“Not that I’m complaining, I died a virgin the first time, and if we had sex, then at least I could accomplish something with this life, but why sex?”

“It’s because you’re a virgin that this works.” I explained. “I mean, Elaya is the one who explained it and I don’t understand all of it, but something about when we make love for the first time, our souls intertwine, allowing me to use my soul to purify yours.”

“Okay…”

“Deek’s correct!” Elaya’s voice suddenly called out.

A split formed in the dungeon, and the queen herself stepped through it. This method of transport was completely different from creating a Portal, and I had no clue how it was done.

“Oh, so I guess everyone can just transport in dungeons right now, that’s cool.” I sighed.

“This dungeon is now controlled by you, so as your servant, this should be the least I can do.” Elaya blinked. “Anyway, the point I was making is that women virginity contains a bit of their blood essence, and when they lose it, that can have a purifying effect.”

“If you say so…” Salicia looked unconvinced.

“Why are you here anyway?” I asked. “Are you needed for this?”

She created a chair and sat down. “Not at all. I just wanted to watch.”

“W-watch?”

“Mm! Master’s going to deflower a virgin wench. Since the other girls are getting to watch, I want to as well.”

“Who says the other girls get to watch?” I cried out.

“We don’t?” Miki complained.

“Come on, wreck that wench! I want to see you break her!” A little form suddenly leaped up on Elaya’s shoulder.

“A-Astria! You came too?”

“Damn straight! You keep leaving us at home. We’re bored. Don’t you know we’re thirsty women at our sexual prime?”

“I’d say past your sexual prime!” Shao said, crossing her arms in a huff.

“What did you teeny boppers say?” Elaya threatened them with her fist while Astria jumped up and down on her shoulder excitedly.

“Well, I’m not going to do it in front of you!” I cut in before they escalated into a cat fight.

“Deek, don’t ruin this for us!” Astria cried out. “I want to see you get some! Don’t you, daughter!”

“Eh?” Celeste grew flustered after being singled out by her mother, touching her fingers together. “Well, I mean, I guess it’d be kind of sexy to watch.”

“I want to see it too!” Lydia raised her hand excitedly.

“Mm… Mm…” Terra nodded with her hand balled into fists against her chest.

“Besides…” Elaya added. “You need us around in case something happened. You’ll be touching your souls together to heal her. You need me here to facilitate the process so you don’t end up injuring yourself.”

“Is that true?” Astria whispered in her ear.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged.

“But…”

“Deek! Her life is in jeopardy! She only has two hours to live! You have to get started before it’s too late!” Miki cried out dramatically, holding her hand to her forehead while hiding a grin. “Get on top of her now! There is no time!”

“No time! It’ll only take five minutes!”

“M-master…” The girls all gave me strange looks.

“I see…” Salicia spoke, causing me to glance down at her. “So, five minutes is all I’m worth to Master.”

“Geh! You too? Do you really want your first time like this?”

Salicia grinned and shrugged. “I’m a Bandit. Being wounded by my enemy, helpless on the cold ground, I’d get pushed down by a grunting man while people cheer for him to wreck me… it’s kind of how I figured I’d lose it.”

“E-even so…” I blushed, feeling like I must be the shiest one at the moment.

Elaya and Astria had already pulled out a fried snack food and were eating while watching with interest. The other girls all started to get comfortable too. They laid out blankets. It looked like they were having a picnic. Shuddering, I turned away and decided I’d just ignore them.

“Fine! If this is how everyone wants this to go down, I’m fine with it!” I ripped off my shirt. “No clapping! No cat-calling either! Slave Order!”

“Party pooper.” Miki huffed as I stopped them just as they started getting rowdy.

I looked down at Salicia, who gave a little helpless shrug. “I can barely move right now if you were expecting me to get on top. Normally, I’d be delighted to mount and see how long I can ride you, but it looks like that’ll have to wait until next time.”

“You’re already planning for the next time.”

She genuinely blushed. “Don’t tease. Master, although we haven’t necessarily been close, it’s not like I don’t recognize everything you’ve done for me and my sister.”

“In the end, I couldn’t protect her.”

She shook her head. “No, Master. We both couldn’t protect her. I don’t blame you.”

I nodded, but my fist still tightened at her words. “Thank you.”

“Do you… think that maybe Carmine might exist out there too?”

“What do you mean?”

“She was tossed into some kind of trial by Lord Reign, and then she never came out. That has to be a dungeon, right? If she died in that dungeon… then it would have made her a part of it. Knowing my sister, she definitely would have become a dungeon boss.”

My heart suddenly throbbed at her words. A part of me that felt like it had died had suddenly sparked with hope. I had never thought about such a thing, but wasn’t it possible? Elaya had been reborn in a dungeon, and it did that only by memories and impressions. Salicia wasn’t even the original girl, but someone born from a dungeon and raised by Calypso. If it was possible for the pair of them to walk in this world again, then wasn’t it possible for Carmine as well?

If she died within a dungeon, then her soul would still be in the dungeon. She wasn’t nobody. She was a powerful Paladin, those that could be said to have the greatest resistance to miasma. That was another way to say that the miasma would not have been able to destroy a soul like hers. While Paladins were the ultimate weapons in dungeons, they were also those most prone to becoming bosses, because their soul persevered. Since the dungeon couldn’t grind it down into miasma, it instead incorporated it into a new body.

Such an action could have occurred for Carmine. Even if it didn’t, we might be able to make such an event occur. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about replacing anyone else in this manner. It felt a bit too convenient, and they’d never truly be the same person, but this wasn’t about me. Salicia was already a copy, so she understood all of this best. A copy of her sister would almost be ideal for a miasmic woman such as her.

“Then, it is settled,” I said, after coming to all of these realizations. “We need to defeat Lord Reign, and we need to defeat him quickly. We will reclaim Carmine’s soul, and we will bring her back to the world of the living.”

Salicia’s eyes teared up for a moment and she nodded. “That would be wonderful. Then, please, have me, Master. Fill me with your power. Then, together, we won’t just take vengeance, but we’ll save her as well!”

Salicia’s eyes, which had seemed haunted these last few weeks since she found out about Carmine, grew bright once again. Finding out about her own true nature had taught her about what to do regarding her loss. Previously, the only thing that had kept her going was the desire for revenge. This was why, even with life dangling before her, she had acted so lukewarmly.

She had been thinking that deep down if she died, it wouldn’t matter that much. The desire for revenge could only take you so far, and afterward, you would have nothing left. After seeing everything that Calypso had accomplished, she now had something that she hadn’t before. She had hope. With a firm resolve, she realized that she truly did want to live. It was no longer just words.

That’s when her eyes fell on mine, and she couldn’t help but blush. Although Salicia was bold and shameless and was the kind of woman who once flashed her tits to a crowd of strangers in the Capital, when I looked at her a certain way, an intense look that saw her not as a companion, but as a woman, she suddenly grew unbearably shy. It wasn’t quite like Shao’s modesty. Shao was submissive in bed despite her otherwise forceful nature. Instead, Salicia was truly embarrassed to be desired. Perhaps it came from her never feeling she was good enough to be loved.

Salicia covered her chest, even though it wasn’t exposed, her face turning red as her expression grew really cute. She must have not realized that this kind of look was deadly for me. They brought out the worst in me and made me wnat to tease and torture them. Looking so shy and innocent, my dark thoughts bubbled to the surface, which caused her to fidget even more shyly, creating a vicious cycle.

“A-actually, I changed my mind. Let’s do this privately in your room.” Salicia breathed out in nearly a whisper.

“Too late for that!” I grinned darkly.