The only break in the usual stillness of the forests surrounding Axel was the scratching of branches and rustling of leaves shifting with the wind. A background sometimes overlaid with the furtive sounds of the animals that called it home as they foraged, or were hunted in turn by the various predators who stalked them.

In the scar of devastation left in the trail of the Lesser Slime as it crashed through the old growth trees, that stillness was the furthest thing from reality. Lost amid the crackle of snapping branches, the rapid fire cannonshot sound of mature timber being toppled like barely sprouted saplings one after another, and the ever present rumble of so much mass in motion it was as if the very ground vibrated like a drum.

Ahead of it animals and monsters of all kinds fled at top speed in any direction that was 'away', their usual territories be damned. Those that didn't, and the plantlife they depended on one way or another, was toppled and ground under by a gelatinous battering ram. A feat of extreme forestry made possible by its hundred-odd tons of weight, combined with a speed that a creature with essentially no natural predators and little need to catch prey had no business having.

"Break left!" a voice ahead of Yunyun screamed as the rumble in the ground shifted pitch, followed by staccato thumping, squishing noises as the slime fired bits of itself like sling bullets at its tormentors.

Thankfully, this was the most dangerous thing it could do besides squash someone. A true slime would have required one or more high level parties from the capital to put down, not a pickup collection of newbies. The less said about the greatest of their number, General Hans the last of the Poison Slimes, the better.

Reaching the clearing where their quarry had been brought to bay, Yunyun joined the battle already in progress by taking aim at a cluster of projectiles in flight and chanting a fireball, catching most of them in midair and reducing them to lumps of dust and charcoal. The adventurer they'd been headed for was able to weather the handful that escaped, returning the favor with an enchanted arrow.

"Purification!" a group of priests chanted desperately, and the slime wobbled and turned lighter colored as much of it was turned to pure water and mixed with its innards. Another wave of cleansing magic followed, amid the punishment of more spell volleys. After a few more repetitions of both, the damage and loss of some critical amount of whatever gelatin was holding the mass together ruptured the outer skin. Releasing a foul torrent of steaming, putrid fluids across the ground as it deflated.

Yunyun inhaled a deep breath and lowered her wand from where she'd been about to release a lightning spell, taking a look around them. Most low level monsters would sensibly avoid a major fight or large group of adventurers, but it never hurt to be cautious. The two rangers who had tracked the monster for the group must have had the easiest job of their careers, given the path of destruction it left behind it, but now they proved their value by agreeing that they were in the clear, their Sense Foe skills were quiet.

At that everyone gave a muted cheer and the various components of the multiparty raid began to break up and reshuffle back into their original parties for the trip home, the wizard group she was part of among them. Not seeing anyone who looked like they wanted to hang around to chat, she slumped a bit and…

"Hey! You with the twintails!" Yunyun jerked and looked around for the voice.

"Y-yes! Me?" she squeaked, pointing at herself.

"Of course I mean you! That was some mean spellwork! What's your…" A vaguely familiar wizard in a green jacket and black shorts, perhaps a few years older and taller though slimmer, approached with a raised hand in greeting. After Yunyun turned around she stopped and tilted her head in puzzlement. "Wait, I know you. Don't you work for Wiz?" The motion made her long brunette ponytail swish in rhythm with the racoon tail Yunyun now saw from behind her.

"Yes, s-since last month. Part time." Remembering to introduce herself and not Introduce Herself, she gave a little nod as that detail jogged her memory. "My name is Y-yunyun. I've seen you in the shop."

"I'm Rin," the girl replied with a matching nod. "I figured there couldn't be two Crimson Demons in town. Don't tell me, is that flier on the board yours too? I couldn't tell if you were looking to start a tea party or an adventuring one!" she chuckled.

Yunyun blushed, eyes reddening to match as she looked away. "I-I wanted to make sure we all liked each other first…" she whispered, fidgeting in embarrassment.

"Well, come on, let us buy you a round when we get back. That thing nearly had Keith dead to rights, and while he might be a skirt chasing asshole, he's our asshole, ya know?"

Yunyun hurried after her as her fellow wizard turned and went back to her party, and Rin spoke up once she was alongside. "What brings you out this way? You're pretty far from the Borderlands. And that looked like Intermediate Magic, even if it's a little punchier than usual, not Advanced."

"I-it was. I only have Basic and Intermediate Magic right now. I came here to level up until I could get my Advanced, since the monsters at home are too strong for Intermediate."

"I believe it, I've heard stories about the Borderlands. Do the demons really raid daily?"

"No, n-not daily. Maybe weekly, but then usually in small parties or scout groups. We did have a big raid right before I left," Yunyun said, relaxing a little. As they went, her posture steadily opened up and stutter faded. "That's why I'm here, really."

Rin's partymates turned out to be three men in their late teens or very early twenties. One was a handsome tall, red eyed blond, dressed as a typical light fighter. A swordsman or swashbuckler probably. The next was a familiar black haired, blue eyed man, apparently an archer when he wasn't eating Wiz's snacks. The final one was in heavy kit, with a full face helm that marked him as a tank class of some sort, probably an Erisite crusader judging by the sigils on his tabard.

"Lucky you! At least the wizard who saved your ass is cute this time!" The blond man crowed as the two women arrived, slapping the archer next to him on the back. "I'm Dust, but you can call me…" he began boisterously, only for Rin to cut him off.

"The Penniless Swordsman. Who has no business drooling over a girl when he's as broke as you."

"Oh come on! I'm not going to chase after some brat!" the newly named man protested vehemently. Yunyun was fairly familiar with Outsider names, and so was certain that couldn't be his real one. But it wasn't uncommon for adventurers to take on a false name for one reason or another, and his blonde hair and fakely red eyes gave her a fair hint to his. Only her clan had eyes like that naturally.

"The girl from that seedy cafe who hangs around you makes that a lie," the wizard snorted. "How old is she, again?" Turning back to Yunyun, who was getting increasingly uncomfortable at the byplay, she said placatingly "Ignore that lout. The one who's ass you saved is Keith here, and he's just delighted to repay you for that even if it's his last eris, right?" she fixed the man in question with a hard stare.

Yunyun gave him as stern a look as she could manage as well. Which wasn't very, but it was the thought that counted. "I'll s-settle for him paying for the tea and snacks Miss Wiz serves him in the shop from now on. T-those are for customers," she emphasized frostily.

"Really, Keith?" the last man sighed as he removed his helmet, revealing a frowning face perhaps a little older than the others, though not by much, brown haired and eyed. He glared at the rapidly wilting archer before turning back to Yunyun. "Sorry he's been bothering your store. He'll find somewhere else to get snacks. I'm Taylor, the leader of this party. No matter what Dust might tell you," he added with a wry chuckle.

"Anyway, you were saying how you get demon raids every week?" Rin asked, taking the conversation back onto more comfortable ground for Yunyun as they set out with the other parties in a loose grouping.

The walk back into Axel was a quicker and lighter spirited one than the trip out, as the various members told their partymates about their heroism, real or invented, as they went.

Not having anywhere else to go until much later, Yunyun followed along with the group to the guild when they reached town.

"Your refreshment, milady," Keith presented the archwizard with the tankard the waitress brought with an attempt at a courtly bow.

"T-thanks," she replied hesitantly, leaning away ever so slightly. Still, she accepted the drink. "C-cheers," she said as she raised it.

"CHEERS!" her tablemates responded heartily.

After a few swallows she started feeling a little less tightly wound about being at a tableful of strangers. Maybe that was why the Longest Night party her dad took her to at the palace always had drinks for the adults.

Her formal debut was this year, after she took the Trials, so while she wasn't at all looking forward to it, she'd be finding out.

The other heirs too young to attend the party itself, and consigned to mingle in an adjacent chamber, had tended to dismiss or ignore her on both of her previous Longest Nights and she had no reason to think this year would be different. She would've skipped it given the choice, but her dad had been too proud to show her off to hurt him by refusing to go.

Trying to push aside the melancholy thought, she took another drink and found that she'd accounted for half the mug already.

Taylor spoke up then. "You said you were here to get your Advanced Magic, are you going to stay afterwards?"

"I h-hope so. I'll be here a year for that either way, until I'm level 11. Axel has been a good p-place so far, and I've been learning a lot from Miss Wiz. Easier to live in than Arcanretia for sure, even without the Axis cult around," she added, trying a small joke.

"It's a great town," Dust agreed heartily, Keith nodding as well. "The Watch is all a bunch of stiffs, but the guild is pretty laid back as long as you don't aggravate them, and it's always quiet. No craziness all the time like it sounds like you're used to."

"Not that you'd know, when have you ever not aggravated the guild staff?" Rin snorted. "Why Luna hasn't had you fixed I'll never know."

"She just appreciates a man who knows what she wants! A go-getter! Prime mancake even! Feel free to form a line, ladies! There's plenty to go around!" He proclaimed, rising to his feet and raising his tankard high. "The mighty Dust will take on all comers!"

Despite herself, Yunyun giggled before hurriedly stifling it. A scene like that wouldn't have been out of place back home, and between the beer and the time away she was willing to be amused instead of annoyed at the reminder.

"See, Rin? You're too stiff too, as bad as those watchmen. She knows how to appreciate talent!"

"Then it's my duty to set her straight. Yunyun dear, that's how you tell that a man isn't worth your time. Don't give him anything, you'll just encourage him. Like feeding a stray dog, he'll just come sniffing around again," Rin advised seriously, stabbing a finger at her partymate.

Dust gave them both a pitifully wounded look at what was clearly, in his mind, pure slander. Doing her best to channel Soketto when Bukkorori was 'wooing' her, she turned up her nose with a sniff and looked pointedly away.

"There you go! Just like that! Romanda, another round to celebrate her first lesson in man wrangling!"

The staff was quick, they had to be, and soon Dust was loudly bemoaning into his beer that an innocent girl had been corrupted and poisoned against him by his snapping turtle of a partymate.

Some time and a few rounds later, Yunyun realized with a start that it was well past dinnertime.

"OH NO! I need to get back to the shop, I told Miss Wiz I'd be back for dinner!" she cried, hastening to stand with a slight wobble. "T-thank you all," she said hurriedly.

"Hang on, I'll walk you out," Rin said after sharing a quick look with Taylor. Leaving her green jacket on the bench to hold her spot, she followed her out the big double doors. The rush of cool night air cleared their heads a bit when they stepped outside of the noise and rowdiness. While Yunyun pulled her black cloak tight around her, her companion rubbed her arms as they walked. Once the noise faded a bit as they reached the street, Rin halted and spoke.

"Even for wizards it can be tough to find a party right away. Especially if you're a certain kind," she grimaced, flitting her raccoon tail for emphasis. "When I met those cutthroats I'd been looking for a regular party for about four months, ever since I'd gotten to Axel with a brand new Intermediate Magic skill. That was almost two years ago now."

Rin briefly gave a lopsided smile at the memory, but quickly sobered and went on. "We could always use another wizard, anyone can, but if you already had your Advanced magic I'd probably send you on. We'd only be holding you back, and I'll be damned if I ride someone else's coattails. But Taylor took a chance on me back then, and I'm happy to pay it forward."

At Yunyun's look of startled, dawning hope, Rin nodded and met her glowing eyes levelly. "I think the boys liked you too, and even if Dust and Keith didn't they'll do what Taylor and I tell them to. Whatever they might claim otherwise. If nothing else, we can take on some bigger quests to make up for splitting the reward an extra share. Meanwhile, you can get your magic faster if you have a party backing you up. Everybody wins. So if you want a spot with us, it's yours."

Yunyun charged through the shop door with a bang, sprinting through the shop to find Wiz frowning mightily in the back while opening a box of…something. Right now she was too excited to wonder what lurked inside as Wiz pulled the lid off with a screech of nails, and without bothering with a prybar.

"IGOTINAPARTY!" she squealed, causing Wiz to jump and nearly drop the lid.

"Oh? OH!" Wiz turned her best glare on her tardy apprentice for a second before she gasped after decoding the message. "Congratulations!" she cheered, pulling her into a hug, worry and irritation at her lateness forgotten. "I knew you could do it! Who with? Tell me about them!"

"There's a crusader named Taylor, an archer named Keith, a swordsman who calls himself Dust, and a wizard named Rin. She's the one who invited me to join after the slime quest today!" she replied breathlessly. "T-they've been together a couple years, you've probably seen them before."

Hearing three men's names in a row wasn't unusual, parties tended to trend male, but having had another girl with them for some time was reassuring. Not that she wouldn't do her own asking around, of course. Most parties were 4-6 people anyway, so if anything her apprentice's new party had been on the small end, plenty of room to grow. Fewer tended to have trouble covering all the positions, while more would split the rewards too small to support everyone.

"That sounds lovely. Well, if you'd prefer to spend the evening with them then go right ahead. I did have a thought of going to the pauper's field tonight and showing you some of what I do, but that can…"

Yunyun's eyes lit, and in a rare moment of rudeness she interrupted Wiz on the spot.

"NO! No, let's do that! I'll go get ready!" With that she went clattering up the stairs.

Wiz watched her go with a fond smile. Long ago, she had made peace with her fate. She might have the occasional lover or, if she was very fortunate, a particularly…open minded man for a longer time. But children were out of the question, since a being of death could never create life.

Despite that, she seemed to have found one anyway.

She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised, Yunyun was nothing if not persistent. Never more so in steadily carving out a space in her heart for herself over the years.

The girl in question came thumping back down a minute later, having changed into darker clothes, but her brightly lit eyes ruined any attempt at stealth for the moment.

"Well then, let's be about it," Wiz said, giving her an approving nod as she took her black cloak from the peg by the door.

The pauper's field in Axel was larger than most towns its size would maintain. Adventurers tended to die regularly and poor after all, and assuming any part of them returned at all, this was the only place they could go.

The pair slipped past the locked gate in the wall with a simple bit of levitation magic, then proceeded deeper inside. As they went, the markers became newer and less weathered. Sometimes the occasional offering at one would still be there, left perhaps by a surviving friend, or family, or partymate. Or, in many adventuring parties, someone all three at once.

Soon they came to the newest section, the simple wooden markers still fresh and sharply carved.

"It's a rare person who dies without regrets," Wiz began softly, reverently, in the stillness of the graveyard. "Adventurers more than most. Those who can afford it have a proper ceremony to help their souls release their worldly connections and pass on into the cycle. For the rest…" she gestured around them.

None of this was news to Yunyun, of course. But all the same she listened with rapt attention.

"Places like these are fertile ground for necromancy and dark magic of all types. Itinerant clergy will pass through once in a while to make sure everyone has passed on, but for the other times there's only me. Hand me the lime, if you would." She gestured at the bag her assistant carried. After she handed it over, it left behind a dusting of white on Yunyun's clothes and hands.

Nodding thanks, Wiz began sprinkling handfuls on the ground, forming lines in the sparse grass and dirt. As Yunyun watched, a magic circle began to take shape.

"Commit this circle to memory, it is the basis for many rituals. Place your hands here and here," she pointed at an area with a pair of additional circles. "You lack the Skills from my class to lead the ritual, but you can help power it."

Yunyun eagerly did just that, at her teacher's nod she began feeding mana in, as it swirled through the ritual array a blue light began to fill the whorls and sigils, underlighting their faces in soft blue light as the circle came to 'life'.

Stepping into the center, Wiz raised her hands skyward as if embracing the stars. Which in the sudden stillness had ceased twinkling above them and only showed a steady, diamond bright light.

Around her, the shades of the dead began to rise like swamp gas from the barely settled earth. Shapeless and translucent, they floated towards Wiz like dandelion fluff in a breeze, though the air inside remained unnaturally still.

One by one, they reached her and were swept upwards, as though she were standing below an open drain into the afterlife. After an amount of time she couldn't begin to guess due to her rapt fascination, the last of the poor, unfortunate souls reached Wiz and was swept away.

With that, the light in the circle winked out, plunging the graveyard back into darkness.

"And there you have it!" Wiz said proudly. "These graves shouldn't trouble anyone."

"That w-was amazing," Yunyun whispered with awe at watching Wiz do the first lichly things she'd seen since that terrible day almost eight years ago, "How often do you have to do this?"

"With any luck, we won't need to repeat the ritual for some weeks," Wiz said equally softly.

A part of Yunyun was deeply disappointed at having to wait so long to see a sight like this again. But then the responsible part reminded her that the only reason she would see it sooner is if more people than expected died in that time. Still on her knees, she bowed her head again in shame at the thought.

"Let's get this cleaned up, shall we?" Wiz suggested, gesturing at the circle and apparently oblivious.

Yunyun started, and jumped to her feet. "Hand of Providence!" she chanted, and a whirlwind picked up the lime making up the circle, and on her clothes, sweeping it into a ball she then bagged.

"Well done. Waste not, want not," Wiz nodded, delighted to be saving a handful of eris.

Which reminded her. "Miss Wiz, what was in that box you were opening?" she asked carefully, with a mix of hope and dread. It wasn't always some bizarre magical item, but much more often than not…

"Oh! I'm glad you asked! I found out about the most wonderful invention and just had to buy some to try out! Have you heard of sandals that chirp when you walk in them?"

As it happened, Yunyun hadn't. But Wiz was happy to fix that problem as they made their way out, all the while extolling how every adventurer in Axel was sure to want one so they could intimidate monsters with the noises.

"Um…how much did they cost?" she asked, deeply fearful of the answer.

Wiz paused. And then said with forced brightness, "Just let me worry about that!"

Yunyun could've wept.

The next week that passed was both worse than Yunyun feared, and better than she could hope.

The first because the new stock was every bit as expensive and, she hated to say it, useless as she'd been afraid of. It turned out that the chirping only attracted monsters and made them curious, not at all fearful. The second because finally being part of a party had been everything she hoped for so far.

She had even finally gotten a letter from her best friend as well, though it was cryptic even for her. As far as she could tell from it, Megumin was doing well and had even found a new job. Which made Yunyun wonder what had happened to the one Megumun always said she was planning on getting with the town alchemist. But, at least her friend was doing well on her own. Heaven knew her family wasn't going to be much help.

Even the arrival of General Beldia in the area a few days ago, shutting down most of the quests, hadn't been able to dent her mood despite the sudden lack of income. Instead of going on a quest, she and Rin had had a girl's day out with skewers, beer, and some people watching in the square while they talked shop or just gossiped. She got the feeling Rin was really enjoying the chance to be the wise elder sister adventurer, but she didn't mind. The closest she'd ever gotten to having siblings was Megumin, and that had always been as…adversarial as familial.

The men of her new party were more of a mystery. Well, two of them at least. Taylor seemed to be a devout Erisite and general upstanding citizen from what she'd heard, and learned directly from tailing him to church services and a soup kitchen he volunteered at.

As for Dust and Keith, they had reputations she'd started hearing about practically as soon as she registered with their party. Often from other concerned adventurers. Not only did both seem to make the rounds of town looking for handouts in between quests. The same rumors also had Dust drinking most of his earnings and gambling the rest, while Keith was forever trying to pick up women around town with a notable lack of success.

Most people might've shrugged at that point and decided that, if true, while both of their habits were disgraceful it also wasn't any of her business as long as they did their jobs while on a quest.

Yunyun was not such a person.

So it was that she followed Dust one gray, overcast day until he began lurking around the opening to an alleyway leading behind a pawn shop. After looking around, and past her, he ducked inside.

Years of stalking both game in the forest and the occasional fellow villager had made Yunyun good at staying unnoticed. Doing the same in town was a different challenge, but some of the same rules applied. Changing up her outfit and hair style for something he hadn't seen took care of most of it. For good measure she'd darkened her new braid with a little soot.

There wasn't much she could do about her eyes, but Dust didn't seem to be paying that much attention anyway, and Ink was pacing him from rooftop to rooftop. So she could stay well back and just follow her familiar if she lost sight of him directly. After a moment to let him turn the corner, she hurried across the street and followed him in.

The alley was dark, unlit by anything but a narrow bit of sky in the gap between the buildings' upper floors, but that was no problem for her. Carefully placing her feet to avoid obstacles and remain silent, she followed the sound of his footsteps while making sure to keep a corner or bend between them. Soon enough he stopped, and a bell jingled like that on a shop door. After a moment, she peeked around the bend, catching the door still closing behind him.

The door was plain enough, simple neutrally varnished wood without any glass or much decorative carving. It was the inside that made her blush all the way to her ears. The brief glimpse she got before it shut was of a gaudily decorated interior, dimly lit and staffed by several gorgeous women wearing outfits that couldn't have had more than a handkerchief's worth of cloth between them all.

Deciding she really did know enough about Dust's habits after all, she turned and quickly retraced her steps.

"Look out!" a girl's voice cried out as she reached the street still at a quick, though silent, walk. Followed by a soft thump into her side.

"S-sorry! Sorry, I didn't see you! O-oh, are you hurt?" Yunyun fussed, turning to help her unintentional victim.

She was a short, petite girl around her own age, with light pink hair and dark pink eyes, wearing a red and white apron dress like some of the waitresses in town. She was also wrapped around a truly enormous bottle of wine, the kind restaurants or bars kept in the back to stock their 'house' vintage. Having apparently cushioned it with her body, she sat up on the cobblestoned street a little winded from the deed.

"I-it's fine. I'm ok, and it didn't break." she assured Yunyun. "So heavy, I didn't want to go back for another…" she muttered, setting it down so she could get to her feet.

"H-here. I'll help you carry it. Where are you going?"

The girl looked away and fidgeted with her hair. "I'm almost there, it's fine really."

Yunyun frowned in sudden thought. There weren't any restaurants in this area, or bars. Unless…you counted the one she just came from.

Dust visiting a burlesque, or even a brothel, was one thing. Visiting somewhere that was taking advantage of a girl too young to marry was something else.

Her eyes narrowed and began to softly glow, causing the girl to flinch back and almost look like she was trying to hide behind the bottle. "That p-place down this alley. You work there?"

"N-no! Of course not! I just deliver services, not take requests in the store!" Realizing her error, her jaw snapped shut. But of course it was much too late, and the damage was done.

"I think you and I n-need to discuss that a lot further," the archwizard growled, and took the girl's hand to tow her away from the alley.

Despite being only a little bit larger, Yunyun was heir to a race of magical supersoldiers. Her stats even at level 5 were on par with some adventurers ten levels higher, and should've been far beyond a young town girl's.

Instead, she was halted briefly as the girl apparently dug her heels into a gap in the cobblestones and pulled against her for all she was worth. After a moment her heels slipped with a thump and slid into the next gap, and the next, causing Yunyun to turn in surprise at the unexpectedly strong resistance, still holding her hand.

"Um…I'm n-not going to hurt you, you know," she began, only to have the girl snap back:

"I'm going to have a bruise if you keep this up, and I don't do that kind of play! Sleep!"

It bears repeating, Yunyun was a Crimson Demon. A low power sleep spell barely made her eyelids heavy.

"W-what was that for! Don't use magic in town! And I'm trying to help you!" she exclaimed, then stopped cold.

"Well you're not! It's…" the girl trailed off, as her 'attacker's' expression changed. Hastily reaching her free hand up, she felt her hair to find a small pair of bat's wings had escaped from where she'd folded them flat underneath it.

Hastily slinging herself to one side to put Yunyun between herself and the street, she tucked them away again. Looking into her captor's blazing eyes from a much closer distance, she pasted on a trembling smile.

"I can explain?"

The demon's face paled as Yunyun's expression darkened to a thunderous level, her grip going from tight to outright painful as she applied a wrist lock and went for her dagger, but didn't draw it just yet. Not on a busy street.

"If you or your kind have harmed my friends…" she hissed softly, with all the menace she could muster. "How long have you been here, and how many of the graves in the pauper's field are your doing, succubus?!"

Tears in her eyes for multiple reasons, the demon girl shook her head violently. "None! We'd never hurt our clients, they wouldn't come back!" For her part, terror had her frozen in place, the wine bottle she'd been clutching having fallen from her grasp. The heavy glass didn't break, but it did roll to a stop near the mouth of the alley.

Yunyun snorted disbelief, twisting her target's arm into her back and beginning to frog march her prisoner in front of her. "Dad hasn't taught me how to do interrogations yet, but I'll bet the Watch or priests know."

Weaponless and alone, the succubus stared Death in the face and tried not to weep. She couldn't even call for help, all the wizard had to do was shout she was a demon and show her wings again and she was finished. And no matter whether the wrathful archwizard turned her into a greasy smear in the next moment, or 'only' dragged her to the Eris cathedral to report her, she and her sisters were doomed by her one moment of carelessness.

"Ah…girls? What's going on here?" a familiar voice asked from behind them.

The demon's head twisted a bit further than a human might've managed to lock desperate eyes with the new arrival. "Dust! Help! She knows!"

For her part Yunyun spun to try to place her prisoner between them, hoping that might slow the swordsman down. "D-dust, you know what she is?!"

The man raised his hands slowly, making placating gestures as he spoke. "Wait…Yunyun?" he said quizzically, taking in her disguise. "Nevermind. Let's not make this a big deal right in the street. We can talk this out," he suggested soothingly. "Just let Lolisa go."

"Yes! Talking is good! I'm great at talking!" the newly named Lolisa agreed hastily. "My treat?" she gestured at the forgotten wine bottle that Dust had unerringly found and picked up.

Yunyun glared back at her traitorous partymate. The succubus hadn't been any challenge. But while her people might have better physical stats than a wizard had any right to, on top of the training her clan received, that only went so far against a dedicated fighter class.

"That's what you get, you two timing bastard! Girls, I'll buy either of you a drink and make you forget about that jackass! Maybe both! Just say the word!" a passing adventurer catcalled to general laughter from what she just noticed was a gathering crowd.

With a growing blush, Yunyun realized how the confrontation must have looked. A lover's quarrel with the angry girlfriend, cheating boyfriend, and 'other woman' all squaring off like a festival play. Over DUST of all people! It was enough to make her want to sink into her own shadow in embarrassment.

"Look, let's just relax, go to that bench over there, share this bottle, and work this out," Dust suggested again. "Lolisa won't run. There's a good explanation for all this."

Not seeing a better option unless she wanted to start casting then and there in the middle of a crowd, Yunyun released the succubus. Who then scurried behind Dust to fearfully peek around him at her.

"Great! Now let's have that drink," he said as he led them over.

Following behind the pair warily, Yunyun remained standing in front of them as 'Lolisa' and Dust took a seat on the bench. "W-well?" she asked.

Dust gestured at the demon and began working at the bottle's cork, so she haltingly began. Holding the hand that hadn't been twisted around to her lips to help foil eavesdropping both Skill and natural, she spoke just above the background noise. "I-it all started about ten years ago. Our flock was new to the surface world. Like all demons, we feed on mortal emotions, lust generated by temptation and sex in our case. But that feeding carries a risk of killing or ruining the mind of our partner if we lose control."

Yunyun nodded impatiently, the succubi's reputation was no secret.

"Our leader, we call her 'Beth' in your tongue, found a different way. While attraction and arousal lowers mental barriers and allows us to take those emotions more easily, so does a dreaming state. Not as much or as well, but we can make it work. And it's easier to stay focused when you're not in the middle of things. So we can still feed, but far more safely."

"So that's what we do. Our Skills involve sleep and dreams, so we give our customers the dream of their choice, anything they want, to help them relax those barriers as much as possible. In return, we're able to get the emotions we need safely while they experience it. We're also a real cafe of course, but that's mostly a cover to pay the rent. Though Carla does make very good cupcakes."

Lolisa shrugged, then winced at the motion. "The men receive relief that they can't get living packed into stables with each other, and we stay fed. It's worked out so far."

"Ten years?" Yunyun whispered in disbelief. "No one ever noticed…" she halted, the answer being obvious.

"Not everybody knows. Many of the male adventurers, and some men townsfolk of course. Maybe some women from both groups as well, though I've never done a dream service for one so I couldn't say how many. The town government doesn't know, probably. They think we're just a cafe that moonlights as a brothel, and outside of the occasional 'inspection' they've never bothered us as long as we pay our dues."

"It's true as far as I can tell," Dust added, taking a pull from the comically oversized bottle. "I've never even felt tired or slow after a visit. Usually I feel great. And I've never heard of anyone going missing or dead, that wasn't the usual causes, in the time I've been here." He took another pull before offering the bottle to Lolisa, who set it on the ground without drinking, not offering it further after rightly assuming Yunyun wasn't in the mood. "If anything I'd say they're making the Watch's job easier, since they don't have to deal with a bunch of bored, horny adventurers causing trouble all the time. As much," he added at Yunyun and Lolisa's deeply skeptical looks.

Yunyun herself was having a bit of a personal crisis. Try as she might to deny it, some of that made some sense. And if many of the adventurers were in on it? The succubi would never survive being revealed, but trying to shut them down might make whoever tried it a town full of enemies too…

Dust rose to his feet, reaching for the still half full bottle. Lolisa looked like she might scoot it away from him for a moment, but then handed it over with a disapproving look. Grumbling to himself about busybodies, he stretched and said, "I think that covers things. Later Yunyun, Lolisa," he waved, and sauntered off with 'his' bottle.

Lolisa glanced furtively at the conflicted archwizard, and began to inch her way down the bench away from her, preparing to scurry off.

"W-wait," Yunyun said, a previously distracted gaze locking onto her.

The succubus froze, watching her warily. Yunyun fished in her purse and pulled out her best guess at what the bottle had cost. "Y-you should go get a-another one," she said softly, and turned away.

As she walked back towards the town square, the young wizard sighed, shoulders slumping. Why couldn't life be simple? In the Village, 'kill the demons' wasn't a question, but more the solution to a lot of life's problems.

Of course, people said the same about liches, both real and aspiring, so maybe this was the gods' idea of a joke.

Still feeling morose, and hungry after tailing Dust most of the day, she got in line for one of the food carts when she reached the square. This one seemed to have meat pies today, which was a rich enough treat it felt like a fair compensation for having her mind turned upside down. Still mulling over what she'd learned, Yunyun paid no attention to the person who joined the line behind her.

Until they leaned in close, and a feminine voice whispered:

"Come with me if you want to live."