Charlotte

 

Stretching my arms up toward the ceiling, I slowly forced myself up into a seated position… and then promptly collapsed again.

I was tired. I’d spent the entire day yesterday playing video games in Heaven. Apparently, Earth had developed a new console and Granny Liz was quick, as always, to create a personal copy for herself. Advantages of being a Goddess, I guess? No need to pay for anything when you could just use divine magic to make a perfect replica. 

Of course, I had to promise not to tell my stuck-up sis. Mikaela would probably get all over both our cases for ‘wasting’ time and magic like that - as if keeping up to date with modern Earth tech wasn’t a totally valid use of time! I mean, how was I supposed to guide Solla towards a golden age of entertainment if I didn’t even know what proper entertainment looked like?

…Not that I’d really settled on ‘guiding Solla’ as my life mission, or anything. In fact, I wasn’t really sure what I planned to do with my life. Granny Liz was more than happy to help provide information and entertainment while I figured it out, though, and I fully intended to take advantage. I also made sure to play games with her like any good granddaughter would!

Speaking of playing games with her… 

“Can we cancel my plans for today?” I asked, glancing to the side where my one and only maid was standing at attention. Way too stiffly, too, but that wasn’t anything unusual. I was pretty sure Mirafell was allergic to relaxation… which was probably for the best, since I sorta counted on her to keep me from completely losing the plot. Not at all like my twin sister, who only even let her maids dress her to give them something to do.

“There are no plans for today, your Highness,” she told me, “other than breakfast with your family.”

“Right…” Shit, that was today, wasn’t it? Well, whatever. First I’d go to breakfast, then I’d go play video games at Granny’s place! “Are my clothes ready?”

“I picked them out for you an hour ago,” Mirafell replied. Her voice was respectful as always, without a hint of judgement. Her gaze, however, was basically screaming “You lazy brat!” at me.

Thankfully, I was an expert at ignoring that sort of thing.

“Perfect! Just put them on the bed, alright? I’ll get dressed once I’m done with my next nap.”

“Breakfast is in less than fifteen minutes,” Mirafell warned me.

“So… a quick nap?” I suggested.

Mirafell didn’t reply verbally, but the look in her eyes really said it all. “You lazy bum, get out of bed before I get in trouble with your dam again!”

You’d think it would be Mama she’d be worried about - you know, the legendary brat of a Demon Queen that everyone feared and hated? But I guess you couldn’t spend as much time around her as Mirafell had without figuring out she was nothing but a big softy. Kinda like Mom, actually - though she was mostly just so nice she was impossible to dislike. Even if she was formerly ‘the Heroine,’ who all demons were trained to fear.

Dam, on the other hand? Well, let’s just say there was a reason everyone in the tower considered her the true ruler of demonkind. The Shadow Queen. The Unleashed Darkness. The True Demon of Solla. The-

“Char, are you in there?” came a familiar voice. “Because if you are, then I sure as hell hope you’re dressed.”

“Of course!” I lied through my teeth. At the same time, I started moving at top-speed, blurring to snatch the backless black top and red skirt out of Mirafell’s hands and getting dressed as quickly as I could. Thankfully, it was made of good quality fabric - arachne silk, probably? - and didn’t rip from the rough handling. 

Not that any of that saved me. When I finally finished and turned around I saw none other than my dam standing in the doorway, blonde eyebrows arched as she looked over me.

“What have I told you about lying to me?” she asked.

“To get better at it?”

The look in Dam’s eyes was not amused. Not that it was easy to tell when said eyes were pitch black without any noticeable pupils or irises or whatever, but… well, you didn’t grow up as a succubus’s daughter without learning to read her face.

“Right…” I muttered, my tail drooping as I rubbed at the back of my head. “Sorry?”

“Uh-huh…” She examined me for a moment before sighing and shaking her head. “We’ll discuss this later. For now, your other parents and I have something important to talk to you about.”

“Can’t you just tell me here?” I asked. “I mean, it’ll totally ruin the taste of breakfast if I’m worrying about what comes next.”

Dam shook her head. “We’ll talk about it when we’re all together. Before eating if you really want.”

“I mean… if the food’s right there we might as well eat and talk, right? Best of both worlds?”

Dam stared at me for a moment before shaking her head again. “You just had to inherit your mama’s gluttony, didn’t you? Just as long as you’re able to pay attention, alright?”

“I’m not a glutton!” I protested. “I just… have a very healthy appreciation of food.” Especially the salty and greasy stuff. Spicy was good, too, though! And so was sweet… nothing like a good ice cream after a hearty bit of savory meat, you know? Or something creamy after something spicy. Or something spicy after something creamy. Or something spicy and creamy…

“Aaaaand we’ve lost her,” Dam muttered, shaking her head. “I swear, you take more after your mama every day…”

Mirafell just sighed.

***

 

Sitting at the breakfast table, I tried not to drool at all the food on display. Fried eggs, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, country style potatoes, white gravy, brown gravy, ketchup, toast, jam, and so much more. Whatever we didn’t eat would be distributed to the servants, which was arguably a good reason to keep from pigging out to the fullest extent I could, but that never stopped me from absolutely stuffing my plate and face with every delectable morsel in sight.

My sister gave me a disgusted look, which I promptly ignored in favor of spreading some butter and grape jam on my toast. 

“So…” Mikaela asked after a moment, apparently having decided that it was a waste of time to glare at me, “what’s the big announcement that’s brought us all together?”

The question was directed at our parents. Mama, who sat at the head of the table started to speak, only to pause when Dam placed a hand over hers. 

“The three of us,” Dam said, narrowing her eyes at Mama, “have been talking about your future.”

Mom nodded, taking Mama’s other hand in hers. “It has to do with your birthday.”

“Okay?” I asked, glancing at Mama. She looked a little upset, but was keeping her mouth shut. “Let me guess. Mama isn’t actually all that on board with this?”

“I… am,” Mama said with a frown. “I just… disagree on the timing. You’ve only just turned twenty! Surely it can wait until you turn twenty-one?”

“You know it can’t,” Dam said, frowning right back at her. “We’ve already waited a week because you didn’t wanna spring this on them during their birthday party.”

“And I still say it’s too soon!” Mama muttered. “They’re still young!”

“They’re twenty,” Dam countered. “The same age Lucy was when you met.”

“And yet still a year younger than I was when I left the tower,” she replied. “Besides, in a year they’ll have full access to their holy and unholy magics. It’ll be safer for them then.”

“They’re literally invincible, Devilla!” Dam growled. “What the hell do you think could hurt them out there?”

“Nothing physically, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still worried about them…” She looked away as her voice trailed off.

“Maybe we should talk this over a bit more between ourselves before bringing the girls into it?” Mom suggested.

“Bring us into what?” I demanded, glancing at Mikaela. It was pretty obvious she wanted to know, too, but of course there was no way she’d barge into our parents’ conversation. Not Little Miss Perfect, no way. “You mentioned leaving the tower, right? Are you sending us on an errand or something?”

“Not… exactly,” Mama hedged, obviously still hesitant. “It’s just… Well, as you know, one’s twenty-first birthday - which is still a year away! - is rather important to a demon, and… Well… I know Mikaela in particular has intentions to take the throne once she’s old enough, but…”

“We’re kicking you out,” Dam interrupted Mama, clearly frustrated with her continued dancing around the issue.

“Temporarily!” Mama hurriedly added. “And you’ll still be free to visit for family meals! Every day, if you want to!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I interrupted, sending another glance Mikaela’s way. She’d turned white as a sheet, but of course she still wasn’t saying or even doing anything that could be viewed as disrespectful. “You’re kicking us out? Like, out of the hundred-and-first floor, or…?”

“Out of the tower,” Mom said, “but I really think that’s a bad word choice! It’s not that we’re trying to evict you or anything - it’s just that we want you to go on a journey!”

“A journey?” I asked cautiously.

“Yeah!” Mom said. “You know, like your Mama and I went on! But… maybe a bit longer? Like, until you turn twenty-one.”

“We’re worried about you,” Dam explained. “You’ve spent your entire life in the tower. The only times you step foot outside of it is when you’re taking a trip to Liz’s divine realm. And even then, you spend more time researching Earth than looking into the going-ons in our own world!”

“So what? Your solution is to just… kick us out?”

Mama looked like she wanted to protest, too, but she kept her mouth shut when Dam gave her a look. 

“We just think you need to see more of the world,” Mom explained. “I mean, I know you’ve been struggling to figure out what to do with your life. Maybe if you see more of what’s out there you’ll be able to come to a decision!”

“What about me?” Mikaela asked, speaking up at last. “I get why Charlotte needs this, she’s been adrift for as long as I can remember, but I actually know what I want!”

“I know,” Dam replied. “That’s actually part of the problem.”

The look on Mikaela’s face was priceless. Shock, dismay, horror. She was probably running through all the worst case scenarios in her mind. Which… okay, maybe it wasn't so great. Even if I did like to see her getting a shock now and then...

“What’s wrong with knowing what you want to do with you life?” I asked, since she obviously couldn’t bring herself to.

“The problem is in the certainty,” Mama explained with obvious reluctance in her voice. “Mikaela, you’ve known what you want to do with your life ever since you were a little girl. It’s admirable, in a way, and yet we worry that you decided so quickly, and dedicated yourself so thoroughly, that you’ve never even gotten the chance to explore other options.”

“But… but I don’t need to explore other options!” she protested. “I’m a Demon Princess! Becoming Queen is the obvious next step, isn’t it? That way, I can help Dam with her work!”

“I don’t need help,” Dam said firmly. “I’ve been running this place perfectly well for over twenty years now, and I can keep running it for as long as it takes. You should focus on your own wants.”

“I want to help!” Mikaela insisted. “To ease your burdens! To pay you back for all the wonderful things you’ve done for us!”

“And you can do that,” Mama said, her voice soothing. “Nobody’s taking the position away from you. If you still want it after you turn twenty-one then the job is yours.”

Dam nodded. “What she said. We just want you to see what other options are out there before you lock yourself in for life. Especially since our lives are kinda endless and all.”

Mikaela nodded reluctantly, but I could tell she wasn’t convinced. I was willing to bet her tail was curling itself around her thigh even as we spoke. She liked to squeeze shit with it when she was upset, and considering most things broke when we squeezed them… Well, let’s just say we’d know if she was squeezing the chair leg or something else instead.

I wasn’t exactly convinced either. I mean, I hadn’t figured out what I wanted in twenty-years of living. How was a single year outside the tower supposed to help? But… if it’s what my parents wanted… I mean, I could be as dutiful as Mikaela when I wanted to be.

“We’re going out disguised, right?” I asked, just to be sure. “I mean, I know the war’s over, but you can’t tell me that going out there as demon princesses is going to help anything…”

Mama nodded. “You’ll likely have to dye your hair - white is too distinctive a shade and intrinsically tied to the Demon Queen line. As for your tail, you can hide it if you wrap it around your waist… and you’ll want to avoid summoning your wings or leaning into the succubus side of your heritage.”

“Duh,” I muttered. Sprouting big red wings would obviously be a dead giveaway, while using unholy magic - or otherwise leaning into our succubus side - had a tendency to turn our eyes pitch black. Avoiding that sorta thing was so blatantly obvious I almost felt offended that she felt the need to tell me.

The worried look Mama was giving me kept me from expressing that, though. She was just being a worrywart, same as always.

“What about diplomatic incidents?” Mikaela asked. “Aren’t you worried about sending a pair of literal princesses out into the world without warning anyone?”

“That’s just another reason for you to keep your identities secret,” Dam said, firmly. “You’re unlikely to be recognized by the common folk, and it’s not like you’ll be running into dukes at random street corners. The chances of you being recognized are minimal, but it’s still better to be cautious.”

“And I’ll be sure to take care of it if tensions do spring up!” Mom added quickly. “I still have some pull as the Heroine, you know.”

“Personally, I’m against it,” Mama muttered. “But I’m also outvoted. And… well, I suppose my own trip to the human world was rather enlightening… I have to admit that it might help you figure out yourselves a bit better to live outside of the tower for a while.”

“How are we even going to survive?” Mikaela asked. “Like, where are we going to live?”

“You’re going to be passing yourself off as adventurers,” Mama explained. “Much like I tried to do. Except, in your case, the guildmaster is actually aware you’re coming and knows who you are. It should hopefully help to avoid any problems.”

“Problems like you had?” Mikaela asked, suddenly perking up. “Can you tell us about them?”

Mama hesitated. She never really liked to talk about her own trip to the human world. I think she worried that it would give us wanderlust - ironic, all considering. Still, she didn’t exactly have a reason to hold back now did she?

“The more issues you tell us about the more we can avoid on our own,” I pointed out, deciding to help Mikaela out a little. “You do want us to avoid trouble, right?”

“Well… I suppose,” Mama murmured. “Though, really, I didn’t have that many problems with the guild. Mostly I just scared people by coming in as an obvious noble… At least until your mom - the Heroine - asked me out on a date in front of the entire guild.”

“That was an accident!” Mom hurriedly told us. “I just wanted us to go out together and have fun! And, you know, maybe go on actual dates later, but I wasn’t planning to ask you in front of everyone!”

“It nearly broke my brain at the time,” Mama chuckled. “To think the Heroine of all people would ask me out on a date… But then, you were never just the Heroine, were you?”

A soft smile spread across Mama’s lips as she spoke and soon enough she was deep into stories about her time as an adventurer.

~~~

Author'sNotes

 

 

Hello, and welcome to my new series! This is a direct sequel to Demon Queened, but since it's set about 21 years down the line from the first series you shouldn't need to have read the original in order to enjoy it. It's my hope to see both new and old readers here!

This chapter originally started with a bit from Mikaela's PoV, but I scrapped it thanks to advice from my editor (FallingLeaf.) It didn't really add much? And I feel like Charlotte's portion is better at grabbing the reader's attention, and giving them something to relate to.

That said, we'll probably see content from both their perspectives as the story continues, so do look forward to getting a peak into our favorite try-hard's head~!

PS: Sorry for the lack of cover. I've got one coming, but I'm trying not to rush the artist.

PPS: Almost forgot to mention, but you can read two chapters ahead of this (and many other) series on my Patreon for as little as a dollar! The chapters haven't been edited by FallingLeaf yet, though.

 

“I can’t believe they kicked us out! Kicked me out!” Mikaela muttered for the umpteenth time. “After all the work I’ve done, all the effort I’ve put into being the perfect princess! Now they just shove me out the door?!”

“It’s not like it’s permanent,” I reminded her. “You’ll be back and running the show in no time.”

“I know that!” she snapped, glaring at me. “I just… It’s just…” She hesitated for a moment, before letting out a sigh. “It’s just a lot to take in, alright?”

“Really?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “I think it’s pretty simple. It might even be fun. You do remember what fun is, right?”

“Of course I remember what fun is!” she retorted, crossing her arms. “We just have very different definitions of it.”

“These days, maybe, but I still remember the days you’d actually join me for mischief. Back before you got a stick up your butt. Maybe you can think of this as a chance to remove it? Let go a little? Have fun?”

“Yes, because putting our lives on the line as adventurers and camping outside without a soft bed in sight is such great fun,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I mean, it’s not like we’ll actually be putting our lives on the line,” I pointed out. “We’re literally demigods. It would take an actual god just to injure us, and even then I’m not sure they could actually kill us.”

“They can,” Mikaela replied, her voice low and serious. “War between gods is rare, but not unheard of and when it happens it’s lethal. And we’re not even full fledged gods, so long as the restrictions on our powers remain…”

“You mean the restrictions that let us actually live in the mortal realm?” I countered. “Unless you want to activate the timer on getting kicked upstairs like Mama?”

Mikaela didn’t have an answer to that which meant this conversation was my victory! It was quite the rare treat~.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t do a victory dance to rub her nose in it, what with us being thousands of feet up in the air, perched atop a dragon. Speaking of said dragon, though…

“Hey, Jahara!” I called out. “How much longer are we riding you for?”

“We’ll be there in a minute!” she declared, voice booming as she craned her neck to get a good look at us. “Also, you girls have got to be the most casual dragon riders of all time… What happened to the little girls who used to whoop while I did tricks for them?”

“Yeah, well, what do you expect from us?” I asked. “We can fly faster than this under our own power now!”

“Speaking of which,” Mikaela added, “why in the world did Mama ask you to ferry us to the village? Surely it’ll draw far more attention than if we simply flew in ourselves.”

“What can I say? Your Mama’s a worrywart, and I’m the strongest servant she’s got at her disposal.”

“And yet you’re still weaker than us,” Mikaela pointed out. Which… Yeah, okay, harsh, but true.

“You don’t have to point it out,” Jahara muttered, grumbling, “but like I said, she’s a worrywart. Do you have any idea how many supplies she packed into that magical bag of yours?”

“Way more than needed?” I suggested.

“Bingo! And that’s not even including the stuff she strapped to me. Though most of that’s just supplies to trade… You might not be aware of this, but I’m actually a pretty big deal in Derrin Village! In fact, I’m the main courier of supplies and personnel!”

“I know,” Mikaela said. “Which is sort of the problem. How many people flock to you when you land? How many will see us getting off your back? Most of the people you transport are official staff members of the trading post, while we’re meant to be just a couple random adventurers. We’re not even supposed to reveal that we’re demons!”

“Which is why your Dam told me to tell you to get off a little early. Everyone will be too distracted by my arrival to notice yours.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Mikaela murmured, before nodding to herself. “As expected of Dam. Always thinking things through.”

“You mean always cleaning up after Mama’s messes,” I teased. Mikaela shot me a horrified look, which had me rolling my eyes. “Oh come on, you know it’s true. Mama’s great, but she never really thinks anything through…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mikaela declared. “Mama is… Is… Well, she’s…”

“She tries her best,” I conceded, “but she’s a mess and you know it.”

“Well… she did a good job of raising me at the very least,” Mikaela replied.

“I’m not saying she isn’t great or anything, but you do know it’s fine to admit our parents have flaws, right?”

“But… but… What if it gets back to them?” Mikaela asked, worry clear in her voice. “Dam and Mom can take the criticism, but Mama…”

“Isn’t that fragile Mikaela. …Probably…?” I mean, sure, she could be a bit… sensitive. I still remembered the look on her face that one time I’d screamed ‘I hate you’ as a teen. The utter despair. The days spent crying. The relapse into self-hatred. She’d tried to pretend that everything was normal around me, that I hadn’t stabbed her right in the heart, but we all knew what my stupid outburst had done to her.

Still… “I think it would hurt Mama a lot more to know we’re walking on egg-shells around her compared to just admitting she isn’t perfect.”

“That’s…” Mikaela hesitated. “Okay, fair, but… I just… I don’t know. I don’t want her hurt…”

“Well, it’s not like Jahara’s going to say anything,” I pointed out. “Are you?”

“Nope!” Jahara confirmed. “I prefer the boss happy and chipper! …Mostly because she always has the chef cook really salty shit when she’s upset. When she’s happy, the kitchens are full of sweet stuff like fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! So good! I didn’t even know chocolate was a thing before I met her, and now whether I get to chomp down on it is decided by her royal whims? So unfair…”

“As expected of the dragon Mama tamed through her stomach,” Mikaela declared, nodding solemnly. 

“From dangerous beast to gluttonous mount… how the mighty have fallen!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jahara grumbled. “Look, I’m going in for a landing, now, so… now or never if you wanna avoid being seen.”

I traded a look with my sister, shrugged, and - with a quick ‘bye’ to Jahara - leaped off the dragon’s back.

 

 

Flying through the air was a wonderful thing. Falling through it, on the other hand was… Well, a bit… unpleasant. And undignified. My skirt was flapping all over the damn place even as I held it down as much as I could, and my hair - currently red and carefully braided - was threatening to come apart as the wind whipped it about. So, of course, I wasted no time conjuring my wings and breaking my fall.

My sister, on the other hand, plummeted straight down while gleefully yelling at the top of her lungs, only summoning her wings after her feet had already penetrated the foliage below. That, and the tree branches she crashed through on the way down, broke her momentum enough to avoid a disastrous crash, but it was still too close of a call for my liking. If she’d actually hit the ground the resulting impact likely would have alerted the entire town to our presence.

Still, I wasn’t going to say anything - not when I could oh-so-clearly imagine her rolling her eyes and telling me what a spoilsport I was. Instead, I gracefully flew down, pushing branches aside and making room for myself as needed until I was able to gently land on the ground.

“WOOO!” Charlotte yelled. “I haven’t had fun like that in… ever, I think? Mama doesn’t usually let me divebomb the ground. I almost wish I did just faceplant into the ground to really leave an impression!”

“That’s because she takes flight seriously. Invulnerable or no, the damage we can do through reckless sky-diving is-”

“Yeah, yeah, spoilsport,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Why do I even bother?” I muttered, pressing fingertips to my forehead. I’d heard mortals could sometimes suffer from something called a ‘headache,’ and while I’d never personally experienced one… Well, if anything could possibly have given me one, it most definitely would have been my sister.

“Anyway, we should check out the supplies Mama gave us!” Charlotte exclaimed, quickly switching gears.

“...That’s actually a reasonable idea,” I replied, pleasantly surprised.

“Don’t get too excited,” Charlotte warned me. “I mostly just wanna see the weapons! And to find out what sorta snacks she packed!”

“...Of course you do,” I muttered, shaking my head. “And you dared to comment on Jahara’s gluttony… Very well. I believe she included an inventory list in the bag…” 

Saying so, I reached into the seemingly empty pouch at my side, and pulled forth a… scroll? A rather long one, too, from what I could tell. The handwriting was neat and tiny, detailing a list of everything she’d given us.

It was mostly food and clothing. Clothes for any possible occasion we might possibly run into, and every form of weather we might come across, and enough food to let a small village throw multiple feasts. At the bottom, though, there was mention of something interesting - weaponry so that we could look like proper adventurers.

“There’s apparently two daggers and two swords,” I murmured, reaching into the bag and pulling the aforementioned items out. The blades were all in sheathes, but… something about them gave me a bad feeling. “...You don’t think they’re the same ones Dam had made for Mama, do you?”

“You mean the blood sword and the unicorn dagger?” Charlotte asked, arching an eyebrow. “I hope so! But there’s two sets, right?”

“Right…” I muttered, hoping against hope that I was wrong. Alas, reality was cruel - though I was technically mistaken, it was only because Mama had apparently added a unicorn sword and blood dagger to the mix,to make two full sets.

“I call the blood blades!” Charlotte declared, immediately grabbing the aforementioned weapons. They had been forged by an orc - a species whose native wild magic allowed them to forge with any material as if it were metal. Despite the grim name, they hadn’t been made with actual blood, but rather the blood red horns of horned wolves. They were something Mama apparently had plenty of due to the adventure she’d apparently met Aunt Bailey on.

Similarly, the unicorn blades weren’t actually made of unicorn horn, but rather a material Mama referred to as ‘nacre.’ The iridescent material had been carefully scraped from countless sea shells and then forged together with diamonds in order to create proper blades. They shone like rainbows under the light.

Mama had never used either weapon, her adventures coming to a close before she ever could. Which was probably for the best, considering how eye catching they were, even without the overly dramatic names she’d given them. Yet now we were expected to wield them in battle?

As much as I hated to admit it… “Mama… You really need to start thinking things through…”

 

~~~

Author'sNotes

 

 

I'm honestly a little worried about this chapter... It feels rather transitional, and a lot of it probably only truly clicks for people who've read the original series. I have a lot more confidence in chapter 2 and 3, by comparison, and part of me wanted to skip this chapter as a result... but at the same time, while the chapter is rather transitionary in nature, I think it would be too jarring to go straight from the prologue to their arrival at the city. I did my best to make the chapter entertaining for everyone, regardless of prior knowledge, so... Hopefully I more or less succeeded? Not that I'm expecting all that many new readers.

Many thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf - he not only edited, but also come up with the title. Many thanks to the rest of you for reading, and sticking with me so long, as well!

As always you can read ahead by 2 (unedited) chapters on Patreon for as little as a dollar! You'll get to read ahead on my other series, like Naughty Magic and Heart of Fire and Fey as well, plus you get access to my Patreon! (Though you can get that as a free member as well.) Either way, I hope to see you there!

“Do you have the money?”

“Yes, I have the money!” Charlotte grumbled back at me in annoyance. “Just like I had it the last three times you asked!”

“Yes, but are you sure it’s the right money?” I pressed. “Human coinage? Not Fallens?”

“You do realize the gate here takes both, right?” Charlotte countered, crossing her arms and glaring at me.

“Yes, but not everywhere does, so it’s in our best interest to get used to things now,” I explained to her as patiently as I could. I don’t know why I bothered, though, because all I got back was another irritated glare and huff.

“Yes, I have the right coins. Three virtues.” She opened up her palm as she spoke, revealing three copper coins with stylized bursts of light stamped onto their surface. “Why do humans still use the Church’s coinage, anyway? I mean, with how much power the Church lost in the aftermath of the war, you wouldn’t think anyone would be eager to leave them in charge of minting all the money…”

“It’s not that easy to replace a universal currency,” I replied, deciding to give her an impromptu lesson. Since she’d asked, and all. “You have to realize that most countries aren’t going to easily hand anyone the right to print money. At the same time, if they all start making their own money after so long with a shared currency their economies are likely to collapse into chaos, making everyone suffer. Rulers need to know which battles to pick and leaving the Church this one bit of power was likely the least disruptive option available to them.”

“Maybe Granny Liz can just conjure up a new money system?” Charlotte suggested. “I’ll bring it up with her next time we chat.”

“Pleasedon’t. You know she’ll just leap right onto any request you give her, without any consideration for the consequences…”

“So you’re fine with the bigoted church that literally demonized our people minting all the money people use?” Charlotte asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I just think it’s better not to meddle in human affairs too much. Especially without knowing any of the complex geopolitical factors that have probably gone into why things are the way they are today!”

“So you’d rather let things just stay the way they are, without even trying to change things?” Charlotte countered. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly looking forward to being reminded of the Church that hates me everywhere I go.”

“It doesn’t hate us anymore,” I pointed out. “At least… officially. The Church has improved a lot from what it was before under Mom’s reforms, and most commoners don’t really care whose face is on the coin as long as it can be spent.” There were certainly those who held onto old beliefs, though. After Granny Liz - or rather, ‘Liz, the Goddess’ - officially ended the war between humans and demons, it caused a schism between those who wanted to cling to the old ways and those who were willing to accept the changes Granny Liz wanted to implement within her religion. There were unfortunately still a large number of people who held grudges against demons on behalf of family and friends who’d died during the war, but as time went on they’d surely become outnumbered by those at least willing to give the new state of affairs a chance.

“Uh-huh,” Charlotte muttered, crossing her arms. “Whatever you - Oooh, looks like the guard’s ready for us! Come on!”

“Wha-” I blinked, caught off guard by my sister’s sudden change in topic. I realized, suddenly, that a large gap had opened up in the line during our discussion. In fact, the people behind me seemed rather irritated… What’s more, I was belatedly realizing that we’d been talking about fairly sensitive topics in public. Thankfully, whether because they didn’t realize exactly what we were talking about or because they didn’t care, nobody seemed in a rush to question us about it.

“S-sorry,” I murmured, giving them an embarrassed nod before hurrying to meet my sister at the gate. She was currently talking to one of the guards - a blond man with an unremarkable appearance. The only notable quality about him was that he was in fact a him - we didn’t exactly have any of those in Dimona Tower. In fact, it was probably the first time my sister had ever talked to a man outside of international social obligations… not that she seemed to be paying much mind to that.

“The trip’s been going alright, yeah, but I’m mostly just looking forward to getting into town! It’s three virtues per person, right?”

“Y-yeah,” the guard stammered out. Charlotte didn’t seem to even notice the way he was looking at her cleavage. The poor man had no idea he was so far away from being a romantic option for her that his interest probably hadn’t even registered for her. “I… Uh… You know, if you’re new around here, I could… I mean, after my shift, I could-”

“Ah-hem.” The cough came from a tall, muscled woman who filled out her guard uniform far better than her male counterpart. “Dogor. Your job is to take their ID or money and let them through or not as appropriate. Not hit on them.”

“R-right,” the man - Dogor - said. “S-sorry… Uh… You can go through?”

The woman nodded, seemingly satisfied, and didn’t say anything further.

“Thanks,” Charlotte said, “but I can’t actually go through without my sister. She’s got her own coins.”

“Your s-sister?” the man asked, looking about - only to freeze when he made eye contact with me. A rather rude reaction, but I suppose the look I was giving him might have been… a touch harsh. I just had no patience for masculine flirts. “You… uh… Wow. You two look… are you twins, or something?”

“Identical ones!” Charlotte volunteered. “You can’t tell?”

“I… uh…”

“It’s probably the difference in our hair styles,” I suggested. Certainly not that the man was so focused on my sister’s chest that he hadn’t properly registered the similarity between our faces. “You keep yours in a pony tail, I keep mine in a braid - add in your tendency to slouch, the different ways we carry ourselves… you’d be surprised how it all adds up to create vastly different images.”

“Huh… I guess so? I’m more used to people just… knowing about us.”

I let out a noncommittal grunt at that before holding out my hand with the coins. The guard reached out his own trembling hand, almost dropping the coinage as I slipped it to him. If he had, the female guard would have likely caught it anyway.

She was - if I wasn’t mistaken - a valkyrie. One of the powerful, artificial guards that Granny Liz had assigned to protect this town, after it started down the route of becoming a trading hub for demonkind. It apparently held a special place in her heart as the area where Mama and Mom had first met. In other words, the place where the Demon Queen and Heroine had begun their journey towards ending the war and ushering in an era of peace.

As for why human guards were even necessary with them around… Well, let’s just say that they were a little… simplistic in nature. They could stop criminals in their tracks, but had little ability to converse or provide helpful directions to newcomers. In other words, she was the muscle, and the babbling, stammering idiot in front of us was somehow chosen as the town’s face.

“You’re having rude thoughts, aren’t you?” Charlotte accused as we walked past the guards.

“I’m having truthful thoughts that could be read as rude, if that’s what you mean.”

She stuck out her tongue at me.

“Real mature…” I murmured, rolling my eyes. “Come on. Let’s find the guild.”

“We could have asked the nice guard where to find it,” Charlotte pointed out. “He probably would have told us.”

“If he could stop staring at your tits long enough to remember,” I replied. “We can ask someone on the way. I doubt it’ll be hard to find someone who can tell us.”

“Hmmm… I guess,” Charlotte conceded, looking around. “Maybe a cute girl, this time? Seeing as how you don’t seem to have any patience for men.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I mean, aren’t you interested in them? They’re so… different from anyone in the tower!”

“You mean they’re weak, hairy, and smell bad?”

“Pretty much! The weak thing can be applied to pretty much everyone, though… And the bad smell might have more to do with sweating in the heat? Some girls can get pretty hairy, too… But he was way too angular. And flat.”

“You do like your curves,” I murmured, laughing a little to myself. “The poor man has no idea how little of a chance he had…”

“What do you mean?” Charlotte asked, tilting her head.

“Nothing,” I told her, shaking my head. I wondered how many broken hearts she’d leave in her wake over the course of our journey. “Nothing at all. Now come on. To the guild!”

Finding our way to the guild was actually pretty easy. As Mikaela had suggested, we just flagged someone down and asked. A cute girl, this time - red hair, about our age, but a little frazzled with her hair going off in every which direction. She seemed to be in a hurry, but she still gave pretty thorough directions.

As for the building itself? It was… squat, I guess? Kinda biggish? Compared to the buildings around it, at least. No two story building could compare to the marvel of magical engineering that was Dimona Tower, though, so if it was built to impress then it wasn’t doing a very good job of it so far as I was concerned.

Still, I couldn’t help the pep in my step as I walked inside and saw all the adventurers milling about. Some of them were at the job board, studying the pieces of paper that were hanging from hooks. Others were at the counter or waiting in line, all there to either take quests or show off proof of having already finished one. Yet more were milling around, likely waiting for their party members to finish some bit of business or another. In Earthen stories there was usually some sort of kitchen and bar attached, but in this guild… not so much. It was strictly guild business here.

It was also all humans. Not a demon in sight, excluding my sister and me. Not that anyone could actually tell we were demons - not so long as we kept our tails wrapped around ourselves and didn’t conjure our wings or turn our eyes black.

“Let me do the talking,” Mikaela said, taking her place in one of the lines. “You can just… do whatever, I suppose, as long as you don’t try to cause trouble.”

“Uh-huh. Because you’re such an expert at staying out of trouble,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “When’s the last time you even spoke to a commoner who didn’t work for you?”

“That’s… Are you trying to imply that I can’t talk normally to commoners?” she asked, frowning.

“No, I’m outright stating it. You speak too formally, stand all prompt and strict, basically scream highborn with your every move - the same things that got Mama in trouble when she went to the adventurer’s guild. Or have you forgotten the story she told us?”

“I have gone on trips to the lower floors with you, you know,” Mikaela pointed out. “And considering our perfect recall, I can assure you that I still know how to talk to those of lower stations.”

“Uh-huh,” I replied, rolling my eyes to show exactly what I thought of that. “Why don’t you go and show me, then? The line is moving.”

“Fine. I will,” she replied, scowling at me before moving up in the line. 

I decided to follow. Less because I was worried about her fucking it up - as much as I loved to tease her on the subject, she was actually pretty good at peopleing - and more because it was fun to mess with her. Though maybe not as much fun as hitting on some of the cute girls I saw milling about…

Eh, but the receptionists were pretty cute too, come to think of it… at least, the one we were standing in line for was. The one to her right was a burly dude, and the one to her left was a mousey looking girl - not bad looking, either, but her tits were a little small for my taste.

The receptionist in front of us, though? Red hair, green eyes, a bright smile. Though that last feature seemed to be stiffening a little as she talked to the woman right in front of us in line.

“Miss, I understand that you risked your life to fight these horned rabbits, but the request was specifically for their pelts and you shredded them. I’m afraid we really can’t pay more than-”

“Are you saying my life’s not worth more than a single silver cross?!” the adventurer demanded.

“A silver cross and five virtues to be precise,” the receptionist calmly replied. 

“The dude before me had a corpse that was mutilated to hell and back, and you paid him more!”

“The man before you was bringing back the creature’s organs. The creature looked so ragged because he bled it to death through a multitude of cuts rather than direct damage to their internal organs.”

“Yeah, well… that’s… Look, you gotta give me at least two crosses!”

“I’m afraid one cross and five virtues is the best I can do, miss,” the woman said patiently. “Unless you can find another buyer?”

“Fucking…” the adventurer trailed off, shaking her head, before letting out a groan. “Fine. Whatever. Just give me what you can…”

“Of course, miss,” the receptionist said, sliding the money across the table.

The adventurer snatched it off the counter, still grumbling under her breath as she turned around and stomped her way over to the job board.

“Our turn, next,” I pointed out before elbowing my sister. “Be nice to her, alright?”

“I’ll be polite,” Mikaela replied, rolling her own eyes, before stepping forward. “Excuse me, miss, but… could I please see the Guild Master?”

I stood there in silence for a moment before face palming. This was exactly what had happened with Mama…

~~~

Author'sNotes

To be fair to Mikaela, this is not how things went with Devilla. Devilla caused so much trouble that the guild master voluntarily came down himself. Still, it's Charlotte's right as a sister to complain about how her twin handles things... I think? I'm an only child, honestly, but I'm doing my best to write a proper sibling dynamic all the same.

Many thanks to FallingLeaf for editing, and suggesting the title. Many thanks to all of you for reading, as well! (Not to mention the likes and comments that help brighten up my day~!)

you'd like to support me - and read ahead - do please consider joining my Patreon! You can read ahead by 2 chapters on this and a few of my other series for as little as a dollar~! (They haven't been edited by FallingLeaf, I'm afraid, but only Double Trouble gets edited to begin with.)

“Excuse me, miss, but… could I please see the Guild Master?” I asked, my smile bright and my eyes focused fully on the girl in front of me. This was the proper way to greet someone, so far as I was concerned. For some reason, though, the girl didn’t seem to be quite meeting my eyes - more like looking slightly to the left of me.

“The… guild master?” she asked nervously. “May I ask if you have an appointment?”

“I believe so,” I confirmed. “At the very least, he knows we’re coming.”

“O-oh,” the secretary whispered. She seemed… relieved? “I’ll go get him then.”

“That would be lovely,” I said with my best smile… which only seemed to make the girl more nervous for some reason.

“Psst. Mikaela. Your eyes,” Charlotte whispered from behind me.

“My… eyes?” I asked, frowning. What was wrong with them? I mean, other than the fact that they were pitch black, but I always did that when greeting someone new. Leaning into my succubus side helped me detect emotions directed towards me, which was important information when deciding how to approach someone. I wouldn’t have known just how nervous I was making the girl, otherwise - or that she’d been lusting after me, for that matter. Albeit barely.

“We’re supposed to be pretending we’re human, remember?”

…Ah. Right. Humans… can’t do that, can they? I blushed, embarrassed by my mistake, and even more so by my sister being the one to point it out. She was normally the screw up, always getting into messes, and yet…

“It’s fine,” she tried to assure me. “Just turn them back to normal, alright?”

I acquiesced, the darkness receding from my eyes until my violet irises were once more on display. “Just so you know, I would have figured that out on my own… eventually.”

“Sure, Sis,” Charlotte laughed. It grated on my nerves, but there wasn’t anything I could say or do about it. Not when I’d been the one to make such an obvious mistake…

“Seriously, Sis, it’ll be fine,” Charlotte continued, still trying to put me at ease. “Everyone’s allowed a mistake or two. This just isn’t your element.”

“Not my element?” I demanded, hands going to my hips. “And what is that supposed to mean, dear Sister?”

“It means that you’re too used to being treated like a princess,” Charlotte replied, rolling her eyes. “I mean, it’s been years since you did anything fun with me.”

“That would be because we have very different ideas of fun,” I replied, rolling my own eyes right back at her. “Just because I don’t like slumming it on the lower floors, or playing video games all day when we could be studying Earth’s history or culture to learn from it, doesn’t mean I’m incapable of acting like a normal person, you know.”

“That’s what I thought too until you went and showed off your succubus eyes to the first person you talked to,” Charlotte said. “And failed to cast a privacy barrier around us. I mean, that’s just sneaking 101.”

“Yes, well, maybe I just knew you’d do it,” I muttered. “...You did cast one, didn’t you?”

“Of course!” she scoffed. “Seriously, Sis, what’s gotten into you? You’re usually on the ball.”

“I’m usually not adjusting to being kicked out of my home and forced to mingle with human peasants,” I replied.

“Right. Peasants. Is that how you think of everyone below you?” Charlotte demanded sternly, her own hands now gravitating to her hips.

“That’s… I mean… I didn’t say it was a bad thing?” I muttered back. “I just think it’s a fact that we’re above them in station and power.”

“Uh-huh,” Charlotte replied, clearly unimpressed. In fact, I got the distinct impression that I was losing this fight - at least in her mind. 

Unfortunately the secretary returned before I could figure out a way to turn things around.

Winning an argument with my sister was sweet. Too bad there weren’t any witnesses. I mean, as far as most people were concerned, we were just a couple crazy women mouthing silently at one another. Maybe some of them would pick up the fact that I’d been using magic to keep our conversation silent, but they still wouldn’t know I’d won.

Which I had, in fact, done. …Won, I mean. Even if Mikaela would never admit it in a thousand years.

Come to think of it, I’d won our last argument, too… back when we were riding Jahara. My sister must have really been out of her element to be flailing so hard in our arguments… not that I was going to let that stop me from enjoying my victories, but… Yeah, maybe I’d keep an eye on her mental well being? I mean, it would cause trouble for me if she broke down or whatever. And I was technically the older sister, which sort of made it my responsibility to play nice with her… Not that I’d ever been that great at taking care of my responsibilities.

Plus, it wasn’t as if Little Miss Perfect actually needed my help… Right?

“We’re here,” the secretary we were following told us, coming to a stop in front of a wooden door atop a flight of stairs. She knocked on the door.

“Come in!” bellowed a deep voice. “It’s unlocked.”

The secretary swung the door open, revealing the speaker - a burly looking old dude sitting behind a desk. He had no obvious muscles - either because he was a desk jockey, or because he’d gained enough supernatural strength through training that his body now struggled to get a proper workout. The latter was more common than you’d think - I mean, neither me, nor my sister, or even our parents showed a hint of muscle, and we were literally the strongest people on the planet! 

There was also someone standing behind him - a purple haired woman with blue eyes and a super friendly smile that was… actually just a tiny bit off-putting? She was staring at me like I was some sorta celebrity, despite being easily twice my age.

“Guildmaster,” the secretary said, bowing her head to the dude behind the desk. “I brought the twins, as you requested. Miss…” she trailed off, apparently realizing she’d never actually collected our names. It was a wonder the guild master had even agreed to see us, under the circumstances - unless he’d simply latched onto the fact that we were twins.

“Mikaela and Charlotte-” my sister started speaking before cutting herself off. From the way her jaw clenched halfway through her sentence, she’d probably caught herself right before saying our last name was Satanne. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Denden,” the Guildmaster replied, frowning. “And while I’d like to say the pleasure is mutual, this is honestly just one big headache your parents dropped in my lap…” 

He sighed, shaking his head before turning his attention towards the secretary. “Don’t tell anyone I said that. Or anything about our guests. Do get me Reckt, though, would you?”

“As you wish, Guild Master,” the secretary said, with obvious respect in her gaze as she bowed her head and closed the door.

“Reckt?” Mikaela asked, frowning. “May I ask who that is?”

“A guide,” Denden replied. “For the city - and, more importantly, for your rookie requests. Assuming you’re going to want to do like your parents and actually go through the proper procedures?”

“Of course,” Mikaela said, her back straightening. “If our parents followed the rules, then it only makes sense for us to follow in their footsteps.”

“Personally, I’d prefer to just take the guild cards and leave,” I confessed. “I mean, isn’t it pointless to test us when you know we’ll pass?”

“Your strength isn’t in doubt,” Denden said, frowning at me, “but what isn’t certain is if you can follow the rules of the guild and complete requests in a timely manner. I’m willing to give you a little leeway due to your circumstances and the truth is that if you demand I give you full membership… Well, not even the guild would want to make enemies of your parents.”

“That’s our parents, though,” Mikaela noted. “We haven’t done anything to deserve such accommodations.”

“Just so,” Denden confirmed with approval. “Which isn’t to say that I don’t have your full membership cards already prepared, but if you want to be a proper adventurer…”

“Then we’ll do the rookie requests?” I finished for him. “I mean, Sis seems interested enough in it for both of us, so… What do we even need to do, anyway?”

“Complete at least two requests,” the guild master informed us. “The first of which must involve gathering magic plants. The second onward can be anything you wish for, but you’ll need to gather enough money to pay for your full membership. It’s only three virtues - that’s the copper coins - to become a rookie, but you’ll need to pay an entire saint - a gold coin, equal to ten crosses, or a hundred virtues - to become a full fledged adventurer. And you’ll need to earn at least that much as a rookie adventurer before you’re allowed to pay your way forward. It’s how we ensure that only dedicated, professional types can gain full fledged memberships rather than allowing people to simply bribe their way up the ranks.”

“Of course,” Mikaela said, bowing her head a little. It might have been a pretty big deal for a princess, but it seemed to me like Sis was just behaving as she always did with authority figures. That meant she’d accepted him as one… and would probably faint at the mere idea of trying to cheat our way around his tests.

“Why not?” I shrugged. It didn’t sound that hard - hell, it might even be fun! I mean, sure, being a ‘rookie’ didn’t sound nearly as glamorous as being a full fledged adventurer, and the trials were definitely a little… dull for my tastes. You know, compared to something like beating up a dragon to prove my worth. Still, it made sense, and we weren't here to cause trouble, so… why not?

“There’s a bit more to it,” Denden warned us. “Namely, rookie adventurers have to be accompanied by full fledged members on their missions.”

“Let me guess - that Reckt person you called for?” I suggested.

Denden nodded. “They’re not our most… professional member. Or our most accomplished. Or are smartest, or our best, or… anything, really. But they’ve got a good heart, and they’ve been bugging me for a while about wanting to give back to the guild… Plus, they’re too dense to figure out what’s going on with you, no matter how badly you mess up, which I figure will be a plus.”

“We won’t let you down!” Mikaela declared, putting a hand over her heart. “I swear it.”

“Says the girl who went all dark mode earlier,” I muttered, too low for the humans to hear. More than loud enough for my sister, though, from the way her cheeks flushed bright red.

“Before they get here, though, there’s one other piece of business I’d like to attend to,” Denden continued. “An introduction of sorts. Between you and the town mayor.”

“The town mayor?” Mikaela asked, blinking. “Wouldn’t she be too busy to meet a couple random adventurers?”

“She knows who you are,” Denden said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry - she’s got your parents permission to know… which is good, since she probably would have strangled me if I didn’t tell her… She was a… friend… of one of your mothers, you see.”

“One could even say that I’m a big part of how two of your parents met,” said the purple haired woman who’d been standing in the back. Had she been waiting the entire time just to make a dramatic reveal of herself…?

“Does that mean you’re…” Mikaela frowned, no doubt thinking back through the stories we’d been told. “...I’m sorry, I have no idea who you are.”

The woman’s expression froze, but only for a moment before bouncing back. “Come on, they must have mentioned me! Lissera? The one who saved Devilla from being discovered back when she first came here? Not to mention tried to keep her safe when the Heroine randomly showed up…”

“Doesn’t that mean you did more to keep them from one another?” I pointed out.

“Uhh…” Oops. Lissera looked like she’d taken a shot to the heart, dramatically grabbing her chest. “That’s… I mean, I suppose one could look at it that way, but… are you sure your parents didn’t mention me?”

“They don’t like to talk about their adventuring days,” Mikaela said apologetically. “Though Mama did say something about a village girl taking care of her when she ran out of magic?”

“Yes!” Lissera squeed. “That was me! The village girl! …But also, seriously? Village girl?!”

“She also mentioned that you helped her with figuring out how to dye her hair,” I added.

“I did!” Lissera agreed, seeming to snap back to happiness. “In fact, one could say that I contributed quite a bit to her adventures among humans! Honestly, though, part of me thought she was going to conquer the whole world back then…”

“And you helped her anyways?!” Denden demanded before either of us could.

Lissera shrugged. “She saved my village! Everyone I ever knew… I wasn’t sure if she was evil, but honestly, I probably would have doomed the whole world in return back then…”

“And… now?” Mikaela asked.

“...Oh, hey, I think I hear someone coming up the stairs! Bet you’re excited to meet your new adventurer mentor, right?”

I stared at her.

Mikaela stared at her.

Denden stared at her.

Lissera bit her lip. “Look… your Mama’s hot, alright? Like, really really hot…”

Lucky for Lissera, a knock came on the door before any of us could reply. Unluckily for Lissera, there was no way I wasn’t going to eventually follow up on that absolutely amazing bit of drama!

 

~~~

Author's Notes

 

Many thanks to FallingLeaf for the editing! 

I wasn't entirely sure whether Mikaela's little slip up was in character, but it felt right/natural during the writing, and she really is out of her element... as Charlotte has repeatedly pointed out. She's used to specific rules of engagement that she can rely on, and right now? Not so much.

If you'd like to see what happens next, please consider supporting me on Patreon! You can read two chapters ahead for as little a a dollar - though the chapters haven't been edited yet.

 

Reckt, it turned out, was someone we knew. Kinda. She was the girl who’d been right in front of us when we were still in line to see the secretary. The one who’d mangled the pelts she was supposed to collect.

“Yo, Guild Master!” she called out even as she swung the door open. “Heard you wanted to see me?”

“You’re taking on some rookies,” Denden declared, apparently taking her casual greeting in stride.

“Wait, what?” Reckt asked, blinking. Then she noticed the two of us and a smile slid across her features. “Well, hello ladies~. Name’s Reckt. She and her - for the moment.”

“Does it change a lot?” I asked, fighting the urge to laugh. With her, of course, not at her.

“Sometimes,” Reckt answered, shrugging. “Sometimes I even shift my body to match. Most of the time I like to rock the femme look, though.”

“You’re genderfluid?” Mikaela asked, arching an eyebrow. 

“Is that the word for it?” Reckt asked back, frowning before shrugging off the idea. “Eh, why not. Let’s call it that. Anyway, are you two the smoking hot babes the ones I’ll be showing how to party?”

There was a momentary pause, during which I again tried not to laugh out loud. Mikaela, on the other hand, looked a lot less enthused, turning to the Guild Master. “Is this your idea of a joke?” she asked, her voice dangerously low. At the same time her pupils seemed to grow, overtaking her irises, and then even the whites of her eyes as her gaze turned pure black.

“Woah, Sis,” I interrupted. I wasn’t used to seeing Mikaela so angry, though I could sorta understand why she was. She didn’t like the messy, informal type at the best of times. It was part of why we clashed so often. And this wasn’t the best of times.

“He already gave us the rundown on why he chose her, remember?” I tried to remind Mikaela. “Mostly her being too dense to pick up on shit like this.”

“Shit like what?” Reckt asked, tilting her head. Thankfully, for all Mikaela’s anger, she’d taken our parents warnings about exposing ourselves seriously, and angled her face so that Reckt wouldn’t be able to see.

“Still - this?” she pressed. She was being almost… bratty. It was not the sort of thing I was used to seeing from her. “Surely you have someone more… professional to offer?”

“Hey, I can be professional!” Reckt protested. “Totally professional… if that’s what gets you going.”

Mikaela continued to stare at Denden, probably expecting him to cave before the pressure. He looked… utterly unmoved and unimpressed. Unlike Lissera, who was actually trembling a little.

“You’re not the first person with power who’s tried to boss me around,” Denden stated. “Probably the most powerful of them, but not the first. The fact is that I chose Reckt for multiple reasons, some of which I’ve already talked to you about. If that’s not good enough for you, then you can find your own veteran adventurer to go on missions with you. You’ll probably be able to pay someone to put up with you, if nothing else.”

“No need,” I interrupted before my sister could say anything. “Sorry, Mikaela’s usually not this quick to throw around her weight… She’s just in a bad mood right now.”

Mikaela scowled, but didn’t say anything. She knew I was right. Sure, Reckt hadn’t shown any real redeeming qualities so far, but that didn’t mean Mikaela had the right to throw a tantrum or act like a brat.

“Why don’t we go pick out quests together?” I suggested. “It’s gotta be gathering based, but it’s pretty much open other than that, right?”

“That’s right,” Denden said. “Though I’d recommend going for one of the lower paying ones. Most of the high paying shit is either hard for beginners to identify or in dangerous places and I don’t want you leading Reckt anywhere she won’t survive.”

“Hey!” Reckt protested. “I can totally handle anything a couple of newbie nobles can!” 

“Sure,” Denden replied. “Just stick to the lower paying stuff, alright? At least for your first job.”

“For our first job, I suppose,” Mikaela conceded. “Though I can’t promise after that. We need to earn a full saint before we’re allowed to call ourselves full-fledged adventures, right?”

“That’s right,” Denden agreed. “It also costs five virtues to register, but your parents paid the fee for you when they contacted me. They figured it would be better if I had everything ready for you, I suppose, which is why all I really need is your thumbprints on the cards.”

Saying so, Denden opened his drawer and pulled out two small rectangular bits of paper. One had my name, the other Mikaela’s, alongside a physical description of us - red hair, violet eyes - and our height, five foot five. He then took out an ink well, which he had us dip our thumbs into, before using magic to get rid of the excess ink on our hands and press our wetted thumb prints against the papers. Then we had to do the same thing for an identical set of papers that he’d be keeping on file and we were done.

We were officially adventurers!

 

We were officially rookie adventurers. I suppose I should have been pleased, but all I really wanted to do was scowl. Scowl at Reckt for the vapid grin on her face as she led her down the stairs, and at Charlotte for the matching smile on her own face as she let excitement sweep her away, and even at myself for… for being such a grumpy bitch, I suppose.

I knew I was in the wrong. I knew it. Trying to intimidate Denden with my status was shameful behavior for a princess and I knew better. I was just… out of sorts, I suppose. Away from home, forced to work together with my sister, and now saddled with a ridiculously horny individual who seemed to think we existed to be flirted with.

In fact, she seemed to think every girl existed to be flirted with, judging by the winks she shot at every girl we passed, sometimes accompanied by a name as she tried to get close to them. Inevitably she struck out every single time, three times just on the way to the job board, but it didn’t seem to faze her..

“Why don’t we try something simple?” Reckt suggested. “Limberbeans are in season - they go for a lot as potion material. They’re visually pretty similar to wild stringbeans, but the pods are way more flexible so you can generally tell them apart by touch.”

“That’s… actually a rather convincing pitch,” I remarked, pleasantly surprised. Perhaps Denden hadn’t foisted a clown upon us after all?

“Plus, we can replenish my personal supply this way! I always like to have some limber potions on me - you know, in case I get lucky?”

…Perhaps I was being too optimistic.

“You know, I don’t really care if your mind is focused on nothing but sex, but I’d appreciate it if you’d at least stop hitting on me long enough to get to know me,” I remarked.

“I’d probably do you,” Charlotte volunteered, “but maybe after we finish the first mission?”

“Bwuh?” Reckt blinked at her in shock, pointing at her chest and mouthing, ‘Me?’

“Yes, you,” I replied on Charlotte’s behalf, rolling my eyes. “Don’t get too excited, though - my sister will sleep with anything that moves.”

“Nah,” Charlotte disagreed, “just girls that move. And that one girl who didn’t move, but that was just… boring, honestly. She just laid there and did nothing the entire time like a dead fish…”

“I’m not a girl, though?” Reckt protested. “I mean, sometimes I feel like a girl, I guess? And sometimes I feel like a guy… but I’d really rather not call myself either, honestly. I’m just me. Sometimes a she, sometimes a he, but always a me.”

“Sure, but you look femme and that’s good enough for a casual hookup as far as I’m concerned. …That said, if you’re going to ask me to call you anything masculine during sex, I’m out.”

“Deal!” Reckt said excitedly, grinning like she’d just won the lottery. An almost guaranteed win from what I understood. Not that demons in general were all that hung up on sex, or modesty, but we were princesses for goodness sake! Our every move was carefully observed, our every interaction picked apart by drama-hungry bloodliners ambitious to rise above their current stations. Sex might not have any strong meaning to it, but who we slept with still mattered.

Not that Charlotte ever took that side of things seriously…

“So, we set on the limberbeans?” Reckt asked. “‘Cause we can get that done in a total jiffy, and then get back here for the sex. Assuming you’re serious about the sex… You are serious, right?”

“I’m always serious about sex,” Charlotte replied with an easy grin. “But are we sure we wanna go with those? The paper up there says you only get three virtues for every ten you pick.”

“They grow in pretty big patches,” Reckt tried to assure her, “and it’s not like you need to earn your membership in just two missions, you know? I took, like, twenty.”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know… Can’t we go after something more exciting? Like wolfberries - there’s a request for those, too, right?”

“From a restaurant,” I confirmed, eyeing the posted paper that had caught Charlotte’s attention. “It looks like the limberbeans are a request from the guild itself.”

“Everything at the very top of the board is a standing request,” Reckt explained. “You know, stuff that’s always in demand, that the guild’s always willing to pay for. It’s mostly gathering requests, though some guild halls also put up routine requests for monster extermination. Usually it’s weak pests that are way too quick at repopulating like Green Monkeys.”

“Have you been to other guilds?” I asked, curious despite myself.

“No,” Reckt said, not quite meeting my eyes. “Not… I mean… I’ve just heard things, alright?”

“Alright,” I murmured, surprised by her evasiveness. It was suspicious, obviously, but she was free to have her secrets. Charlotte and I certainly did.

“So… Is that a yes or a no on the wolfberries?” Charlotte asked, no doubt trying to change the subject.

“I mean, they sorta only grow near wolf dens,” Reckt said. “Think it’s something about their shit, or something? Either way, kinda dangerous for a mission worth… Five virtues per berry?!”

“It looks like the requestor is… Hunger’s Bane? What sort of name is that?” Charlotte asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

“It’s probably the name of a restaurant or something. I’d assume they want the berries for culinary reasons.”

“It’s a fancy schmancy place not too far from here,” Reckt volunteered. “One I wouldn’t mind taking you ladies to… if I could afford it…”

“If we do the request, maybe you can,” Charlotte pointed out. “Though I don’t think Mikaela would agree to going out with you.”

“I’m not interested in being wooed alongside my sister,” I confirmed. “And I have no interest in bedding you, either. That said, I am curious about these berries - do they have any magical properties?”

“Not that I know of,” Reckt replied, frowning. “I hear they taste pretty good, though?”

“Then perhaps we can purchase whatever dish makes use of them,” I suggested. “After we complete the mission, of course.”

“Uh… don’t I get a say in this?” Reckt asked. “I am supposed to be the veteran adventurer here.”

“You know, treating my sister to a meal is probably the best way to get into her pants,” I remarked.

“Hey! Don’t use me as leverage!” Charlotte protested.

“Yeah! She already agreed to sleep with me! And why are you so determined to take this request, anyways?”

“I’m simply curious about the local cuisine,” I replied. I wasn’t a glutton like my sister, of course, but I did consider myself something of a gourmet. I liked to try new foods - to taste flavors that I’d never experienced before. A new ingredient was very appealing to me.

Besides, the quicker we earned a saint, the quicker we could be rid of our ‘guide’…

“How about this - if you agree to take this request, then I’ll agree to pay for my sister’s share of food at the restaurant when she inevitably drags you there.”

“I can pay for my own date!” Reckt said in a huff, crossing her arms. “I mean, yeah, it’s… sort of expensive, and I wasn’t really planning on taking her there, but… how much could she eat, anyways?”

“The whole menu,” Charlotte replied immediately.

“...The… The whole menu?” 

“I mean, I’ve gotta know what everything tastes like, right?” Charlotte said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

…Not that I could blame her when I fully intended to do the same thing.

“ …But you’ll sleep with me even if I don’t take you there, right?”

“I mean, I’m going to wanna go there,” she replied. “Though I guess you don’t have to come? Kind of a shame though - gotta admit, nothing makes me wanna work off energy in bed like a good meal.”

“…Fine. But if I die before I get to have sex with you, I’m totally going to haunt and stare at your ass!”

 

~~~

Author's Notes

 

 

I initially tried writing part one from Mikaela's PoV, but it just... didn't work out. Kept running into writer's block. Somehow, even though Mikaela was the main actor, it came out better when I shifted to Charlotte... Oh well. Hope the end result is good?

I wasn't expecting sex to be a Thing this early in the series, but I guess I shouldn't be that surprised... Charlotte's pretty casual with it. (We'll see if it actually goes anywhere, and how many chapters it takes to get there, I guess.)

Many thanks to FallingLeaf for editing, and for suggesting the title! Also, apologies for those waiting on my other series to update - I've been doing a little work on my stray cat strut fanfic, and of course I haven't forgotten about Naughty Magic, but... Depression has been bad, and getting one story out every week has been about all I can manage, I'm afraid. DX Sorry, but there will be more of my other stories when I can manage it.

In the meantime, if you're interested in supporting me (or just reading a couple chapters ahead) do please feel free to join my Patreon~! For as little as a dollar, you can read two (unedited) chapters ahead on Double Trouble, and a few of my other series. You'll also get access to my discord, where I post all my pictures of Autumn! (The true reason to join, obviously. Though the post with the invitation is also available to free members.)

“Something’s bugging me,” I muttered, sliding closer to Mikaela and putting up an audio-shield to keep our words from reaching Reckt.

“You mean the unnatural silence?” Mikaela asked, glancing around. We were walking through the woods, a good distance away from the beaten track, towards the area the guild secretary had directed us towards. In theory, that was where the wolves lived - alongside a bunch of other stuff, like birds and insects and the like, which should have been making noise. They weren’t.

That wasn’t what was bugging me, though, so I shook my head.

“The spiderwebs, then?” Mikaela guessed, next. “I have noticed an abundance of them… It’s possible some arachnid monsters have moved in since the guild last sent someone here.”

“Not that, either,” I replied, rolling my eyes. I mean, yeah, she was right - I must have blasted my way through a dozen spiderwebs in the last five minutes, and that was with Reckt barreling face first into a bunch of them ahead of us. It was bad and it probably meant something.

Again, though, it wasn’t what was bugging me.

“It’s about Reckt,” I explained. “I think… I think I might know her from somewhere?”

“Know her?” Mikaela asked. The look on her face had ‘How stupid are you?’ written all over it. “I know you get around more than me, but this is our first time outside the tower aside from matters of international diplomacy. You can’t possibly expect me to believe you saw her at some banquet?”

“No,” I conceded, “but there is one other event I leave the tower for…”

“You mean the dragon festival?” Mikaela asked.

I nodded. “I think I might have seen her there before… though I can’t exactly recall when.”

“Even with perfect recall?” Mikaela asked incredulously.

I shrugged. “I think it was a long time ago. Like… when I was a kid long ago. Maybe. It’s less like I know her, and more like this niggling bit of my brain insisting that I should recognize her.”

“Well, it’s not like you’ve ever exposed your identity at the festival, right?” Mikaela asked. “You and Mama only ever go there to stuff your faces, after all.”

I nodded. That much was true. The Dragon Festival at Gour was a massive collection of culinary delights that claimed to be able to satisfy even a dragon’s hunger. Accurately, too, considering Jahara was a frequent visitor. Not that the public actually knew that. In fact, the one and only time she’d ever shown up in her dragon form it had led to a big fight with Mama that ended in Jahara becoming a willing minion.

Partially because Mama kicked her ass, but mostly because the stuff our chefs could cook was way better than most of what you could get at the festival. Which you’d think would sorta put a damper on attending said festival, but at the same time the festival had something the tower sorely lacked - variety.

Chefs from all over the country would attend Gour’s festival. Even some people from outside of it! Every year, they’d bring out types of food, ingredients, and even cooking styles I’d never come across before. Stuff Mama and I would sample, and - when possible - steal for ourselves, so that we could enrich the food culture of the tower.

…And, y’know, eat lots of good food! Quantity was a quality all of its own, after all!

“You’re getting distracted thinking about the food, aren’t you?” Mikaela accused.

“Yup! But what about you? You used to go to the festival with me and Mama, too, until you got all busy helping out Dam with stuff. Are you telling me Reckt isn’t even the tiniest bit recognizable to you?”

Mikaela didn’t respond at first, choosing to study Reckt - who was currently trying to spit a strand of spidersilk out of her mouth. “I can’t say that I recognize her,” she admitted after a moment, “but there is just a trace of… familiarity there, I suppose…”

“So she’s someone we’ve both met?” I asked, frowning. “That… doesn’t narrow it down as much as I’d like, but… It’s gotta be someone we both met at the festival then, right?”

“Maybe…” Mikaela hedged, “or she just looks vaguely like an acquaintance of mine. We can’t rule out the possibility of our familiarity coming from different places.”

“I guess so,” I conceded with a shrug. “Not that it really matters. All sorts of people go to the festival, after all…”

“Then why even bring it up?” Mikaela asked, side-eying me.

“Because if she was someone we knew, then that would mean our identities have been totally spoiled?” I pointed out.

“You really think Reckt of all people would be able to recognize us as princesses?” Mikaela snorted. “The girl still hasn’t even figured out that we’re about to be facing a spider monster, unless I’ve missed my guess.”

“...Oh… yeah… We should probably tell her that, huh?” I muttered, mostly to myself.

Unfortunately, when I glanced back at where Reckt had been, it was only to find that she’d already disappeared.

Charlotte cursed under her breath, racing towards where Reckt had been a moment before. I didn’t waste the breath to begin with, and as such reached our mutual destination a step or two before my sister. Not that it did me any good when all I could do was stare up into the canopy into which Reckt had apparently been pulled. 

There was webbing in the trees, I realized - more than just the strands we’d wandered into. Rather, the nearly-invisible threads were being used to bind the branches together, creating a canopy capable of carrying quite a bit of weight.

A simple push off the ground was enough for me to test that hypothesis - leaping into the air, and pressing my hands against the branches, I assessed their tensile strength and was surprised to find that they held against me, refusing to allow exit from the forest. Not that I couldn’t have forced my way through it if I tried, but… Well, suffice it to say that the average beast of the forest would find themselves trapped in this section of the woods if they took flight. Blocked by branches and tangled in webbing far stronger than what we’d run onto in the ground. Stickier, too - in fact, it was actually keeping me from falling back to the ground.

“You find anything up there?” Charlotte called up. “Or are you just stuck?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” I called back, frowning. In truth, I was actually caught up in something of a sticky situation… I lacked the leverage or the thrust to easily break myself away from the webbing.

Still, it wasn’t so dire as to require my sister’s assistance. A bit of carefully applied heat did… annoying little, actually. I had expected the webbing to ignite, but perhaps it was best that spider silk wasn’t so flammable, considering my own clothes were made of a similar substance…

It wasn’t as if it was impossible to burn, though. One simply had to up the heat while carefully keeping it constrained to the webbing itself, until at last a flash of fire spread across my body and cleared the webbing from the branches and the trees, allowing me to drop down to the ground. Thanks to my excellent control, I didn’t even singe my clothing, let alone the branches that had helped suspend me.

It did, however, leave a rather large hole in the web. One that its owner wasn’t that happy about, judging by the clicking and hissing I could suddenly hear all around us.

“Do you think they think we’re scared?” I whispered to my sister, a small smile on my face.

“If they think at all,” Charlotte said with a laugh. “Do you think they’ll do a straight forward attack? I’m sorta itching for a fight.”

“They’ll try trickery first,” I warned, pointing to a spot in front of us. Now that I was taking time to actually look for the webbing, I could see it under the leaves ahead of us, connected by slim, but likely surprisingly strong, threads to the trees above. Netting.

“Boo… What are we gonna do if Reckt gets eaten while we’re busy trying to slip our way through traps?”

“Apologize to the guild master, I suppose?”

My suggestion earned me a withering stare.

“What? I don’t like her. It’s also not as if she’s one of my people…” I grumbled, even as I began to spread my magic out. I didn’t try to saturate the forest around me, considering it a waste of magic, and more warning than our would-be predators deserved, besides. Instead, I spread a thin film of magic out about me, searching for anything vaguely human-shaped.

It was true that Reckt wasn’t one of my people - one of the demons I was meant to lead. It was also true that I didn’t like her and that finding her would, in all likelihood, only lead to more annoyances down the road. Even receiving her thanks was likely to be little more than an irritation for me, especially when it was undoubtedly followed by new attempts to get into my sister’s pants…

Still, we’d been the one to push for entering this dangerous place. One could argue that we had a responsibility to her as a result. One would be wrong, in my opinion, as Reckt was supposed to be the veteran adventurer here, and therefore should have known her own capabilities… but still, I’d feel at least a little tiny bit guilty if she were to die when we could have saved her.

“This way,” I said, pointing to the left. “I can’t find Reckt directly, but I did spot quite a number of cocoons. If Reckt isn’t already there, then it’s a fair bet that she’s on the way.”

“Does that mean it’s time to kick some spider ass?” Charlotte asked, punching one hand with the other. 

“After we discuss plans,” I insisted.

“Why plan when we can just kick ass?” Charlotte asked, frowning.

“Because being seen kicking ass is going to get us found out,” I replied, frowning in turn. “Even Reckt isn’t oblivious enough not to question it if we simply punch our way through this problem.”

“So you’d rather risk her dying?” Charlotte demanded. “Just to keep our secret?”

“I don’t think you understand what sort of international incident could come about if it’s revealed a pair of demon princesses have been unleashed to wander about the various kingdoms. In the worst case, it could be seen as an act of war. How many people will die then?”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure hypothetical future deaths don’t match up to a definite one right now!” Charlotte countered. “If Reckt dies because we’re too busy hiding our strength, what then? What if it’s not Reckt next time? What if it’s a kid, or a building full of people, or… I don’t know… A really cute looking rabbit?”

“A…” I pressed fingers against my forehead, kneading the skin in an attempt to keep a headache from forming. Even though I couldn’t even get headaches to begin with… in theory. “A… rabbit. You think a rabbit is worth inciting war?”

“I think Reckt is worth maybe taking a risk for, if it keeps her out of the afterlife! Just because she’d probably enjoy it up there doesn’t mean I wanna be the one responsible for sending her, you know!”

“You won’t be. You can blame me, if it comes down to it, but I won’t have us ruining our parents’ plans for us this early,just because you wanted to save some idiot who’s only thought is about getting in your pants.”

“And what’s wrong with wanting to get in my pants?” Charlotte demanded. “They’re really nice pants! …You know, metaphorically speaking. Since I’m not actually wearing any.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it. I just… I think you don’t put enough thoughts into what your promiscuousness can lead to. The ideas it can put in people’s heads…”

“We’re demons, sis,” Charlotte replied, rolling her eyes. “A game of fucking Monoptopolly is more of a commitment than sleeping with someone.”

“Normally, yes,” I conceded. “But you should know there are people out there who will take any opportunity to get ahead. The mere fact that you chose someone to take to bed with you might not need much, but what about when they start talking to their friends? When they claim to have your favor and use it as leverage to get things they want from others, promising to whisper sweet nothings in your ear in return for a favor or two?”

“...Who hurt you, Sis?” Charlotte asked seriously, looking like she was ready to rip someone’s head off.

“It’s… just a hypothetical,” I murmured, unable to meet my sister’s eyes.

“Uh-huh… Well, it sounds like your big sister’s going to have some hypothetical ass to kick the next time we get home…”

“Just because you came out first hardly means you can claim to be the older sister!” I protested. “We’re talking a matter of hours, if not minutes!”

“Minutes before you, you mean,” she teased, sticking her tongue out at me. “Now come on. First we save my lay, then we beat up yours.”

“I never… actually laid with any of them,” I muttered, softly enough I wasn’t sure if even my sister could hear. In truth, I hoped she couldn’t. Admitting to my virginity felt almost… shameful, even if I knew Mama had been the same way until she turned twenty-one.

Charlotte didn’t seem to notice or care, though, too busy stomping into the woods. In a random direction.

“It’s this way, Charlotte,” I reminded her, hurrying forward to grab her arm. “How did you get it wrong when I literally just pointed it out to you?”

“Guess I’m just lost without you, Sis,” she replied, laughing like it was all some joke to her.

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore how good it made me feel for her to rely upon me. “Come on, then. For the sake of your potentially good lay.”

~~~

Author's Notes

New cover? New cover! Many thanks to my friend Lulla for the art!

I wasn't really sure how to feel about this chapter when I wrote it... At first I worried it was going to be too short, so I tried to add more - but then I worried it was too drawn out? I like it a bit more looking back on it, though - hopefully because the depression goggles are off, and not because I'm looking at it through rose tinted glasses.

Many thanks to FallingLeaf in either case, for both editing the chapter and suggesting the title.

If you'd like to support me - or just read ahead - I do hope you'll consider joining my Patreon! You can read two (admittedly unedited) chapters ahead for this and a few of my other series for as little as a dollar!

I ducked under a bit of webbing, privately wondering whether it was even worth avoiding the sticky strands anymore. They were literally everywhere at this point, and I was seriously considering the benefits of a small forest fire. Mikaela would probably shut me down if I brought it up, though. Too much chance of us losing control over it and all that… not that it would be difficult for us to put it out, but I guess there was something to be said for not burning a patch of the forest down to ash just because we got impatient.

Instead, I ducked down and placed my hands upon the earth, sending my magic pouring through my palms and into the ground. In response, the earth surged upwards, covering my hands in loose dirt and rock, which I then superheated to form a molten shell around my hands.

“Hey, Sis! Look! Lava gloves!”

Mikaela pursed her lips. She didn’t look particularly amused by my antics, but she didn’t protest, either - not even when I punched straight through the center of another web, melting my way through the filament without issue. It probably should have made the web catch on fire, too, but I was being very careful to keep the heat of my gloves contained. You’d basically have to be giving me a high five if you wanted to feel the heat.

“I’m surprised you didn’t cover the rest of yourself in lava, too,” Mikaela remarked, after I punched through another web. “I can’t say I recommend it, of course, but it would allow you to walk through the spiderwebs without issue.”

“It would be a cool look,” I admitted, “but I kinda like my outfit, so… Maybe next time!”

It was pretty basic clothing - a green top that showed off my cleavage, a red skirt that showed off most of my legs, and a pair of white thigh highs that would have matched my hair if I hadn’t dyed it red. The materials were nice, though, and the arachne silk felt good on my skin. Molten rock probably wouldn’t.

“The spiders are getting agitated,” Mikaela remarked, no doubt in response to all the hissing and clicks we were hearing.

“You know, they’re pretty talkative for spiders,” I remarked. “I didn’t know they even had vocal cords, or whatever?”

“They don’t,” Mikaela replied, rolling her eyes at me.

…Well, I assume she was rolling her eyes, anyway. I was a little too busy punching my way through spiderwebs and towards Reckt to turn around and check. 

“They use something called striation - they’re rubbing their body parts together to make noises, essentially. It’s not uncommon among tarantulas, goliath bird eaters, and the like - the bigger spiders, in other words.”

“Hence why we’re hearing it from the super-sized monster variety?” I guessed. “Well, whatever. They can make all the noise they want - won’t stop me from kicking their - whoops!”

A ball of webbing came from the left, even as I punched forward to clear a spider web. Rather than trying to get out of the way, though, I just sped up my punch and followed through, smacking the ball midflight and spinning around before making a victory sign. 

“Ha! Did you see that?”

“Yes, I saw it,” Mikaela said, the exasperation coming clearly through her voice. “And experienced it…”

I turned, surprised to find that Mikaela had been caught in a bit of webbing. Not that it lingered long on her - a bit of focus, and the strands caught fire before falling away, without leaving so much as a strand behind. All without even singing her clothing… I hated to admit it, but Sis was even better at controlling heat and magic than I was.

I was better at flashier techniques, though, which is why when another ball of silk came flying towards her from the side I shot the lava off my hand, creating a burning fist that struck the webbing mid-flight and burned it to bits, before rapidly cooling down and plopping to the earth as a mix of ash, glass, and stone.

At the same time, I felt a trickle of ash fall down atop of me, all that was left of a silk ball thrown my way.

I shot Sis a grin in thanks, but she didn’t say anything, just grabbing the solidified fist from the ground and tossing it my way. It was molten again before it even made contact with my hand, sliding over my fingers and reforming my trusty gauntlet.

“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t been using your weapon, instead,” Mikaela remarked. “You seemed so eager to use the ‘bloody’ set.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s more for showing off to normal people,” I admitted. “I’m saving the truly cool shenanigans for when we’re alone, like now. Unless you’d rather I coat my bloody blades with flame and stuff?”

“And make yourself look like a vengeful demon from hell?” Mikaela asked, arching an eyebrow. “No, I think our parents are struggling with demonic PR enough without you actively making things worse…”

“Oh, come on, live a little! What’s wrong with looking a little demonic when we’re passing as humans, anyway?”

Mikaela didn’t respond verbally. She just rolled her eyes and marched forward towards the cocoons she’d sensed in the distance.

I rolled my eyes right back at her - not that she saw - and chased after, the both of us burning through webs and the occasional direct attack from the increasingly agitated spiders.

Then, suddenly, the trees gave way to a clearing and the forest went quiet.

“…Am I the only one suffering a suddenly terrible premonition?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.

“Nope,” Charlotte replied, putting a little extra emphasis on the ‘p.’ “This whole setup basically screams boss fight. I mean, come on, there’s even an arena!”

It was true… for a certain definition of ‘arena,’ at least. We’d broken into the center of a clearing, a place without trees or standing webs. Instead, the ground itself was absolutely littered with webbing, sticky strands that would have clung to our feet if we weren’t actively burning it away. Charlotte had even turned her glowing hot gauntlets into molten sabatons.

“The cocoons are on the other side of the clearing,” I remarked, eyeing them. More specifically, there were five cocoons hanging from trees. Three of them looked big enough to contain a person, while the last two were about the size of a basketball. “What are the chances that our arachnid hosts will allow us to retrieve them without a fight?”

“Low,” Charlotte blithely replied. She didn’t sound particularly upset about it. “Wanna walk into the center and see what they throw at us?”

“Not particularly,” I confessed, shaking my head. “I will, of course - don’t get me wrong - but frankly, the mere idea of walking through such an obvious trap is… distasteful, I suppose?”

“‘Distasteful,’ she says.” Charlotte snickered. “Anyone else would be shaking in their boots right about now.”

“Not our parents,” I pointed out. “They’d handle this with ease. Probably suss out the exact nature of the trap while they were at it…”

That was the thing, though - I still didn’t know what the trap was. All the spiders I could sense were keeping their distance from us, staying a respectable distance from the tree line. Watching, waiting, but not approaching. It was quite unnerving even knowing that we could handle whatever they threw at us.

Still, there was little reason to think standing around would solve anything. Without a way to disarm their trap, I’d simply have to walk towards the center and spring it.

Sighing, I prepared to do just that, only to pause as the ground began to tremble. 

“Did you feel-” I was cut off and thrown through the air as something thick, long, and hairy burst from the ground under my feet. I think it intended to impale me, and it might have impaled something had I not squeezed my thighs together at the last second. An unpleasant thought to say the least, considering the thing that had just tried to force its way up my skirt was nothing less than a massive, hairy spider leg.

“Well that was rude,” I muttered even as Charlotte laughed.

“I can’t believe you almost got impaled by a giant spider!”

“I did not!” I protested, my cheeks tinged a light red. “And it wouldn’t be a laughing matter if I had been!”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Charlotte agreed, her voice uncharacteristically serious for a moment, “...but it didn’t, so ahaha!”

I cursed under my breath, wondering what I’d done to deserve such a fool of a sister. A sister who, to my surprise, managed to jump a little to the side in time to avoid another leg coming from the ground.

“Just pour your magic into the ground beneath us!” Charlotte told me. “It should make it pretty clear when it’ll attack!”

I didn’t reply, too annoyed with my sister’s wicked idea of ‘humor’ to compliment her on the idea. Still, I did as she suggested, pouring magic into the earth beneath our feet. It didn’t take long to find the source of these attacks - a massive spider, buried under several feet of rock and earth, thrusting its legs up into the air in an attempt to take us down.

How long had it been there, I wondered? Was it new to the area? Or had it merely been slumbering for an untold number of years, allowing its prey to move in and become content in their safety before finally awakening and springing its trap?

I didn’t know nor did I particularly care. What mattered was exterminating the pest. To that end, I decided to take advantage of the fact that I had already poured my magic into the earth and began to heat it up.

The spider screamed. A sound that might have sounded almost human, had it not been so feral. While the other spiders had made their sounds through striation, I couldn’t help but wonder if this one actually did have vocal cords, somehow… One could never tell with monsters. Not when it was their magical mutations that made them monsters to begin with.

Regardless, the creature apparently didn’t appreciate its burrow being turned into an oven. The ground beneath our feet trembled again, fissures opening up in the dirt as the creature heaved, attempting to break free.

Charlotte didn’t let it. I could feel her magic mingling with mine, pulling the earth back together even as I heated it, trapping the monster underground even as it screamed. Leaving the upper layers to my sister I burrowed my magic in deeper, focusing on the ceiling of the burrow and raising the heat faster. With my magic now condensed to a smaller - if still rather massive - surface area, the dirt began to glow red. It was slower than my sister’s attempts to make gauntlets, due to the sheer amount I was heating, and as such I could sense the change in the ground around us. The burning of organics as they were flash fried to ash. The minerals breaking down as they began to glow with heat. I idly wondered if the burrow would be left entirely glassed afterwards.

The spider was panicking now. Digging down from what I could tell, trying to avoid the heat. I didn’t let it, instead leaving the dirt I’d already modified to cool on its own, knowing Charlotte would work to contain the heat, and moving my attention to the dirt and rock beneath the creature’s feet. Another scream tore from it as its legs began to burn, its hairs turning to cinders, its exoskeleton cracking. I could sense it through my magic. It was dying. An unpleasant, even cruel, death… but that’s what it got for trying to put a spear me right between the legs!

“Remind me not to piss you off, Sis,” Charlotte muttered, shaking her head. “Ready to finish this thing off?”

“I suppose it is time,” I confirmed, drawing my attention away from the creature and back towards the earth I controlled. A snap of my fingers, and the earth beneath its feet began to rise, even as the earth above it came down. The earth shook as the two forces met and the rather unfortunate monster was squashed between them.

“Come on,” I said once it was done. “Lets fetch Reckt and get out of here. We still need to find those berries.”

“Can’t bear to think of yourself failing, huh?” Charlotte teased. “You know, I’m pretty sure the guild would be understanding, considering the spider monster problem…”

“What problem? The big monster’s taken care of and the others are all scattering in fear. I refuse to fail my first request just because some stupid spider monsters decided to claim wolf territory.”

“Sure, Sis,” Charlotte laughed, moving to one of the human sized cocoons. The only one whose contents were alive, excluding the basketball sized ones which we’d need to check out in a bit.

She tore through the silk with a smile, revealing the figure within, but that smile faltered when she saw the state Reckt was in.

She was fine, mind you. Not a scratch on her. Her eyes were red from tears, though, her face was covered in snot, and her pants had a wet spot. When the silk was torn open she screamed, “Don’t eat me!” and began to sob again, not even recognizing who’d come to get her.

She’d been scared, I realized. Obviously. Who wouldn’t be in the face of monstrous spiders? Captured, alone, no way to struggle and only death awaiting her… 

All while we joked with one another, bursting through webs without issue, knowing that nothing in this world could even scratch us…

From the look in my sister’s eyes Charlotte must have been going through some similar thoughts. There was guilt in her gaze when it met mine. Guilt and uncertainty, but also a glimmer of something else. Something I wasn’t used to seeing in my sister’s eyes. Resolve.

Something told me that the next time someone was in danger she wouldn’t be so content to play around...

~~~

Author's Notes

You know, I actually kinda like spiders... makes me feel a bit bad for that giant one. Or anyone else who pisses of Mikaela real bad, for that matter...

I was originally going to have the discovery of Reckt be from Charlotte's PoV, but somehow it didn't work out that way... Oh well. Writing is always an adventure like that! At least for me... never know exactly where it'll take you, no matter how much you plan in advance... and trying to make it conform to those plans only leads to a worse product, so... Shrugs.

Many thanks to FallingLeaf, who worked hard to edit this chapter directly after chapter 5. Chapter 7 and 8 are still awaiting editing, I fear, but if you're curious what comes next you can read the rough drafts over on my Patreon. You'll also get advanced access to my other series, such as Naughty Magic (and a couple others I'm behind on) and you'll get added to my discord! (Alternatively, you can join my server as a free member and look through the free posts to find the link. Paid membership isn't strictly needed, but is appreciated as it helps me support myself.)

It took a few seconds for Reckt to open her eyes and realize she wasn’t about to be eaten. When she did, her first reaction was to launch herself at me and Mikaela, arms flung out wide. Mikaela looked like she wanted to sidestep, but I grabbed the sleeve of her shirt to hold her in place as Reckt threw her arms around our necks. Mikaela could have pulled free, the cloth obviously wasn’t strong enough to hold out if the both of us put our all into it, but she didn’t so she must have felt at least a little guilty. She just stood there, awkwardly, while I patted Reckt on the back and the blonde let out sob after sob.

“I-I thought I was going to die!” she managed after the tears had subsided a bit. “I thought you’d run away and leave me here, or maybe get caught yourselves, and then we’d all be eaten by spiders, and… and…”

“Shhh,” I whispered, stroking her hair to comfort her. “It’s fine. I’ve got you. You’re going to be alright.”

“It’s hardly as if you were in any real danger with us around,” Mikaela muttered. She was looking pretty awkward, standing stiff and clearly not knowing how to pull off the whole ‘comforting’ thing. It made me wanna roll my eyes, but… this wasn’t the time for a sibling squabble.

“What Sis means to say is that we wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. I know it might be hard to believe from a pair of rookie adventurers, but we’re actually a lot stronger than we look.”

“Y-yeah?” Reckt asked, releasing Mikaela to wipe the snot from her nose. My sister took the opportunity to back up a few steps. I did the reverse, pulling Reckt into a tighter hug.

“Yeah. We’re strong, alright? Strong enough that those dumb spiders never stood a chance. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t hear so much as a chitter from them ever again.”

Reckt laughed. It was weak, and a little forced, and her eyes kept darting around in a way that said she didn’t quite believe me, like she was looking out for the next attack, but… it was a laugh, all the same, and being able to laugh at your problems was a good first step towards getting over them.

“It’s fine,” I reassured her. “We had an epic battle with the mama spider while you were out and it sent all the little ones flying.”

“The… the mama spider?” Reckt asked. “I don’t… I don’t see it anywhere?”

“And you won’t,” Mikaela chimed in. “It’s buried underground.”

“Yeah, we kinda turned its burrow into a blast furnace,” I explained. “An absolutely wretched way to go, but after seeing the state it put you in I can’t say that I’m feeling all that bad for it…”

“R-right,” Reckt whispered, wiping at her eyes this time. With a different sleeve than the one she’d used on her nose, thankfully. “Does that uh… are we… are we safe?”

“Safe as a babe in her mother’s arms,” I promised her. “No monsters are going to get you as long as I’m around.”

“Or me,” Mikaela volunteered. “I know I might be a bit… standoffish, compared to my sister, but I too promise not to allow any harm to befall you.”

“That’s… uh… Thanks?” Reckt half-asked, clearly unsure how to take it. Not that I blamed her - a couple of cute girls like us promising protection probably didn’t amount to much in her mind. She’d see in time, though. Assuming we actually stuck around, at least… Actually, I suppose it would be rather hard to stick to her side and go on grand adventures, but… We’d figure that out as we went.

“For now, I’ve got something to talk about with my sister,” I declared, giving Reckt a little squeeze.

“W-wait!” Reckt demanded, panic evident in her voice as her arms tightened around me. “Y-you’re not going to leave me, are you?”

“Nope!” I promised, giving her a pat on the head. “I’ll be, like, half a step away at the most. Just far enough for a sound-proof barrier to work while I’m chatting with Sis.”

Reckt clearly didn’t like the sound of that, but she nodded her head reluctantly anyway. I honestly felt a bit bad about it, but there was something I absolutely needed to discuss with Mikaela that Reckt couldn’t be allowed to hear.

“How about you change clothes, in the meantime?” Mikaela suggested. “I have some extras in our pack. I’m not sure how well they’ll fit you, but they’ve got to be better than what you’re currently wearing.”

“Y-yeah,” Reckt agreed, looking down at herself. “I’ll take anything, honestly.”

“Good, because anything is what we’ve got!” I declared. “What’s your favorite color?”

“My… my favorite color?” Reckt asked. “Uh… Blue, I guess?”

“Blue it is! You got anything blue in that pack of yours, Sis?”

Mikaela rolled her eyes, but nevertheless reached into her bag - or more specifically the Empty Bag she kept hidden in her actual pack. A few seconds later she was tugging out a sky blue dress with some pretty deep cleavage. I wasn’t sure if Reckt really had the assets to pull it off, being quite a bit smaller than us in the chest department, but I guess that’s what I got for trying to play it cool and locking in the color without even knowing what our options were.

“Put that on, will you?” she suggested, tossing it to Reckt. The girl let go of me to grab it out of the air, stumbling a step or two backwards in the process. I was ready to catch her with my magic if she fell, but thankfully she managed to regain her balance before it came to that.

“I’ll be talking with my sis just a couple steps away, ok?” I said, giving Reckt the kindest smile I could manage. “Hell, I won’t even move from this spot since you moved back a bit. I’ll stay right here while you change.”

“A-alright,” Reckt confirmed, nodding. She was obviously more than a little frayed around the edges, but hopefully a change of clothes would do something to help restore the cocky personality I knew and… liked? A little? Maybe? Certainly more than the sight of her whimpering like a kicked puppy, at least.

In the meantime, I went and used a little magic to erect a sound-proof bubble around Mikaela and me. It wasn’t anything fancy - if I knew more about how sound waves worked, I could probably have constructed some sort of cool physics based spell, but as it was I just sorta brute forced it by creating a bubble of magic around us and willing for sound to be kept in. It took a lot more magical energy to maintain, compared to if I had a clear image of what I wanted and how I wanted the magic to go about it, but I had big enough reserves to brute force the whole thing.

“Let me guess,” Mikaela began. “You want us to come clean about our identities?”

“Not completely,” I replied. “I just… think it might put Reckt at ease a little if she knew what badasses we were.”

“Maybe,” Mikaela hedged, “but we don’t really know her… what are you going to do if she starts spreading rumors?”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like we can hide as perfectly mundane adventurers forever. I mean, what are we going to do the next time someone’s in trouble? Not show off our awesome powers in a bid to save them as soon as possible?”

“Why? So that we can play hero at the cost of our secret identities?” Mikaela demanded. “I know that leaving people in fear doesn’t feel good, but so long as we save them in the end, then-”

“And what if we don’t?!” I interrupted. “Save them, I mean. What if we’d come too late for Reckt? What if those stupid spiders had injected her full of poison, or used their digestive acids to turn her into mush? What then?”

“Then… I suppose we’d be feeling a lot worse,” Mikaela begrudgingly admitted. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re risking war if we reveal ourselves.”

“Then what if we had a way of doing it without revealing ourselves?” I asked. “Like… Like… I don’t know, a secret identity, so far removed from who we are that nobody would ever put it together?”

“You mean like a pair of human adventurers?” Mikaela asked, rolling her eyes. “Charlotte, we’re already doing that.”

“Yeah, but like… what if we had another identity? One completely removed from both being princesses and being human adventurers?”

“Like what?” Mikaela asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Like… maybe we could go out as succubi?” I suggested. “Dye our hair a different color, wear a mask, use our succubi wings instead of the angel wings everyone knows us for and put our tails on display?”

“So your plan is to… what? Play a succubus super hero?” Mikaela demanded.

“Sure, why not? It’s like, a whole second step removed from our real identities! Even if someone figured out it was us, they’d still have no idea who we really were. It’s like… using one secret to cover up another like a stack of hats covering other hats!”

“That’s…” Mikaela sighed, shaking her head. “Why don’t we talk about this later, alright? When we’re actually alone and not three feet away from one of the very people we’re supposed to be hiding from?”

“That’s just Mikaela-ish for ‘No,’ isn’t it?” I grumbled, crossing my arms.

“It’s Sollian for ‘we’ll talk later,’” she insisted. “Now drop the stupid barrier so that you can go back to comforting Reckt. She looks like she’s about to have another nervous breakdown.”

“Fiiiiine,” I grumbled. “But I still say we should at least let her know we’re badasses! It’ll make her feel safer.”

“Do whatever you want,” Mikaela replied, sighing. “Just so long as it doesn’t get us caught…”

I just grinned. Those were the exact words I wanted to hear.

“Hey Reckt!” Charlotte called, waving her hand like a maniac. “Guess what? I got permission to tell you what badasses we are, so that you won’t have to worry so much!”

“Huh?” Reckt asked, tilting her head to the side. “Don’t you think it’s a little early to be talking about yourself like that? I mean, I know you took care of the spiders, but-”

“No, I mean we’re really badass!” Charlotte insisted. “Come on, Mikaela, tell her how badass we are!”

“Very badass,” I replied, my voice an utter deadpan and my eyes not even aimed in their direction. “Now come and help me with the other cocoons, will you?”

“The other cocoons?” Charlotte asked, turning away from Reckt. “Oh yeah, there were more of them, weren’t there?”

“The human sized ones are a lost cause, but the smaller ones seem to still contain life of some sort. I can hear heartbeats when I focus.”

“Hear heartbeats?” Reckt asked, before shaking her head. “I mean, wait! Shouldn’t we at least check the human sized cocoons? Just in case?”

“I’m telling you now there’s no one in there,” I warned, going over to one of the smaller cocoons. “But if you want to waste your time…”

“Come on,” Charlotte said, pulling out her blood dagger. “I’ll take a look with you.”

I snorted, knowing full well that Charlotte could simply rip through the threads with her bare hands if she really wanted to show off. She’d likely jumped at the chance to show off her weapon without even thinking about it, though. At least Reckt looked suitably disturbed by the blasted thing, but that just served to remind me how incredibly distinctive the blood blades were. I’d have to warn Charlotte against using them if she actually wanted to follow through with her hairbrained scheme to play hero without being caught. At the very least, she’d need to restrict their usage to one identity or the other.

For my own part, I turned my attention to one of the smaller cocoons, taking hold of the silken strands and roughly pulling it open. At the same time, something inside shifted, responding to my movements. Before I could rip more than a tiny hole in the thing, a white horn came flashing out of the hole, piercing towards me.

“Woah!” I cried out, instinctively tossing the bundle of silk away from myself and into the air. The cocoon squirmed even as it fell back towards the ground, and by the time it actually hit the dirt the horn had torn apart the creature's cage enough for it to burst out.

“What?” was all my sister had time to say before the creature turned its attention towards her and charged at her, transforming into a white blur that rammed right towards her chest.

“Watch out!” Reckt called out far too late. “It’s a horned-”

“Bunny!” Charlotte squealed, hugging the creature against her chest and spinning about. “Oh by Granny, I’ve always wanted one of these! Mama always warned me it would be too much work, but… ah, why didn’t I think of getting a monster rabbit as a pet? You’ll be way easier to train!”

“A horned… rabbit… actually,” Reckt muttered, staring in shock at Charlotte. “I… I’ve heard those things can pierce through solid steel with their horns…”

“And yet it failed to penetrate silk,” I pointed out. “Either the webbing, or Charlotte’s clothing.” Of course, in the former case, it was only because the thing had been bound up too tightly to move. In tearing open the cocoon, I’d loosened its binds. Why it hadn’t penetrated Charlotte’s clothing was a bit more of a mystery, but not much of one - considering Mama’s worrywart nature, I’d have been more surprised if she hadn’t found some way to enchant our belongings with extra defenses. “That said… in what world is a monster rabbit easier to train!?”

“Well, monsters are intelligent, aren’t they?” Charlotte pointed out. “Like, maybe not exactly comparable to a human, but they have basic problem-solving abilities. It shouldn’t be hard to teach it a few command words and I’m sure it’s smart enough to be potty trained without any issues!”

“It’s a man-eating, carnivorous rabbit,” Reckt pointed out, joining me on the side of reason. “There’s no way you can just treat something like that as a pet!”

“I can hide it… hold on a sec…” She paused, likely pulsing some magic through the creature to get a better idea of its form. “I can hide her in my bag when we’re in town! She won’t be a bother to anyone!”

“She’s a monster, though,” I said, stating the obvious. “Look, she’s trying to escape your grip and gore you even as we speak.”

“Silly rabbit, don’t you know I’m stronger than you?” Charlotte laughed, before emitting a burst of magic dense enough to be visible. The rabbit froze and then suddenly began to tremble, only to freeze again when Charlotte scratched her behind the ears and swung her around in a hug. 

“Just what I always wanted! My own little bunny rabbit! I will name her George, and I will hug her and pet her and squeeze her!”

“...George?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Setting aside the absurdity of taking a monster as a pet, you’re naming a female rabbit George?!” 

“Hehe~” Without missing a beat my sister giggled and switched tracks as she continued to squeeze and pet her new rabbit. “Don’t worry, little Bonny, I won’t hurt you! Just don’t try to hurt the squishy people like Reckt, alright? Let all your aggression out on me instead!”

I don’t know how much that rabbit truly understood, but she apparently knew enough about humans to start vigorously nodding her head, clearly worried for her little life.

I frowned, certain that something wasn’t right but not quite sure what. Why did I feel like Charlotte had pulled a fast one on me?

~~~

Author's Notes

I wanted to get through a bit more of the chapter, initially, but this felt like a natural end? So I went with it. Hope you enjoy!

Depression continues to be a bit Bad, and to interfere with my work - but I think it's getting a bit better? Hoping to be more productive in this upcoming week, at the very least... Get something more than just a chapter of DT done, you know? I feel like I can manage that, as long as depression doesn't take another turn for the worse... We'll see, I guess? DX (Many thanks to all of you for being so patient with me!)

Also wanna give thanks to FallingLeaf, who did an amazing job of editing and even came up with the title~! Hope you all enjoy. :)

Oh, and before I forget - my normal Patreon spiel! If you want to support me, or just read a couple chapters ahead in the majority of my works (just the rough drafts for DQ tho) please do consider joining my Patreon! The lowest tier is a dollar, and it gets you two chapters ahead on pretty much everything I write. Also, it comes with access to my discord, where I post all the cutest pictures of Autumn. (Free membership would also let you find the post with the link, though.)

I stared at Bonny the Bunny. She stared back, eyes wide and nose twitching. I nodded to myself, content with the cuteness, and placed her down on the ground.

“Don’t go running now, you hear?” I warned her. “Or-”

She ran the second she was on the ground, crashing right into a spider web in her blind rush to get away. 

“...Or I might not be able to protect you,” I continued, casually swiping my bloody dagger through the webbing. Of course, I was also superheating the blade to ensure it cut smoothly, so it didn’t take long at all to have Bonny free. “Now, you can run if you really want to. I’m not interested in forcing you to be my pet. But if you want a warm bed, good meals, and a safe future then I suggest you follow me and behave yourself.”

“You’re talking to it like you think it can actually understand you,” Reckt commented, shaking her head. “I don’t get how you’re even still standing after taking that thing’s horn to your chest, but I’m telling you it’s a bloodthirsty, mindless beast who-”

“Who’s currently staring at you with an expression that practically screams ‘shut up!’ don’t you think?” Mikaela interrupted. “A bloodthirsty beast that monster may be, but mindless she isn’t. She seems to understand Sollian, at least a little bit.”

“That’s probably because of you-know-whose you-know-what,” I pointed out. I was referring, of course, to Granny Liz’s English Spell - the world-wide spell that made English super easy to learn. Granny apparently created it so that she wouldn’t have to bother learning a bunch of new languages… of course, there was more to that story - like how it basically exploded and accidentally turned Solla into a fantasy world - but the most important bit was that even monsters benefited from it a little. Even if little Bonny couldn’t completely understand me, the intent of my words was clearly getting across.

As for Bonny’s choice? She… apparently needed a second to think about it. She kept glancing between me and the webs, as if she were judging which of us she was more afraid of. I pouted at how rude the little bugger was being, but also couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the obvious reluctance in her eyes even as she chose to hop her way over to my side.

“Good choice,” I declared, bending down to give her some ear scritches. “Stick by my side and you’ll never go hungry again.”

“You’ll have to deal with her using you as a hug pillow at night, though,” Mikaela cheekily warned.

Bonny froze, and for a second I thought she was going to rethink her decision, but in the end she didn’t move away from me.

I, of course, did the mature thing and ignored… ah, who am I kidding? I stuck my tongue out at Mikaela and told her, “Just for that, you’re not allowed to hold her.”

“I wouldn’t want to anyways,” she replied, turning her nose up into the air. I caught the glance she shot at Bonny, though! That fluffy white fur was calling to her, same as it did to me, I just knew it!

“Whatever you say, Sis. Just so long as you know it’s not happening. …At least until you apologize and admit that your wonderful older sister was right.”

“Like that’s ever going to happen,” Mikaela scoffed, but I saw her glancing at Bonny’s fur again.

“So… You’re really taking that thing with you?” Reckt asked. “You do know you’ll get in huge trouble if anyone finds out, right?”

“Why?” I asked. “Just because I tamed a pet? She’s harmless!”

“So long as you’re around to keep her that way, maybe,” Reckt conceded, “but if she ever gets out of your sight-”

“If she hurts anyone, I’ll take care of her myself,” I promised flatly, doing my best to ignore the guilt I felt at just thinking about hurting my pet. “But she won’t, because she knows what’s good for her, doesn’t she?”

Bonny nodded, bobbing her head so rapidly I thought she might hurt herself.

“See? It’ll be fine. If anyone sees her, I’ll just make up a story about a demon gifting her to me as a pet or something. It’s not like the average human actually knows enough about demons to know what’s normal or not.”

“You say that like you do,” Reckt replied, narrowing her eyes at me. “Who… who are you two?”

“We can’t tell you,” Mikaela said before I could. “Suffice it to say that we’re individuals sufficiently strong enough to keep a single rabbit in check.”

“I don’t think you get how vicious those things are,” Reckt warned. “A friend of a friend’s cousin once got lobotomized by one of those things!”

“I’m sure,” Mikaela replied, rolling her eyes. “Look. You’re not going to change Charlotte’s mind with hearsay. Just… trust her to take care of it, alright? I know she acts a little lax, at… all times, but she’s not the sort to endanger others.”

“...I just think you’re all a little too confident in your abilities,” Reckt said.

“Like you’re one to talk!” Mikaela huffed. “You came in talking about teaching us to party, and such, all bravo and bluster - and yet the moment there was actual danger, you were the first to-”

“Mikaela!” I interrupted, hands on my hips. “You can’t just rub salt in the wound like that! I mean, sure she’s maybe not the strongest guide to the guild we could have gotten, but… She’s… Uh… Well, I’m sure most people in her situation would be in the same boat.”

“Y-yeah… Most would…” Reckt agreed in a subdued voice. She didn’t seem entirely convinced herself, though. “I mean… My dam would probably just punch her way through things, while my mom would just… I don’t know, wait patiently for Dam and then complain about how long it took her to get there?”

“Dam?” Mikaela asked, frowning. “That’s a demon term, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah,” Reckt agreed, blinking in surprise. “I’m surprised you know that. I usually have to explain it to people, but you were pretty good with the whole pronoun-introduction thing, too, I guess, so… Have you actually been in contact with demons?”

“The pronoun thing?” I asked. “You mean when you came in talking about being called she and her and stuff? That’s not demon related, that’s-”

“Something we learned from our Mama,” Mikaela interrupted. Which was probably for the best, since I was totally about to spill the beans on Earth. Not that Reckt would likely be able to figure out that I was talking about a completely different world just off of that, but… yeah.

“Really?” Reckt asked, not seeming to notice. “It’s something my dam was taught by a demon friend of hers… She uh… I guess she didn’t really know what to make of it, when I first started using Mirror Lily potions to change my body - especially since sometimes I kinda felt like a guy but didn’t want to look like one, if that makes sense? Except… you know, most people will tell you that you just sort of… are what you look like? Like, if I grow a dick I’m a dude, but if I keep my pussy and boobs I’m a girl? My Dam’s demon friend said that it didn’t work like that, though. That sometimes people could just… be girls, or guys, even when they don’t look like it. That it’s separate somehow? I… I don’t know. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it sorta resonated with me, you know?”

“Not through personal experience,” Mikaela replied with a frown, “but the principle is sound. And familiar…”

It was familiar. Not from demon culture, mind you - we were all girls, so it didn’t exactly apply there - but from Earth.

“Wait a minute,” Mikaela murmured. “Modern gender theory was shared with your dam through a friend who happened to be a demon?”

“I guess?” Reckt said. “Though I don’t really get what you mean by modern?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I interjected. “Your dam, though - she wouldn’t happen to be the sort to just… punch her way out of everything, would she?”

“Despite being theoretically a noble of great rank?” Mikaela added.

“...What are you…” Reckt glanced between the two of us. “Wait… you don’t know my parents, do you?”

“Only if you count annual meetings at the Dragon Festival,” I replied.

“I’m more familiar with your grandparents, myself,” Mikaela admitted. “Which I suppose is why it took me so long to place the familiarity I have with you - you have the Duchess’s nose and the Duke’s ears, but not much else.”

“The… so, you actually do know my dam!?” Reckt asked in shock.

“Grell, right?” I asked. 

“Or rather Lady Agrellissa?” Mikaela added.

“Wait…” Reckt said, backing up a step both figuratively and literally. “I get that you met Dam at the Dragon Festival, but… how do you also know about my grandparents? Dam’s noble status is supposed to be a secret!”

“Well, we are nobles, ourselves,” Mikaela admitted. “It’s hardly surprising that we were able to suss out her true identity, no?”

“Nobles of high enough upbringing to be casually meeting with a duke and duchess?” Reckt demanded. “Not to mention you recognized all that weird advice Dam got and said it isn’t actually a demon thing… Which means your ‘Mama’s’ gotta be that one lady Dam keeps in touch with, right? Also known as-”

“The Demon Queen, Devilla Satanne,” Mikaela confessed with a sigh.

“...I was going to say that really big eater, Eena, actually…” Reckt whispered. “What do you… You mean she’s… That’s… Dam’s actually friends with…?”

“They never told you?” Mikaela asked, blinking in surprise. I could practically see the gears in her head snag and stop.

“…Mom always said that having too many big secrets on my shoulders would only weigh me down… and that I’m not good at keeping them anyway…”

“You should at least know the connections your family has!” Mikaela protested. “Surely you realize what a great role your grandparents had with this kingdom’s acceptance of demonkind? If not for Grell introducing our parents to your grandparents, it’s hard to say what might have happened during the instability following Granny Liz’s freeing!”

“‘Granny Liz?’” Reckt squeaked, her voice coming out strangled. “As in, Liz the Goddess?”

“Just giving away all our family secrets, aren’t you, Sis?” I teased, seeing my chance to get even for my sister’s earlier ribbing.

“I… that’s not… I mean… how do you not know this!?” Mikaela demanded with a delightfully flustered expression.

“I didn’t want to know this!” Reckt said. “I didn’t want to be involved with politics, or nobility, or… or… oh by Liz… you’re the demon princesses! And you… you…” she pointed towards me. “I was going to fuck you…”

“I mean, you still can,” I said cheerfully. “If anything, you knowing makes it easier since I won’t have to figure out some way to hide my tail during sex…”

“You didn’t even think of that?!” Mikaela demanded. “I would have thought you’d at least be keeping a few Hair of the Kitsune potions on you!”

“Ooh, that’s actually a really good idea!” I admitted. “Guess I’ll scoop some up next time we go home to the Tower?”

“The Tower…” Reckt mumbled weakly. “I was going to fuck a princess from the demon tower…”

“Again, it’s still on the table. Though it might not be for much longer if you can’t wrap your head around me being a person first and a demon princess second.”

“Ah! Sorry, sorry, I just… You’re… I mean, you’re… and I’m…”

“A duke’s granddaughter with familial ties to the royal family?” Mikaela pointed out. “In all honesty, the two of you are close enough in status to be wedded…”

Reckt and I exchanged looks at that. The sheer panic in her eyes was enough to make me start laughing. Not that she took long to follow.

“The look on your face…” I wheezed, doubled over in laughter. “Like you’d just been forced to watch your childhood home burn, or something!”

“What… about you?!” Reckt demanded between slightly hysteric giggling fits. “You looked like someone stuffed a dead fish into your mouth at the thought of it!”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m not ready to get married yet,” I admitted with a blush.

“Me either…” Reckt said. “I want to travel and go on adventures like my dam did at my age. And I want to have sex with lots and lots of different ladies!”

“Including a Demon Princess?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Reckt hesitated - but only for a moment, before nodding.

“Hell yeah! I’m going to rock your world!”

“You can do whatever you’d like,” Mikaela declared. “After you help us get those wolfberries.”

I stared at her. So did Reckt. We stared hard enough that she looked away before responding.

“...What? I just don’t want to fail my first quest, alright?”

I couldn’t help myself, and I guess neither could Reckt, because once again we both burst out laughing.

~~~

Author's Notes

An entire chapter from Charlotte's PoV! Guess that means the next one should be all Mikaela? We'll... have to see how that goes, I guess.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter. Especially the sudden Gender Talk in the middle... Someone pointed out that the mention of pronouns in Reckt's introduction was a little anachronistic, though - and they're not wrong, in that it does in fact go against how I imagine the people of this world treating gender/sex... So I did what I always do with plot holes, and made it part of the plot!

As such, we got the reveal about Reckt a little sooner than I was planning, but... Oh well. I hope everyone enjoys?

Many thanks to FallingLeaf for editing, as well as coming up with the chapter title. And to all of you for reading! Though if you want to go the extra mile, you could always join my Patreon. It's two (admittedly unedited) chapters ahead, and just got to the first properly spicy scene. 

PS: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the other cocoons! Unlike Mikaela.