Centauri Champion looked at her man from atop the deck of the Galleon Whale, their gazes met for a moment and she waved at him flashing her best smile. Ever so slowly the flying ship was rising into the sky, she gazed with affection at the shrinking figure of the man she so adored. The trip to the Demon Realm surely will be long and the nights cold and lonely so she burned the sight of him in her memory.

The ship was high enough and the nearby spider urged the Centauri to go down to cargo hold and strap in preparation for the Spider Hyperdrive. She will do so, but only after her little speech she had prepared.

“Noble Mares,” she addressed, “today we embark on a very important quest. It is something only we Centauri can do. And that’s why I’ve picked only the very best of you, the elites of the Centauri. The journey will be hard, and surely there will be peril, but I’m sure we will persist. Isn’t that right?”

The Centauri neighed happily in agreement.

“Exactly! Failure isn’t an option. We shall succeed on our quests for SapphireScale! The success will bring us honour and our rank will raise. Then we’ll claim our promised reward, everyone will get what they desire.”

The mares neighed happily once again.

“Centauri. Strap in.” The spider chirped sternly.

“Okay, everyone, use the harness provided to strap yourselves. Just like this.” She demonstrated.

The belt buckles clacked and clanged; everyone was ready.

“Spider Hyperdrive engaging in… 3… 2… 1…”

The whole ship jolted from sudden acceleration. The Centauri were used to high speeds but even then, the Centauri Champion observed that few of her girls had that uncomfortable expression on their faces as if they were about to vomit.

“Don’t you dare!” She stared sternly at the suspects.

The stomach-churning discomfort of acceleration lessened leaving the ship flying at a steady but still break-neck speed. Since it was now safe to do so, she took her harness off and went back up on the main deck. There she leaned over the fence to look at the land below. The see of green was endless, but at such speeds they’ll reach the Demon Realm in a few days’ time.

Much later, the spiders landed the ship, far away from the jungle and in an overgrown forest. They dropped the ship right on the trees, toppling and crushing them beneath. The ship was sturdy and able to land despite the wooden obstacles, however, the same could not be said about Centauri. The landing was rather rough, and a few of them were forced to let out an undignified scream unbefitting of elite cavalry mares. Unfortunately, the Centauri Champion might have been the one of those few, so she restrained of reprimanding everyone.

The awful sound of breaking trees and the excessive shaking of the ship had finally stopped. A spider came down to tell them that they had finally arrived. Good news, it’s just that she wished that they could land somewhere in the plains next time. It’s just that, this was a secret operation, they couldn’t do this, else the ship and the cavalry might end up being mistaken as an invasion force. And there was a whole other deal there they would need to pay tribute then passing one or the other warlord’s territory. There was no time for that, hence this secretive operation.

“Alright, let’s disembark.” She led her cavalry out of the ship and into the dense forest.

She recognised the forest straight away, it was the Dark Forest, an uninhabited place teeming with monsters. The monsters here were formidable, but even then, she knew that the flying ship was safe since Everyone came prepared.

“From here on, we’re Cream Cheese Cavalry, remember that.”

The cavalry neighed raising their spears in the air.

“From here we go west towards our destination, the Deep Lakes.”

It was the place where SapphireScale Meat was procured, at least to her knowledge. She never been there but she knew how to reach the lakes. All she needed to do just head west, the trio of lakes were not only deep but also rather large hence hard to miss.

The Dark Forest wasn’t exactly easy terrain to traverse, especially for Centauri. First, it was overgrown with trees leaving little space to move, second it was oppressively dark in here.

The Centauri Champion led the way with a Dark Lantern in her hand. The lantern granted everyone Darkvision without emitting much of real light, this meant that they wouldn’t alert the nastiest of the monsters. The guardians of this forest hated fire and especially Fire magic. However, there was little they could do about sound, especially due to the fact they wore heavy armour.

The inevitable finally happened. A grey furred creature emerged from under a pile of rotting leaves and wood matter. It let out shrill and bone piercing shriek.

“It’s Grove Terrors, get ready, they’ll attack from the behind.” She informed her less informed girls.

Just as the Centauri Champion predicted the one in front was only their spotter, the real trouble sprung out of the ground just behind them. No less than fifty vaguely humanoid monsters charged at the Centauri. The monsters had long and lanky limbs, they ran while hunched bearing their sharp claws and fangs at the cavalry. Their claws were tainted with a special poison, inflicting Paralyse on those affected.

“Stupid monsters.” She grunted in frustration.

Even if the monsters were formidable, they didn’t have the numbers needed to even put a scratch on the Centauri here. The Centauri took a defensive position and met the failed ambush with the trusts of their lances. A few of the monsters slipped close enough to swipe at Centauri, but that was what the armour was there for. In the end it was rather anticlimactic. The monster attack was dealt with easily enough. Of course, if they had angered the forest guardians, or encountered an apex predator it would have been an entirely different story. Alas, it didn’t come to be.

Cream Cheese Cavalry proceeded through the forest engaging in a few more attacks just like this, but in the end, they reached the border of the Dark Forest emerging into the plains bordering the Deep Lakes. And then finally, they reached one of the free lakes. As far as she could see there was only water, it could easily be called a sea, but even so, this was a lake, just very massive. The Centauri approached an edge of a rocky cliff to take a closer peek at the water, the water was clear but even so no one could see the bottom, hence the name Deep Lakes.

“So, this is it. We’ve reached our destination.” She spoke while marvelling at her own slightly distorted image projected by the water.

They were here, but their quest had just begun. The main issue here was that they were warriors and not fishers, but also that neither of them was a good swimmer either. They did bring some nets and stuff like that, but the real plan was just to purchase an already caught fish. After all, there was no need for them to fish it by themselves. And the Deep Lakes were rumoured to be even more dangerous than the Dark Forest.

“Right, let’s find the nearest settlement.”

They ran near the lake shore at a casual pace. And surely enough they found one of the many villages bordering the massive lakes. The village, like most settlements in the Demon Realm came fortified, this particular one was surrounded by a wooden palisade. The spotter sitting atop the watchtower must have noticed their charge. A deep sound of horn resounded in the air. Soon the wall was filled with local defenders. Those were frogmen, a rather primitive and stupid race, but even so an important part of the Demon Realm. The frogmen aimed their fishing javelins at the approaching Centauri. No doubt they were expecting a raid. Centauri Champion couldn’t blame them for thinking so; before the fall the Centauri used to have that reputation.

“Halt.” She stopped the cavalry. “I’ll negotiate with them.”

She galloped further towards the palisade, but just out of the javelin range. That didn’t mean that a few of the opportunistic javelins were thrown at her, of course, they didn’t hit anywhere remotely close.

“Be not alarmed!” She shouted at the nearby watchtower. ”I’m Centauri Champion of the Cream Cheese Cavalry.” She said it with utmost pride. “We’re mercenaries looking to purchase some food for our travels.”

There was a moment of silence, then some croaking behind the wooden wall and then silence again.

A rather fat frogman climbed the watchtower. “You here to barter?” He croaked from atop.

“Yes, we are. We have metal scrap and unwanted weapons to barter, but also alcohol and healing potions.”

Even if she had more precious items than the ones she named, she had to sound believable. The gold would have been the most convenient for Centauri, easy to carry and all that, but it was not so for the frogman tribe here. Aside from Demon coins, the village like this didn’t have much use for noble metals or precious gems. They liked practical items which would help them in their daily activities.

“Alcohol?” The frogman perked up.

“Yes, and not the usual swamp swill. It’s Grupp-Grupp, and expensive and exotic liquor.” She took the bottle out to wave it at the frogman.

*Croak*, “Might be too expensive for us then. If you’re here for simple food, we’ll take scrap.” The frogman said so, but he was ogling at that bottle betraying the want for it.

“Al right, so, what we need is fish, SapphireScale to be precise.”

“SapphireScale, croak, but that is rare and valuable. Why do you need it?” The frogman croaked suspicious. “We have normal fish, MudFish, SlimeFish, DirtEal. If you need food take that. Why the expensive taste, croak?”

“Those are disgusting, and I have expensive tastes. And I have equally rare items to barter for it.” She waved the bottle again at the frogman.

Obviously, if they were any smarter, they would know that Centauri didn’t eat meat.

However, “Then, croak, you’re in luck, we have we fish and you have the alcohol. We just caught SapphireScale this morning, it's fat and fresh. Send the alcohol and we’ll clean and cut the fish for you.”

A good practise was to keep the rare fish alive as long as possible so that their meat could remain in the best condition. This was what was happening, so indeed she was in luck; she needed a live specimen.

“No don’t cut and clean it just yet, I need it alive.” She informed hurriedly.

*Croak*, “Why alive? Centauri, what are you playing?” It croaked in suspicion again.

“I just like it super very fresh. I want to eat it while it’s alive.” She lied trough her teeth.

*Croak, Croak, Croak…* – all of the frogmen croaked somewhat alarmed by that sentence.

Her ears picked on a silent croak of the frogman trader, “Centauri… so barbaric,” *Croak*, “I’ve heard of this practise, it’s fine, we’ll send the fish alive, croak, but the alcohol comes first. For all I know, it might be just a swamp swivel in a fancy bottle.”

The thing was that she didn’t trust this frogman, the frogmen weren’t exactly known for their trustworthiness; it was the opposite. For all she knows, she’ll send the bottle in and they’ll just croak at her telling her to bugger off. But also, clearly, the frogman up the watchtower didn’t trust her either. Once again, the Centauri were known for their ruthlessness. Her previous self would wait for the portcullis gate to open only to raid the village the next minute it did so. Such was her past and the realities of the Demon Realm.

“Fine, I’ll send you the bottle.” She agreed.

The gate rose ever so slightly to let a tiny frogman pass. It wobbled and waddled slowly towards her, clearly they weren’t the best of the land walkers. As the frogman approached the terrible waft of swampy rot reached her nostrils; the lake was clear and clean there was no reason for them to stink this much. The ugly thing blinked at her with those two popped out eyes, the blinks were asymmetrical too, one eye and then the next. Needless to say, she was rather disgusted.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The frogman reached towards her with a shaking hand. “Here.” She handed in the bottle. “And mind you, it’s full!” She shouted out. “So don’t be tempted to drink half of it before handing it in.” She cautioned because things like that tended to happen.

*Croak*, the frogman croaked looking not all too pleased by her words.

The bottle reached the frogman in the watchtower, he drank from it greedily.

“Ah yes, good stuff, croak-croak. Never tasted anything like this.”

“I know! So, send me my fish. And it better be alive.”

“Croak… I don’t know. SapphireScale is rather rare and notoriously hard to catch. The alcohol is good, croak-croak, but I don’t think one bottle is enough.”

And here it was, this was why their reputation was bad. But she knew all that, and she had no less than six bottles to barter with, she just didn’t like to be tricked or swindled that’s it.

“I have few more bottles like this, and you can have our scrap metal. But you’re not getting any of them, not before I see my dinner.”

“Is that so?” The frogman finished the bottle, *hic*, “Ah, that was delicious, croak. Alright, we’ll drag your dinner out, just keep your Centauri away from the gate. And get them further than they already are.”

Apparently, the frogman here wasn’t a complete idiot, he must have known that the Centauri had the perk to clear the current distance in but a few seconds. Actually, It was the combination of two: Swift Hooves plus Relentless Charge.

But she didn’t need to resort for such underhanded tactics. “Yes, we’ll do that, and I will prepare the scrap and alcohol for you.” She looked at her mares meaningfully; her forces retreated further.

A box containing six bottles of Grupp-Grupp and a small pile of Corundum scrap was deposited nearby and ready for the trade. The portcullis raised up fully to let a bunch of frogmen out. They were dragging SapphireScale bound in rope right behind. The creature wasn’t fat but did it look fresh enough to at least be alive, however, there were barely any meat on it. The frogmen lied of catching it today, clearly, it had been caught and kept alive for quite some time, waiting for nearby traders to pass. Luckily for the poor creature it didn’t need water to breathe, but even so, it clearly was suffering.

“Here’s your fish, enjoy. Croak-Croak!” The frogman croaked still atop his watchtower.

This was definition of bad manners, then such deals were made it was customary for both parties to stand nearby, after all, she was here now in the range for their javelins.

“And here’s my offering. I won’t give you anymore.” She pointed at the pile and the box.

The nearby frogman croaked a tally of the items to the fat one in the watchtower.

“Hey! But it is alive, croak, and it is well. Sapphire Scales are also valuable, normally we would sell those later. Add a few more bottles, would you, croak?”

She looked at the trembling creature. “There is barely any meat on it. And it is half-dead, are you trying to rip me off? Just take the scrap and alcohol, we both know it is a good deal.”

“Croak…” The frogman tilted its head clearly thinking for another way to extort more alcohol.

“Look, if you sold Grupp-Grupp to the local merchants it’s bound to bring you profit. As you can tell, its not made locally and is rather expensive. Just don’t drink it all.” She tried to reason, unwilling to trek all the way back to the Galleon Whale for more alcohol.

“But that is the problem, croak, the drink is just too good!” He croaked.

“Take it or leave it.” Or she could just tell her girls to storm the village, a few Fire Grenades would do the trick, but that probably would lead to the fragile SapphireScale getting killed.

Likely noticing the sudden shift in the Centauri Champion’s expression, the fat frogman croaked out, “I’ll take it, I’ll take it, croak. Cut the bindings.” He commanded.

The creature flopped face down on the ground and the frogmen went to grab their spoils. The Centauri watched them leave back to their village where the portcullis closed right after them.

“No returns, croak-croak!” The fat frogman croak-laughed.

She approached to retrieve the fish. The creature was still laying face down on the ground, for a moment Centauri Champion worried that it just died on her, but then she noticed it slightly trembling. Actually, she never saw any SapphireScale alive, but that must be the real thing. Even if the fish was famished, no doubt it still had those signature scales. Quick Inspect worked to confirm all of this.

Monster Race: Mer

Variant: SapphireScale

Magic Affinity: Water

HP:50/50

MP:250

STA:100

Active Perks

[Sonic Scream], [Hydrokinesis], [Cutting Splash]

Passive Perks

[Sapphire Scales], [Marine Empathy], [Aquatic Adaptation]

Resistances

[Water Resistance: Medium]

Status Effects

[Starving]

She took a better look at the pitiful creature. The scales glistened like gems in the sun. Having seen the frogmen, this Mer was just incredibly pleasant to look at, and surprisingly it didn’t even stink. However, there was still a small surprise. The creature had that sapphire scaled tail, yes, but also it had arms and a head betraying that it was sapient, or semi-sapient at least. Well, judging by a set of two round orbs the fish was clearly a she. Her upper half had those feminine features you would prescribe to puny and weak but still somewhat civilised monster races: small frame, delicate neck, narrow shoulders, and rounded head. Also, her upper half had barely any of the blue shimmering scales, but still it was rather shiny and pretty to look at. Her skin was gray-blue and pale in colour, it looked surprisingly smooth and shiny, but upon touch it was somewhat slimy. Her hair just like her scales were vivid blue, and for her eyes well she was still laying face down pretending to be dead, but no doubt they would also be deep blue.

It was almost a shame to eat something pretty like this. But she understood why it was done, after all this was Demon Realm and things like this were commonplace. Her scales were pretty so others wanted to harvest them, and if your meat was delicious and you were weak that only meant that someone out there will hunt you for food.

Even if appealing to one’s eyes, some monsters were still mostly monsters, unable of advanced thinking and talking. To be sure she tried. “Hey, you, can you talk?” Jus after she did so, she pulled the Mer’s head up to get a better look at the face.

Wow, what a shock! Drool and dirt tainted tears marked the Mer’s face. “Please don’t eat me alive!” She said between the quiet sobs.

Ah, so she could talk in Demon Language. “No, I won’t be eating you. You see, we Centauri don’t eat meat.”

The SapphireScale looked at her with clear confusion. But before there could be any misunderstandings the Centauri Champion continued.

“That doesn’t mean you won’t get eaten…” She said without any shred of guild or compassion. “Your meat belongs to my Master, the Spider King.” She whispered the later. “Only he can eat you. Mer, consider it a great honour.” With those words she picked up the SapphireScale and strutted happily back to the rest of the Cavalry.

SapphireScale wasn’t sobbing anymore, she just stared at the face of the Centauri with a dumbfounded expression.

“So you won’t eat me?” The Mer asked meekly.

“Were you listening? I’ve told you already, I won’t be!”

“Thank you!” The fish was back to sobbing.

She was rather bothersome, at that moment the Centauri Champion wished that this fish was just another dumb monster; it would be easier to deal with her. Like whacking the monster on the head unconscious or ripping the tongue out. But since the fish, no this Mer, could talk, the Centauri Champion didn’t feel like exposing her to such cruelties. The Centauri were known for their ruthlessness, but a lot had changed. After the fall of Centauri, after all the suffering she had experienced personally, she didn’t want to cause more needless pain to this SapphireScale.

“Actually, when I think about it. I doubt you will get eaten at all, my Master said he wants to farm the fish or something like that.” She didn’t know why she was telling all that, but even so, she continued. “Yes, we also need to get a male SapphireScale. The two of you would breed, birth more fish, and I guess then your children would be eaten or something like that.”

Her words didn’t make SapphireScale to feel any better. “I see, so I get to live…” She said with clear relief in her voice.

“Yeah, I guess… But even so, I’m not too sure what will happen next.” She knew but chose to remain quiet.

After all, in the end some of the Mer were destined to be eaten, probably her children. There was no way the Centauri Champion could, or even needed to spell such realities. But also, she didn’t care much of Mer fates. It was the Mer fault for being so weak and pitiful, and also allegedly incredibly delicious. The Centauri were undoubtedly also rather tasty, or so was the rumour, but very few could defeat her race in a straight fight. That’s right, if you didn’t want to be eaten, you had to be strong! The Mer were responsible for their own misfortune.

The Mer remained miserable and in a somewhat melancholic mood, but that didn’t mean the Centauri were so. After inspecting the fish the mares of Cream Cheese Cavalry cheered at the completion of the first half of their quest. They didn’t expect this to go this easy!

The Centauri used a large sheet of leather to harvest some of the lake water and put the fish in the improvised tub. The fish in question was still sulky but somewhat happier at the small improvement. Next, they had to haul the fish back to Galleon Whale for storage and only then they would look to procure a male, hopefully in the few next nearby villages.

That of course meant that they had to walk through the Dark Forest and deal with its natural challenges. The biggest trouble was actually the fish, she just couldn’t stop talking. She kept asking annoying question like: “Where are you taking me?”, “Is this a forest? I’ve never been.”, ”Eek! Monsters!?”, “Are we there yet?”, “Are we there yet?”, “Are we there yet…”

Well, on a rare occasion the fish would ask a few good questions like: “Who is this Spider King?”, “Why do Centauri serve him?”. To which Centauri Champion replied with great detail and great pride.

Eventually, the ship was reached without much serious trouble.

“Watch out. Monsters!” The fish pointed out of her tub at the spiders, sending a Sonic Scream.

Luckily it was not that effective then out of the water, but still the Centauri had to plug their ears at the sharp scream.

The Centauri Champion was against abusing captives, however, “Don’t be ignorant!” She slapped the back of the head of the fish. “They are servants of the Spider King. Apologise!”

“I’m sorry spiders!” The fish yelled out of her tub hiding deeper right after.

The spiders didn’t even care about it, they were busy with their things. Namely, building a small wooden fort around the ship. Moreover, there were cages with local monsters sitting next to the ship, and also piles of various plants sorted into herbs, fruits and vegetables. The Centauri Champion didn’t even question why the spiders were doing all of this. The spiders were spiders, they did the spider things, and most likely they had a side quest of their own.

“Spider, we captured the first fish.” She informed the nearby spider. “Where do you want it?”

“So soon? Magnificent. In the tank. We had prepared.” The spider pointed at the large open rectangle made out entirely out of scorpion glass.

That was smart of the spiders, the Reinforced glass was sturdier than any wooden or leather tub could be, plus they will be able to observe the otherwise beautiful captive. The Centauri Champion scooped the fish out of the improvised tub and threw her in her tank.

“You better behave! And don’t die.” It would be way too troublesome to find another one.

And so, without further ado, the Cream Cheese Cavalry galloped to complete the rest of their quest.

…

The spider scuttered close to the see-through tank tapping on its glass. The fish inside sent a panicked and involuntarily Sonic Shout shuffling away from the spider and into one of the corners. The water moved forcefully and if this was a normal glass it would have shattered at that instant, instead the water just splashed a bit from the top.

“What is your name?” The spider chirped in Demon Language.

“Huh?”

It chirped again repeating the question.

“I’m SapphireScale.” She answered.

The spider tapped the glass twice scaring her further. “No, your name.”

Neither of the Centauri bothered to ask that, hence her confusion here. “Day Sapphire, or just Day.” She said so with pride. After all, Sapphire was a royal name, and yes, she was a princess. Princess but one of many, she was so far down the line that it didn’t even mater.

“Day Sapphire.” It repeated somewhat melodically while scribbling something on the strange rectangle it was holding. “Day, what do you eat?”

Once again, the question took her by surprise. “Everything.” She blurred but after another glance at the spider she corrected herself. “Primarily LakeWeed, and other edible plants, but also fish and other aquatic animals.” She wondered if that was any good or if she needed to be even more specific.

“And what is. Your favourite food?”

“Huh?” Why did that even matter… “I guess,” she paused to think, “DeepClams.”

The spider made another note. “How about this?” It dropped a slice of blue fruit in the tank.

She took the fruit slice in her hand inspecting it cautiously. It appeared safe and unwilling to anger otherwise polite spider she ate the offering.

“Holy Water Serpent! This is delicious!” She jumped half out of the water. “This is my new favourite food. What is it?” And only then did she realise that her Starving negative status effect was gone with just a single slice.

She could swear the spider was smiling, but it was hard to tell with its facial features. “TomGrape.” It chirped pleasantly dropping the rest of the fruit in the water.

Then it chirped another question. “Married or single?”

*Munch-Munch*, “Excuse me?” Once again, she was taken by surprised but replied regardless.

For the next few hours, the spider bombarded her with various questions of rather personal nature. It seemed such a waste to ask so much especially if they considered to eat her at some point.

Just what is happening? ­– she couldn’t make sense of any of this. And most importantly why did they have a ship in a middle of the forest, how was that supposed to swim?