The following morning, the group was entering the cave where the legendary pirate Selene had supposedly hidden her treasure. The ambiance was still morose, as yesterday's conversation was still present into everyone's memory. Ilias was occasionally glaring at the Grand Noah queen, who diligently ignored the small goddess, while Luka was lost in thoughts about the other existing worlds. As soon as they started making their way in the cavern, a young, silver kitsune ran in the darkness. Ilias tried shooting at her, but Luka lowered her bow.
"She won't be a problem, don't worry. Harming her would only anger Nanabi."
Ilias sighed. "I'll still have to train, sooner or later."
"Don't worry about that, I already have a plan should it come to worse."
If we manage to go so far, that is.
In the meantime, the Grand Noah queen walked toward the chest obviously placed in the middle of the cavern.
"Greetings. Do you have a small medal? I am willing to negotiate a good price to acquire it."
The mimic tried lunging at the queen, who nonchalantly stepped on the side.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" The chest monster was indignant. "Most people either open the chest or go around! Do you really think I want to do anything else with you besides eating you?"
The mimic jumped once again at the queen. The queen ducked and struck with her whip, wrapping it around the chest monster. She used the mimic's own inertia to further propel it on the ground, bringing her down in a loud crashing noise. The monster was now unconscious, laying in a mix of her own mucus and splintered wood. The queen leaned down to acquire a small medal that fell on the side.
"Aaah, what a beautiful piece of art." She pulled out a cloth to start cleaning it. "I shall clean you and add you to my collection."
Luka was looking at the surreal scene. The mimic was in an extremely bad shape, barely breathing. Meanwhile, the queen who almost killed the chest monster like it was nothing was more focused on her latest acquisition.
What. The. FUCK.
Ilias pointed at the scene. "Did you just mug a mimic to get a small medal?"
The Grand Noah queen shrugged. "I was willing to negotiate. Everything afterwards was self defense."
Promestein was taking notes and mumbling about this world's kings and queens willing to almost murder someone for their possession not being so different from heroes.
Ok, so small medals are REALLY serious business for the queen. Note to self: Don't wait too long for exchanging them. Don't overstock.
Ilias sneered. "So much for royalty. Without my guidance, you're not so different than common thugs with wealth."
"I did not expect you to say that after overseeing so many heroes. Do you remember Suïra and Kolan? The first had plundered so many artifacts and funds from the kingdom's coffer and the second from its inhabitants that we had to write a procedure to define how much resources a hero could be allow to requisition after they nearly broke the country's economy. And yet they're still remembered positively."
Ilias sneered. "The Monster Lord died. Means justify the ends."
"And the end was a famine that killed more than the Monster Lord at that time. The only recorded event that prevented a total breakdown of Grand Noah at the time was the graceful intervention of the Alraune queen, Aurora. This is the reason our royal line is so willing to integrate monsters."
The small goddess gulped loudly. Promestein made her way to the queen with a pen and a book. "Do you have more stories about the negative impact of Ilias's religion?"
The queen kept walking without looking at the angel scientist. "More than I wish I had. Of course, I also have a lot of positive stories, but the ones that are remembered are those that ended up requiring the creation and the application of new rules."
"Fascinating…" Promestein started writing in her notebook. "I always wondered how a world that was not managed by Ilias would end up… So far, this happens to be better than I'd ever consider it."
The queen stared at the small angel scientist. "You joined us long before I did. How is that possible that you know so little about the world?"
"Actually, I know a lot about the world. For example, the sun is not…"
Ilias stepped forward, already seeing the direction this conversation was going toward. "She doesn't know that because she's a shut in more interested in scientific experimentation. Everything that is not science is a waste of time for her."
Promestein repositioned her glasses. "Science is only a method which is a base for progress. Would you prefer a world stagnating?"
After a while, the group was finally nearing the bottom of the cavern with the treasure. As usual, a yellow powerful looking seven tailed kitsune centaur happened to be guarding the door leading to the room, while the small kitsune at the entrance hiding behind her. When he saw her, Luka realized something was off.
Wait. I feel like something is missing. Wasn't there supposed to be someone else in the cavern?
"Oh, travelers there? What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, but we're in a hurry and we need Poseidon's bell. Would you kindly step aside?"
"Tamamo ordered me to defend this door, and I will not disappoint her." She punctuated her sentence by twirling a crystal scythe. "Do you really think you can take on me? Prepare yourselves!"
One second later, she was flying in the opposite wall, completely stunned. She landed with a violent impact before falling off, leaving am impression of her large body in the cavern.
"Now that it's dealt with, let's get the bell."
"Oooh…"
Luka turned toward the source of the noise to see a blue haired succubus stepping out of a shadow. She had long pigtails held by red butterfly ribbons, complimenting her yellow eyes. The rest of her outfit was typical of a member of her race, with thigh high stockings and underwear that left nothing to the imagination. Her lewd smile was not reassuring the young hero in any way.
Oh, crap, HOW could I even forget about HER?!
"I was following your adventure with the greatest interest…" Her tone was extremely lascivious, which was not a good sign for things to come. "I considered intervening to help you out, but you moped the floor with her!"
In the blink of an eye, she already had her arms wrapped around the hero's neck and was caressing his side with one of her leg. "So with that mess out of the way, how about we get directly acquainted right now? There's no reason to be shy…" The hero remained steady in front of her assault.
Every member of Luka's group was staring at the situation, clearly annoyed at the newcomer's antics. Even the Grand Noah queen who was used to remain polite and courteous was having difficulty hiding her upset expression.
"Alipheese the Seventeenth, aren't you? I'm not surprised that someone vying for the throne of the Monster Lord would try corrupting my hero."
"Hush, you. Stop oppressing innocent monsters, then we'll talk." She was passing her hands through Luka's hair, not giving any attention to her surroundings. Ilias snarled, but didn't act any further. "Don't worry about it, Luka, you can call me Neris, I will show you heaven better than that old hag would ever have been able to." The hero exhaled loudly through his nose, more annoyed than anything else.
After exhaling sensually on Luka's neck, she frowned, as if displeased by a smell. She then sniffed Luka's neck for several seconds. "Huh. Weird, did you have sex with that broad-"
The end of her sentence was interrupted when the door opened loudly, revealing a child like figure with two large, triangular furry yellow ears and nine wondrously fluffy tails. Neris let go of Luka in front of the apparition and snarled. "Of course, she chooses to ruin my fun now."
Ilias's eyes narrowed. "She is a wrecker after all, there's no expecting anything el-."
"Sorry-"
Neris was already cleaving Tamamo with her large sword as soon as the first word had exited the latter's mouth. The White Rabbit jumped backward, leaving the "costume" on the floor.
"Wow! Hey! I don't remember you being that aggressive!" She looked at the hero, who had difficulty concealing his physical response. "Oooh, I was interrupting something…" She dodged nonchalantly each attack of the succubus. "Sorry. Also I still have to make you disappear since you don't belong here."
"Time stop."
"TIME STOP!"
"Time Stop!"
"Time stop!"
"ZA WARUDO!"
"Wait…" The White Rabbit was stuck between the twin's assaults. "I have something important to tell Luka!" Her left arm was suddenly cut by a strike from Nero's scythe.
"Deal with someone your own size!"
"Ok, I'm going, fiiine…" She disappeared, soon followed by Nero.
Neris looked at the aftermath and frowned. "Not cool, bro. Not. Cool." She resumed her cheerful expression again as she turned toward the hero's group. "Anyway, time to resume the story and have fun with Luka!"
"I don't think that will be necessary." The queen passed her hand in her hair as she talked, glad to have a ribbon equipped. In the meantime, Promestein repositioned her glasses and Luka was massaging his temples. Only Ilias was still frozen in place with a shocked expression, a statue locked in time as an evidence of the spells just cast. Neris looked at each party member, cycling between them repeatedly. "Wha-? How did you-?"
"Just…" Luka gestured at where the White Rabbit was, and sighed again. "You wouldn't appear to know what message she had for me? Also, sorry, but I'm not exactly in the mood right now…"
"When did you all master time magic?!"
"Long story."
Neris looked awkwardly around her. Luka was supposed to be still relatively weak, and, most of all, a pushover at that time. Instead, his party could even prove a moderate threat to her and he was extremely assertive. He wasn't even fun to tease. "Okaaay, I have no reason to stay here then, I'm out."
"Wait!" Promestein stepped toward Neris. "Can I have a blood sample please? I need it to create a serum that would be able to turn vampires into succubi!"
Neris blew a raspberry in Promestein's direction before disappearing.
"I'll take that as a no, then."
Luka sighed once more and massaged his face for a minute, before he noticed the other members of his group were looking expectantly at him, save for Ilias, who was still frozen in time, her face covered by a frown. Eventually, she started moving again. She looked around her, confused. Then she looked at the place where the fight had started happening, and finally she glared at her companions.
"Where are they? What happened?"
"A whole lot of nothing. They just skipped away."
She looked once more at each party member, waiting for a more advanced explanation. Everybody else shrugged, except for Promestein who was too busy writing something once again. In a corner, Nanabi was massaging her head, looking half depressed at the empty costume lying on the floor. She then looked at the hero. "Are you currently recruiting?" Luka nodded positively. There was no reason to leave her behind.
"Let's just get the Poseidon's bell and get out of here." Luka groaned as he made his way to the treasure room. "I just want to forget what happened."
"The tempest has disappeared?"
Luka couldn't believe what he was hearing. The sailor in front of him nodded positively, confirming what he just told a minute before.
"Yeah! It calmed down a few days ago! The ships had already resumed travelling, and the sea is now full of life once again! We don't know why, but we can only pray the Goddess that it will last! That damn storm nearly ruined this city!"
And I searched the Poseidon's bell was for nothing. Great. Just great. I'd prefer increasing the chaosization rate than having to deal directly with those twins once again. I should have guessed that incapacitating Morrigan would removed this issue from the equation.
Ilias was glaring at him from behind, silently accusing him of losing time and probablyof voluntarily attracting monsters for dubious reasons. The Grand Noah queen was back to polishing her latest acquisitions, while Promestein was still scribbling in her notebook.
"Well then, can you take us to Port Natalia?"
"Sure! I can even do it for free! I mean as long as you don't mind the bags of vegetables laying around! Just be ready, we're leaving soon."
"Well, in that case…" Luka and his companions stepped on the catwalk leading to the bridge. "Thank you."
The boat left barely a few minutes later. The Grand Noah queen was standing on the bow, getting interviewed by Promestein who considered it a good occasion to learn more about resource management in the human kingdoms. Ilias and Luka were in the middle, with the small goddess still glaring at the hero.
"So what really happened back there when?"
"Time stop spells. Nothing more. Nero, the guy we already saw at the beginning and in Harpy Village arrived and left with the White Rabbit in tow. Then Neris left after trying to seduce me again. Really, nothing more."
Ilias leaned toward Luka. "Really, because it seemed like that girl knew a lot about you, considering how fast she tried to get on top of you."
"She's a monster! You told it yourself, they're attracted to my power and want nothing more than to corrupt heroes!"
"And when she asked you who you had sex with?"
"She was just messing with us! She wanted to split us to have her way with me more easily!" He looked lost in thoughts for a second. "Actually, maybe it was because of Morrigan." Ilias eyed him strangely. "Succubi emit lot of pheromones to break their opponent's concentration and I fought her a few days ago!"
Mephisto was right. Succubus pheromones are hard to wash off.
Ilias pondered the situation. "Mmmh. You may be telling the truth. But those twins are so strange. I know every one of my creation and I have no idea who they are. They're like Sonya, they should not exist."
"The ambient insanity of this situation is so strong, I can only guess what's coming next! So how should I know who or even what they are! They only appear to help me from time to time and don't seem fully aware of their actions, but they seem to know a lot more about what's going on. I suppose someone is guiding them from afar and they're just following his or her orders. But what is their end game?" Luka shook his head. "I don't even know if they have one beyond stabilizing this world."
Ilias sighed. "I agree, they apparently don't have any plan beyond cutting anything that could branch from what they consider the true story. They don't take the time to look at the consequences of their action. And last, they look absolutely ridiculous. Whoever that person guiding them is, he's one hell of an idiot."
The duo silently contemplated the situation at hand. Their train of thought got interrupted when the watch started screaming something.
"What's happening?"
"Luka? You WILL want to see that one!" The Grand Noah queen sounded uncomfortable.
The hero made his way to the bow of the ship followed closely by the small goddess. As he reached the group, he could see what had worried them so much.
"What. The hell. Is. That… THING!?"