My declaration wasn’t met with any excitement. In fact, there was a wave of silence after I had made my pronouncement. I crossed my arms and made a face as I looked across the girls.

“Master… I mean no offense, but these bandits won’t join us willingly.” It was inevitably Miki who spoke up.

“Even if you can somehow convince them, there is no saying they will follow orders. It’s not clear how the current Bandit King is keeping them so focused. It isn’t likely we’d be able to obtain the same results.”

“Who said that I would have them join willingly?” I shrugged. “I will make all of the bandits into slaves.”

Several of the girls cried out in surprise at those words. They had anxious and uncertain expressions on their faces. I held up my hands in a soothing gesture.

“The status of all of you won’t be changed just because I take on these slaves. You are uniquely my party and my women. They are something else entirely. This will ensure that they remain loyal and follow every command, whether they want to or not. I will turn a negative for Aberis into a positive.” The girls still looked uncertain, so I gave them my best smile. “I love you all. You’re extremely important to me. All of you. I would never let anything bad happen to any single one of you. Do you understand?”

Their expressions changed one by one to blushes or bashfulness, and I nodded. I wasn’t trying to be manipulative, and every word I said was the truth. I cared about what they thought, and I wouldn’t put them in a situation like before where there were killed by Fireballs.

“Still, Master, perhaps we should consider other options. Maybe they can be tamed like monsters?” Lydia offered.

“None of this matters.” I shook my head. “We won’t know anything until we go there. I’ve already been couped up for three days. Now that I’m mostly recovered, let’s go.”

“Now?” Lydia cried out while all the girls looked surprised. “Master isn’t fully recovered yet.”

“Lord Reign thinks we’re dead. We should move now while we have time. Besides, don’t I have all of you to keep me safe? This wasn’t like last time where it was just… I mean it won’t be like last time.”

I was going to say that it wasn’t most of the core team. Other than Shao, I had Carmine, Salicia, Ruby, and Raissa with me. Raissa was pregnant, and I decided there was no way I was going to risk her life again. Carmine was now dead. Salicia was a mess. As for Ruby, since we had returned to the city three days ago, I hadn’t seen her. She wasn’t a girl who had open access to my mansion like the others, so seeing me was a bit difficult for her, so that was all it was.

“Master, you should rest for another week. Aren’t you being a little hasty?” Shao urged.

“We’re going,” I responded coldly. “Come or stay behind. I’ll give you thirty minutes to get what you need.”