Gacha Harem System

"The corps quickly became a private army for certain... privileged members of the church. And as the saying goes, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." She shrugged, then continued eating.

"Wait a minute," Lukas frowned. "If some people began using the church corps for their personal use, wouldn’t some people notice?"

He found it hard to believe that people wouldn’t notice corruption of that level. If there’s one thing he knew about humans, it was their ability to sniff out places where things weren’t right, even if they weren’t sure about it.

And from the way Akira had spoken about them and the things they did, surely someone would’ve noticed that their supposed religious paragons were fake.

"Of course, they did." Akira replied. "But such problems were easily solved. If anyone begins to question the church, they’re quickly labeled an apostate on the side of evil. And there’s no worse stain than that."

"The people have already been conditioned to hate anything related to beasts, so once you’re associated with it, you lose all credibility. No one would believe you, and people whom you haven’t met before will begin to hate you."

"Damn." Lukas whistled. "Is the church that powerful? Don’t you guys have kings or rulers?"

"Well, we do, but the church is something else entirely." Akira answered. "The church is like a disease, spreading silently and insidiously until it is everywhere."

"Somehow, the churches were granted the power to crown rulers, and from there, the right to choose rulers, until eventually, each monarchy became a puppet of the church. And now, the church is the crown and the crown is the church."

She scoffed.

"Of course, the average citizen doesn’t know. In fact, most people don’t. The only reason I found out was by chance. And if I wasn’t a member of the Sisters of Blood, I probably would have been killed in order to preserve and prevent that information from leaking out."

She smiled, the expression looking anything other than amused. "The church takes its interests very seriously."

"Now I get why you don’t like them," Lukas said.

Living on earth, he’d heard of and even been affected by the decision of corrupt institutions before. But what Akira was describing was a whole level higher than anything he’d experienced.

This was a system so thoroughly entrenched that questioning it publicly became its own crime.

A place that only had the appearance of being functional and principled, but the citizens itself were the judge, jury, and executioner. But most were not even aware of it. Or the fact that they were not even in charge of the trial in the first place.

Living in something like that, never knowing who was genuinely faithful and who was playing a role, or when a casual conversation might reach the wrong ears, sounded exhausting.

Akira nodded, setting her spoon down. "Let’s just say our society looked like a paradise if you only ever saw the surface of it."

"All the markets, the colorful festivals, even the church ceremonies." She paused. "But once you saw what was underneath, you couldn’t unsee it."

Melody had been listening quietly, turning something over.

"So this is why my father always detested priests," she finally said, drawing the attention of the room to her. "Back home, the king made a point of stamping out any formalized religion before it had a chance to establish itself."

"The moment something started resembling an institution with its own hierarchy and its own following, they moved against it." She glanced at Akira. "I never fully understood why until now."

Akira pointed at her. "Your people had exactly the right idea. The mistake most rulers make is waiting until the institution is already useful to them before they realize it has become more powerful than they are."

She picked her spoon back up. "By then, it’s already too late."

Silence filled the air as they continued eating, each one thinking about Akira’s world.

They soon finished the food, emptying their containers very quickly.

None of them was surprised at the rate Akira ate though. Lukas had even expected it, buying an extra serving just for her. She finished everything.

And so she stood and stretched, her arms going wide above her head. Then she bounced on her heels, as if trying to exercise.

She was unaware of how the motion made her breasts bounce, making Lukas and Melody exchange a glance. They were truly big.

"I have energy," she announced. "Way too much of it. What can I actually do around here for exercise? I’m itching for a good fight."

Melody began stacking the empty containers. "You have two main options. We hunt beasts outside the city, or we clear dungeons."

"Dungeons are for when you want a balance of experience and money," Lukas added. "While hunting outside the city is mainly for experience. Both have their uses depending on what you need."

"But if you want to clear dungeons, that avenue is pretty much closed up to you," he said. "Dungeons only go up to A-rank here."

"Wait a minute," Melody blinked in surprise. "There’s no S-rank dungeons here?"

"Yes." Lukas nodded. "There are no S-rank dungeons in Havenhart."

"So, for someone at Akira’s level, the only thing worth doing around here would be hunting outside the city, but honestly," he paused, "you don’t actually need experience, do you?"

Akira’s grin grew on her face. "Not even a little."

She crossed her arms, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. "I could ascend to Adept right now if I wanted to."

Melody looked at her. "Then why haven’t you?"

The pleased expression didn’t disappear, but something behind it shifted slightly.

"Corps politics," Akira said. "I was affiliated with a particular Deaconess within the Sisterhood. A powerful woman, good at her job, and consequently despised by a significant number of people who felt threatened by her."

"And they took it out on you," Lukas said.

"On all of her followers. The people controlling advancement and demotion within the corps were her opposers. As long as they held those positions, anyone associated with her stayed exactly where they were, regardless of their capabilities."

She shrugged as if she didn’t care, but Lukas could hear the edge in her words. "If I advanced without their approval, they’d have grounds to accuse me of acting outside the Church’s authority, and that would make it easier for them to label me a heretic."

"So you had no choice," Melody said.

"Stay S-rank or become a heretic. And we already covered what that means." Akira looked out the window. "I had the power to advance for over a year. I just couldn’t use it."

The table went quiet for a moment.

Then Lukas stood, pushing his chair back, a grin breaking across his face that he made no effort to contain.

"You’re here now," he said. "Here, there’s no Deaconess, no corps, and no one controlling your advancement."

He looked at her directly. "Very soon, we’ll leave Havenhart. And when we do, you advance whenever you’re ready."

Akira held his gaze for a moment.

Then she smiled, the emotion genuine.

"I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy this world," she said.