Chapter 72: Interlude: Interim Chiefs (2/2)
“Mmm… it is true my spiderspawn need to learn how to socialize with the neighbors… can you come inside my dark cavern, so we may discuss your school program?”
“Of course. I must tell you that as earth core dwellers, our schools are adapted for nocturnal creatures.”
“Amazing,” the spider chittered. “What about diet? My spiderspawn are goblin-intolerant.”
Both angels and fiends watched the scene in stunned silence, as the spider invited the dwarf in its home… and didn’t even eat her!
“The Agarthans are stealing our market share!” Malfy protested, as furious as Miel herself. “This is theft! We are the government, we must stop them!”
“You have my vote,” Miel said, and then continued before her unreasonable colleague could protest at allying with the rival planar company. “Under the condition that Happyland not be allowed to open private schools, recognizing the heavenly way as the only way.”
Warning: for this act of gratuitous spite, even towards a demon, you have lost karma.
The message mortified Miel until the sight of Malfy’s entire body turning red from fury made it worth it.
“Junior, please calm yourself,” Allison tried to soothe the monstrous mimic, as the scene caused citizens to gather in the street.
“Babies!” the creature barked back, gathering newborn jellies on its back while stomping the remains of a destroyed stand. “Protect babies!”
“Sword babies?” Buzz Jelly repeated, the famous explorer having hopped at Junior’s side since it began its rampage. “Coming!”
How did Victor tame this thing? It had been completely uncontrollable since the last slime rain brought new jellies to Murmurin, smashing anything between itself and its new charges; and without Victor to keep it pacified, the creature’s violent instincts had resurfaced. A poor orc shopkeeper had the misfortune of catching a fire jelly to make light, which enraged the giant mimic and made it overreact.
“This is a disaster,” the orc complained. “My shop is in ruins!”
“It’s the advisers,” a kobold merchant in the crowd loudly complained, “Everything has been worse since the beloved Grand Vizier left! I’m sure they mislead the good Emperor Vainqueur with bad advice and mistreated the mimiczord!”
“I heard they want to raise taxes!” A gnoll added, causing the citizens to argue among themselves.
“That is wrong,” Allison replied, sensing the tension in the air. “We have no intention to—”
“I feel you, gamete person, this gods-blessed country is declining before my three hundred and eight eyes!” An eldritch horror added, ignoring the dryad. The priestess suddenly realized that while she had once commanded respect when Murmurin had been a small village where everyone knew one another, she didn’t recognize half of these monsters. And they didn’t respect her. “They must have conspired to send the good Victor away, as they did the Kobold Rangers… the true prophet would never have let this happen!”
The worse thing was, Allison realized that they may be on to something...
“Gentlemonsters,” a gnoll spoke up. “I think there is only one way for our voice to be heard loudly enough to reach the Emperor. The monster way.”
He raised a spear.
“RIOT!”
“Riot!” Buzz Jelly hopped happily. “Team activity!”
“The chosen slime is with us!” a Moon Beast roared in poor commonspeak. “RIOT!”
“RIOT!” the other monsters shouted in agreement, some immediately smashing the nearest windows and tossing carts around in a frenzy.
“Stop!” Allison pleaded, only for someone to start a fire with a spell. She immediately moved to try to extinguish the flames before they spread. “Damn it! Damn you! Damn you all!”
Exhausted, Allison took solace in the one place where she always felt safe. Her temple, before the statue of her goddess.
The dryad prayed harder than she had ever been to Cybele, but the love goddess, who had so many times answered her prayers directly, remained silent. The new cathedral, built months ago, remained eerily silent. Until at long last, her best friends stepped into the room, more for her sake than the goddess’.
“What has Rolo missed?” the golem asked, always straight and to the point. “Rolo has seen smoke outside.”
“You missed sixteen murders, hundreds of wounded, riots, fires, fires everywhere, hundreds of thousands of gold coins lost in property damage, Heaven and Happyland threatening to go to war over proper youth education...” Allison trailed, her voice breaking. Since she always favored conciliation, the rampant chaos drained her utterly. She would have rather talked to people over a drink than help quell the riots.
How did Victor manage to stay sane after months of this? The experience had only renewed the respect she felt for her fellow human-turned-monster.
“It is a very sensible subject, education,” Rolo said with a farmer’s wisdom.
“I never went to school, but I turned out sound in mind and body,” Chocolatine added, before giving Allison a cake. “Here, you need sugar. I mixed it with chocolate, with no meat. You will feel happier afterward.”
“Choc, you are crazy, but you are also cute, and I want to take you home with me,” the dryad declared. Now that she felt the shadow of death and destruction chase her with every step, she had finally found the courage to say it.
“Silly, your home is probably burning as we speak!” Chocolatine replied innocently. “I should be the one to take you to my place!”
“It’s a deal,” Allison said, “Rolo, can you...”
“Rolo does not need repairs. Rolo will go work, and make sure the fields do not burn in our absence. You must rest.”
“Thank you, my friend,” the dryad replied. “I will offer the last of my silent prayers tonight, and then I will leave.”
Chocolatine hugged her dearly, while Rolo patted her on the back. When they both left, the dryad thanked the goddess for sending her to this world, where she had made friends as strong as them.
Another figure ended up paying her respects to Cybele that night: Charlene. “I did not know you prayed,” Allison told the vampire.
“Neither did I,” Charlene replied, looking absolutely destroyed. “At this point, only the gods will save us.”
“We…” Allison bit her lower lip since she had promised herself not to bother her friend while on his soul-searching trip. “We can always contact Vic…”
“I tried,” Charlene dropped the bomb. “I tried to contact him through his [Scarlet Study] Perk, but wherever he is, it blocks the connection.”
The dryad’s heart froze, the world around her drained of color, of the very substance of hope. “So you’re saying—”
“That we are on our own.” Charlene shook her head as if lost in her thoughts. “Only Jules is happy. He called it a good day.”
Allison choked, aghast. “How can he call this mess good?”
“There have been sixteen deaths so far, which he translated as sixteen new undead births. He hopes that we can keep going with the new momentum.”
How did Victor manage to keep all these maniacs in line?
“I will have to apologize to Victor when he comes back,” Charlene said, “Keeping Vainqueur grounded is an impossible task, let alone his entire army!”
“Managing an empire of monsters is way, way more difficult than a small village,” Allison had to admit. “They are all within an inch of starting a fight, unless kept in line by a strong chief of staff. I never thought that Vic would be so… irreplaceable.”
“We have to make sure that he never takes a vacation ever again.”
“Agreed,” Allison replied. “No matter what.”