Summary: Marcus is your stereotypical orphan. Except for the part where he's a half-orc, marking him as a product of rape and leaving him reviled by all. Still, even half-orcs are entitled to an Awakening by the Church of Holy Light. By Providence, all are given their Job. However, some Jobs are a little more... challenging than others. Watch as Marcus is forced to navigate an increasingly complicated and intricate web of subterfuge, relationships, and expectations. Oh and sex. Boy, that's a lot of sex.
(Originally written from November of 2022 to April of 2023 on other websites)
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- Chapter 69: The End (is just the beginning)Sep 12, 2023
- Chapter 68: The AngelsSep 11, 2023
- Chapter 67: The DemonsSep 10, 2023
- Chapter 66: Her Holiness Pt. 7Sep 9, 2023
- Chapter 65: The Wedding NightSep 8, 2023
- Chapter 64: Back to the CapitalSep 7, 2023
- Chapter 63: The Shadow UnveiledSep 6, 2023
- Chapter 62: The Crown Princess Pt. 13Sep 5, 2023
- Chapter 61: The Dark Lord & Destined HeroSep 4, 2023
- Chapter 60: The Crown Princess Pt. 12Sep 3, 2023
- Chapter 59: The Crown Princess Pt. 11Sep 2, 2023
- Chapter 58: The DiscussionSep 1, 2023
- Chapter 57: The Baroness Pt. 3Aug 31, 2023
- Chapter 56: The Crown Princess Pt. 10Aug 30, 2023
- Chapter 55: The Baroness Pt. 2Aug 29, 2023
- 663 reading
- 133 plan to read
- 75 completed
- 27 paused
- 45 dropped
The story starts off 'normal'. An orphan goes to his awakening to discover what his path is to be. It all goes out the window at that point. Is he hero or villain? Join me in reading a fine story where the tag 'smut' gets a nod but is most certainly not the core feature. Come follow Marcus as he grows to become what he might be. Watch as he does things according to his moral compass and not the World's.
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I have 3 major gripes I want to address quickly and why I think this story is an inherently flawed work. with that said I do think it has a lot going for it. it just needs a polish it has some decent characters that are fun to read about.
1) To start with honestly, this story was a very boring read, everything was straightforward and led into each other, the closest we got to some true adversity for the MC Marcus to overcome was whether the Holy Pope Serafina and current queen Lisanna would start working against him. this never happened because of a literal deus ex machina revealed in the last 5~ chapters of the story.
Demon mama Volupa (Marcus's nanny, Erised mom) is alive and a milf super soldier working in the shadow of the holy pope, she has been steering the story since day one
Throughout this whole story, Marcus doesn't have any autonomy he is just doing what others expected of him. All actions that benefited him and lined him up for a better position in the politics of this world were done by other parties on his behalf usually to serve their own interests. anything marcus did on his own kind of lead into eachother and werent a suprise. the only kink in the narrative that spiced things up for a second was the conflict with Roka-Ro but that was fleading.
This was lampshaded in the last chapter (69), when Marcus admits he was aimless and lost trying to figure out who he was and his purpose in life with the guidance of Angalina and Erised. yet everything was taken care of for him now he doesn't know his purpose going forward he doesn't have to fight for what he has. I like this it humanizes him and helps with the story structure.
the problem is sh*t is not over, and despite the insistence of the author sh*t is still not settled in the Holy Empire and its claimed territories...
2) The world and how it operates seem to have not been thought out by the author. In particular how the Destine Hero and Demon Lord upheaval will affect the internal politics of the Demon Lord forces or how the people of the Holy Empire will take it.
In The Cause of the Holy Empire in chp 64 any issues with Marcus taking power were just shrugged off with a remark that the 'coup was a success and the average citizen is happy to have him back.' this remark is BS outside of people seeing a half orc take the throne what will happen when relations with traditional enemies start to normalizes. ie in that same chapter: Roka-Ro and Camilla were left behind in reserves in case the invitation for Marcus to become king was a trap, That fine but what wasn't explained is what they are supposed to do if he is crowned king, Camila would probably just want to retain her territory but in the case of Roka-Ro she represents a race on the decline I assume she would want assurances, then you have the demons (and any other group who traditionally sided with the Demon lord (beast kins?) how would they fit into all this, in the case of Erised and Volupa they just don't care but I think they would be the exception to the rule.
all the internal issues that they may face were whisked away when in chapter 69 they say that external threats are what they should be worried about.
3) Besides the straightforward narrative and nieve political whitewashing that felt like reading a bunch of fetch quests my even bigger gripe was the outcome of said quests, the girls ie: Roka-Ra, Elsenthia, and Serafina. the author does a pretty good job of shaping them as characters.
My problem is their relationship among themselves is ill-defined, you have subgroups like Angilana and Erised (also Beth), Erised and her mother, etc but how the hell does this all work now that Marcus changes at the end of the story? What's stopping a schism from forming in this polyamorous relationship and seeing everything go to sh*t?
Now that he is king I mean.
His relationship with Elsenthia, chapter 65 "It’s a testament to how insane their lives have become that she and Marcus don’t get a chance to sit down and really talk until their wedding night." this kind of epitomizes my issues with her she knows barely anything about Marcus and revelations about him are still happening even in the last couple chapters. How the hell is she cool with jumping into a relationship with him what about his harem? I think her mother may have made mention of Marcus having 'relations' with his party possibility mid-way through the book when initial talks of marriage were brought up, but I can't remember Elsenthia response, all I can say is it was never discussed and ended up with a bunch of s*x scenes after the wedding but no definition of relationships.
Serafina, just wtf, ya I get she is a reasonably hot older woman who was his first s*xual experience but why continue a relationship with her? Why do the other women tolerate her getting tossed into this polygamous relationship they have going? As shown in chp 66 (and pretty much all the chapters leading up to it) by her own admission she has been controlling and using Marcus and manipulating things for her own interests. I understand forgiving for past mistakes like the death of the parents but why not only accept her oath of subservience but also bring her into the fold?
Roka-Ro she was left behind with Camilla in chp 64~, I don't get it I thought she was formally a part of whatever he had going on at the end of chp 39. She more or less got on board with his objectives and his version of the Dark lord. yet she gets snubbed in the end.
Beth, I like her, sad to see her not a part of Marcus's life, but I like that unlike everyone else their relationship is more defined compared to everyone else I'm assuming the policy of being a casual relationship was set up in prior chapters still stands for the last goodbye in chapter 63.
Ultimately, I just have to chalk this up to being a pure smut story where you're supposed to suspend your disbelief in favor of just enjoying the fun yet absurd story. I was able to do that up until the near end with the marriage and split partnership of Marcus and Serafina and how everyone (?) is asking to get knocked up.
with points 2 and 3 I lost any faith in the future of this world's existence going forward and my ultimate headcanon is as the figurative screen turns to black we start to see the factionalization of the empire and harem and everything goes to sh*t and falling apart in less than a decade.
if this story is ever picked back up from its open ending I hope some of my criticism gets addressed but I'm not holding my breath.
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I started reading this when it only had 1 chapter, it surprised me how quickly and consistently the author would post great content. Its an amazing fantasy smut, anyone claiming that smut isn't the focus or core theme is lying to you as you'll get s*x in almost every chapter (basically you will get what you came here for and you'll get lots of it), this author simply has mastered pacing within this webnovel. The chapters are long enough to have s*x, plot progression, and character development. The MC might have everyone falling for him (or his d*ck) but it feels natural that the peasants worship people with his job and it feels natural that the church wants to groom him for their benefit, and it feels natural that "villains" treat him in a special way considering his circumstances.
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One of the best fantasy stories I have ever read. And the smut is simply the icing on the cake.
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