Chapter 6: Intermission

The inn, which had a rather ordinary name, “Haven for All.”

The innkeeper was idly manning the counter, as usual. Business wasn’t booming in this remote territory, not many outsiders passed through.

However, thanks to a long-term guest who arrived a year and a half ago, he was living quite comfortably.

The guest, an odd fellow, had paid for ten years’ worth of lodging upfront. He mostly kept to himself, emerging only for meals.

‘What in the world does he do all day?’ The innkeeper wondered. The guest’s wealth and eccentric behavior piqued his curiosity, but he resisted the urge to pry.

‘Who knows what kind of trouble I’d get into if I poked around,’ he thought.

Anyone who stayed this long in such a backwater place must have a good reason to keep a low profile.

The innkeeper decided it was best to mind his own business.

After about two years,

“Innkeeper?”

“Ah, yes sir? What can I do for you?”

“I’m leaving. Thanks for the room.”

“…What?” Though he knew the guest’s stay wouldn’t last forever, the innkeeper was surprised by the sudden departure. He quickly collected himself and began to calculate the remaining balance.

“Just a moment. Let’s see… the remaining amount is…”

“No need. Keep the rest as a tip.”

“A tip? What do you mean?”

“Goodbye.”

Before the innkeeper could process the unfamiliar word “tip,” the guest was gone. He watched the departing figure with a bewildered look.

The very next day, several knights appeared at the inn. The innkeeper greeted them nervously.

“W-what can I do for you, sirs?”

“Nothing to worry about,” said one of the knights, a stern-looking man. “We have a few questions.”

“Has a peculiar or unusual outsider been staying here for the past two years?”

“…A peculiar outsider, you say? That is…” The innkeeper hesitated. Should he reveal information about a guest who had paid so handsomely?

The knight seemed to sense his reluctance and pressed him, releasing a wave of pressure.

“…Don’t even think about lying.”

“Hiiik! N-no, sir! I wasn’t going to lie! I was just trying to remember.”

“This is by order of the Lord. It’s in your best interest to cooperate.”

“Yes, sir. Well, there was a guest who arrived about a year and a half ago. He rarely left his room except for meals…”

The innkeeper recounted his observations of the mysterious guest.

“…If this is the man the Lord seeks, you’ll be rewarded.” The knight nodded and departed with his men.

The innkeeper worried. What if his long-term guest had been a criminal? He spent a sleepless night.

The following day, a young woman arrived at the inn. He’d never seen her before, but learned she was the Lord’s daughter. After a brief conversation, she gave him a generous reward, far more than he expected.

‘He was a lucky guest, after all,’ the innkeeper thought, beaming.

After questioning the innkeeper, Leilia sketched a portrait.

“So this is what Teacher looks like…” she murmured, holding the drawing close. The face staring back at her had black hair, unusual in the Western Continent, and exotic features.

“I will find you, Teacher. I promise. And I will protect you…” A fierce determination, bordering on obsession, burned in her eyes.

Within a day of Myeong’s departure, she’d canvassed the entire territory, gleaning enough information to create a likeness of him.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start. She believed that as she grew stronger and more influential, she would uncover his true identity.

Leilia renewed her resolve to train harder than ever, now with a real sword in her hand.

Myeong would never have anticipated this. He’d revealed his face partly out of convenience – maintaining a disguise for so long was taxing – and partly because he felt safe in such an isolated region.

He never imagined Leilia would become so fixated on him. He had been her teacher, yes, but a nameless, faceless enigma. How could he have foreseen such intense affection blooming under those circumstances?

While his dream form was undeniably attractive, Leilia’s feelings ran deeper than mere physical attraction. They were rooted in the subtle magic of Illusion Dream, Lilith’s succubus spell.

Illusion Dream carried a hidden effect: charm.

Succubi, by their very nature, were creatures of seduction, and their queen, Lilith, was the most potent of all.

Myeong, protected by the system’s mental defenses, had been immune to Lilith’s allure. Leilia, however, had no such protection.

For one year and seven months, day after day, she had trained within the Illusion Dream, unknowingly absorbing the spell’s seductive influence.

Though diluted by Myeong’s human form, the cumulative effect would have driven an ordinary person mad with love.

But Leilia was no ordinary person. A prodigy born for the sword, her mental fortitude, already formidable, had been further strengthened by her relentless training.

This, ironically, had twisted the spell’s effect.

The slow, subtle charm had allowed her to mistake the manufactured affection for genuine love, a love she believed she’d cultivated herself.

She’d been happy in the dream, wielding her beloved sword without restraint, in the presence of the teacher she thought she adored.

This manufactured happiness, experienced day after day, had become her reality.

What happens when such bliss is abruptly shattered?

The answer was a deep, fundamental break.

“Teacher, I love you… Just wait for me. I’ll become stronger. So strong that no one can even dream of taking you from me.”

Felia, the head of the Haisen family, sighed as he watched Leilia relentlessly training in the courtyard, day and night.

‘She was fine just yesterday, what happened…?’

Just yesterday, she was radiant, dazzling.

But today, something was different. Her swordsmanship was as powerful as ever, but it lacked its former freedom and joy.

Now, it was forceful, driven by a relentless, almost obsessive focus.

Felia, worried not as a lord but as a father, observed his daughter’s sudden transformation.

He couldn’t have imagined that the cause was a man.

At the forbidden peak of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains in the Eastern Continent, the rumored home of the Demonic Cult, a figure emerged.

Step Step

The figure walked leisurely, finally reaching the edge of the cliff. She stood there for a long time, gazing at the breathtaking view.

After a while,

The shifting moonlight illuminated the figure, revealing a woman with her face veiled in silk, exuding an air of mystique and otherworldly beauty. The veil couldn’t hide the voluptuous curves of her body. She was a captivating enigma.

After contemplating the scenery for some time, the woman spoke to the seemingly empty air.

“Have you found the Sage of the Fist?”

She addressed her ‘shadow’.

The air shimmered, and a low, androgynous voice replied.

“…I apologize. I’ve inquired with the Hao Clan and various other sects, but there’s still no news.”

The voice was filled with regret, but the woman listened calmly, showing no sign of disappointment.

“I see. That’s just like him…”

The woman reminisced, recalling every memory she had of him.

The fascinating, enigmatic man who had shattered her belief that the world lay at her feet.

He had regaled her with endless stories of another world, a world beyond the distant continents.

She had dismissed them as fantasies, but the strange magic he wielded made her wonder if such a world truly existed.

“…He’s a heartless man,” she murmured.

The man who had stolen the purity of the Heavenly Demon, the one who defied the heavens themselves. She yearned for the Sage of the Fist, the man also known as the Demon of Lust.