The Maid
Controlling runaway lust was incredibly hard.
If it had been about exploding it outward the way I bloomed the White Flower, it would have been easy. This time, though, I had to rein the lust in, convert it into mana, then turn that mana back into life force. Otherwise my wrinkled skin would never recover. Having burned through every last scrap of vitality, I would crumble to ash. And Keira and Elena, cut off from any mana I could give them, would fade into transparency.
Somehow I still managed it.
Even when the surging lust raced through every cell, killing and reviving them in turn; even when life and death flickered at the edge of my willpower; even when my cock swelled so hard it felt ready to burst—I forced myself through it. I fought that battle for a full hour and came out healthier than before. It felt like a complete rebirth. I had wrung every drop of moisture from my body and then filled it again.
And rebirth brought matching rewards.
Otherworld Residence Contract proficiency has increased.
Otherworld Residence Contract makes contact with new otherworld energies. Absorbs a total of eight energies, including Dimension Kaldi, Dimension Gabi, and Dimension Chang.
The eight energies react with existing ones. Energies of Dimension Kaldi and Dimension Gabi respond strongly; the remaining six are faint.
Potential rises dramatically.
28/29 → 28/32
Through the contract, eight new dimensional energies have been encountered. The scale of potential growth expands. Current increase: Medium.
The contract must have absorbed the residual Necromancer energy left inside the maid. True B-class Keeper status was right in front of me now. The Otherworld Residence Contract itself felt ready to climb another proficiency rank. I couldn’t see the numbers, but I could feel them.
“...Ugh, hic...”
Keira burst into tears the moment she saw me open my eyes. She said she really thought I was going to die this time. After watching me convulse and vomit blood for a whole hour, that reaction made perfect sense. I had put her through hell.
“I’m fine. Just exhausted enough to feel like death—I’m not actually dying. Look.”
“Waaah, waaaah...”
Keira sobbed brokenly. Before, even a hint of moisture in her eyes had been rare. Was she about to turn into a crybaby from now on?
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. Hic. Healthy.”
“Elena?”
“I’m all right. I’m so glad you woke up, Jungmin.”
Elena sat quietly beside Keira, her own eyes glistening.
“It really is Lu’s blessing. I’m so relieved.”
I mirrored Elena’s prayer posture. Coming back to life really had been thanks to Lu, in a way. Having crossed Gates of Sacred Rank 4 and higher more than once was the only reason I could handle this kind of lust.
“What kind of priestess am I, useless at a time like this... I’m truly sorry.”
“It’s okay. None of this is your fault. And Elena is precious just as she is, so don’t think like that.”
“Jungmin...”
Elena had known nothing of what happened inside the tent. That was entirely thanks to the magic circle Keira had set up—one that blocked sound, presence, mana, everything. The people outside had no idea what was going on. It was also proof of how intense my sex had become. Without a circle of that caliber, everyone outside would have known.
If it had been a mana-based phenomenon Elena might have sensed it, but lust was still a foreign power to her. She only entered the tent after I collapsed and Keira called her. There was nothing she could do for me once I was down. Recovery magic only works if the body still has life force left; it does nothing for someone who is ninety-nine percent dead.
“What exactly happened?”
“I think the maid possessed Keira’s body. I don’t really understand it myself.”
That was all I knew. At the end I had simply felt that if I just kept going I could send her off, so I poured everything into it—and it worked.
“...I’ll explain that part.”
“How do you know, Keira?”
“Because I was the one who got possessed.”
Traces of the possessing maid had remained inside Keira. From those traces she had read the maid’s memories and pieced together the entire story.
“The maid’s name was Ida Hye.”
Keira told us everything about the maid: how a human living in Cheolwon met Becancho and became his maid; how Becancho’s final magic had drawn her all the way to the Eternal Gate; how lust had reborn her as a virgin ghost, and how she had finally attained enlightenment and passed on.
Hearing it left me a little sad. From the moment she met Becancho, her life as a person had ended.
“...At least she found peace, so maybe that’s something?”
“She was genuinely satisfied at the end. Being with you must have felt good.”
I almost smirked without thinking, but I held it in. There was a sharp edge under Keira’s words. If I had smiled, a fist would have landed in my gut.
“If she attained enlightenment, does that mean she won’t respawn anymore?”
“Not quite. What found peace was only this particular remnant. The respawn will still produce the original maid again. Look—our channels are still here.”
“Channels?”
Huh? How did Keira know about that?
I could still feel the channel connected to my left shoulder. Normally Keira shouldn’t have been able to sense its existence at all.
“The channels Becancho left behind for us. They mutated a little this time, so they’re pulling lust out along with everything else.”
Exactly right. Both lust and Necromancer energy were flowing out through the channels.
“But how can you sense them, Keira? You never could before.”
“Because I can read the Necromancer’s memories too.”
“What?”
Keira’s eyes lit up as she spoke. What remained wasn’t only the maid’s memories. The Necromancer’s memories that the maid had carried were still there as well.
Jackpot.
A Necromancer’s memories weren’t just the story of his life. They contained his experience, wisdom, knowledge—and above all, his magic. Everything that made him who he was.
“Then... can you use the Necromancer’s magic?”
“Not all of it—only fragments. And his memories span hundreds of years, so I’ve sealed most of them for now. If I’m not careful they could swallow me. I’ll be able to learn more gradually.”
“Even fragments are huge. This is magic from a mage who crossed dimensions!”
A Necromancer’s true power came from his magic, no matter what anyone said. He had rarely shown it, but if he had ever started casting in earnest we would all have died. The entire Eternal Gate crisis had happened because of his handiwork. If he hadn’t gotten careless and had simply fled with Mjolnir, Korea would already be under his rule. Beating him had been pure luck.
“Right. Which is why I can do this too.”
Keira closed her eyes and laid her hand on my left shoulder—right over the channel the Necromancer had left behind.
A low hum.
I felt the lust inside the channel stir and nearly jumped. Keira wasn’t a succubus, yet she was moving lust. The Necromancer energy seemed to shift as well.
The hum deepened.
After a short while the channel simply melted away. A problem that had weighed on me for the past three weeks was gone.
“Keira! That was amazing! You can move Necromancer energy too?”
“Just a little. I can’t create it, but I can influence what’s already there. Anyway—it’s gone now, right?”
“Yeah. Completely clean.”
Next she erased the channels linked to herself and to Elena.
“We should clear Suyeon’s and Sena’s too.”
“I will. And that’s not all.”
“There’s more?”
“I can completely erase the maid.”
Elena and I both stared as Keira explained.
“It’ll take a week.”
That was how long she needed to annihilate the maid for good. She didn’t know the spell yet, but she was certain she could pull the necessary magic from the Necromancer’s memories. Reverse the spell that had fused the maid with the Eternal Gate, and it would be done.
“Perfect. I’m counting on you.”
“Leave it to me.”
Keira smiled brightly—the smile of someone who had just been handed the whole world. All the frustration of having no answer for the maid seemed to wash away at once. In every way, it was a relief.
One week later we confirmed the maid would no longer respawn and left the Eternal Gate.
Completely erasing her had cost Keira a great deal of effort. She had to redraw a magic circle the same size as the one she had first erased before it finally succeeded.
The moment we stepped out, the Director was waiting for us. She had entered the Eternal Gate midway for mana recharging, so it hadn’t been a full week for her.
“You’ve worked hard. Is the maid finished now?”
“Yes. Keira cleaned it up perfectly.”
The end of a long, long fight. Counting from the succubus incident, nearly two months of trouble had finally closed.
“That’s a relief. Then we can move on to the next schedule.”
“That one?”
“Yes. My grandfather is waiting.”
The grandfather of the Kim Nari and Kim Nayeon sisters—former Director of the National Intelligence Service, Kim Woongchan. Meeting him had been the condition for the help he gave me during the Association incident last time.
I wasn’t about to get chewed out... was I? Over the Director?
Nah... that was private life... right?