Mephisto was massaging her face and sighing heavily. For her, it was one of those days that plagued her existence since she started teaching younglings about the magical arts. It was a work she enjoyed, but it had its downsides, as that job was filled with the risks inherent to training young ones into using lethal skills correctly. But all too often, her day started fine until one of her pupil arrived coyly to announce that one of her fellow had been transformed into a frog or a dog following a miscast, or, more often than not, a prank gone wrong. Those situations could easily be resolved with a counter-spell and a good scolding, and, by the next hour, everything was back was if nothing happened.
Of course, she was often magnanimous in those cases for a number of reasons: The devious yoma had a soft spot for her students, and more globally for everyone willing to spend time to learn the magic arts and ready to make the effort to follow here rigorous lessons. And, if anything, those small incidents often helped to bring the message that magic could be dangerous and unpredictable through.
The result was that today, she was, by default, one of the authority figure in the Pocket Castle. Which meant having to deal with situations like the ones she dealt with in the past on a regular basis, except instead of her young, willing students, it was more often than not a supposedly wise monster who got hungry or a succubus who got carried away, and, in both cases, the victim more often than not couldn't complain. Its entourage however...
And today the monsters that ended in front of her were Lilith & Lilim… The infamous succubi twins that were queen during Black Alice's infamous reign weren't exactly known for being reasonable in the slightest, but even then, Mephisto was surprised to see them today. They were putting up a worried facade, but Mephisto could tell that deep down, they didn't care in the slightest.
"Soo, let's get started. You left the castle when you were hungry in the middle of the night. Again."
The twins nodded as Mephisto continued her interrogation. "Rather than go to Succubus Village where everyone is more than willing to give themselves to your touch, you decided against reason that San Ilia would be a better feeding ground."
"Everyone in Succubus Village is a pervert! It's now annoying! And besides-"
Mephisto raised a hand to stop the succubi. Instantly, they fell silent, as if their lives were on the line.
"Let me finish first please. I don't want to be interrupted again. Good? Good. So you went to San Ilia in spite of the lingering anti-monster feeling there. And you found yourself a priest. Again. And you ravished him in the middle of the plaza. Again. And you all made so much noise you pretty much awakened the whole town. Again."
Mephisto leaned forward. "The key word here, in case you have difficulty understanding it, is again. This is the fourth time this month alone -fifth if you count that incident with the Knight Commander himself, which also happened in public- that, for lack of a better term, your craving for men result in embarrassments for us. And while people at large are extremely tolerating of everyone who's an allied of the hero, there's a certain… irritation growing amongst them, but also amongst some of us as well." She leaned back. "Whether it's from people at large who're tired of seeing monsters getting away with that, from monsters who do their best to help fellows no matter their species only to get rejected because of an incident that happened earlier, or from predators that control themselves and don't understand why some monsters are left to do as they please while they hold back themselves… It looks like I lost you."
She casted a small hex that made both succubi jump before they fell on their bottoms. "I'll get to the heart of the matter: We'll have to punish you both officially to get the message across. And I'll be honest, while most people considered community service, they were also quite receptive to the idea of separating you for a time…"
The twins looked at Mephisto, terror filling their eyes. They then hugged each other, whimpering while muttering negations. It looked like they were actually taking this seriously for once...
"…But I know you, and wouldn't be cruel enough to do this. After all, you only did that because you enjoyed it and consider pleasant for your...partner as well. This was not actively malicious, was it?"
Both succubi shook their head sheepishly.
"Now, I have quite the job for you. An issue has apparently recently arisen in Lady's Village concerning a monster that ate humans, something that they had stopped doing since the Seventeenth attacked them, and Cassandra and her partners are quite evasive on the matter. Consider it an opportunity to improve the image of succubi at large. Any question? And before you ask, should we get feedback about you playing with the locals while lazying on the the job, it will be ground for the aforementioned punishment. All clear? Gooood. I wish you the best."
The twins left silently, and a minute later, Mephisto followed suit to be greeted by an impressed Salamander.
"Wow, just wow. That was… harsh"
"You know, I'd have thought the Fire Spirit would have at least understood the concept of privacy after her long life."
Salamander crossed her arms under her chest. "I swear everyone could smell the succubi's fear from there. You managed to terrify monsters who willingly served Black Alice in their days! I don't know if I should be impressed, terrified or worried."
Mephisto just shrugged. "I'm just good at finding out which button to push to get what I want from people. Now, did you want to see me for anything in particular?"
Salamander sighed. "The culture shock squad has disappeared."
"Aaaand again. I'll arrive in a minute. Just let me get a drink first."
"Hurgh, why do we have to go deal with those haughty excuses of monsters when we could indulge ourselves in pleasure?! Why do we even do what she told us to?"
"Because we have to maintain a good reputation for the sake of the hero… And if we don't, we won't be able to access him and they may even throw us out of the castle." Lilith was more jaded than her little sister about the deal.
Lilim went wide-eyed. "Oh, you're right… In that case, let us do our best and deal with it as fast as possible. With a little luck, the hero will be grateful… Fufufu…"
Lilith hugged her sister. "Glad you see it like that… Now, by where shall we start? Maybe one of the men they keep around knows more about it…"
And so the duo surreptitiously hunted for men in the village, taking their time to ask each and every one of their victim the question before rewarding or punishing them appropriately. This barely made any difference for the toyed men who, at the end of their ordeals, were more than willing to move to Succubus Village.
By the end of the day however, their progress was extremely minimal: most of their victims knew as much as them, namely that there was a rumor about one monster in the region eating humans, but they didn't know anything themselves. And when the succubi were done, they were unable to say their own name anyway.
"Damn, the sun is already setting and we didn't get anywhere… How about we get ourselves the local priest of Ilias for dinner and find ourselves a nice room?"
Lilim nodded. Unfortunately for the duo, they only found the two annoyed monsters that were usually hunting down the man of faith, without their favorite victim to chase around.
"Mmh. Wasn't there a priest of Ilias before there?"
Lilith's remark earned her harsh glares from the two noble looking insect like monsters.
"Huurgh, you filthy imps… Can't you get back to your cruddy dump of a village where you come from? Or do you have to come here after draining all your men?"
Sensing an opportunity, Lilith decided to use a little lie. "A few of them got eaten by a monster that supposedly came from this place. This is only an eye for an eye."
The noble lady scoffed. "You really think we're responsible for that?! That damn Brasta is becoming a nuisance. Where's Lord Cassandra when you need her?"
Lilim took a sensuous tone. "So what if we take care of that little problem in your stead in exchange for a few morsels of choice? We could do finely with a few of your finest men…"
One of the nobles made a dismissive gesture with an umbrella. "If you bring her, we'll see. But I doubt a pair of semen guzzlers will be able to do much to her… She's been last seen near the river's embouchure, alongside the coastline."
"Thank you, we'll deal with it tomorrow."
"You better not decide to stain this great inn's sheets, you dirty wretches."
The twins ignored her rant and made their way to the inn. After checking in and getting their own private room, they took a moment to relax, although that noble's harsh words had passably annoyed them.
"Her behavior was not fitting for a monster. Should we teach her about the sweet pleasures of succubi?"
Lilith made a dismissive gesture. "Let's just find ourselves a nice man for this evening. I noticed the accessory shop had quite a nice delivery boy. Ufufufu…"
The next morning, Lilith & Lilim were flying alongside the Gold coastline, using their supernatural senses to pick up any lifeform. Thanks to their high speed, they already had flown through the area twice in less than an hour when they decided to take a break.
"Damn, we can't find anything! And there's nothing in the region, not even a lost fisherman to spend time in an actually interesting way."
"Do you think they lied to us to hide something?"
"No, we both saw them. They were too genuine in their reaction."
Both succubi took a moment to rest, when a small issue hit Lilim straight on.
"…Do you think we should have asked more information about that Brasta? We don't even know what race she is or how does she look like..."
Lilith silently raged as she realized that they had rushed in head on, and maybe could have even solved that problem already… At least they'd have known if they were supposed to search on the coast, in the forest or amongst the waves.
"Sooooo… What do we do now? We go back home? Sister?"
Lilim turned to see her sister fuming indeed. She affectionately jumped on her, which made her relax.
"Sorry… I almost felt like I was forgetting you for a second." They started hugging.
"It's nothing. Now, about-"
Sensing a sudden change in the wind, the two succubi lifted in the air at an impressive speed. The next second, the spot they were resting on was swallowed by what looked like a giant jaw suddenly appearing from the sand. Something gradually rose up, revealing a large, circular giant crab girl. What they initially thought to be a jaw was instead one of the pincer.
"DAMN IT!" Her voice echoed through the empty beach. "JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I COULD GET SOMETHING UNUSUALLY TASTY! YOU FLYING INSECTS ARE SO ANNOYING! NOW, STOP MOVING SO THAT I CAN EAT YOU!"
The sisters answered her threat with a pair of wind blades aimed at her head, but the giant crab girl managed to raise her pincers to protect her. While the sisters' spell were powerful, it was barely enough to make the monster recoil slightly.
"AHAHAHAH! CAN'T YOU DO ANY BETTER? JUST WAIT UNTIL I CATCH YOU!"
She slammed her claws on the ground and kicked a wall of sand up before charging the small duo. Lilith & Lilim managed to elegantly dodge her before counterattacking with a pleasure spell that ended up being apparently ineffective.
The David versus Goliath fight lasted for several minutes without a clear advantage for anyone. The gigantic monster simply couldn't manage to reach the fast and agile succubi with her slow moves, while the succubi themselves couldn't manage to damage the gigantic monsters with their spells. It looked like insects harassing a tank from afar.
After taking in another attack that barely grazed her, the crab girl groaned in annoyance.
"I'M GETTING TIRED OF YOU! CRAB BEAM!"
The crab girl released a stream of paralyzing energy from her claws which she swung around frenetically. After hunting the small twins that way for a few seconds, she managed to hit them, completely paralyzing them. She was breathing heavily afterwards, enjoying her victory, but also exhausted after casting her energy-consuming attack. She was so focused on the two sisters that she didn't notice the large approaching fireball from far behind her.
"AHAHAH, I WILL TAKE MY TIME PLAYING WITH YOU! HOW ABOUT WE… WHAT AGAIN?!"
She turned around when she noticed the increasing heat, and consequently took the fireball straight in her face. The projectile knocked her back, and she stumbled a bit before collapsing in a mess. The flames surrounding the projectile disappeared after the latter bounced, before falling close to Lilith & Lilim.
The oldest of the twins turned toward the impact and could see a small, red colored phoenix girl who proceeded to groggily rise.
"Owie… I really should have seen where I was looking." Mini looked around and saw the succubi. She cheerfully exclaimed herself while happily flapping her wings. "Oh, the creepy mage's blanket duo is here, yaaaay!"
Lilith gave out a nervous smile. "Paralyzeeeed… Heeelp."
"Oh! I'll fix that for you!"
The next second, the twins felt their limbs freed from the current that had frozen them and got up, dusting herself from sand.
"Thank you… What are you doing here?"
"…I forgot."
Lilith & Lilim looked dumbfounded at each other, then at the bird brained monster in front of them.
"Well, in that case, can you get some help at the Pocket Castle to carry that monster? We'll reward you appropriately of course."
"Yaaay!"
After getting help to bring the unconscious body of the monster back to Lady's Village to negotiate a reward, the twins were back in front of Mephisto. The yoma was genuinely smiling when the good news were brought.
"If we disregard the fact that a surprising number of men moved of the place to go to Succubus Village, you did a very great job, so I'll consider that this event unfortunate for the locals is the result of a separate root cause."
"Sooo… We are good?"
"If by good you mean that I will make sure that everybody will disregard the little incidents discussed yesterday, then yes, we are good. If however you mean everybody's fine with you coming back to your old habit as soon as tommorow, then no, we're not."
Both succubi whimpered, which aggravated Mephisto enough to throw her on a rant.
"Come on! I'm not asking for the moon or the return of the Dark Goddess herself! I'm only asking that, for at least a month, I don't get any report or message about people being angry that a bunch of succubi has had their way with their partners, employees or so others!"
The yoma eventually calmed down. "Now, I apologize for that outburst, but please, learn to control yourself. At least, find a way to go one more than one week without ravishing an unwilling passerby. Why don't you try to take a lesson from Alma Elma and focus on another art besides sex? A lot of people has come to appreciate her different artistic work, and it's all the better for everyone involved."
"…We'll see later…" Lilith & Lilim sadly hovered to the exit of Mephisto's small office, and decided to travel to Succubus Village to forget their sorrow by indulging in their favorite pastime.
It was the middle of the night when their discussion with the yoma came back to the mind of the older of the two sisters.
"You know, Lilim…"
"Huuh, whaaat?" Her little sister groggily answered.
"I wonder if Mephisto isn't right…" she turned around to face her sister. "I mean, don't get me wrong, there's nothing better than turning someone's face to mush, but… The reason most people remember us is because I share my name with a legendary succubus which leads to a lot of mix-up. We didn't do anything to get remembered in history."
She continued, even as her little sister was dozing off. "If anything, the only thing people remember about our era is that our lord and friend Alipheese was a cruel warlord! And this is false! We must change that vision!"
"…How?" Lilim was still half dazed. "…It's not like she's currently doing anything good…"
"I don't know, but she was our lovely old master! It's our duty to get sure her memories are respected! She was better than what people tell of her!"
And so Lillith & Lilim had set up their sight on a new goal.