Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: The Empress's Warning
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"I'm glad our shop has your favorable view, so it's maintaining well enough."
I'd racked my brains, but I couldn't fathom the Empress's sudden intent behind those words.
A single word from her could make our shop vanish in an instant.
That was the power wielded by the Emperor.
The absolute ruler of not just the Empire, but the entire continent.
The being who shone brightest from the highest perch.
The one no one dared challenge—the Empire's Emperor, the Empress standing before my very eyes.
A person from another world entirely, her name known only to the scant few granted private audiences, unknown even to common folk.
Such an Empress smiled, her golden eyes gleaming.
"Favorable view, you say? Indeed. Everyone has their own troubles. A bit of deviation is only natural."
Sweat beaded down my spine at the sight of her sly grin.
Eyes that seemed to know everything.
With a calm gaze, she stared at me for a long while.
"It's fascinating. For someone with such pure eyes to have developed that magic circle..."
"......"
At the mention of the magic circle, I swallowed hard.
I couldn't utter a word.
One wrong word, and not just me, but even my master Meiko could be dragged away.
Worse, Yuris, Helen, Niki, the Saintess—all the customers who'd visited our shop—might get implicated. Anxiety flooded in.
My mind raced with more and more thoughts.
Of course it did.
It felt like this world's admin was debating whether to permaban me.
I had no choice but to agonize over what excuse might let me survive.
Meeting my eyes, the Empress smiled again.
"Hehe, no need to fear like that. I have no intention of punishing you for what happens in the shop."
"I... don't know what you mean, Your Majesty."
"It means I know to some extent what you're up to in that shop. No need to spell it out."
"You already know everything?"
"More or less. What kind of place it is, what it offers, that sort."
"......Did your intelligence network uncover it?"
She laughed again at my words.
"Those kids aren't versed enough in magic to decipher your magical formulas."
That meant only the Empress knew.
I had no idea how she knew about me or our shop, but she was aware—and for now, she had no plans to punish us for it.
"The Goddess Church's doctrines are so stuffy. Especially the sexual restrictions. Commoners might ignore them, but nobles obsessed with honor cling to them desperately."
Wagging a finger, she spoke in a bored tone.
"Isn't 'must preserve purity before marriage' just outdated nonsense?"
"......"
I couldn't respond easily.
Speaking carelessly without grasping her intent could cost me my head.
*Guilty conscience.*
"I believe people like you provide a necessary outlet. Magic that lets you experience it all without actually losing purity... How convenient. It lets them indulge without violating church doctrine."
*Cough! Cough!*
I'd realized she knew everything about our shop.
"Hehe, no need to be shocked. As I said, I have no plans to lock you up."
"Is that so, Your Majesty?"
"Of course. Plenty of nobles pretend to be devout and uphold doctrine, only to live depraved lives behind closed doors."
"Marquis Breadon built a basement facility to torture and abuse his servants. Count Pizateng constructed one to rape captured foreign women. Countess Lyon throws orgy parties with strapping men, they say?"
I was speechless at her casual recounting.
I'd heard intel I wasn't supposed to.
Her words made it clear: every secret in the Empire passed through her. It drove home just how absolute her power was.
"I think it's because they're shackled too tightly before marriage. Youthful urges denied erupt in twisted ways. That's why a moderate outlet is needed."
"You're right."
To think the Empress shared my views.
*We see eye to eye, Your Majesty?*
"Yuris and Niki had their own burdens too. They shoulder far more duties than most."
The Empire's 1st Knight Order Captain and the Hero.
Pinpointing those two, the Empress gave a faint smile.
"I figured giving them a proper release prevents it from bursting out harmfully."
"Exactly. Suppressed desires only burn fiercer."
"Glad our minds align. It's refreshing."
Fanning herself with a sigh, hiding her face behind the fan, she continued.
"The church claims releasing sexual desires births lust demons, spawning new Demon Kings to threaten the Empire... But I disagree. Don't lust demons arise from those who stray into depravity?"
"Precisely."
"Of course, I can't force the Goddess Church to change its doctrines. Imperial authority and divine authority are strictly separated."
Even the Emperor had limits—it mildly surprised me.
So the Empress had constraints too.
"That's why I appreciate people like you stepping up."
Her lips curved as she eyed me briefly.
"But, Sir Max."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Wouldn't it be troublesome if the sexual desires and scandals of such esteemed figures leaked out?"
That's when I realized: that was why she'd summoned me.
"Naturally. Our shop always prioritizes utmost secrecy. No need to worry."
"Hehe, good answer. You get it, so you may go. The payment for the battery will come via the Imperial Guard."
As she turned to ascend the stairs, I called out.
"By the way, Your Majesty."
In my right mind, I never would've dared address the Empress like that.
But perhaps some liberating thrill from finding someone who shared my thoughts in this sexually repressed, dull world.
"Doesn't even Your Majesty sometimes struggle to overcome such desires?"
I'd uttered words that could've gotten me executed for imperial insult if overheard.
An invitation: when even she craved to be honest about her desires, come visit.
"Our shop turns no one away. Secrecy is ironclad. So..."
"Enough. Stop there."
She cut me off firmly.
"I am the ruler of the Empire, the one who must lead its subjects from the forefront. Not someone swayed by personal emotions or desires. So..."
Her gaze turned icy, unlike before.
Her words carried immense power, like when she'd first spoken to me.
A weight that crushed with sheer dignity.
That inhuman, heavy, chilling stare sent a chill through my chest.
"Pretend I never heard that."
"...Understood."
Her tone and demeanor made it clear.
Her earlier gripes about the church's sexual repression and purity mandates were spoken not as Empress, but as a woman.
Yet from her position, she had to act against her own views.
"You may leave."
I stood.
She'd told me to go; no reason to linger.
As I hurried from the grand hall, I felt eyes on my back.
The Empress watched Max's retreating figure.
"An interesting man."
She'd quite liked how he hadn't trembled uncontrollably upon first seeing her, managing responses.
Most quaked and went speechless upon facing her.
That was due to the imperial bloodline's power, passed down through generations.
The 'Dignity' unique to the direct imperial line.
Not mere status-derived awe, but an innate imperial force.
'Dignity' nullified nearly all magic, divine power, and demonic energy used on the continent.
Thus, no magic could deceive her; she saw through illusions and spells effortlessly.
Even magic fueled by demonic energy was useless before Dignity.
And that power overwhelmed all under her rule simply by existing.
The reason knees buckled and heads bowed involuntarily before the Emperor.
Yet Max had been remarkably unfazed by the 'Dignity'.
He felt fear and awe, of course—but far less than others.
"To boldly ask me to become his customer. How arrogant."
It irked her slightly that it wasn't to sate lust for her body, but merely to gain another patron.
She'd considered disciplining the cheeky mage, but dismissed it.
*Can't easily dispose of a mage who makes such items.*
She examined the mana battery Max had developed.
A power she'd never felt before.
Several times the capacity of a standard mana core.
And the mana density from the battery was far superior.
Overwhelming in both quantity and quality.
For the Empress, innately unable to absorb ambient mana naturally, it was an indispensable treasure.
The direct imperial line, able to wield the absolute power of 'Dignity' over mana, was born without the ability to draw natural mana.
The price of their supreme force.
They could only obtain mana from processed sources like mana stones.
Once a month, forcibly absorbing from mana cores was routine.
"This one alone would suffice for a year."
Feeling the overflowing power in her body, the Empress smiled faintly.
Soon, her attention shifted elsewhere.
From the practical mana battery to the power Max wielded that had ensnared her subordinates.
"Illusion sex..."
What an intriguing creation.
She tamped down the rising curiosity.
After all, she was the Empire's ruler.
"......"
Saintess Eirin surveyed her destination.
A bleak land chilled by eerie yin energy.
An dilapidated church built atop it.
Having arrived at this forsaken place no one visited, she turned to the priests who'd escorted her.
- Is this really it?
All nodded at her written question.
"Yes. Recently, the priest and parishioners guarding this place vanished. Five in total. We don't know where, but since all were men..."
The priests spoke cautiously.
"We suspect lust demons."
Lust demon.
Eirin swallowed involuntarily at the word.
One face flashed in her mind.
*'What is Sir Max doing right now?'*
Even in this grim, rundown church sought for lust demon extermination, Eirin's thoughts brimmed with Max.
As if he were a lust demon.