Let’s Try a Survey Next Time

Helen’s mind finally snapped awake at Max’s question about dissonance.

Even though emptiness and the pleasure still tickling her heart lingered in her body.

Even though the sticky, wet fluids and juices had soaked her pants and underwear.

Her mind, at least, quickly returned to reality.

“Ah…”

She had momentarily forgotten, lost in pleasure.

The reason she had entered this illusion.

Wasn’t it to somehow find the dissonance in the illusion magic and defeat Max?

That’s right.

I came to defeat this man.

So, I have to answer.

With the answer I’ve thought of.

Max had said.

Dissonance is an inevitable presence that arises when creating illusion magic.

Something that makes you aware that it is not reality.

That, he said, was dissonance.

In the short illusion, Helen recalled the dissonance that had made her aware that the world was an illusion.

There’s only one, after all.

That is.

“…Aison Propard.”

It was that man.

Helen knew that a loser could never change like that.

Max had recommended him to the Meister School, but Helen knew better than anyone that he didn’t have the talent to succeed to that extent.

And he wasn’t the type of person who would dare to humiliate her.

Even if she was kicked out of the Silvesta family.

Right?

I won, right?

“What’s the reason?”

“That loser could never overpower me. That’s the reason.”

Helen answered in a trembling voice.

Come on, quickly declare defeat.

Tell me you lost.

Max shrugged.

“The approach was good. Unfortunately, it’s wrong.”

Aison Propard wasn’t the dissonance?

That can’t be.

“So, that loser is going to try to humiliate me later?”

“I think you’re mistaken. The video I showed you isn’t something that will happen in the real future. It’s just an illusion. An illusion where someone else’s desires are overlaid on you. And the Aison in that video is the Aison Propard I ‘designed’.”

“So the dissonance…”

“Lady Silvesta, wasn’t it strange that you could use spirits even in the illusion?”

“Huh? What do you mean…”

“I must have said it in class. In strong illusions, mana often reverses, so abilities may not manifest.”

-In illusions, mana often reverses, so your abilities may not manifest properly.

Max’s voice echoed as if overlapping.

“The stronger the illusion magic cast by a powerful illusion magician, the harder it is to manifest abilities. But Lady Silvesta skillfully used her abilities in the illusion.”

“…That was the dissonance?”

“Yes.”

“But! That’s…”

“It’s not dissonance because it’s the same as what happens in reality?”

“That’s right.”

Clearly, dissonance was something that made it possible to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Then isn’t it strange that being able to use spirits is dissonance?

“Then is it possible to use a magic circle to turn the spirits contracted to you into your own limbs?”

“…Huh?”

It felt like she had been hit on the head.

Spirit contract.

It was an absolutely non-transferable contract.

Not just a simple contract, but a contract where souls were connected through mana.

It was a contract that linked the souls of humans existing in the material world and spirits existing in the spirit world.

Therefore, no magic could break that contract or arbitrarily control it.

The reason Helen couldn’t react to the spirits’ betrayal was all because of this.

Of course, I thought that loser had created some ridiculous magic.

“What kind of magic did you suffer from that Aison?”

“…Ah.”

Aison didn’t use any magic.

He simply prevented the spirits from moving as she pleased and gave them orders.

It was the spirits who bound her, prevented her from resisting, and even tormented her breasts.

“The spirits themselves were the dissonance?”

“That’s right. I even gave you the hint that it was close by, but you got it wrong. I’m a little disappointed.”

“No, that’s…”

She had no words to answer.

Max had clearly given her a hint.

It was she who had not realized the essence of the spirit contract.

She was so angry that she hadn’t realized the essence by only looking at the appearance.

But she couldn’t say anything.

The moment she did, it would all be excuses.

This was a complete defeat.

“…I lost.”

“I like that you admit it cleanly.”

“So, what do you want?”

“Pardon?”

“I said, if I win, you’d tell me Yuris’s weakness, but I didn’t hear the conditions for when you win.”

She gritted her teeth and looked up at Max.

“I’m a Silvesta, so I’ll keep my promise.”

“First, go inside and wash up. How long are you going to stay in such an embarrassing state?”

“…”

Only then could Helen examine herself.

Her condition was a mess.

Her proud academy uniform was stained with sweat, fluids, juices, and urine, and her hair was disheveled.

A few buttons on her shirt were undone, revealing her cleavage, probably torn open during the illusion magic.

It was an appearance that was hard to believe for the Silvesta princess.

Realizing belatedly that she was in a state she couldn’t bear to show to others, she covered her chest and groin with both hands.

“Pervert…”

She looked up at Max and said, confirming that her shirt was undone.

“It was unavoidable for the sake of the illusion’s realism.”

“…”

“Wash up first. I’ll tell you my wish later.”

“Okay.”

Helen hurriedly entered the shower room.

Helen, glancing at Max cleaning the spot where she had been, ran away as if fleeing from the rising shame.

Only after showering did Helen regain her composure, and she put on the new clothes Max had prepared with her refreshed body.

It wasn’t as good as the Silvesta family’s, but it was still made of fairly luxurious fabric.

The design was quite crude, though.

A loose-fitting, light purple design.

The clothes, which had no buttons or zippers like pajamas, gently embraced her body.

She didn’t like the design, but the fit wasn’t too bad.

“Just wear it until your uniform is dry. I cleaned it with cleaning magic, but it’s taking longer than I thought to remove the stains.”

“…”

She felt her face flush with shame.

She couldn’t deny that she had felt too much, even though it wasn’t the desire she had wanted.

“…That’s good. I can hear what you want while I wait for it to be washed.”

“You are my student and my guest. You cannot make a wish.”

“No. This is the result of the match between you and me. Enjoy the winner’s rights to the fullest. I’m not going to be petty about something like this.”

“Hmm…”

She spoke strongly, but Helen was very nervous.

She knew.

The Aison Propard she had seen in the illusion was clearly being played by this man, Max.

The face of Max reflected under Aison Propard, whom she had seen while swimming in the waves of pleasure.

It was definitely this man.

The man who had insulted and humiliated her in the illusion.

Was it because she knew that the scene in the illusion was due to this man?

Helen, who was making the offer, felt a tightening in her heart.

Thump, thump.

Very nervous, she waited for an answer, clutching her rapidly beating heart.

Tension, fear, and a little expectation.

That was what was constantly exciting her now.

‘Wait, expectation?’

Am I expecting?

For this man to humiliate me?

Don’t be ridiculous.

This is just fear.

I said I’d grant your wish to protect Silvesta’s honor, but I’m nervous because I don’t know what this man will do.

She repeated to herself as if hypnotizing herself, and raised her head at Max’s words.

“Since you say so, I understand.”

“Wh-what do you want…?”

Her voice trembled.

There was a slight squeak at the end of her words.

“It’s simple.”

Purple eyes staring at her.

Purple eyes shining brightly under faded light gray hair scanned her up and down.

And every time his gaze swept up and down, Helen flinched without realizing it.

A strange expectation.

Fear of not knowing what she would suffer.

Those subtle emotions were intertwined in Helen’s heart.

“Please do a survey.”

“…What?”

The strange expectation and fear that had raised her so much at the wish Max had said were released in an instant.

With a slight sense of futility, Helen asked as if she was dumbfounded.

You took so long just to do a survey?

No, before that, Silvesta told you to wish for anything, and all you said was a survey?

Disappointment was only temporary.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never heard Lady Silvesta’s desires directly. Until now, I’ve been overlaying you with Yuris’s desires, haven’t I?”

At Max’s words, Helen raised the corners of her lips.

I knew it.

I didn’t think it would end so anticlimactically.

“You want to hear my desires?”

“That’s right. We are a video hall that reflects the desires of our guests. If possible, I’d like to reflect Lady Silvesta’s desires.”

Her desires.

I’ve never thought about it.

“You want it now?”

“No. Come back in a week. We’ll conduct the survey then. Until then, try to recall Helen’s desires as much as possible.”

“You’re trying to induce a return visit. You’re definitely a skilled merchant.”

“We have few customers. We have to protect even the ones we have.”

“…Okay. I’ll do that survey when I visit next time.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

She looked at Max.

Max’s words about wanting to uncover her desires.

‘As expected, he’s a devil.’

To want to know a woman’s secret.

What a lewd man.

‘I have no choice. I made a promise as Sylvesta.’

Watching Max, Helen bit her lower lip, unaware that she was already looking forward to the next visit.

“Good. Prepare properly. I’ll come as Lady Sylvesta, not as a student, then.”

***

“Kkyaaaak!” “Save me~~!!”

The mountain fortress of the bandits located in Mangor Mountain was burning.

Before they could even increase their power, the bandits, thoroughly subjugated by the Empire’s Knights who had been dispatched, were busy screaming and running away.

“Why, why did the Imperial Knights come!” “They’re monsters!” “Run away!”

The Empire’s First Knights, clad in shining golden armor.

“Exterminate all the bandits who dare to harass the Empire’s citizens and the weak!”

The Guardians of the Goddess of Victory, the Empire’s strongest military group, the First Knights, had reached Mangor Mountain just to subjugate bandits.

“Kill all who resist! Spare those who surrender, but if they show any intention of a sudden attack, you may kill them.” “Yes!”

Yuris, at the head of the Knights, was literally crushing the bandits.

The familiar forest. The familiar mountain.

Every scene was familiar, but.

“Ugh, sa, save me…” “This isn’t it.”

The bandits, terrified and trembling as they looked at her, were not the real ones she had seen in her fantasy.

Fake bandits. Fake men.

They were no different from the other ordinary enemies being trampled by her.

She had come all the way here with a slight expectation.

The small hope that maybe the real ones were here.

But, contrary to her wishes, the bandits were too weak.

To dominate her.

“Pathetic.”

She looked at the bandit who was sitting down in front of her, pissing himself, with cold eyes.

“Sa, save me…”

A human not even worth killing. A petty bandit who steals property from the weak.

She sheathed her sword and threw handcuffs.

“Put them on yourself.” “Th, thank you.”

Yuris sighed, sheathed her sword, and thought.

‘I want to see Master.’

A lewd thought that the Goddess of Victory would never have.