Primordial Villain With A Slave Harem

"Master… Ghost is sorry." Blossom commented after climbing onto my back and clutching my neck desperately if she were a baby monkey clinging to her mother. I don't know why she decided to traverse the forest in such a way, but I wasn't complaining.

Her glorious breasts being mashed against my back, and her alluring voice entering my eardrums straight from their source was a great feeling, to say the least.

"What's the issue?"

With droopy ears she revealed what was ailing her beautiful heart; "She failed as a scout… Solace noticed the enemies long before Ghost…"

Oh yeah. I almost forgot about it. Due to the unfavorable blow of the wind, Blossom didn't smell our pursuers while Seraphiel somehow noticed them from a mile away.

She felt inferior.

"You're still our most amazing scout. It was just an unlucky situation."

Her hands tightened around my neck as she sniffed, trying her best not to cry while doing her utmost to hug me. It felt like a sad, apologetic hug instead of her usual cheery one. I couldn't leave her in this state of mind. She was too good of a woman to let her brood in misery.

"Do you remember what I called you when it was just you, me and Blade?"

She adorably thought for a few seconds. "Ghost doesn't know."

"I called you our superstar. You helped us out in a lot of tricky situations with your nose and ingenuity."

"... But now that Solace is here, Bl- Ghost is just useless."

Since when was she so insecure? Just a few minutes ago she single-handedly brought unadulterated terror to the hearts of 14 combatants by simply standing in place menacingly, and now she was struggling not to cry due to being disappointed in herself.

"You know that's not right. Are you fishing for compliments from me? Did you get jealous of how I was pampering Dream in the past few weeks? Was I neglecting my beloved first woman?" I asked, and based on her silence I think I hit the nail on its head. No wonder she was traveling on my back. She was feeling lonely.

Neglected even. It's entirely my mistake. When I decided to make a harem I knew that I couldn't play favorites, nor could I neglect the older members in favor of the newer ones and just expect them to silently deal with it. I made a giant blunder.

"Ghost is a bad girl…" Blossom whimpered when she realized that she had been caught.

I gripped her alluring thighs in my palms and gave them a reassuring squeeze. "You're not. I'm the bad mate." Before she could begin arguing about that being false, I continued; "let's go on a date with just the two of us once this is over."

"Just Blo- Ghost and Master?" She asked innocently, as if grasping my words was too much.

"Yes."

She remained silent, then; "Okay!!!" She yelled happily.

I smiled happily, but also noted how she repressed her feelings for a while and I had no clue.

"As for your previous claim about Solace being a superior scout, tell me why you think it is false." I instructed, and she began thinking for a while.

"Ghost's nose works outside of nature as well." She revealed her final answer.

I nodded, "indeed, that's the biggest advantage you have, but there's more. Smell lingers for a long time, allowing you to investigate events that happened hours, days, or even weeks ago. From what I can tell, Solace can't actually speak with plants and ask what happened a week ago, she can only sense what's going on in the forest at present.

Once you smell a scent, you can also follow it effortlessly, while Solace's detection is worse at pursuit than yours because she had to stop, close her eyes, and concentrate to tell that we were pursued while you can use your nose while dashing all over the place at breakneck speed.

Lastly, if the wind is favorable, you have a bigger detection range even in the forest biome."

Silence descended on us for a short while, until the dog-girl nuzzled her face into the back of my head with clear adoration. "Ghost loves Master!" She shouted.

"Now I feel kind of bad…" Seraphiel commented wryly with a deadpan tone, though I think it was her attempt at being comedic. She wasn't the kind who would be easily hurt like this. Indeed, everyone heard my analysis since we were walking in a close group.

Just in case I misunderstood her mood, I spoke up. "Don't be. All of you girls are amazing. That's why you are part of the Ascendants. There are no second-rate members in this party."

At my statement I could feel sheer proudness ooze out of a few members. No, scratch that. Besides Seraphiel all of them were overjoyed at my words, but some, like Miss Samurai, tried her best to hide it. I could only chuckle inwardly at how easily impressionable my girls were.

"As for you, Solace, your abilities work amazingly to bolster Blossom's nose. You two should work together, creating an ideal sensory duo."

"I don't mind." She nodded and accepted my suggestion.

Blossom climbed down from my back and trotted to be next to the elf, leading us together now that her morale was back to its usual, through-the-roof state.

The gorgeous elf suddenly decided to speak to the dog-girl with whom she had minor tensions with beforehand. "I liked your display of menace and murder intent."

Blossom was just as surprised as I was at the elf's words, evidenced by her turning her head to examine the speaker. After not sensing anything out of the ordinary she cheerfully responded with her tail wagging back and forth with the speed of a plane's propeller, "Ghost loved Solace's arrow shot! Two kills with one arrow! She had never seen something like that before! Amazing!"

Her adorable fawning might've surprised the serene elf for a moment as she coughed into her palm then embarrassedly replied with a simple "...thanks."

With my girls all made up, we continued our journey towards the indicated location of the Trials.