"Since succubi can create dreams," Ren Kuroda said calmly,"that ability shouldn't be limited to erotic dreams alone, right?"
Honestly speaking, with a face like his, did he really need to indulge in the same kind of lust-filled fantasies as those lonely male adventurers wandering around Akuseru City?
"Mm… our abilities allow us to weave pleasant dreams according to the client's wishes," Lia replied after a brief pause."So of course, they aren't limited to erotic dreams. It's just that most customers usually request that kind of dream. The only differences tend to be what type of beauty they want—and how many.…Don't you want a dream like that, Ren-sama?"
She was clearly momentarily stunned by Ren's question, but she quickly recovered and answered him properly.
Generally speaking, people who came to their succubus café were there precisely for those kinds of dreams. Clients who wanted something else were genuinely rare.
"That's because they're all horny degenerates," Ren said bluntly."I'm not the same as those guys who can only satisfy themselves in their sleep.Since we're talking about a 'pleasant dream,' there's something I'd like to ask of you."
After that, Ren explained in detail exactly what he wanted—and what he envisioned in his mind.
Between magical imagery projections and spoken explanations, Lia listened intently as Ren described everything he hoped to see. By the time he finished, nearly half an hour had passed before she finally nodded, hesitantly agreeing to try.
Because Ren's Mind's Eye skill rendered him nearly immune to mental and spiritual abilities, he chose to completely deactivate it before falling asleep.
Having lived through multiple worlds and encountered countless people, Ren trusted his judgment. Lia didn't seem like someone with malicious intent.
And even if she did harbor ulterior motives, with her level of power, she simply wouldn't be capable of harming him.
Lying on the bed, Ren soon slipped into a deep, steady sleep.
When he reappeared within the dream, he found himself standing inside a room that felt both familiar and strangely distant.
In front of him was a thirty-inch computer monitor. The room was bare—no decorations, no ornaments. The floor was spotless. When he opened the window, all that greeted him was a forest of towering skyscrapers.
None of this belonged in a medieval fantasy world.
Yet this wasn't the room from Ren's current world either.
It was the room from the world he had lived in before his reincarnation.
In that previous life, Ren had no family—or perhaps he did, but he had never known where they lived or how to find them.
That was right.
The dream Ren had asked Lia to create was the world of his previous life.
As for why he chose such a dream, the answer was simple.
He wanted to say a proper goodbye.
Even though this world existed only within a dream and wasn't real, it was enough to resolve the final lingering regret in his heart.
Ren remained in that dream for a long time.
And when the dream finally reached its end, two quiet tears slipped from the corners of his tightly shut eyes.
Nearby, Lia—who had been anxiously observing him the entire time—panicked the moment she noticed his tears.
Her experience was limited, but every client she had ever served before wore either blissful, intoxicated expressions or grinned from ear to ear.
A crying client?
That was something she had never encountered.
From the very beginning, she'd been worried whether she could even pull off such an unusual dream. Everything Ren described—those strange objects, the unfamiliar environment—were things she had never seen or even heard of before.
They fascinated her, yes… but they also terrified her.
She constantly feared that her limited ability would cause her to ruin everything.
After all, as a succubus, the dreams they were trained to weave were almost exclusively that kind of dream. A dream like Ren's wasn't something they remember ever receiving proper training for.
That was precisely why Lia was such an oddity among succubi.
Had it been another succubus in her place, Ren's dream would likely have derailed almost immediately—probably turning into something straight out of a cheap urban power-fantasy novel, complete with endless beauties throwing themselves at the protagonist.
Seeing Ren cry in his sleep, and recalling the terrifying killing intent he had unconsciously released earlier, Lia's fear surged all over again.
She worried that she had failed to give him the dream he wanted.
And if he was dissatisfied…
Would he kill her?
When he spoke to her earlier about those strange new things, his voice had been so gentle. His stories had been so interesting.
But the pressure and killing intent he had shown before were just as real—and utterly terrifying.
What if she had disappointed him?
What if he decided to end her life?
Unable to shake that fear, Lia made up her mind.
While Ren was still asleep, she quietly prepared to slip away.
But just as she tiptoed toward the exit—
A voice suddenly sounded behind her, nearly scaring her half to death.
"Didn't you say that succubi take a bit of a client's vitality as payment after weaving a dream?""I didn't even pay Erisu beforehand. If you're not planning to take any vitality either, wouldn't that mean I really freeloaded?"
Lia froze.
Since Ren had already spoken, she knew there was no escaping now. She slowly turned around, bracing herself.
But the moment she saw him, she was stunned.
Ren was smiling at her.
There was no anger on his face. No irritation. None of the fury she had imagined would come from ruining his dream.
"Lia," Ren said softly,"thank you for giving me such a wonderful dream."
The handsome man sat on the bed, looking at the girl with a warm, soothing smile.
That smile felt contagious.
Lia bowed deeply, her movements steady despite herself, then slowly stepped closer to him.
She could feel it.
That smile was genuine.
The tears hadn't been from sorrow—but from the quiet relief of having finally fulfilled a long-held wish.
"Thank you for the meal…" she whispered.
The next day, the succubus café opened for business as usual.
But the mood among the staff was noticeably brighter than normal.
Several succubi had gathered around a silver-haired girl, bombarding her with questions from all sides.
Compared to the nearly routine jobs most of them handled the night before, the orders completed by Rorisa and Lia could only be described as eventful.
Rorisa had always believed that among all her clients, the most dangerous one was Kazuma—the man infamous throughout Akuseru City for his questionable reputation.
What she hadn't expected was that shortly after entering the rented mansion Kazuma lived in, the demonic aura on her body would immediately draw the attention of a certain brainless goddess.
Ever since teaming up with Ren Kuroda to defeat the Demon Duke Makusueru—and making a massive fortune in the process—Akua had become extremely sensitive to demonic presences.
Eighty million Erisu might be a fortune to most people, but to someone as extravagant as Akua, it barely lasted.
To maintain her luxurious lifestyle, she dreamed day and night of striking it rich again.
She couldn't defeat a Demon Duke on her own—but dragging Ren into it was another matter entirely.
As long as they captured a powerful demon with a bounty and brought it to the Adventurers' Guild, surely asking for a fifty-fifty split as the informant wouldn't be unreasonable, right?
So when Akua sensed a demonic presence entering their residence, she became ecstatic—and immediately seized Rorisa, who had been preparing to weave a dream for Kazuma.
In the end, only after Kazuma explained things repeatedly did Akua reluctantly believe that Rorisa was just an ordinary café employee from Akuseru City, with no hidden dark mastermind behind her, and that she had come solely because of his order.
Barely escaping with her life, Rorisa returned to the café and reported everything to the succubus manager.
As for poor Kazuma?
Not only did he fail to experience any succubus service at all—he was promptly placed on the café's blacklist.
Upon hearing about Rorisa's ordeal, the other succubi expressed nothing but sympathy.
They'd long heard rumors that followers of the Akushisu faith were insane, and they could easily imagine what kind of goddess Akua must be.
But while Rorisa's situation drew pity, Lia's experience sparked nothing but envy.
She had also served a new client that night.
And not just any client—but Akuseru City's hero himself.
What's more, Lia hadn't returned until nearly dawn.
And what made the other succubi even more jealous was the fact that, despite only being gone for a single night, Lia's aura had clearly grown stronger.
Succubi fed on human vitality—the stronger the target, the greater the benefit.
That was precisely why the café preferred adventurers as customers.
Lia, one of the youngest succubi in the shop, had always been near the bottom in terms of strength.
Yet after just one night, her power had increased dramatically.
Normally, once a client fell asleep, a succubus could leave.
But Lia hadn't returned until almost morning.
It was impossible not to let one's imagination run wild.
"Well, well, Lia," one of them teased."I always thought you were a good girl. Turns out you really do have succubus blood running through you.You took down Akuseru's hero pretty fast.Or is that just his type?"
Blushing furiously, Lia hurriedly denied it, insisting that she'd only stayed late because Ren-sama had told her so many interesting stories that she lost track of time.
Naturally, none of the other succubi believed her.
Not only had Lia grown stronger from the vitality she'd absorbed—she'd also brought back one hundred thousand Erisu as payment.
A single dream-weaving service normally cost only five hundred Erisu.
Yet Lia had earned two hundred times that amount.
No one believed there wasn't a story behind it.
After all, even a top-tier adventurer wouldn't casually throw away that much money.
As for why Ren Kuroda paid her so generously, the reason was simple.
Part of it was compensation for frightening her earlier.
And part of it was because Lia had truly helped him resolve a long-standing regret in his heart.
The rest?
That was just a tip.