Both Lord Charron and Grand Eye Analise gave Kanae permission to bring Roshasha. In fact, they sounded eager to have her out of Aidenhall. Even if it was for a short while. The team consisted of Petyr, Arenade, Wendy Ironspear and three Lights, and Roshasha. By all accounts, they were one of the worst combinations possible: a bunch of high elves and a demon rhyleth, freshly released from prison.

However, Kanae wouldn't have wanted anyone else in case things went awry with Roshasha. Petyr and Arenade were juggernauts in their own right, and the Lights of Ehmvier weren't to be underestimated either.

"Did you know, pegasi are a delicacy when eaten raw? Have you tried?" Roshasha asked one of the shaking Lights, whose pegasus she was riding on the back of.

"Don't eat their mounts. Also, quit harassing the Lights. They aren't the high elves who are enemies," Kanae said.

"No?" She cocked her head. "I thought we were taking these guys out to execute! Charron made it very clear when we first met how much he hated high elves. You should've seen him. Hahaha! The lengths he went to obtain power made me blush!"

"What lengths?" Arenade, having caught wind of the conversation, chimed in.

Unfortunately, Roshasha was feeling mischievous. She zipped her mouth shut and pretended not to know. And Arenade, being the kind of woman to always get what she wants, looked like she was about to throw a fit. This time, to Kanae's surprise, she restrained herself.

Come to think of it, Roshasha might be the closest thing to Charron's past that Arenade could get. Her, or the high elves like Wendy Ironspear who descended from her vassals.

The address that Gretchen had charmed out of the captured Ortesian pointed to an abandoned village southwest of Radevic, deep in the vast and flat plains. Grand Eye Analise called it Remis when Kanae had brought it up to her. It used to be a mill farm, servicing the many other villages around it that grew wheat. Over time, a much larger milling village opened up closer to the Imperial Span, and the wheat farms started taking their bushels there instead.

They arrived some ways away from Remis so as to avoid being detected. From the cover of a small cluster of trees, they were able to make out the many tall unmoving windmills in the distance.

"Okay, team. We don't know how many Ortesians are in Remis, but we do know it's being used as an outpost. They could have set up a trap. Not all of the Ortesians might even be in there. Let's go with the sneaky approach," Kanae said, then glanced around to find that Roshasha was missing. "I feel like I'm going to regret this… but where's the rhyleth?"

"Take a guess." Petyr gazed in the direction of the village.

Everyone turned to look. Roshasha raced in while laughing like a maniac. She took a chunk out of the closest windmill with a single punch, and it began to collapse. People began to scream from within.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are! Hahaha!" Roshasha cackled as she went from windmill to windmill.

"MY LEG!"

"What's a rhyleth doing here?!"

"Supreme One's ass, if Roshasha kills them all, we won't be able to question anyone!" Arenade exclaimed.

Even with the Debilitating Band, the rhyleth was still a monstrous force to be reckoned with. Kanae understood that STR, INT, DEX only affected their skills and spells, but… it wasn't looking like she was weakened all that much!

"Subdue and capture any Ortesian you find, and heal any that Roshasha's mortally wounded! Petyr, can you take care of the rampaging demon?" Kanae asked.

"It would be my fucking pleasure." Petyr cracked her neck and knuckles, then drew the new warhammer Rog had forged with felmetal. The weapon inherited the crimson striations from the ore, but only subtly. Gold accents, because of course a high elf needed their favorite color on it, ran down the length of the shaft. Its head was a thick block of metal on each side. She charged the hammer with a Smite and it didn't look to be on the verge of cracking.

If there was one thing Kanae could count on, it was Petyr's rage. Getting beaten to a pulp by Roshasha during her subjugation probably left a sore grudge that needed some ironing out. That being, of the violent variety.

Arenade flew in on Holy Armament-granted wings and casted Healing Aurora across the ones injured under rubble. Wendy Ironspear and her Lights rounded them up to put in chains before they could fight back. As for Petyr, she casually walked up to Roshasha and smashed her over the head with a devastating Smite. The rhyleth hit the ground in an explosion of holy energies.

"What now, bitch? Try taunting me now!" Petyr yelled.

"I DIDN'T SAY TO ANTAGONIZE HER!" Kanae exclaimed.

Too late. Roshasha took it as an invitation for a fight. She jumped Petyr, and both of them were in a full on brawl. Luckily for them, it wasn't as one-sided as before.

Kanae considered jumping in until she spotted high elves making a break for the fields. In one quick burst of speed, she was on top of the trio. One of them fired a bolt of magic, but Kanae countered with Dispel. She landed ahead of them and tried to exert Charm, but her signature succubus spell didn't connect. Damn. They must still have a cache of reversal potions somewhere.

"The hard way it is then." Kanae flourished her whip, cracking it on the ground.

"Wait, we have a secret weapon!" one elf said.

What could they possibly have—

The other two pulled out a minotaur dildo from a large sack and flung it at Kanae. She watched it fall to the ground, rolling up to her feet.

"Is this a joke?!" Kanae kicked the dildo back to them and hit one in the face.

"Hey, it's not working… I thought a horny succubus would fall head over heels for this stuff?" an Ortesian knight whispered to his companion.

"Beats me. Maybe this one prefers a different species of penis?" she asked.

Kanae clenched her whip angrily. She switched on Sadist and struck the three of them, leaving the Ortesians in a bout of quivering climaxes with Turn Horny-infused attacks. Since when did they start thinking she was just a sex-obsessed fool? Well… she was, but who in their right mind threw dildos at an enemy thinking it would work?!

"K-Kanae! A little help here?" Arenade shouted from within Remis.

When Kanae returned to the village, numerous high elves had been rounded up and restrained. A problem still remained. Arenade was in a full suit of Holy Armament armor, barely holding Petyr back. Meanwhile, Wendy and her Lights pulled against Roshasha in an attempt to keep them apart.

"Let me at the demon! I'll make sure her race goes extinct for good this time!" Petyr roared.

"Ahaha! You couldn't kill me even if you tried! Loser~ Loser~ You're just a succubus' lapdog!" Roshasha stuck a tongue out at her.

"Stop fighting, or I'm putting you both to sleep! I have the spell for it, too!" Kanae warned.

Both of them settled down, just enough not to claw at each other's throat though. They were about to question the Ortesians when someone emerged from a ramshackle house. A high elven mage was holding an older human couple hostage, his wand ready to let loose a spell at a moment's notice.

"Don't any of you move or they get burned to a crisp!" he shouted.

"What's the point? I'm a priest. I'll just heal them back to shape if you hurt them." Arenade folded her arms.

The tip of the wand ignited to the strength of an inferno. Kanae and her companions would survive the initial blast no problem. That poor old couple, on the other hand…

"You just had to open your mouth…" Kanae muttered.

"Nnh… Curse this big mouth of mine!" Arenade chewed on her thumb.

"Is this what the empire has been reduced to doing?" Petyr asked, taking a step forward. "DeSalle and Pyrelle really fucked Ortesia if this is all you can muster. Taking hostages to get their way? Tch!"

You're one to talk, Kanae and Arenade wanted to retort.

"And what would you know, traitor? The Empire of Ortesia would have been at the top of the world if you hadn't turned your back on us! You! You're high elves, too. Why are you siding with them?" the Ortesian asked the Lights.

"Our fealty is to Arenade Brightwind. There was a time I would have taken your side, but I've since seen the errors of my way. You fight for an empire built on arrogance and misery. I fight for one built on kindness… though they are sometimes incredibly perverse and d-depraved…" Wendy trailed off, unable to finish the rest of her sentence.

"You could have stopped at kindness!" Arenade retorted.

"Talk, talk, talk. It's all because you guys talk so much that you don't get anything done!" Roshasha broke free from Wendy's hold and shot up to the mage in an instant, but he set off the spell in panic.

At that split second, a small and impossibly pitch black orb opened above them. As the mage's fiery blast burst outward, it redirected up into the hole instead and never reached the couple. Kanae's heart had almost jumped out of her chest. Whatever the orb was just sucked up the entire spell. The mage, whose eyes were squeezed shut expecting to take the explosion point-blank, slowly opened them to find that everyone was okay.

Without another word, Roshasha pounced on him, and they rolled away from the couple. Arenade ordered the Lights to grab them. In the meantime, Kanae, Arenade, and Petyr hurried over to the rhyleth, who was beating the crap out of the mage.

"Roshasha, that's enough! He's already half-dead!" Kanae pulled her off with Arenade's help.

"Then we're half-way there!" Roshasha cackled.

"That was way too close of a call! What the hells kind of spell did you just use?" Arenade asked.

"Huh? Oh, that was Black Hole! Hehe. I'm crowned an Astromancer. Means I wield the power of celestial force in my hand. Wanna see another spell?" she asked.

"No!" everyone yelled.

They had seen enough during the fight in the prison. But an Astromancer? That explained her other spell, too. Singularity, was it? Who knew what else Roshasha had in her arsenal.

Fortunately for them, this Ortesian cell was already weak and didn't put up much of a fight. They were prepared to deal with a small force from Radevic, not Roshasha. After applying a small amount of pressure, they confessed to planning an attack during the wedding, as Arenade had expected. Kanae was going to have to thank Gretchen, otherwise she would have had to deal with an angry high elven bride.

"Kanae, are these really the Ortesians I… I killed Arenade to get back to?" Wendy pulled her aside to ask.

"They are. Also, how many times do I have to tell you, Arenade's death isn't on you. It was on Seer Yesenia, and I already made her pay. She's probably still paying for it now given where I tossed her into," Kanae explained.

"Still, I had a hand in it. I'm glad you two came when you did. Serving Arenade feels right. One day, when I have children of my own, I'm going to name my first daughter after her!" She beamed.

Kanae pointed excitedly to herself. "How about me? Am I important enough to you to name a child after?"

Wendy returned to her unit without giving an answer, leaving Kanae to sulk. Well, she couldn't blame a high elf for not wanting to name their child after a succubus. Maybe more people would if she achieved Deification.

They turned the Ortesians in to a garrison stationed near the Imperial Span, then headed back to Radevic as night fell. When they got back, Arenade wouldn't leave Roshasha alone until she forked over something about Lord Charron. The rhyleth was having fun stringing her along with tidbits and trivia, but nothing substantial.

"Arenade, what are you even hoping to learn anyway?" Kanae asked during dinner in the main hall.

"I-I don't know, to be honest. Look, I could care less if Charron actually exacts his revenge on Ortesia. I'm over the empire. I just… I think if he… There's a whole lot more productive things to do than topple an empire, alright?" Arenade complained.

"Ahh, forget it. Charron ain't giving up. I'd know. I was there when he made that vow. You should've seen him back then! Cheeks as gaunt as skeletons, couldn't so much as stand, and filled with more anger than I could even a rhyleth can muster! Hahaha! The brat had one thing on his mind, and that was to grind the Empire of Ortesia into dust. I liked the sound of that, so I groomed him to become my successor," Roshasha said, legs swinging back and forth as she drifted down to memory lane.

"You! You were the one who turned him into a demon then!" She balled up a fist in the rhyleth's face.

"Well, yeah and no. I helped him, but he was the one who set everything into motion. We had a talking book with us back then, too. Forgot his name, but he was something-something Gluttony…"

"Chappy!" Kanae interjected.

Roshasha snapped her finger. "Yeah, that's it!"

Actually, that tracked. Chappy was a living grimoire with thousands of years of recorded knowledge. He was also acquainted with Lord Charron, and they were friends before Lanil Hammerthorn took possession of him. Too bad that perverted book wasn't going to give anything up without a degenerate helping of fucking first.

Night had draped across the horizon, and Kanae kicked Roshasha back to Lord Charron. Satisfied after a day of fighting, she was actually willing to leave. Thank goodness. Kanae escorted Arenade back to the manor in Brighton, not that the high elf needed it.

"You're actually worried about your brother, aren't you?" Kanae teased.

"Huh? Puh-lease. Who would be worried for the demon lord of Artaggon? If Charron eats shit tomorrow morning, I'll be first in line to laugh at him," Arenade said.

"You keep saying that, but I keep hearing differently. You don't want him to keep going down the path of revenge. I get it. He's been at this for a thousand years, ever since Ortesia ex-communicated your house," she explained, practically reading her wife-to-be's mind.

Arenade whirled around and was pouting. Kanae thought she was going to get a verbal lashing, but the elf's demeanor became awash with exhaustion.

"I got lucky with you. Charron, he isn't so lucky. We've seen people break because of revenge. You saw those Ortesians earlier! The empire doesn't care about grunts like them, but they're willing to throw their lives down anyway. Hells, revenge almost got the best of Edina during the Outriders fiasco way back when. That idiot brother of mine keeps putting up a face. He's got everyone including you fooled but not me, I know his usual facade! Charron needs to retire to the countryside or something and pass on in peace," Arenade explained and sighed at the end of it.

Was Lord Charron really that hellbent on revenge? It didn't seem that way to Kanae. Sure, maybe his end goal was the fall of the Empire of Ortesia, and he had been very calculating about it from the start. There had to be more that they were missing.

They reached the door to the manor and embraced each other. Kanae kissed her future wife deeply. Arenade was surprisingly sweet and reciprocating this time around.

"Still got the pre-marriage jitters?" Kanae asked.

"Heh. Nope! What do you take me for? When I put my mind to something, I'll go through with it 100%!" Arenade flexed her flimsy right arm. "Would've been nice to have a honeymoon in Ortesia though. But we're enemies and all that now."

"You like baths, and Rudura's great this time of the year. Pretty sure they also fixed up the place by now," she said, recalling her ambush of Petyr during the war.

Arenade liked the sound of that. Rudura Village for their honeymoon then. The two embraced one more time before parting ways. Kanae watched as Arenade entered the manor, then—

"Mom, look what I can turn this into now!" Suvee could be heard saying from within.

"SUVEE, PUT THE HAMMER DOWN!" Arenade cried, followed by the crash and shattering of a vase.

Smiling, Kanae returned to Amethyst Hall excited for their wedding that was just around the corner.