Melina's Looming Shadow: Thirty Minutes Before Being Ruined Like a Dog by Lady Melina

Thirty minutes before being ruined like a dog by that Melina woman.

'Quest Window!'

Just about 3,800 gold left until success...

Last week, the gold Wolfgang handed over to me and Emilia came to nearly 5,000. My cut was roughly 1,500 or more. Even after setting aside 500 gold as emergency funds for any unforeseen situations that might befall Raibel and Masha, I still had over 1,000 gold on hand. The moment I received my share from this deal, the long, long first quest of my Academy days would finally come to an end.

Standing beside me was Emilia, one of the main figures in this quest. The sight of her captivating lips in profile suddenly brought back memories from two weeks ago.

After those cryptic words, Emilia had walked away. Since that day, she had never brought up the topic again. Of course, I wasn't foolish enough to drag out a conversation that clearly carried complicated baggage. Thanks to that, nothing in particular had changed between us at the Academy. We still maintained our relationship as professor and student who stayed behind in her lab after class, once the other students had left, using "research" as an excuse to have sex.

The one thing that had changed was that the number of times I pulled out now far exceeded the number of creampies. Emilia claimed it was to efficiently harvest semen to meet the rising demand for Viagrak, but deep down it was obvious she was still dwelling on the conversation we'd had.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Just then, as if sensing my gaze boring into her face, Emilia turned her head and looked my way.

"Is something the matter, Albert?"

"Huh? Ah... it's nothing."

"Hmm... is that so?"

Emilia frowned slightly as she watched me brush it off. The atmosphere in the quiet corridor was about to turn awkward when Wolfgang, with his booming uncle-like voice, made his entrance.

"Keh keh keh, making too much money can be a problem too. Just counting it all takes forever."

Wolfgang appeared at the entrance to his hideout with his reliable subordinate Denian in tow, carrying a leather pouch nearly as large as his own upper body.

"Here, this is your share from this batch."

The moment I took the pouch from Wolfgang, a groan escaped my lips.

"Ugh... it's heavier than last time?"

'Damn it, that old dwarf was holding it with one hand like it was nothing.'

Wolfgang had handed it over with a perfectly calm expression, not a drop of sweat on him. Looking at those sturdy arm muscles, it made sense—he was a dwarf, a race that churned out elite warriors like they were mass-producing regular soldiers.

Wolfgang watched my reaction as if it were the most entertaining spectacle, then burst into laughter.

"Puhahaha, don't complain about the weight. Once you see the gold inside, all your whining will fly right out the window."

When I set the pouch down on the floor, a heavy thud echoed, kicking up dust in the already stale corridor. I wiped my tickling nose as if about to sneeze, then untied the string sealing the pouch tight.

'Whoa~ So this is why people get into business.'

Just as Wolfgang had said, a beautiful pile of gold greeted my eyes, delivering a refreshing pleasure completely different from sex.

Emilia, who had been watching me receive the pouch, asked Wolfgang,

"How much is it all together?"

"Keh keh, exactly 5,997 gold and 6 silver. Feel free to count it if you want. It'll take you all day, though."

"We'll check it later. Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Wolfgang."

Emilia, having perfectly completed her third transaction, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now carried herself with such composure that it was hard to believe she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the same woman who had been so fidgety during their first meeting with Wolfgang.

"Almost 6,000 gold... that's 1,000 more than last time, right?"

When I asked while rolling a coin across my palm, Wolfgang flashed a wicked grin.

"Kuh kuh, I raised the price of the potions a bit. Still, there are plenty of fools desperate to buy them. The nobles were lining up with their money in hand."

"Really? That must have been quite the sight."

Encouraged by my response, Wolfgang grew even more animated.

"You bet! You should've seen how crazy those nobles went. Some guy named Lofen or whatever couldn't get his hands on the stuff, so he brought a bunch of burly friends and threw a tantrum, demanding I hand the goods over to him!"

"A-and how did you handle it, Mr. Wolfgang?"

Emilia's question came with an audible gulp. Wolfgang answered with a roaring laugh.

"Krahaha! I casually mentioned it to a customer with a higher title than that bastard. From the next day on, not a single hair from him was seen again."

While Wolfgang was regaling Emilia with his tale of heroism, glowing text appeared before my eyes.

'Finally!'

Based on the day we officially started trading with Wolfgang, in just three short weeks, the gold Emilia and I had earned exceeded 12,000. That was easily enough to buy an entire farm in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a remote imperial territory and still have plenty left over. The quest condition that had once seemed impossibly distant had been surpassed beyond what could even be called "sufficient."

'Let's see what kind of gift the developers have given me~'

Since this was the reward that had kept me in suspense for a whole month, there was no way I wouldn't be excited. Humming a tune in my mind, I summoned my status window.

The familiar name that always popped up in fantasy adult games caught my eye: Womb Tattoo.

As the straightforward name suggested, it literally referred to a tattoo engraved near a woman's lower abdomen, where her womb was located. And if it were just a simple tattoo, it would never have appeared in an adult game.

'Womb Tattoo, get!'

Even back when Elysia Story wasn't an adult game, skills and traits for subjugating monsters had existed. It seemed the developer had applied a similar mechanism to human women. It was brilliant.

The description of the womb tattoo—also known by the nickname "cunt seal"—was the perfect trait for forcibly training heroines, exactly as my knowledge of adult games predicted. Once you succeeded in making them swallow your semen, even a woman who had never held a man's hand before would obediently offer up her virginity on command.

At first glance, it seemed like the ultimate cheat skill perfectly suited for an adult game world. However, that didn't mean the womb tattoo was an invincible ability without weaknesses. According to the description, it could only be activated once per day, and the effect lasted for exactly one hour.

Using Sophia as an example, let's say I somehow succeeded in making her drink my semen and engraving the womb tattoo. Even if I spent the full hour sucking on my little sister's breasts to my heart's content while filling her womb with her big brother's cum, once that hour passed, Sophia would regain control of her body.

What would happen after that?

If I failed to train Sophia within that one hour?

'I'd get my guts run through by Sophia's Ice Spear, that's what.'

Then couldn't I just order her to slit her own throat after fucking her with the tattoo? No. The option of killing Sophia had never once crossed my mind. Not until I experienced the heavenly incestuous threesome in bed with that mother-daughter pair—Sophia, Cordelia, and finally Isabel.

Of course, I had no intention of dying either.

'Which means I have to be extremely, extremely careful when targeting Sophia.'

Sophia's full-scale attempt to approach Arwen would begin at the Academy's academic presentation event, scheduled to take place in about a month. The academic conference, held every spring for three days, had "presentation" in its name but was really more like a festival that drew countless visitors from outside.

Since most of the students attending the Academy were children of high-ranking nobles, the visitors who came to observe were all prominent figures from the imperial political scene or foreign diplomats—so-called important people. From the Academy's perspective, they couldn't possibly pass up this chance to declare to the entire empire just how exceptional their institution was.

During the academic presentation period, everyone from faculty to students was buzzing with excitement at the chance to show off their skills in front of others. And in the midst of that festival's lively atmosphere, Sophia would attempt to assassinate Arwen.

During the finals of the martial tournament—the true highlight of the academic conference that both the protagonist Arwen and Sophia had advanced to. Surviving a deathmatch disguised as a sparring bout had been the unchanging main scenario every playthrough.

'There's one month left until the academic conference. I need to come up with countermeasures against Sophia before then.'

Of course, I hadn't been wasting time just having sex with Emilia without any thought. In my head, I had already drawn up several scenarios to avoid death. Things like not participating in the martial tournament at all, or drugging Sophia before our match to incapacitate her.

But anyway, the academic conference was one thing, and business was another. There was no reason to stop our operation just because the Break Bad quest was over. There was no need to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. The more money, the better.

Naturally, Wolfgang felt the same way.

"Alright, how about we have a drink at Angel's Share to celebrate the pathetic nobles who'll keep bringing us money in the future?"

As the middle-aged man who loved a good tipsy atmosphere suggested a wrap-up drink to his partners, a calm woman's voice echoed through the corridor.

"Fufufu, what an interesting conversation. Won't you let me join you?"

The woman's composed voice was more than enough to draw our attention. A hooded figure approached us with light, cat-like steps. Beside the small-statured, unidentified woman was the silhouette of what appeared to be an average-built man.

The smile vanished from Wolfgang's face as quickly as the tide receding. Just moments ago he had been grinning broadly, suggesting they drink together.

"... Miss, aren't you on the wrong street for a stroll with your lover? This isn't a place for a delicate young lady like yourself to wander into so casually."

Wolfgang issued a cold warning to the uninvited guests who had intruded on his territory. Behind him, Denian slowly uncrossed his arms. The moment Wolfgang gave the order, he looked ready to charge forward and snap the neck of the girl whose face was still hidden in shadow with his massive hands.

Yet even in the face of the raw, violent attitude from Wolfgang and Denian—veterans of the underworld—the unidentified woman didn't so much as twitch her little finger. With a voice that sounded almost childlike, she calmly threw back Wolfgang's words using language far too crude for her tone.

"Wrong street? Not at all. I heard that if I came here, I could catch some rats. Looks like it was true. Fufu."