We found the girls, but Magistea was not to be our next destination, at least not right away. Our femme fatales had gathered some information. The information wasn't exactly surprising. Grandeur was heavily infiltrated by the mob. Not unusual at all for an entertainment district. Nor did it particularly interest me given the other problems we had to deal with. But Sonya insisted.
"You're on a quest to find out what happened to your father!" Sonya argued.
"Not my father, Sonya," I replied tiredly.
"You get the point! This has to do with my uncle! I want to know how involved he is with the underworld!"
Since keeping our party members happy was essential to the mission, I decided to give in, and so Sara, Sonya, and I marched to what was obviously the local mob headquarters, a palatial mansion in the northeast of town. Alice and Ilias elected to return together to the castle to await my return and dinner.
To my surprise, we were immediately recognized by the guards standing in front of the mansion.
"Elka already told us to expect you," one of the thugs said. "Go on in. The Don Father is on the second floor."
The mansion was as posh on the inside as it was on the outside. Since it doubled as an HQ, business was being conducted on the ground floor by various lieutenants and bosses. Sara and Sonya were clearly trying to listen in, which caused the shady characters discussing business to glare at them and start whispering.
We went up to the second floor, where another two guards announced our presence. It was very much like meeting a monarch, something I had grown used to, except despite the obvious wealth surrounding us, it still seemed very seedy. An older man with a large, bushy mustache, who needed a cane to stand up, greeted us.
"Nice meeting you!" the Don Father said. "I am Don Father, Merlin."
"Merlin?" I asked suspiciously. "Like the wizard, Merlin?"
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, my boy," Merlin replied jovially. I guessed that he wouldn't. The Tales of Camelot were not likely to be part of this world's mythology. The name was obviously just a coincidence.
"You're a lot more gentlemanly than I would have expected," Sonya said.
"Coercion and intimidation are left to by subordinates," Merlin said stiffly.
"How exactly have you escaped the authorities' notice?" Sara asked. "As queen, I'm sure I should have known about you."
"Your father knew me quite well," Merlin chuckled. "The former king of Sabasa understood that crime cannot be stamped out, only managed."
"Are you saying my father knew about you and let you get away with your illegal activities?!"
"No, the king of Sabasa was an honorable man! He fought my activities as best he could, but villainy is not so easy to stamp out. No, I am still in business because he realized that getting rid of me would just result in someone worse taking over. After all, evil is a fundamental human emotion. You, I, and everyone else harbor evil to some extent. Uncontrolled evil is more dangerous than controlled evil. The king understood society well. I also believe that he preferred me to operate where he could see me, rather than me going underground, which would have made us harder to monitor."
"What do you know about Lazarus?" I asked bluntly, finding Merlin's lecture interesting but also tiresome. As soon as I finished asking the question, I heard a loud bump and a curse behind me. Must have been one of the kitchen servants.
"Nothing at all, young man," Merlin said much too smarmily for my liking.
"Uh huh," I said, skepticism dripping from my voice. "Sonya, is there anything you'd like to ask the Don Father?"
"All I really want to know is what involvement my uncle has with you," Sonya said. "But we're obviously not going to get any straight answers! We're done here."
"You're lucky I was…. Indisposed!" Sara said angrily as we began to leave.
Just as we exited the room, Sonya shouted back, "I hope Uncle Lazarus doesn't think he's getting away with something here! Because when all this is over, we're having a very long, very serious talk, and I will get the truth, or there will be consequences!"
I had no idea what Sonya thought she was accomplishing, although it seemed to be making Merlin quite uncomfortable. I heard another bump and a curse. Man, the kitchen staff were clumsy!
The trip to Magistea Village would take four days. The first three days would be through desert just as harsh as we'd already experienced. The last would be a milder, wetter climate. As before, I traveled mostly alone with Alice. Few were interested in trekking through a hot desert, although Regina occasionally joined Alice and I for added protection.
My nights were spent as they always were, feeding the denizens of the castle at the dinner table, and often feeding one or two of them again after dinner in ways which with you are probably by now familiar. Tough life, I know. I'm sure you feel bad for me. The first night were the imps. I'd made the mistake of giving them fruit while they were standing out in their usual hallway hangout. Remi had timidly accepted a cherry, Rumi was enjoying an orange, and Rami got a banana. Which she then began to suck and lick lewdly, and then heinously accused me of watching! The nerve of that imp! That led directly to her doing the same things to my penis, which then led to another three imp pile-on. Eva walked by and extracted a quick shot with her tail for good measure, without even asking.
Day two featured two of my good friends, Mary and Barbun. Barbun had grown to like me enough to take me into her room for some true lovemaking. Mary just wanted a quick suck again, but she was brutally efficient at it, if again, quite sloppy, and that was despite her being completely sober. Barbun had almost weened her off of alcohol completely, although Barbun was still regularly catching Mary in bars in the towns we stopped near.
On day three, Regina got me to spar with her, and then in Granberia like fashion, ripped my clothes off(even though I'd won!) and proceeded to ride me, using her killer move once per minute, seemingly heedless of the danger. I was strong, however, and stayed conscious long enough to satisfy her, while warning her afterwards that she had to be gentler with the other men in the castle. That hip shaking technique was an instant kill given the potency of her sexual magic.
Alice had reserved the day after Magistea Village for her own feeding. That left the fourth day of travel free, which was actually a relief. I enjoyed going to bed while still fully conscious and able to walk under my own power rather than having to be carried. Or worse, left wherever the last monster had fed on me.
My day off was not to be, however, because I made the mistake of checking on Promestein, which I hadn't done for awhile. Given what was going on in Magistea, I wanted to know if she was interested in joining us.
I entered the laboratory to find flashing lights and techno music playing. Saki was performing, for an audience of Promestein and Juska, both of whom were dancing furiously to the music. Juska looked absolutely ridiculous but didn't seem to care. Promestein, however, had impressive moves and rhythm. When Saki noticed me, the music instantly stopped.
"Luka!" Promestein said with alarm. "I… It was the magic! Saki's music compels the listener to move. It is impossible to resist!"
"I've seen that," I said, amused to learn something new about Promestein even after all these years. There was no way she was born being able to dance like that. She had to have been doing it before to be that good. "So what's going on down here?"
"Research, of course!" Promestein said hastily. "Saki and Juska both have strange power, much like yours. I still can't extract power, but I can study its effects and read the magic while it's being used."
"And what have you learned so far?"
"Little of value, aside from what they can do. As for why they can do what they do…. That's still a mystery, but I'm convinced it has something to do with the chaos spreading throughout the world. It's causing random magical talents to pop up in rare individuals."
"You know, now that you mention it," I said. "I remember that a young teen girl we found in the gold mines near Midas Village could talk to animals."
"Then it is obvious that we'll be encountering more such beings. Fascinating. I can't thank you enough for bringing me here."
"Hi, Luka!" Saki said with her most charming smile. "Want a private show? I'm kinda mad that I haven't made you dance yet. Do you think it's really the magic and not my talent?"
"Saki, you're one of the most talented performers I've ever seen," I assured her. "But even the most talented can't get everyone in a room on their feet. It's not an insult to your talent. Some people just prefer to watch and appreciate rather than participate. I'm more of a watcher myself."
"As am I, normally," Promestein said. "Juska's powers are even more interesting in that they aren't ambient like Saki's. She has to will them to come out, and she can only hold onto her power for a short time."
"So it's a lot like mine," I said. "I can only do things for a short time as well. I've even done many of the things you can do, like fly, and use super strength."
"I've always wanted to be a fighter for justice!" Juska said.
"And Saki tells me that she always wanted to perform," Promestein added. "I wonder if the power they received actually gave them the specific things they wanted, or if the power is more general like yours, and they simply molded it to do what they imagined they wanted to do with it. Once I can extract power directly, I'll be able to study it more. In the meantime, the best thing I have to go on is your semen. You owe me another sample, by the way."
"Oh yeah, we still haven't collected that, have we?" I said, realizing that I wasn't getting the night off.
"Saki, would you please do the honors?" Promestein asked, handing Saki a plastic cup.
"Excuse me?" Saki asked. "Just because I'm a succubus I'm supposed to make Luka ejaculate for you? I don't think so!"
"It's only logical," Promestein shrugged. "You can get a sample out of Luka faster than Juska or I can. And I know that as a succubus, you need a lot of semen for sustenance. As lovely as you are, I can't imagine that you've been abstaining."
"Well…." Saki said, flattered at the compliment. "I do eat a lot of semen, but I have a wholesome image to maintain for my fans. I take fans backstage and drain them, but then I cast a spell making them forget the whole thing ever happened."
"I don't see your point," Promstein said. "You're among friends here. We're not going to print what you do here in Sabasa's gossip column."
"I know that!" Saki exclaimed. "But Luka's probably impossible for me to make forget, and I certainly can't make you two forget!"
"We can leave the room," Juska suggested.
"But you still would know!" Saki protested.
"A succubus is embarrassed about feeding?" Promestein sighed. "Fine. I'll do it. If you two would give me the room."
"I didn't say I wouldn't do it!" Saki said hastily. "I just need a… classy way to do it consistent with my status as a diva. You know what? If I do it as just another performance, then I won't mind doing it in front of you two."
"A performance?" Juska asked. "You mean, like a porno? I don't really need to see that."
"Let me just show you," Saki said. "Juska, didn't you try to make Luka come while barely touching him?"
"I didn't touch him at all," Juska clarified. "At least not skin to skin."
"Well, I'm going to use SOME skin, but just my hand."
"That's what I wanted you to do," Promestein said. "Just a simple handjob. Two shots should be enough."
"A handjob? Really? SO vulgar!"
"Oh my goddess, just do what you're going to do, please? I really need that sample."
Saki huffed and pushed me down into the nearest chair, undoing my pants. Being a succubus, her proximity to me was all it took to get me rock hard. She smiled and grasped my penis in her warm hand, getting on her knees for what I presumed would be a blowjob. I wasn't sure how that was less vulgar than a handjob, but I'd never understood succubus logic anyway.
As her lovely mouth opened and I anticipated what it would feel like, she stopped a mere inch from my glans, and rather than lick or suck, she began to vocalize. It wasn't singing, per se. It was more singing exercises: guttural growls, low notes, high notes, and melodic runs. Between her warm breath washing over my extra sensitive penis and the vibrations in the air that her vocals caused, I was getting incredibly unique sensations without her even touching me, except for that wonderful warm hand, which didn't even move. She was singing into my penis as if it was a microphone!
The growls caused major vibrations to assault me. The low notes created gentler vibrations and a warm feeling in my groin area. The high notes caused further intensification, threatening to shatter my penis in an explosion of semen much as a vocalist could shatter glass. But then there were the vocal runs. Those were the best of all, sending varying stimulation that attacked every part of my penis in different ways and at different intensities.
When she decided she was ready to finish me, she opened her mouth wide and screamed the highest high note she could reach, causing Juska and Promestein to cover their ears. My penis quivered and then erupted into her waiting mouth, assaulted by the extreme frequencies of her sonic attack. Chalk up yet another extraordinary experience. I was one lucky guy.
"Now that I've eaten," Saki said. "And done so elegantly, if I do say so myself, we can get to the sample. For science's sake, of course."
Rather than the elaborate symphony of her sonic stimulation, she simply went with the "vulgar" handjob, jerking two loads into the cup in only two minutes. Promestein gratefully accepted the cup and capped it, commenting that she would have had to take several times as long to get the same quantity. Apparently, two shots from a succubus were of greater volume than from Promestein herself due to my increased arousal.
"I'm sure you hear this from all the girls," Saki said as she rose from her kneeling position. "But you're really delicious. Play your cards right and maybe I'll use more of this superstar body on you."
When we arrived in Magistea Village I recognized it immediately. I had not known it as Magistea Village in my world. In my world, it had been…
"Witch Hunt Village," I said softly as we entered the village outskirts.
"What?" Sara asked. "Did you say Witch Hunt Village? They don't call it that anymore. It's official name has always been Magistea."
"Is this village giving you the creeps, Luka?" Alice asked me.
"Yes and no," I replied. "It was probably the most difficult and painful situation we encountered on our entire journey, at least in terms of resolving it. I never was satisfied with how it ended."
"Well, the advantage of doing things over again is that you can do it better the second time around," Sonya pointed out.
"I've run the scenario over and over in my mind. I was often foolish and rash back then, but I don't know that I could have handled it any better than I did. I'm going to hate having to do this again, assuming the situation is similar."
"Did you have me with you last time?" Sara asked.
"No, it was just me and Alice."
"Maybe we can resolve this diplomatically, then," Sara said hopefully.
"Looks like you might get an opportunity," Ilias said, noting the female mage approaching us. We could tell she was a mage by how she was dressed. Magic users in this world tended to favor very obvious garb, almost as if it was a uniform.
"Oh, Queen Sara!" the mage greeted us. "What a surprise! What brings you all the way out here! I'm guessing you must have heard about our… situation."
"I have, although I don't know all of the details," Sara confirmed. "Would you like to fill me in?"
"It would be best if you spoke to our lady Lord Lily," the mage replied. Alice couldn't fail to notice me visibly stiffen at the sound of Lily's name. So much anger. But also so much regret. The worst villains are the ones who have a legitimate beef.
The mage noticed my reaction as well. "Please don't judge us, stranger," she urged. "If you talk to the townspeople, you will understand that what Lily did was necessary."
"Researching forbidden magic?" Ilias retorted.
"We would never have done so had the need not been great. Please, do not prejudge us, angel."
"Fine," Sara said. "we'll talk to the townspeople, and then we'll go see your lord. But one way or another the fighting WILL stop. Sabasa is at war. We cannot be fighting amongst ourselves at a time like this."
The mage nodded tentative agreement and welcomed us into the town. I could already see one major difference from the version of the town on my world. There wasn't the same overwhelming sense of fear. My Witch Hunt Village had been so paranoid, so fearful under Lily's reign, that people were terrified to speak with strangers. And strangers were often arrested and turned over to Lily if they got too curious. This village seemed a little more relaxed.
"Until recently, witches were oppressed in this village," another mage told us. "Of course, that was really just an excuse to persecute women. Men justified their violence against us by citing tradition and other such nonsense. We were abused for generations. Lady Lily saved us from that life. She granted everyone tentacle magic, allowing us to change things."
Sara had no reaction to that. Alice, who smelled trouble, was watching me carefully and noticed me stiffening again. Tentacle magic was bad news. I already knew that most of the women in the village were altered. Ilias' reaction was more obvious.
"Tentacle magic," Ilias grumbled. "The most obscene magic of all. Turns pure human women into monsters. We need to eradicate this Lily and then cleanse this village."
"I think you know that the second thing you said is not going to happen," I warned. "Lily, on the other hand…. We'll see when we meet her."
Alice didn't like the dangerous tone in my voice but said nothing. I stopped a random young lady.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" I said. The lady turned to be attentively.
"May I see…. It?" I asked timidly.
"See what?" the lady said, a smirk on her face. "Don't be shy, handsome boy. Tell me what you want to see."
Handsome boy? That told me all I needed to know. Ilias' view was extreme, but it wasn't wholly wrong. Adding monster anatomy to human women did in fect effectively make them more monster than human. Human women have never thought of me as handsome, while monsters have treated me as if I'm People's Sexiest Man Alive. Most of that was due to the fact that monsters judged attractiveness by smell more than sight. Apparently, I'm delicious. So if a woman appears to be human and thinks I'm attractive, she's probably not human. Either that, or she needs glasses.
"Your tentacles," I said. "I don't mean to offend, I'm here with the queen to investigate this village. No judgments."
"I'm not offended at all," the lady replied. "Check them out as much as you like. If you're staying for awhile, maybe I'll let you find out what they can do."
With but a miniscule amount of concentration, she transformed. Numerous tentacles exploded out of her body. Sonya and Sara gasped. Alice and Ilias were not surprised, but did appear to be quite disgusted.
"If you don't mind my asking," Alice said. "Do you get semen cravings now?"
"No, never," the lady said. "But I do admit that semen tastes good to me now."
"And apparently your senses are heightened as well," Alice added. "You can now tell which men are delicious and which aren't."
"Why did you let Lily do that to you?" Ilias asked. "Do you actually believe that's attractive?"
"Why? Because I needed power, that's why!" the lady answered. "The men here were horrible. I was beaten and raped several times. That will never happen to me again. I can finally live life on my own terms. I agree it's a little unattractive, but good guys don't seem to mind me having tentacles and I can make them appear and disappear at will."
To demonstrate, she transformed back into a normal looking human woman. I thanked her and we moved on.
"Is that how it was the first time around?" Sonya asked.
"Similar," I replied. "They weren't willing the first time. Lily was continuing the witch hunts, but in reality she was transforming the women she took."
I flagged down a man, seeking his perspective. He was a little older, middle aged, so probably someone who had been in the village long enough to give us useful information.
"There aren't too many men who survived after Lily gave the women tentacle magic," he informed us. "Only the men who were kind were spared."
"They murdered most of the men?!" Sara asked, shocked.
"Yes. Please don't make me relive those days. The way they died…. It was horrible."
I was guessing that those men weren't getting the pleasure tentacles. Lily liked her subjects to receive several kinds of tentacles. Tentacles for draining men, but also tentacles for bludgeoning. And cutting. And tearing. I imagined that what the bad men had received was in proportion to their crimes against the women of the village.
"I can't say I disagree with Lily's goals," Alice said as we continued to explore the village. "It's always been so weird to me given how much stronger we monsters are than human males that those same males are stronger than women. And then oppress them, even though they are oppressed by us."
"It's a little more complicated than that," I said. I'd been interested in that subject as well, so had spent a lot of time researching it and talking to people on my later world travels. Coexistence between monsters and humans had been my primary goal, but rape culture hadn't just been a monster problem. "Men in this world are more cognizant of what it's like to be a woman. Being treated as an object, being preyed upon, being helpless in certain situations….Every human knows what that's like here, so the only men who mistreat women are truly evil men who know exactly what they are doing."
"Apparently there were a lot of those types in this village," Sonya observed.
"Yeah, I'm betting Alma Elma would have spent a lot of time here before the big change. She always made a point of targeting such men in her more evil days."
"What's evil about targeting bad men?" Alice asked, an eyebrow raised.
"If you believe in vengeance, I guess nothing," I conceded. "I don't believe in revenge. If you have to kill to correct a problem that can't be corrected any other way, I get that. But hurting people just because you're angry at them? No matter what their crime, I can't endorse that."
"We'll just have to agree to disagree, then," Alice said.
I remembered all too well that Alice didn't just agree to disagree. Her quest for vengeance had nearly ended our marriage, and at the time seemed to threaten to end my life, although I knew in hindsight that she had known with near certainty that she would not have succeeded in killing me. Either I would have stopped her, or Granberia would have. She had brought Granberia into the room for precisely that purpose, knowing that the swordswoman would act if I didn't have the stomach for it.
"There are many more oppressed women in the world," another lady said to us as we continued our investigation. "Lady Lily is going to give tentacle magic to all women, all over the world, so that they can throw off the yoke of male oppression!"
We had nothing to say to that woman's face, but Ilias had plenty to say once she was out of earshot.
"That tears it!" Ilias raged. "We are stopping Lily, whatever the cost! I will not have her turning every woman in the world into a monster!"
"Maybe if you'd done a better job of protecting human women…." Alice noted.
"You did seem more focused on preotecting men from monsters than women from men," I agreed.
"Oh, do human women enslave and eat men?!" Ilias retorted. "Priorites, Luka! I only have so many angels!"
It didn't seem like she did much to protect men from monsters either, but I decided not to get into an argument with her while we were on a mission. Ilias' focus began and ended at preventing monsters and humans from engaging in forbidden acts. Baptism had been one way to accomplish that, making human semen unpalatable for monsters. It didn't stop the carnivorous monsters from simply eating humans whole, but that was a lesser crime in Ilias' eyes than having sex with them. Instead of using her angels to protect men from being attacked, she had used them primarily to punish men who had enjoyed it.
"in any case," I said, trying to squelch the debate for the moment. "You're right that Lily can't be allowed to spread this magic all over the world. I understand why she wants to do that. That's what made dealing with Lily so difficult for me. She's not wrong. She just doesn't see how her actions make things worse."
Through further interviews, we got a sense of where the conflict was. The village itself was entirely supportive of Lily, at least in the case of the women. The men were more circumspect, stating their sympathy for the womens' position, but clearly uncomfortable with it, and fearful as well. There was a rebel faction opposed to the spread of tentacle magic. The clashes between Lily's forces and the rebel faction were the reason for the conflict.
"So we have an ideological disagreement," Sara concluded. "I'm not the queen anymore. Whether or not this magic should spread is a discussion for Parliament to have. But I do still have a duty to see the bloodshed halted. Luka, thank you so much for agreeing to help me in this. I am truly grateful."
Uh oh. I sensed multiple ejaculations in my near future. Not that I was complaining. My feelings for Sara had always been complicated, but they were very real. It's just a lot of pressure living in a castle where everyone wants to put you in critical ecstasy all the time.
We climbed the hill in the far north of the village to the Lord's mansion. It looked very much as it had the first time I'd seen it. Alice was still watching me like a hawk. We were welcomed into the mansion as guests. Lily simply met us in the foyer.
"I've been expecting you," Lily greeted us. "I am this village's lord, Lily Maistre. I assume you've come to hear my side of things? Come this way, please."
Lily guided us to a side room for guests to relax in and served us tea. Alice sniffed the tea and nodded to the rest of us. Apparently I wasn't the only one Alice was wary of today. Queen Sara took the lead in our meeting with Lily.
"Apologies for my rudeness," Sara began. "But I need to get right to the point. We've heard rumors of you executing the men of this village without due process of law."
"You've talked to the people of this village, have you not?" Lily responded. "The men here brutally abused the women. They oppressed us and justified it as tradition. As a result, the majority of the women in this village died before the age of twenty."
That one shocked me. Had it been that bad? I reminded myself that for all the similarities to my world, there were major differences here. Had the Great Disaster led to even greater oppression in the village than in my world?
"The only thing that let us break out of those circumstances was power," Lily continued. "We were simply defending ourselves."
"I sympathize," Sara said. "But what you're talking about were lynchings. Sabasan law explicitly forbids that. Not even the king can simply order someone executed. There has to be a fair trial."
"The government of Sabasa pretends it has a Constitution," Lily argued. "it pretends that all citizens have rights. Where did that get the women of this village? The average lifespan of a male here was over fifty years old. For women, it was barely twenty."
"How the hell?" Sonya asked, disbelieving. I could barely believe it either.
"The capital knew of this," Lily continued. "And yet did nothing."
"Our Constitution doesn't allow for forcible interventions," Sara said. "Every locality has its own administration and we are forbidden to interfere with that."
"Even when the civil rights of the people are being violated?" I asked. "What's the point of a constitution if it doesn't guarantee the rights of the people? A constitution is a means to an end, not an end in itself. And that end is liberty. If a local government is stripping citizens of their liberties, then the ultimate protector of those liberties has to be the central government."
"I like this boy," Lily said. "It sounds like you've been well educated. I assumed wrongly that you were merely the brawn of this group. You are correct, of course. Since the central government may not legally intervene in local affairs, that left us locals to handle them ourselves. Which we did."
"There are legal means to alleviate oppression!" Sara insisted.
"Do you think the women of this village were capable of going through legal formalities?" Lily countered. "The women confined to their homes, unable to leave, being beaten daily? The law didn't just not protect us. It protected those brutes! They used the formality of law as a shield, but in reality were relying on raw force. We simply turned the tables on them."
"I deeply sympathize with your circumstances," Sara said with a sigh. "And I apologize on behalf of the government for failing you so badly. Speaking strictly personally, I'm willing to accept your actions as justified. This was basically a revolution against an oppressive regime. But Sabasa has laws and I'm bound to act within those laws."
"Oh!" Lily said in mock horror. "Now that we're bringing up the law… What jurisdiction do you have over me? Even as the queen, the answer would be little. Since you are no longer the queen, the answer would be none."
"Yes, you are correct," Sara said. "I'm only a concerned citizen. I will be reporting this situation to the authorities."
"Well, as to the massacre, I only granted the women power. I never ordered anyone to kill anyone. They did what they had to do to protect themselves. Based on those facts, their actions were self defense. What happened here was a series of self defense incidents, not a massacre."
"That's absurd!" Sara argued. "In the end, you will be held accountable as the massacre's mastermind."
"Can you substantiate that accusation in court?"
"Excuse me," Ilias interrupted, clearly losing patience. "I'm sure you didn't invite us in simply to debate the ex-queen."
"Yes, angel, I invited you in to propose a deal," Lily confirmed. "A mage named Lucia….. Oh, you know Lucia?"
I sure was transparent. Lily had immediately noticed my reaction. Alice had as well. I did not know Lucia personally, nor had I mentioned her in my book. But Lucia was part of the reason that my handling of the Witch Hunt Village situation had seemed to have gone so badly in hindsight.
"I do," I said. "She's bad news."
"Indeed she is," Lily agreed. "She's leading a violent faction that doesn't want the power of tentacle magic to spread around the world. She was originally on my side. She was one of the many women to whom I gave power. However, she now considers the magic dangerous. Our disagreement broke into armed conflict last week. I'd like you to end it by getting rid of Lucia."
"You want us to take sides in this war and end it for you?" I asked. "Why would we ever do that?"
"Of course, I don't expect you to do it out of the goodness of your heart," Lily said. "I have something to offer in return."
"And what could that possibly be?"
"Myself."
"You?!" I scoffed. "Don't get me wrong, you're very pretty, but I don't need anymore pretty girls with tentacles on my team."
"Wow," Alice said. "Perverted much? I don't think that's what she's offering."
"I don't mind, I like virile men," Lily chuckled. "What I meant is that I'll lend you my considerable power. The news of your 'team's' exploits are beginning to spread. You saved Happiness Village. You cured the queen of Sabasa. You entered the rifts and came back out alive. There are even rumors that you have the goddess herself and the Monster Lord with you, albeit in diminished form. Seeing you with my own eyes, I believe it. But I am not diminished. I would be the strongest member of your party for the forseeable future. You're trying to save the world? So am I. You can help me with my goal, I can help you with yours. And if you want a little tentacle action on the side, I have no problem with that. If you're nice enough to me, I might even show you a good time with my human parts."
"The hell you will!" Sonya yelled.
"Can't you hear them?"Lily said. "The screams of those people…. I can hear them. Their voices crying for help… for power! I want to answer those cries. Bestow the power of tentacle magic upon them, allowing them to free themselves…"
"Yeah, Luka, don't you want to save the weak?" Alice taunted. "And get a little tentacle action on the side?"
"You and I are the same," Lily added. "I know a do gooder when I see one. You have a mission, but you constantly get sidetracked helping people, don't you? Don't you want a comrade in arms?"
"I have Sonya for that," I said coolly. "I'm not killing for you."
"You don't have to kill Lucia. Simply neutralize her."
I had hoped someone would say something useful. I'm terrible at arguing, and thus I get talked into things all too often. But everyone, even Sara, was looking at me, expecting me to make a decision. I was older than all of them combined. I should be good at this, I thought. I wasn't ready, and my gut was screaming at me to not let Lily anywhere near my party. I decided to give her a chance to prove she wasn't as bad as the Lily I had known.
"Lily, I agree with you that Lucia is a terrible person," I said. "You, however, I'm not sure about. I notice that you met us in the foyer and hustled us into this little side room. Most lords entertain guests in larger rooms deeper into the mansion. I'm betting I know why you departed from protocol."
The others looked at me with renewed interest. This was the more sophisticated Luka, the Luka who had dined with countless lords and ladies, kings and queens, as part of his diplomatic duties. Even Sara and Alice were too new at being monarchs to have noticed how Lily had slighted us. But her intent was not to insult us. It was more likely that she had something to hide.
"And why do you think I 'departed from protocol', as you say?" Lily asked. "Sara is no longer the queen. You are building up a small legend around your person, Luka, but you too are no one. The monster lord and the goddess are certainly someones, but I was unaware of the authenticity of their claims. So I apologize if you believe this small room to be a slight, but I assure you, I meant no offense."
"Fine," I said. "Then let's resume our negotiations in a room more befitting the status of your guests."
"Why can't we discuss our alliance here?" Lily asked.
That's when I gave up on subtlety. "Because I know that you didn't master tentacle magic just from reading books. And you didn't just victimize men. You offered women power, but at first you couldn't give them power without great risk. Most of your early experiments using tentacle magic would have failed. Those failures are still in this mansion."
"That… That's quite an accusation!" Lily said, clearly offended. "You have a very vivid imagination!"
"That may be so," Alice said. "But Luka is correct that tentacle magic, like any other magic, can't be mastered simply by reading a book and then casting the spells as written. Spellcasting is as much art as science, and the science alone is immensely complex. Even if you had mastered that from reading, you would have made countless mistakes. If you're just trying to conjure a strawberry, the worst that can happen is that you summon mush. Later, you'll summon strawberries that are rotten, or tasteless. Only after months of practicing that one spell, will you be able to summon an edible fruit. The only way to practice tentacle magic is to practice it on people."
"That's why tentacle magic is so immoral," Ilias added. "Aside from the successful version, wherein a human is transformed into a partial monster, the unsuccessful attempts create even greater abominations."
"I know little of magic," Sara said. "But I know enough to agree with their assessments. Are you hiding something in this mansion?"
"Am I going to find children transformed into semen-sucking organisms with no will of their own?" I asked, rising from my seat, my hand on my sword, already knowing the answer.
"Do you think they would have had better fates under the old regime!?" Lily shouted, admitting to her crimes.
"Maybe you're right," I said. "But I can cure them and I intend to do so. Stand aside, Lily!"
"You are going to oppose me?!" Lily cried out in rage. "You will not touch my creations! And you are no longer welcome in my home!"
With a wave of her hands, we were teleported instantly outside. I tried the door. It was locked. As if that will stop me, I thought, preparing to blast it down and have myself a little rampage. Alice, however, stopped me.
"Luka, someone is here to speak with us," she told me.
"Hello," another obvious mage approached us cautiously. "Excuse me for interrupting, but I serve Lady Lucia. Please, I ask you to come to our base. It's east of the inn, on top of a hill."
"Luka, I know you're angry," Sara said gently. "But remember why we're here. It's to stop the conflict. They just gave us the location of the rebel base. We should let them make their case. If we don't agree with it, then we can come back here tomorrow with our army and deal with both sides."
"I agree with Sara," Alice said. "Luka, I know how powerful and scary you can be when you're enraged. And I understand it, completely. But this situation requires you to be calm and in full control of your actions. Let's talk to Lucia before we act."
I grudgingly agreed and we began to walk through the village to the location of the rebel base.
"While we're walking, why not tell us what you know about Lily and Lucia?" Ilias suggested. "And why you couldn't successfully resolve the situation the first time you experienced it?"
"I've never met Lucia," I explained. "On my world, she had sided with Promestein for her own reasons. I never fully did understand what the Seekers of Truth, as they called themselves, were all about. But the end result was that she ate Lily and took over the village. She doesn't sound like a good person either."
The "base" was really just some people in a basement. The woman who led us downstairs to meet with Lucia explained to us that it wasn't the real base. The real base was outside the village. Where we were was simply a base for reconnaissance.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lucia greeted us. "I am the resistance's leader, Lucia."
Lucia was certainly something. I was used to generously proportioned women, but her breasts were enormous. I understood her hatred. In a misogynistic town, Lucia would have been a target for both harassment and sexual assault. She had probably eagerly accepted Lily's gift.
"Lucia, why did you turn against Lily?" I asked.
"I am grateful for what she did for me and the other women in the village. But that is no model for the rest of the world. Magistea was particularly awful. Yes, women are mistreated everywhere, but not in so systematic a fashion as was prevalent here. Women in other places have access to courts. Failing that, they can flee their oppressors. There are people who will shelter them. What Lily wants to do would create chaos everywhere. What protections women have in other lands would be forfeit as men and women waged virtual war on one another, much as monsters and humans once did. Magistea needed a revolution. Other places need reforms, not a womens' revolt. As necessary as what happened here was, it was a tragedy. I do not wish to see that tragedy repeated all over the world."
"So if we stop Lily, you won't try to control the village? You honestly just want the spread of tentacle magic halted?"
"That is correct," Lucia confirmed.
"Please allow me to confer with my companions," I said.
We walked outside and huddled. "What do you ladies think?" I asked.
"She seems sincere to me," Sara volunteered.
"But she did take over the village in Luka's world," Alice pointed out. "And people's essential nature doesn't change from universe to universe."
"Nevertheless, her circumstances are different," Sonya argued. "So her motives could be as well."
"Luka, I don't trust Lucia, but Lily is a cancer that needs to be cut out of this world," Ilias urged. "Deal with Lily, and if Lucia oppresses the village, we can always come back and deal with it."
That sounded like the most reasonable course of action to me, so we went back to the castle to make plans. One thing I knew for sure: the assault was happening at nightfall.