Chapter 119 There Are Traitors Among Us

Jackson turned to run, but before he could move, a female burst out from the crowd and sliced his body in two, cutting him clean in half.

Silence filled the courtyard as everyone looked at the figure standing with her bloodied blade.

Dropping to one knee, Priya shouted, "My apologies, my Lord, I acted without your consent. Please punish me."

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"Well done," Ryan said, clapping as he looked at the cleanly cut traitor's corpse.

'I doubt there was a big plot, seeing as he was the only one with a low loyalty score,' Ryan thought. 'Guess my instincts about the cat people were wrong.'

"Now for my servants," Ryan continued. "Aside from Hannah, Diana, Kaitlyn, and Veronica, all of you step forward."

"Now swear the oath," Ryan said, sending the prompts.

With no surprises this time, everyone seemed much more cheery, especially since they saw Ryan in a good mood.

"Now, Hannah, Diana, Kaitlyn, and Veronica, will you please step forward?"

Hannah, the first to react, stepped forward with grace and elegance. She smiled brightly as she walked up to Ryan, took his hand, and placed it against her chest over her heart.

"I swear," she said, her eyes sparkling with love and devotion.

'I forgot what she was!' Ryan thought, remembering his guess on Hanna's secret identity. 'Hopefully, a yandere will get some good bonus.'

[Hannah Xygar]

[Loyalty: 62]

Ryan looked at the number in contemplation. 'Although this number seems alright, for a yandere prone to mood swings, this number might be a little low.'

Hannah looked at Ryan, who wasn't pleased with her score, and suddenly got nervous. "What's wrong, Lord Ryan? Is my service not enough to satisfy you?"

"Oh no," Ryan said quickly, holding his hands to stop her. "No one is ever displeased by your efforts."

"But I haven't tried hard enough..."

[Loyalty: 34]

"You're doing well enough!" Ryan said quickly, waving his hand dismissively as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Really?" Hannah said, hope filling her eyes.

[Loyalty: 76]

"Yes, now, Diana, can you please step up," Ryan said, glancing at Shade, who took his cue and took Hannah away.

Diana stood before Ryan, taking hold of his hand and placing it over her heart. "I swear," she said solemnly. "I will protect and serve my master with everything I have. You are my hero and savior."

Her words sounded good, but when Ryan saw her score, he lightly chuckled.

[Diana Xygar]

[Loyalty: 34]

'It's to be expected,' Ryan thought. 'As long as nobody is negative, I'll consider it acceptable.'

[Kaitlyn Xygar]

[Loyalty: 14]

'Borderline, but she doesn't hate me,' Ryan said, trying to find a reason not to throw everything into disarray.

'Kaitlyn was the first cat girl I met in the portal world, along with Diana. Although I would have expected Diana's hostility toward me to be more than Kaitlyn's, seeing as she was the one with the spear...'

"Last up, we have Veronica Emerald," Ryan said to the previously named Milf.

As Veronica stepped up and swore her oath, the environment suddenly changed, and the once calm and cheerful atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Ryan activated his new ability granted to him by the Frost General, [Frosty atmosphere], to drop the temperature and turn everything frigid.

"Veronica, what have you done?" Ryan said, his voice hollow and cold.

Veronica stared wide-eyed at Ryan, her mouth tried to speak, but no sound came out of her lips. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she fell to the ground, her legs giving out.

"How could I be so blind!" Ryan shouted angrily. "I gave you my last name. I gave into your desires for what?"

"How could you do this, Veronica? Or should I even call you that? Should I go back to the name that Old Man gave you, Milf?"

Veronica's body shook from the cold as she tried to say something, but all she did was shiver violently on the stone floor.

"My Lord," Shade said in a low whisper. "Please forgive my sister, and take my life in her stead."

"And why should I do such a thing?!" Ryan roared, thunder crackling above him as he conquered a slight amount of the power available to him inside his domain.

Shade started to shake from the aura Ryan was giving off, coughing a bit of blood.

The rest of the soldiers looked on, most drawing their blades, some only looking at Shade and Veronica in sadness.

Ryan turned to the crowd. "And you. You who just swore your oaths of loyalty to me, do you have no shame?"

"Say one thing, do another?" Ryan shouted. "You who swore to follow my commands and protect me from my enemies would now turn your swords upon me?"

The crowd looked at each other, one by one, their heads fell, and their swords dropped.

Ryan drew his blade and put the tip against Veronica's neck.

Shade, knowing he couldn't do anything to Ryan while in his palace realm, pleaded with him, "Lord Emerald, please wait!"

"Before you die, tell me why," Ryan said, ignoring the kneeling Shade.

"Tell me why you betrayed me. Or was this your plan from the start?" Ryan asked, a hint of sadness leaking into his tone.

Veronica wept on the ground, her tears flowing into cracks in the frozen stone ground.

Shade took hold of Ryan's leg as his sister cried, trying to get Ryan to pull away from Veronica in a desperate attempt for her to live.

"I... I'm sorry..." Veronica cried. "We never meant to hurt you. We just thought that-"

Shade interrupted her sister, shouting, "It was my fault, my Lord. I am the one to blame!"

"No. It was me!" Hannah shouted, stepping forward and getting on both knees.

"I was the one who convinced both of them," Hannah said, prostrating herself.

"Tell me more," Ryan said coldly, still hovering his sword tip against Veronica's throat.

Hannah started crying as she continued to explain what had happened with the Dragon Empress.

"It's Yoko. She is a runaway from the Dragon Race's main family branch. We were hired to return her," Hannah explained through her tears. "But things got messy when you bonded with her."

Ryan stayed silent, listening to the story, and waited patiently for it to end.

"I don't know how I truly feel, but if the test says I'm against you, then I guess I deserve my fate," Veronica said, sniffling and wiping away some tears as they fell onto her cheek. "My savior... my lord... I'm sorry."

Ryan grinned, pulling up her score one more time.

[Veronica Emerald]

[Loyalty: 107]

[Bonus: Love through the pain]

The icy aura suddenly vanished, and warmth filled the courtyard again. "Do not mistake this mercy for kindness," Ryan shouted.

"I am not a kind ruler, only a fair one. Had her loyalty been negative, her corpse would lie headless on the ground. However, her loyalty is not in the negative and is the highest of any today."

"Let this be a lesson to you all. Loyalty will be rewarded. Even if you make mistakes," Ryan said, looking at Veronica.

He turned his gaze to Shade and Hannah. "You two are on probation until your loyalties reach the same level as Veronica's," Ryan said. "Now, is there anything else I should know about?"

Shade and Hannah looked at each other before Shade spoke. "Yes, my Lord. We lied about two things."

"And they are?" Ryan asked with a raised brow.

"The first is we lied about the contract the Old Man had us under. No such contract exists in the Multiverse, none that is foolproof."

'Besides the first one's blood contract,' Shade thought.

"And the second?"

"We can visit non-Multiverse worlds, although our power will be significantly reduced," Shade said, lowering his head.

'Knew it,' Ryan thought, clenching his fists in celebration. 'This improves my chances, even if their power is delepted.'

"How much is it reduced?" Ryan asked, crossing his fingers behind his back.

"We are reduced to 5% of our energy."

'Ah well, it was worth a shot,' Ryan thought.

"Now, my new brethren, everyone before me are now my people. I swear I will bring you power and glory or die trying."

"But to get that power requires hard training," Ryan said, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"That is why I present the tower of training."

It appeared as a massive set of pillars rising from the ground into the clouds. The outside was made of white stone embedded with reflective glass. It shone like a beacon of light.

Ryan pointed to the tower. "Inside this tower, not only can you learn the knowledge and secrets of the Multiverse as I increase in rank, every hour you spend training inside awards you with a certain amount of energy depending on your rank."

Ryan waved his hand, and the tower description appeared for all to see.

[Overlord's Harem Tower of Training]

[Description: A tower designed for an Overlord and his harem to gain the necessary knowledge to survive and rule over the Multiverse.]

Gasps and murmurs broke out over the crowd. Ryan activated his [Harem Oath] ability to look at the people's loyalty levels and saw a few increases.

"This will be available 24/7, and I encourage all to participate, although only four hours a day is required for knights who are not serving in missions," Ryan said, seeing the looks of appreciation and a few increases in loyalty at his exclamation.

"Now that that's settled, Shade, Hannah, and Dianna, I have a task for you..."