Lilith: Origin of Succubi

Neali Tangleleaf stood up in shock at my demonstration. She was likely the person who knew best how impressive the spell I cast was. It was a combination of spells that I was only able to accomplish because I knew how the individual parts worked. It wasn't even something that the system would naturally do for you before. It was proof that not only could we cast magic again, but that it wasn't just limited to the system's old constraints.

Sera Morrister's eyes narrowed at the display. "The ability to cast magic again falls plainly within the realm of military readiness. Asking for compensation for something Traehall should provide anyway is a little bold, Lilith."

I frowned slightly, not happy with her initial reaction. "The frontier has been crawling with demons for months, something Torlimal would have prioritized for military readiness in the past as well. With the shortage of guards and people who can deal with the rampant demons in the area, imports have slowed to a crawl, limited to the people strong enough to make the journey, who we've had to gather ourselves. Traehall has already been acting independently for a while now. Is it that surprising that we would want something for our discovery after being ignored for so long?"

Despite our initial friendly greetings, Sera wasn't happy with my response either. She almost looked to be fuming. Before she could reply though, Tarklin raised a hand to interject. "How reliable are your methods of learning to cast again? Is it something any mage can do? Or will it cause a significant reduction in the number of mages who used to exist?"

Morrigan nodded, happy to step in and take over for this part. Better to leave the details to her while I focus on the political aspects. "The method revolves around learning a few key skills. I won't say that any mage can do it, but a majority of them should be able to relearn their magic with some effort. Nearly all the mages we've trained using this method have recovered their basic casting abilities, but learning more advanced spells requires time and effort. Only a handful of mages that I know of could be considered to be as skilled as they were before System's End, but they are all the ones who trusted my methods early on, rather than waiting for me to prove that it worked."

"Is this related to wild casting? I know you were a rare practitioner of this branch of magic theory before. Are those skills applicable to other mages?" Neali asked excitedly.

I felt Morrigan ask for permission through the bond to answer this question, so I gave her a positive nudge. Even if they knew the principle behind it, they would still need training. They already knew she was a wild mage, so it was an easy leap for them to make.

Morrigan nodded. "The method involves foundational skills for using wild magic and the ability to wild cast as well."

"Does this work for healers?" Nathaniel asked thoughtfully. "People with priest classes have been able to use some abilities related to healing through their connection to their gods, but the effects have been limited. There has always been a shortage of healing magic, but it's now a larger problem than ever."

Bella nodded. "I was one of the first people to work with Morrigan on regaining my magic. I've been able to use my nature healing just as effectively as before, and have even taught others how to improve their healing magic after they learn Morrigan's method of casting."

There was a hush in the room. Even more than soldier mages, healing magic was a critical piece of an army's strength. There was only so much they could do with physical methods of healing, especially after relying on healing magic for so long. The number of casualties would go down astronomically from that alone. It was starting to dawn on everyone just how much what we're offering is actually worth.

"How long would it take to teach our mages to be at the same level as they were before?" Markus asked.

Morrigan shrugged. "To be at the same level, six months or longer. But they don't need to be exactly where they were to be effective. Six to eight weeks is likely the fastest we could get them up to a useful level again. Once their foundation is good, you could teach them a couple of spells to start with, and that's all they would need. Artillery magic for the soldiers, a handful of healing spells to get started with. It's not as if the healers won't have opportunities to improve as they become more experienced with my methods."

"And we happen to have that much time during the winter, while we wait out the snow before trying to take more ground. You intended to present this opportunity when it would be most useful for us," Markus said, failing to suppress a grin.

I nodded. "Now is the best time to learn it. Your soldiers have nothing to do but train right now, and when the snow thaws, Western Torlimal will be caught off guard by your sudden jump in strength."

What I didn't say out loud was that Morrigan had thought others would develop similar methods without her help. Whether they could or not, the idea that she had expected that outcome lessened the value of the information we would be sharing. It was also why we didn't realize we were so far ahead until recently.

Tarklin smiled. "And the reason we're being included in this meeting is that you're offering to share this information with the Northern Greens as well, I take it?"

I smiled back at him. "Of course. The elves have been friends to me and our city. It was you yourself who escorted me when the Tamin Church was threatening us in Traehall. While this information is valuable, I want to share it with people we can have good relations with."

Sera leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Then let's discuss what you want for this information. Our supplies are limited, and our manpower isn't free enough to make extra trips guarding your imports, but you already know this. So what is it that you actually want?"

Now was the time. This would determine the direction of our negotiations.

"Traehall wants to break off from Torlimal and become an independent country. We're already defending the areas surrounding our city, but we want permission to expand and claim nearby territory without fighting our new neighbors over it," I replied evenly.

Sera frowned, but it wasn't an immediate rejection. I could see the gears turning in her head as she thought the proposal through. I think we both understood that Western Torlimal couldn't even defend Traehall if they wanted to. If we were invaded, they would give us up. Granted, the only real way that we could be invaded would be from the southern sea, the Northern Greens, or other frontier towns in the region, but that was the same reason they had stopped collecting taxes. Not only were they not providing us any services, they couldn't even afford to send people to collect those taxes from us, they're too shorthanded. The worst case scenario for Eastern Torlimal would be that we revolt and force them to fight two civil wars rather than just one. They would probably just give us up in that scenario too. I hoped she was coming to the same conclusion that I was.

Surprisingly, Sera turned to look at Oceane, who had remained quiet all this time. "You mentioned that your mercenary company expanded into Traehall, but it's more than that, isn't it? They have ties to the new race that seemingly originates from your brothel, don't they?"

Oceane gave me a glance before she could stop herself, a fairly big mistake on her part for someone usually so slick when it comes to politics. Sera immediately caught on to that and gazed back at me. "How is Traehall involved with these Succubi? Goldenhearth has been accepting of them so far, we have a strong Morkinnen influence after all, but this seems too convenient to be a coincidence."

Before I could answer, Tarklin cleared his throat. "If you are suggesting that Traehall is being created to be a haven for this new race, that might make things easier on us, not harder, Baroness Morrister."

Sera leaned back in her chair again, studying Tarklin. "Elaborate."

Tarklin nodded. "Provided they don't create a country that forcibly removes non-succubi, or something of the sort, I believe many people would be understanding of ceding a territory to a new race for their own protection. Especially if that territory is already self-sufficient. We could use this to project a strong alliance with a new nation-state, while you also gain the benefits of Morrigan's teaching. Many people don't even consider anything east of Goldenhearth as useful anyway. It's viewed as an untamed frontier that is a drain on resources while you're busy fighting a war, especially with all of the confirmed demons in that region."

Neali followed on from his statement, "If we follow this course of action, I have the authority to present an official treaty inquiry to Queen Selitraetilil. If we are included in these magic lessons, this could be the foundation of a three-way treaty with the Northern Greens and Eastern Torlimal. I believe the Elves would look favorably on a nation state founded to protect the new Succubi, because the Northern Greens were founded on a similar principle, to defend the lives and rights of the elves."

Sera leaned back in her chair again, studying the two elves who seemed to be supporting me more strongly than expected. It probably helped that we knew both of them, but it still seemed a bit odd to me. The elves almost seemed desperate for this treaty, or more likely, the magic lessons I was promising.

Oceane turned to me, wondering what she should say. We hadn't considered that Sera would be interested in Oceane's place in all of this. She had only planned to make sure all the right people were in the room, not to be a point of contention herself.

I shrugged and answered Sera's original question. "It is an open secret in Traehall that there is a large population of Succubi in the city. The rate at which we've increased our presence in the city has slowed after System's End, but everyone there either is, or knows, a succubus."

Nathaniel sighed. "I take it that when you asked about 'The Order of Lilith' and learned about the Tamin Church prophecy surrounding their version of Lilith, you concluded that it must have actually been referring to yourself then? Considering there is seemingly now an ongoing war of the gods, it would be hard for any of us to deny it anymore."

"The elves have a prophecy regarding her as well, though it is much less dire than the Tamin Church one. Ours implies that she's a harbinger, not the cause of the war," Tarklin revealed.

Sera looked around the room in confusion. "Both of you truly think that Lilith is a part of a prophecy?"

"Undoubtedly," Neali said with a nod.

"How does this relate to Traehall and what they're asking for?" Sera asked.

Nathaniel was the one to answer. "It means that Lilith is the Origin of the Succubi, not someone unknown hiding in Oceane's brothel. Her being directly involved in creating a nation-state to protect the succubi is relevant to the prophecies surrounding her. But more importantly... it keeps her influence out of our country directly. If you want another reason to take this deal, this would make any issues that come her way Traehall's problem, rather than ours. It will be safer for us if we can benefit from working with her, without being directly tied to her actions."

"Is this something we should be saying in front of her?" Markus asked, gesturing to me.

Nathaniel chuckled. "I was a priest before I was an advisor, and I've always disliked these games people play. I could twist my words to imply my meaning, or I could just say what I mean. Even if it's a selfish reason that takes advantage of her, she's still getting my support, so what does it matter?"

Sera pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'll need time to think about this. Giving up a piece of our territory and allowing a new country to expand at our border is not a decision I can come to lightly. Not to mention the possible issues it will cause with the other frontier towns in the region. Others may want to secede from us too, or join Traehall, so it's not something I can take lightly. It's also not something I can entirely decide myself. This is my territory, but Traehall is still considered part of Eastern Torlimal. I can't decide this without anyone else's input, and the current state of leadership in our country isn't settled. Ugh, this was not how I expected this conversation to go."

Tarklin laughed. "To be honest, this isn't how I expected things to go either. Lilith has a way of surprising you, from my experience."

"I can say the same thing about you," I replied with a smile. "You keep showing up right when it's most advantageous to me."

Tarklin leaned against his fist with a smile. "Perhaps Fortuna smiles down on both of us, then."

My smile faded from my lips at his words. Does this mean he knows I'm connected to Fortuna somehow? Or is he just making a general statement about luck? In the past I may not have taken his statement so seriously, but I feel as though I've underestimated Tarklin in the past. He's always been more calculating than I used to give him credit for.

"I won't keep you waiting long, Lilith," Sera said, breaking the brief silence. "If we are to support you, it will be necessary to get started as soon as possible from the timeline you've given us. You are dismissed. I need to speak with my advisors and schedule some meetings."

Tarklin stood up and walked us to the door. He opened it and let the others through before stopping me with a hand on my shoulder. "Consider my debt to you paid, Lilith. I stuck my neck out for you here, but I'm sure she will come to the conclusion you're hoping for. Let's go out for drinks sometime, I'm sure there's a lot for us to catch up on," he whispered.

I nodded and patted his shoulder. "I understand. Thanks for the help, then."

After that last exchange, my friends and I were escorted out of the castle, and we made our way back to the Ruby Vixen. It was a little concerning that so many of my cards were laid bare on the table, but at least it looked like we would get what we wanted. For now, at least.