Chapter 115: Outside Silver Moon

Erik said nothing. He found himself thinking about the Succubi at the outpost again. A single meal, a five-second hug, and a few words of encouragement had been enough to send those women, who had been so exhausted that they barely expected anything from tomorrow, charging into the forest to hunt monsters as though they had come back to life.

If such small things had become that rare, then perhaps going eight years without the Festival of Happiness was not merely the absence of an event. What had disappeared was a place where Succubi could openly admit: I am happy.

Erik slowly asked, "Can’t you organize it yourselves?"

Laviana shook her head. "A festival can be held anywhere, but if we want to ignite the [Heart], we must go to the Lighthouse."

She leaned slightly toward Erik. "The area containing the [Heart] is now deep within a complex controlled by the Council. They don’t own the [Heart], but they purchased or built nearly all the land, buildings, and roads surrounding it decades ago."

"So anyone who wants to enter has to go through them."

"Correct."

Erik pondered for a few seconds. "Then break in."

Laviana froze. Elowen immediately looked at him as well. Only Meira did not seem particularly surprised. Her blue eyes even lit up slightly.

Erik calmly explained, "There are more Succubi, and they’re stronger. If what’s inside is truly connected to the survival of the entire safe zone, I don’t understand why everyone should accept a private organization keeping control of it."

Laviana remained silent for a moment before saying, "Because of the black pen."

Erik was not surprised. "The Control Device?"

"Mhm." Laviana nodded. "Not every Succubus is directly controlled by the Council, but those with significant influence often have too many ties to the men in the Council. Contracts, family, children, assets... As long as they control even one of those things, organizing tens of thousands of people to storm the place isn’t as easy as it sounds."

She paused briefly. "And there’s something else."

Erik looked at her.

Laviana lowered her voice. "The Council is holding a Succubus."

Erik frowned. "One person?"

"Mhm."

"How powerful is she?"

Laviana shook her head. "I don’t know."

The answer surprised Erik slightly. Laviana was the kind of person who, if she knew five parts of something, would try to explain all five. It was extremely rare for her to give such a vague answer.

She immediately explained, "I’ve only read a few very old records, and my mother mentioned her once. That Succubus has existed since the early era. Her power was terrifying, but after a certain incident, she disappeared completely."

Meira also frowned slightly. "I’ve heard of her."

Erik turned to her. "If even you’ve heard about her, then this can’t be an ordinary rumor."

Meira did not deny it. "Even during the Gen.0 era, very few people dared to mention that name."

"And she’s in the Council’s hands?"

Laviana replied, "That’s the rumor."

Erik leaned farther back in his seat. "Someone that powerful is being held captive?"

"No one knows why." Laviana shook her head.

Erik felt the situation growing increasingly complicated. After a few seconds, however, another question occurred to him, so he turned to Meira. "If Silver Moon is like this, what about the other regions?"

The atmosphere inside the car shifted at his question. Meira did not answer immediately. She gazed out the window and remained silent for a long time before saying, "They aren’t any better."

Erik frowned. "Does the Council control the [Heart] in all of them?"

"The methods differ." Meira turned back to look at him. "But the results are much the same."

She rested her chin on one hand. Her voice remained calm, but the longer one listened, the more uncomfortable it became. "Silver Moon is actually considered one of the more tolerable regions."

Erik raised an eyebrow slightly. "This place?"

"Mhm." Meira nodded. "Because there aren’t too many men here who qualify to become Council members, and the major families aren’t as concentrated as they are in some other regions."

Laviana continued, "There are cities with several times more men than Silver Moon."

Erik looked at her. "Wouldn’t more men make it easier for Succubi to find Partners?"

"In theory." Laviana smiled faintly. "In reality, it isn’t that simple."

More men meant more families, more power groups, and more local Councils. In certain regions, men controlled not only the Pairing Centers, but also the banks, hospitals, combat licenses, and most of the resource transportation system.

A Succubus needed her Partner’s permission to move to another city. She needed written authorization to join a combat team. In some places, if her Partner died, a Succubus was not even allowed to find a new Partner immediately. She first had to undergo a period of "asset evaluation."

By this point, Erik’s brows had drawn together completely. "Evaluating what?"

Laviana calmly replied, "Whether she still has enough value to be allocated to another man."

The car instantly fell silent. Erik looked at her for a few seconds. "Allocated?"

"Mhm." Laviana did not like the word either. "Some places call it rematching. Others call it reassignment. The names differ, but the meaning is almost the same."

Elowen gently curled her fingers.

Meira continued, "Living conditions in some places are also far worse than in Silver Moon. The safe zones keep shrinking, and monsters are pressing closer to the cities, yet many men still refuse to go to the battlefield."

Erik thought about the outpost they had just visited. "The Succubi do the fighting?"

"Almost all of it," Meira replied. "If they win, they return home to serve their Partners. If they lose, the safe zone loses more land."

She tilted her head slightly. "Does that sound hopeless to you?"

Erik did not answer.

Meira looked out the window again. "There are places even worse than that."

During her time as a Healer, she had traveled through many regions and treated rescue teams from distant cities. Some Succubi were severely injured yet still refused to rest because if they lost their income, the Partners waiting at home would not have enough resources to cultivate. Some returned to the front lines as soon as their wounds healed. Others were allowed to keep only a tiny portion of the money they earned each month.

Meira recounted these things in a remarkably calm voice. That only made Erik feel more uncomfortable, because she did not describe them as tragedies. She spoke of them as things too common to be surprising.

Erik looked at the three women before him. A question came to mind.

"Hasn’t a single man ever stood up against this?"

All three fell silent.

Meira looked at Laviana. Laviana looked at Elowen. It was only a brief exchange of glances, but Erik immediately realized that they all knew something.

He frowned. "There were?"

Laviana leaned back in her seat. "There were."

"When?"

This time, Meira answered. "Twelve years ago."

Erik waited for her to continue.

Meira lowered her gaze slightly, clasping her hands over her knees. "At the time, the protective dome had begun to visibly weaken. Some men realized that if things continued that way, the safe zone would eventually collapse."

Laviana added, "Not every man is like the Council."

Some of them genuinely loved their Partners. Some had lived on the front lines themselves. Others simply did not want to watch the region where they had been born get swallowed by monsters.

And so they stood up. At first, there were only a few, but their numbers gradually increased. Some publicly demanded that the Festival of Happiness be restored. Others wanted the Council to grant an independent organization access to the [Heart]. Some even proposed revoking the right to use Control Devices on Succubi.

Erik narrowed his eyes slightly. "What happened afterward?"

No one answered immediately. Meira looked out the window. Laviana’s smile had vanished. Even Elowen lowered her head slightly.

Sensing the change in their demeanor, Erik asked again, "What happened afterward?"

Only then did Laviana look at him. Her crimson eyes were perfectly calm.

"Afterward..." She paused briefly. "...they were all eliminated."

Erik fell silent. The car continued toward Silver Moon. None of the four spoke another word.