She practiced illusion for a bit, and didn't manage to level it up but between that practice and the demon summoning she did tip over the line to character level 4. She was a bit tempted to level charisma and see if it made her prettier, but this character really was all about wisdom, so she put her points into that again. She didn't get the free charisma boost this time, sadly. She took a brief nap in the bed to restore her MP before she had to check out, and then headed for the town square to find a party.
There were various groups recruiting. Some of them frankly looked quite unsavory. Broadberg did have a reputation for criminal activity, and some of those groups were probably bandits. She even thought she saw the bandit that she'd spared before. That was bad, and in hindsight sparing him had been foolish. If he outed her as a demon she was in trouble. Of course it would be her word vs a bandit's word, but she hid her face and went the other way anyway.
She didn't see him again, and at last she found herself interviewing for a suitable party. They were interested in treasure hunting, mostly. The leader was Miles, a level 5 Shieldmaster, which was a rare special class variation of a Fighter with extra effectiveness with shields. They also had Erika, a level 3 Paladin devoted to Ellnesis, goddess of warriors, and Venrie, a level 4 Cleric from the Order of Arkenos, which was a holy order devoted to a nature god. In short, they were a pretty tanky party, perfect to protect her while she cranked out the DPS, which was something she could now do fairly well with her leveled up fireball. Miles was human, Venrie was a wood elf, and Erika was a half-nymph. It was obvious that the males wanted Lillian in the group in part because she was pretty, and that dissent came from Erika out of jealousy, though the half-nymph was almost as pretty as she was. But when she mentioned the quest from the rab-bat man, they were sold. A mad scientist's castle sounded like it could have some great loot.
When she joined the party, she was pleased to see her occupation change from "none" to "adventurer".
Her high charisma also helped her to persuade them to save the rab-bat man quest for tomorrow, and do a quick and easy quest for some fast cash today. She'd do the quest and be back in time to meet Luke in the afternoon. It was perfect.
They took a quick monster clearing job; a venom beetle queen had killed an old farmer and made her lair in his home. She was a level 4 boss monster, and boss monsters were far stronger than other monsters of their level, but she was no match for the whole party together and died a fiery death when she took a combined assault from Lillian and Buut's fireballs.
The farmer's offspring paid enough for revenge to get their inherited land back that even once the reward was divided among them Lillian still had enough funds for probably 4 more days of living. Plenty of time. She was doing it! She was achieving independence! Saldric could kiss her ass. She wouldn't see him again till she had enough funds to do something to help the other girls under his power. She hoped they'd be ok until then.
The thought made her reflective. She reflected on her "history" with them, whether it was real or not. She reflected on her past life as Alex, wondering if it was gone forever or if she would one day win this game and go back to being him. The big question was, would she still want to? Or by then would she be Luke's contented wife and too busy helping the rest of the working girls to get on their feet in different careers to go back?
As afternoon came she parted with her party and met Luke. He did indeed visibly appreciate her dress, and she watched as the relationship score went up 5 points just from him seeing her in it.
She convinced him to take her to the docks for a walk along the water as the sun set, and did her best job to make alluring eyes at him until finally he got the clue and moved to kiss her. Buutt didn't understand though, and mistaking the kiss for an agressive move on his mistress he flew over and started pecking Luke. She managed to calm Buut down, but in annoyance she changed his name back to Butt. He almost didn't seem to mind. He'd come to like her so much that he almost preferred a name she'd given him to the one Hell had given him. He did understand the chastisement though, and held off on pecking Luke when Luke went in for another kiss attempt, though he did watch suspiciously the whole time.
The kiss shot the relationship score up 15 points by itself, but she certainly didn't notice as fireworks were busy going off inside of her. Alex had kissed a girl before of course, and yes it made you feel giddy and happy, but she felt there was something extra special about being kissed as a girl, and she liked it. If she ever did have to become Alex again, it might be a problem. She was coming to like being a girl way too much.
They sat hand in hand looking out at the water for a while before Luke started to look troubled.
"Lillian...you're not a normal girl, are you?" he asked.
"W-what do you mean?" she stammered.
"I'm not sure. There's just something...magical about you, and I could swear you look prettier every day. Maybe I'm just not thinking straight after that kiss but...I don't think so."
Lillian was nervous now. If he found out what she was, would he still care for her? Or would he run in fear and tell someone who would have her burned at the stake?
"It's ok, Lillian," he said, "You can tell me."