Harem of Moms and Milkers

“I’m sorry,” the foxfolk repeated with a shaking voice. Her mind went numb and her body chilled. ’Someone dispelled my illusion! I’m so screwed!’

For outsiders, the Congregation was a group of murderous human supremacists, inspiring sheer terror in all corners of the world. It was enough to make the faint-hearted thief lose control of her bladder.

While human supremacy was an undisputed fact in Hekal, the way it manifested differed across factions. Most of the world asserted it through dominance over other species, but the Congregation didn’t believe in co-existence and only sought extermination. In other words, they were crazy psychopaths that couldn’t be reasoned with.

Everyone avoided the Congregation like the plague. For 'sane' people, war was a tool of conquest for wealth. For those religious zealots, however, war was a cleansing ritual dedicated to the Allfather. After all, the blessing of adventurers grew stronger whenever they reaped a life, as if the Allfather himself encouraged them to slaughter non-humans like cattles. When they didn't kill out of passionate racism, it was to get ‘experience points’.

Their worst trait was that the line between civilian and military blurred. All citizens were trained as adventurers, meaning that every single one of them were demented murderers.

’Oh god! Even the kids don’t look normal!’ The foxfolk swallowed as she shriveled under Asdel’s overbearing gaze.

Asdel grabbed the hem of her kimono and looked at the picture on her chest. “Hm? I recognize this symbol. You’re from the Tailbrush clan, aren’t you?” His warm tone sounded as if he met friends he had not seen in a while.

“Wha- How did you know?!” The foxfolk was taken aback by the creepiness of the situation. ’Is he reading my memories? No, get out!’

The mysterious person in front of her was undoubtedly a child, but his gaze and knowledge didn’t match the naive innocence that befitted his age.

Asdel’s mana brain churned at full speed, running calculations to decide what to do with the poor thief.

Because of his inability to level up without blessing, Asdel's only path was to expand the number of women he could hide behind. But slaves were unreliable because there was no such thing as brainwashing. If he wanted to make full use of her as manpower for the shop or bodyguard, it had to be by her own volition.

“This is no place to talk, let’s go home.” Asdel took back his bag and offered a hand to the distressed girl.

The stomach of the foxfolk rumbled. "Can I eat one while we walk? I've been starving all day." She already held a stolen snack while drooling.

"Starving? Those lumps of fat tell me that you're far from starving." Severine snorted.

The foxfolk gave a nervous laugh. "I lived a luxurious life at home, so I ate a lot."

Asdel patted the girl's head. "Eat slowly. The Tailbrush clan grannies love to spoil the children. Wasn't Yuna like that too?"

"Yuna… Yuna? Great ancestor? How do you know her? She's been dead for a while." The foxfolk nibbled on the bun, crying tears of joy. The kindness she received dispelled all cautiousness.

"Is that so?" Asdel clasped his hands behind his back as he walked, sighing in exaggerated melancholy. He would have loved to meet characters he knew from the game, but that setting was too far in the past.

…

At the first floor of the Lucky Slime shop, Asdel briefed Severine and Viola about his nefarious plans before they spoke with the foxgirl resting upstairs.

“The goal is to win her over. Tricking her will be easy since she’s in a plight. I only need to dangle some promises in front of her, and she will submit on her own accord. I play the good cop, and you girls play the bad cops,” Asdel said with a low voice.

For Severine and Viola, it would be weirder to treat the slave well. Tricking the fox with false promises was within the Congregation alignment.

“Alright, you want to prank her, but why do we have to work so hard to gain her trust?” Severine pouted.

“I’ll spare you the lore but her mage clan has a rich history in Sanctuary. At the very least, the Skylanders are nothing in comparison. They’re loaded in gold, artifacts, and techniques. All that wealth would be better in our hands rather than in theirs, right? She’s our backdoor to grab their stuff,” Asdel explained.

It was a scheme only the lowest scum would do to their fellows, but when it came to a foxfolk, it was already mercy to not murder them on sight so no one batted an eye.

Severine pouted when she heard that her family was inferior to that foxgirl’s. “Fine…”

Their mage clan was very profitable, much more than a small potion workshop running on a single granny. In addition, the foxfolks themselves had unique illusion spells that were unavailable to humans.

The Skylander family rose from nowhere and gained the support of the church to raise and sell griffins, but they were originally a family of halberdiers so they lacked knowledge. They were promising, but that was all.

…

“Eeep!” Amaranth jumped at Asdel when he entered the bedroom.

“Nothing strange while you kept an eye on her?” Asdel rubbed his index on the slime’s forehead.

The foxgirl stood up and bowed. “Thank you very much for your help!”

“It’s alright. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?” The group of three sat on the bed, introducing themselves as members of the Lucky Slime shop.

The foxgirl revealed everything about herself. “My name is Tomoyo. I am the daughter of the Tailbrush clan leader. My clan… was attacked by our vassal from the Bloodsilk clan. Our warriors were sent to the west, so no one could stop the enemy. In the end, my mother fought to death while my father stalled so that I could flee.” The foxgirl, sitting on her knees, sobbed harder as she recalled her painful loss.

“Sent to the west? I see, the Sanctuary wants to loot the forest after the Congregation and Rampart are exhausted… That’s not good, Loreley will have to deal with both factions.” Asdel groaned, full of concern for his adoptive mother.

'Wait a fucking minute. I promoted Loreley to C-rank, which prompted the Congregation to invade the forest, which led the Sanctuary to join the fray, which sparked internal strife in Sanctuary, which forced Tomoyo to flee... In other words, I'm the root cause of all of her misfortune!' He broke into sweats upon this surreal realization.

“Please, help me!” Tomoyo kowtowed with her forehead pressed on the ground. “I want to rescue the people who escaped with me, rebuild my clan, and take revenge on the Bloodsilk clan!”

He clutched his chest and looked at the foxgirl with boundless pity. 'Should I cry or laugh? This poor lass doesn't know that I screwed her life.'

Sure, he didn't kill her parents with his own two hands. But he knew that promoting Loreley was bad news for all other factions. It was akin to kicking a rock in a general direction and seeing it turn into a landslide, only for the victims to end up begging for help at Asdel's feet.

Asdel and the girls looked at each other. It was time to dangle the promises. “Sure, I can help you under two conditions.”

Tomoyo lifted her head with an ecstatic expression. “Please tell me!”

“Grant me the position of grand elder of the Tailbrush clan. And for the duration of your stay in the Congregation, you have to genuinely act as my slave so as to not arouse suspicion.”

“Grand elder?” The foxgirl was shocked by his demands. Only old and powerful relatives could get that rank. A chill ran through her spine as her mind connected various observations. ’Breaking my illusion, casually mentioning my great ancestor, his wisdom and mannerism that doesn’t match his age… There’s no doubt!’

“A-are you perhaps a venerable old foxfolk disguised as a child?!” she blurted in shock. It sounded ridiculous, but every faction had a network of spies in all corners of Hekal to keep track of the movements of armies. Asdel could be one of them.

’Me, an old fox? wtf?’ Asdel’s face warped in a revulsed expression. “You should know better than asking such questions.”

’That’s right, I can’t expose a spy!’ Frightened out of her wits, she kneeled with teary eyes. “My apologies! This foolish disciple greets the grand elder! Please… help my people.”

He gave her a childish lighthearted laugh. “Good, good! Let’s find the people who escaped with you.”

…

Asdel's party returned to the shady marketplace.

Tomoyo bawled as she couldn't bear the humiliation from crawling on four without anything to wear. “Uuuwuwu… At least, let me wear clothes…”

Severine sighed. “Listen, you’re nothing but a meatbag of experience points now, so you obviously don’t deserve clothes.”

'Damn, she's savage. What would she do to me if she learns that I don't believe in the Allfather?' Asdel really didn't want to end up naked and crawl on four at Tomoyo's side, therefore he had to join the bullying.

“If you can’t bear that much, I can send you back to the Bloodsilk clan. I’m just disappointed that the clan heir can only go so far for the sake of her family.” He shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped.

“Sniff- I undewstand. I’ll do my best!” Tomoyo stopped to wipe her tears with a resolved expression.

“Good job, good job~” Asdel and the girls stroked their new pet.

With her renewed determination, Tomoyo led the group to a wooden pole. A black haired female human was attached to it. Numerous traces of lash covered her body.

The foxgirl whimpered as she dug her nails into her arms out of frustration and self hatred. “It’s Chiyo! She got caught helping me escape.”

Non-human creatures could not receive the blessing to become a ‘hero’. As a result, clans often raised humans with great care.

“Should we buy her?” Viola raised an eyebrow.

“Hmpf! I’ll never give these scum a single coin of mine. What are their forces?” Asdel asked.

“Three D-rank, fifteen E-rank…” Tomoyo’s words were interrupted by the boy.

“Alright, let’s buy her. How much do we have?” Asdel’s attitude flipped in an instant.

“It’s not only Chiyo. There were four other people that accompanied me.” Tomoyo chimed in.

Asdel rolled his eyes. “Do you have any idea how expensive human slaves are? My mom’s savings are about 60k vars and wife-material slaves cost as much as a luxury car at about 75k vars. How can we afford them all?”

“That’s…” Tomoyo lowered her head, unable to retort.

“Hey, you must have taken some treasures before you ran away?” Asdel’s words stabbed at the foxgirl's conscience.

“Erm… Well…” She sweated while trying to come up with an excuse.

“Show me your inventory, slave.” He firmly grabbed her hand.

Tomoyo weeped while Asdel examined the artifact he took by force.

“That’s ‘Parting Words’, the katana and sheath specifically made for mana users. The greatest weapon of the Tailbrush clan. If we pawn it, we can borrow enough to buy all the slaves in the market.” Asdel fiddled with his system interface. In a single motion, he unsheathed the sword and shot a crescent of ink-like mana that sliced food scraps laying on the ground.

Tomoyo blanked out. ’As expected of the grand elder, he immediately knows how to use it.’

“Dude, that was sick!” the startled passer-by murmured as they coveted the artifact.

“Wait, please! You can’t sell the symbol of my clan even if you’re the grand elder.” Tomoyo wriggled on the ground as if she writhed in pain from the thought of separating herself with ‘Parting Words’.

'Is it because you're naked? You're quickly getting used to acting like an animal…' Asdel made a wry smile.

Viola wore a grim expression. “Indeed, we’ll never afford to pay back such a large sum, so you might have to say goodbye to ‘Parting Words’.” The maid cackled at her low hanging joke.

"..." A heavy silence weighed on the group.

"... That's why I stay in my bedroom." Viola blushed and frowned. As expected of the introverted maid, she would no longer open her mouth for the rest of the day.

"Pffft, good one, Viola! I love it!" Asdel appeased the sulking maid.

Tomoyo reached out her hand, as if she wanted to take Parting Words back from Asdel.

“Relax, the Congregation is tight-knit because of faith. The Church offers decent loans as fellow believers. They are much better than the pawnbrokers from Sanctuary, so don’t worry. Give me ten years and I can get it back. Tomoyo, you have to choose. The lives of your people or a weapon that you don’t dare to use, what’s more important to you right now?” Asdel asked.

The Tailbrush clan matriarch would kick up a fuss if she heard that. After all, it was impossible to obtain Parting Words by paying five lives even if they wanted.

Tomoyo’s shoulder drooped. She was greatly reassured by Asdel’s confidence as she harbored blind faith for the mysterious grand elder, but she still had scruples. “Father and mother… Their last request was to protect ‘Parting Words’, but what use is it if the clan disappears? I have to save my people!”

She kneeled to Asdel once more. “Grand elder, I entrust ‘Parting Words’ to you. Please help my family.”

Asdel smiled. “Good. Vassals who put everything on the line for their lord are priceless. You should cherish them.”

And that was how they had to pay 4584 vars per month for ten years. To put it into perspective, the lowest grade soul gem was only worth 3 vars, while exploiting granny Magdalena ‘only’ earned 3000 vars per month.

Actually, Asdel did borrow much more than the necessary sum to buy Tomoyo's comrades. With such a valuable collateral, it would be a shame to not borrow more. “Listen girls, I have an unethical foolproof method to get rich quickly.”

“...” The party paled at the words of the nine year old boy.