My Harem of Dangerous and Crazy Women as a Reincarnated Necromancer-Chapter 75: Poker Face

Mark was sitting in the stream with the water up to his chest.

The current was gentle and the water was cold, but not cold enough to be unpleasant.

In fact, after accumulating a considerable amount of sweat, the sensation of cold water against his skin was exactly what he needed.

But Mark wasn’t enjoying the bath, his body was in the stream, but his mind was somewhere else.

’It was a failure,’ he thought, watching the water flow before him. ’The whole plan was a complete and total failure.’

His original idea had been simple, go into the Demon Lord’s dungeon, gain experience, maybe find something useful, and get out before things got too complicated.

But things had gotten too complicated, not to mention they’d nearly sent him back to the lobby for good.

Not only had they gotten nothing of value, they’d ended up fighting what was apparently the actual Demon Lord.

And on top of everything, that woman knew he was a reincarnated person.

’We got nothing. We almost all died. And now a demoness who could kill all of us without breaking a sweat knows who I am and says she has plans for me.’

Mark let out a long sigh as he sank a little deeper into the water.

’Yeah... this is all pretty much a disaster.’

To distract himself from his own thoughts, Mark decided to do something he hadn’t done since leaving his dungeon. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Check his status.

But when he did, he blinked in disbelief at what was before him.

’...I only went up one level?’

Mark looked at the number again, making sure he was reading it correctly.

He had gone up exactly one level since the last time he checked.

One level.

One measly level.

After everything that had happened.

’This has to be a damn joke.’

Mark closed the interface with a mental gesture that was more abrupt than necessary.

The frustration he felt was immediate, it wasn’t that he expected to jump twenty levels all at once, but after everything they had been through, one single level felt like a kick in the teeth.

’Fantastic... at this rate I’ll hit level one hundred when I’m eighty.’

Mark stopped thinking about his level since that would only bring more frustration, and his mind returned to the topic that was actually worrying him.

’What should I do now?’

It was the question that had been going around in his head since they escaped the dungeon, and one he still didn’t have a clear answer to.

Part of him, the part that valued his survival above all else, wanted to go back to his dungeon, shut the door, seal every entrance, and never come out again.

That was tempting, to say the least.

But Mark knew that wasn’t a real option.

Because now there was someone who knew of his existence, and not only knew he existed, but knew he was a reincarnated person.

The Demon Lord.

’If I lock myself in my dungeon and stay there doing nothing, all I’ll accomplish is making sure that when she comes looking for me, she finds me exactly as weak as I am now.’

Mark knew it, no matter how much he wanted to avoid her, no matter how much he wanted to pretend that encounter had never happened, the reality was that sooner or later they were going to meet again.

And he wasn’t stupid enough not to assume that.

’So hiding isn’t an option, running isn’t either, which means the only thing I can do is prepare.’

Mark didn’t know exactly how he was going to do that.

He didn’t know how much time he had before she decided to come looking for him, and he had even less idea of how strong he needed to be to even stand a chance against someone like her.

But he knew one thing for certain.

Staying still was the worst thing he could do.

Mark stared at the water flowing in the stream as those thoughts circled in his head, trying to organize some kind of plan that made sense.

But before he could arrive at anything concrete, a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Are you alright, my lord?"

Mark turned toward the direction of the voice, and to his surprise it was Alice.

She was standing at the edge of the stream, completely naked, looking at him with a mildly concerned expression.

The water barely reached her ankles since she hadn’t fully stepped in yet, and the morning light illuminated her body in a way that made it very difficult not to look.

Mark’s eyes dropped involuntarily to Alice’s chest and lingered there for a moment.

’To think her outfit was hiding all of that...’ Mark thought as he felt himself getting hard.

Realizing he had been caught staring at her tits, Mark raised his gaze back to Alice’s face.

"Yes, I’m fine," Mark replied in a tone he tried to make sound casual. "I was just distracted."

Alice looked at him for a moment as if evaluating whether the answer was sincere, but in the end she seemed to accept it and nodded slightly.

’I need to learn to hide my emotions better,’ Mark thought, looking away to one side. ’First Rose noticed and now Alice. Am I really that obvious?... At this rate I’m going to need to practice a poker face in front of a mirror.’

Mark cleared his throat and looked at Alice again, this time making a conscious effort to keep his eyes on her face.

"And what are you doing here?" Mark asked.

Alice looked down at herself, as if the answer were obvious.

"Rose suggested I should wash the grime off my body," Alice replied in a calm tone.

Hearing that Alice’s presence was entirely Rose’s doing, Mark couldn’t help but feel grateful.

’Thank you for everything, Rose... you’re the best.’

Mark didn’t know if Rose had done it on purpose or if she was simply being practical by sending Alice to bathe in the same stream where he already was.

Though knowing Rose, it was probably both.

’This was definitely intentional, that woman never does anything without a reason.’

Alice began walking toward where Mark was, entering the stream with slow steps.

The water rose up her legs, then her thighs, and Mark had to make a considerable effort to keep his eyes on her face as she approached.

When Alice reached him, she stopped in front of him, and for a brief moment, he noticed her glance at his hard cock before quickly looking away and handing him a bar of soap.

"My lord," Alice said. "Could you help me wash my back?"

Mark looked at her, slightly surprised by the request.

"And the harder-to-reach areas," Alice added without changing her expression, glancing briefly again at his cock.

"Uhm... sure," Mark replied, trying to keep his composure.

Alice nodded and turned around, presenting her back to him.

Mark looked at Alice’s back in front of him. Her skin was covered in small wounds and marks here and there, but somehow that only made him harder.

However, the dirt was another matter. There were traces of soil and dark stains, probably blood, across her back.

Mark wet the soap in the stream and began to run it along Alice’s back.

The soap left a trail of foam across her skin as Mark moved it from the top of her back down toward her lower back, following the line of her spine with slow, careful movements.

But in a moment of carelessness, his cock accidentally brushed against one of Alice’s soft thighs.

"S-sorry," Mark apologized, continuing to wash her back.

At first, Alice said nothing and remained completely still as Mark kept moving the soap along her skin.

Until suddenly, she grabbed his wrists and pulled him closer until his chest pressed against her back.

"My lord... you don’t have to hold back with me," Alice said, a hint of embarrassment in her voice as she could feel his hard cock between her thighs.