”

I chuckled. “Actually, she chose me. Pretty quickly too, if I might add.”

“Yes, I know. You haven’t even been here for two moons. But your abilities, why haven’t you accessed them?”

“Honestly, we are still trying to figure out how.”

“Figure out?” She held back a snicker. “I see…” Pothesly got up off her wooden seat and walked out without saying a word. I raised my eyebrow at her, and after she’d disappeared in the hallway for a few seconds, she came back with an amazing surprise…

It was huge, looked heavy too, sitting across her chest like an early Christmas present…

“It is called a square sword, or, more specifically, The Executioner.”

The sight of it made me get up off my seat. I wasn’t expecting my first sword to look so shockingly intimidating. The blade was broad, about eight inches wide if I had to guess, and around five feet long.

“Sharped with the many lives of our enemies. If Lady Lucile brought up my darling Executioner, then she most likely told you about how I craft my weapons.”

“Souls. Still trying to wrap my head around that. Then again, all of this magic should be commonplace to me by now.”

She laughed. “Sculpted from the souls of many demons for centuries. I take great pride in my work, young blood knight. You look afraid to take it. Don’t be. After all, it is yours to keep. It is my present to you. All I ask is that you take very good care of it.”

I bowed my head in thanks. “Words cannot express, Pothesly. I appreciate this.” I wrapped my fist along the hilt and slid my fingers underneath the blade. I figured it would feel a lot heavier as I lifted it off Pothesly’s hands, but it was something I could easily swing overhead.

“Ahh, it likes you,” she said, giving me a cheeky and toothy smile. “Its weight in souls makes it heavier than it looks, but give it a wielder it trusts, and it will have no problem accommodating the new master. Now blood squire, I expect you to be more than pleased with my gift.” She took the back scabbard from over her back and dressed me in it, fixing my sword inside it as well. “How about you repay me with a favor?”

I chuckled. “I could have sworn this was a gift?” I teased with her lightly. Pothesly was very down to earth, which made it easier for me to mess around with her.

An all-around pleasant woman to be with.

“Oh, it is… You see, this favor helps you, dearest.” She walked over to the kitchen counter next to the sink to the right of us, and picked up three tall glasses of milk.

Already, this motherly demoness had me in sweats. This wouldn’t be my first encounter with a glass of milk, so the idea of breeding her jumped my mind before she placed the beverages right in front of me on the table.

She laughed. “Ohh, you should see the look on your face right now! Don’t worry sweetheart, they aren’t mine. I want you to sleep with one of my daughters.”

“What?”

“One for now, until you get acclimated.” She took her seat again, and made the middle one enticing. “Emera’s in heat! Milk tastes better when the woman is fertile, ya know.”

“I don’t understand. Why do you want me to sleep with your daughters?”

“Call it planning for the future.” She winked at me.

I was skeptical about what she meant by planning for the future, but I wasn’t opposed. After all, I did owe the lady. She gave me the best sword in her arsenal.

She might have made the minotaura’s milk sound sweeter, but I already had my eyes on drinking from Emera’s breasts. I took the glass to my lips and drank, accepting her favor. I expected the taste to be just as good as Maelise’s, and it was better. I gulped it down in under three seconds, sealing our union.

Pothesly clasped her hands delightfully. “Ah, nothing as pleasing as watching a man drink a woman’s milk! Please, return to your chamber. I’ll have Emera pay you a visit shortly.”

You can find story with these keywords: The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure, Read The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure novel, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure book, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure story, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure full, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure Latest Chapter