The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?!

When Kanade had woken up this morning, Suvee was covered in cold sweat and coughing intensely beside her. No amount of healing would help her. She casted magic until her mana went dry. Gretchen eventually came by to check on them. Right now, Kanade watched with bated breath as Gretchen and a castle doctor checked on her little sister.

"Is Suvee going to be okay?" Kanade asked worriedly from the bedside.

"Yes, she will." The human doctor pulled back and nodded. "It appears to be a respiratory illness. Not to worry, little one. Suvee here is a strong girl! She will be just fine after a few days of rest."

"Not a few days. Heal her now," she demanded.

Gretchen kneeled down in front of her. "Kanade, this isn't a magical illness. It cannot be healed away like an injury. Suvee likely overexerted herself during training and caught a bug. That just means she needs to rest to compensate."

In the end, Suvee was still sick. Before leaving, the doctor gave her a tonic that soothed the coughing. She looked to be in a lot less pain, but Kanade still didn't like it. There had to be something that could take her sickness away.

"Uuugh… My throat and chest feels itchy, and I feel so dizzy." Suvee groaned, pulling the covers up to her nose.

"You overexerted yourself, dummy." Kanade climbed onto bed and poked Suvee's forehead.

Her dewy eyes opened slightlly. "But I wanted to catch up to you. It's not fair that your crowned and I'm not… We're supposed to… be… together always… zz…"

Suvee fell asleep. Her breathing was a lot steadier now, but Kanade couldn't help but be worried.

"It's for the best," Gretchen said. "A child shouldn't be training four to six hours a day, but I am impressed by Suvee's tenacity. I'll have the cooks make something warm and hearty for when she wakes up. Why don't you stay here with her until then?"

Kanade nodded.

After Gretchen left the room, Kanade remained at Suvee's side and watched her sleeping face. Occasionally, her little sister would giggle. It must be a nice dream. Kanade tapped her nose, causing her to heave a sneeze. A bit of snot oozed from her nostrils, so Kanade went to fetch a tissue to wipe away.

However, staying still and doing nothing was… stupid. As princess of the Commonwealth of Sin, Kanade had a duty to protect it. As the bigger sister, she had a duty to protect Suvee. She glanced around the room for something to distract herself with. Nothing. 

Kanade sighed and threw on a cloak, grabbed a few coins from the drawers and the wooden sword, but stopped outside the room. She returned inside. One after another, she hoisted the giant dire teddy bears Nelly had won for them during Arum Taum onto bed. It looked kind of funny with Suvee sandwiched between two big toys, but at least her little sister wouldn't be lonely.

With a clear conscious, Kanade made her way outside. The sound of patrolling castle guards approached from around the corner.

"Oh, Princess Kanade!" One guard smiled.

"Hey, wait a sec. Gretchen asked us to keep watch over you and Princess Suvee. Where are you headed, Princess?" the other asked.

"To find a cure for Suvee in the city," Kanade stated flatly.

The guards exchanged uneasy looks.

"I'm sorry, Princess. We can't just let you wander outside. Gretchen will have our heads on a— urk!" He froze up as soon as Kanade compelled a charm on him.

"Oh, no." The other realized what happened and panicked. "Princess, please don't—" She also stiffened up from a charm.

"If Gretchen asks about me, tell her I went to take care of Avon since Suvee can't," Kanade ordered them.

"Yes, Princess." They saluted her and went to stand guard in front of the bedroom.

Good. But just so Kanade didn't run into more guards, she leaped out the nearby window and flew to the stables. Avon was inside a neat stall. His head poked out to eat from a feeding trough. When they saw each other, he clopped around excitedly in circles. But without Suvee around, that joy soon waned.

"Suvee's sick, Avon. We're going to help make her better. Come on." Kanade opened the stall and saddled the Vantaean.

Together, they rode out into the city. When a few guards outside spotted Kanade, she lifted a finger up to her lips and shushed them. They turned to each other confused but didn't give chase. Avon had grown bigger. She still remembered how small he was when Uncle Grell gifted him to Suvee. If only she was as big as him, or Teana and the others. Being small, no one took her seriously. Mom… used to take her seriously, but now she was gone.

Kanade sucked in a deep breath to recompose herself. Now wasn't the time to be sad. There was a war going on, and she had to be strong. She tugged on the reins and guided Avon to Rosaline's atelier.

"Stay here. I'll be right back." Kanade tied Avon's lead to a fence post and patted him on the head before going inside.

The bell above the door dinged, but no one came out to the front.

"Just a moment!" Rosaline shouted from the back. "Aisha, grab the catalysts!"

"What catalysts? Where? You never fucking organize the place!" Aisha argued.

"It's on the net! Grab it quickly before the mixture—"

An explosion rocked the entire atelier. Bottles and vials on the shelves clinked together. White smoke billowed out from the door. Kanade ignored them and flew around inspecting the array of potions and elixirs. They were all labeled, but she couldn't find the healing potion. An antidote would be fine, too. Unfortunately, there were too many to mull over.

Sighing, Kanade went behind the counter and opened the back door. Rosaline and Aisha were lying on the ground. A shelf had fallen on top of them. They were covered in soot and drenched in some kind of liquid. She tried to cast heal on them, but no magic came out.

Healing Suvee earlier sapped all of Kanade's magic. She returned to the atelier floor to search for a mana potion. One sat on the front shelves facing the shop's entrance. When Kanade tipped the potion into her mouth, the bitter taste almost made her spit it out. 

"Blegh…" Kanade forced it down, but felt a surge of mana returning.

That should do it. She returned to the back to cast Heal on Rosaline and Aisha. Their eyes snapped open to each other first.

"I hate you so much. If I die before so much as producing a single offspring with Will, I'm coming back to haunt you." Aisha growled.

"The explosion happened because we didn't put the catalyst in fast enough! We must be faster, pupil!" Rosaline exclaimed.

They went back to arguing, not realizing who had saved them. It wasn't until Kanade cleared her throat did the two notice.

"Kanade?" Aisha gasped. "What are you doing out of the castle? Does Gretchen know you're here?"

Kanade shook her head.

"It is always a pleasure to service a spawn of Kanae! How may I help you?" Rosaline asked, slithering out of the debris and brushing her coat.

"I need a potion and antidote to heal Suvee. She's sick," Kanade said.

The three of them took it out on the main floor of the atelier, where Kanade proceeded to explain what happened to Suvee and what had been done for her so far.

"I see, I see." Rosaline nodded. "Unfortunately, the doctor is correct. Straining oneself weakens the body's natural defenses. Suvee will need to recover on her own. I will, however, sell you a healing potion and antidote. Who knows, it may very well help!"

"I can come by to take a look at her. I've made my fair share of poultices and ointments. Won't heal away an illness, but she can sleep a lot better. Maybe even get her to start walking around. But I can't leave the atelier until I'm off work in the evening. This idiot will blow up the place otherwise, and we won't have a potion shop tomorrow." Aisha thumbed over to Rosaline and rolled her eyes.

"Okay." Kanade relented on the help.

While Aisha went to clean the mess in the back, Rosaline fetched two potions. The front counter was tall enough that Kanade could only peek over with the upper half of her head. She fished around her pocket for the coins, then plopped them down on the tray. The lamia stared for a moment.

"Hmm. Tell you what? I'll put it on your mom's tab. Keep the coins and the potions, Kanade. Good health to you and your sister!" Rosaline pushed the tray back with the potions.

Kanade felt a little guilty, but she didn't want to waste their charity. She thanked them and bowed like her moms taught when shown kindness, then went back to tell Avon the good news.

"Look, we have potions now." Kanade showed the two vials to Avon, and he gave each of them a lick. Now there was horse slobber all over the glass. "Gross. I'll just tell Suvee this was your way saying 'get better soon'."

After climbing onto Avon to head back to the castle, Kanade spotted several harpies and succubi flying to the city barracks at breakneck speeds. They looked to be in a hurry. She considered hurrying, too, but the Rosaline, Gretchen, and the doctor's words echoed in the back of her mind. A healing potion wasn't going to cure Suvee…

"Is it that… Kanade? Kanade!"

Kanade followed the voice calling her name to Shatiel. She was joined by Jannie. They were Mom's friends.

"Huh. Aren't you always with Suvee and Gretchen? What are you doing out here by yourself?" Jannie asked.

"Suvee's sick, so I went to buy potions for her." Kanade lifted the horse-slobbered vials up to them much to their disgust.

They stopped by a bench to rest to hear her out, and Jannie wiped the potions clean in a fountain in the meantime. 

"Awww, you're such a great big sister!" Shatiel pinched Kanade's cheeks and smiled. "But does Gretchen know you're out here? It's not safe to be wandering about alone."

"I'm big enough. I'm a Crusader, and everyone says I'm special." Kanade pumped her fists.

Jannie returned the sparkly clean potions. "You are special. So is Talis. But even Talis desperately needs our help sometimes. You don't need to do things on your own. It's always better to have someone by your side. That's why you're going out of your way to help Suvee, right? You want her up and by your side again."

Kanade nodded slowly and pursed her lips.

"You know what will really make Suvee happy?" Shatiel asked.

"What?" Kanade looked up expectantly.

"Her favorite food! What does she like? Jannie and I will go with you," she suggested.

Ice cream… Suvee really liked ice cream because it was so sweet. But something like that was going to melt before she got back to the castle.

"Candy then," Kanade said.

The two chaperones accompanied Kanade into the city market square. A confectionery store run by an older beastmen couple sold all kinds of candy. They recognized her right away and tried to offer her anything free of charge. She declined the charity this time, paying them with the gold Rosaline had refused earlier and bought as much candy as the few coins could. Kanade was certain the couple must have tossed in a couple of freebies. The hefty bag was filled with an array of hard candy, chocolates, caramel blocks, and more.

"It's okay to treat yourself to a piece. We won't tell anyone," Shatiel promised.

Although Kanade's mouth watered at the sight of the many sweets, she ultimately shook her head.

"I'll wait for Suvee, so we'll eat them together," Kanade said.

"Alright, let's get you back before Gretchen launches a search party." Jannie helped her onto Avon when something exploded from a distance.

Kanade thought it came from Rosaline's atelier, and maybe they messed up again, but a second defeaning blast boomed again, and again, and again. People started frantically running and screaming back to their homes, and armed soldiers and guards raced to the source of the explosion. She spotted a familiar goblin man from the crowds, one of Mom's husbands, Uncle Mitty.

"K-Kanade?" Mitty gasped.

"Mitty, what's happening?!" Shatiel asked frightfully.

"A big army… Ortesia! I'll go warn the adventurer hall… Can you two get Kanade back to the castle and tell Gretcheen?" he asked.

Kanade watched as Mitty sprinted off. Meanwhile, Shatiel and Jannie led them back to the castle in a hurry. Smoke rose into the sky all across the city, and fire spread from roof to roof like wildfire. Giant boulders soared over head, destroying scores of buildings upon landing. One was hurling right for them when it came to an abrupt stop.

"That was a little too close for comfort." Lynn Alton, a friend of Mom's and a newly-turned succubus, descended from the castle and telekinetically moved the boulder out of the way.

"By the Suprem One, where were you? I was worried sick!" Gretchen rushed out and hugged her.

"Sorry…" Kanade apologized.

"We ran into Mitty. He said the Ortesians are attacking with an enormous force!" Shatiel warned.

Gretchen didn't look surprised. Her eyes did shut for a moment though.

"So I've seen from the sky. Lynn, take Kanade inside. If things look bad, take her and Suvee away. Fly far from here to Talahurah and don't stop. Shatiel and Jannie, with me. We're going to regroup with the Sisters of Sin and First Sister Lilith at the church," Gretchen said.

"You're going to fight?" Kanade grabbed ahold of Gretchen's robe before she could leave.

"I'm going to win." She hugged her again, but much more tightly. "You and Suvee like my own daughters. I curse myself every single day for what I used to be, but not once have I ever regretted coming to love you two."

Kanade returned the embrace and squeezed. When they finally parted, Lynn brought Avon back to the stables first. They flew up to the bedroom, because the castle halls were bustling with guards racing coming and going in haste.

"I'm going to check on the teleportation circle. If your mother has completed it on the other side, it should activate, and we could transport you to safety," Lynn said before running off.

A commotion echoed from down the hall. Kanade gripped the wooden sword and followed the sound into the library. Piles of books were on fire. Shelves had been knocked down. Scorched from head to toe, Lynn was facing down the Viviren mage.

"You've turned your back on the empire, traitor!" the mage yelled, only to wince and press a hand to her head. "When I tell everyone, your house will be expunged from the history books."

"They won't find out from you, Jennibelle!" Lynn fired a spell, but the mage redirected it back to her. The blast slammed her against the wall.

The Viviren mage was about to finish her until Kanade charged the high elf with the tip of the sword.

"What the—"

"Smite!" Kanade called forth a powerful force of holy energy that knocked Jennibelle out cold. With the mage defeated, she sprinted over to Lynn to administer healing magic.

"I'm sorry, Kanade… I'm new to being a succubus. Jennibelle broke free from my control and destroyed the circle." Lynn grabbed her hand to stop the healing from continuing. "Save your energy. Get Suvee… Get on Avon and ride out of here while you still can."

Kanade nodded and pressed the healing potion Rosaline had given her into Lynn's hands. She hurried back to the bedroom. Despite the chaos all around them, Suvee was still sound asleep. The city was under attack, but the most precious thing in the world to her was lying in bed right now. If the fighting got closer, and Suvee got hurt…

There was no way they could escape. At this rate, the city that their moms had built… the place that reminded Kanade of her mom, would go up in flames. She had only one option. She placed the bag of candy on the nightstand beside her sister.

"I'll be back," Kanade promised.

Flying outside, she saw the fighting getting closer. Pockets of battlle were all over the city. Rising smoke had blotted out the sun and painted the clouds gray.

Below, one particular fight caught Kanade's attention. A lone high elven knight stood her ground against Gretchen in full Holy Armament gear. Shatiel, Jannie, Tess, Lapis, Lilith, Manabe, adventurers, and more littered the ground, all of them unconscious or too hurt to fight. Who was it that was so strong? And how could Kanade grow to be as strong as them?

"Petyr, you must be out of your mind to attack Ehmvier outright!" Gretchen yelled.

"Out of my mind? Can you blame me? I've been out here FOR MONTHS without a proper bath and massage. In fact, I should go to Rudura again after this. Kanae introduced that place to me, you know? Then she attacked me there! The one time I trust a succubus—"

"Supreme One's beard, you talk too much. I rather enjoyed when you were muzzled. What happened?" she asked.

"I got tired of the leash around my neck, so I loosened it. Come at me, you bitch. Let's spar old time's sake!" The knight Gretchen had called Petyr splashed the warhammer into her chest, and she collapsed.

Holy Armament started fizzling out. Pieces of armor broke off Gretchen. She dropped to her knees, but refused to go down completely.

"I'm not… letting you get any… farther than this…" Gretchen stretched her arms out to the side to block the knight.

"You're enthralled by Kanae, right? It's like a much more powerful charm, but I wonder if anyone's tried to just beat it out of you." Petyr lifted the warhammer above her head. "This is for all those essays you made me write after classes!"

"Stop!" Kanade flew in with every intention to parry the attack, but the hammer came inches away from connecting.

Everyone was stunned. Behind the helmet, the knight's eyes were snapped wide open.

"Kanade, no…" Gretchen fell backwards and passed out.

"You're really real." The knight named Petyr gasped. "The high elven succubus. Kanae's daughter. I've been looking for you."

"Then as Princess of the Commonwealth of Sin, I have an offer for you: stop attacking this city, and I'll go with you," Kanade said.

Petyr erupted into such hearty laughter, she needed to pull the helmet off. This high elven woman was a giant. She looked nothing like Mom, and it almost disappointed Kanade.

"You're very brave, aren't you?" Petyr asked genuinely, but her eyes were suddenly drawn to something behind Kanade.

"Stay away… from her, you monster…" a weak voice called out.

"Suvee?" Kanade whipped around and a lump lodged in her throat.

Suvee rode in on Avon. She could barely stay on top of him, yet had the wooden sword and wooden buckler in hand. Suvee slipped trying to dismount from him, and Kanade hurried over to catch her sister.

"And that must be the other daughter. Which makes you two Kanade and Suvee," Petyr said thoughtfully. She beckoned over an Ortesian mage, who incanted a spell that created a thin pane of water from which a goateed high elven man's face shown.

"This had better be good, Lord-Major." The voice was haughty and full of self-loving pride.

"I've found Kanae's daughters and Gretchen Redbaron," she reported curtly.

"Truly? That's wonderful news! Good work, Lord-Major Stormcloud. I knew you were capable! Now, be a good dog and bring them to me. Oh, and level the city before you continue east. The Rook of Rotandrix has completed the destruction of Talahurah's kh'shanti, and Aidenhall should be crippled for the time—"

"No," Petyr said.

"Excuse me?"

"I made a deal with the princess of the Commonwealth, Kanade Toyomi. We have what we came for. We're pulling back from Ehmvier. She may be a succubus, but words exchanged between high elven nobility means something," the lady knight snarled.

If rage could be personified, the face on that man was it. His eyes twitched. His teeth grinded. He leaned in so close to the pane, Kanade thought he would come through it.

"The city is named after an exiled house. They are a stain on Ortesian history. Lord-Major Petyr Stormcloud, destroy the city or there will be consequences!" he yelled.

Petyr punched the mage in the face, knocking him and the spell out. The man disappeared, too. Her warhammer transformed into a bow, and she fired three shots into the sky like they were reverse lightning strikes. All at once, the sounds of fighting seemed to stop. Nearby Ortesian mages stopped razing the city.

"I've just signalled for my forces to retreat." Petyr hoisted the unconscious Gretchen onto her shoulder, then extended a hand to Kanade and Suvee. "Let's be off, your highnesses. Don't even think about flying away." She levitated off the ground to show them. "You won't get very far, and we had a deal after all."

Kanade hesitated at first but eventually helped Suvee back onto Avon. She grabbed the lead and followed after the knight.

"I'm sorry, Kanade… did I mess up?" Suvee asked weakly.

"No." Kanade shook her head. "But don't worry. I'll protect you. No matter what."