<~> Chapter 171We headed back to the Ruby Vixen. It was a little awkward wandering around town carrying fishing poles. The brothel girls looked at us curiously as we carried them through the lobby and I asked Mimi to follow us up to our room through the bond.

  "Hey Mimi, do you mind hanging on to these things for us? Bel and I bought some fishing poles but they're a bit too unwieldy to carry around all the time."

  "Sure, I don't mind. I don't want aaking our stuff. What are these for though?" she asked curiously.

  "For catg fish, uh, small animals that live uhe water. You cook some of them for food and Bel has been wanting to cate for us on our trip."

  "Okay! I wa some!" she said with excitement.

  I ughed. "No problem. I'm sure Bel would be happy to share some with yht?"

  Bel beamed. "Of course! I want to fish as soon as we get the ce!"

  Mimi sucked up the poles and Bel's tacklebox into her pocket dimension and waved at us before heading back down to tialking with everyone else. She had been so starved for socialization that she seemed a bit addicted to it right now. I thought it robably good for her, she seemed like a bit of arovert. It's best that she takes the opportunity while she still .

  I grabbed Bel's hand and led her out of the door and towards the roof. "This is a pce I've e to a few times now, it seems like a nice spot to draw a little."

  The roof of the brothel always had a nice view. It was still daytime so everything was still clear and visible right now.

  "Wow, you see so much from up here." Bel leaned forward on the wall taking iy.

  "Yeah, I like the view from up here a lot. I thought this would be a good pce to get some practi, no matter what you're ied in drawing there should be plenty to work with up here. And we be alone for a bit lohis way too."

  Bel smiled and leaned against me. "Thanks, Lilith. I... wasn't sure how you would react to how I felt. It makes me happy that you're trying so hard to make me feel better."

  I ed an arm around her side and kissed her on the head. "Of course." I held her there for a while until she pulled away.

  "Well the's get started. I am ied in learning a little bit. I've never really tried to draw before," Bel said.

  "Oh?" I asked. "Never even tried it before? What's got you so ied in it now?"

  She smiled. "Don't py coy, you know I'm ied in it because I've seen a little bit of what you do."

  I ughed and started digging through my bag for the chalk and chalkboards. "Sure sure. It'll be o share my hobby with someone. I don't know much about fishing but I'm excited to try out your hobby with you too."

  "I'm sure you'll be great at it," she said as I handed her a chalkboard.

  "I wouldn't be so sure, I don't think I'm very experienced with outdoorsy stuff the way all the rest of you are. If it wasn't for you and the twins I'd probably be dead in a forest by now."

  I opehe two boxes of chalk and pced one on the wall o each of us. "Alright then," I said. "Let's get started. First off, what kind of things are you ied in drawing?"

  Bel shrugged. "I'm not sure. It would be o draw you like you drew me but right now I think I'm most ied in drawing this view." She turned and looked over the city.

  I smiled. "It does look nice, doesn't it? Well, drawing something like this shouldn't be too hard. Let me tell you the basics."

  Over the few hours, I told her about some basic art teiques, roughing in shapes, sight measuring, basic perspective, getting a niposition before putting down too maails. We kept w at it until the sun started to set.

  "That was fun," she said while putting away her chalk.

  "You sure?" I asked. I khat art could be just as frustrating as it could be fun sometimes.

  "Yeah, it wasn't too hard." She held hers up o mih a smile. "Even if it isn't as good as yours, it looks better than I thought I would be able to do. I've ried anything like this before, it was fun."

  Hers was all drawn in white chalk, she had spent more time trying to get lines right and spent more time scribbling in little details. Mine looked much different, I wao take advantage of the multi-colored chalk we bought so mine was drawn in a variety of colors with more solid shapes rather than lines.

  I pulled out the small eraser for the chalkboard and Bel frowned. "It seems like a shame to just erase all of this though," she said.

  I paused and put it away. "Well, I don't want to get chalk dust all over my stuff but why don't we at least show it to everyone else first?"

  We headed dowairs to the on room. It was about diime now but since a majority of the people in the brothel didn't o eat anymore it was a lot less hectic. We headed into the side room o the lobby and over to the table where the rest of our friends were pying cards. It looked like Silva was winning in some kind of faux pame.

  "Hey everyone," I said while waving.

  I got a mixture of greetings and smiles as they tinued with their game. I looked around, they weren't the only ones pying cards right now, it seemed to be pretty popur sihe tables in here weren't really being used to eat except for a few of them. The majority of the Brothel were all Succubi now.

  I g the door that led back to the on room. "No ers again tonight?" I asked.

  Raya shook her head. "Oe wants anht for things to calm down. Some of the girls have been fug almost nonstop sihe ge and others are experimenting with their new powers and specializations. I think the transformations opened many more doors for them than any of us were expeg. A lot of the girls here could find work as adventurers or in other professions now. I doubt many will leave though. This pce has bee even more of a home to everyone and now has aronger sense of family. I think Oe and Grace are talking about turning this pto something like a guild, though ohat's secretly restricted to succubi and prospective succubi."

  I raised an eyebrow. "That's a bit more industrious than I was expeg, though with the way Oe operates, I shouldn't be surprised. Nothing against her of course but she seems like she's always looking to expand."

  Sibyl jumped into the versation. "That's true but I wouldn't fet about Grace either, the two of them are a team, always have been. Oe has the ambition and is good with people but Graows how to hahe money and do the paperwork. Oe points the way and Grace gets us there, the two of them are natural business partners and from what I know, they have been friends since before Oe even took over this pce."

  I nodded. "Grae a little bit about that. I just hope the two of them are careful. I'm worried that not everyone will accept the existence of a race of people who thrive on sex and partially shapeshift with open arms, whether they're demons or not. This goes without saying but we o be extra careful around the Tamin churd their zealots."

  Raya nodded. "That's not the only dahere are also demon worshippers. I've heard from some of the girls that strange people have approached them in the past trying to get them into their weird cult. Trying to take advantage of what some of them saw as desperation. Almost all of the girls that work here want to work here though. Oe has tried hard to foster that kind of enviro. Damn, I'm out." Raya huffed and flopped her cards oable.

  Silva ughed and collected the small pot of tokens they were using to keep score. "Tough luck Raya, you shouldn't let yourself get so distracted."

  "With their new eyesight they could reize people with demonic miasma on them," I said. "It's pretty easy to detect that way, even easier than using the mana sense skill for it."

  Raya slumped ba her chair. "Yeah, that's what I meant by getting used to their new powers. The eyesight has a fw though, if anyone's looking it's a bit of a dead giveaway."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "Here, take a look." Raya faced me and her eyes turned silvery and shifted to be rge slitted pupils like a cat. "It's really noticeable on ahat doesn't already have simir-looking eyes and eve still kind of looks weird." She blinked and they shifted back to normal. "You have to be careful or wear some kind of eye c to get away with it, it doesn't make it easy to blend in."

  I nodded. "Wow, I hadn't even noticed."

  "Yeah, it doesn't feel like anything's ged. The only reason I noticed at all is because I started seeing a lot of the girls walking around with their eyes like that. I asked around a little and realized what had happened. I talked to Oe about it already and she's telling people to be careful with it. That's just one of the reasons the brothel is still closed. Everyone was beira cautious when only half of the brothel was transformed but now that everyone is, they have been a little more... loose with the information. Everyone ime to get used to things and Grace said we have the moo stay closed for a while since our food costs have fallen off a cliff."

  I hesitated. "Are you sure it's a good idea for you to e with us? It seems like you're still helping out a lot here."

  Raya smiled and looked up at the ceiling. "I think everyone will be fine. Maybe this is exactly what we need right now. For someone like me to bee stronger, help everyone who wants to be more than just a whore." She waved her hand at the idea. "Not that that's bad but something bigger than that."

  "Like a super whore," Sibyl joked.

  Raya flicked one of the nearby cards at her making Sibyl ugh.

  "I know it sounds like a plete flip of what I talked with you about before but this is something I really want to do. I'm not abandoning anyone or even giving up my life of sex and debauchery," she joked. "I'm just being... more for everyone."

  I reached over and patted her on the hand. "o justify it to me. If this is what you want to do, I'm happy to have you."

  She smiled. "Thanks, Lilith." She turned and looked over everyohanks everyone for letting me e with you." Raya stood up from the table. "Now I have a few more people to say goodbye to and I still o chat with the Madame and Grace. I'll see all of you in the m bright and early. Don't stay up too te having sex!" She said with a ugh. Amusingly the only one who turned red at the ent was Torien.

  "No promises," I said to her with a grin.

  Sibyl flipped her cards over. "I'll go with her. Thanks for the game, I'll see all of you tomorrow m." She got up and followed Raya who stopped and took the shorter catgirl's hand.

  Man groaned and threw her cards down. "Ugh, enough. Silva's too good at this game anyway. I'm done pying." She got up and ed her arms around Bel's neck from behind. "I wanna go cuddle Bel for a while, Lilith's had her all day and now I'm jealous. She never bullies me like the rest of you do." She g me. "But I wouldn't say no if you wao join the cuddle pile too..."

  I ughed and ed an arm around the two of them. "Let's go back to the room then. Rex a some extra rest before tomorrow m. We're finally heading for the capital."

  The three of us untangled from each other and headed back up to the room. Mimi perked up when she saw the three of us heading upstairs and decided to e join us for a real girlfriend cuddle pile.

  It would be o get some rest for trip tomorrow.

  Saine

  Hello! The end of Bel's date and a bit more about Raya's feelings! Taking Raya along is a bit of a guilty pleasure, she was initially created as a character foldeh but it was hard not to want to keep her around after writing her for a while. She provides a bit of levity and snarky ic relief in a way that doesn't feel natural ing from any of the other characters. Writing Raya and Sibyl bantering and pying off each other and the other characters is one of my favorite things about them. I hope you enjoy them too! Thanks for reading!

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