162: Crazy
Holy hell, Beatrice tried to come to terms with what kind of person she “rescued” and invited into her group. Has everyone in this city gone crazy? Beatrice looked back at the people she met so far and had a hard time remembering a single person that wasn’t damaged in some way.
Lucarad and his entire cult had lost themselves in sex orgies. The king, who had obviously lost the plot, his daughter that he clearly abused, at the very least verbally. Trigger-happy mercenaries all over the place, that seem to get off on killing and abusing their strength as soon as given the chance. Belmot’s Purple Capes (who are supposed to be keeping order in this city) were actively and willingly participating in kidnappings, murders, and cannibalism, while Belmot himself continued kidnapping children for sinister purposes.
Ember’s brother, the butcher, seemed to be sane and composed, though bitter and resentful. But that very fact that he managed to remain sane and composed when his job was cutting up human and beastkin corpses for food, and making his daughter participate in the process, made him possibly the craziest of all.
As for the commoner inhabitants of Klapsus... The norms of a civilized society had clearly degraded. This very inn’s owner, Y’Shtara, seemed to keep order with an iron fist, but, as far as Beatrice was concerned, that only begged the question: in what other way was the buff cat girl damaged like the rest?
“Why would you do something like that?” Beatrice finally asked the fox girl.
“When did this become an interrogation?” Rafaelia asked with a frown while twirling her hair. “At least be specific.”
“Why make a deal with those butchers to kill your parents, obviously!” Beatrice clarified the obvious, raising her voice slightly. The fact that she needed to be specific, was even more worrying.
“Why not?” Rafaelia asked. “One was a drunk, abusive murderer, while the other was simply a drunk that watched it all happen without a care in the world.”
The fox girl stated this as calmly as someone would state what they had for breakfast.
Figures, Beatrice thought.
“That’s still a leap,” Ember said. “If you wanted to get rid of your parents that badly, you could have reported them. They would have been arrested and most likely executed anyway.”
“Neither of them had ever been arrested before despite all that they had done,” Rafaelia said and started playing with her fluffy tail while laying on her side, with her back toward Ember and Beatrice. “I later found out that some of my parents’ friends that they let pass me around had enough power to keep them out of trouble as long as they did them favors. In the end, I figured that as long as I’m sucking cocks of some Purple Capes anyway, I might as well use that to get some information and make favors of my own. Though I still don’t know why they tried to kill me too.”
“Chances are that your parents had run out of favors or got on the wrong side of a bigger fish,” Ember said. “They would have killed you all sooner or later anyway, you simply got lucky with your timing and accelerated things.”
“Oh?” Rafaelia had about as much reaction as she would if Ember simply told her what time it was. “A betrayal is a betrayal. That Fauna bitch wanted to eat me. Serve me on the same table as my shit ma and pa. Obviously, I have to return the favor. Do you know if that Fauna captain has any parents or siblings?”
Jesus! Beatrice shuddered. She looked at Ember, Ember glanced back at her with an acknowledging nod. The succubus could tell by Ember’s expression that they both thought the same thing—this fox girl was a nutjob.
“No, I’m afraid I don’t,” Ember answered Rafaelia, mirroring the fox girl’s calmness.
“Too bad,” Rafelia sighed as she looked at the pointy tip of her tail and adjusted a few hairs. “Oh well!”
The fox girl suddenly jumped up on the bed and sat on her knees, facing Beatrice. With an excited smile, she said, “Speaking of which, I had never properly thanked you for saving me!”
No, we were not speaking of that at all! Beatrice thought, barely holding back from recoiling from the crazy fox girl.
“I am very grateful!” Rafaelia smiled suggestively as she got on all fours on the bed and slowly crawled toward the succubus. “I got a taste of you in that alley, and I’ve been waiting for a chance to continue what we started.”