"...and so, these four girls will now be joining our little family."

I had gathered everyone in the throne room, where all such meetings and declarations should be done. A few steps below me, their backs to me, were Louise, Kirche, Tabitha, and Sylphid. Illococoo was too much of a mouthful, so despite her form I only called her Sylphid.

They weren't in any chains or restricted in any way, not physically at least, but they were constrained in other ways. They had been set to Companion status, put under the Master-Servant Contract, and their minds had been messed with. They couldn't leave through the gateway and couldn't act against me, so really it was just a matter of having them accept it.

I had let them stew for the rest of yesterday evening and night, and a good chunk of the next day, before dragging them out here and telling everyone that they're part of us now. Their reactions had been interesting.

Louise was the most clearly unhappy, with her arms crossed, her expression angry, and her eyes darting around like she was trying to find the key that would let her escape. But she hadn't fought too hard. In fact, each time she looked at me, she blushed and clammed up.

Kirche hadn't instantly fallen in love with me, sadly. Like Louise, her gaze was observant as she took in the situation, but she was a lot more subtle about it, and whenever our eyes met she gave me a coy little smile. I hadn't figured out yet if she was trying to seduce me to lower my guard or if she was genuinely falling in love with me. Most likely, she didn't know either, or was lying to herself.

Tabitha had been unsurprisingly nonreactive. She obeyed what I said, she didn't smile. She looked around as well of course, she was apathetic not idiotic, but she gave it up quickly. Sylphid was simple. She was already naturally an airhead, so all I had to do was tell her she'd get to see Tabitha again and be with her and she cheered right up and happily obeyed my orders. It was honestly hard to say how much the compulsion was even affecting her.

So no, they weren't physically restrained, but I had enough mental chains on them to control their movements. I wasn't worried about escape, sabotage, or anything else. Not on a significant level at least.

"Welcome!" Maria called out from below the steps, where the rest of the girls were gathered. Most of the others wore smiles as well, except for Asuna whose face was blank and Saeko who wore a conflicted expression.

"They weren't as willing as most of you, but they'll adjust soon, I'm sure. Isn't that right, girls?"

Louise looked away, Kirche smiled and nodded, Tabitha didn't react, and Sylphid just tilted her head, not totally following along.

"I said, isn't that right?" I repeated more forcefully.

Louise's back stiffened. "Y-yes!" she answered nervously.

"Of course," Kirche said in a sultry tone.

"Yes," Tabitha said so quietly I wasn't sure the others down below would hear it.

"Uhh… yes?" Sylphid replied.

It wasn't exactly the show of obedience I wanted, but it was enough. And not just for me either, because as I opened my mouth to continue I stopped, spotting a flash of color. I looked down to see Lili looking up wearing a grin that showed teeth, and the collar of the Contract appearing on her neck as it shifted from blue to green, the fourth level.

I had been hoping that would happen, and was honestly shocked it hadn't so far, despite me helping her see her dream come true. I was starting to worry that enslaving them wasn't enough, that only their deaths would satisfy her, but apparently seeing them fully submitted to me had finally pushed her loyalty to the point where her Contract grew. Now she matched Maria as my most loyal Subject.

Maria noticed as well, and her smile widened as she looked up at me to make sure I saw it. I nodded, indicating that I had, but otherwise didn't draw attention to it as the collar faded from view.

"Good," I said, getting back to my previous train of thought. "In that case, I look forward to your results. For now… Dia, give them all your Falna. After that, I want Maria and Ed to catch them up on everything. This place, our situation, and some modern amenities."

"Okay!" Dia said with a smile. Ed and Maria nodded as well.

I stood up. "In that case, everyone's dismissed. Continue your preparations, the next portal opens tomorrow night. Oh, and Saeko? Follow me."

Saeko stiffened as I singled her out, but she nodded and followed as I climbed down the stairs and headed to the door to the main living area. The others all stayed behind, though a few shot curious glances at us as we left.

It was a short trip to the storage room. The room was as big as our dining hall but it felt overwhelmingly more cramped. A full half of it was filled with chunks of stone-like materials, a result of the scavenging trip that Ed and the others had been sent in. The rest was shelves upon shelves of miscellaneous stuff and a desk shoved into a corner where Ed worked and did her research.

"So, Saeko, you weren't able to participate in our celebrations due to being locked in the Lifeline," I said as I looked around the room. "Sorry about that, I'll keep that in mind next time. Not that we'll celebrate each time we beat some invaders, but for the big ones we probably will."

Saeko shook her head as she followed me. "No, apologies are not needed. It is simply a consequence of me failing you and falling in battle."

I sighed internally as her words confirmed my fears. I turned to face her. "Failure?" I asked, pretending like I didn't know what she was talking about?

"Yes, my failure to defeat any of the invaders. I challenged one to single combat and was felled. My honor made everyone else's job harder." She bowed. "I am sorry."

"It's not failure if that was what you were meant to do," I pointed out. She straightened her back and looked up at me. "You performed exactly how I expected you to. The fact that you were outmatched was a given, and challenging them to one-on-one combat was actually a smart move, even if you weren't thinking strategically. It's true you might have been able to pick off someone in a group fight, but most likely you would have just gotten overwhelmed immediately."

She frowned. "But Asuna-"

"Is Asuna," I cut her off. "She's the strongest one here, even beating me, if only by a little bit. You? You're barely above mundane. As the first midboss, your job was to lose. Sure, beating some or all of them would have been great, or even just tiring them out, but I put you in a battle you couldn't possibly win."

"I… why?" She looked confused and just a little annoyed.

"Because that's how dungeons are supposed to be. You defeat some mobs, and then you defeat a mid-boss who's much more dangerous than the mobs, but still not really a gateway. Not unless you're there too early or it's a really hard dungeon."

"So I can never succeed?"

I shook my head. "Whether you win or lose the battle, you succeed just by fighting to the best of your ability. Has Dia updated your Falna yet?" Saeko shook her head. "Well, expect the stats to jump up. A single hard fought battle that you lose can be worth more than five easy victories. For now, this is your best way to grow. And when you do get stronger? You'll be upgraded to a position where I do expect you to at least whittle down their forces or resources a bit before you lose. But ultimately, that will be your only metric of success. It's no fun if no one ever reaches me."

She stared at me, blinking a few times as he struggled to comprehend my words. "I… see?"

I reached up to pat her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it in time. For now… why don't we get a second opinion on how you fought?"

I looked around and saw the thing I was looking for. Derflinger, still sheathed and resting on the shelf, which was the only security we needed to 'imprison' him. I grabbed him and partially pulled his blade free. "So, how would you rate Saeko's fighting ability?" I asked the magical sword.

"You beat up my partner, capture us, and stick me alone in a room, and that's the first thing you say to me?!" he exclaimed, annoyed. Then he sighed, or made a noise similar to a sigh at least. "Well, fine. As an excellent sword myself, it's no surprise that you'd come to me for my opinion. Miss Busujima, right?"

"Y-yes!" she replied, straightening up. Her expression was slightly bewildered. She knew he was a talking sword, I had told her before the others invaded and she heard him during their fight, but knowing that and holding a conversation with him were two different things.

"You're not bad. I've never seen your style of swordsmanship before, but it's clear that you know what you're doing. Your strikes were precise and true and they rang beautifully against me."

By Saeko's expression, it was clear that she wasn't quite sure how to accept compliments from a sword itself. "I… thank you?"

"However, it's not perfect," he continued. Saeko stiffened. "Let me guess, you've never used your blade against someone using a style that wasn't yours, or similar to it, right?"

Saeko frowned. "That is mostly true. I fought with Asuna-senpai a few times."

"The blue haired elf girl?"

"She's not actually an elf, but yes," I cut in. "I'll explain all that later."

"Hmph. Well, whatever the case, it seemed like you were experienced with your own sword, but you weren't very good at reading Saito's movements. There were a few times where I noticed you started to shift as if you expected one attack, only to realize he was coming at you differently and had to adjust. Those fractions of a second cost you."

"I see…" she replied morosely. "That… I cannot deny that. So I lack experience."

"Hey, as far as flaws go, that's probably the best one to have," he replied in a cheerier tone. "I mean, it's the easiest to fix. Which is part of what this girl is telling you, right? She's putting you on the front lines so you can face more opponents and learn."

"I'm a guy, by the way," I corrected him.

"You are? I thought girls wore dresses? Bah, I can't keep up with human fashion."

Saeko opened her mouth to say something before glancing at me and visibly reconsidered her words. "Thank you for your advice, Derflinger-san. It is appreciated."

"No problem. Now, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Well, first and foremost, Saito is gone," I explained, ripping off that bandaid. "I told the others he escaped, but the truth is that he took my deal. He gave up you and the Gandalfr power and fled without the others, back home."

"He did, did he?" Derf's voice was quiet, thoughtful. "I thought he might have, but to think he really did…"

I hid my smile. "You sound like you don't approve."

"I'm just a sword, it ain't my place to approve or disapprove of what he chooses," Derf denied, though his tone wasn't very convincing. "If that's what he chose, then I'm happy for him. I just wish he had said goodbye, is all. I thought we were partners."

"It seems like Saito wasn't on the same page, sadly," I said. "And so, here you are, partnerless. But conveniently, there's a skilled swordswoman right in front of you who could really use a very nice sword."

"What?" Saeko replied, shocked.

"Ain't you going a little fast there?" Derflinger added.

"I don't think so," I replied casually. "I mean, the alternative is to let you sit in here gathering dust for a while. I'm sure you don't want that."

"Well, no, but… I'm not exactly the kind of sword Miss Busujima uses, am I?"

"Right now you're not, but I can fix that sooner or later, and wouldn't it be good for her to experience the swordsmanship of a blade like yours first hand?"

I wasn't entirely sure how Derf worked, so while I could probably have Ed shift his form, I didn't want to risk messing something about him up by doing so. He was alive enough to count as a retinue member after all. Thankfully, Tantric Arts had a ritual for transforming and shapeshifting. It wasn't one I could use yet, I hadn't acquired the right Perk, but it wasn't too expensive and it was one I had my eye on already.

"Well you've just got an answer to everything, don't you?" Derf grumbled.

I turned to Saeko, whose shock had shifted to uncertainty. "I… he is the wrong kind of sword," she repeated.

"For now."

"I don't think I like the way you say that," Derf said. We ignored him.

Saeko paused for a moment longer, collecting her thoughts. "Why… why me? Why not yourself? Or Asuna? Or any of the others?"

"Well, Derf's great, but I'm more than happy with my Tome," I replied. "Asuna's already got enough options. And none of the others use swords. But mostly…" I shrugged. "Of all the fighters, you're behind. You're merely mundane. All of the rest have experience and other abilities. You are a fantastic swordswoman, but that's all you have right now, and it's not enough. The Falna will help you improve, push you beyond that, but you're still way behind. Derf can help with that, and he can make up for your weakness to ranged magic."

Saeko gave me a bitter smile. "So… I'm not good enough after all?"

"You're exactly where you should be right now, I knew what I was getting when I recruited you," I explained. "But yes. You need more. You need to grow faster, and do better. It's my job to make sure that happens, and pairing you together is how I'll do it."

"I really don't know how to react if you explain it like that…" she muttered.

"If it makes ya feel better, I'd be more than happy to partner up with you," Derf added. "Your skill and passion are enough to make any sword worth its salt happy to be wielded by you. And Morgan here is right. You're good, but you need to be more than just good. I don't know what kind of situations you all get into, but even my world was filled with some scary strong people, people that you can't catch up to being 'just' a swordswoman. But together? Together we've got a chance."

Saeko was quiet, biting her lip as she mulled it over. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed Derflinger from my hands. I let her have him, and she pulled him out of his sheath entirely. Neither of us said anything as she examined his blade, slowly swinging him as she felt his weight.

"You are much heavier than I'm used to," she said, despite the apparent lack of problems she had in swinging him.

"Oi, it's rude to comment about my weight like that," Derf snapped, but his tone was clearly joking.

Saeko smiled at his words. "You're right, I apologize." She sheathed him once more, leaving just a bit of his blade exposed. "Very well. If this is what you've decided is my best path to improve, then I have no reason not to accept. I look forward to working with you, Derflinger-san."

"Just call me Derf, and right back at ya!"

"Derf then. You… may call me Saeko."

"Sure thing, Saeko."

"Now, before you go off and get to know each other a bit better, there's one more thing," I said, drawing their attention to me. "This one is optional, but I also have Saito's Gandalfr rune. I can give it to you, if you want."

"Hold up, that shouldn't be possible," Derf commented, his tone shocked. "The Gandalfr rune is an expression of a Void familiar, separating the two of them is like separating a person from themselves, it just doesn't make sense." He paused. "Wait… why do I know that?"

"You've got quite a bit of interesting knowledge in those lost memories of yours," I replied cryptically. "But not all of it is reliable now. I operate on different rules. What was impossible for Brimir is not so for myself. Now, granted, it might make Saeko into Louise's familiar, I'm honestly not sure if that's all packaged in there or not. But since Louise is mine now and she had virtually no real control over Saito in the first place, it doesn't really matter."

Saeko looked at me with a serious expression. "The Gandalfr rune… that was what gave Saito-san his skill?"

"The Right Hand of God has mastery over all weaponry," I explained. "So yes, he relied on that granted mastery. You could too, and push it even higher."

Saeko considered it for a moment longer before shaking her head. "I… no. It would be too much. Talents to help me learn faster and remove my limits, I can accept. A Falna that makes me stronger and grants me skills based on what I accomplish I am also fine with. This contract that improves the both of us as we get closer…" she ran her fingers over her neck. "I have mixed feelings about it, but ultimately it is fine. But the Gandalfr rune… I don't like it. I don't want swordsmanship that isn't mine, that I didn't toil to create and perfect. What would be the point?"

"You'd be less likely to lose a fight," I pointed out. "You'd get to indulge in your sadism a bit more."

But she immediately shook her head. "No. That is not worth giving up my pride as a swordswoman. I… do not have much left, besides that."

I frowned internally. I was hoping she would have gotten a bit closer to the others by now, but I supposed that was the downside of our frantic preparation for the first invasion. She hadn't had much time with them outside of training and getting fucked in nightly orgies. Hopefully that would change soon. Love was a powerful motivator after all.

Instead, I just shrugged. "That's fine. I said it was optional, I just don't really have any other candidates for it in mind so I figured I'd ask. I'll just hold onto it then. I can probably bargain it away for something good in the future."

She bowed. "Thank you for allowing me this selfishness, Morgan-dono," she replied.

I waved her off. "It's fine, it's fine. Just make it up by working hard to get better, okay?"

"Yes!" she replied seriously as she straightened her back. "I'll get started right away!"

"Have fun you two!" I said as she turned and left. Once they were gone I relaxed a bit and sighed. Saeko was hot, and she was skilled, but she sure was temperamental. Still, that was fun in its own way. She took more work, but that just meant more entertainment and a more satisfying end result.

I checked the time on my phone and saw that our conversation hadn't taken too long, so I shrugged and headed back to the throne room. If I was lucky, Dia had been slow at applying the Falna's and I'd be able to see one of the new girls with their tops off.

And if I wasn't, I'd just make one of them take their tops off anyway. After all, they were new, and I was still working on teaching them their new position under me. A little reminder would go a long way. Plus, I'd get to see more tits. I loved tits.

I allowed myself a chuckle as I headed for the throne room, eager to continue playing with my new toys.

Louise sulked as she sat against the wall and drank water from the strange container she was given. It was harder than something like a wineskin, but it still bent easily in her grasp, and it was as clear as magic-made glass, or the best plebeian craftsman glass. Plastic, the others had called it.

It was just one of the many many strange things that had happened since their failed attempt to arrest Morgan. The fact that she had been more or less conscripted to fight against people like her, who wanted to defeat Morgan, was the biggest one. She had gone from a defeated, and raped, prisoner to being trained by the people she attacked in barely over a day!

And the weirdest part of it all was how no one seemed to care beside her.

She looked over at the others. This was their second day of training, and they had been given special outfits to wear. Perverted ones, of course. White shirts with sleeves that didn't even go down to their elbows and red underpants that left the entirety of her legs bared! If it weren't for the fact that she had been allowed, or ordered really, to keep her socks on, she would have been practically naked from the waist down.

They weren't actually underwear, Morgan called them bloomers, or something, but they might as well have been since apparently Morgan had stolen all of their actual underwear and they weren't allowed to wear it. Which was apparently standard here, considering all the times she had seen up Asuna's skirt as they sparred.

Louise glared at Kirche, who was entirely too comfortable in her own pair of 'bloomers' as she shamelessly poured some of her water over her head, getting her shirt wet and making it transparent.

"I can't believe you," Louise spat out. "Why are you so accepting of this?" Her anger was mostly directed at Kirche, but her gaze shifted to the other two sitting beyond her as well.

Kirche smirked at her. "Whatever do you mean? I don't believe we have much of a choice. I don't see you rebelling. Why don't you try?"

Louise blushed. "Why don't you? You'd probably enjoy it!"

Morgan had explained to them what would happen if they acted disloyal. After what he had done to them… she didn't have any doubt that his words were true. She had no idea how he could do something like that, but he did a lot of things that didn't make sense to her.

Ed and Maria's explanation had helped somewhat, but a lot of it went over her head. It was just a lot of information all at once and none of it actually made sense. It sounded like the deranged delusions of a pervert.

But here she was, trapped in a perverted nightmare.

"And you two? What do you have to say for yourselves?" she snapped at Tabitha and Sylphid.

Tabitha just shrugged, sipping at her water. Louise hadn't ever seen Tabitha express emotion, but she thought that the other girl might in a situation like this. That she didn't made Louise doubt if she was even capable of emotion.

Her familiar, on the other hand, was entirely too bubbly. "So long as I'm with Onee-sama, that's enough for me!" she answered with a smile. "And playing with everyone has been fun!"

"We should be trying to escape!" Louise hissed, glancing around to make sure none of their 'teachers' were close enough to hear them. They had been training all day, taking occasional breaks, by sparring with the other girls here. They had just been fighting against Asuna as she barked orders on how to improve a few minutes ago, but she had told them to rest for a bit while she headed further into the dungeon, toward the entrance.

Kirche rolled her eyes. "You know that's impossible, right? You should relax. I know this isn't what you wanted, but that's life. You should follow your passion and make the best you can with the options you have."

Louise rolled her eyes. "I don't want to hear that from you, you slut. You just want to sleep with Morgan."

"Hmm, that's not not true," Kirche admitted easily. "For such a feminine looking guy, his tool is rather impressive, and he knows how to use it better than any of our former classmates did." She smiled, eyes gazing into the distance as she remembered it.

Louise's mouth twisted into disgust. "Ugh, no one wants to hear your opinion about his-" she cut herself off, realizing something. "Wait… he… did that?"

Kirche tilted her head. "Hmm? He did lots of things to me."

"But he… he actually… gah, you know what I mean!"

"Well, he used his fingers at first, but then yes, he used his rather impressive specimen to take me as his woman. First he was on top, then he was behind me, then…" she blushed and put a hand on her cheek. "Oh, Darling had so much stamina that I ended up passing out before he was done. It was rather embarrassing."

Louise flushed scarlet at Kirche's debauched descriptions, but her mind was whirring. She turned her eyes toward the other two. "And… you two as well?"

Sylphid cocked her head. "You mean the game we played? It was fun! And it felt really good when he put his penis in my vagina!"

Louise sputtered and Kirche let out a laugh. "Oh my, that's very direct," Kirche said.

"How- how do you even know those words? I can't believe he would do that with someone like you!" Louise raged.

"Huh? Of course I know about penises and vaginas. Those are important for mating!"

Louise rounded on Tabitha. "What are you teaching your familiar?!"

Tabitha looked at her, still expressionless, and shook her head. "Didn't," she denied. She glanced at Sylphid and then shrugged. "Instincts?"

"Why did you call it a game?" Kirche asked.

"Because that's what Boss said," Sylphid answered. "We were mating, but not to have babies, so it wasn't really mating, it was just for fun, so it was a game! He was very good at it, right Onee-sama?"

All three of them turned to the expressionless Tabitha. The faintest hint of a blush appeared on her face. "Surprising. Didn't hurt. Felt good."

Louise couldn't even get mad at their shamelessness. She wanted to, but her mind was occupied with one thought.

He had sex with all of them… but not her. He didn't go all the way with her alone.

An overwhelming surge of jealousy rose inside of her, catching her off guard. Jealous? Why was she jealous? She should be grateful that she had gotten off as lightly as she had, that he hadn't completely defiled her, just mostly. The rational part of her mind insisted that she was lucky.

But that part of her was completely ignored by the anger and the hurt welling up inside of her chest.

"Well obviously it didn't hurt, Darling isn't like your boorish Tristanian men," Kirche commented. "He might dress like a girl, but he knows what he's doing. A girl's first time only hurts if she's not properly prepared. Or if she's unlucky, I suppose."

The anger welling up inside of her burst out, overflowing. "Why the hells do you keep calling him Darling?" she snapped. "He raped us but you're acting like… like you did with Saito! Do you even care that Saito is gone?"

A rare cold look passed over Kirche's face. "Of course I care. But you know? I'm rather upset with him right now. As it turns out, he's not half the man I thought he was. Darling might be a bit forceful, but his passion is undeniable."

Louise gaped at Kirche. "Seriously? 'A bit forceful'?!"

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't enjoy it." Her lackadaisical smile was back, like the other expression had never existed.

"I… that's besides the point!" she snapped. "I-"

But she cut herself off as the door to the boss room started to open, signaling the return of Asuna. All four of them turned to look as Asuna entered. But she wasn't alone, surprisingly, as following behind her was a familiar red salamander.

"Flame!" Kirche exclaimed as she shot to her feet and rushed over. Flame made a noise of excitement and scrambled past Asuna toward Kirche. The two met in the middle of the room and Flame jumped up on her like a dog as she hugged and pet him. "Oh, I was so worried about you!"

Asuna watched the two of them, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Morgan kept the portal open and shifted it to lure him in. He just arrived, so now you have your familiar again."

Louise felt a pang of envy inside of her. Tabitha had her familiar from the start, and now Kirche had hers, but Louise's had run away, leaving her the only one without one.

"Ooh, you must be so tired!" Kirche cooed. "Running all that way on foot. Let's get you a nice hot place where you can rest up." She looked up at Asuna. "We can do that, right?"

"I'm sure we can figure something out," she replied before turning back to the others. "That's enough training for today. The portal opens tonight, so try to get some sleep if you can, you might be part of the group going through." She turned back to Kirche. "Come on, let's go talk to Ed."

As Kirche and Asuna left the room, Tabitha stood up. "Us too," Tabitha said to Sylphid.

"Okay Onee-sama!" the dragon-girl agreed easily, bouncing to her feet. She then turned to Louise "Come on, let's go!"

"...you go on ahead. I don't want to get up yet," Louise muttered.

Tabitha gave her an unreadable look before nodding. "Okay." She then turned and followed after the others. Sylphid paused for a moment, giving Louise another look, before following her master as well.

The sounds of their footsteps died as the massive doors leading to the throne room closed behind them, leaving Louise alone with her thoughts.

She sat there, unmoving. She thought she was going to cry, but strangely, that familiar frustrating sadness never came. Instead, all she felt was a burning need. She wasn't sad, she was pissed. Pissed that she was excluded, even here, as a sex slave. The others got their familiars, they got Morgan's full attention, and they were even happy. But not her. Never her.

And so she sat, stewing in her envy, as she tried to decide the future she wanted.

The room where the portal opened was starting to feel crowded with ten people, one salamander, and one talking sword within it. And that wasn't even everyone. Miku and Dia were still in the dining hall, as there was no chance of them going through the portal, no matter what world we rolled.

We patiently waited as the clock ticked toward midnight. Maria, Ed, and Lili were chatting about something with each other. Asuna and Saeko were standing next to each other, Derflinger on Saeko's hip, but they weren't talking. Louise, Kirche, Flame, Tabitha, and Sylphid were in their own little group, though Louise was standing ever so slightly apart from them, and only Kirche and Sylphid seemed to be talking. And I was on my own, Barrier Jacket activated, staff in one hand, and phone in the other.

When the clock struck midnight, everyone fell quiet as the portal appeared in the middle of the room. Saeko and the new girls gazed at it with a mix of wonder and trepidation, but everyone else had seen it before and knew what it meant. A mysterious world laid beyond it. And soon, their heads turned to me, ready to hear what it was.

I checked on my phone and grinned. "Huh. How… appropriate," I muttered. "Alright. Everyone through the portal. Be ready for potentially a few monsters, but nothing too concerning."

I didn't wait on them and stepped through immediately. It was night on the other side of the portal as well, and even darker than the dimmed lights of the Stoneblock. We hadn't appeared in a city, or near any sign of civilization at all, but in the middle of a wooded area, with nothing but the stars overhead to light it up.

At first glance it would be impossible to guess what world we had arrived in, as it was just the middle of a random forest. But a second look at the surroundings gave a few hints. For one, the trees were just a little off. They were more uniform in size and height than you'd normally expect, and their trunks were weird. They weren't quite as round as they should be, their trunks being made up of four vertical edges joined by rounded corners. It wasn't perfectly square, but it was definitely more blocky than you'd expect from a tree. And each and every tree was like that.

Further, a glance up above at the moon showed that it was similarly blocky, closer to a square than a perfect circle, though once again with softer rounded corners that prevented it from truly being either.

Everywhere you looked, things were like that. Just a little more blocky than they should be. Not enough that they looked artificial or constructed, but it was enough to make it just a little uncanny looking.

As the others filed in through the portal behind me, they took notice of this fact as well.

"What the hell is this place?" Ed grumbled as she stepped up to a tree and ran her hands over the bark. "Is this natural?"

"Most likely," I replied. "This? This is the world of Minecraft. In my world, it's a game where you harvest resources and build things. It's a lot more blocky there. I suppose the actual world is still sort of blocky and square."

"Are there people?" Asuna asked. "Cities?"

"There should be a few scattered villages," I replied. "Plus maybe some less friendly groups, depending. You probably won't be able to stock up on groceries though, no."

She frowned. "We should be fine for another week," she muttered. Then she looked up at me. "So, what's the plan then? What are we doing here?"

"Good question! First things first, we need to get the lay of the land. I want you to fly up and scout around. There shouldn't be any significant threats in the air that should target you. Probably. Tabitha, get on Sylphid and scout as well. Look for landmarks, villages, or anything that catches your eye. Asuna, use your phone and take pictures."

"It's pretty dark, so I don't know if I'll see much, but I'll do what I can," Asuna replied. She shifted from the SAO avatar to her ALO and took off into the air. Sylphid transformed and Tabitha got on her back before they took off as well, buffeting us with the wind of her wingbeats.

Once they were in the air, I pulled out my phone. "Now, let's see what missions we have," I mused.

"Hold on… do you hear that?" Saeko said suddenly. Everyone looked at her, and then looked in the direction she was peering, at the treeline. Several moments passed without a sound, but just when it felt like someone was going to say something, we heard it. A groan.

"Here already, huh?" I muttered.

Saeko looked at me. "What is?"

"The monsters I warned you about, of course," I replied. With my words, a figure stepped out of the darkness of the treeline and into view. They were tall and broad, built like a truck. But their clothes were tattered and their skin decaying, the telltale signs of an undead. "And first up we have zombies!"

"Noooooooo!" Maria shouted as she dashed behind me, clinging to me as she put me between her and the zombie. "Not again!"

Saeko's eyes widened and she pulled Derf from his sheath. "So… they're here too?"

"Zombies are everywhere," I said with a shrug, eying the undead stumbling toward us. "Maybe not literally, but they're common enough. These ones aren't as much of a threat though. They're slow and are burned up by the sun. It's the skeletons you have to watch out for. They're handy with a bow." Maria groaned and buried her face into my back at the mention of more undead.

Saeko grimaced, but she stepped forward to intercept the zombie shambling toward us. It turned slightly to face her, but reacted too slowly to do more than that as she swung Derf and separated its head from its shoulders.

"We should head back through the portal," she advised as she stepped back. As if punctuating her words, more groans echoed through the forest.

"Absolutely not, are you kidding me?" I grinned. "This is the classic Minecraft experience! Ed, here, use some of our spare compressed stone and set up a defensive wall around the portal. Everyone else? You're forbidden from retreating back to the Stoneblock. We're making a base and holding our ground."

I tossed Ed my phone so she could pull some supplies from our inventory and then shook Maria off of me. With a flex of Pact Energy I sprouted black leathery wings from my back and jumped into the air, my wings beating as they kept me above the group. "Have fun everyone~!"

"Master you bully!" Maria protested even as she shifted to her older form, ready to fight. As if drawn by her words, half a dozen zombies broke through the tree line, heading directly for them.

Everyone got into a fighting stance as Ed frantically started pulling compressed stone out of the Pocket Space and got to work creating basic walls as the others threw themselves at the approaching horde.

I watched and grinned, content to let them handle it themselves and experience what it was like to huddle in a quickly made home during the night as zombies and other enemies prowled around. It'd be rude to deny them such a classic experience.

Ed panted as she finished off her enemy. The sun, which was also vaguely squarish, had broken over the horizon, painting the forest around us in a gold light. The number of zombies and skeletons had trickled down to nothing as the sky lightened, the undead instinctively seeking cover from the deadly beams. But someone else had appeared in their place.

"What… what the hell was that?" Maria asked, looking down at the corpse it left behind. There were a lot of corpses and skeletons around, but the one she was looking at was distinctly different.

It was taller than the others, standing half again as tall as any zombie, but it was gangly. It was still bipedal, but its limbs were too long, the elbows in the wrong spot, and its skin was pitch black that played tricks with your eyes. And in its head were two glowing purple eyes.

"That was an Enderman," I answered as I approached. "A teleporting monster that's pretty dangerous. They're uncommon though, and I didn't think we'd see one. I forgot they tend to show up around dawn and dusk."

"It looks like an alien," Asuna muttered, looking at it. She had gotten back from her first scouting trip almost immediately, as her wings still had a time limit, something we had extended but had yet to surpass, but I prevented her from fighting as well, wanting to give everyone else a chance, and just sent her back out to scouting as soon as her wings recharged.

Tabitha and Sylphid had come back several times as well, but I also had them focusing on mapping out the area, even having Asuna teach Tabitha how to use a phone camera so she could take pictures as well.

"That's not entirely wrong," I replied as I kneeled over it. Its skin was an odd texture. Not quite scales, but not quite chitin either, instead being something in between. Its head was blocky, but not in a human looking way like the zombies. It didn't have facial features or a mouth. Only eyes that glowed purple, but even that glow had faded now.

"They come from another world, but not one in space. A parallel world, if you will, one of two attached to this one," I explained further. "And they hold a very valuable resource."

Now that its eyes weren't glowing, they were easy to recognize. I reached towards its head and dug my fingers into its eye sockets. The girls around me gasped in shock and disgust, but I ignored them. It wasn't even that gross. There was no blood or warm flesh, it felt like I was digging a marble out of a statue.

Which I quickly realized was a more apt comparison than I thought, as what I pulled out was essentially a marble, but of an iconic blueish-green color that I would recognize anywhere. An Ender Pearl.

"There we go," I said, holding it up. It was smaller than how it was represented in the game, but it was unmistakable. "We'll need a bunch of these."

"What? Why?" Asuna asked, still a little grossed out despite the lack of gore.

"To unlock the path to the final boss, of course," I grinned.

During the siege of undead I had taken the time to look at the missions available, and I had chosen four that I thought we could do and provided rewards that I wanted.

Dark Mansion
Deep in the distant dark forest is a massive mansion filled with the cult-like Illagers. Clear it out and claim its riches for yourself.
Objective: Locate a Woodland Mansion and clear it by killing all of the Illagers inside.
Restrictions: Three or fewer retinue members participating
Rewards: Grand Manor I

Life to the Undead
The undead curse is not permanent, so long as it's treated soon enough. Help out a hopeless soul and restore them to life.
Objective: Find a freshly turned zombie and cure them with a Golden Apple after weakening them with a potion
Reward: Art of Transformation

Your Competition
Deep beneath the earth lies a dungeon made of stone. Sound familiar? Locate the Stronghold and defeat it, proving yourself the superior Dungeon Master.
Objective: Locate a Stronghold and map the entire thing, killing all mobs within it.
Restrictions: Three or fewer retinue members enter the Stronghold before it's cleared.
Rewards: Eye of Sauron, Unique Theme(Minecraft)

Dragon of the End
The End is a void of space, but it is not void of life. Travel there and slay the Ender Dragon.
Objective: Slay the Ender Dragon
Restriction: Three or fewer retinue members enter The End before the Dragon is slain
Reward: At the Crossroads

The time might be a little tight, but thankfully I had a lot of people now, ones that I could trust to handle themselves against the foes of this world. Even the undead horde we had faced hadn't been dangerous once we had the walls up, just tedious. For the most part, this was a world everyone could handle, especially with one or two others backing them up, which made it a good place to give them some experience.

And pretty much everything the missions I chose offered was something I wanted in the short term. Grand Manor would allow me to expand the Dungeon some more, which it desperately needed. Art of Transformation would let me turn Derf into a Katana, among other fun things. Eye of Sauron would allow the others to watch what was going on around the Dungeon more easily, and the Unique Theme would provide more monsters and resources.

And last but not least, the final mission would grant me the next step as an Infernal, allowing me to trade away my own powers in my Pacts, letting me start making more interesting deals. There was one deal in particular that I wanted to make soon that I would need that perk for.

"Alright everyone, gather around," I said after grabbing the other Ender Pearl and putting it in my Inventory for safe keeping. "Now that the sun is up, we've got a lot of work to do. I'm splitting you up into teams, got it?"

A few of the newer members looked nervous, but the rest nodded and no one protested, so I continued.

"Ed and Saeko, you're on the mission to cure the zombie we caught." I had kept an eye out for a suitably fresh looking one, since the mission hinted at there being a time limit, and we locked him up within the base. In the game it only worked on a certain kind of zombie, one that looked like the Villagers. But I was willing to bet that wasn't quite as true here, or rather, every zombie was once a 'villager' without some arbitrary distinction, and that was supported by the mission text.

I pulled out a scrap of paper and started scribbling on it. "You need two things. A potion of weakness, and a golden apple."

"I'm going to assume that name is more than just fancy branding," Ed remarked, crossing her arms.

"Yep. In the game it's made with eight entire gold bars and a normal apple. That being said, most of the game mechanics that I'm familiar with almost certainly don't function like that here, so I can't say for certain how you would get your hands on one. Or how to make the potion. So here."

I tore the piece of paper I was writing on off the notepad and handed it to Ed. "Go to the village and ask around there." Asuna and Tabitha had spotted a village a bit to the north of here. "In the game, all you needed was a fermented spider eye." I glanced at the monster corpses scattered about, including a handful of giant spiders. "Try grabbing a few of those eyes. Not sure how you ferment them though. I think you needed sugar and… something else in the game, but again, game mechanics probably don't translate super well. You'll have to ask."

"I'll figure it out," Ed assured me.

I nodded and continued. "You're looking for a potion that weakens someone. If you can buy it directly, or trade for it, that's fine, but I doubt that'll be the case. If you need to make it yourself, you'll need a brewing stand. I've drawn what it should roughly look like. Again, not sure how to use it. Worst case scenario, get whatever info you can and we'll figure it out when we meet up again."

"Got it."

Next I turned to Lili. "I want you to take Tabitha and Sylphid and go looking for a certain place. A large mansion that should be hidden in a thick forest. It probably won't be near here, and I don't really have any other tips for finding it."

"Lili will find it anyway!" Lili assured me, her back straightening. "Lili won't let you down!"

I nodded, satisfied by her devotion. "Good. Don't come back until you do, even if time starts running out. Once you do find it, clear it out, killing everyone inside."

She tilted her head. "Everyone? Not everything?" Some of my more moral subjects were watching with wide eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, everyone. There will be cultists inside. They're assholes though, if that's a concern for you. They make their living off raiding innocent villages, and they summon demons, and are just massive dickheads in general. Watch out for their magic, but the three of you should be able to handle them just fine."

"Got it!" Lili replied cheerfully. She had already killed once, and with how loyal she was to me, she wasn't hesitant to do so again. I glanced at her companions. Tabitha didn't seem to care, as expected, and Sylphid didn't seem to be fully following along, also as expected. They'd be fine.

Some of the others, Asuna and Louise primarily, had complicated expressions, but neither spoke up and the others didn't seem concerned. Even Saeko seemed fine with it. If anything, she looked on the verge of asking me to go with them, presumably because it promised more chances for violence and bloodshed.

But only three people could go. Tabitha and Sylphid were the only ones that could travel that far, and I needed someone I could trust watching them. I didn't think they'd actually run, but putting a leash on them was still important for their development. Plus, Lili seemed to be happy to be placed in charge.

"Now… Kirche, how do you feel about hot places?" I asked as I turned toward her.

"I can handle myself no matter how hot you make me," she said flirtatiously.

"Great, because we're going to hell," I responded flippantly. Even she stopped and blinked at that. "Or the Nether, as they call it here. There will be lots of magma and fire."

During a lull in the night I had gone out and grabbed some naturally occurring obsidian that Asuna had found in her scouting. I brought it back and had Ed form it into a gate. We tested to make sure it worked, and sure enough a simple spark of fire had been enough to fill the obsidian doorway with a purple sheen.

I immediately had Ed break it, which disabled the portal, and then rebuild it without lighting it up this time. Unlike the portal that led back home, there weren't any protections on a nether portal, and we didn't need to deal with two avenues of defense at once.

"Well, I should be fine, but I don't think my magic will be very helpful against any monsters or such that live there," she pointed out.

"Then it will be a nice challenge for you to grow and push yourself."

"If that's what you want, Darling~"

"Maria, you're coming with me as well."

"Yay!"

"And finally, Asuna, I want you to stay here and guard the base from monsters and people. Oh, and make sure nothing comes back through the nether portal after we head through it."

"Wouldn't I be more useful with one of the others?" she pointed out.

"You'd be too useful. The others need to grow stronger and more experienced too, you know? There will be plenty for you to do later as well."

She sighed. "Fine, whatever."

"Hold on a minute!" someone else shouted. I turned to see Louise standing off to the side by herself. "You forgot me!"

"Did I?" I asked, feigning ignorance. "Huh. I guess I did. Sorry about that. Let's see… you can go with Ed, round their team up to a nice three members." I looked around. "Did I forget anyone else? No? Good."

Louise was fuming, but she held herself back from saying anything and just stomped over to stand next to Ed before crossing her arms and silently pouting. I pretended not to notice.

"In that case, you all have your orders. I'll reach out periodically with telepathy to check up on you. Any questions?"

Maria raised her hand. "Are there any cute girls here you plan on kidnapping?"

"No, which is why we're focusing on doing lots of missions." It was possible that 'Alex', or a female player character of some variety was somewhere in the world, but I wasn't going to bank on it, and I wasn't interested enough to go out of my way for someone that might not even exist. I'd rather focus on the missions that would help my near-future plans.

"Aww," she lowered her hand and slumped her shoulders.

"Anyone else?" I asked. No one raised their hand or said anything. "Alright then. Let's head out, everyone. We've got a world to explore."

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AN: A lot more people were sad that the other FoZ girls got overlooked than I thought there would be, especially for Tabitha. I can't give every waifu that same level of focus, especially not all at once like that. But don't worry, they'll get significant roles in the next portal trip, and between that one and the one after it, I'll fit some lewds in for at least a couple of them, though maybe not all three. We'll see what I feel like writing. But don't worry, I didn't forget about Flame.

Anyway, there wasn't much to cover before the next portal so I went ahead and got that underway. And it's Minecraft! I needed a chill world to help ease in the new additions, so I picked a world where I wouldn't get more waifus. Plus, we needed some upgrades for some near future plans, and there are plenty of fun missions to be had here. It's pretty funny that I'm writing this so shortly after the release of the Minecraft movie trailer though. Incredible timing tbh. Not that the movie looks any good.

Anyway, we'll have a couple more chapters here as they work through the missions. Enough time to get some work done, earn some rewards, and show the new girls just what life on the Stoneblock is like.