Day 3

Simon cleared his throat, "I would like a crème alraune with a glass of cortado."
The point of the feather pencil danced over the empty page with the adroitness scarcely expected from the scribblings of catpaws. Once done she looked up from the paper, towards the dark priestess.
"I would like the prisoner parfait please. And a cup of chamomile tea." Ofelia answered.
"Excellent choices! Nya~!" The catgirl picked up the menus, holding them against her chest with the notepad, "It'll just be five minutes and I'll have it right with you! I'll make sure the dessert is exactly as sweet as you~! Nyaa~!"
The catgirl maid winked at Thomas, spinning on her backpaw as she walked away.

"See, Thomas!" Ofelia said, "You've got nothing to worry about. They're just happy to have you here. Just as happy as you should be being here."
"I wasn't worrying," Thomas said, reaching towards the basket, "This is all just so overwhelming for me. See, I've always thought that monsters are terrifying beasts that feast on the flesh of men. Now, all of a sudden, I find myself smack in monster society! All I've ever known tells me that this should be a hellscape where I'm devoured by barbarous hoards... But instead I'm presented with... With sweet smiles and cookies!"
Thomas nibbled on his cookie for emphasis, "You have to forgive a sailor his apprehensiveness!"
Simon laughs, "Thomas, the seat you're in is all too familiar to us. Believe you me, I get it. You're just lucky to at least have Ofelia and I helping you walk through it all. The one thing you need to keep in mind is that monster girls are... Well, they're people. Whatever they're called, be it barbarous hoards or anything else, won't change that fact."
"Indeed so." Ofelia said, "The Order is at war. And the control of information is as much of a weapon as any sword or spear. The Order needs their people to think they're defending the apegee of civilization against the dark hoards that would mindlessly consume it. They need their people to be terrified... Resentful of everything beyond that veil of lies that they do not understand. That's how they can mislead an entire civilization into thinking us mamono are still the bloodthirsty monstrosities they have always portrayed us as."

Thomas swallowed, "Heh... Of course, I'm far too familiar with that game. Everyone is always so certain about whatever they believe. Being sure of what you think... That's easy! But showing just how you can be so sure? That's a completely different story! Now forgive an old sailor his... Wait, still- Still? What do you mean you're not still like that anymore? Are you saying that monsters can choose not to be monsters?"
"...Not exactly." Ofelia shook her head, "Every mamono, from the smallest goblin child to the most ancient demon draws her power from the reigning Demon Lord. Of course that won't change what each mamono is, but it does mean how their power is expressed may change when a new Demon Lord lays claim on the throne. For a Demon Lord who relies on arcane knowledge, the monsters of the age will exercise deft magecraft. If the Demon Lord is a fierce warrior, the monsters of the age will overwhelm their enemies with brute strenth."
"And the current Demon Lord..." Simon said, "Is a succubus. An alluring expert at seduction and sensual arts, who draw sustenance not from consuming flesh. Not like the monsters of old, but by drawing out the energy of men by...."
"By being together with them." Ofelia finished.
Thomas mind-numbingly nibbled away on his cookie, spellbound by the couple's story.
Realisation glowed in his eyes as he swallowed, "Ah... Ah! I was wondering why there were basically no men in this town! If this Demon Lord comes from an all female species of monsters, that'd make all the monsters into all-female species as well! Wouldn't it?"
Ofelia nodded, "You hit the nail on the head there. The mamono of this world want to be together with a human man of their very own. Rather than the battle between good and evil that the Order wants you to buy, this is really a battle between love and war."

Thomas's mind was blown with every word. He witnessed a deserting knight and his monster lover fighting against a monster slayer of the Order, and decided to side against the Order on little more than a flight of fancy. Little did he realise that this secretly reflected the state of the world at the time.
The idea of monsters and humans falling in love was to all that he knew about as absurd as it was revolting, yet the hopeless romantic in him couldn't help finding the whole affair oddly endearing.
"Ah, you have touched this old man's heart with your story!" Thomas rested his open palm over his chest, "Yet all this seems unfortunately tragic to me! What with all that the Order does to make humans scared of monsters... I cannot imagine how tough it must be for monsters to find a lover amongst humans. I mean, what's a the monster to do, if she finds someone dear to her, who finds her nothing more than a revolting monster?"
Simon and Ofelia shared unnerved glances with each other, before looking back to Thomas.
"In that case," Ofelia said in her least sympathetic, most matter-of-factly voice, "She would take the one she wants, and make him be together with him... "
"...By ****." Simon finished.

Thomas coughed, gagging on his cookie as he grabbed his throat, "The what now...!?"
Thomas hissed as he lightly tapped his chest with his fist.
Ofelia sighed, "Thomas... It's just like Simon told you. Mamono are people, and not all people are perfect. The bloodlust that once pervaded all monsters ended up transforming into... Well, just lust."
"Now, sure. Yeah, I accept that, but... But how!? I mean, what would they do to... To... I mean..."
"If you really are curious, by all means, surrender yourself to the mamono in this town. I'm sure they'd be delighted to show you." Ofelia said with a deadpan expression.
She gestures towards the catgirls who, unbeknownst to him, had been fawning over him from the distance since he entered.
Their eyes were not different from those of a predator.

Thomas turned his head away as quickly as he could, and looked back to his two friends as if he had just pulled away his head from the maws of an alligator, "I- I can't do that! I'm a married man!"
Simon raised a brow, "Thomas... If you have a wife you really shouldn't be marching off into monster territory on some crazy adventure. Why aren't you back with her, taking care of her?"
Thomas met him with an even more quizzical look, "See, that was the plan all along, before I ended up here. But you lot of you just had to pull me back here at the very last second. Didn't you?"

Simon and Ofelia look at each other confused. Eventually Ofelia's eyes light up with realisation, and then conern.
"Thomas..." Ofelia said with a worried expression, "You... You're not saying that you have a **** wish?"
The incbus can only chuckle as he scratches his head.
Simon's eyes darted around confused, before his face lit up with epiphany, "Oh! Oh..."
"Thomas... I know it's hard, bt you have to come to terms with the fact that you survived your loved one. It's not healthy to live in the past like that. "

Once the shock had settled, Simon's expression turned into an adoring smile, "But Ofelia, I think it's really sweet. A love that reaches beyond the veil of life and ****... I want our love to be like that."
Simon took Ofelia's hand and squeezed it between his own two palms, his charming smile melting her heart away as she turned ever more flustered.
"...I-I'm not leaving you behind, n-no matter what. And... And we're talking about Thomas right now. An incubus who remains alone... That's a cruel existence."

"Ay, I don't mind. A cruel existence... That's what I'm used to. So many depended on me in the past. I was never left alone, yet also never with my beloved Mildred... Taken from this world far too early. Yet those called by the Chief God cannot remain among us mortals. As long as I had business in this world, I had to persevere. After all, how could I face her in the hereafter, if I can only do so by abandoning those who rely on me when they need me the most?"
Even Ofelia had to cover her mouth with both hands so to suppress the adoring squeal that grew inside her when she heard his story.

Soon enough the catgirl waitress arrived with the orders of the three guests balanced on a silver tray held at head-height. She placed each of the plates before the respective guests. The playful, flirtuous stare the catgirl shot towards poor Thomas now seemed far more imposing to him. He evaded eyecontact, but could tell from the corner of his eye that any attempt to escape her only enticed her more. Like a cat toying with a mouse.
"Here you go, nyaa~!" She said, "I do hope it will turn out to be to your... Delight." The red-haired catgirl licked her lips.
"I... Why, thank you miss!" Thomas said as he fidgeted nervously in his chair, "It's been a pleas... It's been wonderful to be here."
"I do hope you'll enjoy yourself enough to come back. Cause if you go and run away, I'll be coming after you! Nyaa~!"
Thomas gulped, "N-no... I mean y-yes... I-I mean, I'll definitely consider! For sure!"
As the red-haired catgirl passed Thomas, he could hear the soft purring coming from her diaphragm.

The catgirl placed her the tray on the table, picked up a beautiful crystaline capped bottle in the form of a voluptuous naked woman wrapped in a large blossom, pouring a thick, amber fluid over the light-tan treat resting in Simon and Thomas's dessert. The bowls were round but pleated, as if the true shape was that of a hundred-prodded star that approximated round, and tapered outwards from the bottom.
The catgirl pointed at the layer of nectar spreading itself over the surface of the treat.
"GOYGULA YNI!" She yelled out all of a sudden, making Thomas recoil in his chair as much from the scream as by the blue flare that shot out of the point of her finger.
"Ehh!?" Thomas yelled out. By the looks of it Simon and Ofelia was enjoying his squirming as much as the catgirl was.
Once he had settled, he found himself allured by the sweet yet deep and majestic smell from the now compellingly dark golden surface of the treat, its surface shimmering as if of crystal.

"Y-you knew that was gonna happen, didn't you?" Thomas glared towards Simon, who could only laugh.
"I request that any and all complaints be suspended until such time that you have tasted the dish." Simon announced in his most diplomatic voice, "After that, you are at full liberty to tell me whether I made the right choice or not."
The catgirl pointed her digit at Simon's dish next.
"GOYGULA YNI!" The same blue blaze spewed out of her finger, yet Simon did not flinch. His short light hair danced in the flowing air created by the rapidly heating fire. Soon enough the same rigid surface of crystal gold rested on the surface of Simon's desssert, as it did Thomas's. The catgirl left a small tray with dark magenta berries and whipped cream at the center of the table, next to the basket of cookies.

On the plate served to Ofelia was a tall dessert glass filled to the brim with cream, meringue and chopped fruits; each ordered into horizontal layers above one another and swiveling into each other in a firework display of contrasting colours. The very top of the glass tapered outwards like a vase, so as to make room for the various berries and fruit-slices that were fitted into the top with a dollop of whipped cream, from which a spoon with a small head and long yet thin shaft protruded.
Finally their respective beverages were handed to them. Thomas and Simon both got a short glass filled to the brim with a dark amber fluid with a somewhat fluffy feel to it, a heart inscribed on the top with the white swivel that permeated the drink.

Ofelia got a white teacup on a saucer from where a wisp of steam rose, the smell from which was as sweet and calming as the olive hue of the transluscent drink within.
Bowls of various condiments, including lumps of sugar and a saucepan of cream, were left on the table as well. The catgirl leapt back from the miniature feast she had dolled up in a moment's notice, and looked at the guests with an expression of thinly veiled pride, "Go ahead and enjoy yourselves, nyaa~! If you need anything please don't hesitate to ring!"

Once again she swatted the bell around her neck for emphasis, before she took her leave for the guests to enjoy each others' company.