I walked the busy streets of Latarus with Granuel in tow. The ishkawtan boy was now five years old, though he was no less energetic than when he was a toddler. I made sure to tighten my grip on his arm in case he tried to run off.

The roads were very busy today because a company of soldiers was coming through. There was a frantic energy in the air as their stay was actually sponsored by the state, meaning that they partook of the many inns, taverns, and more. Even I felt reassured by their presence, content in the knowledge that they’d vanquish the so-called rebels of New Grandera.

Hey, wait just a minute! That’s not how I think!

I searched my surroundings, and sure enough there was a shining beacon of a shepherd walking with a group of soldiers and adventurers. I immediately turned right into a different street, so I didn’t have to deal with them and my mind getting scrambled.

“Haell?” Granuel called my name.

I patted him on the head, and then kept pulling him along. I took another turn because of our detour and then I paused when I saw an inhex person crossing the street.

The inhex were a species of people who looked like dark-purple ants the size of a tiger. Their six legs were of different shapes and functions, and upon their faces were three oversized mandibles arranged like that of a crane's.

They were generally a rare sight, at least here in Latarus, to the point that I had only heard about them from stories. They were… essentially slave soldiers most of the time, and specialized units of the military were tasked with handling them. I didn’t know that there was some mixed in with this expedition. It was the first time I’d seen one in person.

"Hey! Haell! Haell!" Granuel pulled on my arm excitedly, his hands pointing towards the inhex walking along the road. I tried to shut him up, having a bad feeling about what he was going to say, but the boy shouted his next words before I could stop him. "A monster! There's a monster here! Wow!!"

My breath caught in my throat and I facepalmed. "Sorry, he's a child, doesn't know better." I lowered my head apologetically towards the inhex.

"No, no. The boy's right!" Another voice joined in, this one a soldier walking right beside the inhex, likely their handler. She pushed the inhex person roughly. "He truly is a fucking monster! It's quite hard wrangling these beasts, haha!"

The inhex let out a shrill scream of a whistle before he spoke with a deep rage and vitriol. "How about I wrangle your neck and kill you, Banda? Then I'll show that boy what a real monster is, and murder everyone in this square!"

Banda laughed, the sound both challenging and tense. I was not surprised about the inhex's reactions, which was why I was already herding Granuel away.

"But I wanna see monster!" He protested as I pulled harder on his arm. I tightened my grip, and thought hard about how I could get him to not attract any more attention towards us.

"Ice cream," I finally spoke, taking a page out of Fiya and Baston's book. "Shut up and I'll buy you one. Don't and I'll feed you salad. With broccoli."

The kid's mouth hung open, and then he closed it back up. Granuel clamped his free hand over his face and gave me a resolute nod.

Heh. Cute.

"You won’t actually do shit." I heard the soldier say behind me, projecting confidence. Some of the people around us were now hesitating to get closer, but they were interested enough to not run for it. Fools. "We'll kill your queen. Your species will die out. And their blood will be in your hands!"

The inhex approached her with his mandibles aimed threateningly in the soldier's direction. He chuckled darkly. "For you? A nobody? You think anyone will care if you die? You think they'll ruin the precarious balance with my people? For a single unimportant inconsequential soldier?"

I gulped and navigated across the gathering crowd, cursing as more curious people came to gawk at the commotion from what they thought was a safe distance, instead of doing the smart thing and staying away. I had to weave and push my way through them, getting cursed at for daring to disturb the show. I had to hold back my retorts which would have absolutely annihilated them.

My hands hovered to my waist, and the wand strapped therein. I was under no illusion as to how weak I was, not to mention the subpar quality of my practice wand, but it was still better than nothing for the situation I found myself in!

The official story about the inhex people was that their queen, the mother of all the inhex, and the only one of their species that could reproduce, surrendered herself to the empire. Apparently, she was so distraught by the vile and destructive nature of her offspring, that she sought solace in the angels and their teachings. She wished to die for this plague that she'd unleashed upon the world, but Archangel Angelo offered her a different path. He offered the inhex a chance at redemption. To atone by risking their life against the empire's enemies. To be the vanguard against those that threatened it. The inhex shall redeem themselves by carrying out the Angelic God's will, as communicated by the angels and their close followers!

…All of that was bullshit, of course. I did not need any further hints to come to that conclusion, but my grandfather was still only happy to elaborate. From how he was part of the invading army sent to the Hivania Continent, to how the inhex were so dangerous as opponents due to how united and absolutely vindictive they were. The inhex did not even speak Varyalan, much less Angelian, instead they communicated in screams and screeches that Grandpa did not even know was an actual language for the longest time. Their people had little coherent governmental structure, and they did have conflicts. But if an invading force came, then they sure as hell were putting aside their differences and uniting like no other.

The war with them ended with the capture of their queen and mother. She most definitely did not give herself up. That was such utter obvious bullshit, and I still couldn’t believe that anyone’s bought it for even a single second.

I was pretty sure that most of that was supposed to be classified material, but goddamn did the man not care.

I had absolutely no complaints.

The inhex man was growling(?) now. He stared at the soldier, standing on his hind legs to appear bigger. But he understood the consequences, or at least the possibility of it, if he truly went on a rampage here in the middle of the street. The less behaved they of the inhex were, the more their queen suffered, and the fewer eggs she was allowed to lay.

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"That's right," the soldier said. "Know your place, insect." She smirked. "It's because you're like rabid animals that your queen gave herself up to us."

"She did not–!" The inhex person had just started to scream, when a tossed mug of beer landed on his head.

"Fucking insect! You're disgusting!" Someone shouted from the sidelines, and the rest of the crowd followed like partifuclarly small-brained imbeciles.

"We're allowing you into our town and this is how you act!?"

"This is why we don't like insects in our homes!"

"You're a pest."

“Is this how you want to be redeemed!?”

The inhex in question had gone still. Even with his vastly different anatomy, I recognized that sort of look. This was just the calm before the storm. He's about to explode, and very violently at that.

There were guards across the crowds, but I did not trust them to keep the peace. If they were actually interested in doing that, then they would have already intervened and de-escalated the situation. Instead they just watched. One of them was even laughing, and yet another joined the crowd in hurling further insults towards the poor inhex man.

"We're running!" I whispered to Granuel. He grunted a response, but no words came out because he still had a hand clamped over his mouth.

I allowed myself a small smile, and then I pushed myself through a centaur couple that were making out. What the fuck are you doing in this situation…?? I tightened my grip on Granuel’s arm and forcibly pulled him with me, making sure we did not get separated now.

"You don't deserve the mercy the angels gave you!" I heard the fading taunts and jeers behind me.

"Your kind should just be wiped out from the face of this planet!!"

"Your queen included!"

"Shanayah is the only queen in my heart!!!"

“Empress actually! Even better!”

"I will hunt you all down!!" That one was said by a kid. Their parents should really get them the fuck out of here!

"What was your queen even thinking, to create monstrosities like you!?"

"You can't even do your one job fucking right!"

"Your queen's a slut! And she's being raped by the angels!!!!!"

“KKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!” The inhex screamed in response to everything, a sound so full of rage and sorrow that it silenced all other voices. I did not understand what it meant, but I felt it was something profound in their ancient and mysterious language.

I did not even know what the language was called.

The tension that has been building up since earlier finally broke. Metal clashed against chitin, flesh was torn, and bones were broken. A dozen weaker screams rang out, and the smell of blood reached me from behind. I was ahead of the crowd, but that meant little once panic set in, as most of them were bigger and faster than me, especially with the burden of a smaller child to carry.

"Aaahhh!!!"

"No, no, stop!!"

"I have children!"

"Wwaaahhhh!! Mommy!"

I was pushed, shoved, and shouted at. It took all I had to squeeze at Granuel’s arm and keep him from being separated from myself. The boy yelped in pain, but remained quiet at the threat of ice cream. It was so out of place, I found a reason to laugh even in this situation.

The good humor in me died out when I chanced a glance behind me. The inhex man impaled an ogre man with his front limbs, and then bit the head off a human woman. He paused for a second, and I saw him brace, facing towards our general direction. He leapt, and the unlucky people who were in the way were swept and battered aside. Curse my luck, he landed right in front of me.

I saw, in near slow-motion, his unsteady head turning towards me. His front legs were thick, both sharp and heavy. His back legs reminded me of a grasshopper’s, it was how he managed the previous burst of speed. The legs in between were more lithe, delicate, ending in dextrous claws and fingers.

The inhex’s mandibles chomped once. He adjusted his posture, compound eyes peering straight at my own. I was about to die.

HELLFIRE!

As if I’d let it end here and now!

I scooped Granuel up, and carried him as I jumped towards a nearby alley. I set off a sudden blaze behind me, singing parts of the inhex’s face and interrupting the vision of his bulbous eyes.

Instincts borne out of my recent evasion practice screamed at me, and I jumped to the left, narrowly dodging a spearing limb. My wand was lost and dropped, but I hardly cared at the moment. It was out of charge anyway.

The sharp ring of metal on hard surface sounded out behind me, and I couldn't help but look back even as I scrambled further away from the scene without ever slowing down. The soldier from earlier had returned, and she slashed against the tough exoskeleton of her foe with a manic smirk on her face.

I understood then that she likely wanted for this to happen, she provoked the inhex man on purpose. Either that or she’s the biggest idiot I’d ever seen. And that’s a steep contest.

The soldier was an utter scumbag, and her opponent was a slave thrashing against the chains that bound him. I would have done the same. Worse, even.

But none of that mattered. Not how I felt for the plight of the inhex, nor how I hated the soldier’s methods and everything she represented. I had to get away and run to safety, so that was what I did. Not just for myself, Granuel too relied on me to keep him safe. But also definitely for myself, as I still hadn’t even gotten started yet on my dream of becoming a powerful demon!

I crossed the alleyway, and exited out the other side. People in this area had heard of the noise, and maybe understood some of the danger, but they were mainly frozen in place, unsure how to act.

I ignored them and ran, I ignored their words of protest and confusion. I ran and sprinted and dashed, as if danger was still just right behind me. My legs hurt, I pushed myself harder than I was meant to, but I did not care. Anything was better than dying this fucking soon. My momentum was only put to a halt by a raging river.

The Latarus River.

I was in the middle of town now, I knew. The river bisected the whole settlement in two. My head swiveled around, and I saw how the people were just going about their day, manning their stores, walking the streets, talking and even having pointless inane arguments.

My eyes settled on a store called “Summer Snow.” The building was done in wood, and of a tropical design. It looked more tribal because of the carvings and other pieces of art that covered most buildings in the Angelore Empire. I loved the practice by itself, but it apparently made the structures tougher, which might actually be true even if it made no sense to me. Magic was weird, and magic was everywhere.

In the absence of knowing whatever else to do, I went inside the shop and greeted the fountans manning the reception. Right before them were tables filled with ice cream, the containers radiating cold. The workers were supplying the enchantments with a continuous stream of mana as they worked.

I nudged Granuel forward, and gestured for him to pick what he wanted. He looked back at me with pleading and unsure eyes.

I laughed, harder than I meant to. The tension that I had unwittingly been holding onto bled out of me in a sudden wave. My feet felt unsteady, I nearly collapsed. “It’s okay Granuel. You can speak now. Good job holding it in for so long.”

“Yay!” The boy cheered, hopping over and picking his flavors. I tossed the staff a full silver, leaving a generous tip that I hoped went to them, instead of whoever their boss was.