Chapter 171

Chapter 171<~> Chapter 171

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

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

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

"For catching fish, uh, small animals that live under the water. You can cook some of them for food and Bella has been wanting to catch some for us on our trip."

"Okay! I wanna eat some!" she said with excitement.

I laughed. "No problem. I'm sure Bella would be happy to share some with you, right?"

Bella beamed. "Of course! I want to fish as soon as we get the chance!"

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

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

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

"Wow, you can see so much from up here." Bella leaned forward on the wall taking in the city.

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

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

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

"Well then! Let's get started. I am interested in learning a little bit. I've never really tried to draw before," Bella said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What do you mean?" I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

"Like a super whore," Sibyl joked.

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

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

I reached over and patted her on the hand. "No need to justify it to me. If this is what you want to do, I'm happy to have you."

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

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

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

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

I laughed and wrapped an arm around the two of them. "Let's go back to the room then. Relax and get some extra rest before tomorrow morning. We're finally heading for the capital."

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

It would be nice to get some rest for our big trip tomorrow.