Hate Me, Witch! – Chapter 48

Dream weaving is, by nature, the specialty of the succubus clan.
This race does not excel at weaving nightmares to kill enemies, but is exceptionally good at weaving beautiful dreams.
Especially for the Royal Succubus Clan, blessed by the Dragon of Dreams, their woven dreams are almost indistinguishable from reality, capable of entangling people within them forever.
This was also the reason why Isadorella deployed Diris, a hidden pawn for many years.
The Silver-haired Princess did indeed take a liking to Shaya Egut’s identity, potential, and abilities. However, Shaya’s origins remained shrouded in mystery.
Coupled with the possibility of ancient figures awakening, Isadorella needed to assess Shaya’s character.
Otherwise, if an enemy of a past empire were to become a “Sword Holder,” the consequences would be dire.
Verbal questioning can be met with lies. Countries training secret agents always emphasize strengthening their resistance to interrogation. Likewise, past backgrounds and résumés can also be fabricated.
Only the Mental Landscape does not lie. It is an illusory world determined by a person’s subconscious, reflecting the truth by stripping away falsehood. It reveals the most authentic scene deep within the soul after peeling away layers of pretense and disguise.
The beautiful dream woven by Diris, a Royal Succubus, manifested as the most perfect world imagined by a person’s subconscious.
This is what is known as—
“A secluded, ideal paradise.”
The greatest happiness an ordinary person in the Western Continent could imagine would likely be sleeping in the most luxurious palace in the world, holding the most beautiful woman, and possessing countless riches.
Even the fantasies of the strong are, for the most part, merely building upon the above, making the content of the dream clearer and more detailed.
For example, replacing the prettiest village flower with a queen riding a dragon, and stacking mountains of gold coins with innumerable high-ranking Extraordinary Materials.
After all, regardless of strength, human desires are fundamentally the same.
However, within Shaya’s ideal paradise, Isadorella saw a completely different scene.
Her gaze fixed upon the surface of the azure planet.
The “space elevator,” resembling a tower reaching the heavens, sent countless platforms laden with passengers into deep space.
And at the end of that space elevator, within the dark and deep expanse of space, stood grand cities, one after another.
Constructed entirely from silver-white metal, some were built relying on satellites orbiting the planet’s surface, while others existed entirely independently.
In that dark and deep sea of stars, these metal cities were interconnected, slowly rotating around the planet—
Much like the legendary floating cities said to drift in the distant heavens, never to fall.
Isadorella saw countless people traveling between the planet’s surface and the space cities, either via the “space elevator” or through some kind of spaceship similar to the floating vessels constructed by the Empire with magi-tech, but with far superior performance.
From these people, Isadorella sensed no powerful fluctuations. They were merely the most ordinary of commoners, or rather, civilians.
Yet they treated everything before them as completely normal.
In the Western Continent, stepping into space was a privilege exclusive to Legends. Even Titled Beast Tamers required specific types of familiars to have a chance, and it was extremely risky.
But in this world, what was originally a Legend’s privilege had become the daily life of every ordinary person.
“What exactly do you usually think about…”
Diris’s dark demonic wings flapped unusually, her heart-shaped tail hovering motionlessly in mid-air.
The Royal Succubus was so stunned by the radiant sea of stars outside the door that she was momentarily speechless.
As a descendant of the Dragon of Dreams, the spiritual energy she consumed while weaving dreams could be provided by the ancient dragon in the Astral Realm who governed the authority of imagination.
Therefore, she was able to manifest such a complex and intricately detailed dream.
Even so, Diris was shocked, completely unable to comprehend how Shaya’s mind worked.
Others dreamed of mere sensual pleasures, but why did your daydreaming have to be so extravagant?
Shaya paid no mind to Diris’s outburst.
He silently and calmly gazed at the world beyond the door, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes.
“A civilization where magic and technology are highly developed, with no class distinctions.”
“Everyone can equally pursue knowledge, free from the worries of hunger and poverty.”
“Even ordinary people with no strength to even truss a chicken can travel among the stars and explore the sea of stars according to their wishes…”
“Don’t you think it’s beautiful?”
Diris also recovered from her shock.
The succubus maiden observed the distant sea of stars.
After a long pause, she nodded gently.
“It is indeed beautiful.”
“But it’s beautiful to the point of being somewhat too illusory…”
A hint of regret flickered in her pink demonic eyes.
“If we could, wouldn’t we want to establish more academies, lower the admission threshold, and even distribute books on a massive scale?”
“Then we could reclaim the privilege of becoming Beast Tamers and stepping into the extraordinary, and the pursuit of knowledge, from the hands of the select few noble classes and spread it to more people.”
“But this, ultimately, is just a fantasy.”
“Every Beast Tamer trained, and their completion of a Soul Pact to awaken, requires vast sums of money…”
“And disseminating knowledge to every civilian in the Empire… requires investing countless resources.”
“As for what you envision… the towering structures allowing mortals to ascend to the heavens, the floating cities adrift in the sea of stars.”
“Any single one of them might be enough to deplete the entire treasury of the Empire, or even all the major powers in the Western Continent… and perhaps still not be enough.”
Diris’s dark wings flapped slightly, a few touching Shaya’s arm, bringing a faint ticklish sensation.
Insufficient resources.
This was the original sin.
Therefore, the protracted wars on the Western Continent would never cease, for resources are finite, while ambition is infinite.
Every country, every power, aspired to develop, but the resources required for development were limited, leading to conflict.
And Shaya’s so-called ideal paradise—
Was, after all, just a vague and rootless dream, like a duckweed drifting on the water.
However, before the Royal Succubus could finish her words tinged with regret, she heard a light laugh from beside her.
“So, the root and crux of all strife—”
“Is nothing more than a lack of resources.”
Shaya’s voice echoed in Diris’s ears.
Simultaneously, through the communication channel in the Astral Realm, it resonated in the ears of Isadorella and Fiolen in real-time.
“But—”
“The energy that countless nations and major powers fought for, enduring protracted wars and paying with countless blood and lives…”
“Is, in the sea of stars, not even considered a drop in the ocean.”
The image on the light screen flickered slightly, and the perspective pulled back.
The original azure sphere instantly became incredibly small.
In its place was a crimson sphere emitting flames, occupying more than half of the screen.
Beyond these two spheres were vast stretches of almost entirely black regions, with occasional faint pinpricks of starlight illuminating the deep, gloomy darkness.
Everyone watching the dream recognized this dazzling celestial body—
The Sun.
However, it was different from the blazing sun understood by Diris and others.
Outside this scorching celestial body, ring after ring of countless black metal rings formed a sphere that enclosed it.
Around the crimson sphere, brilliant flares of light rose and fell as if breathing.
And with each rise and fall, these black circular rings would expand and contract.
Then, they would completely engulf the overflowing light and heat from the Sun’s surface.
On the light screen before Isadorella and Fiolen, the text, which materialized the concept, slowly reappeared—
“Dyson Sphere.”