A relative peace descended on the town.

The humans were placed in the southeast corner of town, and Jerome and Krystyna slept in a house by the edge. If there were any trouble in the night, they would be able to respond and trap the offender.

The penalty for killing a gnoll (except in self-defense) was set as imprisonment until the gnoll they’d killed had advanced to the same level they’d been at before. The penalty for killing a human (except in self-defense) was for their crystal to be thrown in the sea, since that was the only gnoll equivalent to the eternal death that humans seemed to face.

The first week saw two fights whose cause was difficult to determine, four sneak attacks that (purposefully) did not result in death, and thirteen reports of theft.

It seemed fulfilling his Quest was still a ways off.

But things were still looking up. Katani taught him of how the city was run, and the tricks he used to ensure that the gnolls lived in relative harmony despite their tribal natures. It was fascinating, and in it he recognized crude versions of what the World Government did. Katani’s version would be blunt, obvious, and weak, while the World Government’s policy might not even be recognizable as a form of control even though it was far more effective. Krystyna ate up these lessons as well, although she always argued for less government interference.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Raids still went out to grab more humans, fighting the ockdine for the privilege of snatching the humans away. The battles they won gave them some nice new additions to the human quarter’s population.

Jerome spent most of his time in his true form since he liked spending nights with Krystyna. She became pregnant, and though she continued to train physically, Jerome noticed her spending more time on her magic skills and on political discussions with Katani.

There were a couple times he transformed, though, and he typically either went through dozens of forms quickly in order to level up his Transformation skill, or he stayed in one advanced form for longer so he could train their skills that were higher than his.

When his Transformation skill went up (twice) he held off on putting anything in the new slots. Who knew what the future held? It looked like peace for now, but Katani warned that the Great Civilizations would not forever sit by idly and watch Gnoll power grow.

But Jerome wasn’t frightened. The occasional ockdine raids on the city he could fight off with ease. The ptau would sometimes swoop down and try for a tasty snack, but the ones that got through the netting didn’t stay long when Jerome came running. The Elves and the other encampment of humans didn’t make an appearance, but surely they couldn’t be that powerful.

All in all it was a good life. He worked hard. The other humans (and even some of the gnolls) appreciated him. He and Krystyna got it on almost every night. And sometime soon he would have a child.

Everything about this life was unbelievable.

Unbelievably good.

In the end, it totally made up for missing raid night and not getting to see the aliens.