In the magic tower of Zaneas.

Inside a simple and small dorm room.

A jaw-droppingly handsome man was kneeling on the stone floor in prayer.

"... And may you bless us all with joyful orgies, universal love, and heart-satisfying sexual pleasure, Bless... Fuck you, Erta." - As soon as the young man finished his prayer, his pious expression changed to an apathetic one in a heartbeat as he cursed the sex goddess he worshipped moments before.

"I know you're the goddess of liberal sex, but please, at least have a decent prayer, dammit! And stop arbitrarily changing it all the time!" - The young man complained.

Naturally, that young man is "Handsome Jacque.", also recently nicknamed the "Holy Heart Breaker." due to a misunderstanding with a certain overimaginative cleric that happened two ten-day weeks prior. It is worth noting that the Qagtuna order search team already left after a week of fruitless results.

After Jacque finished complaining, he stood up while straightening up his clothes.

"Hah... Today. Today I will do the ritual and then could finally stop wearing this shitty pendant." - Jacque mumbled as he held up a plain bronze pendant worn on his neck.

The pendant initially looked pricey, but Jacque had its form altered to this more modest appearance to avoid any complications from arising. It was the sacred item of Erta, <A Sacred Prostitute’s Heart>, a ridiculous item that even her clergy don't want to wear. It had the amazing effects of protecting the wearer's mind, soul, and spirit from almost anything. Still, it had three quirks, with one of them forcing the wearer to uncontrollably pray to the goddess of romantic freedom, sexual liberty, and consensual sex, Erta, once a day.

Jacque could remove the pendant whenever he wanted to, but he had to wear it to study a cursed demonic book that knew how to cure a certain 'condition' of his.

Incidentally, during these two weeks, he also got to learn from the tower's library that over 200 years ago the sex goddess's religion was uprooted from the Kingdom of Luria by the holy order of Qagtuna and was now established in the Jhalarian lands to the far east of the Luria kingdom, a large and stateless land comprised of many tribes, settlements, and cities that do not listen to any power or uniform government. Any god that adheres to too many laws is frowned upon there, while gods who are more free-spirited are favored instead.

 

After Jacque finished his now-daily complaining, he walked up to his desk and pulled a large and thick scorched book with over a thousand pages out of a seemingly small pouch. A pouch enchanted with magic that can expand its inner space while dividing the weight inside to a mere tenth.

On the book's cover was a red runic pentagram circle with a strange symbol of a heart with an eye inside it with two tits on the side, the demonic symbol of Lust. Jacque had learned from reading the book that its name was "The Tome of Lyxara, Queen of Succubi." Or, at least it was a well-made copy of the original, as the original could never be harmed by mere mortal flames.

Either way, through the book, he discovered many demonic and forbidden spells and rituals of the Lust domain. Among them were spells to create a mist that turns everyone who inhales it horny or filled with bloodlust, mind-control spells to control others to your whim, a charm spell to make others fall madly in love with you to the point of killing others, a spell that covertly grants random magical STDs to someone you sleep with without affecting the caster, and spells that can suck others' vitality through intimate contact, rituals to summon demons and even rituals that allow one to go through gradual succubization with the final goal of becoming a full-fledged succubus, a shape-shifting dream demon that charms its victims to commit evil and sucks their vitality and soul dry through intimate contact.

Some of these spells and rituals required the sacrifice of weird materials, such as the deflowering blood of a virgin, a deflowered virgin boy's first vaginal ejaculation, or a deceased adulterous person's fingerbone. However, some rituals required a living sacrifice, usually that of lust-filled people with evil tendencies. That is also why many worshippers of Lyxara build their lairs as brothels, providing a viable food source for succubi while also granting access to sacrifice materials. At least, that's what the book said.

Jacque also noticed a few traps inside the book mostly meant for none-demon-cultist readers, one of which was to charm unsuspecting readers into making an unfair demonic pact where the reader would sell their body and soul for a paltry sum.

However, all of these diabolical spells and rituals were none of his concern. Instead, he looked at the spells that were not evil, per se. Spells that make you likable, spells that increase your beauty to the other party, aphrodisiac spells, cure magical STDs, sexual enhancement rituals, etc. Among them, there was a certain ritual that fit his needs.

Jacque flipped open the book, not caring about the curse placed on it thanks to his pendant's protection, and reached a certain page of interest, and in it was a certain unassuming ritual that could 'cure' his 'condition'.

 

Ritual description:

 

As Jacque looked at the ritual again, he couldn't help but have a pondering look on his face.

"This demonic ritual isn't that evil, and the ingredients are relatively cheap and easy to get when commissioned in the alchemist's guild. It is even comparable to an orthodox wizard ritual, albeit more disgusting. They even added detailed notes and warnings. This is true for all those relatively harmless other rituals. Is this a freebie given to a demon cultist?"

His gaze then landed on the final warning and he grimaced.

"The only problem is that I am taking a big risk by doing the ritual myself, and I cant seek the help of others for obvious reasons. And I can't risk casting the ritual inside the tower, either, as sage Wuqirax might sense something, and although he is not against us studying black magic, he explicitly told us that practicing black magic inside his tower is forbidden. Gods know what he will do to me if he finds out I messed with demonic magic inside his tower! Death might be a release at that point..."

At the thought of all the bizarre methods a wizard can utilize to torture people, Jacque couldn't help but shudder in fear. It is one of the reasons many dread wizards.

Shaking his head out of the morbid thoughts, Jaque closed the book and put it back inside his pouch.

Knock* Knock* Knock*

"Sir Jacque Zuvintetve! Your delivery is here!" - An aged male voice sounded outside his door.

Jacque's eyes lit up as he strode to the door and opened it, revealing an aged and graying mustached catkin man with golden earrings on his cat ears wearing an expensive-looking blue butler uniform.

"Your delivery, sir." - The aged butler said, lightly revealing his feline fangs as he reached out to his pouch and extracted a small sealed package from inside it.

"Thank you, Mr. Shay." - Jacque smiled and nodded as he took his package, but didn't dare tip the aged butler.

"Your welcome, sir. Carry on your studies, and be careful with your experiments." - The gray-haired butler blinked his golden verticle eyes as he lightly nodded and then left to continue his duties, his grey tail swishing from side to side.

That man is sage Wuqirax's caretaker, bodyguard, butler, and life partner¹Yes, Wuqirax is a gay man, like Dumbledore from HP, and?, also known to most as Mr. Shay. Few things are known about him, but those who offend him usually get kicked out of the tower by the day, so nobody dares offend him. Given that he is the bodyguard of a master wizard, it is also safe to infer that he is a warrior of equal status, and he deserves all of the respect that he receives.

However, because he is a mild-mannered and polite man who does his job almost perfectly, few people can find fault with him. However, he does get offended by those ignorant enough to tip him, belittle him, and curse either him or Wuqirax for some unknown suicidal reason.

For example, seven years ago, a count's eldest son who learned at the tower at the time returned drunk from a pub and cursed him for being gay, so Mr. Shay ripped his head off with his gloved hands, and the count didn't dare to retaliate, in fear of being next.

 

After closing his door, Jacque took his small package and opened it, revealing a small glass with a glow on it, filled with a dark-red liquid. Plastered on it was a label with a description and signature:

 

Hill Giant Blood - Purified, Vitality Preserved

Amount: 6 oz

Verifier: Alchemist's guild of Luria - Main branch

Expiration date: 28th of the month of Wind, the year 1681 AP

Signed: 𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓵𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓢𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓵𝓮𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓶 - Senior appraiser of the guild

 

"Not bad. Today is the 17th, so I have eleven more days to use this. Not that I will need more than a day. It was worth a gold piece and seven silver pieces." - Jacque muttered with a satisfied smile.

Hill giants were large sentient humanoid creatures with foul tempers and extreme appetites. They are considered intelligent monsters, and basic trade relations can be established, as they will trade many things of high value for food. One of them being the corpses of their fallen, as well as trading their blood or shed hair and skin, all of which can be used for weapon forging, alchemy, and magic rituals.

Sometimes, some of them attack human settlements and steal cattle or even people as food, so soldiers, mercenaries, and adventurers kill them from time to time.

Because of that, their blood was relatively easy to procure. The preservation and purification spells, the glass vial, the risk factor, and the transportation fee accounted for almost the entire price, as a hill giant would willingly trade a few gallons of its blood for an old dying cow barely worth 7-8 silver coins.

The rest of the materials were even easier to procure, and Jacque already procured them all. Sulfur dust and powdered equine phallus could be obtained in the local alchemist guild branch, copper dust at the local blacksmith, and the Urlandiary fruit is a common citrus fruit that could be bought fresh at the market. All the ingredients combined with the hill giant blood didn't cost more than 2 gp.

As for a wooden bowl and brush? Jacque already had them.

The only real problem Jacque had was finding an isolated room. Although there were test rooms built in the tower for the apprentices to use, Wuqirax forbade the apprentices to practice black magic inside, so Jacque had to find an alternative.

Luckily for him, there was one place in the city he was certain nobody will ever disturb him.

 

 

 

That day, during sunset, a cloaked and masked figure strolled in the dirty slum streets. After walking for a while, the figure reached a dilapidated temple.

After scanning left and right to make sure no one was following him, the cloaked figure found a broken window and jumped inside.

The figure then checked the dimly lit main hall of the temple, and after making sure that he was alone, he walked inside the ruined temple.

He soon found himself in a darkened room with no windows, a ruined bed, and a statue of a stunning but barely dressed woman.

After he carefully closed the rusted and rotten door without a lock behind him, the figure took out a relatively large candle lantern from a small pouch and chanted while snapping his fingers.

"[Flint]."

The candle inside lit up, lighting up the almost lightless room. The figure then placed the lantern on the ground and removed his hood and mask, revealing a very handsome face.

"Good, I knew that this place will be the best place for me to do the ritual." - Jacque muttered with a smile.

This was Jacque's plan, to use the abandoned temple of Erta as the place where he would do the ritual. He chose this location since it was abandoned and previously haunted by the sacred prostitute's ghost, and nobody visits the place, even the hobos. He even tested it himself for the last five days, and indeed nobody dared enter the temple. Not only would he be left alone, but he would also be able to avoid leaving any tracks. It was also free.

The only drawback was that it was located near the slums, meaning that there was a certain level of danger as well as a bad smell.

That said, he was willing to risk it. He was that desperate.

After taking out two more lanterns and lighting them up, Jacque used a cleaning spell on the floor and then sat down on it while taking out the ingredients.

"Let's see... Copper dust, check. Sulfur dust, check. Powdered equine phallus, check. Ulriandry fruit, check. And finally, hill giant blood, check. I have everything. Now, to mix them in the bowl..."

Jacque had already had the materials measured, so besides the Ulriandry fruit, he directly added everything to the bowl. He made it so that they were around 10% more than the necessary amount.

He then took the Ulriandry fruit, a fruit that looked like two small red-peeled round fruit stuck together, looking a bit like a pair of testicles.

He then used his hand to break the fruit into two, revealing the white flesh inside, and squeezed its white and slightly viscous juice into a measuring cup he prepared while being careful not to let any of the seeds in. Once he got around 2.2 oz of juice, he stopped squeezing and added the juice to the bowl, and started mixing using the brush.

After some time, Jacque stopped mixing, revealing a reddish and viscous substance.

"It's done." - He said as he put down the bowl and brush.

Looking at the bowl in front of him, Jacque couldn't help but pause as he fell into a daze, a memory that was buried deep in his mind sprouted.

"Jacque, women are evil. They will cheat you. They will manipulate you. They will hurt you. They are vile, wretched, and vain. Never fall for their whims. Never trust them, never love them, or you will only get hurt." - His father's voice sounded in his head.

As Jacque recalled his very first memory, also the day when his mother left him and his father, he couldn't help but ponder.

"Is this what I want? To use a life-risking demonic ritual that could damn my soul to hell, just to satisfy my selfish wish to have a functioning sex life and relationship? Heck, many of the people in the slums would willingly trade their reproductive organs to have even half of my wealth. Maybe mentor Wuqirax was right, maybe I should just give up on this shortcut and seek the long and orthodox route. Heck, maybe I should even be content with what I have, and forgo women as a whole. I can just make do with friends. And if I want a successor, I can just randomly pick up a few clever orphans from the orphanage instead of being a selfish prick who makes even more kids. At least I would be remembered and respected as a better man for it."

At this thought, he started to hesitate if he should continue. However, just as he was about to give up, unpleasant memories flashed in his mind as if to taunt him.

"Hey, hotshot. I'm Tsia, what's your name?" - A beautiful young woman with long golden hair and deep blue eyes suddenly sat in front of him with a seductive smile.

"Let's take it upstairs, darling. I will keep you awake all night long." - The young woman temptingly whispered in his ear as she held his hand and led him upstairs.

"Tsk. Such a handsome body and face, but your thing... sigh, what a waste." - The young and beautiful woman, now almost naked, stared at his nether region with absolute pity.

"Woah! So your that rumored Handsome Jacque, right? You sure live up to your reputation. I'm Flufarwit, by the way." - A pretty gnome with wild pink and green hair took off her goggles as she gawked at him with her pink-colored eyes and introduced herself.

"Oh, c'mon. It can't be THAT small, can it? Come to my room and show me." - The pretty gnome motioned to him as she led the way to her bedroom.

"Pfft... Hahahaha! What the heck is this?! A fairies dick? Kyahahaha! I'm sorry, but this is just too funny!" - The pretty gnome burst into wild and uncontrollable laughter while pointing at his nether region.

"H-Hello, I'm Qiola, what's your name?" - A pretty and petite halfling with shoulder-length curly red hair and leaf-green eyes hesitantly introduced herself.

"You are worried about your size? Don't worry, I prefer them on the small side." - She smiled reassuringly and held his comparatively large hand tenderly.

"S-Sorry, Jacque. I-I didn't know it was this small..." - The halfling girl murmured with embarrassment.

"I... I think we should stop here, Jacque..." - She added as she rearranged her clothes.

"... It's fine..." - Jacque Lied.

"I'm sorry, Jacque. I like you, and I like you as a person, it's just that..."

"I understand, it's fine. The problem is with me." - He lied again, his heart torn to shreds.

"I'm really, really sorry, Jacque. Can we ignore what happened and just be friends?"

"Just be friends?"

"Friends?..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I... I..."

Jacque struggled for a bit longer before a resolute look flashed across his eyes.

"I'll do it. Whatever happens, happens. No regrets." - He said to himself firmly as he began to disrobe himself.