Going over the effective procedures of running the Club the tenth time with Jena, Megan was glad to see the ottergirl finally get everything right. Since Megan was embarking on a expedition, she was expecting Jena to run the club while she was gone. While the club did not receive any customers due to the city lockdown, she got word from Beryl that the lockdown would only last a few more days.

Helen, her mother had been driving Megan up the wall all day yesterday. To begin with her mother had brought her appalling news that her cousin Leo had arranged a marriage for Megan. The most troubling part of it was that it was with an Empire Noble. They were utilizing this as a way to muzzle Megan, and get in the good graces of the Empire at the same time.

It was a muzzle for her. As since she was no mage, she would automatically be a second rate citizen in the empire even if she was married to a noble. Megan would not even gain a noble title from the political marriage and have very limited power. The only way she could gain a say is if she had a child well talented in magic.

Megan had been anticipating the arranged marriage ever since she got the heads up from the quest Jack had issued her, but did not think it was going to be this bad. Had it been any other Noble, from any other Kingdom, she would have secured effective ways to get out of it. The Empire on the other hand... was far more harder to deal with.

They only respected those with Magic, and if she tried to break off the ties, they would deem it as a grave insult. Which would be bad news for her and her family. While Megan did have trouble with some of her family, the rest she did enjoy, and they did not deserve the wrath of the empire down on them. She was also very unfamiliar with this Mark Diacasa they had engaged her to.

This was merely the first phase of the heated fight she had with Helen. The next phase started when Megan examined her mother and found to her surprise, that her mother was a Succubus! This instantly shattered the theory that Megan considered regarding why her father disliked her so much.

When she had confronter her mother on this, Helen started another screaming match with Megan, this time flat out denying that she was anything but human. Initially, she thought her mother was wholly unaware that she was a Succubus, then it became obvious that she was lying. Frustrated with her mother she had to take a break from her for a bit.

After the break, her mother admitted that they had a bit of non-human blood flowing through their veins. Her mother refused to speak more on the matter, saying that Megan was simply not ready to learn more. Tired of this, Megan spoke with Alexia and was excited to her the offer from Jack to join him on an expedition.

Not only could Megan use this as a break from her mother, she could use this as an opportunity to gain something to break the engagement with. If she got something incredibly valuable, she could trade it for the annulment of the engagement.

Thus, she spent most of the morning ensuring Jena was able to run the club. The ottergirl was excited to get the chance to manage the club. "Don't worry Mistress, this club will be in tip-top shape when you return." Jena said.

"Just follow the guidelings I gave you. If Baron Liefield comes by, let him know that I embarked on an expedition and I will be back in a few weeks."

"Yes Mistress."

Megan stood and went to her room to check on Alexia. When Alexia had returned from the Warehouse district, Megan was shocked at how much Alexia had changed. The tattoos across her skin had drawn Megan's eyes the most. She traced them last night with her fingers.

The experience getting them had apparently been quite unpleasant, as Alexia was resting most of the day yesterday. Though she did get pretty active last night, Megan smiled at the memory and entered her bedroom. She found Alexia standing at the window looking down at the courtyard.

Alexia turned and said "How did it go with Jena?"

"Good, She's extremely excited to manage the club. I think she will do a great job at it. How are you feeling?"

"Still a bit sore from yesterday, but I think you worked out most of the kinks last night." Alexia smiled.

Megan went to her, and took her face in her hands and kissed her tender lips. They stood for a bit like that, and Megan broke the kiss and said "I'm glad that your feeling better." Megan stared into Alexia's eyes. They were now strangely colored. If Megan looked close she could vaguely see strange runes in the colored parts.

"You ready for the expedition?" Alexia asked, and Megan nodded. Leaning forward, Alexia kissed Megan again and slipped in her tongue. Megan could feel the strange warmth coming from the stone in her tongue and she suckled on it for a bit.

Before they could do anything more, Jack sent a message to Megan saying "Hello Megan, I am currently on the way. I will meet up with you in a few minutes."

"Looks like Jack is on the way, we need to get downstairs and ready to go."

"Got it. Have you informed your mother yet?"

"No, It will just be another argument. Have you told yours?"

"Yeah, I've got her helping Jena with cleaning the rooms. Thank you again for allowing her to stay here. I know she is a bit of a handful at times."

"No problem."

They picked up the packs they needed for the expedition and placed them into their inventories. Then they headed outside to the courtyard. While they were walking out, Helen saw her daughter and said "Where are you going?"

"On an expedition, I'll be gone for a few weeks."

"No you are not. We still have stuff to discuss. We still need to set a date for you to meet your fiance and plan for the wedding!"

"I think not mother. Until you tell me the truth, I think I'm done speaking with you." Megan said annoyed and walked out into the backyard.

"Don't you walk away from me young lady! I'm not done speaking with you." Helen said angrily chasing down her daughter.

"You're not speaking to me, your ordering me about like I'm still a child."

"Maybe your still a child. You still act like one."

"You never tell me anything! Not why dad disliked me, or my heritage. I had to find out that I'm not a full human by signing a contract with a godlike being, not from my mother!"

"I've told you that you are not ready to learn about your blood."

"When will I be ready? When I'm an elderly woman?"

Just then a strange whooshing sound came, and a large blue window came down with three people on it and a large black ball. One of the people looked to be passed out, held up by a tall orc woman. The other man appeared to control the window and landed it in the middle of Megan's courtyard.

He looked back at the passed out Half-elf and said "Oh dear, I did say he should not look down." Turning back to Megan and Alexia, he said "Hello, I'm Jack. Much obliged for agreeing to come on this expedition of mine." Jack glanced at the both of them, Megan noticed he gave Alexia a odd glance.

Megan said, "It's nice to place a face to a disembodied voice."

"Ah yes, this is my Avatar form. My true form looks more like a ball to be honest. These three will also be accompanying us. This is Riley Scarlet, a warrior."

Riley greeted them while shaking the half-elf awake who popped awake cursing about falling from the sky. "Sorry Telvin, I was unaware that you are terrified of heights." Jack said trying to comfort the angry half-elf.

"What fear? You fly like a maniac and expect people to be okay with it?"

"Oh okay, I'll take care next time. Any way this is Telvin, a Ranger."

While they were talking the black ball unfurled into a large spider gripping a sword. "That spider is Inky, and the Sword is Princess Ritalassa, a summoner."

"Greetings compatriots." The Sword sprouted tentacles and bowed towards them.

While Jack was introducing them, Megan glanced at Alexia and saw that she was also staring at Jack with a confused expression. About to ask her what's wrong, Helen interrupted and said "So this is the one taking you away? We will see about that."

Startled, she looked over at her mother and realized that something felt odd about her mother. Like she was giving off some kind of aura. An uncomfortable smell began to flow off her, and she said "Tell me about this man."

"What are you doing mother? This is Jack, a system I have signed up with. Wait, are you doing what I think you are?"

"You wanted to know more about your heritage." Helen smirked at her daughter then walked up to Jack. "So you are the one who has been guiding my daughter about these days." Helen purred at Jack and pressed up against him.

Jack's face went pale, and he frowned. He forced Helen off him and backed up several feet replying "Yes I contracted with your daughter. I ask strongly that you cease what you are doing this instant."

"Why? You could contract with me if you want. I assure you. I'm still tight where it counts." Helen purred, and a surge of a strange aura poured off her.

With a growl of anger, Jack said "Leave at once. As you are the mother of one of my Users, I will overlook this."

Megan went forward and grabbed her mother "what the hell do you think you are doing."

Taking her back inside of the club, Megan said "What the hell was that?! You've been a prude for most of my life, and now your trying to seduce people in front of me?"

Helen snorted and said "You want to discover the truth about your heritage? You want to know when you will be ready. You won't ever be sweetie."

"Why is that?"

"It is the one thing you will under no circumstances perform. Have sex with a man. I was hoping that marrying you off to Mark would awaken that instinct in you, but now I see you love the taste of carpet to ever like the taste of a sweet cock. If you did, you would have smelt the lust coming of Jack just now."

"Fuck you. I'm done with this." Megan said angrily and exited.

When she exited, she saw Alexia talking with Jack; they looked like they were in a deep conversation. Jack looked up and spotted Megan, and said "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I apologize for my mothers behavior."

"I would like to say it's okay, but it categorically isn't. All I request is to keep her away from me." Jack said. He made the window a bit bigger to make room for them all. "I strongly recommend not looking down." Jack stood on the window, and the others followed on.

"I will take you to just outside Taras. We will be heading out on the expedition tomorrow, so make sure you get anything you need today."

Jack gradually raised the window, and Megan experienced the odd sensation of being lifted into the air. She looked down and saw the window was almost completely see through and watched the ground fly by under her. Looking up she saw Riley covering Telvins eyes and holding him close.

They flew for a good several minutes, and a massive city appeared. Megan could recognize it as Taras given the huge temple district visible from up here. Jack landed down in a field and said "I would have transported you directly into Taras, but I am obscuring my identity. Some questions would be raised if you just appear next to me. Therefore, you need to enter on foot."

Jack pulled out several bags and handed them out to them. Opening the bag Megan could see a few coins. "Use those to pay the entrance fee and pick up anything you require for the expedition. If you need anything else for the expedition let me know. Be aware, this is the only time I will be so generous. If you want more gold in the future, you will need to work for it."

Riley asked "Is there anyone else joining us?"

"Yeah, a paladin and a healer. I invite you to share dinner with me tonight, so we can meet and plan for the expedition. I am concealing my identity, so I will not aid you at all during this expedition. I am going to employ this as a test to note what I as a system is missing."

"WIll this expedition be a quest?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, I will deliver it to you after we get all the planning done. The primary goal will be for you to act as my bodyguards. Since the Lost City is blocked from my view, I am unable to specify exact rewards. If you need anything else, I will be at the inn."

The spider crawled over to Jack and attached itself to his back. At that point he waved farewell and jumped. It was for a extremely brief instant, but before he left, Megan smelled it. A deep sense of lust coming off him. Frowning at this she turned to the others and said "We should head in. The line to get in is probably lengthy."