“How do you know my name, human?”
Micah smiled since he had successfully derailed the demon’s initiative and made it think before killing them all. He smiled as he answered.
“A little bird told me. A crane, I believe.”
“There aren’t any birds here, especially not cranes.”
Ystris looked quite sour as he glared at Micah, eyes full of suspicion.
“Ah, I believe it said it was from a construction site, so it probably wasn’t from around here.”
“Are you messing with me because you long for pain, human?”
“No, not at all. I just want an opportunity to talk to you.”
“What could you possibly have to say to me, human?”
“Loads of stuff, really. But since you’re so impatient, I’ll cut right to the chase. Why?”
“Why, what, human?”
“Why are you stopping me?”
“If you’re just going to ask stupid questions, I’ll cut you down where you stand, human. And I’ll make it painful.”
Ystris cracked his whip in the air to emphasize his threat.
“Hold on there for a minute and just play along. Think about it. Why are you stopping us? Under a united leadership, this town is bound to flourish. Instead of everyone fighting and killing each other for a single bronze coin, we’ll be fighting and killing each other for silver coins.”
“Do you really think it’s that simple?”
“Of course. People will be earning and losing pol like never before. But the only way to earn pol besides stealing or waiting a day is to get it from your facilities. And let’s be honest here. It’s obvious those who run those facilities also get some when humans use them, right?”
“...”
“How about a more private conversation? Only if you’re interested, of course.”
Ystris thought for a few moments while staring at Micah in silence.
“If it makes you more comfortable, it will be just you and me.”
“Keep your jokes to yourself, human. It doesn’t matter whether you’re alone or all of you gang up on me. Flies can’t kill a lion.”
“Great. It should be fine if we just use this house, right?”
Micah didn’t answer and just walked toward a nearby residential building large enough to fit a family of three.
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Ystris just snorted and followed him inside and locking the door behind him, making sure that no one else could enter or eavesdrop. Rego tried opening it, but it didn’t even budge. It was as if the house belonged to someone inside.
Ystris was the first one to speak.
“Did you already know?”
“Know what?”
Ystris didn’t bother responding to Micah’s act of ignorance. Micah’s actions made it more than clear that he already knew or could guess that the demons of Vanitapolis could exercise some degree of Authority over the town.
Ystris and Micah sat down at the kitchen table.
“Alright. Since you agreed to talk with me, I assume you’re ready to hear me out?”
“Go ahead. I’m as bored as anyone else, and listening to you prattle on fearlessly is at least an entertaining change.”
“Great. Then how about you answer my previous question about why you’re stopping me?”
Ystris sighed, but he still answered.
“To keep you from attaining monopoly over the town’s pol.”
“Alright, but why?”
Ystris looked at Micah as if he was stupid, but he still answered the question eventually.
“You’ll undermine the power of Hell and its servants, the demons.”
“That sounds pretty bad, right?”
“Of course it is! If Hell and all the demons lose their power, the only thing that awaits is total chaos and the end of all life. Earth and Heaven will also fall if Hell goes under. It’s not just ‘pretty bad’!”
“Have you never considered turning the tables?”
“What do you mean?”
“You obviously have rules to follow and enforce, so you probably can’t do it yourselves. But work with me.”
“What?!”
Ystris looked at Micah in stunned confusion.
“You want to work with me, a demon?”
“Why not? If our goals align, it doesn’t hurt anyone, right?”
“Human, do you know where you are? Or what you’re even trying to do?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re in Hell, the place where demons are the ones who torture you and make you repent until you reincarnate.”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re trying to take over a town, the last thing demons want you to do.”
“Yeah.”
Micah just nodded along, completely at ease.
“But as I said, if our goals align….”
“What do you mean ‘align’?! We want two completely opposite things!”
Ystris slammed his hands against the table and stood up. It looked like he wanted to grab his whip and kill Micah on the spot. But while he couldn’t quite believe Micah’s words, something told him he shouldn’t kill just yet. He could hear him out first. Ystris took a deep breath and waited for Micah to plead for his life or continue talking.
But Micah didn’t plead for his life or even continue talking. He reached for his pocket with deliberately slow movements.
“This.”
Micah opened his hand and let four silver coins fall on the table. One coin dropping at a time, clinking more with each coin that landed on the previous one.
“What we want isn’t that different, right?”
Ystris blinked in surprise and looked at the five silver coins. In a small town like Vanitapolis, even a single silver coin was a lot. Yet, there were now five right in front of him. Ystris couldn’t quite believe it.
Although demons didn’t need pol to survive in Hell, they could still use it to strengthen themselves as humans did. But they were limited by the rules of Hell, so they couldn’t wantonly accumulate pol the same way humans did.
Ystris briefly wondered how Micah had managed to accumulate so much while still being strong enough to win over six groups in total. But after getting a single group to follow him, the rest probably followed like the sheep they were.
“T-that’s true. Pol is quite nice.”
Micah smiled. He had succeeded.
Ystris looked at Micah.
“What did you have in mind?”