Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Preparation
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After Sion's fantastical service time came to an end, I took her with me and left the bathroom.
"Ahh... That was such an ecstatic time. Young Master..."
...Both she and I had enjoyed it so deeply that we'd gone a full hour overtime, but far from being exhausted, her snake-like vertical pupils had turned into hearts, and she was still gazing at me with a lascivious look.
'...Stepping back a bit, she's still making me uneasy.'
Could I really handle this madwoman's obsession?
Should I give up now?
📜 NEW QUEST 📜 Complete Your Own Harem!
But giving up now? The rewards were too great, and the pleasure was insanely good.
"Hey, Sion. Mind if I ask you something?"
"Ahh! Ask me anything! Curious about my menstrual cycle?"
No, fuck. Why bring up her period there?
Every word out of her mouth had a talent for throwing me off balance.
How the hell had Rexton managed someone like her?
"No, not that..."
How do I even ask this nicely? Did you spread your legs for Rexton?
No, even if I did, her affection would drop. My goal was to max out her affection at 100 and tame her, so I needed to stay calm.
"Your service felt amazing, but... where did you learn it?"
The service I'd received was far beyond what a beginner could do. And it was hard to doubt the unicorn's certification that she was a virgin.
Were unicorns that generous? Recognizing her as a virgin as long as nothing had gone in?
"Asking something like that... You're so mischievous, Young Master."
I thought it was a more normal question than her period, but to Sion, it seemed deeply embarrassing. She twisted her body all over, her face flushed as she stammered her answer.
"Someday... expecting the day I'd serve you... I called in high-class prostitutes from the capital and learned directly from them."
"...You called prostitutes to practice servicing Rexton? Intense lesbian sex?"
"Forget that bastard! And it wasn't actual sex—I learned how to move, the mindset, and all that...!"
Saying that, Sion covered her beet-red face with both hands. It was a pose that didn't suit her at all, given her large frame for a woman.
'What the hell is wrong with women's mindsets in this world...?'
Shaomei self-studying techniques from erotic books to satisfy me, and this knightess getting private lessons from prostitutes to please her master.
Girls like Agnes, who were shy about their lack of knowledge in that area during their first time, might actually be the truly noble virgins, just like the unicorn said. I was starting to suspect it.
"Alright, keep handling the tasks I assigned well, and come to my room tonight."
"...Come at night...? D-Does that mean you're bestowing your essence on me...?!"
There was no way I'd sleep with Sion with the unicorn there, but explaining would be a hassle, so I parted ways with her while she was lost in her delusions.
I could just teach her when she showed up anyway.
Glancing at the clock, quite some time had passed—it was just before lunchtime.
I decided to head to the cafeteria early, wait for Shaomei and the others, and plan our countermeasures.
"A Hexagram event... Worst case, a Demon King's kin or legion commander steps in directly..."
I'd just gotten a nice haircut, but thinking about villains made my head ache again.
Legion commanders or the Demon King's kin were the worst enemies, appearing only in the mid-to-late game.
Like how RPGs don't send the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings right at the start, the strongest villain at this point should be Rexton, who's just beginning to fall to become a legion commander—and even he's easy compared to his late-game self.
Best scenario: some mid-tier villain made a deal with the Demon King's Army and took over the Hexagram organization. Annoying, but I could handle it solo.
'In the end, I need to infiltrate the Hexagram and figure out who's the villain...'
Rushing in blindly was risky.
What if a legion commander or Demon King's kin was pulling the strings right now?
'Hexagram executives we can connect to right now...'
Rexton... I already smashed him. The fallen archbishop who's a legion commander, or the Black Dragon who's Demon King's kin—they haven't fallen or awakened yet at this point.
'Specter King, Lich Harmon, Succubus Liliet—one of those three.'
Whichever it was, they were all too strong to beat by just getting ordinarily stronger at this stage.
The Specter King was a lord-type legion commander leading his ghost army. If he showed up properly, it'd turn into a defense mission for the whole academy against the ghost invasion.
Succubus Liliet was even more of a headache. This succubus corrupted people from the inside out by seducing and tainting them, even messing with allies' minds—the most unpleasant encounter whether early or late game.
In the original story, Liliet was the mid-game villain who made two of the protagonist's heroine candidates betray him—one died in that episode, the other got mind-broken.
But the absolute worst was Lich Harmon.
The Demon King's Army No. 2, the strongest among legion commanders and kin combined—this skeletal mage was so overwhelmingly powerful that fighting him head-on felt stupid.
I could kill him by going the Ruberus disciple route, but as the one who'd received the Demon King's power most deeply, his near-divine infinite mana synergized insanely with powerful artifacts and his own kin. Most unwanted opponent right now.
...In contrast, our forces weren't bad. Agnes, Shaomei, and Kaiyen—these three could solo most villains at this point.
But against legion commander or kin class? No way, I didn't think so.
And I wasn't strong enough yet to support them. Violet hadn't contracted with the Lord of Hell yet either. We needed reinforcements.
"Getting stronger takes time, but the fastest way to bolster..."
As worst-case scenarios flooded my mind, my eyes turned to the status window's shop.
"The quickest thing to complete is item grinding, huh."
I had plenty of materials. Just needed facilities and time. The Hexagram event wouldn't start causing casualties for about a week after it begins.
"Time's tight, but I gotta move starting today. Inventory!"
I pulled out a pen and notebook from my inventory. No need to carry them around—super convenient.
"Let's see, first for Agnes's sword: Phoenix feather and Azure Dragon horn..."
I started sketching blueprints. Time to show what happens when 5th regression perks let you buy rare materials freely.
"For my staff... two Dragon Hearts—no, three... Frame with Tree of Life sap... no, World Tree..."
I grinned. This might be more doable than I thought.
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"Great existence, I wish to contract with you here and now—Ronove──!!"
The preparations for the contract were complete. As Violet shouted vigorously toward the magic circle, it began to glow red.
"Red! Does that mean the contract succeeded?!"
But that hope didn't last. The clan's secret offering in the circle's center, the 'Witch's Sacrifice,' began burning black and soon turned to ashes.
"...Haa, failed again."
The seventh failure. Violet pulled her witch hat low over her face, chewing on the bitter taste of defeat.
Since Arthin's confession, she'd skipped important classes and even the regression gathering, spending all her time on the summoning ritual.
'...Right now, I can't be much help to Arthin.'
Violet hesitated. She wasn't sure if she deserved to stand equal with the other two, since she hadn't confessed first.
So when he'd casually accepted her heartfelt confession, she could only blame herself. She thought she'd just be a burden to him again like this.
"If I could at least bring out half the power I had in my past life..."
In her second life—which was Arthin's 3rd regression—she'd contracted with the Lord of Hell and wielded the power of a great witch. A strength unimaginable in her first life. With that, she could help Arthin against any enemy—
With that in mind, she'd drawn contract magic circles and performed summoning rituals to bind the Lord of Hell—or at least some upper demon—but failed every time.
"Am I just a useless idiot who can't do anything alone...?"
In Violet's view, her second-life contract with the Lord of Hell had been mere luck, catalyzed by the artifact Arthin saved for her.
"...Do I have to ask Arthin for help again?"
But she hated that. She didn't want to look pathetic compared to his other two lovers.
Shaomei was already teaching Arthin martial arts excellently, and as the daughter of the War God—the strongest among the Five Generals—she had strength befitting her fame.
And Princess Agnes? From her position as imperial princess, she supported Arthin maximally, and with her 'Princess Knight' title, no ordinary knight could claim strength before her. Her usual gentle demeanor just hid it around them.
Herself...? Pathetic in comparison. If it got out that Grand Witch Valburg's granddaughter struggled even to contract a lesser demon, it'd be a huge embarrassment not just for her, but for her grandmother who'd loved and cherished her.
"...Again. Let's try again."
Arthin never despaired after one or two failures. He'd traded himself as catalyst to Mephistopheles for the Fruit of Wisdom, gaining fragments of knowledge, but couldn't wield it properly.
Yet Arthin never gave up. He challenged endlessly, repeated, memorized, failed over and over, steadily absorbing the demon's power from the contract into his own.
Of course, the process was brutally harsh to watch. Violet and Kaiyen had tried stopping him multiple times, and there was even that near-fatal accident where, without that hated saintess, Arthin might have died.
Even bedridden, he'd pushed himself, saying he'd do better next time. When Violet asked through tears why he tried so hard,
-"If I work hard, it makes things easier for you all. I really like that." -
Arthin had smiled like an idiot, reassuring her, grasping her hand with his trembling one. Violet had burst into sobs then.
"...Compared to Arthin's efforts, this is nothing."
She pulled out another precious 'Witch's Sacrifice' airlifted from her family. Few remained after repeated failures, but she could always try without it afterward.
She cleaned the soiled room, meticulously redrew the magic circle, checked for any flawed lines, and began challenging the impossible once more.
"Great constellation of contracts, Solomon, hear my plea. The one beseeching the contract is Violet Purplecrow──" Violet stood once more and began chanting the contract spell.