<~> Chapter 199The building uest rooms were in had a rge tral meeting spa the first floor with stairs that led to a baly overlooking it. Everyone was seated around a rge regur table by the time I had returned with Cecilia, though most of ear had already been put into our rooms. Everyone was notably still wearing their armor and bat outfits though. Before we sat down Cecilia pointed up at my room in case I wao put down my things but I decided against it for now. Everyone looked far too ready to begin the versation.

  The only ones not present at the table were the two new pantharians and the agent who freed her, Kerling, I think her name was. Bel and Mimi were seated with ay chair to their right and the twins were seated with ay chair to their left, leaving an obvious spot for me to sit between them. Across from my chair was Silva then Lorriene and Talis on her right, Raya and Sibyl had ay chair for Cecilia on the left. As tired as everyone was, it seemed like everyone was itg for this discussion at long st.

  I sat doatted Man's leg. The twins were still wearing their maid uniforms. I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to suggest repg them with something else or not, they had taken pride in being my 'servants' but they were free now. I sighed, my mind was wandering because I didn't want to face what was in front of me... Silva.

  "So..." Silva said. "I suppose this versation has been a long time ing."

  I nodded. "There's a lot to talk about but the first thing we should start with is probably the Order of Lilith, who they are and what they do. I'm ed about them being a demon worshipping cult but I'm also not keen to take the Tamin church's word for anything. Especially after what I'd learoday at the Library."

  I got a few ied gnces from some of the people nearby, including Talis, but I decided that it could wait for now. What was most important to me was hearing about the Order and whether or not I could trust Lorriene and Silva right now.

  Silva leaned ba her chair and tapped her fingers oable in front of her. "Before we start, I suggest we use a [Zone of Silence], if there was ever a time for it, that would be now."

  I nodded and threw the spell up around us, t it to the rug that surrouhe table in the middle of the room. The sudden ck of sound from outside the spell was still slightly unnerving but a good firmation that it was w as intended.

  Silva nodded. "I suppose I should start then. As I told Lilith after I killed the king earlier today, I am an assassin for the Order of Lilith and I have been one since shortly after I inally left my hometown. The story I told all of you about my past is true but I glossed over the fact that the one who gave me the tools to actually do my job properly was the Order of Lilith."

  "If you properly did your job, why did you get caught?" Sibyl asked.

  Silva ughed. "Mmm, well, there was oher detail I did lie about. The noble I had killed and was arrested for was not the ohat had gotten my family killed. I killed that one more than ten years ago shortly after my training cluded. Getting caught for the most ret one was actually iional, Baron Morrister was also a member of the Order, and ing in as a crime sve was cover to protect his family. Some nobles wouldn't allow me to apany him on things like trips in their presehout being a colred sve. It's unfortuhe exaes he would have been forced to deal with had he tio live. For reasons that will probably seem evident irospect, he no longer could trust hiring other bodyguards he didn't know and my cover as a crime sve along with some pnted histave me a solid cover he could show people. It was too little too te however. Shortly after I came into his service the castle was attacked and he had fone my prote for his daughter."

  "Who is now in the custody of the Northern Greens," Cecilia said.

  "Yes," Silva replied.

  Bel shook her head. "But I still don't uand. Why was it Amphores that had attacked Goldeh in the first pce?"

  Silva shrugged. "I'm still not sure actually. It was the reason why I was so ied iurning there and looking for leads. Their goals don't make seo me."

  I cleared my throat. "All of that aside, who are the Order of Lilith and what do they actually want?"

  Silva turo Lorriene who returhe look with a raised eyebrow.

  "Please, Aunt Lorrieell us," Torien asked quietly.

  Lorriene looked at Torien and sighed. She g Silva again before looking back at me. "The Order of Lilith, or the Cult of Lilith, however you want to define us, are a group that 'worships' a ing goddess of liberation and lust. Lilith. Our prophecy, in trast to the Tamin church, views her as a benevolent figure that es to raise up the weak and the vulnerable, she gives them strength and frees them from the shackles of the lower caste of society. She's supposed to have a tall and imposing figure with rge bck wings and a long bck tail. She shares her power through sex and lust and ges her follower's bodies to fit their true form." She took this moment to look at Silva before turning bae. "Not everyone actually believes that Lilith is a real ing goddess, those like me and Silva joined for more practical reasons. Silva lost her family to a noble who used svery as a on to get what he wanted." She g Torien and Man. "I joined for a ce to free my family and my blood retives from geional svery. The goddess Lilith is said to detest svery and coer and so her followers have been spreading across the world trying to undermine anywhere svery is legal and attempting to subvert any aristocracy that supports it. It's during the sed war of the gods that she will rise to godhood herself and lift her followers from the dregs of society into her harmony." She turned bae with a gre. "But while our i is aspirational, Lilith isn't real. I had thought that Silva wouldn't be so foolish to fall for a trickster like yourself. You have impressive magic, I'll grant you that, but the idea that you're actually her is a farce."

  Man gripped my leg. "Lilith. Show her your true form," she told me.

  I sighed. Another prophecy. Another piece of the puzzle, this one says that now I'll be a goddess. I didn't like it but somehow the idea hardly surprised me at this point. I just wao live with my new friends and family and explore this new world but at every turn, things have spired t me deeper into the gods' political game.

  I stood up. "Mimi, will you take my armor and clothes?"

  "Sure." She stood up and with a quick wave, my armor disappeared into her pocket dimension leaving me naked before the room.

  Lorriene's face looked puzzled and Talis averted his eyes respectfully. I let my true form reassert itself and allowed myself to grow to my new full height. My bck wings and long tail grew out to their full size. The slight stiffness in them was alleviated once my mana began to flow through my new limbs again. A shiver ran down my spine and my body tingled in pleasure from the cool air on my hers, nipples, aive wings and tail.

  "This is my true form. I've been hiding it for... obvious reasons," I said with a shrug. "I don't like all of these prophecies that keep talking about me, but I no longer have any doubts that it is me that they're talking about. And I believe Silva would be skeptical of something like this knowing her, so if I vinbsp;her then you should at least take it somewhat seriously."

  Lorriene's eyes had gone wide as she stared up at me from her seated position. After a momerance was broken and she looked around the room at everyoed there. The only one who looked anywhere near as surprised by my transformation was Talis but even he wasn't gawking the way she was.

  I felt more fident in this form. More sure of myself. I wasn't even embarrassed that I was standing nude in front of everyo I suppose that was in part because I had slept with most of the people in this room already. This form is dangerous, it feels really good to be in this form and I didn't know if I could trust my thoughts clearly to stay like this for aended amount of time. I would have to experiment with this form more when we were in a safer pce. For now, I began to shift back, though I left my wings and long tail revealed. I didn't like hiding them anymore and as long as we were here I could get away with it, at least as long as the elves weren't around.

  Mimi handed me my rexed clothes that had been modified for my wings and tail, I slipped them on once I had fully returo my normal size again. Once I had finished I sat ba the chair fag Lorriene who was still gawking at me.

  "I... I... But you were supposed to be a demon..." Lorriene whispered.

  "I have an in title. The in of Succubi. The first time I had e across a demon, I rejected them as kin and Sorsette took advantage of the situation to force the in title to alter my race as it appears in the system. If the prophecy you have is anything like the ohe Tamin church has, it says 'Lilith was born a demon' not that she stays as one."

  Lorriene gasps. "You were born a demon but you're not one anymore! That's why no one suspects you of being that Lilith! You rejected them and became a demon syer!"

  Silva cut in. "And in Goldeh, she did the same transformation she gave me to nearly everyone in the brothel that Raya and Sibyl are from. Emp and lifting them from the lowest caste of society to potentially one of the most powerful anizations in Goldeh ht. She did all of this without any knowledge of our version of the prophebsp;That is what vinced me, it was more than the ges she gained for herself in the middle of one of the ies there."

  "So that means..." Lorriene whispered while looking at Man and Torien. "My nieces are among Goddess Lilith's sve wives..."

  I reached over and grabbed Man's hand. "No. I found them as sves but they aren't my sves any longer. I protect them because they're my family now, not because they're my sves. And I probably don't o point this out but I'm not a Goddess yet either."

  Silva cleared her throat. "And Torien isn't Lilith's lover..."

  My brow furrowed when Torien gave her an irritated look, I'm not sure what to make of that. I'll o ask her about it soon.

  Lorriene was now mumbling to herself and her eyes were darting bad forth as she looked down at the table. Suddenly she jumped up. "Silva! We o talk to Sophin! This ges things!"

  Silva chuckled. "I know Lori, rex. We have time."

  Torien's fists ched. "How do you know my aunt anyway?"

  Lorriene looked over awkwardly and Silva nearly looked like she had been spped, caught pletely off guard by the amount of hostility in Torien's voice.

  After a moment of quiet, it was Lorriehat answered. "Silva and I traiogether and took on targets together..." She hesitated.

  "And we were once lovers before we had a falling out," Silva finished for her.

  This time it was Torien who looked like she had been spped. She stood up from her chair and quickly walked up the stairs and into the room that had bee aside for me.

  I was about to get up to follow her but Man grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. "Let her go for now. This is one of those times where she needs a little bit of space," Man said sadly.

  Silva had a frown on her fad was looking at the empty chair where Torien had sat. I sighed heavily and scratched the base of my horn. Things were deteriorating a bit.

  Saine

  Hello! It looks like Torien's retionship is looking rocky with Silva. Lilith isn't the only oh a little bit of rese left from being lied to. Lorriene finally seems vinced by Lilith's p everyone's prophecies and now the order's piece of the prophecy is making things a bit more clear. But does Lilith even want to be a goddess? Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.

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