I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Chapter 91 Help Me, Doraemon!

"Hi, Duke."

Amber, who was already standing at the entrance of Duke's apartment, waved to him and greeted him cheerfully. She put one hand on her hip and looked relaxed. On the surface, she didn't seem to have been waiting for Duke for too long, but the several stacks of drow elf picture books scattered on the ground behind her still gave away how long she had been there.

There were still a few single-volume books on the ground that had been opened and hadn't been put away yet. Judging from the few pages there, she was reading pure romance novels.

That shouldn't be the case, isn't this lewd elf's taste leaning towards Japanese pornography?

Duke had been invited to Amber's house for two or three "doujinshi appreciation meetings," which made him realize the powerful technical skills of the doujinshi artists in this other world. To be honest, in this world of swords and magic, there were professionals everywhere whose physical abilities far exceeded those of ordinary humans. These professionals turned to being artists, and the average quality of the picture books they drew was frighteningly high. Moreover, the style of each series was extremely consistent and exquisite, unlike the uneven quality of his previous life.

To give an analogy, if Duke's previous life's doujinshi were like the character art level of FGO, with some being amazing and others being terrible, then the artbooks released by the Drow elves in this world are like Cygames starting to make eroge (adult games), with a consistently exquisite art style.

cough!

In short, through these two or three "doujinshi appreciation meetings," Duke learned a little about this perverted elf's XP system, which was roughly equivalent to "Damn, sis, your XP is so weird!"

As for why Amber, who has such an XP system, suddenly started reading BL (Boys' Love) doujinshi, Duke has no clue yet... Just take this as fact.

“Amber,” Duke smiled somewhat awkwardly. “Good evening.”

"How are you feeling?" Amber asked with some concern. "What did Eve tell you?"

She said she just needed to rest for a few days and she would be fine.

"Oh, then you must take good care of yourself."

After a few simple words, the atmosphere between the two suddenly became awkward. Clearly, neither of them had forgotten Amber's confession. This somewhat sudden confession not only put Duke in a difficult position, but for Amber herself, it was also an unexpected incident that happened in a moment of impulse.

Although they haven't known each other for very long, Duke and Amber have a very good relationship.

The fact that a girl would invite you to her house for a "doujinshi appreciation session" implies that the two of you have a pretty good relationship—not in a romantic sense, but purely in the sense of friendship.

However, Amber is clearly no longer satisfied with just friendship.

"Duke, perhaps we should continue with what we did this afternoon?"

She took the initiative to speak.

Duke hesitated.

For him, Amber was a rare friend, and the first witch to unconditionally trust him during his darkest hour. Amber's existence held special significance for Duke, yet this very significance made him hesitant to accept her confession.

The consequences of that social death seemed to gradually disappear after the public outcry subsided, but in reality, its aftereffects still affected Duke. Duke instinctively feared changes in relationships and the further chain reactions they would trigger. He feared that such a chain reaction would cause the interpersonal relationships he had painstakingly salvaged to collapse once again.

"I'm sorry, Amber, I was dizzy at the time and don't remember..."

Duke suddenly had a brilliant idea. He immediately decided to learn the trick of the oblivious yet kind male protagonist from anime and manga, and was about to lie and say that he had forgotten what happened that afternoon, thus glossing over the confession incident. But before he could finish speaking, Amber interrupted Duke:

"I like you, Duke."

Amber smiled and spoke.

This time, there was no one else in their way to make the confession.

And the only witnesses were the dazzling starry sky above them.

"Shall we be together?"

Faced with such amber and such affection, Duke could no longer run away.

Duke took a deep breath, his gaze meeting those amber eyes instead of comparing them, and then uttered words that even he found chilling:

"I'm sorry, I... I'm not ready yet."

He knew Amber's feelings for him, but he didn't dare to reciprocate them—it was precisely because he could sense Amber's seriousness that he doubted whether he was qualified to respond to her.

"It's ok."

Amber's body stiffened slightly, but the smile on her face didn't fade, nor did it reveal any unexpected disappointment; it seemed that Amber had long anticipated this. She also took a deep breath, suddenly tilted her head back, and facing the starry sky that had witnessed her bitter and failed first love, loudly proclaimed:

"Remember this, one day!"

"One day, I will make you fall in love with me!"

"Hmph, I'll be waiting for the day you take the initiative to kiss me, Duke!"

Amber, with her head tilted back, didn't want Duke to see the tears in her eyes. After fiercely issuing her challenge, she vanished as if fleeing, leaving behind only a pile of love-themed notebooks and a silent Duke.

……

"Guangbao, do you think I'm a terrible guy?"

“You’re quite self-aware.” Cecil glanced at Duke and nodded confidently: “If you’re not a jerk, then there are no jerks in this world.”

"I'm such a jerk!" Duke, who had been directly insulted by Cecil, had no confidence to refute. He gulped down the large glass of beer in his hand and then complained to Cecil again, "Amber had clearly mustered up so much courage, but I hesitated and didn't give her a clear answer... What should I do?"

But the fact that you didn't respond rashly also proves that you're serious, right?

Cecil took a sip of his drink before realizing that he had been speaking up for Duke in his mind. He quickly took another sip to calm himself down.

"And Natasha keeps inviting me to 'train my racial talents,' I've been avoiding her for days, what should I do?"

"Me, over?"

A lesbian succubus invites a man to help train her racial talents... As expected of a succubus, she really knows how to play.

This shocked Guangbao for a whole year.

"And Gretel, he just finished his training and wants to come visit me. What should I do if that kid keeps sticking to me like this?"

Duke slumped onto the table, then began to act out in his drunken state:

"Help me, Doraemon! Give me your magical gadgets and solve all my problems."

"What nonsense! There's no such thing as a convenient gadget these days!" Doraemon rolled his eyes, but then quickly thought, "Wait, wait, there seems to be one?"

Duke looked up in shock.

"I remember Eve once developed a love potion. She said it had the power to make all women submit, and no one could resist the pleasure it produced, forgetting all their troubles. Your problems are all emotional debts, right? If you find this love potion, won't they all be solved?"

Duke: "?"

Is this love potion of yours truly legitimate? Is it really not some kind of overpowering drug that will ruin your brain?

Chapter Ninety-Two My House Is Quite Big

Duke and Cecil were enjoying a midday drink at a bar that was open during the day.

It's been over a week since the Crown-level Witch game ended, and Duke has returned to his peaceful and stable daily life. He hasn't used his eleven-pull yet. As someone with terrible luck, Duke plans to wait for an auspicious day to perform a grand gacha ritual, determined to use superstition to overcome his misfortune.

As for the Soul Requiem on his chest, Duke had visited the antique shop yesterday, but for the past week, the shop had remained closed, with only a perfunctory notice posted on the door: "The proprietress is out, please don't worry about the shop."

Judging from this notice, which may have its own thoughts, Duke probably won't be seeing Scarlett O'Hara anytime soon.

However, although the week was relatively peaceful and Duke had been resting and had not participated in the witch games, the events of the past few days made him really want to talk to a friend.

Several weeks have passed since the incident, and Duke has made friends again in the floating city. Although most of his friends are women, can't a girlfriend be considered a friend?

A girlfriend is not such an inconvenient thing!

Of course, when Duke needed someone to confide in, he began to carefully consider the background of his friends and realized that there were very few people he could actually take out for drinks and pour out his troubles to.

It was impossible for Amber, who had just confessed to him not long ago. Most of his troubles stemmed from that confession. Duke desperately needed someone to persuade him to completely reject Amber, or to persuade him to accept Amber's confession—he wasn't so heartless as to confide his emotional troubles to Amber.

Natasha, who had repeatedly asked him to help train her "racial talent," was naturally not up to the task either. Although the "Kiss of Truth" in the Witch Game was necessary to complete the game, Duke couldn't imagine what Natasha's feelings were when she kissed him—looking at the bright "Passion" in the affection system, Duke felt that the answer was already obvious.

Grete was taking witch classes under the arrangement of the floating city, but the busy cake princess still kept taking time out of her busy schedule to sneak away to play with Duke, just like a sister clinging to her brother. Duke did indeed treat her like a sister and care for her. However, Duke often heard some very dangerous brother-complex words from this cake princess. Heaven knows why Grete, who clearly has a brother, doesn't control Hansen, but instead controls his brother Duke.

They'd only just met, and weren't familiar enough yet. The same applied to Bain, and Duke was terrified of being beaten to death by his brother-in-law.

Joseph, who was also male and a senior adventurer, would have been the best option. However, Joseph had recently become absent-minded and spent his days aimlessly searching for something in the air. After thinking for a long time, Duke decided it was better not to invite him for drinks.

After much thought, the only person Duke would choose to call over for drinks and to vent his frustrations was probably Cecil.

"Guangbao? He's my good older brother, our best buddy."

Although Cecil was one of his five rumored ex-girlfriends, Duke had only known her for three days before his death, so their relationship wasn't very deep. While her feelings for him had now risen to friendly, this was a pure, revolutionary friendship that developed gradually from initial dislike through two witch games!

And so, it turned out like this.

"Help me, Doraemon!"

"There's no saving him, just wait to die. Goodbye."

Cecil yawned, giving the slightly tipsy Duke a disdainful once-over. After listening to the confession of this notorious scumbag from the floating city, she came to a very clear conclusion:

"I think you brought this all on yourself."

"Waaah!"

Duke was sunk.

"I clearly turned over a new leaf, started behaving honestly, and was content to conquer the witch game!" Duke swallowed the bitter wine, his heart aching. "Why did it turn out like this?"

Cecil rolled his eyes at Duke.

The problem lies in your strategy for navigating this witch game.

You manage to "bewitch" one witch in just one game; there aren't enough witches in the floating city to keep up with your mischief!

Of course, she didn't voice her thoughts aloud. Instead, she casually swirled the wine in her glass, letting the amber-colored liquor swirl naturally. Suddenly, she remembered something and asked, "Speaking of which, do you still remember the gift you gave me back then?"

"That knight's sword?"

“Yes, it’s that decorative knight’s sword.” Cecil said with some surprise, “It’s started glowing at night lately.”

“A sword? A decorative knight’s sword?” Duke tilted his head. “It’s not a decorative knight’s sword.”

"Huh?"

"what?"

The two locked eyes and fell into a brief, eerie silence, which was soon broken by Cecil:

"That sword isn't a decorative knight's sword? But what real knight's sword would use such an uneven construction? It's easy to break, with flashy but impractical decorative runes, and it's inlaid with pretty gems, and the blade isn't even sharpened!"

Duke looked at Cecil with bewilderment and relayed what he had seen from the system item's description interface to the former paladin in front of him:

"The varying widths are for smooth magical transmission, right? Those runes are enchanting techniques from an ancient magical empire, right? Those gems are magical gems, right? The blade isn't sharpened because it hasn't recognized a master yet, right? That sword is called 'Judgment Angel,' it must be a very high-level magical weapon, right?"

Cecil: "???"

I absolutely do not know!

As a notoriously useless witch who "knows nothing but holy light," Guangbao couldn't figure out the secret of that magical weapon at all. Besides Cecil, the only other witch who frequently visited her house and knew the origin of the knight's sword was Amber, who was also notoriously useless and "knows nothing but spatial magic."