Reborn as a Succubus: Time To Live My Best Life!-Chapter 248 : Loyalty, Part Six

"You met with Aria?"

Isabella nearly choked on her breakfast pastry. The morning after Melisa's talk, she and her friends were huddled in one of the academy courtyard's corners, early morning sun barely peeking through the clouds.

"Don't act so surprised," Melisa rolled her eyes. "She might be queen now but she's still the same Aria who helped us take down the Shadow Mages. Besides, someone had to do something about these attacks and, well, who better to go to than the ruler of Syux herself?"

"And?" Raven leaned forward. "What did she say?"

Melisa glanced around before lowering her voice.

"She wants to work together. Quietly, though. I mean, with everything that's going on, being too close to a nim would probably be a bad look to all the humans in the city."

"Politics," Isabella snorted. "You'd think saving the kingdom would earn you some public credit."

"Most of the kingdom don't even know they've been saved," Melisa replied. "The Shadow Mages didn't mess with many non-nims. But, anyway, speaking of politics..." Melisa's eyes drifted to Armia, who'd been pushing the same piece of fruit around her plate. "I tried, Armia. I really did."

"Shit." The darian girl's shoulders slumped. "She couldn't do anything about it?"

"She said if she tries to cancel your 'voluntary service', the nobles might try to kill her. Again."

That got everyone's attention.

"Again?" Raven's eyes narrowed. "How many times?"

"Multiple attempts," Melisa sighed. "All from her own court. Apparently throwing the Shadow Mages in prison just pissed off their noble friends."

"Shit." Isabella whistled. "And here I was thinking she just sat around the palace all day looking pretty."

"That's why she can't help you," Melisa reached for Armia's hand. "As sympathetic as she is to your situation, she thinks she needs to show the nobles her loyalty still lies with Syux."

"With the humans, you mean," Armia muttered.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

"... Yeah."

Armia didn't say anything to that. Neither did the others. As shitty as the situation felt, Melisa had a hard time criticizing Aria's decision, given recent events. Armia must have felt the same.

The morning bell cut through the tension. Students started filing into the academy.

[Great timing. As always.]

"We'll figure something out," Melisa stood up, brushing off her skirt. "Maybe if we can solve this nim situation first-"

"You mean, if we can stop your people from burning down houses before the humans send my people off to die? Sure, no pressure." Armia gave a bitter smile.

"Don't talk like that," Isabella bumped her shoulder. "Nobody's dying. Look," she leaned back where she sat, "although this problem is clearly growing in intensity, as long as we find the criminals and lock them up, we can probably lower tensions enough to prevent you from getting sent to fight... Right?"

Armia didn't say anything. Neither did Melisa.

[To be honest? I kinda don't see that happening.]

---

Class was torture.

Melisa stared at the chalkboard, not registering a single word Professor Hartley was saying about advanced fire magic. Her mind was elsewhere.

[If I'm gonna make this work, if I'm going to solve this little problem Syux has goin' on... I need a plan. A real one.]

For the last twenty minutes, she'd been pretending to take notes while actually sketching out possibilities. Most trains of thought lead nowhere, though.

[Can't exactly walk up to every nim I see and ask if they can kindly stop burning down houses and assaulting innocent humans. So, what do I do? How do I...?]

Her eyes drifted to the window. Outside, a group of human students were walking past. Some of them were probably nobles, if not all. Some probably had nim servants or workers of some kind, if not all.

Resting her head on her palm, Melisa slowly nodded to herself.

[Recon,] Melisa tapped her quill against the desk. [I need to figure out where they're meeting. Who's leading them. What they're talking about. All of that.]

That much seemed obvious. The problem, however, was her face.

At this point in her life, she wasn't exactly unknown anymore. Hell, she was probably a household name, even if not everyone knew what she looked like. The whole "first nim to use magic" thing had made sure of that, not to even begin to add on everything involving the crown.

But, even if not everyone knew, too many people did know what she looked like for Melisa to just walk around asking shit.

[Hmm... I could disguise myself somehow...]

The professor droned on about proper flame control during the use of Fire Magic. Meanwhile, Melisa's mind wandered to all the places nim gathered in the city. Most were too public, too obvious, but they clearly had some places they went to where they could avoid being seen by the normies of society.

Then it hit her.

[That bar Dad goes to!]

She sat up straighter. He'd talked about it. That bar where he saw the humans being hurt. Aside from that instance, her father had mentioned it other times as well, always noting the amount of nim there. A place where they could exist away from human eyes.

[A perfect place for angry nim to gather. And they wouldn't look twice at another purple girl in the crowd.]

The bell rang. Students started packing up their things.

"I've got an idea," Melisa announced as soon as they gathered for lunch.

"What is it?" Isabella asked, grinning.

"What's that face for?"

"I don't know. Just kinda have this feeling in my gut that you're gonna say something fun."

Shrugging, Melisa leaned in close.

"So, there's this nim bar in the lower district. Dad goes there sometimes after work. It's a private meeting place for nim specifically. If anyone knows anything about these attacks, they'll be there."

"And you think they won't recognize the most famous nim in the city?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

"That's the thing - I need a disguise."

Isabella's eyes lit up.

"Oh! I can help with that!"

"Really?"

"Kimiko likes to dye her hair sometimes. We can probably get you looking different enough."

[Hm... That actually doesn't sound half-bad.]

"Will you need someone else to come with you?" Raven asked. "I..."

"Raven, you're human," Melisa said with a smile. She appreciated the thought, but if anyone was going to come with her, it couldn't be her. "I'll think about it. Right now, though, I'm thinking this should be a solo venture."

"Hm... I understand," Raven acquiesced.

"We can still help you prepare in other ways, though. When do you want to do this?" Armia asked.

"Has to be soon," Melisa replied. "Who knows what else these people could do if I wait too long. But, that said, it doesn't have to be right now. I can take a bit of time preparing for it."