<~> Chapter 124"Lilith," Oe said, bringi of my thoughts.

  She slithered over to me from the other side of the room. My [Zone of Silenbsp;was still in effect, the mana it took to keep it up and running was more or less negligible for me now.

  "Lilith, I was thinking. If we start your ge te number of the girls, it will get out eventually. Even if none of the new succubi tell a will bee obvious when others ge to the same extent that Nadia and Raya have."

  I sighed and scratched the base of my horn. "That's true... Did you have something in mind?"

  "tract magic." Everyone in the room went silent at the phrase. The twins and Silva in particur looked especially disgusted. Oe gnced around the room, taking in everyone's expression. "I uand the hesitation, I've run this brothel for a long time and t the times I've used it on one hand. It's not something I would suggest lightly. However, it would make it safe to offer the transformation to the entire brothel without any worry of this getting out."

  That seemed to have pcated my friends to aent but there was still tension in the air.

  Grace raised one hand. "I attest to that, the only times we've used it have been... special cases. We're not in the dirty business of making deals and trig women into our service. If that were the case this pce would have a lot more sves and many fewer beastfolk w here. ...I wouldn't be here myself if that were the case."

  I frowned. "Okay, I'll bite. What are we talking about here, what is tract magic?"

  Half the room gave me a fused look but Man quickly stepped forward and cleared her throat. "Right, tract magic is an application of ritual magic that forces two people roups into a magically enforced agreement. Something like a geas without the same level of hierarchical authority. A magitract is more of a mutual agreement. However, despite it being a mutual agreement, that doesn't stop people from using tricks or clever w to take advantage of each other. People have used them to trick others into being sves, and they often still do. Beastfolk in particur are very wary of them for that reason."

  My brow furrowed. "Magically enforbsp;how?"

  Silva growled. "Total body trol. I've felt it before. Your body, tongue, legs, whatever, they don't listen to you if it would break the tract. It feels disgusting, I would rather take the extreme physical pain that es fr to viote a sve colr."

  I looked around the room, my friends had different looks on their faces but one in particur caught my eye, Bel's. She looked ed. The look on her face made me think she would go along with whatever I chose but there was only one answer she would like. I didn't like the idea of this either.

  "No." I shook my head. "That's now how I'm going to do things. We'll start with people you trust and give them the offer. If they dee, we'll leave it at that. As ve as this magic would be, it doesn't feel right."

  Oe paused. "To be clear, I was only suggesting a promise of silence, perhaps 5 years if they choose to leave the Ruby Vixen. Surely that isn't the same as trig people into svery?"

  I sighed. "I didn't think that's what you were suggesting but it would still be f them into the choice we want. What would their options be? Leave the Ruby Vixen if they don't agree? Abandon their livelihood? Their home?" I g Raya. "Their family?"

  I rubbed the base of my nose and tinued, "...No. I don't like it, it wouldn't be a choice at all. It's important to remember that the ends don't always justify the means. How you do something be just as important as why."

  Torien smiled. "Well said."

  Oe crossed her arms. "Alright. If you're adamant about it then I'm fih that. If tract magi't an option, we'll have to be careful who we talk to about this at first. The truth will likely get out eventually but we'll have to impart the importance of keeping things hidden for as long as possible. I may still have to dismiss some of the girls I don't trust," she said catg my gaze.

  "That's fine." I waved off. "That feels different. ...just don't go too far with it. Not being right for the ge isn't the same as someone spilling all of our secrets. ...But wait, will the ones you dismiss even have ao go? The city is in shambles right now, I would feel just as bad if you threw them out oreet over this."

  Oe looked away in thought. "No, I won't throw anyone oreet, nht now. I'll have to talk with a few of the other brothels iy. There are only a few girls I'm worried about."

  Man sat forward. "Couldn't we just, I don't know, separate the girls who gh the transformation? Like ge their bedrooms around or something?"

  Oe shook her head. "No that wouldn't help much. Even if we did ge the room assigs, the girls still o wait in the lobby and on rooms for ers. Shuffling rooms around would also alert everyohat something is going on, we've never done anything like that before so it would only invite more questions. Besides, most of the girls are friends with each other. There are a few rivalries here and there but most of the girls spend a lot of time with each other. A secret like this will spread to any of the girls we don't tell, it's better to just ease everyoo it starting with the girls we trust the most."

  She g Grace. "We'll have to discuss the people we're sidering bringing in first, as well as anyone we may o distance ourselves from."

  Graodded. "Of course." She turo me. "You will have to give us some time to pn things out."

  I nodded. "It's getting te and this isn't something that's time sensitive. Take all the time you o figure everything out. Tomorrow m we're going out to hunt demons again, the priest of Morkihat we met with today asked us to help clear out the castle aend to participate. I'm not sure how long it will take but we'll e back here when we're finished."

  Oe smiled. "Very well, get some rest then. You've done a lot for us already and given us a lot to think about."

  I released the [Zone of Silenbsp;and roup shuffled towards the exit. Raya was lookiive and slinked over to me. "Heya Lilith. Would it be alright if Nadia and I joined you in your room?" Her tails curled around me giving me a bit of a hug. Despite her fident demeanor, I could feel some of her ay and nervousness ing through our fresh bond. She was worried I would reject them.

  I smiled. "Sure, but let us rest for a bit first. How about you join us after dinner?"

  She beamed. "Sure! See you tonight."

  She turhe er and pulled Nadia through the door with her. In a fsh she was gone. I looked over at roup and watched as Mimi once again took on a disguise, a coat of fur flowed over her golden skin making her look like an unknown kind of beastkin rather than a walking statue. When she was finished she looked around curiously before clothes flowed out and covered her. Oe raised an eyebrow at the dispy.

  We made it back to our room where I could finally take off my restrictive new armor. It felt o wear, it was strong and sturdy, but it was still taking some getting used to. I piled it all in a er, it would take some time to learn how to quickly equip and remove my armor but I was managing so far.

  I sat on the bed and patted Mimi's shoulder. "You're looking pretty good like that Mimi! Soon you won't o hide all the time."

  She smiled back at me. "Yeah! It be a little hard to maintain but I'm getting the hang of it. I o practice densing my mana more though, it's getting easier but I still have trouble doing it for long periods. We've been around other people so much tely I haven't had the ce to work on it much."

  Man sighed. "I knoe've been busy non-stop since we left Traehall. Sure a lot of it was b carriage travel but that was exhausting tooooo."

  Torien snickered at her sister and I pulled Man into a hug. "It's true we haven't had much time to rex. I would suggest having some downtime iy but... that's kind of a mess right now too."

  She pulled away and snuggled into my side. "I kno, it's unfair!"

  Torien smiled. "Careful Lilith, indulge her whining too mud she'll op."

  I ughed. "A little bit of whining never hurt anyone."

  Man squeezed me even tighter. "Torien! I'm in love! She tolerates my whining! I couldn't ask for ater!"

  Silva stepped close to Torien's side with a grin and spoke in a stage whisper, "Perhaps I should make you whioo, I bet you would enjoy that."

  Torien's face turned bright red, she was much more used to being the one doing the teasing rather than the one being teased and it showed.

  Man looked over with a gloating smile and didn't eveo say anything. Torien only had to look at her sister for a moment before she looked away, face flush all ain.

  I turned Man back towards me. "Now now, don't tease your sister too mubsp;Silva seems to have that handled plenty."

  Torien sputtered but couldn't even say anything in reply and Bel couldn't help but giggle at the rea. I leaned over and pulled her into a hug too. "Do you have any whining to do Bel? You look like you could use some attention too."

  She leaned into my arm and kissed me on the cheek. "I'm happy anywhere we go. Just being with you is enough for me."

  Man peeked around my bust at her. "Okay Bel, that was a little sappy even for me."

  Bel huffed. "It's true! And it's not just her! I'm happy to go anywhere with all of you!" She grabbed Man's nearby hand and kissed it.

  Torien ughed. "See, now yo—"

  Torien was cut off as Silva lifted her off the ground and began to carry her off. "Things are getting a bit out of hand in here, I'd rather things get out of hand over there instead. We'll try to be quibsp;before dinner."

  I waved. "Have fun in there you two!" Silva flicked the door of the adjoining room closed with her foot.

  Man pulled the three of us down onto the bed. Her firailed through the fur under my shirt, intimate but not yet sexual. Mimi started to climb on top of me but I sat up before she could and slid baore fortable position on the bed before holding my arms out to her. With a smile, she crawled over and snuggled into my chest while the irls quickly found their pext to me. I y like that for a while, just enjoying their pany aing myself unwind. A normal person may have been overheated sandwiched between three people like this but I felt fihe warmth felt good.

  I sighed as I looked up at the ceiling. "Do you think things went okay?"

  "I think so." Bel smiled and began to trace her fihrough my fur as well.

  Man sat up on an elbow and looked down at me. "It was a bit risky to tell them about everything but I don't think it could have turned out aer. I was half expeg things to go bad. We might have been fighting girls off left and right!"

  I ughed. "Don't speak too soon. We have two of those girls joining us tonight and who knows what will happen after I offer the same thing to half the girls in the brothel."

  She leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. "Being with you has bee Lilith, the best of both worlds. A pretty dy to spend my time with and the exg life of an adventurer. Sure I didn't expect to share this much but I guess I don't mind." she looked over at Bel and gave her a wink. "Instead I get to spend my time with three pretty dies instead of one."

  "I love you toan," Bel said with a grin. "And you too Mimi." She leaned over and gave the mimic a kiss as well.

  "I love all of you!" Mimi pulled the irls into a group hug right on top of me.

  "What a weird group we have." I couldn't help but ugh.

  I rested in the group hug for a while, feeling tent to be surrounded by the people who make me happy. It's been a plicated few weeks but moments like this make all of that worth it. There were dowo this life of course, regurly risking my life was equal parts terrifying aing, but I wouldn't trade any of it as long as I got to keep having moments like this.

  Saine

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