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The two on the far left were northern women. Their skin was as white as snow. Their breasts were on the smaller side. Both were tall, over 170 cm. One was about 175 cm, and the other was around 170 cm. Their black eyes looked this way, filled with curiosity. The woman in the middle was from the south.

She had bronze skin and a resilient body. Even so, her face was the prettiest among them. Starting from the fourth, they were blonde slaves from Aiwood who had been trained for pleasure. These slaves were all ones Louis had received from slave traders when he established business relations with them last time. Come to think of it, Louis had forgotten about them since then.

The prettiest-faced slave woman from the south, who was in the middle, stood politely and said, “We will relieve your fatigue.” That was the beginning. The six women gradually approached Louis. Their movements were as different as their skin colors.

They had likely learned their techniques in different places. The Aiwood women and the southern slaves showed clear signs of having practiced even their smallest gestures many times. The northern women were somewhat awkward, but Louis thought that aspect had its own appeal.

A sweet fragrance wrapped strangely around the room, as if incense was burning. The southern slave who introduced herself to Louis as Ren brought a small jar. It was filled with fragrant oil. She poured it over her body. The honey-like liquid inside flowed down over her. Louis, who had watched up to that point, quietly closed his eyes.

Several hours passed after that. The women lay beside him. They had all collapsed from exhaustion. Two were tangled together, and another was bent over at the edge of the bed. Every face looked as if they had experienced something unbelievable. That was not wrong. Ren, who had crossed the distant sea from the south, was a high-class sex slave who had professionally learned her skills in a place called the Garden of Pleasure.

One of the things she clearly remembered when learning about men was that men could not continue multiple times. And Keshiti, the woman from Aiwood bent over the bed, felt the same way.

She was not a virgin. She had already had experience before becoming a slave, and to be precise, she had practiced with professional men there. Those experiences had given her the initiative, at least in bed. Except with the man before her. Louis. After Linsia, Louis had dealt with six women and was not tired at all.

Rather, he had only been further stimulated. Given time, he could have continued all day. But responsibility weighed heavily on Louis’s shoulders. Louis opened the window. A vast map opened before his eyes. The System. And the full map of the Duchy of Eron that it displayed.

It could broadly be divided into the north, center, and south. The north was where his original house was located. It was ruled by three houses, and one of them, House Haidek, had been smashed by Louis. In any case, the territory had expanded northward.

It was Pantalist. The barbarian lands. Its city, Gedria, had been activated. Its population had also grown considerably. A city with plenty of food was bound to experience explosive population growth. Gedria, which had banana-producing areas, was receiving a bonus effect from Euclid’s Aqueduct, and the amount was an astonishing +8 per district. Since it had three districts in total, the total production was as much as +24.

Considering that the average production of an undeveloped ordinary city was 0.5, it was an enormous amount, enough to feed the entire country. What made this possible was an incredibly long aqueduct connecting Pantalist to the nearest river across the distance of an entire region.

It was not an ordinary aqueduct, but a magitech aqueduct. It was an aqueduct imbued with magical effects that overcame gravity and shot water upward in reverse. Its raw material was Black Water. Frankly speaking, Pantalist had become more important than the capital. In truth, the Huns called the place where they had originally lived a cursed land, hated it, and wanted to escape from it, but they did not know its true value.

To Louis, this land was an S-rank city overflowing with two powerful resources that could not be exchanged for any other city. At present, there were three cities with this level of value. The salt region possessed by House Boarne in the south.

The commercial city at the edge of the central region, where House Batenberg lived, connected to all external commercial networks. And Pontina, which had originally not been a city of that level but began supplying explosive amounts of food after Louis built a unique building there.

There were many other places that were fairly ordinary, but these three regions in particular overwhelmed the others in terms of food, resources, and monetary income. Even so, by Louis’s standards, these cities were around A-rank. Once its geographic dangers were removed, only Pantalist had the highest value.

That was why Louis had stationed a considerable portion of the troops he owned in Pantalist. The biggest reasons were that its members were still barbarians, that he could not completely trust the Huns, and that he had to mix the population there in order to fully assimilate them.

The red light for food was lit in practically every place except the major cities. Even the capital was currently yellow, but for it to turn completely green, the food produced in Pantalist had to be released. That ambiguous point was now. Louis’s eyes turned upward. A border stretched across a region not far from the capital.

From here on was the Kingdom of Ruderwin. Among its territories, the one directly touching the border and continuing along a long plain was Duke Christopher’s domain. Just as easily as he could attack this side, Louis could attack him as well. The fact that it was a plain meant both sides could move their troops with rapid mobility.

There was no need to advance slowly as in Pantalist. In a plain region like this, what mattered was timing. The battle would be decided in an instant, and the one who seized the king first would win. Either Louis would be surrounded midway and captured first, or Louis would reach the enemy’s core and capture Duke Christopher—no, Nestor.

At that moment, a light flashed beside the map. This meant a new trait. Louis immediately checked the light. New information. It was a monarch trait. Louis still did not have a special ability like Atila.

There were four traits he could choose from in total. As if proving Louis’s actions until now, every single one was aggressive. Just as Atila had the trait known as Divine Calamity, Louis had now also become such a leader who could gain special effects during war. In any case, they were all appealing traits.

In the case of number three, Builder, it would display an overwhelming effect when laying siege to a city. Siege warfare using siege weapons required a long period of time, and building formations was therefore important. If he could isolate the opponent so they could not move, as if spinning a spiderweb, and slowly dry them to death, or use the defensive effects of a fortified position to repel them one-sidedly when they came out, it would have tremendous strategic value.

The second, Blood of the Usurper, seemed to have appeared as if to solve this very situation. Mobility was life in the operation to capture Duke Christopher, and minimizing fatigue when advancing on the capital of someone confirmed to be an enemy meant he could make a pleasant advance with no reduction in mobility at all. In addition, the advantage applied to city attacks was also an excellent option.

The fourth, Wondrous Plunder, was specialized for guerrilla warfare. It was a trait that could create a foundation for running a country through continuous war and plunder alone. If he chose this trait, he would have to change the overall framework of national administration. However, among the four traits, it suited Louis the least.

Lastly, Treasure of the Warmonger. This trait was practically a promise for the future. It did not directly involve war, but if—if he succeeded in occupation—it meant he would receive a reward for it. The reward was research, something Louis desperately wanted. The random aspect bothered him a little, but if he could make it work, he could run an aggressive strategy while still making the speed of his civilization’s development overwhelm other countries. At the very least, he would not fall behind.

Louis smacked his lips. Then, after thinking for a moment, the one he chose was Treasure of the Warmonger. His idea was to resolve battles with his own strength and receive the maximum rewards, using that momentum to rapidly develop the nation.

Kadrian, the third-ranked member of the Wandering Guild, was walking down a dark corridor. Her hair was chestnut-colored, and she wore what looked like the half-undone upper garment of a clown. It was precarious enough that if just one string were cut, the clothing would come completely undone. Her legs were bare, and she wore a dress-like outfit with light inner shorts.

Her face was painted white as if snow had been poured over it, and her lips were an intense red. The place she passed through was a secret location. It was the greatest shame within the territory possessed by Duke Christopher. It was a place connected to the Demon Realm, where all manner of evil deeds were carried out. Beneath the long corridor she seemed to be walking through, there were in fact many pits connected below.

Various forms of cruelty were unfolding in each pit. In the pit on the right, around forty women between the ages of twenty and thirty were being sexually abused. Their eyes were filled with despair. Other than the actions necessary to maintain the bare minimum of life, only a life of such abuse remained for them.

And because they knew that fact well, despair seeped from their eyes. The mental energy of these women all became ingredients for black magic. On the left, torture continued. Men and women were mixed together, tied to pillars and various devices. Torture was originally a criminal means not meant to create pain, but to obtain information.

However, what was taking place below now was the former. It was violence carried out to inflict pain and destroy the mind. This, too, was a method to convert the destructive energy obtained through pain into black magic.