Ch.102Anastasia of Pure White

The snow-white girl who introduced herself as “Anastasia Yuria Asmad” invited us to sit at the table.

Perhaps due to the shocking information that had arrived without warning, it was only after we sat down and exchanged introductions that we noticed the small table in front of the girl had somehow transformed into a spacious round table.

“What’s wrong? You all look as if you’ve seen a ghost in broad daylight.”

“Well… I have many questions, but I suppose the most important one is about that name.”

“My name? I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep, but I thought there wouldn’t be any humans left who would know my name.”

“That… the surname Asmad…”

“Ah, so that’s what you were curious about. Yes, it wouldn’t be strange for humans to know that name.”

After saying this, Anastasia calmly took a sip of her tea and then dropped a bombshell statement with an utterly nonchalant expression.

“Deidric Asmad is my husband.”

“Eh…?”

Jessica, and indeed everyone present, doubted their own ears.

It wouldn’t be strange for the Great Sage to have a wife or children, but for it to be a girl who appeared no older than her mid-teens, and a self-proclaimed Queen of Succubi at that?

Even I, who had crossed over from Earth, was confused, so the natives of Grantis… especially Jessica, must have been shocked beyond measure.

“Hmm, those are faces of utter disbelief. Is it the fact that Deidric had a wife that perplexes you, or is it that he took a ‘monster’ as his wife that’s the problem?”

“Monster… are you really…?”

“If you cannot believe it, I won’t force you to. After all, I’m merely a widow in quiet seclusion, having stepped away from my duties of leading my kin.”

“For someone in quiet seclusion, there seems to be quite a noisy fellow living downstairs.”

“Oh, that? When the front door is closed, not a sound from downstairs can be heard. Despite appearances, I paid special attention to soundproofing, insulation, and lighting when building this place.”

Anastasia tossed out the light joke as she crisply bit into a snack on her plate.

Each of her movements seemed like those of a pure child, yet somehow also seductive—perhaps because I’d heard she was a succubus.

Noticing me following her every hand movement with my eyes, Anastasia chuckled and gave me a smile with her eyes.

“You there, man. Don’t stare at me so intently when you’re already traveling with four women. How do you plan to deal with the consequences later?”

“Uh… I wasn’t really looking with that kind of intention.”

“Oh? You claim you harbor no lustful thoughts even with me before you? How interesting. Shall we test that?”

With those words, Anastasia was suddenly sitting face-to-face on my lap, cupping my face with both hands, our faces close together.

The beautiful amethyst-like purple eyes of the snow-white girl were looking at me from a distance so close our noses nearly touched.

It was a situation that could captivate even a man with no interest in children, but for some reason, my heart was filled with wariness and a sense of danger rather than excitement or palpitations.

“Fufu, how about it? Do you still claim your heart remains unmoved?”

“Wait, stop. Hey, madam. A married woman shouldn’t be clinging to another man like this.”

“How cruel. It’s been hundreds of years since I lost my husband, and for a succubus to have maintained her fidelity this long is something worthy of praise. Are you saying I should continue to sleep alone without even tasting a man who has come along after such a long time?”

Anastasia, still sitting face-to-face on my lap, pressed her lower body tightly against mine and slowly began to rotate her hips.

Though she had the appearance of a child, she was indeed the Queen of Succubi.

The dizzying sensation and atmosphere nearly made my resolve waver, but I couldn’t make a pathetic display in front of Jessica and Seti.

“I understand your situation, but if you need a playmate for the night, look elsewhere. I’m taken, with two claimants already.”

As I said this, I grabbed Anastasia’s waist, lifted her off me, and set her aside. She stared at my face with wide, round eyes.

“This… is impossible. A man, and a human at that, rejected my charm?”

“Well, no matter if you’re a succubus, I have no desire to cheat on my lovers with a married woman when they’re right beside me.”

“That cannot be. My enchanting evil eye is a magical ability crafted specifically to captivate men, especially humans.”

“Ah… I see. Then it makes sense it wouldn’t work on me.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“I’m not the ‘human’ you know. The same goes for Jessica here.”

“…What did you say?”

Anastasia stood there blankly for a moment, not understanding what I meant. She then shed her seductive demeanor, returned to her original seat, and asked with an utterly serious expression.

“Explain in detail. If not human, then what exactly are you?”

Instead of answering, I passed the baton to Jessica with a glance, and she nodded slightly before beginning to explain the history of Grantis as she knew it.

The story, which began with the arrival of the first-generation immigrants at the eastern foothills of Grantis in the first year of the Pioneer Era, continued for nearly an hour.

“It cannot be…”

After hearing everything from the arrival of the pioneers, the invention of magic guns, the development of magic, the western frontier project, and the extinction of the ancient human race as revealed through ancient documents, Anastasia murmured with wide, trembling eyes.

“So you are descendants of immigrants who arrived by ship from the outside world, and the humans who lived in this land all perished without a single survivor?”

“According to documents found in ancient ruins, yes. Of course, there’s no guarantee that what’s written in those documents is 100% true, but at least the pioneers haven’t met or heard rumors of any human natives in the past 100 years.”

“Ahhh…”

Anastasia seemed greatly shocked by Jessica’s firm answer, hanging her head and trembling with tightly clenched fists.

Unable to even offer words of comfort, we waited for several tens of seconds until Anastasia’s sobbing voice filled the white room with sorrow.

“Deidric… poor man. So in the end, all the effort he poured into the remainder of his life ended in futile failure…”

“When you say that, does it mean the Great Sage Deidric Asmad was trying to…?”

“Yes. My husband sought a way for humans to survive the black mana. Even after experiencing more than enough failures, he couldn’t let go of hope until the very end.”

Leaning back weakly against her chair, Anastasia let out a long sigh and gazed off into the distance.

“He was so happy thinking that descendants of the humans he saved had returned to this tower, but it was merely outsiders bringing bad news…”

“From your perspective, I suppose that’s true. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry… yes. It is truly regrettable. In the end, Deidric Asmad accomplished nothing and passed away drinking only the bitter cup of failure throughout his life.”

“That’s not true.”

Jessica shook her head, denying Anastasia’s self-deprecating words.

“We may not be the ancient humans Deidric Asmad tried to save, but thanks to the numerous legacies he left behind, we were able to overcome the threats of black mana and monsters to secure our place to live. I don’t know how it looks to you as his wife, but to us pioneers, Deidric Asmad is truly a hero of salvation, a sage of omnipotence.”

“A hero of salvation, a sage of omnipotence… fufu, such praise would have kept that man awake with embarrassment had he heard it.”

Anastasia took another sip of tea with a bitter smile.

Though it must have gone cold during Jessica’s explanation of Grantis’s history, steam was still rising from everyone’s teacups on the table.

“But if your story is true, then the skies and lands of Grantis are still covered in black mana, and this tower remains hidden from the world. How were you able to find your way here?”

“I’m not sure where ‘here’ is exactly, but we were able to come here thanks to a grimoire containing transfer magic. We opened a gate with the power of that book and crossed over from Riverside… the fourth city built by our pioneers.”

“That is impossible.”

Anastasia spoke in a resolute voice as she reached for a snack.

“The magic of transfer can move one instantly across great distances, but only to places connected by land or waterways. However, this tower is completely disconnected from the land of Grantis by magical power… if I were to make an analogy, it’s like the interior of a dungeon, a separate world unto itself.”

“Which means…?”

“No matter where your city is built, as long as it stands on the land of Grantis, it is absolutely impossible to open a transfer gate leading here.”

“Hmm, but we definitely came through a gate.”

“Yes. A long, round blue door.”

When Mina and Seti said this, Anastasia closed her eyes briefly in thought, then tilted her head and asked:

“What exactly was this grimoire containing the transfer magic?”

“It was a hardcover book about this size. It was called ‘The Book of Adventure,’ and the spell to open the gate was written on the first page.”

“Do you happen to remember the content of that spell?”

“What was it… something about time and space?”

“‘Cross time, beyond the horizon, to the unknown tower hidden in the mirage…’ is what I remember.”

“!?”

Anastasia dropped the snack she was holding onto the table upon hearing Phyllis’s answer.

Her reaction was quite different from when she heard about my resistance to her charm or that we were immigrants from outside.

“How widely known is the existence of that book among you outsiders?”

“Probably not very well known? The client who assigned us to investigate this dungeon is trying to keep the information hidden.”

“Other people will come looking for the dungeon after we return, but it’s unlikely many will find out about it. Of course, we have no intention of revealing anything about the Arcane Word, so no one else will reach this room.”

“Speaking of which, is the Arcane language still passed down only among the elven race?”

“Basically yes, but Will here has the special talent to recognize Arcane Words despite being human. Whether men like Will will gradually increase among other races in the future, or whether Will remains the sole exception, is yet unknown.”

“Hmm… I see. So that’s how it is…”

With a slightly relieved expression, Anastasia looked at each of the five of us in turn and then asked:

“Would you all be interested in taking a ‘request’ from me as well?”

“Depending on the content and compensation… I suppose?”

“It’s a simple task. Just take me outside, that’s all.”

“Wait a minute. Aren’t you a monster living in a dungeon? Can you leave?”

“What an amusing thing to say. How could a succubus meet men and satisfy her desires if she were bound to a dungeon? I merely built my home on the upper floor of the dungeon; I am not under the control of the dungeon core or boss.”

“I see.”

Indeed, a succubus whose profession is to seduce men would likely end up forever single if confined to a dungeon.

Though the situation of a married succubus who has been alone for hundreds of years doesn’t seem much different.

“Well, alright. We’ve mapped out the dungeon, so taking you out won’t be difficult. What’s the compensation?”

“How about granting this man the highest pleasure that no one else in the world could provide?”

“”No way.””

The compensation Anastasia proposed was immediately rejected by Jessica and Seti.

Their vigilance regarding sexual matters seemed to have reached maximum levels after she had climbed onto my lap and seductively tempted me earlier.

“Fufu, how cute to see you desperately blocking your man from being taken by a succubus. Then how about teaching the two of you—no, all four of you—the night techniques of the succubus race instead? The curriculum will be 100% practical, of course.”

“T-that’s…”

“It’s not that I’m not interested, but…”

Jessica and Seti blushed and stammered, while Mina and Phyllis also hesitated, unable to find words to respond.

Sensing that I was about to become a sex education practice subject for the four women, I hurriedly interrupted their conversation.

“D-do you have any compensation besides nightlife skills? The techniques of the Succubus Queen are certainly appealing, but I’d rather not wither away at a young age.”

“My, what a spiritless man. Very well, if there’s something else I could offer…”

Anastasia waved her hand in the air, conjuring a rolled parchment, and held it out to us.

“Would a formula for grand magic left by my husband suffice?”

Jessica was struck by another great shock at Anastasia’s casually delivered words.