"Gnnh…"
Alma Elma woke up with a huge headache to the sound of birds chirping with all their might. The Succubus Queen was annoyed by the sheer cacophony produced by tens of enthusiastic avians, wondering how creatures so small could make so much noise… Well, at least as much as her partners usually did anyway.
When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of a few stone pillars scattered around, themselves surrounded by a few trees. The world was still spinning even as she looked at the sky, and it took her a few more seconds to realize she had absolutely no idea where she was.
"What did I do last night?"
She leaned on the side, at least to free her wings and her tail from her curvaceous body. The first thing she noticed was the cold, stone floor she was lying on. The second was the dried up dead body right by her side with an expression of bliss on his face.
Alma Elma gasped and took a better look at it. Luckily, she couldn't recognize anyone, so she hadn't accidentally killed one of Luka's other male companions. Still, that discovery was not a pleasant one.
"Luka-boy is going to kill me…"
She groggily got up, her limbs still slightly unresponsive and heavy with the weight of a party that had somehow managed to knock down one of the most depraved monster who currently walked this ball of dirt. As she took a better look at her surroundings, she recognized the Holy Wings Shrine and its altar. She tried to remember how and why she ended in this particular place, but her memories all simply refused to show her her adventure, her last ones involving celebrating one of her victory at the colosseum… Why did she drink that much? Tamamo was right. Alcohol was a powerful source of evil, pushing people to act against their better judgments, taking needless risks for the sake of an ephemeral pleasure to suffer on the longer run. Why were so many people willingly and enthusiastically poisoning themselves?
"Wait a minute…"
Alma Elma slowly looked again at the dried up body, feeling the smallest blush rise in her cheeks as shame settled in for the shortest moment before she decided to move on. In any case, she should check what happened back in Grand Noah… Her reputation could be at stake, and, if anything, she at least wanted to remember why she had drunk enough to actually knock her out like that.
As she stepped forward, she felt her "hunger" kicking in. She even further regretted her evening: apparently, her "nightly activities" hadn't been enough to fill the void left by what felt like more-intense-than-usual exercise and alcohol. First, she'd need a small "snack" to recover, and then she'd go to Grand Noah to start her investigation.
She checked her breath with her hand, and decided to switch her immediate goal when the pungent smell of mixed alcohol reached her nostrils… Wasn't there a refreshing pool close by? Alma Elma made her way to a small part of the spring which seemed to almost glow with power. She splashed herself with the refreshing water a few times, slowly exhaling as she welcomed its curative properties when it flowed over her body. Afterward, the Succubus Queen took a look around, and, after a few minutes of fruitlessly searching what she lost, she once again revised her priorities:
First, finding clothes, second, getting a snack, and then, going to Grand Noah.
It had taken her a few hours to reach the capital city of the Noah Region. Alma Elma had no harpy feather with her, and had decided to take a break into Lady's Village to grab herself an outfit that had been left drying: It was the most cliché frilly dress a noble lady could wear, and Alma Elma's impressive chest threatened to rip the delicate fabric apart while showing the amount of cleavage one would expect of the Succubus Queen. She also had used her break to stealthily grab herself a man and have him taste the business end of her tail during a short, but intense encounter.
Before she entered the city itself, she made a few effort to disguise herself. She hid her long, purple mane under the hat she had snatched earlier, concealed her demonic features, and adopted a different posture to walk like a debutante rather than with the feline gait of a predator.
Her disguise made wonder when she entered the city. Usually, she was swarmed by enthusiastic fans wanting to be drained, but this time, nobody spared a second glance at her. She carefully analyzed the different passers-by, and couldn't identify any other resident of the Pocket Castle. She reflexively checked her personal funds, and realized she hadn't brought any gold with her… Maybe she could have taken some from Lady's Village, but petty thievery would have been unbefitting of the Succubus Queen.
At least, the town didn't look traumatized by what happened yesterday. People were moving with their daily lives, talking about anything and everything. Alma Elma tried to lend a hear to the different conversations going around in hope of hearing something, anything about yesterday's fight, but people weren't talking about it for a reason… She checked on the colosseum itself, but the place was closed without any notice, something usually done only after the last fight of more important competitions. Was her match a finale? A memory crept its way to her mind…
Alma Elma steadied herself as she breathed heavily. The Spider Princess was smiling sadistically as she got to enjoy the support of webs placed earlier by her kin, limiting the movement of the Succubus Queen while amplifying her own. It had turned the match into an overwhelmingly long fight as both opponents held their own fairly well against each other, and even if Spider Princess was supposed to be disqualified, nobody had stepped in to stop the fight. Besides the trophy, honor had been put on the table, as the arachnid wanted to "kill that charmless whore that kept trying to seduce her betrothed." The insult had reached Alma Elma who wanted to put the spider back in her place.
The Succubus Queen summoned a storm of blades to finally clean the arena. Spider Princess answered with a light talisman, burning her already exhausted opponent. She then rushed her with her katana with the intent to claim victory once and for all, and was met with the fist of the Succubus Queen. It was not enough to knock the lights out of the insect monster, but it allowed Alma Elma to get some reprieve before her opponent charged her back with her clawed legs raised. Instead of fleeing, Alma Elma rushed her and took a few hits. She used her own momentum to climb on the back of a dumbfounded Spider Princess and started draining her energy, using her own tail to fasten herself around her opponent's abdomen. At first, the insect monster trashed frenetically, jumping across the arena to get rid of her unwanted passenger, but her forces weakened faster than her opponent's grip. Then Alma Elma finished her off with her pleasure aura, making her suffer an ignominious and humiliating defeat. The crowd erupted into cheer, and after accepting her trophy, Alma Elma joined her fans and let them carry her to the pub…
"So that's what happened in the arena… And then…"
Blank. Alma Elma tried to focus once again, but couldn't remember what happened further down the road. Maybe if she went at the pub itself, more memories would come back… It was time to go check the place.
The place's storefront looked messy, with several broken bottles scattered around a few blood puddles, as if silently warning everyone against the possible horrors that could be found inside. She slowly pushed the door, and was greeted by the sight of utter chaos as her nose instantly scrunched in disgust: Most furniture had been reduced to pieces and the remainder was covered with either spilled alcohol, blood, vomit or other bodily fluids. Some of the substances even mixed on the ground to form hazardous pools. The bar itself was covered with broken glass, and Alma Elma couldn't see a single intact bottle amongst the debris.
The worst part was probably the several unconscious people lying around like so many drunken shipwrecks. A few of them were humans, but several were monsters, and Alma Elma could recognize Caesar, the cerberus that was the captain of one of Grand Noah's company and one of Luka's companion. She was asleep across a table, and threatened to fall from her current beddings at any moment, each snore moving her further and further away from the centre. All of them were alive, and Alma couldn't tell if she was impressed or disgusted by their ability to sleep like that. She heard someone come from the back room, and saw Lona and Marion coming in, both wearing perfumed masks to protect themselves against the smell. The dark elf fencer looked surprised, but the mage looked absolutely jaded by the disaster in front of her.
"Oh sorry, the pub is closed today, we have some cleaning up to do."
Alma Elma blinked twice rapidly, slightly shocked. "It's me, what happened yesterday?"
Lona's eyes went wide as Marion started gathering everything with a spell, saving herself from direct contact with the trash.
"Oh, hi Alma! Ehhmmm… Well, the party was going really strongly, but after you left, things kinda went south…" In front of her interrogator's expression, Lona continued. "There was that man who started raving that he wanted to bang and dominate the Succubus Queen, but one of his friends told him he would be the one getting dominated, he took exception to that and the next thing we know we had an all-out bar brawl with some guards getting involved and protective of their top star."
"Ow. Sorry about that…"
Lona chuckled awkwardly. "It's not your fault… Alcohol and succubus pheromones don't mix well, that's all… I was already surprised that you were still able to stand, less even fly that evening."
"Strange, I don't remember drinking that much…"
Marion nearly lost control as she snorted in an attempt to silence her laugh. Lona grimaced.
"You started on Gold Cocktails to celebrate your victory, then you continued with a few Fairy's Breeze to celebrate the fact that you'd get Luka for yourself, but when you learned that he was in a Tartarus and wouldn't come back for a week, you decided to drown your sorrow with sake, and then Amira stepped in and brought good news which made you pay another round, but you found out that the beer was too bland, so you spiced it up with a burst flower and raw alcohol…
Alma Elma was losing focus as the list didn't seem to end… Did she really drink that much? Well, now she remembered having several different drinks in her hand that evening. She also remembered the moment Amira stepped in, the reverse lamia was quite elated when she announced her that Morrigan had fallen sick and had to be quarantined, and then she took a drink in her honor… Yes, she did indeed drink that much.
Eventually, she decided to shrug it all off. She had partied hard, her honor and reputation were mostly safe, and there was only one small enigma left to solve.
"Well, I understand better now… Oh, by the way have you seen my outfit? I couldn't find it when I woke up…"
"Surprisingly, you still had it on when you left to continue the party in Succubus Village."
"Thanks! Oh, and about that man?" She sensually licked her lips, sending a clear message to the dark elf.
"He's currently in jail, although he was already crying like a baby when Caesar knocked him down. She hadn't even done anything to him, she only had slightly pushed him and he wetted himself in fear when he fell down. So I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole."
Alma Elma pouted. At least, she knew what happened and had a new goal. Still, she took mental notes about being more careful next time.
"Well then… I'm off!"
She left the pub as Marion was now pondering what to do with the giant ball of trash that she had created.
If Grand Noah didn't look any different than usual when Alma Elma arrived, it was quite the opposite for Succubus Village. The usually monster-filled streets were empty, and Alma Elma's senses picked up an alarmingly low number of succubi in the village. There were quite a large number of humans, but all of them were asleep or unconscious. Eventually, she arrived in front of the mayor's house.
After knocking and waiting for a moment, she entered the building carefully. The eerie silence reminded her of a graveyard, with the sound of the wood creaking under her feet being her only companion in her exploration. After checking the first and second floor, she silently made her way to the old ceremonial room located underground. She was greeted by the sight of a few half-asleep monsters of different species being watched over by Witch, who was drinking from a cup of tea. The succubus mage looked bored out of her mind when she saw Alma Elma.
"Well if it isn't the Succubus Queen…" Her tone was slightly cold, making it clear she was doing a lot of effort to simply remain polite. "You're already fresh? I shouldn't be surprised after all, given that you're a queen class monster… But I'm still impressed that you found your way here after what happened yesterday…"
In front of the lack of response from Alma Elma, Witch continued.
"In case you don't remember what happened, I shall remind you… You arrived here completely wasted with a few men wrapped in your tail. You decided to start a party that would, and I quote, make those frigid Sisters look like Saint Ayanna. After… Having your way with five men -oh, they all survived, don't worry about that-, you turned on your fellow, with the result matching what one would expect." She showed the monsters around her, and took a sip from her sipping drink. "Then you decided that while… well, having fun with perverts and other girls was fun, it would be even funnier to go into a city of tight-ass Ilias purists and start showing them what life is about. I don't know what happened afterward."
Alma Elma cast down her gaze, slightly ashamed. Her interlocutor chuckled darkly.
"Don't tell me you feel bad for all that?"
"Well… This feels… Wrong…" Alma Elma scratched her head before resuming with a more sensual voice. "I'm not talking about the party itself, but doing it while being drunk... This is not proper of the Succubus Queen."
"Everybody was too carried by your aura to care anyway. I suppose you continued your party in San Ilia while I remained here because I wanted to make sure that no harm would befall your last victims, and besides, I wanted to consecrate myself to my studies.
"Thank you! Now I supposed I should take my leave and go check there..."
"Maybe, but if you have a small minute to listen to one of my demand first, I would appreciate that."
Alma Elma stopped herself and gulped surprisingly loudly. Theoretically, she was a league above Witch, who was supposed to be one of her subordinate, but between the magus' own skills and popularity, and the fact that she herself never really led reigned over her kin, she was worried what the latter would ruin her life if she didn't help her fulfill whatever request she had. They were roughly equal in front of everyone's eyes. She never regretted so much her impulsive nature than at that precise moment.
Witch pulled her hat off, and a tongue came out from the headgear to swallow the teacup and its support whole.
"During your drunken ramblings, you stopped… doing someone midway to ponder if potatoes could be turned into alcohol. I want you to convince one or the other alchemist to run this experiment, since it would help us eliminate our legendarily large stock, and maybe even make Succubus consider the idea to grow other crops."
While she kept her apparent composure, inwardly, Alma Elma was bathing in relief.
"Of course, it is the most natural thing I could do to repay you. But if you don't mind, I will see San Ilia by myself first."
Witch distractedly nodded as she started checking back all the unconscious monsters again. Alma Elma was about to leave when Witch called out to her one last time.
"Oh, and before you ask… You still had your outfit when you left the village."
Alma Elma left Succubus village with the relief that her rampage hadn't made her more enemies.
That relief instantly disappeared as soon as she teleported in front of San Ilia. The city's central plaza was the epicenter of a conflict between two groups. Alma Elma discreetly approached the crowd to lend an ear to the rumors carried by the wind.
"We cannot tolerate something like that! This is a sacred city!"
"You're only telling that because you're an old coot!"
"We won't invite that shocking debauchery here! Those whores should be put to the sword!"
"They're innocents! And they're better than you, you frigid virgin hag!"
"This is an insult to the goddess and its followers!"
"It will be decided by the pope! Ilias say that we must all love each other!"
"He's corrupted and should be removed!"
Colorful words flew from each side while Alma Elma made her way to the cathedral. She used a small suggestion spell to get sure the guard would let her enter. She almost accidentally rammed into several priests and guards who were coming outside to try to maintain order. As she entered, the smell of burned incense seized her nostrils, and the only other smell her keen nose could detect was a mix of sex and pheromones that the first odor couldn't quite make disappear despite its best effort. There also was an unusually low number of priests around, and not a single person was in the central room praying. Her brain already made a few connections between the events, but she decided to subtly interrogate a priest anyway.
"Greetings, I wanted to prey-pray in the sanctity of this place, but I have difficulty with the chaos outside… You wouldn't happen to know what this is about?"
The priest sighed, as if he prepared to count a shameful story. Even with the suggestion effect induced by Alma Elma's pheromones, the man was reticent to tell the latest events.
"Well, in the middle of the night, a group of enthusiastic succubi led by their queen had decided to… come party in this place. They…" Alma Elma pushed her suggestion a little harder to coax the man into talking in spite of his shame. "…Had their way with everyone, but one of them whined about the lack of comfort the place offered and the queen told that she personally knew the pope and would make him open a brothel in the cathedral. Since then the rumors spread like wildfire."
Alma Elma felt feelings mix insider her heart. That was exactly something the queen succubus would do, but the fact that she did it under the influence stained the prestige of the action. Besides, Luka-boy wouldn't like hearing about that, and she didn't want to disappoint him… Maybe she would have to "buy" the silence of a few priests. She had a reputation to uphold.
"Also, the succubi were put in jail for disorderly conduct and trespassing. The victims don't wish to sue them for assault apparently…"
With those words her hope to snuff out her role in this story before it reached her friends was blasted mercilessly. She understood what all those opponents she had blasted with her wind felt at that precise moment…
"Do you happen to know where the Succubus Queen left? I want to share a piece of my mind with her."
The priest's shrugged. "She said something about getting the best pillows in the world. From the fluffers themselves, as she said. I don't understand what she meant by that."
Alma Elma was caught by a coughing fit. There was no way she had done something that stupid, was it?
"Are you alright, miss?"
"Thank you, I just need to check something myself. Oh, and did you know if the queen left her outfit there?"
"No, and… Wait, why am I telling you all of this?! Who are you?! What are you doing here?"
Alma Elma's eyes shone for a brief moment. Afterward, the man blinked repeatedly, clearly confused while Alma Elma castigated herself. There was a difference between carefree and careless, and, this particular night, she had flown over the line several times after hitting it like a lightning bolt.
At least she was friend with the locals… Well, at least their leader and her left arm… Both monsters with whom she had strained relations because they both saw her as an annoyance at best, and a danger for their pupils at worst.
For what was the first time since she was born, Alma Elma felt that she was going to regret the consequences of her actions.