Your world has been sold to Devil God Yugmuswa.

A lottery will be held to determine which of the current tenants will be assigned a number.

Your number: 1

With a brief look around, I can tell everyone else in the cafe is shaken by the same thing I’m seeing. I sip my fresh coffee, smack my lips, and let out a sigh of satisfaction, then continue reading the odd, transparent notifications appearing.

The servants of Devil God Yugmuswa will take over mundane operations of this world.

Sure enough, a hole opens from the ground. A ram-horned, red-skinned, spike-tailed girl pops out of the ground and waves at everyone.

“Hello everyone, I’ll be helping out around here from now on. Please call me Kahirin.” She smiles brightly, showing off her shark-like teeth. She turns and looks at the current workers over the counter, “Congratulations!”

The two of them had numbers over their heads. A second look shows that not everyone in the cafe has a number. Curious.

The devil girl nods my way and gets back to making the rest of the orders, everyone else entirely stunned by the developments. Most everyone. I simply sip my coffee and keep reading the next strange, rectangular box that shows up.

All Numbered inhabitants will be required to participate in Devil God Yugmuswa’s gift to your world, the Towers of Abundance.

All Numbered inhabitants will become Players in a great game of entertainment for the Nine Heavens and Hells.

Congratulations to those lucky enough to be chosen!

The casual way in which this strange system reveals the existence of so many reality-shattering details both intrigues and amuses me. All around me, the general reaction of these revelations are playing out, but I pay them little mind.

Kahirin, the devilish girl now working behind the cafe’s counter, hums a tune as if this is just a normal Tuesday for her. Which, all things considered, it might be.

Another sip of my coffee, and I continue reading the next couple of info bombs.

All Numbered individuals are required to pay a weekly tax to Devil God Yugmuswa. The method to do so will only be done through World Coins, which can be found in the Towers of Abundance!

All Numberless will be assigned to a Numbered, who will be required to pay a weekly tax to Devil God Yugmuswa. Contact your local administrator or upgrade your status upgrade to contain the “Dependents and Upkeep” elements.

To show his kindness, Devil God Yugmuswa has given every Numbered an opportunity for greatness. An Existential Shop System has been implemented for the use of the Numbered. You can find the Existential Shop vendors at the beginning of each floor within the Tower of Abundance. Additionally, all Numbered will begin with ten credited World Coins!

Huh. For demons—no, devils to take over, this seems like one of the less awful ways for it to happen. I can’t help but wonder who owned Earth before Yugmuswa, but that’s not immediately pressing.

Standing, I go to a seat away from my usual table and sit, setting my coffee down, and clear my throat. “Excuse me, Kahirin, but could you spare a moment?”

Taking another drink and a creamy puff pastry, setting them down, and clapping her hands, she comes over to stand in front of where I sit. Her tail lifts up behind her, and she reaches both hands behind her to grab it, groaning as she stretches.

The face she makes as she stretches her busty chest forward is quite a sight that I immediately purge from my mind. Instead, I sip my coffee and wait. An entire stretching routine begins, in which she puts herself at quite exposing angles.

I am unaffected, though the rest of the cafe seems to have been mesmerized by her antics. Once done, she smiles again and nods.

“I’d love to, Mr…?”

“You can just call me Wyatt. I’m not old enough to be a mister.”

She nods. “Wyatt then. What might I be able to help you with?”

“First,” I thumb towards the others nearly drooling on themselves all throughout the cafe, “can you release whatever magic you used on them?” 

She pouted. 

“Please?”

Crossing her arms under her chest, she pouts but nods. Her horns seem to dim slightly, and I hear several gasps of relief from behind me. Curious, I watch as many of them stumble about, almost as if hungover. Confused and disoriented, they don’t even seem to realize what happened or where they are.

“Quite an ability,” I mutter, glad I didn’t need to worry about its effects. Then again, “Why didn’t it affect me?”

“Probably a high [Mental Fortitude] ability, if I were to guess. At least medium-grade, if not high.” She leaned over the counter and looked into my eyes as she bit her lip. Getting no reaction, she pouted more. “Maybe very high.”

“You seem disappointed that your ability didn’t work on me,” I state, taking the last sip of my morning coffee.

She takes it from me, turning around and leaning forward to place it at the bottom of the tall trash bin. For whatever reason, she’s decided to wear a very short skirt. I lean on my propped elbow and look out the cafe’s windows, seeing people frantically running around in a panic.

I hear her grumble somewhat before returning to her position across the counter.

“As a succubus, I take great pride in my [Charm Mastery], so to have a human who hasn’t even stepped foot in the Tower of Abundance to resist… It’s a bit hurtful to my devilish pride,” Kahirin says before turning to the slowly orienting guests. “Please pick up your orders before you leave! There will be no refunds.” She turns to me. “As you were saying before?”

“Could you explain further on what the notifications said before?” I ask, turning to meet her soft, purple eyes. “Someone with your talents ought to know a thing or two, I’m sure.”

“You’re correct.” Holding out a hand, she winks. “You’ll have to pay for that information though.”

I nod and wave her hand away. “I don’t think that’s necessary at the moment. But if I am to pay, how much would you charge?”

“Depends on what you want to know and how generous I’m feeling.” She shrugs. “If you want to know the history of Devil God Yugmuswa, maybe five hundred World Coins. The history of the Nine Heavens and Hells would likely run for ten thousand?”

Shaking my head, I point at the trashed coffee cup. “How much for a coffee?”

For a moment, she seems confused. Then realization strikes, and she laughs. “No, silly! For Numbered, services like these are insignificant. Would you like another coffee? Maybe a slice of lemon pound cake while I’m at it?”

I consider for but a moment then nod. “I’ll need more energy today, so I’ll take both. But what do you mean?”

“Oh, Wyatt. It’s very simple.” She points at me. “You’re a Numbered. Your purpose is to go into the Towers of Abundance, get stronger, and die.” She makes a slurping noise. “Then Devil God Yugmuswa gets a return on his investment in you.”

“That’s morbid.” Sounds less fun than I initially anticipated. “Is that really the only outcome?”

As she’s making the coffee, her tail putting in no small amount of work to help, she looks over her shoulder and gives a sly smirk. “Just this once, I’ll be nice, but you’ll have to start paying for information, Wyatt.”

“Gotcha,” I say and nod. “Thank you for your generosity.”

“You’re a cute one,” she says, winking. She continues making my coffee and grabs the lemon pound cake, setting both in front of me. “I might buy you if you keep looking at me so coldly, Wyatt, and I’ve been known to break my toys.”

“I’m sure you do.” I take a bite of the lemon pound cake, feeling the sugar coursing through my veins and rushing to my head. “Yum.”

“Glad you like it.” She sets a hand against her hip and flies into explanation mode. “There’s a few options available. With access to the Existential Shop System, you can grow strong enough to buy your freedom, move to a new world, create your own world, and more. But you’ll have to find those out on your own.”

“Okay, I see. So how can I get to the Towers of Abundance?” Hopefully it’s not expensive.

Kahirin smiles again, her shark-like teeth intriguing me. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” She points at a bus being driven by a hunchbacked figure. “Devil God Yugmuswa has already ordered all public transit be repurposed for Numbered. For a week, it’ll be free of charge.”

I watch the bus drive by, contemplating getting on. “Interesting. How often does it come by?”

Kahirin raises a brow as if to say, “And how would I know that?”

“Right.”

Several of the other occupants have lingered around to this point. Now, they leave the cafe in any direction leading away from the bus. A few others can’t help but stare at Kahirin, though this time they stare with trepidation, dread, and even anger.

What draws my interest is just how few Numbered there are. Aside from me and the two cafe employees, who’ve long since departed the cafe, there are only two others. In total, the cafe initially had at least twenty people.

I doubted the limited number of people in the cafe would be a reasonable group to draw any proportion from, but it did go to show that being Numbered didn’t seem to be a common thing. And considering how I now had an additional coffee and a lemon pound cake, my belief felt fairly stable.

“Who do Players entertain?” I ask after a long moment.

Kahirin grins knowingly and holds out her hand again.

I wave away her hand. “It’s not something I think needs to be paid for. Players are like entertainers, likely for anybody who gets entertained by the content.”

There are many implications, but most of my questions will likely be revealed once I go to the Towers of Abundance. Rather than pry for more information, I eat my food and drink my coffee. By the time I finish, only Kahirin and I remain. Even the streets are empty, aside from the occasional bus passing by.

“Alright, Kahirin, I think I’ll be heading out now,” I say as she takes my third cup of coffee. My leg started bouncing after the second and my fingers startled tingling halfway through the third. Definitely gotta get up and move a bit, and I know just the place to go.

She purses her lips and looks deep in thought for a few seconds. After looking me over once more, she sighs and clutches her horns. “Why do I always do this, Kahirin? You’re a succubus, but the first guy that plays hard to get, and here you are, trying to give away hundreds of Coins in strategizing!”

“Do you need a second?” I ask, considering whether I should leave her to whatever troubles she’s facing. “I can go…”

The speed in which she nearly flew over to grab my arm impresses me, but her grip strength leaves me gasping in pain.

“I tell you I’m considering buying you, and now you want to abandon me here?!” Her horns are ablaze with a shimmering pink and purple energy. “No, I don’t think so.”

“I think there might be some confusion about what’s going on,” I say, doing my best to not let the pain in my wrist break my composure. “I’m not trying to abandon you. I come to this coffee shop every morning, but the day is getting along. There are things that need to be done and places to be, so as much fun as this has been, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The magical storm brewing upon her horns dissipates, and she tilts her head curiously to the side. “So you’re not running away in fear that I’ll dominate you and then eat your soul?”

“Wasn’t aware that’s something I needed to worry about.” Maybe I should start? Nah, it’ll be fine.

“So… I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asks, waving towards the rest of the cafe. “It always gets lonely when we inhabit new worlds and always takes a week or two for everyone to adjust and start coming back for the free services.” She huffed a hot breath of air and stomped a crater in the tiled floor. “We’re people too! I don’t like being lonely…”

“You are a succubus, after all,” I mutter, gesturing towards her still iron-like grip on my wrist. “Please release me.”

She does, though not without pouting up a storm.

“So why were you so upset?” I ask, with one part curiosity and one part consideration for her feelings.

“Well,” she starts, her tail flickering nervously side to side as she paces back and forth, holding herself self-consciously, “I don’t really want you to die.”

“I don’t really want to die either.”

“So I know of a good beginner strategy that would help.”

“Should I pay you for it? Sounds useful.” Anything that would keep me alive and get me ahead of this whole new Devil God Yugmuswa, Tower of Abundance thing sounds worth paying for.

“You can’t. It costs ten Coins, so you wouldn’t have enough for the strategy if you paid me now,” she muttered, more to herself than me. Again, she looks me up and down. “Fine, I’ll tell you.”

“Lay it on me. I’m all ears.” I sit back down and prepare to memorize her words.

Looking around and leaning forward, as if her words might be overheard by the whole zero other people around us, she whispers, “Buy the beginner tutorial package.”

“Sounds reasonable,” I say, nodding. “Then what?”

“Don’t die.”

“Huh,” I hang my head and sigh, “yep. Makes sense.”

“Come back from that, and I’ll be sure to have you pay for the information.” She looks around again, because, of course, the other zero people around are gonna overhear something. “I have even more strategies like that, so just make sure to do what I said before.”

“Okay.”

“Repeat them.”

“What?” I wonder if she was dropped on her head as a baby… Are devils ever children? Imps?

“Repeat the steps,” she growls.

“Buy the beginner tutorial package,” I say, raising a finger, then another, “and don’t die. Though, that one seems to be a general rule of thumb.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“I’m sure,” I mutter, nodding. “Time for me to go.”

After reassuring her at least a dozen times that I’d be back for my morning coffee, she finally lets me go—though with the threat of horrifying pain and agony if I’m not there in the morning.

As I exit the cafe and cross the street, a bus pulls up. Its doors open, and I enter, nodding respectfully towards the hunchbacked driver. I won’t say much about the bus’s hygiene, considering the brimstone and sulphuric smell wafting off my reliable and not at all concerning driver.

It’s time to see what Devil God Yugmuswa and the Towers of Abundance are all about.