"UGH!!.... I hate dealing with numbers"
Maximus growled to himself as he desperately tried to finish the documents of the recent attack. It was a simple battle for him, but for most hunters, it was a massacre on the enemy's part and very profitable on their part all because of loot drops. Monster corpses, equipment, spells, books, mana stones, and many more. The soldiers helped clean the battlefield and collect the loot but the report fell on Maximus' head as a punishment from a very angry woman.
"Why the hell do I need to count every single mana stone?! Just put 'a mountain of shiny shit' and be done with it," Maximus muttered, slamming the magical quill down hard enough to snap the tip. He was about to burn the entire desk with everything on top when the door suddenly creaked open.
"Having fun with paperwork, my Lord General?" A soft, amused voice followed.
"Sigh..." Maximus didn't even look up. "If you're here to gloat, I swear to every spirit above and below, I'll bury you in these reports."
"Now, now," the woman chuckled, a sound like tinkling bells, and walked around the desk to stand beside him. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, her touch soothing and reassuring. "I wouldn't dream of gloating, my love. I know how much you despise this sort of thing."
"I command armies. I kill monsters. I don't... do math." He dragged the last word out as if it was an enemy he was slaughtering. "I have people for this."
"Which is why I'm here," the woman with pale skin and ponytail blond hair spoke, placing folders in front of him and tapping the top one with a manicured nail. "Inventory: categorized, cross-checked, and spell-sealed. All loot has been quantified, cataloged, and pre-evaluated for distribution. All you have to do is sign on the dotted lines."
Maximus stared at the folders like they were eldritch artifacts. Then he snatched the woman up off the floor, spinning her around in a giddy hug as her pale skin flushed a healthy shade of rose.
"You're the best, my wife," he said, squeezing her tighter. "Did I ever tell you I love you?"
"Easy—you'll snap me in half—mmph!" Her next words were muffled as his lips found hers. Her arms coiled around him like snakes, squeezing harder than was comfortable, a faint moan of desire in her throat as she arched against him.
Maximus pulled back just enough to look into her eyes, his grin crooked, boyish in a way that almost betrayed the war-hardened general he was.
"Seriously, though. I owe you. Dinner, wine, maybe even a vacation... you know, once the world stops trying to kill us every three days."
"Please. You'd get bored within an hour and try to wrestle a wyvern for entertainment." She snorted, breathless. "So why don't we have a little fun on the desk"
"..."
"You know, I kinda regret leaving you with my mother before I went off to training." he said after a long minute pause "She trained you far too well."
"Hehehe," she grinned—slow, sinful, lacing every word. "Aww, and here I thought you wanted me to change, Master."
"Ahem," Maximus narrowed his eyes, a twitch tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Don't call me that while we're still in public."
"Oh? And what should I call you, then?" she purred, sliding onto the edge of the desk with feline grace. Her fingers trailed across the scattered reports like they meant nothing, and to her, they didn't. Not when her husband's focus was finally, finally, on something other than blood-soaked ledgers.
Maximus leaned forward, hands braced on either side of her thighs, his broad frame casting a shadow over the mess of parchment and ink.
"You should call me a very patient man," he said, voice low, "because if this wasn't the command tower, I'd have already—"
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The tension snapped like a thread. Maximus froze. His wife sighed and leaned her forehead against his chest.
"Who dares," she muttered, barely louder than a breath.
Maximus suppressed a shudder and turned towards the door, fingers splayed against her thighs, barely contained fury crackling under his skin.
"Come in." His command shook with authority, dripping molten copper in the air.
The door swung inward, allowing a young officer to step in, flinching slightly at the sight of the half-embraced couple and the chaotic desk. He cleared his throat and saluted quickly.
"Apologies, my lord. My lady. But we have... an urgent message for you."
In his hand was a black letter and when Maximus saw it, he immediately used his mana to snatch the letter from the officer's trembling hand, his expression darkening the moment the seal met his eyes. The wax was black as pitch, imprinted with a sigil that was exclusive for family matters.
The wife's playful demeanor evaporated in an instant. She slid off the desk, the gleam in her eyes turning to ice. "Is that...?"
Maximus didn't reply and simply cast a gaze at the officer. He instantly took the hint and left the office. The couple immediately fell silent. They didn't waste words and immediately opened the black letter, the inside contained a detailed report about a recent incident regarding one of the family members.
Jane.
"What's the matter, my love?" the blonde woman asked, looking at her husband's eyes but it was of no use. Maximus wasn't there anymore; he was somewhere else lost in thought.
"The daughter of my youngest brother almost died inside a red gate."
"A red gate!" the blonde exclaimed. "How?!... Is she alright?"
The red gates were the most dangerous ones, not because they had high rank or anything, but because each gate was unique, with a certain set of rules and consequences and the worst thing about red gates was that no one was allowed to enter or leave.
"She's alive," Maximus said at last, voice low, jaw clenched. "The report says she survived a close call with the dungeon boss thanks to her teacher."
"Phew... that's good news but," his wife looked back at him with worry in her eyes, "that's not all the letter's saying."
"No," that was all he said before flashing his mana and calling the cloaked figure from before. "I want all the details about this incident, you have ten minutes."
"Yes sir."
Although Jane's encounter with the spider boss shakes him a little, Maximus isn't too worried since Jane is a Nosferat, and a Nosferat doesn't die easily. What made him worried was another incident that happened inside the gate to another student.
Nana Asakura.
That love potion Fatty used was an illegal item, it was a drug, a potent aphrodisiac to be precise, one dose could get an orgy going on an army, however, the problem wasn't in the orgies but the addiction that the potion caused and if someone used the potion regularly, in a very short time, that person would lose the ability to feel pleasure from anything else. They would be forever chasing the high that the potion provided, leading to extreme addiction and eventual madness. Not to mention the high chance of becoming infertile.
And as the son of Morgana, Maximus cannot let this happen.
Eight minutes later, the cloaked figure showed up with every detail about Fatty and his family's business which happened to be an alchemy shop.
BAAAM!
Maximus slammed the desk hard enough to shatter it to pieces if not for his wife who placed a barrier between him and the desk.
"Is this information correct?" Maximus hissed, and the crimson of his eyes pulsed brightly.
"Yes sir."
"How did no one detect this?" the wife asked coldly, "Illegal crafting, distribution of mind-altering potions, forged academy records, and unauthorized gate access. That's four capital crimes and the worst of all—"
"Experimenting on children!"
Crack! Crack!
The air around him vibrated with pressure, the mana in the chamber spiraling into visible threads that snapped and hissed like angry serpents. Even the enchantments embedded into the stone walls flickered under the weight of his fury.
"Experimenting on children…" he echoed, voice like a blade being drawn across the bone. "In the city of my mother. In the academy she built."
The cloaked figure wisely took a step back, eyes lowered. "The alchemy shop was a front. Underground lab. Enchanted vaults. Hidden passageways. We found half-finished potions, failed test subjects… and receipts."
Maximus turned to his wife for a moment before shifting his gaze back to the cloaked figure.
"Capture everyone involved and impale them in the middle of the city."
The wife blinked once—slowly. Not in shock, but in affirmation. Approval.
"As you command," the cloaked figure said, bowing low. "Should the executions be public?"
"Very public." Maximus didn't hesitate. "And use blood spears."
The cloaked man paused, his entire body shook at the mention of the blood spears. Those were legendary tools the Blood Queen crafted to torture her enemies. The spears were crafted from blood and had one single spell attached to it: Blood Syphon.
Once someone is impaled from the butt to the throat with the blood spear, every drop of the impaled person's blood will get absorbed by the spear, before returning it back to its original owner. The whole point of impaling is a slow death, but the blood spears make it impossible for the impaled person to die from blood loss or other injury because they keep on replenishing the amount.
But not the suffering.
The Blood Queen was known to torture her enemies for decades before arriving at the end result. The ways she tortured them were legends that haunted many souls.
And the worst was always kept for those who dared to harm innocent children.