Chapter 84: Has Shirou's Curse of Misfortune with Women Activated in the Pleasure District?
"I'm sorry... I don't have any noble ideals... it's just for my own selfish desires."
Ais seemed deeply ashamed of her reason for wanting to become stronger and defeat the black dragon—revenge for her parents. Undoubtedly, her shame came from the environment she lived in.
Members of the Loki Familia were some of Orario's finest.
The destinies they carried and the wills they upheld far surpassed those of most adventurers.
Among them were heroes like Captain Finn, who sought to revive his race, and Vice-Captain Riveria, who, despite being of royal elven blood, chose to fight with her own will.
In such a hero-filled environment, Ais's desire to grow stronger purely for revenge indeed felt unworthy. She even felt ashamed for fighting out of personal desire.
"I see."
However, Shirou clearly didn't think negatively of Ais's confession. He appreciated her honesty, and thus felt the urge to help her.
"Are you free lately?" Shirou asked tentatively. "I can't tell you who the Sword Demon is, but if you want to meet him, I can make that happen." "Really?!"
Upon hearing Shirou's words, Ais's face lit up with excitement. "Of course," Shirou replied calmly.
After hearing Ais's motives and beliefs, Shirou approved of her will.
He didn't think helping her grow stronger would bring any trouble to himself or the Hestia Familia.
In fact, since Ais was the ace of the Loki Familia, helping her grow stronger could even reduce pressure from the Evilus factions.
And since Ais's goal was only to spar with the Sword Demon to become stronger, Shirou could easily hide his identity and appear before her as the Sword Demon.
"However... I don't have time right now," Ais's initial excitement faded. "Because of a god's request, I'll be heading to the port city Meren to investigate incidents involving mutated monsters."
"No problem," Shirou replied softly. "When you return, I'll arrange the meeting with the Sword Demon."
Shirou wasn't as eager as Ais and felt it was perfectly fine to handle this later.
He could use this time to begin his investigation in the Pleasure District and the Ishtar Familia.
After receiving Shirou's promise, Ais smiled excitedly, thanked him, and left with a light step.
Shirou was also looking forward to crossing swords with Ais. It had been a long time since he had exchanged techniques with a powerful swordsman.
Their training might not only boost Ais's strength but also improve his own combat skills.
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The Pleasure District, also known as the Joyous Street, was the most bustling area of Orario at night, earning it the title Night Street. Its two most famous forms of entertainment were casinos and brothels.
Compared to casinos, which required large sums of money to partake, brothels had a far lower threshold for entry.
Their clientele ranged from the top to the bottom of society, encompassing all of Orario.
Because of this, the Ishtar Familia, which controlled the brothels, held far more power and influence than even the Apollo Familia—undisputedly one of Orario's top factions.
That night, Shirou arrived at the Pleasure District. The moment he stepped in, an air of decadence hit him head-on. The architecture oozed sensuality, and seductive women with revealing outfits stood all along the street.
The women on the streets came in many forms—humans, beastmen, elves, even pallums.
They called out to men walking by with flirtatious and seductive smiles. Any man who failed to resist their charm would find himself drifting into nearby establishments, succumbing to primal desires.
"This is... something else…"
Although Shirou had anticipated that conducting an investigation in the Pleasure District wouldn't be easy, now that he was here, he couldn't help but feel a headache.
He was extremely bad at dealing with women. But now that he was here, there was no turning back. Bracing himself, he stepped further into the district.
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The very next second, Shirou regretted it.
For some reason, the moment the prostitutes laid eyes on him, their eyes lit up. One after another, they surrounded him.
"Hey handsome, wanna spend the night with me?" "Back off! I saw him first!" "Big brother, want to sleep with me~?"
Suddenly, Shirou was swarmed by a wide variety of prostitutes—from Amazonian warriors to elves, humans, pallums, and all sorts of demi-humans.
Although Shirou had always suspected he might be cursed with "misfortune involving women," this ridiculous passive effect activating now left him completely speechless.
"Sorry, I'm not here for that kind of thing..."
Helplessly, Shirou squeezed his way out from the encircling crowd of women—only to find that more prostitutes kept appearing around him.
He hadn't expected his investigation in the Pleasure District to be obstructed in such an absurd way, and he couldn't even force a bitter smile.
All he could do was keep a safe distance from the women and press forward step by step.
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"Hey, what's going on over there?" came a female voice from afar.
Shirou looked over and saw a group of bronze-skinned women wearing matching blue-purple, extremely revealing outfits and carrying weapons.
From his prior investigation, Shirou realized these women were the Pleasure District's self-defense group—the Berbera.
They were all members of the Ishtar Familia and, naturally, recipients of divine blessings—some were even Level 5.
"This is bad."
Attracting the attention of the Berbera was a serious issue for Shirou, who wanted to act discreetly without alerting the Ishtar Familia.
Worse still, one of the Berbera suddenly stared at him and exclaimed, "Why does this guy look so familiar...? Ah! I remember now! You're the God-Slayer, Emiya Shirou—the one who destroyed the Apollo Familia!"
Her words instantly caused a stir.
After all, the downfall of the Apollo Familia had been a massive shock to all of Orario.
And as the main cause of their demise, Shirou had immediately drawn the attention of all factions. His fame even surpassed Bell, who had defeated Hyakinthos in the arena.
Now that his identity was exposed, Shirou was even more distressed.
After all, the Apollo Familia had also operated in the Pleasure District. Since he had wiped out their casino operations, the Ishtar Familia should logically harbor resentment toward him.
But to Shirou's surprise, the Ishtar Familia members didn't show hostility after his identity was revealed. Instead, their faces lit up with admiration.
"Oh my god, that's the God-Slayer Emiya?" "I heard he defeated both Soma and Apollo! He's amazing!" "The Ishtar Familia is really grateful to Emiya—thanks to him shutting down the casino, our brothel business doubled!"
"Emiya-kun, let us repay you tonight~ We'll show you heaven!"
Before Shirou could react, a group of Berbera surrounded him. Some grabbed his arms, some clung to his clothes.
They looked at him like he was the ultimate prey and were ready to devour him whole.
Facing this death by overwhelming seduction, there was no way Shirou could simply give in.
He broke free from the surrounding prostitutes immediately, trying to escape, but soon realized that more and more Berbera were gathering around him, even high-level ones had joined in.
Realizing the situation was getting more and more troublesome, Shirou hesitated, unsure whether he should force his way out.
Since he hadn't hidden his appearance, someone recognized his identity. If he were to go all out here, it would likely cause a huge commotion across the entire prostitute street.
His identity as a sword demon might not stay hidden and would likely be exposed.
In that moment, Shirou was forced to choose between preserving his chastity or keeping his identity as the sword demon a secret.
In such a difficult predicament, cold sweat even started to break out on his forehead.
Just then, a black-haired woman suddenly stepped out from the crowd and hooked her arm around Shirou's shoulder.
"Alright, alright, this guy's mine. You all can leave!"
Though the prostitutes on the scene were clearly displeased by the appearance of the black-haired woman, they didn't seem to dare go against her.
"Tch, fine, since it's you saying it, Aisha."
The prostitutes looked at Shirou with regret all over their faces, as if reluctant to part with his body. But in the end, they still followed the black-haired woman's words and left the scene.
Once the others had dispersed, the black-haired woman smiled at Shirou and said, "Tsk tsk, what a sturdy body. Is it because you're a blacksmith like the rumors say?"
"You are?"
Shirou was a bit surprised by the appearance of the black-haired woman.
But what surprised him the most was that he didn't feel any malice from her.
Though she was entangling herself with him on the surface, in truth, she was very cleverly keeping a certain distance.
"My name is Aisha Belka," Aisha said calmly. "Those people from my familia are always this rowdy. Sorry they caused you so much trouble."
"No, it's nothing really..."
"Oh? You don't think it was trouble?" Aisha licked her lips upon seeing Shirou's attitude. "Then why not spend the night with me, Emiya? I'll be very gentle with you."
"! ! !"
Shirou's expression instantly turned to confusion, not expecting his polite remark to be interpreted this way.
Aisha burst out laughing and patted his shoulder, saying, "Hahaha! You really can't take a joke, huh? Alright, alright, I won't lay hands on a man who's unwilling. You better leave before the others come back."
How dignified.
"Th-Thank you?"
Shirou hadn't expected Aisha to actually let him go just like that. He stared hard at her.
After memorizing the woman named Aisha, he silently expressed his gratitude in his heart and quickly left the chaotic street.
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After leaving the main street of the pleasure district, Shirou paused on a secluded path.
He hadn't expected his "disastrous fate with women" to suddenly erupt at a time like this and cause such a huge commotion.
Now, he wasn't even sure how he was going to continue his investigation in the pleasure district.
"I should head back for now and think carefully about what to do next."
Shirou sighed, feeling exhausted for the first time.
Dealing with the prostitutes of the pleasure district was, to him, more difficult than defeating a Lone Maze King.
But just as he was about to leave, Shirou suddenly noticed a few figures at the end of the small path.
They were several men who didn't seem like customers. They had surrounded a purple-haired woman in a formal dress.
The purple-haired woman had slightly dark skin and heavy makeup. She exuded a unique allure that made it hard to believe she was just an ordinary prostitute.
Faced with the men surrounding her, the purple-haired woman seemed quite troubled and muttered to herself:
"Really now, your greed twisted your other desires? That's why the gambling industry should be shut down entirely."
"What nonsense are you spouting? Hurry up and hand over everything you've got!"
The men wore fierce expressions. It seemed they were trying to rob her and had lured her into this deserted alleyway.
Faced with such clear wrongdoing, Shirou naturally couldn't ignore it and immediately stepped forward.
The thugs were clearly surprised to see someone in such a remote place, and they quickly threatened Shirou.
"What do you want, kid?"
"Get lost if you don't want to die!"
Shirou paid no attention to these meaningless threats and directly grabbed one of the men by the collar.
Since his opponents were just regular people, Shirou only needed to exert the power of level 2 to completely suppress them.
"Eek!"
Realizing Shirou was a blessed adventurer, the men instantly lost all will to fight and fled in terror.
Watching the thugs flee, Shirou turned to the purple-haired woman and calmly asked, "Are you alright? You shouldn't walk in these alleys alone at night."
The purple-haired woman seemed quite surprised by Shirou's assistance. She gave him a strange look, then showed a curious smile.
Not understanding her reaction, Shirou hesitated, then turned to leave.
"Wait."
Seeing Shirou about to go, the purple-haired woman quickly stopped him.
"What is it?"
"In such a remote place, are you really planning to leave a helpless woman like me here alone?"
"..."
Shirou hadn't expected such a response and immediately felt the situation turning troublesome.
But he really couldn't just leave her alone, so he sighed and said, "Alright, alright. Where do you live? I'll walk you back."
"...Why are you helping me?"
Hearing Shirou's words, the purple-haired woman seemed very surprised. She looked at him with a complicated gaze, as if seeing something unexpected.
"Who knows. I just can't turn a blind eye, that's all."
Shirou waved it off.
"Can't turn a blind eye... You really are a peculiar man." The woman gave a complex expression. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Why ask?"
"I just want to know the name of the person who helped me."
Shirou didn't feel she meant any harm, so he calmly replied, "My name is Shirou Emiya."
"Shirou... Emiya?"
"What is it?"
"No, nothing."
The woman seemed quite surprised by his name.
Her gaze wavered for a long while but in the end, she didn't say anything.
Just like that, Shirou escorted the woman away from the secluded path, and under her guidance, took her back to her residence.
However, once they arrived, Shirou was stunned.
Because the place the woman had led him to was a huge structure — practically a palace. Its magnificent appearance was as splendid as a royal palace rising from the desert.
Atop the palace was the crest of a familia — a veiled woman lifting the upper half of her face.
There was no doubt. This was the headquarters of the Ishtar Familia!
As Shirou stood in shock that the purple-haired woman was part of the Ishtar Familia, something even more unexpected happened. Members of the familia, upon seeing the woman, immediately revealed respectful expressions and said in unison:
"Welcome back, Goddess Ishtar."
"Mm."
To the members' words, the purple-haired woman — or rather, the goddess herself — silently nodded.
Then, as if anticipating Shirou's reaction, she turned to him and smiled. "What? Not planning to come in and be my guest, dear benefactor?"
"..."
Never in his wildest dreams did Shirou think the woman he casually saved was actually the goddess of beauty, Ishtar herself.
He truly had no idea what kind of expression to make.
More importantly, judging from Ishtar's demeanor, it was clear she had no intention of letting him go.
Whether it was her predatory tone or the moment she grabbed his arm without him noticing — it all showed that Shirou was now truly trapped.
"Don't worry," Ishtar smiled, seeing how tense and stiff Shirou was. "I won't do anything to you. I just want to repay you."
But to Shirou, her tone sounded just like a scummy man saying, "We'll just cuddle, nothing more."
He couldn't be more suspicious of her intentions.
However, at this point, Shirou also realized — this was a golden opportunity.
The Ishtar Familia, the very center of the storm, was right in front of him. If he played it right, he might be able to learn a lot in one fell swoop.
Even if his chastity might be in danger, there are some things that you simply can't accomplish without taking a few risks...
Probably.
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