<~> Chapter 330I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair before sharing a look with Morrigan.

  "You know who this woman is? Is it relevant?" Raksha'va asked.

  "I do," I said with a nod. "Corrine is Beldonna's mother. Their retionship is complicated, but I believe she wouldn't want to hurt Bel. It's possible that they're coming here because of her, but I don't think Corrine would force anyone to leave with them."

  "Beldonna, your deer girl?" Dominik asked. "This Corrine woman looked human. I didn't think Beldonna was a mix."

  I frowned and gnced at Dominik before deciding to answer truthfully. "Bel wasn't always a beastfolk. She had been born a human."

  The man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ah, right. Of course. Gods, it is easy to forget the way you succubi are."

  "Her retionship with Beldonna isn't the problem," Raksha'va said, interrupting. "The problem is that she seems to be marching a small army of Tamin padins and priests up to our walls."

  "What did you mean by defaced banners?" Morrigan asked.

  Dominik turned to her. "The banners had been turned upside down and were painted with lines crossing out their symbols. Some of the closer looks we were able to get indicated that they weren't wearing any personal symbols either."

  "So these are defectors from the church after Sorsette's death?" Morrigan asked.

  "It appears so," Dominik replied.

  Raksha'va growled under her breath. "If they are defectors, that makes them more dangerous. The Tamin church was a known quantity to me. I cannot tell whether this group is a gang of bandits or a band of mercenaries. The fact that they are still traveling in such a rge group while carrying their banners at all is worrying."

  "I wonder how many people in the Tamin church defected after the global message Sorsette sent out with her death," Morrigan mused.

  Dominik shrugged. "I haven't heard any rumors reted to that the st time we passed letters through Norta. I heard churches of Allerel and Moira have been burned down in some pces, though. Allerel, the god of Justice and Bance, being revealed to be part of the Tamin church has destroyed the credibility of a lot of the legal systems in many pces, since her priests were usually relied on for their zones of truth. Whether the god influenced any outcomes or not, no one trusts one of the gods that killed Sorsette and destroyed the system anymore. Many of Allerel's own followers left the church after the global message from what I've heard, especially among the beastkin. I assume things are even worse outside of Torlimal where the Allerel church was even more embedded into the legal system than they were here."

  Brominn frowned. "I wonder what a priest would do if they left Allerel's church as a result of this. They would be weakening their css if they no longer followed them in many cases."

  "Csses barely exist anymore without the system. It's not like they could control it," Tornick said.

  "Wouldn't that just make things worse for them?" Brominn asked.

  Raksha'va raised a hand. "We're getting off topic. Let's refocus on the problem at hand. A rge group of priests and padins are headed this way as we speak."

  "Actually, wouldn't their csses be stunted as well? If their padins no longer worshipped the Tamin church, wouldn't they lose a lot of their strength and abilities?" Brominn asked.

  "No," Kaligan said confidently. "The Tamin padins and priests have always operated differently because their gods weren't public. They don't channel their gods' magic the same way other padins and priests do. Padins in particur should be considered full martial csses, even if that isn't entirely true."

  "Are they trying to hide?" I asked. "If the ultimate question is whether or not they're hostile, hiding or trying to rush us would be the best indication of their intentions."

  Dominik shook his head. "I don't think they are. The entire group is marching down the road in an organized fashion. They're also moving slowly. They likely would already be here if they were marching at a hurried pace."

  "So they want to be noticed," Tenna commented.

  "Probably so," Dominik said with a nod.

  "Is Corrine leading them, or just a part of the group?" Morrigan asked.

  Dominik shrugged. "Hard to say. No one was wearing obvious decorations that would imply any leadership. Their entire structure may have fallen apart when they decided to defect from the church. That would make them more dangerous, not less, by the way."

  Morrigan nodded. "Sure, but if they're headed this way and allowing themselves to be easily seen by our scouts, maybe they are here because of Bel. Corrine seemed to be in charge of the padins in Norta before. If she is headed here to reconnect with Bel, maybe the others decided to follow her. Did the Tamin church still control Norta the st time you visited there?"

  Dominik leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms while looking up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression on his face. After a moment, he replied. "You know, the st time I visited Norta, the guards seemed very jumpy. The Tamin church had been holding that pce for a while, so I didn't think to ask about it, but something did seem different there. I couldn't pce why at the time, but maybe they had recently run the Tamin church out of town."

  "Would the Tamin bastards let themselves be run out of town?" Tenna asked. "They were already in control of Norta. It would have taken a rge uprising to force them to leave. Norta could be weaker than we think."

  Kaligan frowned. "I don't think they could have been removed unless they allowed themselves to be cast out. If they lost faith in their church after system's end, they might have simply accepted it and left peacefully. There are also demons running rampant on the frontier. Even if they no longer believe in their church, the hatred for demons among their members has always been real. Many people joined the Tamin church in the first pce to fight demons as revenge for the many times demons have consumed a town. It's possible they left Norta a while ago and were just fighting demons until now."

  "There's too much specution here for my liking. Let's talk about a more practical matter. With everything that's been said taken into consideration, how should we handle their approach? Would it be safe to send a small party to meet with them outside the walls?" Raksha'va asked.

  Dominik hesitantly nodded. "I believe if they were fully hostile, they would have been trying to camoufge their approach. They likely want a group to meet them before they come up to the city. Maybe they want to expin themselves or want permission to enter."

  Raksha'va frowned and looked over to me. "I know Beldonna is pregnant, but if this Corrine woman is here to see her, perhaps she should be among the group that approaches her. Is it safe for Beldonna to travel?"

  I shook my head immediately. "No. She's due any day now for one thing, but more importantly, she's locked into her true form right now. Bel could be confused for a demon. I won't allow that to happen. I'll go myself. I've met with Corrine before and she would recognize me."

  Raksha'va sighed. "Sending a council member along won't be popur among the people. Any of us being in danger could destabilize things here."

  "I'm going too. I'm the best mage in the city right now. Lilith will need my help if something goes wrong," Morrigan added.

  Raksha'va put a hand to her face and sighed heavily. "I would really like to argue, but it's unfortunately our best option. We don't know if they pn to attack, but sending someone they know will make that outcome less likely. Unfortunately, sending Morrigan along also makes a lot of sense to mitigate the risk if they become hostile. If we're sending the two of you, are you going to take the rest of your old adventuring party out as well?"

  "I could spare Torien and Lorriene," Dominik said casually.

  "What about Silva?" Raksha'va asked.

  I frowned. "She hasn't come back from trying to make contact with her high-level friend, yet. She's been gone longer than expected."

  "Do you need another frontliner, then?" she asked.

  I shook my head. "I'll take Kal'daeryn and Nelly since I can't take Bel along. They'll round out our group in their pce."

  "Raya will be able to handle my duties at the school," Morrigan added.

  I turned around and looked over at Mimi, who had been listening quietly this entire time. "How about you, Mimi?"

  She nodded. "I'll come! My shop isn't that busy anyway."

  "A group of seven then," I said.

  "That's fine. You shouldn't try to fight them in the first pce. Your group should be small enough to approach without provoking a harsh reaction, and you will be able to escape if they are more hostile than they appear. How long before you can leave?" Raksha'va asked.

  "It probably won't take long to organize it. I think we can leave within a bell. How far away are they?" I asked, turning to Dominik.

  "If you left within the bell, you could make it there and back before dusk easily," Dominik replied.

  "Good. I just hope we're not walking into some sort of trap," Raksha'va said. "Let's finish up our other business, sans the discussion on zoning, for now."

  Aquil just sighed. "I'm going to have to deal with Tenna pestering me for another week?"

  There was a round of chuckles at her expense before Raksha'va pyfully shrugged. "I apologize, but I don't think we have the time to address that. I would just like to quickly go over everything and allow Lilith the time she needs to gather her group and leave."

  The rest of the meeting went quickly as we shared updates on everything happening in the city. Mimi was also able to finally deliver the mithril ingot sample to the council. I felt a bit bad since that was supposed to be big news for Tenna's family, but it got a little overshadowed. As much of a hurry as we were to send my group to meet the contingent of padins and priests, they weren't an imminent threat, and things would quickly spiral out of control in the city if we didn't address the boring stuff quickly enough to stay on top of things. There was a lot more that went into running a city than I had thought, and the job kept me a lot busier than I had assumed it would when I first agreed to sit on the council. It was a small price to pay for the influence I needed to protect my burgeoning people, though. It hadn't been my intention, but I was falling right into Oceane's pns that she had suggested when she told me about founding a succubus nation. I was just gd I was able to put a lot of the initial responsibility on Raksha'va instead of trying to bumble through it on my own as a queen or something. The thought gave me chills, and not the good kind.

  We hadn't talked about it in a while, but I think Raksha'va was seriously considering becoming a succubus herself, and I think the only reason she hasn't taken the plunge yet is because of the instability it would cause in the city. It might take a couple of years for the city to feel comfortable enough with the succubi that Raksha'va could safely transform without too much dissent. It would be dangerous if people started to think that the succubi were taking over the city one by one, with some nefarious goal. Right now, we still needed to ingratiate ourselves with the popuce enough that no one feared our race any more than they might any other person. Things had been going well so far, but we were still in a precarious position, and turning Raksha'va into a succubus now carried too much risk at this stage. At least as long as she was the city's mayor.

  We eventually wrapped up our meeting, and Aquil was quick to run away before Tenna could continue harassing her. Tenna gave Aquil an amused look as she ran away, but didn't make a move to follow.

  Instead, she stood up and came over to me. "Lilith! Kneel down a little so I can kiss you. Why do you have to be so damn tall?"

  I chuckled as she pulled me into a kiss and pyfully groped my ass. Tenna had taken well to becoming a succubus and was especially amorous with me when she got the chance. Succubus retions were a bit weird, since we were by nature quite sexually open. Tenna wasn't a member of my inner circle exactly, but she had sought me out more than most people outside of my group of lovers. Her direct and open personality had always clicked well with me, and she may have already joined our group if she had shown more interest in my other lovers. I didn't mind spending time with her, but as long as she didn't show the same interest in them, she wouldn't join my inner circle. I don't think she minded though, and I didn't either. More than some of the other succubi, she felt like family.

  "Be careful on your trip, Lilith. I always worry about you when you put yourself in danger," Tenna said.

  I ughed and ruffled the hair on her head. "I will be, don't worry." I think she liked it when I treated her like someone younger than her actual age. Teasing her like this always got me a smile.

  She gave me another kiss before pulling away and heading out the door. It still took me some time to get used to how open and sexual all of the succubi treated each other. With the bond, it was much easier to know what would be appreciated and what wouldn't, leading to much more intense dispys of affection outside normal retionships. I wasn't sure whether it was the nature of my race, something the transformation changed, or just culture spreading more easily through the bond, but open retionships were the norm, and orgies with both succubi and non-succubi were becoming increasingly common throughout the city. It was an interesting change since that wasn't usual in this world either. I couldn't help but enjoy the changes that brought with it, though.

  I turned to Mimi and Morrigan. "Let's go get the others and get ready to leave."

  Saine

  Hello! Looks like the gang is prepared to meet up with Corrine and her group! The chapters that focus on the council members are pretty fun. I haven't gotten the chance to write about something like this in either of my stories, so it's a nice change of pace. As you can tell, this book is going to focus more on politics than the previous ones as Lilith carves out a pce for her people. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading!

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