Crimson Dungeon Prelude

“She said that…?”

Our resident froggy had come to me with news that made my stomach spin.

Megumin was planning to leave the group.

I shouldn’t know this. It felt wrong, but Lily wasn’t one for social norms and secrets. The bluntness of her words had come straight after she attacked a fly on my shoulder and a loud burp of satisfaction from its taste.

“Mm. New wizard told the cat.” Lily nodded, rotating slowly in the hall before hopping away again, “Hungry now.”

I barely registered the proclamation to fuck my boyfriend. My mind was racing as to what to do in this situation.

Should I confront her? My gut is telling me to barrel into her room and beg her to stay. I couldn’t bear the idea that this new world I created would make one of my dearest friends so truly unhappy that she’d exile herself just to get away from it all. Surely she’d see reason if I were to prostrate myself before her…?

I…I think that would ironically be what I would do prior this eventful week. Or I’m deluding myself to believe I’ve formed any layer of character development since these metal Ns latched onto my ears.

No. If I crash in with all my dumb Lalatina laden strength, there’s a good chance I’ll only further anger Megumin. She’ll be angry about the eavesdropping, she’ll be angry about my attempts to control her decision, and she’ll be angry… about it being me.

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t about me: it's all about Kazuma.

My relationship with him is still a factor, and I want to make her as comfortable as possible with it if she is to stay. But if the two cannot bear to be in the same room together, then the party is certainly doomed to fall apart...

Finding out WHY they broke up in the first place would be nice, but I don’t think that will happen without some serious mending to their fundamental friendship.

The problem is, I’m not a therapist.

Should I ask Sena? She’s more of a lawyer, but she’s perhaps one of the smartest women I know. Or maybe Xara since succubae would have more experience dealing with other’s emotions…

I began pacing the halls of the mansion, lost in thought. Ignoring the floating succubae going past me, and stepping over a Lamia tail leaking from a nearby doorway as it quivered in self pleasure. Eventually, I went to my own room and paced around inside of it instead. Really, I should be getting ready to travel to the Crimson Demon village, but I just know I’ll blurt something out if I don’t try to figure this out a little bit.

How to make Megumin and Kazuma friends again…?

Should I send them on a quest together? Adventures do have a way of forcing two to cooperate, but then it could also lead to a worsening relationship if they get in each other’s way. We also don’t have the time for one, as I need Kazuma near me to help handle Musume. Perhaps there’s some sort of item at Wiz’s shop that deals with fighting friends? Although, knowing the price of that place, it might just fuse her head on his neck or something equally as worrying…

Hmmm…this is going to be harder than I thought; so many boxes to tick and variables to take into account. There needs to be a way that can soothe Megumin’s feelings towards me, the harem, AND Kazuma all in one big move without disrupting the Musume plan.

Ugh. So much to consider. How did those two get this bad? It reminds me of how Kazuma used to be whenever Aqua walked into the room…

…wait a minute.

Perhaps I did know a way to get Megumin and Kazuma to be friends again. I just had to apply the same methodology that brought Kazuma and Aqua together!

All I have to do is seduce Megumin!

…

Why do I feel such intense shame as if the gods above were reading my thoughts just now?

Let me explain for whatever deities or demons happen to be listening in right now. I do believe there is a method to my madness.

Aqua and Kazuma had potentially the worst relationship out of us all before my earrings came along. They were constantly at each other’s throats, jeering and playing mean pranks while laughing at the others misfortune. While this turned out to be a long founded love that they both needed to figure out through communication, their barriers were only brought down by the medium of sex! Had I not been able to help them, they would’ve never realised their true feelings!

And that’s what I would need to do for Megumin!

At some point she had developed feelings for Kazuma. I’m not sure what changed, for some reason neither will talk about what exactly happened, but those feelings can’t be locked too far down.

If I can convince our Archwizard to get into bed with my boyfriend once more, then she should be able to realise what she’s missing out on and join us of her own free will! Then she’ll be far less likely to leave our friendship behind, right?

Right?

I walked back into the main lounge that was mostly empty. Only the massive wings of Xara with a few of her friendly succubae cleaning our house were around, with Kazuma napping like Chomusuke in Xara’s lap. She often liked to treat him like this whenever he needed a rest. Her tiny husband, curled up and easily pettable, all while giving him the sweetest of dreams.

Although, right now, his sleep seemed rather unhappy. Fidgeting, tossing, and a deep frown that matched the Queen Succubus that stroked his hair.

“Xara?” I asked, “Everything alright? You seem to be… projecting a bit.”

She was shaken from her thoughts and quickly noticed the effect she was having on our shared man. “Oh, Lucifer! Sorry, my love. I’ll remedy that…” Another clawed hand went through his mind, instantly changing his sleeping mood to happy and popping a boner just as quick. Perhaps an overcorrection, but as the succubae around the room rushed over to tend to him I decided to keep his bed focused. Sitting down on the lounge chair opposite the queen and her flurrying demonic minions.

“Something on your mind?”

She sighed, keeping Kazuma asleep but spreading her legs a little to let her subjects slobber on his engorged member. “Musume. I don’t trust her.”

Ah, right. That makes sense.

I had already explained what had happened last night but throughout it all Xara had questioned me thoroughly. Seeming rather focused on one aspect of the whole thing, “You mean how she wants to make peace with the humans?”

“Hmm, the Queen of the Succubae shouldn’t be this easy to read,” She chuckled half heartedly, sighing once more while stroking Kazuma’s happy drooling head. “Alas, yes. I just can’t get my mind off of her.”

“Isn’t peace something that you want too?” I asked, crossing my legs to ignore the burning loins I had incurred in myself thanks to the blowjob noises.

She nodded, “Indeed, but in my many years on this planet as a member of demonic circles, I have never heard anyone talk about The Demon King’s Daughter’s desire to make amends or even tolerate humanity. I can’t help but feel that the wool has been pulled over that silly king’s eyes because of that daughter of his…”

“I’d be worried too if the information hadn’t come from Iris herself.”

Xara was thoroughly unconvinced. “Sorry, but too many details are sketchy for me to believe the tiny princess. Let us not forget that this all came about because Musume was nearing the end of her life, yet suddenly Iris appears and saves her? Musume has many powers, including hypnosis, and you all lost track of her during an extended fight with her own subordinates.”

My blood went cold for two reasons. Namely the mentioning of hypnosis out of guilt, and the realisation that she had a point. Also, this was a really weird conversation to be having next to sloppy succubus blowjobs.

“Could it not also be true that the whole thing was fabricated by an evil creature trying to live?”

I frowned, seeing her point but also trying to not jump to any conclusions. “Maybe… but, if that was her intention, why not threaten Iris? The King would have surrendered his entire kingdom if his daughter’s life was in danger. There’s much easier ways to go about survival in that situation than planning a whole mysterious coup.”

“A well laid trap? To get inside the human castle by playing the wounded rodent before becoming a roaring beast and killing the species in one swift move?”

She was obviously potentially right, and perhaps we were too positively inclined to believe everything that Musume had told us. But it wasn’t wrong to think that the right thing could happen for monsters, demons, and humankind alike.

“Just answer me this: do you think the Demon King would have risked his daughter like that? Risked everything on a strange plan that requires Musume to lose the fight to a bunch of humans?”

Xara frowned at me before giving a relenting grunt, “Yes, I know, that’s the only flaw in my cynicism and why I’m stuck in the thinking phase…” She huffed a little. It was cute to see her so pouty, though she took it out on Kazuma’s porn riddled mind by making his moans long and drawn out, much to her subject’s happiness.

I watched her work for a little longer, seeing that thunderous cock of his leak a veritable soup bowl of precum onto the succubae licking away before trying to focus myself again.

“Xara… is there another reason you don’t trust her?”

“I counter with this, Mistress Darkness,” said Xara, not even missing a beat to raise the eyebrow at me, “Why do you trust her so much?”

My balance was certainly thrown, “Uh, I don’t fully tr-”

“Why do you trust any of us so much?” She continued, making me almost scared and mostly aroused at her slightly domineering tone, “I am the Queen of the Succubus. There are multiple of my minions-multiple monsters-my girlfriend openly attacked you as a party! Twice! Not to mention the oversized angelic pet you brought us!”

Her exasperated growls seemed to come from a genuine source of confusion, not helped when the queen stood up, abandoning Kazuma to the couch to loom over me on my chair. “Why?! You are the leader of a harem of such massively ‘evil’ proportions, you threaten to overtake the Demon King himself! Yet you, an adventurer who should be slaying all of us on sight, gave us jobs, economic benefits, identities, all for… what?! Why?! Who are you?!”

“I… I…” I stammered, not knowing how to respond to her with the way my blushing mouth simply flapped away, “I… d-did it all for Kazuma?”

The towering inferno of jiggly rage glared at me for a few more moments, then turned back with her scary wings towards my boyfriend. “It is true that he is a special one. And much more accepting of putting that magnificent cock in any hole he deems sexy, regardless of race or species.” She summed him up pretty well there. The napping stud managed to satisfy two demons and an angel just with cock size alone. “But it fails to account for everything. His safety surely still matters to you, yet both Sylvia and Divane remain on your harem’s list. And now you threaten it further by accepting the word of a Demon King’s Daughter. Are you sure this is the only reason for your actions?”

“I…” I wanted to try and brush away the issue again, but knew that this was important for Xara. I had to take a breath and really think about my answer.

“I…really didn’t do it for any special reason.”

“...huh.” said Xara, “I really thought you were building up to something more substantial there.”

“Me too,” I laughed a little with her, “But it’s the truth. I shouldn’t be heralded as some bastion of honour, ever, but especially for this. It really did start as a way to make Kazuma happy that became whims of my own once I got to know everyone. It’s hard not to want the best for another when you’ve had their snake tongue wriggling down your throat.”

“So Musume is, what, just another whim?”

With a shrug I couldn’t lie, “Basically, yes. Can’t you imagine Kazuma taking his massive cock and making the strongest woman in the world mewl to his-?!” I stopped myself before going on a massive rant, even if Xara clearly enjoyed it whenever I did. “B-B-B-But also! When I met her face to face in prison, I kept thinking about if it was Sylvia, Wiz, or you behind those bars. I would have wanted to give you all a chance to be free too.”

After an introspective flap of her wings, Xara nodded at me. “Thank you, Darkness. I appreciate your insight. Though I do wish there was more of an adamantine answer from our leader on the Musume situation… after hearing you speak about it, I will perhaps rest easier in your trust of the daughter.”

“Oh… I-I’m no leader. Kazuma-”

“Is certainly smart, but your compassion clearly runs deeper than even you realise. One does not simply open their home and lives to others on ‘whims’ so easily without being a thoroughly incredible person. I can see why Kazuma chose you now.”

Well, unfortunately, she’s wrong. If she knew about the earrings and what I’ve done with them, no one would ever think of me as anything but pond scum (and I’m also sad to say the thought does make me slightly wet). “He chose us both. The paladin girlfriend and the succubus wife.”

She nodded with a smile, “Though the banner we fly under may be just a large human phallus, I can’t say I’m angry with the results. Apologies for the confrontation. Perhaps I’m just jealous you’ve made more progress than me in my years to co-exist with humanity.”

“S-sorry.”

“Don’t be, I truly appreciate it.” We shared a moment of mutual understanding before one of us ruined it, and for once it wasn’t me. “Though I also enjoy confronting you more than others due to the waves of sexual thrill you get from the encounter.”

My mouth flapped around as quickly as my face turned red, “I-but-you-!”

Before I could mount a real defence, Xara scooped me up from the chair and began taking me over to our shared muse, “Now, what say we get in on this naptime cumshot and let our shared lover truly wake up to a special scene?”

Well, who was I to deny him his prize?

Sorry for the delay for those still reading. Hopefully shall be more regular updates for at least a little bit.