Chapter 60

Chapter 60<~> Chapter 60

After our very refreshing bath the five of us changed into some light clothes and sat on the two beds in our room. We ordered a lot of food and talked about some inconsequential stuff while trying out different dishes. Unfortunately, I could only put off the conversation about my past for so long, it was too important to keep running away from. When we finished eating and the conversation reached a natural lull I decided it was time.

I sighed. "Girls, it's time I talk a bit about my circumstances."

The atmosphere of the room immediately changed, all eyes were now on me the two twins looked equal parts excited and anxious. I quickly cast [Zone of Silence], the effect was immediately noticeable as the murmur of the world around the bedroom fell away.

I steeled myself. "First things first, Do not reveal my secrets, or anything you suspect is a secret, to any one outside of this room. That is an order." The glowing blue of their collars intensified for a moment and both girls nodded resolutely.

"I don't really want to use your collars this way but now I can I fully trust the two of you without any reservations. The collar will force you to resist anyone trying to press you for information. I don't like it but in a way I think it will protect you two. I'm going to talk a bit about myself now, if you two have any questions, feel free to ask, just know that there might be a lot to talk about so some things are better left till the end." The twins nodded their head in reply.

"The best place to start, which will likely inform the most about me, is that I'm a [World Traveler]." Morrigan and Torien both widened their eyes at the revelation but didn't seem to doubt it so I continued. "Because of that, I don't have any memory of anything from before about two weeks ago. ...That's counting the days we all collectively lost in the dungeon. So in reality, I remember even fewer days than have passed since I've come to this world."

"Do you remember your past life?" Morrigan asked excitedly.

I shook my head. "I remember lots of things from my past world but I don't remember anything about my past life. Though it seems I may be able to remember some of it in the future. When I spoke to Charon, he told me that I shouldn't fear trying to regain my memories."

"Were you a Beastkin... or a Succubi in your past life?" Torien asked.

"I was a human in my past life, probably a m-" I hesitated. I suddenly didn't feel comfortable revealing that I used to be a man. "Probably an artist or an architect of some sort."

Torien's brows furrowed. "That does explain some things, like you not knowing much about various beastkin and their conflicts with one another but that kind of flies in the face of how you treat many of our kind. I've never met a human who is as open or kind to demi-humans and beastkin as you are. Saying you used to be human is actually the most unbelievable part of this so far."

I laugh. "Well, that's kind of a relief to be honest, I half assumed you wouldn't believe any of this honestly."

Morrigan had a grin on her face. "Are you kidding? You act way too weird, being a [World Traveler] really would explain a lot."

"Anyway," I say. "I'm pretty sure the world I came from didn't have any of the other intelligent races on it. No monsters or dungeons either."

Torien sighed. "Sounds like a much more peaceful place."

My face turned grim. "Hardly. Frankly, humans treating Beastfolk like crap isn't at all surprising to me. In my world we found plenty of reasons to kill each other, from resources, to money, to skin tone. We didn't have monsters and dungeons but people found lots of reasons to kill each other instead."

"So territorial disputes and the like, even though all of you were the same race?" Morrigan asked with a raised brow.

I nodded. "Well, from our perspective, different skintones meant a different race. But we were all identifiably human. No beastly body parts, no pointy ears, nothing."

"What about difference in magic?" Morrigan asked.

"No magic, no system either."

The twin's eyebrows both shot up. Morrigan's jaw even dropped, it was almost comical but she recovered quickly and continued. "N-no system? How did people protect each other from the mons- oh..." She leaned back with a puzzled look on her face.

I decided to keep going, "Right, so, humans fought and hunted with completely mundane weapons. No magic, no stats, no system skills. Because there's no magic, no monsters, no dungeons."

"Huh..." Torien looked cupped her chin. "What about slavery?" she asked.

"In most of the world slavery was abolished. Where I was from the entire idea of slavery is rather taboo. The only reason I'm interacting with this system at all is because I feel like I have to. First to free Bella, then you two. I find the practice rather... abhorrent."

Torien looked me in the eye. "Why is it that you have a gold slave token then, on top of what you spent for the two of us?"

Morrigan frowned but looked intently at me, also waiting for my answer. Bile rose in my throat and my hands shook when I thought back to the events of my first night in this world. I thought about Mark, being held down... I opened my mouth and closed it a few times trying to put together a sentence but the words wouldn't come to me.

Before I could put anything together Bella answered for me. "The night Lilith freed me from slavery, the man who had owned me earlier that day got drunk, broke into our room at the inn, and raped her." In unison the girls gasped and covered their mouths. "I was in the other room at the time so I was able to come from behind and knock him out despite him being many levels above both of us. Lilith used a power... similar to the one she used on Mimi and we sold her into slavery as punishment."

"He deserved worse than that." Morrigan said with an uncharacteristic amount of venom in her tone.

Torien just sighs and shakes her head.

I scratch my horn. "I uh... didn't expect this conversation to go this direction."

There was a pause before Morrigan finally asked a question. "So you are actually not a demon right? Even if you were, you aren't now?"

"Yes, I'm a Succubus. Because of my Origin title and apparently by my own perspective, I am not a demon."

Morrigan nods. "You did help us destroy a demon spawning crystal. Even though Demons care little about killing their own, destroying a spawning crystal would still likely be... unpleasant and counterintuitive for a regular demon."

Torien looked over to Mimi. "So, what did you do to Mimi? You said you turned her into a Succubus too?"

"Yup! My race says Succubus Mimic! Just like I said before."

Torien smiled at Mimi. "I believe you, I doubt you'd be one to lie about that."

Mimi tilted her head. "Why?"

Torien smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, no reason. I just don't think you would bother lying about it."

There was silence for a little bit until Morrigan looked at me and asked another question. "What's it like being a beastkin now? You don't seem to dislike beastkin but do you like being one yourself?"

I looked down at myself before answering. "Truthfully, I kind of really love how I look and feel. While I'm... not exactly sure what my old body was like, I think that this new one feels much more comfortable and... sexy than my old one." I said with a bit of a blush.

"W-what about attraction to others, who do you find attractive?"

I could tell Morrigan was fishing but I didn't mind. "I think I like humans, beastfolk and demi-beastfolk, as well as both men and women. I wouldn't say that I'm not picky, I do have preferences, but in terms of categories, everyone is on the table for me so far."

"R-right." Morrigan said with a tiny smile.

I laughed a little. "You know, this kind of ended up as girl talk by the end huh?" the others laughed with me, I felt a little relieved I was able to cut the tension a little bit.

"Th-there is something else I'd like to say." Bella said.

The four of us turned to Bella.

She looked a little on the spot but continued despite that. "I um. I also haven't always been a beastfolk or a... a girl either. When Lilith did the thing she did to Mimi to me earlier, I transformed from a human man to what I am now. I um, maybe it's not important but I wanted you all to know..."

Bella looked really vulnerable, almost on the verge of tears and afraid of rejection. I could see that I wasn't the only one to notice.

Morrigan got up and sat next to Bella before pulling her into a hug. "It's okay Bella, I don't think any differently of you, neither does Torien, I promise." She sniffed and returned the hug, a smile on her face. Torien nodded along and confirmed Morrigan's words. I teared up a little just from watching, I was happy and relieved that these two would accept her. It stirred up some bittersweet feelings inside of me but they were just echos of the memories that were lost. After a while Morrigan let go of Bella, the room had been quiet till Bella had calmed down.

I stretched, already feeling fatigued from the long and rather stressful day. "So, do you two have any more questions? It's... been a rather long day for me."

"Just one more thing..." Torien hesitated. "Do you... want us to become succubi like the three of you?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Not unless you want to."

Morrigan looked up "What if it allowed us to take off our collars?"

I was sure my mouth hung open... I never considered that possibility. "I... well, that would be fortunate. But the oath has its own obligation... If you decide to become succubi I won't object. I don't know if it would allow you to take your collars off or not though. If it does work that way, I promise to free you two, you have my word. But ultimately it's up to you two."

The twins looked at each other before Torien looked back. "Give us some time to think about it."

I nodded. "Of course, there's no rush. Consider it an open offer."

The four of us got ready to sleep and we split up between the two beds. I sighed and slid under the covers with Bella, glad to finally lie back and relax after the long day. Mimi stood next to the bed on my side and looked nervous, trying to figure out if it was okay to join us. I smiled and waved her over. She beamed back at me and quietly joined us under the covers, snuggling into my side. Bella seems extra clingy right now too, so I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to me. "You were really brave tonight," I whispered to her. I kissed her on the head but she seemed to already be softly dozing. I closed my eyes and let all of the tension flow out of my body, relaxing between the two girls on either side of me. After a long day I passed out.