Chapter 35: The Unwanted Harem and a Brewing Storm

“Phew, it’s truly wonderful that we can continue our adventure, just the two of us.”

Inside the dragon carriage, traveling along a main road, Larry, still shaken, patted his chest with a look of profound relief as he spoke to Ellis.

Ellis teased, “Hehe, a harem is a man’s romance. Such an excellent woman offered to be your concubine, and that’s your reaction? Are you… incapable?”

“Romance, my foot!” Larry retorted. “I swear by her expression, she wanted to devour me. I have no desire to stay in Danga forever, working like a corporate drone!”

The truth was, after Larry once again shattered Daisy’s perceptions, her previously dormant heart had stirred back to life.

She even began to work on Ellis’s mind—not to persuade them to break up, but to convince Ellis to accept sharing Larry.

Daisy only wished to be the acknowledged legal wife; in private, she would defer to Ellis entirely. This proposition utterly stunned both Ellis and Larry.

While they were shocked by her devotion, Larry also felt a profound sense of dread. Though he admired Daisy’s spirit, he simply couldn’t tolerate such a person.

Thus, after thoroughly expressing his unwavering devotion to Ellis, he hastily completed his handover work and departed with Ellis.

‘If I were reading a manga in my previous life, I would definitely despise this guy,’ Ellis mused internally, ‘refusing a free harem, no less.’

As Ellis silently chastised Larry, she suddenly felt a weight settle on her shoulder.

Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw Larry. The scoundrel had actually used her shoulder as a pillow, his eyes half-closed with sleepiness.

“Are you very tired?” Ellis asked, her tone softening, devoid of her usual playful banter.

“Yeah, after explaining everything to Daisy overnight, and dealing with personnel and future plans… Ahh…”

“When did your stamina get so poor? It was just one all-nighter.”

“That’s just the first all-nighter you’ve seen. The outpost couldn’t have taken initial shape within a month just by skill alone. It drained so much of my energy. I’ve been pulling all-nighters for days.”

Ellis paused slightly, then inquired, “Why push yourself so hard?”

“Because I always had a feeling you two would return, and I wanted to give you a surprise. Enough talk, I’m going to nap for a bit.”

With that, Larry wrapped his arms around Ellis’s arm, resting his head on her shoulder, preparing to drift off to sleep.

“Don’t sleep like that; you’ll get a stiff neck.”

Hearing Larry’s words, Ellis’s heart warmed. She carefully placed his head on her lap and gently patted his face, saying, “Sleep.”

With Ellis’s soft, fragrant thighs as a pillow, Larry quickly fell into a sweet slumber, a deep relaxation born of letting go of all guards.

Ellis leaned back against the dragon carriage, quietly gazing into the distance. Their destination for this journey was the Royal Capital.

While the plan for Daisy’s uprising had been finalized, there was still one crucial matter for Daisy to uncover: the truth behind her parents’ deaths.

Daisy had only just taken over the foundation Larry had built for her. Simply familiarizing herself with and managing her subordinates without revealing any flaws had already exhausted her, let alone investigating the truth.

Therefore, Ellis, who had no desire to participate in such a nation-building strategy, and Larry, who was desperate to escape the tiger’s den, voluntarily took on this task.

After all, adventurers were explicitly forbidden by public regulations from interfering in national politics. Meixia, on the other hand, was left behind to accompany Daisy.

Daisy had endured so much pain and truly needed someone as pure and gentle as Meixia by her side. After Larry fell asleep, the entire dragon carriage fell into silence, save for the ‘creak-creak’ of the wheels rolling along the road.

The surroundings were so quiet that one might wonder if this was the same boisterous carriage from moments before. Ellis, in truth, wasn’t much of a talker.

It was only when she was with close friends that she would become as lively as she had been. She never found it boring; she could spend hours simply staring blankly at the scenery rushing past like a river.

If possible, she would even stay cooped up at home, only venturing out for necessary life activities, just as she had in her previous life. Of course, this wasn’t to say Ellis couldn’t enjoy the thrill of adventure.

It was just that… she possessed a ‘go with the flow’ personality. If she were passively invited out, she would still enjoy herself. However, she would never have actively dragged Larry around the world like this in the past.

“Alas,” Ellis sighed softly. But if she didn’t do this…

Her complex gaze slowly settled on Larry’s face. Would this guy ever truly be himself again?

‘I’ve become like him, and he’s become like me.’

“Honestly, when will this end? Why can’t you move past it? Even I don’t mind anymore.”

Ellis gently smoothed Larry’s hair back, strand by strand, then poked his cheek with her slender, fair finger.

“No matter what, my patience has its limits. You need to become yourself again before that happens.”

“Are you certain they will pass this way?”

Unbeknownst to Ellis and Larry, their dragon carriage had been under surveillance even before their departure. The one tracking them was none other than Bruno’s former guard, Richards.

His eyes were bloodshot, and thick dark circles beneath them made his otherwise handsome face appear rather sinister. He had been relentlessly searching for Ellis’s whereabouts during this period, driven to a near frenzy.

With the full backing of King Gapp, he expended considerable effort to apprehend the underworld figures who had transported Ellis. Under severe interrogation, he learned they had come here and immediately rushed over.

After showing Ellis’s portrait around, he finally learned from the soldiers who had raided Daisy and her group that Ellis was actually allied with Daisy.

Sensing a major problem, he also heard that Daisy had an underground outpost here. Although he desperately wanted to find it and capture Daisy and Ellis to redeem himself, Larry’s painstakingly established outpost, built through countless sleepless nights, was not easily found.

Larry had employed anti-reconnaissance techniques and contact methods from his previous world, developing the outpost into a vast spiderweb. As long as the core remained intact, even if one strand of the web failed, a decisive severing could cut off any deepening leads.

The personnel trained by Larry were not individuals Richards could deal with in the short term. However, with that path blocked, he intensified his surveillance on the black market operators who managed transportation in the underworld.

Completely unaware that they would be discovered so quickly, Ellis and Larry were thus exposed. Richards did not act immediately.

After all, this matter involved certain secrets that could not be made public; too much commotion would ruin everything. Therefore, after ascertaining the dragon carriage’s route, he led a contingent of elites to ambush them midway.

“I would never dare to deceive you, sir!”

Kneeling on the ground was the operator of the dragon carriage Ellis and her companions had taken. His entire family had been captured by Richards, and any mistake would mean the utter destruction of his household.

Richards shifted his gaze to the general standing nearby and asked coldly, “Is everything set up?”

“It’s all arranged, but sir, aren’t we being too cautious? It’s not some vicious gang, just a pair of… scoundrels.”

“That pair of scoundrels left your soldiers sleeping on the ground for over seven hours before they woke up! I said this plan is extremely important! If we fail, the King will eliminate all of us! No carelessness will be tolerated!”

Richards almost roared at the somewhat complacent general. “Yes, sir! Yes, sir!”

The startled general quickly ran off to urge his subordinates. Richards, with bloodshot eyes, stared at the intersection their dragon carriage was bound to pass, muttering in a low growl, “I will absolutely wash away my disgrace with your blood!”