21

Chapter 21 - Hidden Plots.

A concerned silence fills the throne room of Re-Estize royal castle. An hour ago, the first reports came in. The few spies that survived had sent in horror tales of a one-sided massacre. Also, the enemy had captured King Barbo.

The silent crowd of nobles watched Marquis Raeven, Marquis Boullope, and Prince Zanac, the big trio, silently. Both faction leaders and the new king's advisor stares at each other, anticipating who will speak first. Poor king or not, an empty throne always leaves a power vacuum.

Finally, Raeven breaks the silence, addressing the rest of the nobles.

"Assuming that King Barbo is still alive…"

"Of course he is alive. They captured him. For a ransom, no doubt!" Boullope says, interrupting Raeven.

"In any case, we need to prepare for what's coming next. The Empire of Nazarick will respond, eventually." Prince Zanac says.

"They captured our king. We need to mobilize armies, this will not stand!" Boullope yells.

He is clearly getting worked up. Ever since Barbo took the throne, nothing has gone as he had planned. The young king proved to be almost uncontrollable. But now that Barbo was in the custody of a hostile empire situation needed to be fixed immediately.

"We can't afford a war with two nations with or without a king!" Raeven says.

A knock interrupts the rapidly heating discussion and the king's secretary comes in with an envelope.

"Pardon my intrusion, but there is an official letter from The Empire of Nazarick."

"Open and read it!"

"Yes, my Lord."

Secretary breaks the seal and takes out the letter.

"In response to the unlawful and unwarranted attack on our soil, I, Emperor Ainz Ooal Gown, declare war on the kingdom of Re-Estize. Should you wish to avoid further conflict, we demand the city of E-Rantel and its surrounding territories and payment of five hundred thousand gold coins as war reparations."

The throne room explodes into a cacophony of noise.

"This is preposterous!"

"Madness!"

"They wish to bankrupt us!"

"What of the King!"

To quell the pointless yelling, Marquis Raeven stands in front of the throne and says in a loud voice,

"Gentlemen! I have a proposition!"

With noise finally dying down, he continues,

"First, we vote on our course of action. Do we accept these outrageous demands or prepare for war? Second, until the fate of our king is clear, I propose to appoint Prince Zanac as king regent. We can't afford to leave the throne empty and our nation divided."

He had to admit demands were masterfully done. Money asked was just high enough for royal coffers to not be able to pay all of it, but was payable if all nobles chipped in from their private coffers. Of course, they would rather push their own country into war than pay the reparations.

Unsurprisingly, the vote was almost unanimously in favor of war.

'They do not know what will follow. How far the ruling class has fallen to think themselves untouchable.'

Opinions on the second offer were much more divided. The royal faction more or less agreed to give Zanac the King Regent title, but the Noble faction bickered and pushed for Marquis Boullope to take the title. Ultimately, with a little lead, Zanac was elected as temporary ruler.

Lately, Raeven, knowing what was truly happening, was getting more disinterested in the small and pointless machinations of the other nobles. Yet he still had to listen carefully and memorize each and every smallest thing anyone said during the debates. It may be of use later.

Once the lengthy talks ended, Raeven got a whisper from a shadow demon about Renner wishing to see him. Wanting to just get it done, he walks to the princess's quarters at a brisk pace.

"Visiting my sister?"

"Oh, your highness, yes, I wished to express my condolences to her about possibly losing another family member so soon."

"Mmm, yes, it may be too much for her gentle heart."

A pair approaches the doors leading to Renner's Quarters. A blue-haired man stands guard with a rather casual expression. He makes a somewhat clumsy bow and lets them both in.

Even for those who didn't know about the princess's true motives and allegiances, the powerful men she had employed were a reason to worry. Gazef and Brain combined could easily massacre everyone in the castle, letting the princess take the throne unimpeded, and with wide common people's support, she could take such a move.

Renner is sitting at a small table and sipping tea as a maid is cleaning the room.

"Congratulations on your new role, brother. It is time to prepare for the next step." Renner says casually.

Raeven glances at the maid and gives the young princess a questioning look.

"It's a doppelganger. The real maid stuck her nose into things she shouldn't have. She will run off with a commoner soon, putting her family in a shameful position. I already wrote the letter."

Renner grins and just continues speaking.

"Zanac, you will start organizing the armies. We need to get most of the soldiers, secretly paid for and trained by the various factions, on the battlefield. Culling of soldiers and nobles must be precise."

"Culling?" Zanac asks.

"Yes, everything must be prepared for the civil war. We must eliminate beforehand certain nobles and forces. We can't leave Barbo with competent allies when he returns. That reminds me, Raeven, your lands will be too deep inside the enemy territory. It's not worth trying to protect them. Move everything of value to the capital."

"Princess Renner, you have to give us more information. What is the actual plan? How many will die?"

"Raeven, you are not required to know the full plan, but if you must know, tens of thousands will die. A necessary sacrifice."

Raven never really cared about the common masses beyond their use as resources. Despite that, deep down, he had at least some compassion for fellow human beings. Renner's casual statement was a bit too much, even for him. Tens of thousands will have to die, and for what?

"How can you justify the slaughter of such proportions?"

"Marquis Raeven, I thought better of you. It is simple, really. Our masters need to show the world what will happen to those who foolishly stand against them. And the political situation Re-Estize will be rearranged with no one even suspecting their involvement. After all, it was Barbo who foolishly started the war, and it is the nobles who refuse to solve it peacefully. Some of our associates are already spreading anti-war propaganda among the peasants."

Renner stands up, twisting the face in her natural smile. The uncomfortable reaction of her brother always amuses her.

"And what is most important, the resulting war will lead to famine. What better way to prepare the unwashed masses for the positive outlook of our beloved emperor Ainz than humanitarian aid of food during the harsh winter."

Hearing the Princess's casual explanation, Raeven couldn't help but think about what the future will bring. What will happen once his homeland is given over to the inhuman empire of Nazarick.

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It was clear Queen Draudillon intended to treat Peros as royalty. The first thing after initial planning died down was the Queen giving him and his retinue, for now consisting only of Shalltear and Relzanu, an entire wing of the castle. He clearly wasn't complaining about the royal treatment, even if it was subpar compared to Nazarick.

Peros follows the young-looking queen with a casual stride and couldn't help but notice that she was swinging her petite hips a little more than before. She also was dressed more revealing. Were his tactics working already?

'Playing back, huh? This will be more fun than I thought.'

His attention then is drawn to the few servants that are present and are frantically cleaning the long hall. Those few times when Draudillon turned to look at him during the walk, he could see how embarrassed she was about the state of the castle. After witnessing the glory of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, this castle would pale in comparison, even in its prime.

The poor castle staff were probably doing their very best to make this entire wing presentable.

For a moment Peros even considered telling that he didn't mind a simpler place to stay and any room with a soft bed would have been enough, but he played the role or, now more or less, was a god.

{ Father, this place is a disgrace. A supreme being should not be offered such disgusting living conditions. }

{ Calm down, it will be alright. Besides, we can call some help from Nazarick if you want. }

{ Wonderful idea. }

Peros hoped his daughter doesn't go overboard with demands. The last thing he needed was half of the ninth floor arriving and remaking the castle of a foreign monarch.

Finally, after finishing the short tour queen departed. Peros was curious why she herself acted as a guide. The few things he knew about nobles guiding an important guest were a butler's job. Was she trying to make some sort of impression?

With Shalltear going into her own quarters, Peros enters his own living space only to find an invisible figure waiting for him. Since he already knew who it was, there was no rush to call him out. First, he did a quick glance around.

At least the rooms were much cleaner than the dusty halls. Decently expensive furnishing. Overall, he couldn't complain. Of course, it wasn't on the same level as his quarters in Nazarick, but then again, nothing outside was to that standard.

"Demiurge, you know I can see you, right?"

The demon cancels his invisibility spell and kneels before Peros, saying.

"My apologies, Lord Peros. I had to assure our privacy. Lord Ulbert sends a valuable intel."

"Ok, you can get up."

Peros knew there was no point in telling the overly formal demon to loosen up around him. At least Demiurge stood up before saying.

"Our information network has uncovered a conspiracy against Queen Draudillon."

"Go on."

"Marquis Gavanda, an influential political leader of western parts of the Dragon Kingdom, intends to take over the country by using a mind-altering drug to control the queen and marry her off to a puppet king."

"I start to think that being a greedy retard is a requirement for being a noble. How he plans to fend off against beastmen? And who will be this puppet king?"

"Western nobles are amassing armies and recourses in secret, depriving the affected east of needed resources. I did the calculations and to my estimate, it will not be nearly enough to stop the beastmen."

Peros tuned out as the demon listed all the troops and resources of each noble house with a smug grin on his face. He realized that Ulbert likely had told to relay all the unimportant information as a prank. At the same time, Peros couldn't bring himself to stop the endless stream of useless facts from Demiurge who recited them with an enthusiasm of a six-year-old who had read his first illustrated science book.

'How long he will go on. I will have to get back at that goat bastard for this.'

Finally, Demiurge got to the second question.

"As for puppet king, leader of the Adventurer team Crystal Tear, Cerebrate is a nephew of the Marquis Gavanda, though from the mother side and thus not part of the Noble house. He is one who will administer the drug to Queen Draudillon and also attempt same with Shalltear and you, Lord Peros."

Demiurge takes a small vial out of his jacket pocket and says.

"This is the sample of the drug. We tested it extensively and found out it doesn't work on anyone past level thirty-five."

"It would still affect Draudillon."

"Yes, but she would listen to you, my Lord, if you were the one to administer the drug. Or a mid-tier status effect immunity enchants would suffice."

Demiurge says and hands both the vial and a small ruby necklace to Peros. Peros takes both items and stores them in his inventory. Although he could just drug the Queen, it felt wrong to do so. A better option was to give Draudillon the necklace as a gift at an opportune time.

Wanting to rest, he asks.

"Anything else?"

"Shalltear's request to improve these appalling living conditions has presented an opportunity to field test a new co-creation of Lord Tabula and Emperor Ainz."

A six-armed floating dark-robed creature appears through the gate. The dark robe covers all but the greyish slim hands with many rings on its bony fingers.

"This is a servitor. They equipped it with various kinds of utility magic, such as casting gate, creating and dissolving various service creatures and items…"

"Ok, I got it. Thank you, Demiurge." Peros says.

A useful thing for sure. But remaking the furniture and summoning servants would make a lot of commotion, so he planned to pawn the thing on Shalltear first. After all, she was the one sending the request

"Start with Shalltear's quarters."

{ As you command, my Lord. } A chilling whisper rings in his mind and the creature leaves the room.

With Demiurge, departing Peros could finally lay down in bed and have a bit of peace, but the noticeable silence and emptiness of the large bedroom quickly got to him. Lately, he was far too used to his numerous concubines livening up his living space, so being alone for the first time in a while felt weird.

For a moment he considered teleporting some of them in, but ultimately decided against it. For a once he planned to enjoy a little peace and quiet.

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An entire week, that is how long it took to organize the barest of logistics to start retaking the first city. Peros was not in a rush by any means, but sitting for a week and doing nothing but convincing various noble mouth-breathers to be useful was taxing.

But he had promised himself to not rely just on Nazarick's recourses and planning as a challenge. At least he had time to work on the primary plan. Draudillon, who left for a week without attention and nothing to do, was slowly getting bored out of her mind. As an additional plus, Shalltear knowingly kept the attention of Cerebrate, so the conspiring fool doesn't see that the plan was already uncovered.

A voice behind him returns Peros' attention to the present moment.

"My forces are ready. You better back up those ridiculous claims."

Count Farina, the noble whose lands they occupied at the moment, was showing open impatience. Peros could hear Shalltear letting out a quiet snarl, barely keeping herself in check at the man's disrespectful attitude.

"I will remind you I am not one of your peons you can order around. And at this moment I outrank you, so how about you shut up before I toss you over the city walls myself!" Peros says to the man with a chilling smile.

Peros' murderous aura was enough for the entire small army of Farina's men to take a step back.

"I… you must understand my position, Lord Peros. This is my home, my city. Those beasts are ravaging."

Peros widens his smile into an aggressive, toothy grin and turns away from a man.

City walls are one and a half kilometers away, with various kinds of beastmen occupying the walls. Few of them looked and acted like officers.

Peros chooses one randomly and shoots an arrow at him. Normally, it was way beyond the shooting range, even for the most powerful bows. Few beastmen managed to let out loud mocking laughter before the arrow hit one officer. The beast explodes in a bloody mess, showering the nearby beastmen with his blood and guts.

A panic erupts on the tall stone wall. The beasts crouch down and hide from the elf. Just the effect he needed. A mere minute later, a bear-man emerges on the wall, hiding behind two humans as shields. He is eying Peros with contempt. Some elf killing one of his men didn't sit right with him.

Peros aims again and shoots another arrow without hesitation. When it came to actual fighting, most of the beastmen were cowards willing to hide behind living shields. The arrow goes straight through one of the human victims' necks, hitting the bear-man in the shoulder.

The beast drops the other human and tries to get out the arrow from his shoulder as black veins spread from the wound. To the horror of beastmen around him, the leader drops to the ground, howling in pain and desperation as the unknown curse eats away his flesh at a rapid pace.

Peros nods to Shalltear, and a large gate appears behind them. Hundreds of figures come through with Clementine in lead. Right behind her comes the Swords of Darkness, the Foresight, and all six Pleiades maids. The rest of the crowd comprises various monster races and humans. Finally comes about two hundred dark-winged horned angels. A gift from Ulbert to act as air support.

The humans observing the scene take another step back. They were told that the Empire of Nazarick were various monsters mostly, but to see them up close was still unnerving, giving the impression that you need monsters to fight monsters.

"So everyone ready to have fun?" Peros asks.

"We are ready to spill the blood in the name of the Murder God!" the crowd shouts in response.

Just two days ago, he had received a new spell devised by Tabula. A buff of sorts, 'The Blessing of the Murder God.' If Peros understood it properly, anyone affected would get some of his abilities, including the blink spell and unnaturally high precision.

Peros spreads his hands for dramatic effect as the glowing arcane circles rotate around him. Once circles disappear, a wave of light hits his small personal army, embedding purple glowing tattoos on their foreheads.

"Cleanse the city in my name, MY CHOSEN ONES!"

With frenzied shouts, Peros' little private army charges pass him. The first one's blink to the wall to start the massacre. Peros changes back to his natural form in front of the terrified count and takes to the sky with Shalltear following as a mist of bats.

Once glance back tells him all he needs to know. The poor unprepared human was not sure who to fear more. Their enemies or the new allies.

Flying over the city gives Peros a perfect point to observe the battle, if it could even be called a battle. Already the screams filled up to streets. First, his troops spread around the city on the wall, trapping everyone inside.

His first attention falls to Pleiades maids. Lupus was not in her full form to give others a chance to express themselves, but even with that, she crippled the beastmen with frightening speed. The sadistic maid didn't kill anyone, all her victims were left mangled but alive. She was bending the rule of not harming those who are not resisting, but it was within the rules.

It impressed Peros how she railed up even the most peaceful of beastmen to attack her. It was much messier than the initial plan to push non-combatants to the city center and force them to surrender, but he had the soft spot for her and didn't mind her having a bit of fun.

Solution despite being just as sadistic as her sister performed her task with more grace and efficiency. He couldn't help but notice her absorbing a younger-looking rabbit-man. She too was bending the rule somewhat, but at least she wasn't tearing out toddlers from mothers' hands and just pushed them towards the gathering point.

Yuri, mostly, did her best to keep her more bloodthirsty sisters on track and punched an attacker or two splitting their skulls. Reminding Entoma to not start picking up parts for eating before the battle ends, and urge Lupu to choose the next targets.

Entoma obediently follows her older sister's commands and uses her summoned bugs to make a quick work of anyone unlucky to cross her path. Peros chuckled at Entoma's overly cheerful demeanor, who seemed to be overjoyed at being included.

Both Shizu and Narberal as the ranged attackers were just efficient, no slowing down, no hesitation. In other words, perfect soldiers.

There were many other teams for Peros to observe besides the maids. The Foresight was working together as a team, but Peros could see their hesitation to kill the beastmen hiding behind the living human. But since they were the recent addition to his force, he could look past it and let them continue as is for now.

The Swords of Darkness were something else entirely. They seemed to have become the avatars of his murderous aura. Quick, efficient, and brutal. Ninya surprised him the most. The once timid girl had learned alternative forms during her training and was morphed into a brain eater form for additional magical abilities.

The desperate beastmen ran away from the flying form. Everyone close enough immediately got affected by mind-altering mass ability, making them tear off their own flesh in an attempt to get off the bugs that weren't there.

'I will have to give her some kind of reward for the excellent work.'

Finally, his attention settles on the fallen angels Ulbert had gifted him. They were one's rallying up the remaining strugglers and pushing them towards the city center. The battle was slowly ending, with everyone pushed to the city center surrounding what looks like their leader.

"Let's go talk to the head guy," Peros says to Shalltear and descends, breaking the sound barrier.

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Gurr had always been on the top of a food chain. As the strongest bear-man in his clan, he got to rule the entire conquered city. It was a pleasant and easy job to boss everyone around. At least until today. Something monstrous descended on the city.

First reports came in that some elf had executed two of his officers and then unleashed some kind of monsters upon his people.

Gurr didn't want to even believe the ludicrous claims at first, but when more and more warriors arrived in a panicked state, he finally had to accept the facts. Someone was helping the pathetic humans, and that someone was scarier than anything he had encountered before.

The massive bear-man finally walked outside of the mansion he was occupying and organized his troops in at least some kind of order.

Not long after the start of the battle, he saw a shining figure in the sky watching. One of the tiger-men told him it was avian in golden armor and beside him was a smaller human-looking girl just floating in the air. The one who commanded the attackers. But it made little sense to him. Had one of their own went rogue?

And avians or birdmen weren't even supposed to be in this region. The dread slowly crept up as more and more reports came in. The enemy closed in. Gurr knew the last stand was coming, and he intended to take as much of the attackers as he could with him.

The large city square he stood in was filled with the best warriors.

A sudden shock wave deafened him for a moment. Once he got back to his senses, the leader stood about ten meters away from him, surrounded by the dead bodies of beastmen. The rest of his small army stood around the square, blocking any kind of retreat.

"You! Why are you doing this?"

"Oh, first one to talk. I am here to clean up the Dragon Kingdom cities of all invaders."

"Face me then. You are the leader of them," Gurr says waving his arm around at the Peros' forces.

"If you defeat me, the rest, my warriors, will follow you. If I win, your warriors follow me."

"Ok," Peros says and approaches the large beastmen in a casual stride.

The overly lax attitude of his opponent angers Gurr. He grabs his war hammer and runs towards the avian and takes a swing aiming for the head. Hammer connects with avian's hand, making a metallic sound.

Gurr tries to go for another swing but can't get the hammer out of the avian's grip.

Peros wanting to make a lasting impression squeezes the hammer's head, shattering it.

For a moment, Gurr just stares at his broken weapon and then takes a step back with his face twisted in fear. Just what kind of monster was in front of him?

"Wwh… what the hell are you?"

"You can call me Lord Peros the God of Murder," Avian says and takes a step in his direction.

"Wait, wait, I surrender. I will serve you!"

"Like I need a coward who backs out of a duel for a servant. You will serve as an example."

In a blink of an eye, Peros is standing right in front of him. Gurr blinks and then feels something wet on his fur. He looks down and sees the avian's hand disappearing into his chest. The last thing he feels is a jolt of pain as the world goes dark.

Peros pulls out his hand from the bear-man, who falls to the ground and rapidly bleeds out. The remaining ones alive kneel immediately. There was no doubt in anyone's mind about the avian's statement of him being the God of Murder. Gurr was one of the strongest among the entire beastmen country.

"I'll give the rest of you one simple choice. You can either run back to your country or serve Nazarick."

Peros expected most of them to run, but that just wasn't the case. Every single remaining beastmen swore loyalty to him.

{ Cocytus, can I ask you to sort out some beastmen who swore loyalty to me? }

{ IT WOULD BE AN HONOR LORD PEROS. }

{ Great, I'm sending them your way then. }

"Ok, let's wrap this up. Shalltear, send beastmen to Cocytus and my forces back to Nazarick for a well-deserved rest."

All that remained was to inform Count Farina that he can have his city back and then report Draudillon the news. Not that there was much left, but about a few thousand humans had survived the occupation and awaited aid from their lord.

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With all the reports made, Peros could finally rest. The day's operation, predictably, went without a hitch, and the new spell worked as intended. He was about to order Servitor to send him to Nazarick for the night when he hears a knock on the door.

Wondering who would disturb him in this hour, he orders the servitor to open the door only to see Shalltear standing there. By her expression, he could already see she was anxious about something. A common occurrence since the brainwashing incident.

He waits for his daughter to come in and sit down with him at the guest corner and asks.

"Is something wrong?"

"Did I do well today? I wasn't even fighting and…"

"Of course you did. We already talked about this. Today we tested how my personal forces can perform."

"I know. It's just…"

He knew that look. Shalltear wanted to ask for something but didn't know how or if she deserved a reward. Peros wanted to spoil his daughter a bit, but it always ended up the same way. Unless she believed deserving a reward, she was very hesitant to accept anything. Always a floor guardian first and a daughter second.

"Shalltear, sweety, if you want something, just ask. You are doing a wonderful job helping me out here."

Shalltear is silent for a moment and then says while standing up.

"It's nothing. I'm sorry I disturbed you so late, father. I will go with your permission."

She was standing with hands crossed over her small chest. Peros had noticed that she was using this position ever since he forbid her padding her chest. At first, he thought it was an easy punishment, but soon enough, it was hard not to notice how much it affected his daughter. He had tried to lift it a few times, but she was adamant that she deserved it.

He hated to do it but seeing no other option; he says.

"Shalltear sit down and say what do you want as a reward. That is an order!"

The panicked vampire sits back in the chair and nervously shifts around.

"Father, I know you created me in just a way you wanted. I… I…"

"Just say it. I won't be mad."

"I… I heard Lord Tabula could change age and I… I wondered…"

Peros looks at his nervous mess of daughter for a moment, realizing what she was asking, and then all clicked together.

When he had commissioned the artist to make a flat loli vampire, the artist had made the model with a pair of large breasts, because of his refusal to make loli characters. At first, Peros wanted to just discard the work, but despite the change, he still liked how she looked. So he wrote one small thing in her backstory that contradicted her model's look. Shalltear padded her chest to look more adult.

Now a living, breathing version, his daughter had to live with that line engraved in her personality, making her insecure and desperately wanting a grown woman's body. It was clear she was conflicted with herself. To admit that she was not happy with how her creator had made her was not something she could do openly.

Peros stands up, cupping Shalltear's face with both hands, forcing her to look into his eyes. His natural form prevented him from smiling, but he still could emote with his eyes well enough.

"I want for you to be happy. If you want to look different, be older. I won't mind."

"I do, I'm sorry for…" Shalltear says, tearing up.

"Don't be. We can figure this out. How about I help you learn the basic shape-shifting? You can then change your look however you like."

"Thank you. I'm sor…"

Shalltear didn't finish the sentence. Her creator had pulled her for a hug, pressing her face against his chest. She was angry at herself for being such a mess, but her father's feathers against her tear-stained face were far too soothing for her to pull away.

Bonus Story - A Chance.

Morss was going through the pile of garbage in a quiet side street, hoping to find a bone or a piece of stale bread.

Foxes were always considered being some of the weaker ones among the beastmen. Rarely, one of their kind excelled enough to take a position of power. What made it that much worse for Morss was his short and weak build. A disease had stunted his growth. As weakling even among the lesser, parents left him to fend for himself at an early age.

As usual, there was nothing eatable in the garbage pile. The small fox's stomach grumbled, reminding him of his starved state. He was close to being desperate enough to steal food. If caught a brutal beating, would be the best outcome. Various scars, reminding him of each time he got into conflict with others, covered his body.

At first, coming to the Dragon Kingdom sounded like a good idea, and for a while, it was. Even someone like him got his fill of meat after the bloody battles. But once beastmen settled in cities, the feast ended and he had to rely on trash to not starve.

Loud screams and commotion interrupt his digging through the garbage. Other beastmen were running from something. Curiosity got the better of him and he poked his head out of sidestreet.

Beings with strange glowing symbols on foreheads were killing his kind. The small fox didn't have to think for long about what to do. He ran back to the garbage and hid under it.

How long he lied under it he couldn't tell, but ultimately it ended up pointless. A powerful hand grabbed him and pulled him up. A human-looking creature with horns on its head hold him up for a moment and then tossed him to the main street.

After Morss finished the painful rolling and hit a house wall, he looked up. More of the same horned winger creatures drove everyone towards the center of the city. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of another beating, Morss quickly gets on his feet and runs.

It didn't take long for him to reach the central square. Nimbly avoiding others and moving through crowds with almost liquid motion came naturally for him at this point. This is what you learn if you don't want conflict.

Everyone's eyes were on the sky. A shining golden figure watched the city from above. More and more beastmen entered the already crowded square. It was easy to see that survivors were not the strongest among beastmen. The strange figures with glowing foreheads blocked off every exit as the winged humanoids hovered above. They were trapped.

Morss finally got a good look at attackers. Humans, beastmen, goblins, and many other types of creatures. Suddenly, the figure descended at an unbelievable speed. The first shock wave hit the crowd from being's impact by the ground, and then the second deafening blast came from above.

Everyone looked with nervous anticipation as the ruler of the city Gurr charged the golden clad avian preparing to strike down the leader of attackers.

'He crushed a hammer with his hand!'

'A GOD!'

Morss watches how the God of Murder executes one of the strongest beastmen bare-handed. A dread fills his heart. There was no way out. He kneels with the crowd, sharing the small hope they will be spared.

Then they were given a simple choice: either serve or run. How was this dark god so merciful? It simply made little sense. Strong always subjugates the weak. That is just how things are.

The next events were a bit of a blur for the poor fox as he only was transported somewhere by magical means. He did his very best to not be singled out and blend in as surely they would have no use of a weakling like him.

A giant creature covered in a blue carapace addressed them.

"EVERYONE WISHING TO FIGHT IN THE NAME OF LORD PEROS, STEP FORWARD. REST WILL BE ASSIGNED ON DOMESTIC DUTIES."

Many stepped forward, but not Morss. He had no place among the fighters. For a moment, just a moment, he too wished to join them to be something. A stupid, silly dream.

He was walking with the rest of those unwilling to fight when he hears a voice.

"You there, fox! Too much of a coward to fight?"

Morss instantly looks for the owner of the voice. A goblin female stands a distance away, leaning against the tree. It was hard to tell, but she seemed even shorter than Morss. However, there was distinctive confidence in her casual demeanor. She looked at Morss with a piercing gaze. A dimly glowing, almost faded symbol on her forehead.

"Yes, you there. I asked a question."

"Me, no I am not a coward," Morss says.

"Prove it!" She responds and throws a long dagger on the ground.

Was she challenging him? Some kind of power play. Morss could clearly see she was one of those who attacked the city. One who served the God of Murder. The small fox picks up the dagger.

"Now show me what you can do, whelp."

Morss looks around. Seemingly, no one wants to stop this interaction. If anything, there were few curious onlookers. He approaches his opponent with careful steps. The demeanor of the goblin female doesn't change. She smirks and stands up, awaiting the attack.

He goes for a quick jab, but the goblin avoids it easily and goes for a punch. The countless times of being pitted against much stronger opponents had given Morss almost impossible intuition and reflexes. Morss avoids getting punched, if barely.

Not wasting an opportunity, he uses his left hand and punches the goblin in the gut. Hit is not strong, but it takes her by a surprise. She takes a quick jump back and says,

"Looks like the little fox has some fighting spirit after all! Why didn't you go with others to prove yourself in a fight?"

"I'm too weak to be a fighter."

"With a weapon in your left hand, you could have killed me. Do you think Lord Peros made me one of his chosen for no reason? You, whelp, have great potential."

"I do?"

"Your training starts tomorrow morning. If you think yourself too weak, you will die."

She smiles and walks off, leaving the stunned fox with a dagger in his hand.