Dungeon of Lust: Managing Otherworldly Beauties

Chapter 265: Human Disguised Monster or Monster Disguised Human?

Vale chuckled lightly, then said:

"Don’t hold back."

The gurgling of the surrounding flames was the only sound filling the cavern for half a minute.

Eventually, Quill broke free from her internal thought.

"Mister. What are you?"

"’What are you’? What exactly do you mean?"

Quill’s shoulders shifted for a moment, but she didn’t lose composure for too long.

"The Vice, even in the tales, don’t seem like beasts, but villainous humans. So, I guess what I’m asking is... How did you become a Vice? How are you so... intelligent and informed of human culture?"

Vale smiled as he leaned back.

"I’m afraid how I got here is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. But what I can tell you is that I used to be a typical human once, just like you. That’s why we’re quite alike."

Her hazel eyes widened.

Vale continued:

"I doubt any Vice before me has spilled the beans on our origin, but we are all regular people summoned against our wills from different worlds and forced to become the Masters of Vice."

Vale scratched his cheek and added the last part.

"Though, from what I’ve theorized, our selection is not random."

The woman’s stare blackened.

"Another... world? Normal human?"

Vale nodded.

"Correct. I didn’t even have powers where I come from. Nor was Aether a thing. Or perhaps it just wasn’t discovered. Either way, we Vice didn’t choose to be here. But, just like you, we are here. And as with all life, we do what we need to to survive. If what we do to survive just so happens to be immoral... so be it."

Quill let out a quiet chuckle as she brought a hand to her forehead.

"It sounds wrong. All so wrong... but it’s true. How can this be true?!"

A loud exhale slipped from Vale’s lips as he added:

"Though don’t go trusting us Vice because we were normal humans once. As I said, my theory is that we were not chosen at random. But even if that’s wrong, there’s one truth I know we all deal with. We each have something like a parasite eating at our minds, forcing us to do the heinous actions we do."

The woman’s gaze was fixed directly on Vale’s eyes. Her own eyes glinted with reverent curiosity. But alongside that curiosity was a touch of pity.

An odd sentimental thought slipped from Vale’s mind.

"I try my best to stay on my path. To act only how I’d act before I became a Master of Vice."

Vale patted his face, tracing under his eyes which glowed from [Charm].

"But obviously the slow erosion of my personhood ‌has continued no matter how much I convince myself I’m fine."

"I see..."

Quill gazed over at the frozen Ximena with curious eyes. After taking a few breaths to process the world altering information the Vice before her just spilled, she asked:

"What about them? Where do they come from?"

Following her gaze, Vale looked upon the delicate ice flower who’d almost shattered a mere week ago.

"They’re summoned here, just like me. But they’re summoned to be my subordinates and possessed their powers before hand."

Her curious eyes studied the crystal owl before they slipped over to the snake.

Vale took this slight reprieve to deactivate [Charm]. It seemed it had already done what it needed to do...

’How deplorable I am.’

Quill hadn’t exactly fallen for him. But the negative view of him was broken and crushed. Now, Vale sat before here merely as an enigmatic stranger, not a potential enemy.

Yet, a small part of Vale desired more.

This woman...

What was so wrong about making her enamored by him?

What was so wrong with drawing her completely to his side?

Sure, it might be against her will, but that was only her will as it existed now. If her volition were to change on its own, then whatever it became would, by definition, be her will. And if that were the case, did catering to her current will truly matter? Once transformed, she would follow him not out of coercion, but out of genuine reverence — of love, even. It would feel natural to her.

It would be her will.

Not Vale’s

Vale wouldn’t be invading her mind or forcing foreign desires upon her. Rather, those desires would be simply hers; she wouldn’t have changed at all.

Those thoughts?

Vale consciously flushed them away.

But the fact they popped into his mind at all was invasive and scary.

Very scary.

Quill finally looked back at Vale.

"Do you have another question?"

The girl nodded. Vale gestured for her to ask away.

"Mister Vale... what happened?"

Holding up her hand, she pointed at the flames and frozen people.

After a slight chuckle, Vale replied:

"How bold of you to ask a Vice to reveal his ability."

Despite words that could be perceived as a threat, Quill didn’t even blink.

"But this ability was a result of a Trait of mine. Sadly, since we are on opposite sides at the moment, that’s all I’ll tell you. And, it may be selfish, but I do request this to be kept secret."

The less people who knew about the ability the more he could take by surprise.

"Understood."

’Oh?’

Not caring to pry more, Quill added:

"Liora. The destruction of that village was the catalyst for this war. But it was you who killed them all, right?"

Her eyes carried a world of doubt. The monster Lust was assumed to be was harshly conflicted by the human Vale was.

Vale’s stare hardened. His expression was flat, but his mind was in a rage.

’That bastard oracle.’

Vale clenched his hand.

’Was this part of your bidding as well?’

Kick-starting the Akkuron-Celestia war?

Shaking his head, Vale provided the most honest answer he could.

"I did not do that unprovoked. Sure, I sought some gains from it, but my only reason was we saw one another as an enemy. Enemies which had decided war was the only way to settle our differences. And, think about it like this, if Akkuron had the chance to raze Celestia, would they not?"

Quill nodded.

Maybe she didn’t exactly understand how one could commit an atrocity like that, but she could understand the words Grady had said mere moments before.

’War itself is crazy. To win a war, one has to become crazier than the idea of war.’