Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Were you looking at me with those eyes?!
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A city came into view in the distance.
Buildings of all shapes and sizes crowded together densely.
Was the city planning botched somehow?
It looked like a maze.
The kind where even the citizens probably had to carry maps around just to get by.
Casteria Town.
Known as the empire's shadow, it was a city thriving in the gray zone that exploited loopholes in the law, with all sorts of shady businesses flourishing.
The streets were lined with gambling dens, brothels, more brothels, even more brothels, and gambling dens.
The key was that they all looked like ordinary shops from the outside.
They hung up signs calling themselves inns and did all sorts of unspeakable things inside.
And it wasn't just those places—illegal activities cropped up all over the city.
A woman wandering alone could vanish without a trace on any given day.
Men, too.
If you didn't know your way around this city, you'd make a fine meal for the urban hunters lurking within.
The empire could crack down if it wanted to, but they let it slide because it hadn't crossed any major lines yet, and it kept the trash conveniently rounded up in one spot for management purposes.
Or so the official line went.
There were also rumors tying it to the first prince.
But that was just talk.
"That's not a rumor—it's true. That pig of a big brother is running a business here."
The princess spoke up during my rundown of Casteria Town.
"It's really true?"
"Something he calls a charity service or whatever. He claims it's relief work for the poor, but really, he's grabbing destitute folks, turning them into sex slaves, and selling them off to other pigs."
"Isn't slave trading illegal?"
"It is. That's why he calls them volunteers instead of sex slaves. Not sales, see? They brainwash them in the process, so the 'volunteers' end up going along willingly. Sick hobby."
"You know a lot about it."
I shot the princess a suspicious glance.
With a wicked girl like her, she might even be in on it.
"Are you suspecting me of being involved in that pig brother's business right now?"
"Ah, no. N-No way... Haha."
Scary woman.
No.
Scary man?
Whatever.
I really needed to watch not just my words around the princess, but my thoughts, too.
It was like she could read minds.
"I didn't go digging for it on purpose. I just happened to learn about it while dealing with various things."
The princess's eyes grew distant.
She looked like she had more to say.
But she clamped her mouth shut and cut herself off.
Instead, she held out her hand to me.
"Give me your hand."
"Pardon?"
"What if you wander off alone and get kidnapped?"
"Me?"
"Yes."
I let out a disbelieving chuckle.
"I'm not the type to get nabbed. I'm a red-blooded man, after all."
"Wow, that's exactly the kind of thing you should never say."
"I've got knight training under my belt, you know."
"That was just a little when you were a kid."
"W-Well, true, but it's still enough to protect myself."
Wait a second.
"Did I ever tell you that Your Highness taught me self-defense when I was young?"
"Who knows."
The princess shrugged with a meaningful smile.
"Who knows...?"
"Anyway, hand it over."
The princess snatched my hand.
My hand was trapped, engulfed like prey in her massive grip.
"Wh-What if someone sees?!"
I struggled to pull free, grunting with effort.
All I felt was the difference in our strength.
"Better if they do."
"Huh?"
"They won't touch you if they think you've got someone."
"Who?"
"Who else? Sir Withbel, obviously."
The princess let go of my hand.
Instead, she wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me close.
Our shoulders pressed together.
"Wh-Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Honestly, Sir Withbel, you overreact to everything. It's amusing, though."
The princess chuckled.
"Sir Withbel needs to embrace the fact that you're a woman right now."
"I'm a man."
"Sure, sure, whatever."
"What."
"Your body right now is a woman's."
I nodded at the undeniable truth.
"Not sure if you realize it, but your current body is the kind that drives men insane."
"Huh?"
"That butt of yours swaying side to side with every step."
"It doesn't sway!"
"Let me correct that. Swaying."
I couldn't see behind me, so who knew.
But thinking of women with big hips walking, and considering mine were pretty substantial, they probably did sway left and right just like she said.
Even now...?
My face heated up.
"And those violent breasts."
"Violent?!"
I reflexively hunched my shoulders.
To hide my chest.
Not that something this size would hide easily.
"But above all, that small, cute animal-like face stirs up men's baser urges."
"How do you know so well?"
"Because I'm a man right now."
"Eek!"
I fled from the princess's arm.
"Come back here."
The princess beckoned me with a finger.
"Were you looking at me with those eyes?!"
"......"
"Why won't you answer?!"
"Anyway, right now, Sir Withbel, you're an easy target for scum because of your beauty."
"Does that include Your Highness?"
"Sir Withbel, looks like you've gotten way too comfortable with me."
The princess smiled with her eyes.
"S-Sorry."
I pouted and leaned my waist against her arm again.
The princess stroked my stomach contentedly.
This was too embarrassing.
"Um... this might be weird to ask now, but..."
A question I should have asked ages ago.
"Why is Your Highness here?"
"That's definitely a weird one to ask now."
I'd set out alone.
But when I arrived, there were two of us.
The princess had been waiting ahead of me at the city gates.
'Fancy meeting here. What a coincidence.'
She'd said.
"Same reason as you, Sir Withbel. To look into the curse."
"Do you have an acquaintance here who might know something?"
"Someone like you, Sir Withbel."
"......So, no."
Meaning she'd followed me in the end.
No, she'd arrived first, so not exactly followed.
"I wanted to learn more about the curse, too."
"Didn't really seem like it..."
"Haha, you're bold enough to say whatever's on your mind now."
"Ow..."
The princess pinched my side.
I still found her intimidating, but after spending time together, I'd realized she wasn't as prickly or evil as I'd thought.
From our talks, I'd learned she could overlook a bit of whining.
"You said it yourself, Sir Withbel. A new line gets added to the curse's magic circle every time you feel sexual pleasure."
"Yes."
"So I figured quite a few lines must've been added to mine by now."
"Huh?"
I grimaced.
The princess laughed casually.
"A man's body is simple, but damn, it feels good for sure."
"Y-You don't have to say it..."
"Morning wood, evening wood, popping up every chance it gets—it's a real hassle. You grab it and shake, and out comes the white stuff."
"You don't have to say it!"
"It's addictive and feels great. I'm pretty into it."
I didn't want to hear about the princess's masturbation updates.
Bottom line, she was saying she'd had her fun with this body, so her magic circle probably had extra lines, too.
Oh boy.
We ventured deep into the city.
After passing the third inner gate, a pungent burnt stench hung thick in the streets.
Hallucination weed smoke.
I cast Purify, erecting a barrier around us.
The acrid smell shifted to fresh forest air.
"Nice sense."
"Thank you."
We pressed on.
"This might be weird to ask now, too, but..."
It just occurred to me.
"Is it okay to walk around so openly like this?"
She'd swapped her fancy uniform for something like an affluent adventurer's garb, but she was still the princess.
"Who'd take one look at me and think 'princess'?"
Her rare black hair and golden eyes might make someone suspect royalty, but no one would peg her as the empire's mad dog princess.
Not a woman, after all.
"Being a man has its perks. Nobody recognizes me."
The princess's hand slyly groped my side.
"You're the only one who knows who I really am, Sir Withbel."
"No, that's not true. His Majesty the Emperor knows, and the Imperial Mage..."
"Don't sweat the details."
The princess pinched my side.
We walked boldly, but eyes definitely lingered on us from the surroundings.
Two people who didn't fit the street at all.
Somehow, more eyes seemed fixed on me, but that had to be my imagination.
Yeah, just imagination.
"Here it is!"
We arrived at a building at the edge of the district.
A single-story structure with no sign.
Looked like a rundown warehouse from outside.
"Wait here a sec."
I slipped from the princess's embrace, grabbed the doorknob, and opened it.
Inside was, predictably, a rundown warehouse.
I shut the door again, then channeled mana into the knob.
A magic circle appeared above the door.
I solved the puzzle-like pattern easily, and there was a click.
Creeeak.
I opened the door once more.
Dazzling lights welcomed us.
"Welcome!"
Women in skimpy swimsuits that barely qualified as clothing greeted us brightly.
Succubi.
This was Casteria Town's biggest brothel.
Paradise.