Arrival at the Oni village

"Master, we have arrived."

"Eh?"

Slowly opening his eyes, Apollo found himself staring at a huge village three times the size of his own base.

The village was protected by a stone wall, but because of the terrain and Bacon's height, it was possible for Apollo to sneak peek past it, seeing the many buildings inside.

"Farm, barrack, palace, research center..."

One by one, Apollo recognized the buildings, giving him a better idea of the opponent that he had faced.

Once again he felt lucky and afraid as he knew his victory was half due to the opponent's carelessness, and such luck would hardly repeat itself in the future, so he had to prepare better before it arrived.

Having reached closer to her objective, Bacon started to slow down as she proceeded to enter the village at a slower pace.

"Stop! Identify yourself!"

In front of the gate, two Oni stood guard, and one of them called them out as they approached him.

"I-"

"This is Master Apollo! The one who defeated your Master and is now here to claim his prize!"

Apollo tried to introduce himself but he was interrupted by Nyau who spoke in a loud voice full of pride.

(Hey! That's not why we are here! Nyau, what nonsense are you saying!?)

"...I see. So our Master was really defeated... I felt that was the case when we all lost conscience two days ago... So, what do you plan to do with us?"

"Surr-gah!!"

"Shut up, Nyau! Let me talk!"

"Guhh...Master is no fun..."

"As Nyau said, I'm Apollo, the one who defeated your Master. After the battle, we were going to assimilate your remaining troops but before that could happen they were poisoned by unknown forces. We figured that you could be the next target, so we decided to head here the fastest we could to warn you of the danger."

"What!? Poisoned!?"

"Yes. Right now we are in the middle of investigation to identify the culprits. Whoever did it, did so without my orders and will be punished for their actions."

"I! I! ...I don't even know what to say! Excuse me, I will call the current manager, this whole thing is too big for me to decide anything!"

"Hmm. Please do so."

The Oni guard turned around and ran inside the village, leaving Apollo's party and the other Oni guard behind.

"Hmm.... Do you want some tea?"

Feeling a bit pressured by the situation, the sole remaining Oni guard proposed, inviting Apollo's party to the little room beside the gate.

"Hmm, sure. Bacon, let us down."

Bacon nodded her head and laid herself on the ground, to make it easier for him to get down.

"Hmm... Sorry but your boar will have to stay outside. The gate is not big enough for it to pass."

"Oh! That's not a problem! Bacon, transform."

Following Apollo's order, Bacon changed back to human form.

"Holy boar! You can do that!? Cool! Can you teach me how?"

Despite the big size, the Oni acted like a teenager who just saw his favorite super hero, with sparkling eyes full of admiration, he started to bombard Bacon with one question after another.

In face of this die hard fan, Bacon didn't know how to react. She already had a hard time dealing with her little sisters, and the last thing she wanted was for the number of members of her fan club to multiply. But her Master was right on her side, so she couldn't be rude, but without being rude...

Apollo felt Bacon's gaze, begging for help, and for a second wondered what would happen if he just ignored her and let things play out, but he knew that despite her size, Bacon was still a little kid, so it was too much bullying for him to not help her out.

"Huh, excuse me. What about the tea?"

"Oh! Right! The tea! Sorry, I lost myself a little. Please follow me!"

Taking control over his emotions, the young Oni led them to the small room behind the gate, where they sat by the table while he prepared the tea.

"So, what's your name?"

"Me? Oh! I'm not named yet! Master only names the ones he acknowledge. As someone who never went to war and only stayed behind guarding the gate, I'm not qualified to receive a name yet."

"Is that so? Then how should I call you?"

"Just call me second gatekeeper, or second for short."

"That's too long! Let's call him Sec-chan!"

"Nyau, that's rude! He is not a girl!"

"Yuu, do you have a better name?"

"Sec-kun!"

Ignoring Yuu and Nyau, Apollo turned to Second and started to chat.

"So, how is life here?"

"Pretty slow. Most people have left, leaving only farmers and miners behind. Even the people with no profession joined for the final assault. Honestly I can't help but be surprised that they failed with an army of that size... How did you do it?"

"We used every trick we knew, but it was still not enough. If luck hadn't helped us, it would be us who would be out."

"Can you tell me more?"

"Sure, let me tell you from the beginning."

Before Apollo had the chance to start his story telling session, two new people arrived at the little room... no, well, one new person, as for the other, it was the guard who had gone call the manager.

"I'm also quite interested in hearing you out!"

"Eh?"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Angela, the second in command of Master Ector's camp."

Apollo looked surprised at the new arrival. He expected another Oni, but instead something closer to an angel had arrived.

Angela had bright white wings, as big as herself. Her eyes were sapphire color and her hair was sky blue. She had a calm demeanor and wore maid clothes, making Apollo unconsciously compare her to Rose, despite her being over 10 cm higher and having her skin as white as a pearl.

"You can call me Apollo. Nice to meet you."

"This fool told me about the situation, but I want to hear it from your own mouth."

Apollo suddenly felt a shiver down his spine as Angela's surroundings suddenly turned cold.

"Is it true that you have defeated our Master Ector?"