RISE OF EROS

The reason Candice thought Castor and Vala's relationship would have problems was because Castor as Andrew's guardian, would ascend as a god when he did and Vala would remain in the mortal world.

Although that was a long way off, Candice was already beginning to worry. She was not only worried about Vala, but also about her other subordinates, as they had been with her for a long time, so they were her family and she did not want to be separated from them.

With that thought in mind, Candice began to plan how to get these subordinates to swear allegiance to Andrew so they could receive his guardian seal and move up with them.

While she was thinking that, Andrew and the others resumed their journey to the kingdom of Dunnas. Andrew was embarrassed because Oliver had to carry him on his back, so they could move forward or it would be a year before they reached their destination.

Despite everything their pace of movement was not slow, however, it would take them longer to reach their destination. Fortunately, for them, they did not suffer any mishap on their way.

A month had passed and they were still far from their destination. The territory of the Empire was not small, so it took them a long time to reach the border with the kingdom of Dunnas.

Andrew had done everything possible to regain his divinity. He even believed that he could do it if he had sex with Aki, but Fluffy destroyed his illusion because without system, nor divinity, having sex would only bring pleasure, no other benefit.

Fortunately, for them, by the time they reached the border, Andrew regained his gifts and they were able to speed up their journey. They made their way to the capital of the kingdom of Dunnas, where they intended to settle. Meanwhile, the empire of Cannaris carried out their plan.

It had taken them about a month to create the explosive devices and with the help of Demon and his men, they infiltrated small towns around the capital.

Although they would not generate much damage with this tactic, being cities close to the capital, they would be able to add pressure to Tripia's kingdom. One night, when everyone was resting, an impressive roar was heard in several cities.

All the inhabitants woke up in panic, believing they were suffering from an earthquake. The flames that spread in various parts of these cities, increased the panic, but few knew that it was the stratagem of the empire taking place.

In the royal palace of Tripia, Belenio was sleeping peacefully accompanied by several women after a night of pleasure, when an urgent knock at the door woke him up.

Annoyed by the interruption of his sleep, he knocked on the ass of one of the girls, while saying in all coldness, "Open the door." The girl dared not delay and quickly got up, barely covering her body with a semi-transparent robe attended the door.

As she opened the door, she could see one of the guards outside the room, and further back stood the only minister who had survived Demon's attack a month and a half ago. "What do you want? You're interrupting His Highness's sleep," the girl said in a displeased voice, but the minister didn't care and said, "It's a matter of national security."

Although the girl had put on haughty and overbearing airs, when she heard the old minister's words, she dared not delay the message because she was clear about her position.

She could be arrogant in front of others, but not in front of ministers and important nobles and the old man was one of them, so she turned to Belenio and reported, "My king, the minister says it is a matter of national security."

Belenio, though annoyed, was serious upon hearing this. He could be arrogant, but not to the point of believing he was above it all, especially now that they were in constant friction with the Cannaris empire.

He grabbed a nearby robe and stood up saying, "Inform the minister that I will meet him in the office in 15 minutes." The girl obeyed and after informing the minister, and helped Belenio dress in suitable clothes.

Regardless of what it was, Belenio is a king, so he must dress like one. After a while, he met the minister in the office and asked, "What's the emergency?".

"My king, the operation in the elven forest failed," the old man said and Belenio hearing it made him angry. Not because the operation failed, but because it had been a month since that and it was obvious, so it was not something to interrupt him while he slept.

However, before he could lash out at the old man, he spoke again, "The empire employed our plan against us. A few minutes ago, 5 of our cities surrounding the capital were bombed."

Hearing this, Belenio could not help but open his eyes in surprise and immediately asked, "How is that possible? We have detectors in all the cities," to which the old man replied, "Not in the small ones and those were the ones attacked."

Belenio frowned when he heard this because although it was an attack, he did not see the reason to make a fuss over a few small cities. Belenio was a despot, and egocentric, so he only cared about the strategic areas of his country, so he did not even suffer for losing small cities that abounded in the kingdom.

With that thought, Belenio said in annoyance, "Those cities abound, I see no reason to bother with that," but the old man again spoke up, "My king, they are certainly unimportant cities, but being close to the capital will create chaos and is also a slap in our face."

These words immediately echoed in Belenio's head. For such a cocky person as he was, pride was the most important thing, so he took the matter seriously, so he asked, now calmer, "Do we have any captured or clues?".

Unfortunately for him, there were neither. The empire had not been a power on the continent for so long just for show. They were experts in this type of operation, so they made no mistakes.

This upset Belenio even more and he immediately called an emergency meeting to create a plan to strike back. Meanwhile, Andrew together with Oliver, Marie, and Aki had arrived in the capital of Dunnas.

Since they had entered this country they had already seen great differences between this country and the empire. First of all, its territory was a bit desert-like, but with abundant oases and it was around these that the inhabitants of this country were concentrated.

Despite the rather hostile climate, the capital of Dunnas was very prosperous, as it was around the largest oasis of the country and there were two additional oases around it, which made it seem immaculate.

It was amazing to see how in such an arid territory as the country of Dunnas, there could be a city with so much green color. The oases were interconnected by canals, making the city abundant with water and green pastures.

Although with limitations, the city was prosperous and as the largest river in the country passed nearby, river transport was enormous, making the city always bustling and vibrant.

As rumor had it, the women were prominent in business and the men in the military. Andrew couldn't understand how the men didn't take control, as they were more powerful if brute force and armies were concerned, but he didn't dig too deeply into that.

He just took this as part of the culture of the country. The first thing he did was to book rooms in a good hotel and send Marie and Aki to gather information. They were specialists in that and Oliver had to protect Andrew.

While he had already regained his powers, he was not strong enough to defend himself independently. His arrival did not alert other forces in the city either because, like the capital of the empire, this city was huge with non-inferior forces everywhere.

For this reason, the arrival of a wealthy young man with accompanying experts was not unusual. After a week of research, Andrew and the others came to discover that contrary to what one might think, the pleasure industry was not inferior to that of the capital of the Cannaris empire.

This surprised them, not only because of how active this industry was but also because it was not only for men. Here women were more libertine and thanks to their purchasing power, brothels for women were not uncommon they were more abundant.

This discovery caused Andrew to change his plans. Although he intended to open a branch of the Heavenly Palace and would add massage services as he had intended, he decided to focus on women.

While this did not please him much, as he would have to surround himself with men, it was more beneficial from an economic point of view. He would also be able to attract powerful women with whom to establish relationships.

Relationships in this world were important, especially when they were powerful and in this country, women overwhelmingly represented that group. With that decided, Andrew began to make his moves.

Although he suffered some losses and had to pay more than he had planned, he managed to buy a good-sized and well-located establishment. It was smaller than the empire's Heavenly Palace, but still not by much.

Over the next week, Andrew set about spending large sums of money, hiring employees, and remodeling the establishment, as it was a bit old.

Without much trouble, he found cooks, waiters, maids, receptionists, and guards. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but then he came to the most important point, the men who would serve his clients.

(There are some pretty obscene chapters coming up. )