The fire crackled under the massive slab of demonic boar Hayja had dragged back herself.
She had gutted it, skinned it, and thrown thick cuts straight onto the iron grill without ceremony.
The meat hissed, fat dripping into the flames, sending up curls of smoke that smelled like pork and something sharper—iron and distant lightning.
We sat on fallen logs around the campfire. Hayja cross-legged and tearing into her portion with both hands, Lothair perched elegantly on a flat stone as if it were a velvet chair, and me trying not to hunch over my skewer like a starving stray.
My skirt lay smooth again.
The moment the last drop of arousal faded, I had willed the 'excalibur' away in exchange for my former female sexual organ.
It vanished as easily as Eli promised, leaving only the familiar warmth and emptiness between my legs.
I almost sighed in relief.
Having a permanent bulge would have been a nightmare.
I had no way of knowing how men could live their way with such a burden in their crotch.
"Mmmm."
The meat tasted good but not in the way I prefer. Regardless, it was still edible and it would only be rude of me to show my preference of dissatisfaction in front of someone whose bedroom I had soiled with jizz.
And as the one who prepared all of it, Hayja finished first, eating her entire portion which consisted about a third of the entire boar-like demonic beast.
She licked grease from her fingers, wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist, and leaned back on her palms.
"Good," she declared. "I am done eating. Whatever weird thing came out of Lothair's mouth will not ruin my stomach now." She fixed Lothair with a flat stare. "That mess in my bedroom. It is Eisheth's inheritance, is it not?"
Lothair cut a neat slice from her portion with a conjured silver knife, as calm as if we sat in a palace dining hall. "You are, as always, annoyingly quick to guess."
I glanced between them, and my eye still landed on Lothaur due to an unexplained attraction.
Even without proper utensils, even squatting somewhere outside of the dining hall, Lothair managed to look graceful and dignified.
A few minutes ago this same woman had been riding me until my brain melted…
The contrast made my face heat again.
『 Someone is falling hard for the sly demon, hm? 』
Shut up.
Lothair set her knife down, which dissipated immediately since it was corporeal. "Hayja, have you ever heard of something called Sinful Lust?"
Hayja was in the middle of cleaning her teeth with a stick, thinking. "No. Should I have?"
Lothair dabbed the corner of her mouth with a conjured napkin that vanished the moment she was done. "It is the inheritance sealed inside the dagger. Apparently, it allows Mesmer to copy the Ego of anyone she has penetrative intercourse with."
Hayja exhaled through her nose, long and slow. "That explains the funky smell in my room, and the grotesque body part." She flicked her gaze to my lap. "You switched it off already, I see."
I instinctively crossed my legs and tugged my skirt lower. "Stop looking! How did you even notice?"
Hayja rolled her eyes. "There is no bulge pressing the fabric, and you stopped sitting with your legs sprayed the moment you calmed down. I do not need x-ray vision to witness the obvious." She then gazed back to Lothair again. "So, how is it. Did she manage to copy your Ego?"
Lothair merely smiled. "The first attempt failed. It seemed like the essence gathered during the intercourse was too little, either due to the low number of climaxes, or the duration of the act. We will need more sessions before Mesmer can finish reconstructing my Ego."
Hayja snorted as she smirked. "More sessions. Right, of course."
I swallowed hard, feeling the intimidation that came from Hayja's rare set of expression.
Hayja leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "Be careful, little human. When Lothair decides she wants something, her desire burns ten times hotter than any ordinary demon's. She just hides it behind that perfect smile of hers."
It seemed like I was still a mere human in Hayja's eyes.
Lothair's eyes curved in amusement. "You flatter me."
"I merely state the facts," Hayja uttered. "Especially since you never showed interest in the sort of degeneracy that the Ring peddles."
I paused mid-chew. "The Ring?"
Hayja waved a greasy hand. "One of the Seven Fingers. To put it simply, they are the big factions that rule over the demons. They balance each other out, but when no outside threat exists, they tend to fight among themselves. When something does threaten us, they act like guardians, however."
Lothair continued the explanation smoothly. "They do not rule directly. To be exact, their existence prevents any single power from rising above the rest. Think of them as living deterrence."
I nodded slowly, remembering Anatuya's offhand mention and the quick passage I had skimmed in the Tautology book.
"The Ring especially loves excess." Hayja eyed me up and down, then grinned sharp enough to cut. "You know, if we're speaking solely about the Sinful Lust, you could fit right in with them. The Ring welcomes every kind of fleshly indulgence. Things like. orgies, experiments of fetish, whatever twisted desire you can name. They even shelter the old noble lines of dream demons—succubi, incubi—whose entire Essence cultivation revolves around sex."
So they were basically a faction consisted of perverts.
Lothair raised an eyebrow. "A tempting shortcut. Mesmer could bed her way through their ranks, copy Egos left and right, and never worry about repercussion now that she is a proper demon...
"However, that is until they discover an inheritance that lets someone steal Egos through intercourse. They would lock her in a gilded cage and never let her leave, before using her as catalyst for all sort of experiment, breeding programs, and many more~
"After all, a power that lets you acquire the Ego of your sex partner sounds like something that is perfect for the Ring's alley."
Just thinking about it was enough to send a shiver to my spine.
Yeah, that was a no no from me either.
Hayja grimaced. "Right, that sounds like a bad idea."
I swallowed the last of my meat, appetite suddenly weaker.
"Speaking of Egos," I said, trying to sound casual, "what exactly is yours? If I am going to copy it eventually, I should at least understand what I am chasing, since you know, the success rate might increase if I have more understanding of the Ego."
"Mmm, that's a fine reasoning," Lothair chimed. "I'll show you then."
Lothair then reached over and laced her fingers through mine, interlocking them,
Her hand was warm, steady, in contrast to mine that was still weak and distressed from our earlier interaction.
Lothair's smile turned soft, almost proud. "Depending on perspective, it is either the strongest or the weakest you will ever encounter~"
She squeezed once.
The world rippled, an overlapping vision covered my sight.
Suddenly I was somewhere else—no, seeing somewhere else.
It was somewhere within then Ravena Mansion, afternoon light slanting through high windows. Anatuya and Surreal sat at a small table, teacups steaming between them.
Surreal's blank face tilted. "I heard you quit the Pinky entirely."
Not only that I was able to see, but I could also hear them.
Anatuya laughed, bright and careless. "I'm just feeling like it. Beside, my new master is super adorable and fun to tease with, so I intended to fully commit to this new role in one way or another."
Surreal sipped. "For someone so lackadaisical, you sound committed too. I sure hope that you do not regret it later."
"I sure hope so~"
The vision snapped shut.
I blinked back to the campfire, the smoky aroma caught in my throat.
Lothair released my hand. "Unspoiled Farsight," she said simply. "That's the name of my Ego. Once you acquire it, it will become your greatest weapon until you find the perfect one, or until you mastered your own cultivated Demonic Essence."