Day 4

The crisp surface of the creme alraune ticked delightfully as Thomas tapped it with the tip of his spoon over and over. It was all fun and games for him, but it was also food to eat. In the end he dug the tip into the brittle cover and cracked it, digging up a shard of the cover along with the light puddingesque substance underneath and bringing it to his mouth.

The taste was wonderfully sweet. The shards of crystaline gold were crisp, and filled his mouth with a deep, rich slightly tangy taste. The cream was soft, both in touch and in taste, melting in his mouth as it filled it up with an overwhelming sweetness not unlike honey or syrup. Both experiences united in his mouth, contrasting and complementing each other so as to provide a single, complete culinary experience that words could not do justice.

Thomas picked up the glass and held it up at eye level, beholding it carefully with an expression of mixed confusion, terror and astonishment. Can you really serve coffee-drinks in a glass? Is that even possible?
He was sure that if you try handling hot stuff with glass, the glass would inevitably be damaged. If you're really unlucky then, it would explode and cover your face in a thousand tiny shards. But the glass before him held it no problem.
Even so, the lack of handle perplexed him. Wouldn't his hand get burned if he touched it like this?
Of course, since he was in fact holding it at that moment, it was in fact possible. If he was going to worry about getting burned, then maybe he should have thought about that before he touched it to begin with. But the important thing to note is that he didn't get burned, so nothing he did was dangerous or unwise.
He pressed the tip of the glass between his lips as he tilted it upwards. For something that looked so neat, light and foamy, the taste of caffeine sure was overwhelming. Having this much caffeine in one sip, distributed to him in such a foamy medium that filled the entirety of his mouth, was unlike anything he had before. And it was quite the shock to him.
He shook his head and took a deep breath, his eyes spanned wide open, "...Goodness gracious! I must hand it to you, Simon, you sure knows what to pick!"
Simon laughed, "You just need to trust my judgement, that's what I always say."

Everything that had been discussed that afternoon, about monsters and the state of the world, coarsed through Thomas's head a million miles a minute. Not only were the monsters of this age all beautiful women with alluring bodies, but they were the ones pursuing the man they wanted, sometimes aggressively so. His imagination ran rampart, and he kept picturing a homely, awkward guy being ambushed by a gorgeous woman who would drag the man kicking and screaming into an alleyway, where she would have her way with him.
Thomas almost gagged on his drink over the image.
Surely that could not possibly be what they meant.

But there were other parts of their story that didn't quite make sense.
"Forgive an old sailor his intrusiveness," Thomas said, "But I was wondering about something you told me earlier about monster girls."
Ofelia pulled the spoon she had used to dig into her dessert out of her mouth, "I'll try to answer anything you want to know as best I can, Thomas. But it's not like I'm an expert on the world and everything in it. There are more mamono in this world than I could count, and I only know what the Dark Temple has taught me."
"Well, I was wondering... If monsters are all only female, right? Doesn't that mean they can only ever have daughters, right?"
"That's right." Ofelia said, as she dug her spoon deep into the dessert cup, which was no problem due to its length, and fished up something from every layer, "A human father and a monster mother are both needed to make an offspring. That offspring will be completely mamono herself."
"But that's what gets me, though." Thomas said, "If a monster girl's father always comes from outside the human world, then that means the more monster girls there are, the more dads need to come from the human world to the Demon Realm. And the less men can be dads to more humans, who need to create offsprings to the next generation. Isn't it possible... No, I should ask if it isn't inevitable, that sooner or later there won't be enough men to father the next generation for humans and monster girls? If that happens, won't humans and monsters alike eventually perish?"

Ofelia sighed, "Thomas, that's... Kind of the primal issue of the mamono world right now. We believe that one day, the Demon Lord will find a way to change the fundamentals of the world, turning it into one where mamono can give birth to daughters and sons alike, and where human and monsters can truly live in peace as one. That was exactly why the current Demon Lord rose to the title of Demon Lord like she did. She loved humans, yet she found herself constantly at struggle with them, and working with those who would have them exterminated. She wished for a world where monsters did not seek to kill humans, but love them. That's why she wanted change. But in the end, that change wasn't enough. The Chief God is terrified of this new world order, which is why she sent a great Hero to vanquish her; a human empowered by the Chief God, who would yield to no danger. Not even to the likes of the Demon Lord."
"Huh," Thomas pushed the spoon into his mouth and licked it, "Yeah, I guess that would be quite worrisome for the creator and caretaker of the world herself. In fact, I'm surprised she didn't just go down to Earth and take care of the Demon Lord herself."
"She... She did." Ofelia answered.
"Ah?" Thomas raised an eyebrow, "But... I thought the Demon Lord hadn't been vanquished. That's why monsters are beautiful women now, right?"
"Thomas..." Ofelia smiled at the former sailor. She loved retelling this part, "The Chief God came down to fight the Demon Lord... And lost."

Thomas spat out the coffee in his mouth, wiping his face off with a napkin.
Everything these people had said seemed more shocking than the next thing. You'd think at some point, Thomas would have grown blunt to what they would tell him next, no matter how surprising. This time though, they reached a new record.
"H-how... But..." Thomas said as he was clutching for words, "How can the creator of the entire world be defeated by something from the world that she created?"
Ofelia's smile grew wider, "Thomas... When anything seems confusing about mamono, the answer will most likely be the same no matter what."
Thomas leaned in, completely spellbound by curiosity.
"And that answer is: Sex." Ofelia said, amused at Thomas's expression becoming warped with astonishment, "It's not a mystery at all, really. Human seed is the most condensed source of magical energy of anything in the mortal plane, and the succubus draws her power from that. She is a sex-demon, after all. Meanwhile, the magical energy production of human men can be magnified by leaps and bounds when exposed to succubus energy. This leads to a spiral where one part empowers the other, and together their power will grow exponentially. Since strength and magical ability both correlates to magical energy, it really becomes something of a banality to ask whether they eventually will become stronger than even a god."

"Is that how she plans to change the world to her whim then?" Thomas asked, " Through the obscene succubus power of fadoodling?"
"That's the plan." Simon said as he finished a sip from his glass, "And in this case, that is to say, the case for the Demon Lord herself, that would be the very Hero who was sent to slay her; the mightiest human in history."
"That..." Thomas's expression of livid excitement calmed down just a tad, "That actually makes sense. That's the first thing you said that actually makes sense. I remember the stories of a hero, who was supposed to be the hope of all of humanity, the one light in the darkest hour of mankind... But in the end, he betrayed that hope and joined the monsters. Choosing to fight on their behalf. I can only imagine that the monsters would see this kind of transition from a completely different perspective."
"That's right, Thomas." Simon said, "According to tradition, a hero is empowered by the Chief God to defeat the Demon Lord, once monsters rise to become a threat to humanity. But this time, the Hero became their saviour, and the husband of their leader. A story as old as time."
"And now..." Ofelia took a sip from her tea, "Now... That she's wounded from her battle with the Demon Lord, and confined to Heaven until she can recover, her only recourse is to empower more humans with her magical energy, in the hope that at least one of them will manage to face the Demon Lord. Isn't that right, Simon?"
Simon shrugged, "I have to believe that, in the end, they all will end up like I did; resigning their duty for a worthier cause. It's the trump card of the Order, and yet if they **** it... If they keep making monster slayers as if on the factory floor, they will end up with nothing but an army that lacks resolve. And when your army is facing beautiful women who wish not to fight, but to love, then the one thing you cannot afford to lose is resolve."

"Ah..." Thomas took another bite from his cream, "Then their plan really isn't working out? Do you think they will try something else then? I mean, it's worked for hundreds of years, but it's not working now."
Ofelia scoffed, "I doubt we'd see that any time soon. The Order is very set in their ways. They believe their success comes from their tenacity, and are afraid that letting things change is a sign of weakness. When they start to look for new methods though, I think they will find it's easier said than done. They have to find something that cannot be corrupted by succubus energy. Making things fall through temptation.... That is sort of our area of expertise. Even in our very essence."
"That certainly is the case," Simon said, "Spirits, magitech... Even old-fashioned magic all becomes warped by the natural energy permeated from monster girls. The only thing that even comes close to resisting is the Chief God's monster slayers, who carries the blessing of the Chief God within them... And they won't be able to come close to the Demon Lord if they lack resolve. In fact, I can only think of one thing they could conceivably use to dethrone the Demon Lord..."
"And what's that?" Thomas asked.

The bell above the door rung as they swung open.
"Dragons!" A petite blonde woman with squirrel features wearing a neat pink jacket said between ragged breaths, "Dragon attack! On... On human territory! Dragons are attacking!"
"Nyaa~! Welcome to..:"
"Out of my way!" The squirrel girl pushed the catgirls aside as she strode towards the center of the room.

"Huge dragon attack... North of here..." The squirrel girl waved her arms At the human village of Luragell... Completely laid to waste! There were no survivors! We must absolutely do something quickly! Now! Before it is too late!"
Thomas and Ofelia could only watch with worry and horror at the pink herald bringing forth grim news to this fine establishment. Simon tried his best to display sympathy. What he had heard that transpired was definitely a tragedy, but he simply could not help but to smile.
The squirrel girl wiped her forehead "...Not that I want to alarm anyone or anything."

"Sorry, Thomas." Simon said as he took one last sip from his drink, "We're gonna have to finish this conversation some other time. Looks like we'll be learning what my trial will be any moment now..."