My Harem of Dangerous and Crazy Women as a Reincarnated Necromancer

From the moment Mark and the others had set out in a hurry, the group hadn’t stopped once.

Yuki had set a steady pace from the moment they departed with Mark on her back, and neither she nor the others had shown any sign of wanting to slow down.

And so the night passed, then dawn, and a good part of the afternoon, until finally, with the sun already fairly high in the sky, Mark began to stir.

First came a faint groan, then a blink, and then his eyes opened slowly, as if someone had placed stones on his eyelids throughout the night.

’...When did I fall asleep?’

Mark blinked several times trying to organize his thoughts, though they were moving fairly slowly, while he didn’t feel as bad as the night before, his head was still running at half speed.

’The last thing I remember is telling Yuki to carry me,’ Mark thought, frowning slightly. ’After that everything is blurry... but the most likely explanation is that I passed out somewhere along the way.’

While that conclusion made sense of everything, it was also the one that embarrassed him the most, because it meant Yuki had been carrying him the entire time like a child being piggy-backed by his mother.

Mark tried to turn his head slightly to see where they were, but before he could focus his eyes, a familiar voice spoke to him.

"Master, I’m glad you woke up," Rose said, approaching from his right side. "Are you feeling alright?"

Before Mark could respond, a second voice spoke from his left.

"How are you feeling, my lord?"

Alice had also approached, and her tone was much lower than Rose’s, almost timid.

Mark immediately noticed how she avoided looking him directly in the eyes, almost as if she were asking permission to even address him.

"I’m fine..." he replied in a voice that still sounded notably wrecked. "And actually I’m feeling a bit better."

"Really?" Rose asked, somewhat skeptical.

"...Really."

While Mark wasn’t entirely lying, the fever had come down and the general body ache wasn’t as intense as before, he wasn’t telling them the complete truth either.

’I guess my body took over and used the blackout to rest...’ he thought with mild amusement.

But almost immediately, another thought slipped in from the side.

’If I survive this, I swear by every god in this world I’m never having sex outdoors again for as long as I live.’

And he was so focused on that thought that he almost didn’t hear Yuki speak to him from below.

"Master, I’m glad to see you woke up," Yuki said, turning to look at him.

"I’m glad I’m not unconscious anymore too."

"I don’t mean to bother you, but... do you think you could stand on your own?"

Hearing that, Mark came back to the present and remembered he was still clinging to Yuki’s back.

"Oh... right," Mark said, somewhat embarrassed. "Put me down, I can walk on my own."

Yuki nodded without a word and crouched slightly so Mark could climb down.

When Mark was fully on his feet, his legs trembled for a second.

But that was enough for both Rose and Alice to take a step toward him at the same time with their arms slightly extended, ready to catch him in case he fell.

"I’m fine, I’m fine, I just needed a second to get my legs back..." Mark said as he stretched a little, his back cracking.

"Master," Yuki said, turning toward him. "We’re close."

"Really?"

"Yes, in fact that’s exactly why I asked if you could stand on your own."

Mark felt something loosen inside his chest at hearing they had finally returned to the closest thing he had to a home.

"In that case," Yuki continued in her usual calm tone, "I’d like to go ahead and let Ely and Aria know we’re almost there."

"Sounds good," Mark said with a small, tired smile.

Yuki dipped her head slightly, and without further preamble turned around and vanished.

Mark watched her go and then turned to the others.

"Let’s move," he said, his voice still a little rough. "I can walk, so nobody needs to help me."

Rose wanted to object but held herself back this time, and Alice simply chose to say nothing.

And so the group resumed the march, with Mark walking at a slow but steady pace in the center.

’Home sweet home,’ Mark thought with a quiet smile. ’Glad we got here earlier than expected.’

But then he remembered the reason they had arrived early, the fight between Alice and Rose.

’If that happened with me nearby, I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t been there to stop them...’

That last thought left a slightly bitter taste, but Mark pushed it aside, he’d have time to deal with that conversation later. Right now all he wanted was—

"MASTERRRRR!"

A sharp, emotion-filled scream cut through the forest like a gunshot, shattering the silence of the path and making Mark snap his head up.

He didn’t need to see the owner of the scream to know who it was.

Ely was running toward him at full speed with her arms stretched out in front of her and a smile so enormous it looked like her face was about to split in two.

But she wasn’t alone.

"MASTERRRRR! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"

Behind Ely, barely a couple of meters back and running with just as much desperation, came Aria.

"MASTERRRRR! DON’T LEAVE US ALONE FOR THAT LONG AGAIN!"

Mark saw them coming and, despite the exhaustion, the sore throat, and everything that had happened over the past few days, found himself smiling.

Because no matter how clingy, insufferably dramatic, and prone to fighting over every little thing they were, he was really fond of them.

Mark opened his arms, ready to receive them.

"I missed you both too," he said, his voice hoarse but with a smile on his lips.

But then something caught his attention, Ely wasn’t slowing down.

In fact, from the moment her eyes had locked onto Mark, Ely seemed to have picked up speed, as if seeing him had given her a second wind.

’Wait a moment...’

"Ely," Mark said, raising a hand. "Slow down."

She didn’t seem to be listening, because she kept getting closer and faster.

"Ely, seriously," Mark said, taking half a step back.

’Oh no... this is going to hurt.’

That was the last thought he managed before Ely launched herself at him with all the momentum she had built up, and Mark’s body had absolutely no chance, the impact was so hard it knocked him flat on his back.

"MASTERRRRR!" Ely whimpered as she began planting kisses all over his face.

On his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his closed eyes, his chin.

"I missed you so much!" she said between kisses, her eyes full of happy tears. "So much, so much, so much!"

A few meters away, Rose and Alice stopped dead and stared at the scene with identical expressions of confusion on their faces.

"..."

"..."

And before they could process what they were seeing, a second scream tore through the air.

"MASTERRRRR!"

Aria, who had fallen behind due to Ely’s superior physical condition, had just arrived, and when she saw Ely on top of Mark kissing him all over his face, she didn’t hesitate for a single second.

Aria threw herself down beside them, hugging Mark’s side and also trying to plant kisses on whatever part of his face she could reach.

"Master, master, master!" Aria said, her voice breaking with tears. "I missed you too, not just her, me too!"

"Aria, get out of the way, you’re in my spot!" Ely said without stopping her kisses.

"YOU’RE the one who needs to get out of the way!" Aria replied, softly swatting Ely’s shoulder with her hand.

"I got here first!"

"WELL I’M HERE NOW!"

The two began pushing each other on top of Mark, each one trying to position herself better than the other without letting go of him.

Until Aria noticed something.

"Hey..." Aria said, suddenly stopping with her hand still on Ely’s shoulder. "Why isn’t the Master moving?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"...Huh?"

Both looked down at Mark at the same time and saw that his eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open.

"...Ely," Aria said in a very, very quiet voice.

"...Yes?"

"...I think we killed the Master."

"..."

"..."

"MASTERRRRR!!!"