One Year Ago — The Orb of Control
My name is Kite.
We are not some grand heroes who lop off a Demon King's head or safeguard world peace. We are nothing more than the lowest dregs of a sewer-rat army—men who jump when barked at from above, who roll through the mud like dogs when ordered to crawl.
Our homeland of Latvia, gutted by a horrific civil war, had been swallowed whole by the jaws of the great power Astria and reduced to a colony.
There was no time to dwell on the wretched despair of defeat. A merciless rainy season swept across the land of our ruined country, and in that hopeless mire of mudslides and countless dead and wounded… fragments of an ancient ruin, sleeping for ages, suddenly bared their grotesque face.
The mission that fell to us unlucky foot soldiers was, of course, pure hellish grunt work. From dawn we stood sleepless in the rain, digging with shovels and pickaxes at the ruins buried under tons of earth.
Our only comfort was that the torrential rain had completely shattered the ruin's magic circuits, leaving every one of its nightmarish traps broken.
After three months of crawling through the dirt like beasts, we finally reached a black mage's secret laboratory hidden deep underground.
"Holy shit…"
Someone let out a breathless gasp of awe.
Inside the laboratory, mountains of bizarre magical research materials lay heaped alongside a blinding fortune of gold, silver, and jewels. Swords bearing the clear crests of the Britain Imperial Family and the Astria Royal House. Dazzling tiaras. Necklaces glittering with gems.
Everyone's eyes went wild with the greed of starving animals—everyone except the excavation team's sole mage, old man Grimwald. He ignored the glittering treasure completely, brushing the dust from a stack of ancient grimoires with a smile as sticky and sly as a snake's.
Of course, lowly conscripts like us would never dream of skimming so much as a single precious artifact. Under thorough appraisal, every relic was carefully inventoried and sent straight to the royal vaults.
The soldiers drowned their hollow disappointment in cheap liquor at the tavern, or locked themselves in their stinking rooms and passed out cold.
Late that night, after every last relic had been collected, I went alone to the tent where old Grimwald was still working on the appraisal.
"Grandpa. What the hell was this ruin, anyway?"
At my casual question, the old man let out a long, grotesque chuckle.
"Heh heh heh heh…"
He put on airs, carefully opening a black wooden box. Inside rested a red crystal orb that glowed with a luminous, ominous blood-red light.
"Listen carefully and don't freak out, brat. The place we dug up is the secret laboratory of the legendary black mage Grashalaboras. And this little beauty… is the Orb of Control."
"Control?"
"That's right. A forbidden artifact left behind by Grashalaboras. A cursed relic, in other words."
I stared, entranced, at that grotesque red crystal sphere.
"So what, if you use this, you can puppet people around like marionettes?"
"The end result's similar, but it's on a completely different level. This thing isn't some simple hypnosis. It steals another person's body and mind wholesale."
"…What the hell did you just say?!"
My jaw dropped in horror. The old man's bloodshot eyes flashed as spit flew from his lips.
"You use this crystal orb to secretly carve a marking spell into a particular piece of jewelry. Then, when the target puts that jewelry on, the master of the orb chants the incantation… and the master's mind crushes and erases the target's consciousness, seizing total control of that body."
My head spun. But a practical question surfaced soon enough.
"I get that it's some kind of ultimate magic, but… why are you so worked up about it, Grandpa?"
At my stupid question, the old man clicked his tongue.
"You dense fucking idiot! With this orb, I can make any human on the continent dance to my tune. Rich men, fresh young girls, stuck-up nobles—hell, even royalty so high we'd never dare look them in the eye!"
He ran his tongue slowly over his cracked lips.
Girls? A woman's body?
"So… that means you could enter a woman's body and violate her however you wanted?"
"Of course! Climb into someone else's flesh and work that body however your appetite demands… how could any man not call that the ultimate fantasy? And the absolute item that turns those filthy, insane daydreams into reality has just fallen into our hands!"
The old man thrust the blood-red orb right up to my face. The crimson light filling my vision shimmered with the seductive allure of a whore's eyes.
—Dominate a woman.
Completely. Utterly.
Any man who claimed he'd never once entertained that filthy fantasy was a damn liar. A peerless beauty, perfectly under my will, mine to control however I pleased… Just imagining it made my lower belly tighten and the blood rush hard.
"W-well, yeah, but… who the hell are you planning to use it on? The only women we ever meet are cheap whores."
"You think I'd waste a treasure like this on those vulgar sluts? If we're going to pluck a flower, it should be the highest, noblest one we could never even look up at in a lifetime."
"Don't tell me… you're going after Lady Irene, the Count of Latvia's daughter?!"
The old man let out a thin, mocking sneer.
"You sparrow-brained little shit. Is that the scale of your greed? The two greatest beauties on the continent. It has to be at least Princess Adelia and Princess Leticia."
My heart dropped like a stone into the mud beneath my feet.
"You're saying… steal the bodies of the Imperial Princess and the Princess?"
Princess Adelia and Princess Leticia.
To every man alive, they were untouchable goddesses, the sacred first loves buried deep in the heart. Noble imperial blood. Flawless, unbroken dignity. Beauty so dazzling it stopped the breath. Two women who seemed sculpted from every praise the world had to offer—and the filthy males of a colonial back alley would spend whole nights treating them as the side dish of their vulgar lust.
I was no exception. Night after night in the barracks, I'd drop my pants the same as the rest.
"According to information I smuggled out, both of them will attend the upcoming relic-return ceremony banquet in person. So I've already marked the tiara and necklace we're returning. Out of courtesy, the Imperial Princess and the Princess will have no choice but to wear those splendid jewels in public."
Gulp.
A dry swallow scraped roughly down my throat. The mad pounding of my heart hammered against my ears.
At last, the fateful day of the relic-return ceremony arrived.
A dust-speck colonial private second class like me had no place inside that glittering banquet hall. From the outer wall's watchtower, heavy spear in hand, all I could do was steal pathetic glances from outside.
The dazzling carriages of Astria and Britain rolled through the gates. Escorted by magnificent knights, Princess Adelia and Princess Leticia stepped lightly from their coaches—and even from a distance, on tiptoe, they were so breathtakingly beautiful I thought I might go blind.
The sun set and deep darkness settled over the outer castle, but from the inner keep the lavish strains of an orchestra cut endlessly through the night air. The grand feast was racing toward its climax.
Thunderous applause erupted from the inner castle. The relics must finally have been presented.
At that moment the shift bell rang. I shoved my spear at a comrade as if flinging it away and sprinted like a madman straight for the old man's laboratory.
Bang!
I slammed the door open. Grimwald had already deployed a complete blood-red magic circle across the floor.
"At last… at last every last piece of that dazzling Imperial Princess—body and soul—will be mine…!"
"Kh, kh-kh-kh…!"
The old man panted like a beast in heat, belching out a grotesque laugh, and I too, as if possessed, layered my hands over his on the red crystal orb and snickered under my breath.
"Well then… shall we rip those high-and-mighty bitches' souls clean out of their noble flesh?"
Grimwald's eyes blazed. Between his lips, a grotesque, sticky magical incantation began to pour forth in a continuous stream.
"Ah—yes… hurry, please, hurry…!"
"Heh heh heh. The next time you open your eyes, a perfectly corrupted new world the likes of which you've never known will be waiting for you."
Incomprehensible ancient words filled the laboratory. I licked my dry lips and stared at the center of the magic circle.
Hum— hummmm—!
Explosive waves of magical power surged up through my veins from the palms pressed to the orb. My vision flickered red; my brain felt as if it were burning white-hot.
Is this okay? We're not going to fail and die, are we?
Anxiety seized me—and in that instant, gravity vanished completely. A plummeting freefall sensation hurled me toward the edge of some vast abyss.
"Old man…!"
I tried to scream.
And then my consciousness was swallowed whole into pitch-black darkness.
"Hey, Kite. Get up, you bastard."
Someone's soft hand patted my cheek. I groaned and forced my heavy eyelids open.
"Nngh… uh…"
As the splitting headache faded, the focus of my vision gradually sharpened.
The first things I saw were an impossibly high ceiling, pure-white silk wallpaper of the finest quality, and a chandelier casting a soft, luxurious glow through the room. Behind me, a sensation as plush and smooth as lying on a cloud—nothing like the hard, reeking mattress of the barracks. A sofa of the highest-grade leather.
Then that familiar, vulgar voice came from beside me again.
"How long are you gonna sprawl there?"
I slowly turned my head—and froze solid, breath locked in my throat, like a stone statue.
Standing proudly before my eyes was a woman in a supreme silk dress cut so deep the valley of her breasts was dizzying, looking down at me with arrogant contempt.
None other than Princess Adelia—hailed as one of the continent's greatest beauties!
For several seconds I simply stared up, completely robbed of my senses by that overwhelming beauty and sensual presence. At last I managed to work my stiff jaw and force out a hoarse voice.
"G-Grandpa…?"
And then those pure, beautiful red lips of Princess Adelia twisted into a crude smirk, and the speech of a filthy old man spilled out.
"What's with that dumbass look on your face? Yeah, brat, it's me. Grimwald!"
…Dear god. That gorgeous body of Princess Adelia—with old, filthy Grimwald inside it?
"Hey. Hey. Still not getting it, you halfwit? Here—check out your own damn face."
Grimwald-as-Adelia clucked his tongue, seized my skull in a rough grip, and wrenched my head sideways.
A large full-length mirror stood there.
It reflected the entire luxurious room without omission. Princess Adelia standing with one hip cocked in vulgar fashion—and beside her…
On the sofa, staring this way with a vacant expression, sat the silver-haired figure of Princess Leticia.
…?
…………?!
Wait. What the hell is that?!
There were only two people in this vast room: Grimwald-as-Adelia, and me.
So who in the world was that silver-haired beauty reflected in the mirror…?!
I carefully lifted my trembling right hand.
In the mirror, the dazzling Princess Leticia raised her flawless, slender right arm in exact unison.
I cupped my cheeks with both hands.
The princess in the mirror likewise cradled her own cheeks with elegant fingers.
The skin under my fingertips was so smooth and soft it sent a shiver down my spine.
Following my every movement—completely under my will—the Princess Leticia in the mirror moved in perfect synchrony.
Only then did the misaligned gears click into place, and I fully grasped the miraculous catastrophe that had befallen me.
I slowly lifted my gaze to the top of my head in the mirror.
Above a waterfall of silver hair, the brilliant tiara into which we had carved the marking spell shone with luminous light.
From the deepest pit of my gut, a mad, unstoppable rapture came surging up. My lips twisted of their own accord into a filthy, sticky smile.
Kh… kh-kh… heh heh heh heh…!
It worked.
A bottom-scraping, worthless private second class like me had completely swallowed the body of the most noble and beautiful Princess Leticia in the world…!!
A thrill raced up my spine. The power of this cursed relic was no fake.
"Told you so, didn't I? Now this dazzling Imperial Princess's flesh—from head to toe—is mine to corrupt and use however I damn well please. Kh-kh."
As he spoke, Grimwald-as-Adelia greedily kneaded the princess's white, full breasts with both hands.
It was a lewd, degraded act that the ice-cold, pure Princess Adelia of ordinary days could never have been imagined performing in a lifetime.
Witnessing that overwhelming scene of transgression with my own eyes…
Explosive pleasure and raw male excitement began to dominate my entire body, racing up my spine like wildfire.