Tos’s words were like a bucket of cold water dumped over their heads, instantly quelling the playful mood of the three.
Although they all became quietly alert inside, on the surface, the three still maintained a relaxed, casual appearance, as if the earlier banter was just normal chit-chat among friends.
After finishing his speech, Tos patted the other two on the shoulders and said with a smile,
“All right, all right, let’s go check out the Menu now.”
Red and Mason exchanged a glance, suppressed their doubts, and quickly followed.
Tos casually pressed somewhere on the wall, and the entire wall seemed to come alive, silently sliding open to reveal a huge Showcase Panel hidden behind it.
The two glanced at it and couldn’t help but be a little surprised.
“Knight… Thieves… even Princess… Are these for real or fake?”
The first two could be considered pretty normal, but the last one—
Red immediately recalled the silly goose who once gave everyone back massages at the parlor…
That can’t be it, right?
“Don’t worry, not even one bit, everything here is fake, nothing real at all. Don’t know how to play Role Play? If you want the real stuff, look over there, but if you just want to play pretend, it’s over that way… So our little innocent Red, sir, you should just go that way.”
Tos deliberately dragged out his words, then waved at Red like shooing a fly, his movements exaggerated and his tone full of teasing.
But Mason, who came from the Imperial Capital, didn’t quite get it, so he asked Tos,
“Role Play… what does that mean?”
Before Tos could answer, the hostess from the counter walked in and spoke up first.
“Simply put, you customize the play style you want. If you like Maids, we can have someone dress up in a maid outfit and sweetly call you Master. If you like female Knights or Lords, we can also have someone put on the corresponding outfits, and even step on your face with silk stockings, looking at you with a disdainful gaze…”
The hostess explained patiently, then looked toward Tos.
“For example, he really likes the little sister type, so I play the role of his little sister.”
Halfway through her sentence, the Succubus slipped right into character; her mature expression vanished, replaced by a childlike innocence.
Hugging Tos’s arm, she spoke in an adorably sweet voice,
“Big Brother, you come here every day to play, if your girlfriend found out… wouldn’t she be mad?”
As soon as she finished, the Succubus’s face switched back to her original slightly mature look.
“That’s basically what it means.”
The speed at which her expression changed was lightning fast, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
“He’s already picked… or should I say, every time he comes, he only picks this one. What about you two? What would you like?”
Red glanced at the proper Menu, thought for a moment, and then asked the Succubus,
“I’ve got a question. With so many innocent-sounding projects at the Succubus Parlor, do people even bother trying these?”
The Succubus couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“Dear guest… you have no idea. Actually…”
Lowering her voice, she enunciated each word carefully:
“Selling an innocent persona while skirting the edge… it actually makes way more money than selling the real deal.”
After hearing the Succubus’s explanation, Red and the others were somewhat surprised.
Even though they knew this Succubus Parlor was run by the Black Church, since they were already here, Red and Mason still carefully looked through the projects on the wall.
To be honest, if there were only a few options, it wouldn’t be this hard to choose.
But with so many, they kept thinking, “I want to try this one… and that one too…”
While the two were hesitating, the Succubus began promoting again.
“If you really can’t decide, why not take a look at this?”
“There are all kinds of series,” the Succubus introduced enthusiastically.
“Dungeon Master, Minotaur Play, Inspector, or even Sensory Deprivation Trap…”
Only then did Red and Mason realize—
Oh… it’s still her, Cereal Lady.
But Tos didn’t seem too interested in that sort of thing.
After all, he’s used to the real deal—why would he need this kind of stuff?
Red gave the list a rough look, then said,
“I’ll take these few.”
“So that’s what you’re into, guest…”
The Succubus tutted in amazement at the priest-themed titles he picked.
“Wouldn’t have guessed.”
Having earned a bit from Red, her eyes now shifted hungrily toward Mason, the prince from the Imperial Capital.
“Sir, would you like anything? Right now, there’s a special—buy three, get one free. I highly recommend the recently popular Minotaur series…”
“Shoo, shoo!”
Tos quickly pulled the Succubus away.
“My buddy here is pure as snow. If you awaken any weird fetishes in him, I’ll leave you a bad review.”
“Hold on!”
the Succubus explained, “It’s not what you think! The Minotaur thing is just two minotaur demons sparring, horns clashing, swords flying—super hot-blooded!”
“Grass!”
(a kind of plant)
The three blurted out together.
“That’s even weirder!”
To prevent his good buddy’s XP system from being polluted, Tos quickly dragged the still-persistent Succubus away.
He left Mason and Red to continue picking their projects.
In the end, under Red’s utterly shocked gaze, Mason chose a Princess role-play.
Watching Mason walk away, Red finally calmed himself down.
Truthfully, he wanted to pick a proper Priest role-play as payback for being teased by Letia all the time, but after looking around… almost all the Priest options were of the not-so-proper variety.
Like Interrogation Room, Confession Cave, Holy Official, Demonic Transformation…
Honestly, there wasn’t a single normal Priest play!
So, after some thought, Red chose the Thief infiltration-and-capture scenario.
It didn’t sound very proper, but the content was fairly normal—just binding and interrogation.
From a selling point perspective… maybe it’s to make the wayward Thief girl turn back to the right path?
As Tos said, it was really not much different from playing house.
Still, since it was a proper scenario, the price was much lower, and oddly enough… compared to the improper projects, the proper ones actually sold better.
Thinking it over, there could only be one reason—those customers probably wanted to take the staff playing those proper roles home with them.
“I’ll take this one.”
Red pressed the order button, and soon a ticket dropped into his hand.
The ticket listed the room he should go to and a set of instructions.
“Guests need not bring any Props; our staff will handle everything.”
“Don’t worry about anyone getting hurt; all Props are custom-made and harmless.”
“Staff will not create conflict without reason; everything follows the plot. If a real dispute arises, please contact customer service immediately…”
There were plenty of notes, but Red just skimmed them and put them out of his mind.
After all, he wasn’t here to enjoy himself—he was here to investigate the Black Church.
***
Meanwhile, in the basement of the parlor, Satania was watching the surveillance feed.
Under her gaze, Red slowly walked into the room.
“Room 256, huh?”
A cold smile curled on the girl’s lips.
“I’d been wondering how to make my move, but to think, to think—the prey delivered himself right to my door. Really, there’s a path to heaven you don’t take…”
Satania’s sneer suddenly froze, and she tilted her head, puzzled.
“What’s the next line again?”
But she soon shook her head.
“Forget it! As an Executor of the Black Church, taking down an utterly defenseless mage is a piece of cake, isn’t it? Ahahaha… cough cough!”
The girl was so excited she nearly choked herself laughing.
After a moment to compose herself, she put on her gear, even wrapping her face to look extra professional.
She gripped a dagger glinting coldly in her hand, looking over the first line of Red’s file.
“An untrained Great Magician of Creation… expelled by the Dawnblade?”
Reading this, Satania torched the file, burning it to ashes.
What’s the point in reading more?
Just a Wild Mage—how could you possibly beat me?
If you can beat me, I’ll eat this Crystal of Surveillance right here and now!
Satania puffed up her chest and strode out.
To avoid interference, she knocked out the staff member originally assigned to serve Red on her way.
But as a professional Executor, she had to maintain her standards—even standing at the door, she wouldn’t just kick it open.
She had to use Executor methods: slip in silently, knock him out, and then quietly deliver him to the sacrifice…
What a perfect plan!
So, Satania slipped in through the window beside the room.
Confident in her flawless approach, she spotted Red still lying on the bed, and a smile returned to her lips.
“This guy has zero defenses, just full of openings.”
“Then again, maybe I’ve gotten so much stronger after using forbidden powers, which is why he seems so weak…”
“But whatever the reason, running into me, Satania—you’re just unlucky, pal~”
With a light laugh, Satania dashed to Red’s side, quickly pulled out a towel, and covered his mouth.
The anesthetic on it was enough to knock out an adult.
Sure enough, in less than three seconds, Red collapsed to the floor.
Seeing this, Satania finally couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“As expected, just a Wild Mage—his melee skills are trash, and he’s got no guard up at all. Easy pickings!”
Just as Satania was feeling smug, she failed to notice that Red—who was supposed to be unconscious—was standing perfectly fine.
He wore an evil grin on his face.
To be honest, he hadn’t come here for pleasure… but he had to admit, white stockings paired with a night suit—these staff here really do know how to play up that contrast.
Once again, poor Satania