RISE OF EROS

After some banter and comments that were left to the imagination, Candice and Andrew agreed to meet next week for dinner. Strangely the closeness between Candice and Andrew was evident, even though they had not spoken too often.

Everyone present was a bit confused, as there seemed to be a synergy between the two, especially Gaston and Oliver, Castor was the first time he had seen Candice, so he was unaware of their relationship on a personal level.

Since Andrew had told him all about the business, he knew that Candice was an important ally, but he had never mentioned that they got along so well, which is why he assumed that their flirtation was normal.

After deciding on a time and date for the appointment, Andrew and Candice chatted for a few minutes, before the former in the company of Oliver and Castor left. Once they had left, Gaston couldn't help but give Candice a strange look, who obviously noticed this, and asked, "Anything you want to say?".

Gaston hesitated for a moment, but still spoke up, "I just wanted to confirm. The young lady decided to pair up with Mr. Andrew?" to which Candice replied with a smile, "It's just dinner."

Gaston wasn't an idiot and knew it wasn't just dinner, but just like last time, he didn't pursue the subject. He had already decided to follow Candice no matter what decision she made.

Andrew and his companions boarded a carriage to return to the Heavenly Palace. Andrew every day reinforced his idea of buying a carriage, he was just waiting to earn a little more money, to buy one that had the minimum specifications he wanted.

Out of nowhere, Castor broke the silence, "Bro, is it one of your skills to talk to girls?". Castor's question surprised Andrew who couldn't help but ask somewhat confused, "Why do you ask that?".

"Well, you weren't so eloquent with the ladies before, but seeing you today with 3 wives and flirting with another beauty, makes me think it's a divine power or something," Castor said with a strange look on his face.

Andrew couldn't help but laugh at his friend's comment and waving his hand in denial said, "I have no such ability." Andrew's response, caused Castor to furrow his eyebrows in confusion because his friend was very different from what he remembered.

Castor's sense of strangeness was not unfounded because it was true that Andrew was introverted until recently, to the point that Andrew had not noticed this change until Castor brought it to light.

Andrew both in his past life and in this one was an introvert. Talking to the opposite sex was a difficult task for him. If that had not been the case, he would not have spent his previous life buried in porn and would go out to fuck girls.

Noticing this peculiarity, he couldn't help but ask Fluffy, "Is it like Castor says? Is it a new skill or characteristic as a candidate for Eros god?" to which Fluffy replied, "Well, there's no such thing as an introverted Eros god."

After that opening comment, Fluffy continued speaking, "For a god who feeds on sex and eroticism, he must be daring in one way or another. Sex is not achieved by hiding in a room."

Although a bit sarcastic, Andrew understood Fluffy's point, but asked about something that was bothering him, "Will I become a bastard who only thinks about fucking?"

"Master, I think you're going to the extreme, but it's not impossible for it to happen," Fluffy replied unexpectedly serious, which worried Andrew, "What do you mean?".

Fluffy sighed heavily and began to explain, "Well, I think it's time to explain this since you are at a delicate stage. Many think that demons are the enemies or counterparts of the gods, but that idea is wrong."

The mention of demons, made Andrew wrinkle his eyebrows, as he did not understand, but Fluffy paid no attention to him and continued his explanation, "Think about it master, don't demons exist in this world as another race?".

Andrew immediately understood. It was true, that demons, though feared, had been proven to be a different race like humans, elves, and beastmen, so they could not be the counterparts of the gods because the latter created the demons.

Remembering this, Andrew's confusion grew, and not finding the answer, he looked to Fluffy for answers. "Master, the gods are the pinnacle of all races, so the demons that were created by them, cannot be their counterparts."

Fluffy paused and continued, "However, depravity is another situation. What you mention about becoming a bastard who only thinks about sex would be the depravity of a god Eros. When a god becomes obsessed with his dominance he falls into depravity, that is the god's counterpart."

Andrew still didn't seem to understand and Fluffy noticing this, continued explaining, "Master, a god is one who controls his domain. In your case, it would be sex and eroticism, but if on the contrary, you let your domain control you, you will become a fallen god and become what you just said. A bastard who only thinks about sex."

With that explanation, all was clear to Andrew, and concerned, he couldn't help but ask, "Is it recurrent for that to happen?" to which Fluffy replied, "Among gods who ascend from mortals like you, it is not uncommon."

"Although it is not infrequent, it is not too recurrent either, let's say it would be 1 in 1 million. What happens is that god candidates get drunk on power as they are superior to mortals and it destroys them."

Andrew understood what Fluffy meant. It was simple really. God candidates have a lot of power and being surrounded by weaker beings gives them the feeling that they can do whatever they want and so they fall into depravity.

"How can I stay in control?" asked Andrew not wanting to fall into this problem and Fluffy replied, "I'm afraid it's limited to your willpower. Certainly, part of our roles as divine beasts is to prevent it from happening, but in the end, it's all up to yourself."

Fluffy's response did not reassure Andrew because if Castor had not mentioned to him that he was now more assertive with women, he would not have noticed, so he might have fallen into depravity without realizing it.

Being now aware of this problem he recorded a mental note to control himself, although he had no idea how he would do that. Fluffy who could hear Andrew's thoughts, just smiled because he knew that with Andrew being concerned about this fact, it was unlikely that he would fall into depravity, and that made him happy.

You have to know that a fallen god is a big problem. One in which the divine beasts also suffered, that's why they tried to prevent it from happening. Many may think that a fallen god of Eros or Love is not a problem, but it is because they do not imagine the consequences of that happening.

Just imagine that a fallen Eros god subjugates a whole world and turns it into a total debauchery or that they can only have sex with him or her. It would practically be the extinction of that world.

The same happened with a god of love, imagine that everyone in the world falls in love with him or her, and it would also be a form of extinction. While fallen gods with dominion over magic, weapons, or even life and death, are the most dangerous, no fallen god was something that can be taken lightly.

With those thoughts in mind, Andrew, Oliver, and Castor returned to the Heavenly Palace. Once they returned and busied themselves with their duties, the subject was forgotten as if it had never been touched.

Ironically, when Andrew returned, the first thing he had to do was visit Carolina who had locked herself in the lab. Andrew could only let out a sigh of helplessness at how problematic his wife's ability was.

While Andrew went to the lab to check on Carolina, Oliver went to his office, while Castor went to train. The young man was very diligent and thanks to Oliver's guidance he had gained a lot of strength, he only needed to start reaping the benefits of the guardian seal that Andrew had given him.

Unfortunately, Castor had only recently arrived in the city and had no girl with whom he could have sex and gain power. Certainly, he could go to other pleasure houses and pay for a courtesan, but since Andrew had told him that he would not gain much benefit this way, he preferred not to do so, as it was not worth the money he would spend.

While everything was going on normally in the Heavenly Palace, in the kingdom of Tripia, the agents sent by Demon began to move. Unlike the kingdom of Tripia, which established plans to destabilize the empire, Demon only asked his agents to gather information.

Obviously, the empire already had spies in the kingdom of Tripia, but they were only dedicated to infiltrating important people's secrets, as they did not want to cause a war.

However, Domon was dissatisfied with his agents, because none of them had learned anything about the Tripia kingdom's plans to attack the empire and so this time he sent his best agents to take care of the matter.

These agents had very specific missions and that was to study the patterns of the ministers and important nobles. He wanted to infiltrate the royal castle of Tripia, but he knew that this would not be easy, as there was always an expert of the level of Arturios or him stationed there.

Still, Demon was ambitious. He wanted to eliminate several important ministers and nobles to create chaos in the country so that they would have no way to bother the empire. This was not an easy task, as characters of this caliber were always well-protected and cautious.

Still, the agents Demon had sent were no soft khaki either, so he was sure that within a week he would have results. No one besides him and the agents he sent knew his plan, not even the king himself.

The attack on the elves and beastmen, was personal to him, so he would not stop to discuss bureaucracy with the king and the ministers, so he acted without their consent.

Little did he know that the king would not oppose his decision because while the king did not know of the history of these two races, he did hold them in high regard for the contributions they had made and he was furious.

In fact, the king had some direct subordinates who belonged to these races, which had helped him a lot, so he felt indignant because he felt he had failed his people.