Chapter 6: The Daily Work of Growing Up

After leaving Quiser, I went back, washed up, and brought Lilith back from Aunt Wendy's place.

Lilith was really adorable. Her chubby little face was flushed pink, and her round amethyst eyes kept following me without blinking.

Maybe she wanted to show how happy she was but couldn't quite put it into words; she opened her mouth and went "ee-ya~" while waving her little hands in the air, trying to catch my red hair as it swayed overhead.

"No rush, no rush. You can grab my hair. Come on, hold on tight~" I took a lock and tucked it into her hand, then used a kiss to top up her magic... Kissing her forehead wasn't very efficient, and the power scattered too quickly, but I didn't have a better option. She was still too delicate for anything else.

Maybe copying what she'd seen, she tugged hard on my hair and pulled my face close to her mouth.

"Mua~" She left a wet little smear of drool on my cheek, then giggled "hee-hee-hee" with obvious delight, as if she'd just done something tremendous.

"Ahhhhh~ My Lilith, my little treasure, so good, so obedient~ Big brother loves you~" I praised her, then buried my face against her and inhaled deeply.

She smelled sweet, her face was soft, and her whole body was plush and round. She looked like one soft, rotund bundle, impossible to put down.

Ah, I liked her so much. From the bottom of my heart, I really did.

Lilith, I'm a little torn now. I want you to grow up quickly and become a powerful female succubus who can shelter me, but I also want you to stay this small and soft forever. Spoiling you is something I'm more than willing to do.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed, and Lilith had become a beautiful young woman. Her purple eyes were sly and mysterious, and her long black hair was thick and slightly curly, like waterweed drifting through a lake.

"Brother, I'm going out to play," she said, barely able to wait. "I'll bring you back some 'loot' later, just like last time. I don't know what I'll be able to get today though. So... well, never mind..." At the end, whatever she had been about to say was swallowed back down.

Sigh, once a girl grows up, that's how it is. She'll have her own little secrets, and I wasn't about to make a fuss.

"Lilith, don't go running around with those bad kids. The 'loot' doesn't matter. Be careful not to get caught doing something bad! Your brother and Quiser can both buy you the things you like..."

I hadn't even finished when she cut me off: "Aw, stop lecturing me all the time. It's a basic survival skill, and I'm amazing at it. You don't even know it now, but I'm the boss out there. They all have to listen to me. Whatever I tell them to do, they do it!!"

"Fine, fine, you're the best. Anyway, be careful. Lilith, do you know what you have to do before you head out?" Since she had her own ideas and I couldn't keep tabs on her, I let it go. Inside Quiser's territory, things should be fine, right?

"Mwah~ Brother~" She stepped up and kissed my cheek, then pointed at her own forehead. "Your turn."

I hugged her, took a long inhale of her sweet, pleasant scent, then pressed a kiss to her forehead and reinforced the disguise spell while I was at it. "Lilith, remember to protect yourself. I know you're smart, and I know you're strong. You're basically the little boss of the neighborhood now. But you can't solve everything on your own. If something comes up, make sure you go to Aunt Wendy. She can help handle a lot of things..."

"I know, I know. You're so clingy, and every time you have to say so much. I'm fine~" Maybe she got impatient; she made a face and ran downstairs, waving out the window.

"Don't come back too early. Quiser and I have something to talk about."

"Got it!!" She ran off toward the friends waiting for her not far away.

After the rain cleared and the clouds broke, Quiser and I lay on opposite sides and chatted. "Astaroth, I've noticed you don't seem to age. You still look exactly like you did when we first met. Look at me. Do you think I've gotten old?"

"Not really." In truth, Quiser had aged a lot. Fourteen years was a long stretch for humans, but for demons it was nothing, barely more than a blink.

By and large, unless something went wrong, our lifespans were measured in centuries. Some of us could even live for thousands of years, but because demons loved fighting so much, most of them burned out after only a few hundred.

"Heh, your lies are getting better and better. Sometimes I really wonder whether you're human." Quiser looked as if he saw through everything.

I panicked a little and couldn't help letting my eyes drift to the mold-dark, yellowed ceiling. "Hmph, of course I'm human. I was only eighteen when I met you, and I'm not that old now. You just think you're getting old and want to drag me down with you? Hmph, that's a natural gift. You can't envy it."

"Is that so? I've noticed that whenever you get to the important part of something, you look at the ceiling. What is that about?"

Ah, I do have that habit? Why didn't I know? I shifted my gaze back to Quiser, then after a moment moved it away again in silence.

"Hey, what do you mean by that? You looked back, then looked away again. What, you have a problem with me?"

"...No, you're not good-looking." I was just stating the facts.

"...I'm not good-looking?!! This is masculine appeal, real, proper masculine appeal!! If I'm not good-looking, then who is? Who are you thinking about?" Quiser's voice turned dangerous, and he forced my face to turn toward him.

That was too much!! I can think about whoever I want. After all these years, how does he still not get me? I slapped his hand away in annoyance. "Lilith. No matter what, she's better-looking than you, isn't she? Not convinced?"

"Oh, Lilith... Yeah, she's really getting prettier and prettier. As expected of your sister. What's wrong with her?" Quiser looked a little embarrassed.

"You tell me what's wrong with her," I said, too lazy to say more, and gave him a sideways look.

"Ahaha, I get it, I get it. But look, she's fine, isn't she? Don't worry. On my turf, almost nothing ever goes wrong. That girl has grit. Loving a challenge is a good thing. The people from our slum have real backbone."

"Then it's settled. She can't come to any harm."

"Mm, of course." As he agreed, for some reason he steered the conversation back again. "You know, I actually looked into that story you told me..." He seemed to have deliberately left the sentence hanging, glancing sideways at me as if waiting for me to admit it.

Damn it, was this topic never going away?

Why was he so fixated on it?

Did it have something to do with our deal?

"What are you talking about? Of course it was true. If it had been a lie, you wouldn't be saying this now. You probably didn't find anything, which is normal. I'm not from this city, and I'm not stupid enough to keep circling around nearby." I didn't believe he had uncovered anything. It had been a lie from the start, and there were plenty of secret things in this world. If he could really dig up every one of them, he wouldn't be scraping by in the slums. I had at least that much confidence.

"Mm, that's true enough. After all these years, I honestly don't care anymore, it's just..." Quiser trailed off.

"What do you want to say?" What was he trying to probe this time?

"Uh... nothing. Do you feel like I can't satisfy you anymore? About me..." Quiser had never hesitated like this before.

I immediately felt relieved. "I thought it was something serious. Quiser, why are you so unconfident? Stop obsessing over that. We were always just getting what we needed from each other, weren't we? You've done a great job. Lilith is growing up little by little too. Look, under your protection she's grown up so well. My sister and I are both grateful to you. Without you, there wouldn't be a us now." I really did appreciate him. Without him, I would have taken many more wrong turns.

"Ah... it's nothing, it's nothing. It's what I should do..." Quiser scratched his head, courteous and a little awkward.

"Quiser, I want to ask you for a favor. I... think Lilith may have figured out what I'm doing. She's been very careful to avoid my working hours. What do you think?" Honestly, I'd been worried about this for a long time. I didn't think my work was wrong. People had to eat, succubi had to feed on desire, and sex was one stage every living thing had to pass through, one of the most fundamental forces there was.

Lilith was my treasure. After living among humans for so long, I had picked up some of their bad habits and came to think she should stay pure, that she only needed to rely on me.

No matter how many clients I had to take every day to feed her, I had no complaints. Her smile was my greatest motivation.

Although, for a succubus, not being able to hunt felt a little pitiful, I really didn't want her to learn how to "feed." That was my selfishness.

"Astaroth, I understand your concern, but I told you from the start that the people from the slums mature very early. What you're thinking is impossible."