Chapter 223
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Chapter 223: A Heartfelt Reunion With Old Friends
After hearing the landlady call herself “Fuen,” Lolth finally confirmed her last name.
Although Lolth had previously suspected that Kanor’s last name might be part of the landlady’s name, this was the first definitive confirmation.
Lolth was surprised by the landlady’s straightforwardness. She had always expected that this mysterious woman’s name would spark an immediate realization of her identity.
However… Fuen might still be a false name. Or perhaps the name that would make her famous was an alias as well.
As for the landlady being completely unknown… Lolth found that hard to believe.
This woman certainly looked like she had accomplished something remarkable in the past.
And if I think carefully, I feel like I’ve heard the name “Fuen” before.
Yet, despite wracking her brain, recalling names from books and biographies she had read on the main plane, she couldn’t place anyone named “Fuen.”
Deciding not to dwell on it, Lolth simply acknowledged that knowing the name was enough for now.
“Then let’s call you Mrs. Fuen; calling you ‘aunt’ feels odd. After all, I am Kanor’s teacher, and that makes things a little confusing,” she said with a nod.
“Ah, the naming issue?” The landlady listened to Lolth and smiled gently. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, these things don’t really matter… But if it’s important to you, we can call each other however you like.”
“It’s not a big deal; honestly, ‘landlady’ sounds more natural,” Lolth murmured, standing up and putting away the whale statue. She left two silver coins on the table. “It’s getting late; I should head back to the torture tower.”
“We’re all family… You teach Kanor, which makes you her mentor and not a stranger. Accepting a drink and leaving money just makes things feel distant… After all, I didn’t pay you tuition.”
Landlady Fuen pushed the silver coins back toward Lolth.
“No, I teach Kanor because I want to pass on what I’ve learned… but I can’t just take things from you for free, landlady. It wouldn’t feel right,” Lolth shook her head and refused to take the coins. “Anyway, thanks for having me… I’ll visit again sometime.”
As she reached the door, she hesitated and turned back.
“Also… I told Kanor before, if you ever want to move the tavern, I can build you a new one for free or find a new location in the dining hall.”
“Let’s skip the move,” the landlady shook her head. “I rather like it here… Goodbye, Lady Sokabus.”
Lolth was caught off guard hearing her last name spoken aloud. A flicker of surprise crossed her face, but she simply waved goodbye again and stepped out of the tavern.
After she left, the landlady’s expression softened with nostalgia.
“Sokabus, Sokabus… she really is your child…”
She poured herself another glass of golden-yellow wine and set out a second glass, filling it as well.
“No wonder she felt familiar the first time I saw her, though her style is entirely different.”
She lifted her own glass, gently swirling it, watching the liquid swirl in the crystal. Narrowing her eyes, she smirked slightly.
“Are you just going to stay hidden, or will you come out and have a drink with me? You’re already here… and I’ve already poured one for you. Do I really need to invite you?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Kululu stepped out of the shadows, wearing a sour expression.
“You really will say anything, huh? Lolthlinda is only eighteen. Why are you talking to her about ‘End of Days’ and the First Era?”
She was dressed in the typical black, tight-fitting attire of the Succubus clan—three small strips of cloth barely covering the essentials, held together by flimsy ties that made it look as though it would be better not to wear anything at all.
Curiously, the less critical areas—her calves, shoulders, and forearms—were adorned with patterned fabric.
Her deep pink hair, nearly purple at the tips, was tied into a massive ponytail that swayed behind her.
Despite dressing like a succubus, Kululu lacked the usual markings of one. Her eyes had round pupils rather than slitted ones, her figure was even flatter than Lolth’s—who was already considered an anomaly among succubi—and she wasn’t particularly tall.
Moreover, she lacked the horns and tail typically found on Abyssal Demons.
Kululu slumped down at the bar, picked up the wine glass set before her, and looked at Landlady Fuen with a disgruntled expression.
“Please don’t talk nonsense, Kululu,” Fuen said, unfazed by Kululu’s irritation. She lazily leaned back in her chair. “The matter of the End of Days was revealed to her by the lingering Divine Sense of the ‘Plague’ in the evil Divine Kingdom… But all of you, keeping these things from her, what exactly are you trying to accomplish?”
“The End of Days is still far off; she gains nothing by knowing about the First Era,” Kululu retorted sharply. “Don’t tell me how to do my job, you insufferable beast!”
Despite the scolding, the landlady remained indifferent.
“I assumed you let her into the half-plane so she could learn about these things… Besides, I only introduced her to an ancient magical creature because she asked me about it. There’s no need to get so upset.”
She raised her glass. “I have no intention of harming her, whether because she’s that guy’s daughter or because she’s my foster daughter’s teacher… What a strange fate, Kululu. I taught that man years ago, and now, after all this time, his daughter is teaching mine.”
“Stop acting tough with me,” Kululu rolled her eyes but still lifted her glass to clink it against Fuen’s. After the light chime of glass meeting glass, she downed her drink in one go. Her face twisted in distaste, and she stuck out her pink tongue.
“Ugh, it still tastes as bad as that awful tree vine juice… Oh, by the way, you know, right? Yesterday, the ‘Plague’ dimension completely vanished.”
“I know, and I will handle it,” the landlady replied leisurely.
“I didn’t ask you to handle it; I just wanted to inform you, fool,” Kululu snorted. She tossed her empty cup onto the bar, then hopped down from her seat. “Anyway, mind your own business and stay put in this little tavern… And stop saying weird things to Lolthlinda.”
The moment she landed on the floor, she vanished from the tavern.
As if she had never been there at all.
