<~> Chapter 340I don't think I've ever seen a grown woman look so awkward before. Despite the woman's usual stoic nature, Corrine looked visibly uncomfortable as she walked into the brothel once the other former Tamin members left. Morrigan and Mimi also went home so they wouldn't distract from the conversation I was about to have with Eira and Corrine.

  The succubus brothel in Traehall was named 'The Sleeping Lion,' though it was also considered a chapter branch of the Ruby Vixen mercenary company. It was an odd wrinkle to have a pair of brothels so tightly intertwined with a mercenary company like they were, but it made sense the more you knew about the succubi. All of the girls from the original group of Succubi who had come with us were now experienced adventurers, and more had traveled here from Goldenhearth with Cecilia after the immediate turmoil had passed following the system's end. It was still a dangerous trip, but Cecilia was reliable and had made monthly trips to Norta and a few to Goldenhearth despite everything that was happening. She had even taken Fellia and Madeline on a few of them.

  "Why again are we entering a bordello?" Corrine asked warily.

  "We have an appointment with the madame here, Eira," I told her.

  "Hey, Lilith! Who's your friend? Did you bring a customer over?" the girl at the desk teased. Because of the bond, the mischievous catkin knew exactly who this was. She was just trying to get a rise out of her.

  "We're headed up to Eira's office. Is she in?" I asked, ignoring the question.

  "She is, busy with paperwork since this morning."

  "Thanks," I said before shooing the giggling catkin away.

  The brothel's lobby looked a bit simir to the Ruby Vixen's. It had couches and piles of cushions on the floor where some of the women rexed and chatted with each other before the busier time of night started. This pce was just as much a social hub as it was a pce of work for them. The brothel technically never closed, so occasionally someone would come in outside the usual hours and have plenty of people to choose from. Most of the succubi had other duties in the city, so these girls were actually spending their days off here, but work didn't always feel like work when it was also a source of nourishment to the succubi. Most of the succubi worked the brothel rather than sleep most nights, since sex could repce the rejuvenation of sleep as long as they weren't too mentally taxed throughout the day. It caused the Sleeping Lion to have a pretty fluid schedule for their girls, but that didn't seem to bother anyone except for Eira, who had to keep up with the paperwork.

  I led Corrine up the stairs to Eira's office on the second floor. The brothel had a simir yout to the Ruby Vixen, and it wasn't lost on me that Eira had taken a location for her office that was the same as Oceane's back in Goldenhearth. Despite her significantly different demeanor from the snakekin woman, Eira was trying hard to live up to her former madame's example, which made her want to mirror Oceane in a few ways. From what I've heard, Eira has been a very effective madame here, even if she often refused the title. To her, the only madame was Oceane, despite everyone wanting to foist the title onto her.

  I knocked on her door and heard Eira call through, "Come in!"

  Eira stood as we entered and moved next to the pair of couches surrounding the coffee table that was meant to be a bit more casual than sitting at her imposing desk. I got the feeling that Eira was trying to take the excuse to get away from the small mountain of paperwork sitting on top. Eira, unlike Oceane, didn't have someone like Grace to handle all the accounting. Without even asking, Eira immediately began to make tea for the three of us as we sat down. Her succubus wings and tail bobbed back and forth behind her as she worked. She was wearing her true form right now, so her outfit showed off the generous cleavage of her rge breasts and her beautiful figure.

  Corrine looked around awkwardly before studying Eira closely from the side. "I hadn't expected someone so young to be the madame of the brothel here."

  Eira ughed. "I think of myself as more of a manager than the madame. Things are pretty x, so I mostly just handle the scheduling and payroll here. Though if you do have any concerns about the brothel, I'm probably the one you should speak with, of course. Also, you should remember that looks can be deceiving when it comes to the age of a succubus. Most of the girls that work here are older than they look."

  "And that includes you, I presume?"

  "Actually, no," Eira said with a chuckle. "I'm an exception to that. I didn't change as much from the transformation as others." She picked up a tray with three teacups and a pot of hot tea before pcing it on the table and sitting down across from us. "So, how may I help the two of you?"

  Corrine looked at me, likely even more curious what we were doing here.

  "Corrine is new in town, and the leader of the ex-Tamin priests and padins that the city has decided to integrate into the city. I haven't told her much about the succubi yet, so I thought it would be important to get the conversation about our dietary needs and some of the other quirks that come along with being a succubus out of the way. I want to be able to assuage any worries she or her people might have about us," I expined.

  Corrine's eyes narrowed at the mention of 'dietary needs,' but didn't ask the question.

  Eira bobbed her head. "Ah! The usual spiel. I see. Is the offer open to them as well?"

  I shrugged. "I'm not sure how likely any of them are to take it, but it might help their integration if some of them took the offer."

  "Offer? I hesitate to ask, but what are you offering?" Corrine asked warily.

  I gestured to Eira and she nodded. "If someone takes our oath, they too can become a succubus. When someone becomes a succubus, their body physically transforms into their 'ideal self.' This has many benefits, including full stat reallocation. If anyone is missing limbs or covered in unpleasant scars they no longer want, those will be restored or wiped away as well. If their ideal self looks younger, they will also seemingly reduce in age, though we haven't been around long enough to know whether this actually increases longevity. I hear it can also restore fertility to those who have become barren. There are a few other benefits, but those we like to keep close to our chest unless you are seriously considering the offer."

  "A stat reallocation? How does that work without the system?" Corrine asked.

  Eira shrugged. "Before, the system would refund all your points and allow you to reallocate them as you wish. Now the process seems to happen automatically, but it involves thinking about what you want your build to be before taking the oath. From my experience with the few rituals we've done after system's end, the reallocation of stat points never happens in a way the user doesn't want. Like the physical transformation, it follows the desires of the person transforming."

  Corrine sat up straight. "So... this is why Bru— Bel looks so different now. This is how she became the way she is. She is a succubus like all of you."

  Eira looked at me in confusion. "She knew Bel before her transformation?"

  I nodded. "This is Corrine, Bel's mother."

  Eira's brow furrowed. "Then why am I having this conversation with her? Shouldn't this be something Bel is discussing with her instead?"

  "Unfortunately, Bel... isn't ready for that yet," I replied.

  Corrine looked away sadly while Eira sat back on the couch and crossed her arms. After a lingering pause, Eira sighed. "I guess I can see how things could be complicated between the two of you."

  After another awkward pause, Corrine cleared her throat. "What about these dietary restrictions you mentioned? What are the downsides of this transformation?"

  Eira nodded. "Well, the first and most important 'downside' of this transformation is that succubi feed on the specific magic created while having sex, and other magic types to a lesser extent. In order to survive, someone who has become a succubus must regurly have sex, and the more unique partners someone has, the rger their 'stomach' grows, so to speak. You cannot become a succubus unless you're willing to regurly have sex to survive, and the fewer partners you have, the more often you have to do it."

  A blush overcame Corrine's face. She obviously didn't expect this kind of revetion. She managed to remain stoic, though based on the redness of her face, it was only just barely. "That is... uh, not as bad as I had thought when you were first talking around your dietary needs. That restriction could be quite... porizing among the people potentially interested in it. I now see why you've made your home a brothel. Is there anything else?"

  Eira nodded. "Succubi are always feminine creatures. There are some that have uh, masculine genitalia, but despite a few different attempts at it, anyone who becomes a succubus will become someone who presents and outwardly appears female. One that I know personally wished they could have remained as a male, but after the transformation, it was as if their opinion on it changed, and they became perfectly happy to be a woman. Anyone who wishes to take the offer must be willing to become a woman, because that seems to be a hard requirement."

  Corrine ran her fingers through her hair. "You said that this could repair longstanding injuries though? There are some who might be willing to take that trade."

  Eira nodded. "It's not common, but we've had a few men who have become succubi for those reasons. None that I've heard of have regretted it so far, but it's one of the things that holds a lot of people back. The need for sex can be a bit touchy for some, but since a majority of the people we've recruited were already prostitutes, they haven't had much trouble adapting."

  Corrine turned to me. "So, did you bring me here to make this offer to me and the people I've brought with me?"

  I nodded. "In part. The main concern though, really, is that all of the succubi have some form of transformation ability. Mainly to appeal to more people sexually, but the potential for us to become spies and such goes without saying. The former Tamin church wasn't known to be very accepting of beastfolk, same-sex pairings, or demons. I swear to Velenthel again that we aren't demons, but that is because our people rejected our demonic heritage. We were in fact demons in the past. All three of those things are reasons for your people not to trust us, so I decided to have an honest conversation about it now, before any suspicion could form."

  Corrine's eyes went wide when a spike of truth fell over the room, clearly an interaction from Velenthel. Without the system, it was a bit harder to confirm directly without a status message, but the feeling felt identical to anyone who had been in a zone of truth before.

  "It seems Velenthel thought that this conversation was important enough to verify my cims," I added.

  Corrine pursed her lips and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. Eventually she met my gaze again. "The prophecy is true, then. Not falsified, but twisted by the Tamin church in another way to manipute us?" She shook her head. "You are the Lilith that the prophecy mentioned, that much is clear to me. You were born a demon, but you aren't one any longer." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fuck. This makes things so much worse. The church was maniputing us even more than I thought. I was hoping to find the prophecies weren't real, but it's worse than that. Our prophecy was correct, but so were all of the others, even the ones that found your presence more favorable. The war of the gods then, how do you rete to that? That was the principal reason that our church hunted for you and other beastfolk. You were meant to start the next war of the gods."

  I sighed. "I didn't start the war of the gods, but I am involved. The gods involved with the Tamin church used me to create a situation where Sorsette and the god of demons would come into conflict. Cultists used my blood to summon his avatar, and Sorsette's fight with him must have weakened her enough that one of them was able to kill her with a surprise attack. There is more to the prophecy that hasn't been fulfilled yet, including a supposed rise to godhood myself, but it's all but obvious that I am in fact the Lilith from those prophecies, whether I like it or not."

  Corrine was speaking faster now, "I spent time tracking down other forms of the prophecy even before we left their church. Initially it was to see how other people 'twisted' our prophecy, but the more I learned, the less I was sure about that. After Sorsette's betrayal was revealed and I left the church, I came to the conclusion that the entire thing was made up of lies, but it wasn't until now that I have become sure that we should side with you against the Tamin church. The gods who ran the church were pnning on betraying Sorsette the entire time, weren't they?"

  I wasn't sure if Corrine had expected an answer, but I decided to reply. "It seems that the one who committed the act had a personal gripe with Sorsette after the first war of the gods from the way she spoke when it happened. They didn't like the system, and she seemed to bme Sorsette personally for causing the first war."

  Corrine's eyes locked onto mine in shock. "You were there when it happened?"

  I nodded. "Like I said, my blood was used for the ritual that summoned his avatar. I was thrown around like a rag doll while they practically fought on top of me. I had never felt so powerless before."

  She leaned back on the couch and rubbed her face in disbelief. "I find it so strangely coincidental that the lover of my... my daughter happens to be the one in the center of all of this."

  I rubbed my thumb against the poker chip I regurly carried in my pocket now. "It's just good luck, I suppose."

  Corrine stood abruptly. "I will need to talk with my people about this. I hadn't expected to receive this revetion after coming here."

  Eira smiled and piped up. "Make sure to tell your people that they're all welcome to visit the brothel! We service both men and women with equal enthusiasm. Oh, and the offer to join us remains open! We can have a longer and more personal discussion with anyone interested."

  Corrine shrank back a little, once again realizing where she was. "I... right. I will... make it known that this brothel is operating openly in this city and... spread some of the details about the succubi I learned tonight. After everything I've learned here, I'm sure they'll be more accepting than they otherwise would be. Please excuse me, I will find my own way back." She turned and showed herself out without another word.

  Eira looked down at the teapot between us. "She didn't even have any of the tea! Stay awhile and drink it with me. I need a break from my paperwork."

  I ughed, finally picked up my teacup, and took a sip. "This tastes great," I told her.

  "Thanks! One of the girls showed me how to prepare it properly. I think it's a good skill for a manager to know while entertaining guests," she said happily.

  "A good skill for a madame, you mean," I teased.

  She stuck her tongue out at me. "Shut up and drink the tea, Lilith."

  The two of us ughed, and we rexed together for a while. The st few days have been stressful, and I assume that things were going to continue to be complicated while we sorted everything out with the ex-Tamin members. This meeting with Corrine went better than expected, truthfully, even if I revealed a bit more than I initially intended to. I have a lot of work ahead of myself, and that didn't even touch the new discovery that Morrigan's magic school was more rare than we had previously thought. I might need to make a trip to Goldenhearth myself when we finally decide to secede from Torlimal.

  Saine

  Hello! Eira is such a fun character to write. Enthusiastic and goofy while actually being secretly competent. She made for a logical choice of Madame for the Traehall brothel since she already led the team that came with Lilith in the first pce. She's always seemed the type to not actually enjoy the responsibility, even if she was willing to take it up anyway. But despite being swamped, she still find the time to be happy-go-lucky anyway. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thanks for reading!

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