Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Lingering Afterglow and the Hero's Secret
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"Good work."
Helen, still nestled in my arms as if the afterglow hadn't faded, murmured.
Even back in reality, she treated me like I was her professor and she was a grad student.
"I'm glad you seemed satisfied, Helen."
"......"
She looked up at me for a moment and asked,
"It was just an illusion, but... we really did it, right?"
"...Yes. We did."
Just as I'd told her before we started, I'd entered the illusion alongside Helen, so we were both under its effects.
If I'd stayed outside as the manager, I wouldn't have had to participate directly, but since I'd gone in, I was just as affected by the illusion magic as she was.
We were in the same boat.
Helen blushed at my words.
"It was... pretty good."
She buried her face in my chest, whispering as she bowed her head.
With that, she headed off to wash up.
"Whew, I went and did it again."
I sighed as I listened to the sound of water from Helen washing herself.
I'd originally had no intention of doing it.
But I couldn't just ignore someone who wanted it that badly.
She was a regular who'd been coming to my shop almost from the start, after all.
'That's not the only reason, though...'
Truth be told, I'd given in to desire just like Helen had.
How could I walk away from a woman coquettishly begging for it right in front of me?
A noble lady from one of the empire's most prestigious families, no less.
One of the top geniuses at the Imperial Academy, to boot.
'And beautiful, too.'
Any man would have a hard time passing that up.
'I hope she doesn't get too addicted.'
The sex we'd had—and everything leading up to it—was only possible because it was an illusion.
If it happened for real, it'd be a scandal on multiple fronts.
I hoped this didn't make Helen too obsessed with these illusions.
I'd created them for enjoying pleasure, not for getting hooked or addicted.
"She's a smart girl. She'll handle it fine."
With that thought, I cleaned up the magic circle we'd dirtied.
The room, soiled with our bodily fluids, was thick with a lewd scent.
'......'
Even though my body was exhausted from days of relentless marching, that naughty smell stirred a reaction.
"Is this thanks to the workouts, too?"
My stamina showed no signs of running out.
Pretty amazing, really.
For a mage, my endurance was downright absurd—maybe it was only natural.
As I wiped up Helen's final squirt for the finale, I struggled to calm my erection.
Helen headed home.
Thump thump.
Her heart was still racing.
Just recalling what happened in the illusion made her lower belly heat up.
The instincts Max had awakened were gradually settling on the way home, but her body was still responding like a bitch in heat.
'It's a shame.'
She wanted to do it one more time.
She wished Max had handled her even rougher.
She wanted Max to prove with his body that she was nothing before him.
Max had ended things very gentlemanly(?).
Hearing his heartbeat when he hugged her tight brought her such peace.
Though it was more like scooping her up than a proper hug, Helen didn't mind.
She'd faced him in that position, locking eyes with him as they had sex.
"I want to go again."
Still held in his arms, that's what she'd whispered.
That's when it happened.
"Miss, you've returned."
The butler's voice rang out.
H-he didn't hear that, did he?
"Ah, butler..."
"Did you enjoy the bakery?"
"Y-yeah..."
"You look like you did. Your face has such a glow. And wanting to go back already... No wonder it's so popular among the young ladies."
"Y-yeah?"
What a relief.
It seemed he'd misunderstood her "I want to go again."
"Y-yeah, I do want to go back. Ha, haha!"
Hearing the butler's words, interpreting it as wanting to return to the bakery in a slightly different sense, Helen sighed in relief and patted her chest.
That had been close.
As she patted her chest, Helen felt her heart race with a strange guilt.
If the butler had understood what she really meant by "I want to go," what expression would he make?
'I'm sorry, butler.'
I'd gone and had such degrading delusions for the Silvesta name.
It was all that teacher's fault.
Max, the lewd man who'd turned her into this.
Max, who wielded illusion magic so skillfully, driving her mad.
His look with the glasses was right up her alley.
Helen swallowed secretly, imagining Max for a moment.
It looked like she wouldn't fall asleep easily tonight.
Following the Empress's orders to check on the Hero, Yuris headed to Hero Niki's home.
-Even after returning to the capital, she hasn't picked up her gear.
The Hero might be a free spirit, but she'd never gone this long without checking in.
Whenever she came to the capital, she'd at least pay a courtesy visit to the Empress.
But this time, she hadn't shown up.
This wasn't something to brush off.
It meant there'd been some major change in her life, enough to make her forget her usual routine.
'They say some past Heroes went mad from power that was too great, turning into monsters.'
After "sealing" the Demon King, one past Hero had wandered seeking a worthy opponent, unsatisfied, and ended up reviving the Demon King himself.
He'd needed a proper rival, apparently.
Another had fought the Demon King to the bitter end, sealing him before dying.
There was no guarantee the current Hero, Niki, wouldn't follow suit.
The Demon King had been fully subjugated and erased now, so he wouldn't revive.
But...
'Niki herself could become the Demon King.'
That must be what worried the Empress.
The possibility of something rising to replace the now-nonexistent Demon King.
If Niki showed signs of turning into the Demon King, it meant kill her without hesitation.
'No way the Hero becomes the Demon King?'
That's what Yuris thought, but the Emperor's insight was deeper and broader than a mere mortal like her could grasp.
Her Majesty always had her reasons for issuing orders.
So obedience was the natural path.
Yuris headed to Niki's house.
"Where the hell is this...?"
Checking the map as she went, Yuris found the lavish house located outside the capital's outer walls.
This place was far more remote than even the capital's outskirts.
The mansion the Empress had gifted the Hero.
Originally, Her Majesty had planned to build a grand estate on the capital's priciest central land, but Niki had refused, saying a modest house on the outskirts would suffice.
It was just for one person anyway—bigger would only mean more upkeep.
-I like quiet spaces. Somewhere secluded where fewer people come is even better.
She'd turned down the capital outskirts too, opting for a cheap house outside the outer walls where farmers and laborers mostly lived.
Fewer people coming around made it ideal.
Everyone who'd heard the story praised the Hero's exemplary humility.
As expected of a Hero.
'She really is different from others.'
What an unusual person.
They'd adventured together, fought side by side on many battlefields, yet she remained inscrutable.
She just didn't show her inner thoughts easily.
Hard to deal with, in a different way from the Saintess.
-I'm fine.
-Eat first. I'll eat separately.
-Ah, I'll head out ahead. No need to follow. I prefer alone time.
Aside from the Saintess, she kept this subtle distance from people.
She acted carefree on the surface, but never revealed her deeper feelings.
Even now, Yuris had no idea what her past was really like.
Yuris knocked on the gate.
"Lady Niki, are you home?"
No answer.
"Lady Niki?"
"......"
Still no answer.
What could be happening?
She could sense someone's presence inside.
"I'm coming in."
Confirming the gate wasn't locked, Yuris opened it and entered.
Passing through the impeccably maintained garden toward the entrance, Yuris's ears caught an unfamiliar sound.
"Haa, haa."
Rough moans.
A woman's ragged breathing and moist, sensual groans.
'What is it?'
What could make someone moan like that and breathe so heavily?
'No way. An ambush?'
No.
No smell of blood.
No signs of combat at all.
"Stop... Hngh!"
Niki's desperate voice.
She was pleading for it to end.
Then it had to be...
-Be careful. Anything could happen.
The Empress's warning about her possibly turning into the Demon King flashed in her mind.
What if Niki was fighting her inner Demon King right now?
If that's why she couldn't visit the Emperor and was suffering alone?
Leaving her like this would surely lead to disaster.
The Hero who alone subjugated and erased the Demon King turning into one herself.
It could be an issue demanding the empire's full might.
The demons and dark kin we'd defeated might revive, unleashing unprecedented calamity.
'I have to stop it.'
She absolutely had to prevent the Hero from becoming the Demon King.
She wasn't the Hero herself, but as a knight who'd fought alongside her, she was the empire's strongest besides the Hero.
She wouldn't go down easily in a fight.
Yuris gripped the doorknob and yanked it open.
Crack!
The magic-reinforced door shattered helplessly.
Bang!
"Hero!"
Yuris burst through the door.
For the Hero, who might be suffering and resisting corruption alone.
And upon entering...
"Hngh! S-stop! If you keep going, I won't hold out! Haaah!"
Yuris saw Niki—whom she'd never seen like this—strapped with a grotesquely shaped dildo between her thighs, grinding away in sumata.
"H-Hero?"
Niki's eyes, hazy from climax as she panted, met Yuris's stunned gaze.
"Ah..."
Her face turned beet red.