<~> Chapter 142Theo had been waiting in the lobby by the time all of us finally came down. If he had been impatient waiting, I couldn't tell. He had a group of girls around him pyfully chatting and joking. I was a bit impressed that he was keeping the girls eained rather than just flirting with them the eime. He had already found some rept clothes and was dressed normally now. Nothing fancy, just brown work pants and a simple tunic.

  When he spotted me he waved. "Ah, Lilith! I'm gd you're here. I was a bit afraid that the brothel was c for you and you were trekking out of town to get away from me. You sleep iy te you know."

  I shrugged. "Long night, even longer day yesterday. We've been keeping ourselves busy but that doesn't mean a little bit of rest is out of the question."

  "True enough." He nodded in agreement. "Now, do you mind if we could go have that private chat you promised me? Oh, not discluding your party of course."

  "Sure, I did promise. Let me go talk to Eira over there first and then we head up to my room."

  Theo grinned. "Are you sure your room isn't trashed? I saw those two lookers e down from your room this m. Not surprised that you're a fan of women based on what your party looks like."

  "I don't have a problem with men, just haven't found one I like yet," I said.

  "Hmm, I may still have a ce then?"

  "Depends on what my girlfriends say. Not today though, too much to do and I've already spent a bit too much time iely."

  "Hmm, you have so many girls in your party it'll be fun to guess whies are with you and whies aren't," he said with a ugh.

  "Regardless, give me a moment and then we get to business." I stepped away from the bull demi and headed over to the front desk.

  "Good m Lilith!" The chipper cheetah girl beamed at me. Her new features had been toned down, the only differe a gnce was that she somehow got much more attractive ht.

  "Good m Eira, you tell me where Raya and Sibyl went?"

  "Oh, I don't know actually. The two of them told me they were headed out into the city together. Ah! But don't worry, Sibyl is quite strong... despite her new looks," Eira whispered out the st part befiving me a wink.

  I nodded. "Great. If you see them, you tell Raya that Man agreed to give her some pointers but we might not be able to get to it today? A lot's going on."

  "Sure! And uhm... Do you mind if I join you guys tonight too? I wasn't sure if you would want to py with me after my... ges..."

  I gently put my hand on her shoulder. "Sure, o worry about that."

  The cheetah demi-beastfolk perked up with a big smile. "Great! Uh, see you tonight then!"

  When I walked away I noticed a few of the girls that had listened in gave Eira suggestive winks and smiles that made me a little embarrassed.

  "Alright Theo, let's head up and talk."

  The rge man followed me up the stairs and into my room. All of us took pces around the coffee table and I dug through my backpack for the book that had been pushed to the very bottom of my things all this time. I pulled it out and ha over to him. As he began to exami I cast [Zone of Silenbsp;around the room, already anticipating the dire of our versation. Theo gnced up at me for a moment but quickly returo examining the book, he didn't seem surprised by the spell or my desire to cast it.

  When he finished looking over the cover, he flipped through it before stopping on the very spicuous page that had an illustration of my spitting image. It's been a long time since I've even looked at the book I found when I was summoned and I was curious to see what he had to say about it, especially since he said the book was a 'fake.' Clearly not, since I was sitting right here.

  Man and Torien leaned closer to get a good look at it. I hadn't showher of them the book before, I was a bit worried initially about implig myself as a demon to them while our retionship was a bit more new. Afterward, it just wasn't something I thought t up.

  "Well, this is defihe genuine book. I knew why you might not want to show the book to others but looking at this page really hammers it home. When we were in the [Zone of Truth] you said that you weren't a demon. Do you mind eborating on that a little bit for me?"

  I sighed. "Alright... When I first came here I was a demon. However, I am also the [in of Sucbsp;and a [World Traveler]. Where I e from we have a lot of myths and stories about Succubi, many of them flig. There are plenty of onalities about them but they're usually demons in those stories and when I first came here, so was I. That was true until I first saw what a demon was like over here with my owhat creature was so far removed from what I am that I couldn't pare myself to that thing. My in title agreed with me and promoted succubus to be my primary race. I also suspee of the gods may have had a hand in it, I've gotten a lot of attention from them the moment I arrived."

  He tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch. "Are succubi as malevolent as demons? Should I be worried about your race?"

  I shook my head. "Succubi aren't necessarily malevolent. They are often antagonists iories but they aren't always. My time here has only pushed the in title to further distance myself from the malevolent aspects of demons. I have some innate abilities that my rad title gave me that get strohe mood' or 'evil' I act. As time has gone on, those abilities have turned more and more away from the evil side and now they only reward the good."

  He nodded. "You thank Sorsette for that."

  I tilted my head, fused. "Sorsette? How so?"

  "The goddess Sorsette is the creator of the system and its curator. She has influence over how the system works, especially regarding in titles. From what I uand, she doesn't have as much trol over it as the actual title holder does but in her writings, she described nudging things or solidifying things when they are already headed in a dire she approves of. There have been a lot more in holders than people are aware of, it's a big world after all.

  Silva leaned forward on the couch. "The system has a creator? I thought it always existed, that even the gods had access to it."

  Theo shook his head. "No. Acc to her books, she ied the system after the gods existed. The system exists to be mortals, not the gods. In fact, the creation of the system put her at odds with some of them. Though few gods openly show hostility towards her, it's beeed that the reason Sorsette could no longer have padins and must remaiirely ral in flicts was because it was a cession she made when what we call the god's accords were iated. The first ats of the system existing lines up with the surviving ats from the War of the Gods. Many schors believe Erimikai, the deceased god of war, took advantage of its creation to spread his influence, meaning Sorsette may have ily ehe war to happen. She never firmed it in any of her writings but many schors think it is likely."

  There was a long silence as everyoook in the information. I wasn't surprised the system wasn't a natural phenomenon, my home pne proves that. But it seems to be a bit harder to swallow for everyone else.

  I scratched the base of my horn. "Er, why don't we get ba track? When you first talked about the book you said it was fake. What did you mean by that?"

  "Right." Theo nodded. "The book is a fake because it was never actually created with the purpose of summoning demons. Acc to the Great Library's records, it was created by a world traveler as a practical joke..."

  ...what?

  I rubbed my face. And I thought my previous theory of being summoned by a loser who wanted a demon girlfriend was a dumb theory. This revetion puts that to shame.

  "That doesn't make sehough, I'm here. It clearly worked," I said exasperated.

  Theed. "We'll have to recssify it. Whoever stole this book in the first pce probably was trying to summon a demon. We didn't bother putting it under heavy security because we ks ins, we assumed incorrectly that if someoempted to use it, it would just fail. Apparently, this practical joke worked better than the inal writer thought."

  "Who would create a fake demon-summoning book as a practical joke?" Man asked.

  "A world traveler who wao fuck with his friends apparently," Theo replied.

  "Where is this guy now?" I asked.

  Theo ughed. "Dead, this book is more than five hundred years old."

  I cradled my head in my hands. You 't be serious.

  "Do you at least know what nguage this is written in?" I asked

  He shook his head. "his was in that traveler's nguage and he never wrote anything else in his inal tohis book has always beericted because his friends at the time immediately gave it to the Great Library and no one has ever attempted to tra. It was merely kept around as a mild curiosity, an example of a dead nguage that went to the grave with the book's creator."

  "So... I was summoned here pletely by act as the sequence of a joke?"

  "Now I didn't say that..."

  I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

  "As we both know, demon summoners have been gaining in strength over the st two years. There have been more demon sightings i two years than the previous twenty before it. Maybe the book's creation was a joke but whatever led to you getting summoned wasn't an act. Something is causing demons and demon summoo grow in power, it's possible demonic magic twisted things to make the summoning work."

  Bel shifted in her spot on the couch. "If no one read this how were they able to do the summoning?"

  Theed and poi the drawing in the book. "Perhaps he just followed this picture and hoped for the best."

  I closed my eyes. Did it bother me that I was summoned here, even if the reason was stupid? I suppose not. I enjoy my life here with my friends and lovers. Even some of the people in this brothel have bee quite close to me. If I never learned about my old life would it really matter?

  "What about my memories?" I asked. "Is there a way tain some of them? I was... advised that it shouldn't be a problem if I recovered them, that I shouldn't be afraid."

  Theo raised an eyebrow. "That's a weird way to put that but I won't pry. I'm not sure what to say. There are plenty of magid potions that could help yain lost memories but what you're implying may be a bit more difficult. Based on this picture I'm guessing your current body is probably not your inal one, which means you don't have those memories up there," he said tapping his temple.

  "But I remember other stuff from my old world, movies, music, pces," I said.

  "Sure but think about it. You're an in, how would you know anything about your race if you didn't know about the world your myths inate from? What memories you have could have been specifically chosen for you when you were brought over. Or, you may not have been brought over at all. For all we know, your soul inates from this pne, you were just given the memories you would o textualize your in." Theo didn't look like he was lying, he didn't look like he was just trying to fuck with me... But the idea that those memories might not be my own shook me a little. He tinued, "There might not be any memories to recover and if there are, they may not be accessible through normal means because you're talking about memories that exist within your soul, not the new body you're inhabiting."

  Bel put her hand on my shoulder. "Lilith, it's okay. I love you no matter where you e from or who you were. I'll be yours always. Body, heart, and soul."

  I put my hand on hers and took a breath. Maybe she's right. Maybe it doesn't matter. ...But Charon.

  I shook my head. "No, I think they be recovered. I was told I shouldn't be afraid aining them." I looked up at my friends. "And even if I 't, I live without them. I have all of you, my friends. My family."

  All of them smiled and o me. Even Silva.

  I took a deep breath. "I suppose it hasn't mattered to me all that mu the first pce. This book has been at the bottom of my backpack this eime. I haven't been serious abaining my memories in the first pce. It doesn't really matter. What matters more is what's in front of me now. ...Maybe this is sappy but I love all of you. We haven't been together long but I feel closer to all of you than I would have thought possible.

  Bel hugged me from the side. "I love you too Lilith."

  I smiled and leaned against Bel. Her small frame felt more supportive than a mountain right now.

  "...so I keep the bht?" Theo asked.

  Saine

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