The Fae gave a big smile and said, “That, we sure did! Consider it punishment for not hearing our warning. We are going to take the horses to our friend. She has a nice farm and plenty of space around it for all those horses.”

“The moment my soldiers arrive, you will all be dead!”

“Nonsense! We can’t die! No one ever told you that? When your soldiers arrive, we will take their weapons as well! We will make a nice pile and take all that to our friend for her to sell! You see, there is a Quest asking for weapons, so we thought we could take a few weapons from annoying people instead of paying a blacksmith. Pretty neat idea, right?”

The commander stared at the smiling green being and stuttered, “A… Q-Quest? As in… an Adventurer’s Quest?”

“Yup! Pretty cool, right? Fae are Adventurers, now! Only one of us joined our friend’s Party, but hey, it’s still fun, you know?”

The commander looked at his knights, who were looking back at him, not believing what they were hearing.

Several minutes went by, with neither Fae nor knights moving a millimetre. The soldiers arrived, and the commander ordered them to attack. It was futile.

The Fae who received deadly strikes would dissolve into the ground, and two others would appear and take the weapons from the soldier who killed the previous Fae. One of those Fae would take the weapons behind the line, while the other Fae stayed in their place, stopping the soldiers and knights from advancing.

When the knights and soldiers had no weapons, they fought unarmed, breaking a few hands and feet against the unmovable and almost unbreakable green beings.

Frustrated, the commander told his troops to grab the wounded and to retreat, and shouted as a knight was helping him get up, “This won’t end here, Fae! I will warn the Laichian Empire about what happened here! You won’t ever be safe from our wrath!”

The smiling Fae shouted back in unison, and hundreds upon hundreds of voices speaking at the same time made every member of that army shiver. “You do that! Even if everyone in your Empire fights us, we won’t let you go to Amberstar! Our friend must be protected! Go lick your wounds, Oomans, and we will be right here, waiting for your return! Bring more horses and weapons next time, please! Hihihi!”

While the Laichian Empire army was retreating and tending their wounds, on Meryda’s farm, she was with Rusha Banei, feeding the chickens, while Craydon was seated on a chair on the porch in front of the house, drawing something in a notebook, while the Slime and the Salamander were seated on the ground, relaxing.

Suddenly, he noticed the Emptiness travelling along the water canal at an enormous speed to the left side of the house.

Since that dark cloud started to patrol the farm, Craydon often saw it travelling along the canal at a normal walking speed, so that absurd speed was surprising, to say the least and made him drop the notebook and run to it, wondering what was happening.

He stopped in front of the dark cloud, and as if it sensed him there, the Emptiness opened a hole for him to see what was standing on the other side, making him gasp. “What the heck?”

Two Sub-Demons were there, looking at him through the hole in the dark cloud, and they seemed curious.

Craydon frowned at that sight. Two light grey beings with bald heads, big, round, and black eyes, and thin arms and legs, stared at him as if they were waiting for authorisation to enter the farm.

Since they weren’t moving, Craydon asked, “Lyzy, can you go call Meryda here? I bet she wants to see this.” The bright orange Salamander ran to the back of the house, and Craydon said, “Emptiness, keep them there. I have no idea what they want, but now that they are here, we better not let them leave.”

After a few seconds, Meryda and Rusha arrived, following the Salamander, who slid on the ground with his four paws to stop and stood next to Craydon and the Slime, looking at the two grey beings on the other side of the Emptiness.

Meryda stood right next to her father, looked into the hole in the dark fog, and frowned at the two Sub-Demons. “What do you think they are doing here, father? They are not the ones that work at the Guild, right?”

“I don’t think so. Those two don’t have scars, like Number One and Number Two do, and they are also naked. But… is it just me, or they seem to be smiling at you?”

Meryda grimaced at the sight of those pointy teeth and said, “Either that, or they think I am a snack. Shoo! Go away!”

Meryda waved her hands, but the two Sub-Demons shook their heads and pointed at her. They then pointed at them and nodded, making her mumble, “That is so weird… I just… I got the feeling they wanted to stay with me? I wonder…”

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her Magic. Or, better yet, concentrate on calming her heart. She then smiled at the two beings, and while shining, surrounded by Magic, she said, “You are safe here. Relax; no one is going to harm you.”

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The two beings started to shine as well as if they were responding to Meryda’s Magic. She then told the enormous Emptiness to let them pass, and they timidly approached her and bowed their heads, staring at the ground and completely still, in submission.

Meryda caressed their bald heads and said, “That’s it. You two are now among friends. Come with me; let me introduce you to the others.” She then smiled at her father and said, “You know, I think these are not Sub-Demons. I got the feeling they were actually Monsters, which is why my Magic worked on them. They should be called Sub-Monsters, or something like that.”

Craydon scratched his head while Meryda was going to the house, holding hands with two of the weirdest beings he had ever seen since he arrived in that World.

Rusha was also puzzled and asked, “Say, what if those are actually Demons? That would mean Meryda can also tame Demons, right?”

“It could, if she didn’t get the same feeling she gets every time she meets a Monster. Why the heck did they come here? Did they sense Meryda’s Magic and were attracted to her or what?”

“Yeah, kind of strange. Let’s go see what she is doing. I wonder if we can teach them some work. The ones in the kitchen’s Guild help a lot.”

While Craydon and Rusha Banei were going after Meryda and her two new friends, in the Demon country, Demon Azazel was looking at Demon Lamashtu, who had her eyes closed, as if she were thinking about something.

She then opened her eyes and grinned. “All done. Two of my Sub-Monsters made contact with that Monster Tamer and I lost the connection. Now we know where she is.”

Azazel leaned forward and sighed. “We should decide what to do. The Fae told us not to mess with her, but we also found out an army is going to Amberstar.”

A voice came from the left and made the four High Demons look at the one who spoke. “An army was going to Amberstar, but they quit and went back to the Laichian Empire.”

Seeing the grin on the Fae’s lips, Demon Azazel asked, “You have something to do with that, don’t you?”

“We have no idea why you would say such a thing. We Fae don’t intervene, remember?”

“So, why did you come here this time?”

The green being put her hands behind her back and leaned her head in a cute pose, and while still smiling, asked, “We had a cool idea… You guys don’t have two Drakes lying around somewhere? Two that are assigned to your spy squad and are relaxing in a cave?”

While the Fae’s direct question surprised the other High Demons, Demon Lamashtu asked, “How… How do you know about our spy squad?”

“Because, my cute Lamashtu, long before you invented that concept, we were already using it!”

With his characteristic seriousness, Demon Azazel asked, “And why do you want two of our Drakes? What are you plotting, Fae?”

“Nothing much. We just happen to know a cute Monster Tamer who was almost forced to join the Ooman Alliance. She is thinking about coming to the mountain range to talk with the Oomans, and that would be an excellent opportunity for you to meet her and talk to her.”

“Are you saying that… we should kidnap her when she comes to meet the Oomans? Is that it?”

The green being tapped its chin pensatively and said, “Kidnapping is an ugly word. What about after she talks with the Oomans, one of you goes to her during the night and invites her to visit your beautiful country and talk to the people?”

The four High Demons at the table looked at each other, wondering what the weird Fae wanted by even proposing that plan, and then Demon Azazel asked, “And what would that accomplish? Do you think she would prefer to join us and defend the mountain range from those invaders?”

“We were thinking she could stop more killings. If she joins the Alliance, with her power, you guys won’t stand a chance. Every Monster or wild animal you could throw against the alliance, she will tame, and they will all join her. The Oomans will take that opportunity to invade, and they will probably plunder your country into smitheries. You know how much they hate the idea of a country ruled by Demons, and they didn’t even see any Demon until now! Just the mere idea messes with them!” The Fae explained while looking at the serious Demons. “Her father suspects the intentions of the Oomans for wanting to invade. He will tell her when the time is right. But if she decides that your cause is noble, she will certainly defend you guys. Considering she is also a very good Earth Mage and can use the mountains as fuel for her Magic, tools, or weapons… you get the drift. If all the Oomans in the alliance die, and after that, all the Oomans in the World go extinct, we Fae just need to focus our interest on the other races.”

“I see… But why are you telling us this? Fae weren’t supposed to interfere. You told us that over and over!”

The smiling Fae spoke, “We are not interfering; we are just offering ideas. It is up to you guys to decide. We must also warn you that if any of you or any Demon on your orders tries to attack Meryda, we will stand in their way. She is our friend, and we will protect her the same way we just protected her from that Ooman army that was marching to get to her.”

The green being dissolved on the ground, and Demon Pazuzu said with a slight grin, “It seems the Fae just gave us a way to stop this long-lasting war. The mere mention of all the Oomans going extinct makes me think the Fae don’t like Oomans that much. I wonder what the Oomans did to piss them off.”

Demon Azazel tapped his claws on the table and said, “I think, and I am pretty sure I am not wrong, the Fae got enough of this war, and they want us to win. I just don’t think eradicating the Oomans will accomplish anything. Especially because we need their gene pool to increase our population. We can live here in peace, like we have always been doing, and leave the rest of the World for Demis and Oomans.”

Demon Lamashtu snorted, and Demon Pazuzu warned her, “Your despise for Oomans and Demis is well known, but you for sure didn’t forget what the ancestors told you.”

Lamashtu immediately looked at the engravings on the wall and vigorously nodded. She then gulped and asked, “What if… Some years from now, our population becomes too big for our country? What will we do then?”

Azazel leaned back and said with a slight smile. “Let’s worry about that when we get there. I am sure we will find a solution, like sending the excess of our population to several islands spread all over the World. Lamashtu, see if you can send two Drakes to that Monster Tamer. I know what you are all thinking: that this is a gamble, and if she joins the Alliance, we are doomed. But you heard the Fae as well as I did, so let’s have a little faith in those green beings like our ancestors have, shall we?”