Chapter 9

Beatrice regained her senses in her bodyguard’s warm and gentle embrace, with Tabitha laying at their feet, naked, on the cold stone floor.

I really am a horrible person, Beatrice thought. After all here she was, resting, cared for by her bodyguard for whom she was quickly developing feelings she had not felt in decades in her past life. However, what made Beatrice feel horrible about herself was not the fact that they both left Tabitha on the floor, used and discarded, but rather it was the fact that Beatrice could not muster herself to console the used mage or make her feel as cared for as Ember did. Despite the fact that Beatrice knew first-hand how important it was, how safe and reassured it made her feel.

Beatrice thought herself to be better than that. Was it just because she enjoyed Ember’s slow caressing that much? Or was it because Tabitha explicitly wished to be treated like that and much worse? Did Tabitha get exactly what she wanted? Beatrice couldn’t bring herself to ask.

“We should take care of her,” Ember said, nodding toward the bound ninja girl, Olivia.

Beatrice’s eyes snapped wide open as if awoken from a trance. She had completely forgotten that the ninja girl was alive and conscious all this time. Even now Olivia was staring them down, quietly, sending death wished with her eyes, but not visibly taking any action toward escape.

“Don’t worry, I kept an eye on her so that she didn’t try anything stupid,” Ember explained when she felt the succubus tense up. “But you should get dressed. It’s about time we moved out of these tunnels before more trouble finds us.”

Getting dressed for Beatrice didn’t mean anything more than put on her light-blue bra and panties, and required only about as much time as it took to find where she discarded them during her sex craze.

“Aha!” Beatrice finally found what she was looking for, and while she put her only clothing on, she considered the exact meaning of Ember’s words. And that meaning was clear even before Ember clarified.

“The only logical choice is to kill her,” Ember said while toying with a small flame at the tip of her fingers. “We obviously can’t walk around the city in broad daylight with a bound prisoner on a leash, and letting her go is out of the question.”

Beatrice was conflicted. Obviously, the ninja girl had intended to kill both Beatrice and Ember for profit, possibly after letting her scumbag friends rape them, had they gotten the chance. And the others had already either paid with their lives or—in the case of Tabitha—submitted in both mind and body.

On top of that, this is supposed to be a wish-fulfillment world for me! Beatrice reminded herself. Why should I spare any thoughts toward anyone wishing me or my friends harm? Off with her head and be done with it, she tried to encourage herself.

The decision should have been that simple. But For the second time today, Beatrice had to come to terms with the fact that it’s not that simple of a choice when staring into the eyes of a living, breathing human being. Beatrice tried to imagine herself slitting the bound girl’s throat. The thought churned the stomach. She couldn’t kill a helpless prisoner. Even though she knew very well that the ninja girl would not be as kind if the situation had been reversed.

In self-defense? Maybe. But right now that would be cold-blooded murder. As revenge for something Olivia and her partners miserably failed to do. There has to be another way...

“Ah!” An idea popped into Beatrice’s head. “What if we act like she’s just one of our slaves? Surely, something like that shouldn’t be unheard of if the city is anything like I suspect it is—with nearly all its inhabitants a part of a sex guild. At least until we figure out what to do with her.”

“You’re just delaying the decision that has to be made now,” Ember pointed out. “And what you’re suggesting would only work if that girl played her part, which she has no reason to do. She can easily make a scene as soon as we’re in sight of the city guards.”

“Then why not hand her over to those very guards?”

“And tell them what? That this girl that we drag around like a slave, attacked us with four others, but we killed three of them and fucked the fourth one silly? Best case scenario we all get locked up together and waste precious time hoping for Lucarad to free us.”

“Bring her to Lucarad?” Beatrice suggested more timidly, discouraged at how easily her suggestions got shot down one after the other.

“We don’t know how long he’ll be with the king. It would be foolish to disturb any royalty with something like this and we must concentrate on awakening your powers as quickly as possible.”

Beatrice sighed and looked at the silent ninja girl.

Finally, Ember broke the silence with a suggestion, “If you’re that intent on keeping her alive, I suggest we cut off both her arms.”

“WHAT!?” Beatrice screamed and looked back to her bodyguard, barely believing what she heard. “What are you saying? That’d kill her outright! She’d bleed to death!”

“I can cauterize the wounds to prevent that,” Ember reassured the succubus.

“W-wha ... Th-that’s torture ... No, worse! That’s ... N-no way,” Beatrice was taken aback by Ember’s proposal, afraid to even imagine doing something like what her bodyguard suggested.

“I’m just doing my job to keep you safe,” Ember explained. “If you don’t want me to kill an assassin that tried to take your life and will no doubt try again if given the chance or sell valuable information about us to our enemies, I have to propose the next best thing to ensure your safety and prevent any realistic retaliation from this girl. Ah, I’ll have to cut her tongue out too!”

“We’re not cutting out her tongue!! We’re not mutilating or torturing anyone! No way!”

Ah, I’m seriously defending someone who tried to kill me? Beatrice thought. But cutting limbs, tongue ... Something like that...

“Speaking of torture, I didn’t bother bringing it up because it quickly became obvious that you’d be against it, but we should get additional information out of her about who would want to kill the world’s Savior desperately enough to send assassins.”

“Tabitha can tell us that! We don’t need to torture anyone!”

“Sigh, as I thought. You’re too trusting. All of this could be a ploy to infiltrate our ... organization. I can manage to keep an eye on this degenerate if she continues satisfying your needs and makes you happy, but two is absolutely out of the question.”

Beatrice didn’t answer. Ember’s logic was merciless, but not without reason. And as much as Beatrice was against senseless violence, she also couldn’t think of a better alternative. Just let the ninja girl go? That’s naive, Beatrice concluded. But the alternative? Killing someone in cold blood? Torture? Even if I don’t do it with my own hands, simply standing by would be just as bad. No, worse! Is there no better way?

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Beatrice finally said to Tabitha. “Do you have anything to say considering the fate of your friend?”

“S-she’s not my friend, never has been!” Tabitha said and glared at Olivia. “And as I’ve said before, do with her whatever you desire.”

“Oh, so it’s not like you have no feelings toward her,” Ember grinned as Tabitha’s comment piqued her curiosity.

“She’s mean!” Tabitha shouted while looking at Olivia.

The ninja girl didn’t respond. Ember shrugged her shoulders, quickly losing interest at the lack of drama.

Beatrice turned to Olivia but kept her distance from the bound captive in case of any unforeseen surprise attack.

“What do you think we should do with you?” Beatrice asked Olivia. “Ember made a strong case for your execution.”

“If you let me go, I promise to never come after you again,” Olivia pleaded with a teary eye.

“Pfft,” Ember snorted. “Can’t blame her for trying.”

“I swear it! On my mother’s heart! I’ll even leave the city if that’s what you want! Just please don’t kill me!”

“Ember is right,” Beatrice said. “I can’t blame you for trying, but you obviously would say anything for us to let you go.”

“I’ll tell you everything I know! Anything you want to know! What—”

“Sebastian was employed by Julius,” Tabitha said loudly, interrupting Olivia. “He’s in love with princess Mary and has been vying for her hand for over a year. Furious that she’s been promised like a cheap whore to a random freak of nature, he hired several groups of assassins to hunt you down and bring him your head.”

Olivia was left speechless with a half-open mouth. Beatrice could see that Tabitha clearly did additional damage to Olivia’s already dire situation by taking away her main bargaining chip.

Ember chuckled, realizing the same thing.

“SHE’S LYING!! That’s not who hired us at all!”

Ember laughed and said, “Nice move. Trying to undermine our trust in Tabitha and hope to gain new information from you. But you forgot that I don’t trust either of you. And you’re not a very good liar.”

“She’s the one who’s lying! Not me! Please! Not like this ... My sister ... I have to save her...”

“Oh boy,” Ember sighed after rolling her eyes at the new sob story.

“Your sister?” Beatrice raised an eyebrow, dubious of the ninja girl’s new story.

“Yes,” Olivia cried. “I’ve only got into this dirty work because it’s one of the few ways left to earn any money. She was kidnapped by lord Belmot’s men. He lives in a literal fortress on the edge of the city. Someone with my skills has no chance to rescue anyone from there.”

“Belmot? Who the hell is that?” Beatrice asked.

“A slave trader,” Ember said. “One of the most influential men in the city. His desires ... Are unconventional.”

Beatrice has a bad feeling and hesitated to ask.

Ember felt Beatrice’s hesitation and added, “Yeah. He doesn’t care for all the carefree sex the city is drowning in. He’s only interested in raping unwilling girls until they completely broken and then selling them for cheap. Before that, he offers to sell them to the highest bidder, often back to their own family. For a gargantuan ransom.”

I’m gonna be sick, Beatrice thought. The new discovery hit her like a truck. What kind of a world is this?

With Beatrice rattled by what she just heard, Ember stepped up and quickly reminded everyone of her view on the subject, “That little sob story obviously doesn’t change anything though. She might be lying. It’s not that hard to come up with. There are many who know about Belmot’s ... activities. Either way, she’s too dangerous to be left alive!”

Beatrice didn’t respond, yet again, trying to fight the right course of action. Both Ember and Olivia waited, trying to gauge where the succubus’s thoughts lied. Then, with a flash of determination in her eyes, Beatrice briskly walked closer to the bound ninja girl, crouched down, and asked her, “What do you want?”

“ ... What?” The ninja girl asked, perplexed, clearly not understanding the question it seemed.

“I mean exactly what I asked. What do you want? Literally. Anything. Even if you said nothing but lies all this time. If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?”

“My sister’s freedom of course!” Olivia spoke up passionately, even a little angry that she was accused of lying about her sister.

“Anything else?” Beatrice asked calmly.

“Ah ... I guess ... A place where I could take care of her. I don’t even want to imagine what she went through already.”

“That’s it?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

“More than enough. And if you sincerely want all of that—work for me!”

“What!?” Ember lost her composure.

Beatrice disregarded her bodyguard’s shock. She did not let her eyes off Olivia, and said, “That Julius Ceaser or whichever guy you were working for, clearly is either a weakling or a coward or incompetent, if he sent you to do his dirty work. And whatever he promised to pay all of you combined can’t be enough to pay off someone as despicable and power-hungry as that Belmot you’re describing. That is also the reason I asked what you wanted. Because if it was money, that is also more than arrangeable. And you’ll need it to properly take care of yourself and your sister. I’m sure lord Belmot will have more than enough for all of us.”

“How can you possibly promise all of this?” Olivia asked with clear distrust.

“It’s simple—we’re going to kill Belmot, free every single person he’s imprisoned, and take all of his stuff as our own.”

Ember whistled behind Beatrice, moved by the Succubus’s ambitious plans.

“You talk as if you can just waltz up to Belmot and slit his throat!” Olivia said, annoying at the ease with which Beatrice disregarded the difficulty of the task. “His fortress might as well be impenetrable! And most of the city guards are either directly or indirectly on his payroll. What gives you the right to spout such nonsense and play with my feelings!? From what I’ve seen, you’re just a sex-crazed nympho just like Tabitha!”

“Oh, I’m much more than a sex-crazed nympho!” Beatrice stood up and spread her arms, her tiny wings, and unwound her tail from her waist. “I’m a Succubus! The Saviour of this world. Summoned her to finally deliver this world from the evil that has besieged it! And I will start with this city!”