Noticing the worry in her father’s eyes, Meryda told him what happened in the forest and what her group brought back, ending with her father and his two helpers looking at her, completely dumbfounded.

When the silence was dragging for far too long, the green being said, “You know, if Meryda gets drafted to the Alliance, she will first spend some time in a military academy to learn all about armies, squad formation, attack patterns, and Monster taming. That part will be very useful for her, as you may be aware. Oomans have a lot more experience with Monster Tamers and their uses against Monsters than Demis have.”

“But I don’t want to fight against Monsters! I would have to order my Monsters to fight other Monsters, and some of mine could die! I don’t like that idea a single bit!”

“You may not have a choice if you join the Alliance, Meryda. Considering how nice you are, if they sent you to the front lines, and you saw soldiers being killed by Monsters, you wouldn’t stand still. You will probably tell your Monsters to help the soldiers, or you will try to tame all those Monsters to stop them from killing anyone.”

Meryda turned pale and stuttered, “I… I will see people being killed… and eaten… if I go? Is that what you are saying?”

“Yes, that is correct. And now that you know soldiers on the front lines are dying as we speak, do you want to stay here, living peacefully, or do you want to go help them?”

“I… I don’t know… I am just a kid; I wasn’t supposed to join any kind of fight or war!”

Noticing how worried his daughter was, Craydon put a stop to all that talk. “We don’t need to worry about any of that. Meryda is still young, and if you are just an observer, you should keep those kinds of questions to yourself. Maybe when she grows up, she will go to help the Ooman Alliance, or maybe she will find out their intentions are not like they say, and they are just a bunch of greedy people who only want the Magic Crystals in the mountain range that serves as a border with the Demon country.”

The now serious green being stared at Craydon and said, “You seem to have doubts about the Ooman’s intentions. That is commendable, but you should keep those doubts to yourself. The Oomans have a lot of agents and people working for them all over the place, and if they find out you are spreading those thoughts, they might not like it, and they will make you disappear. That already happened to some people.”

“It is just us here. Unless you are one of those agents, I shouldn’t be worried, should I?”

The Fae stared at Craydon, and her face slowly became dark green as if it was angry, and even its cheerful voice changed. “Accusing a Fae of something so despicable is a serious insult, Mister Craydon! We have already explained. Fae are observers. We don’t mess with other beings’ businesses. If you all want to engage in wars and die, we just watch from a distance and wait for everything to finish. If, in the end, you all die, Fae will wait peacefully for the next intelligent race to appear and evolve.”

“And by that, you confirmed my suspicions. Fae are a part of this World, and you are all probably alive since the World exists. You have probably watched countless people die, and countless people be born. Being an observer is your way of getting some distraction from your extremely long and boring lives. Well, I can’t totally disagree with that, because if it were me who was immortal or had a very long life, I would mess with everyone and meddle with every country as a means of distraction. I bet the Fae in the past already did something like this, and it probably ended in thousands of deaths. Maybe the observer role is your most recent way of distraction.”

In silence, the serious Fae kept staring at Craydon, and without a word, dissolved in the ground, making Meryda say, “You made the Fae angry, father! Why were you being so mean to them?”

“I wasn’t being mean; I was just stating the obvious, and considering how that always-smiling Fae went silent and disappeared, I might have hit the nail. That green thing was the one that started it. Saying that soldiers are dying when we are here living peacefully sounded like war propaganda. To me, that Fae seemed to be trying to make you feel guilty of not helping the Ooman Alliance, and as your father, I must keep you safe and away from all harm. And that includes wars in a place that doesn’t concern us.”

Meryda slowly nodded, and Vasir Rez said, “Boss, but what the Fae said is not wrong. For years, the Ooman Alliance has been fighting to stop the Demons from ever invading other countries, and everyone knows that.”

“I am aware that is common knowledge. But did they ever come from the mountain range? Did they ever try to invade a country? From what I was told, no one ever saw a Demon, except Sub-Demons and Monsters in that mountain range. I was also told there were other places with Magic Crystals, but now the only place where crystal veins still exist is in that mountain range. Oomans and Demis can only use Magic if they have an affinity with a certain element that resonates with a Magic Crystal that has that element. That sounds like a good excuse for greedy people to go to that mountain range and even create a so-called mighty race of Demons that live in a country after those mountains.”

“But if it wasn’t because of Magic, a lot of Oomans and Demis would die because of wild animals and Monsters,” said Vasir with a serious look on his face. “In fact, even a group of Sub-Demons can be deadly if you don’t have someone on your side that can use Magic. If you have doubts, try to fight those two Sub-Demons with only a dagger or a sword. If it wasn’t for their restraints and their slave training, you would be dead in ten seconds, considering you never trained to be a warrior!”

“I understand that Magic is useful because of the danger from Monsters and wild animals, but don’t you find it strange that there is only an Ooman Alliance? Why is there not a Demis Alliance?”

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“There was never a need because Demis are a stronger opponent for Monsters than Oomans ever were!”, said Vasir. “The Ooman Alliance has quite a few Demis in their ranks, but I heard they hired those as mercenaries. If I am not mistaken, Oomans were the first to find out how to use Magic Crystals, so they were always the ones more eager for Crystals. Demis are better suited to fight Monsters, with our claws, sharp fingernails, and speed. Oomans are slower; they don’t have claws or anything like that, so they can only rely on weapons and Magic.”

Craydon stopped cutting pieces of wood to make darts and spoke, “I see… That makes sense. And with the Ooman’s need for Magic Crystals, they convinced everyone that Demons would invade other countries and, like that, get free supplies and draft Demis Mages to their ranks.”

“Perhaps you should do like the Fae said, boss. Keep those thoughts to yourself. If the wrong people hear you say that, you will get into a lot of trouble!”

“That is the only thing I agree with about what that strange green being said. Fae are too suspicious for my taste. Everything about them makes my alarm ring like crazy. So, what about if we ended tonight? You guys can probably leave, and I will clean this up. Meryda, did you eat already? If not, there is still food in those pots over the stove, so I can prepare you a plate.”

“Thanks, father. I haven’t eaten yet; I just returned from the Quests. Jelly absorbed a few tree branches in that forest, and Lyzy ate a Grolagian that he hunted. I had no idea he could be so fast! That strange rabbit never had a chance!”

…

Late at night, with Meryda already in bed, Craydon went to the bathroom at the end of the corridor on the Guild’s top floor.

After closing the door behind him, he went straight to the mirror, put his hand over it, and waited.

Since his Human reflection wasn’t there, he waited while washing his face with only one hand and brushing his teeth next.

When he lifted his head to look, Jack Cross was looking at him with a smile, and his voice greeted him: “I think I will never get used to seeing my face with another soul inside of it. How was your day?”

“You first, because I am still deciding what to do about a certain green being.”

“You mean the Fae? What did that thing do for you to look so gloomy?”

Noticing that his Demi-Cat reflection was sighing, Jack Cross said in a low voice, “Well, on my part, I went this morning to a meeting in my daughter’s school. The Principal was talking with the parents of the other girls who were bullying your daughter before I arrived, so the moment I noticed it, I barged into his office. I might have threatened to kill them all if they continued to mess with my daughter, and Mia Mills, your boss’ daughter, talked with them and made them realise she could make their lives a living hell if they insisted on going after me or my daughter.”

“Miss Mia did that? I never liked that spoiled brat. She used to treat everyone around her like garbage if they weren’t rich or one of her friends. As if such a bastard could ever have true friends, that is! I got the feeling that her supposed friends only put up with her out of personal interest or because their parents were her father’s business partners.”

“Maybe she is not as bad as you may think. I have only known her for two days or so, but I have already noticed how rude she can be sometimes. Other times, she is nice to talk to. She made a phone call to her father and asked him to take care of everything. My daughter is returning to school tomorrow, so I guess everything went better than if Mia wasn’t there, considering how angry I was.”

Craydon made a slight smile, and he then explained, “Well, around here, I went with the Guild Master to talk with a blacksmith and a carpenter for them to make a crossbow for me. I thought it would be better to go with my daughter if she continued to go on Quests with her friends, and for that, I needed a proper weapon, one not so difficult to use like a sword or a bow. I am not fond of the idea of letting her go anywhere she wants with so many wild animals and Monsters around.”

“A crossbow? I never heard that word. I mean… Now that I think about it, I am remembering something. You saw a television show about it, or you used one in your youth? I am not quite sure.”

“I used one that I made when I was a kid,” said Craydon Crawler. “But I am not sure if I need to accompany my daughter on her adventures. Today, she went to a forest nearby with her friends to gather some mushrooms. She returned with five Grolagians, a bag full of mushrooms, and another with balls of spider web, two Gigantic Spiders and an Emptiness that she tamed. Those new Monsters are now living on our farm.”

Jack Cross covered his mouth to stop a scream of surprise. “She what? Those Monsters are absurdly dangerous! She tamed them, just like that? Unbelievable!”

“Yes, it seems she did. And when she returned to the Guild, she came with that Fae, and that was when they told me a few things that made me think those Fae are not what they pretend to be.”

Craydon explained his suspicions, with Jack Cross hearing everything in silence and simply nodding. In the end, he said, “I understand your worries, but you are making too much fuss about something that is not that difficult to understand. Fae are indeed observers, but sometimes they say things that make people think. They don’t directly influence anyone, nor do they give any kind of advice. They just mention things that some people have never thought about or don’t even know about. The Fae was right in everything they said. Your daughter should be careful not to draw too much attention because she is indeed a very powerful Monster Tamer. I believe she is more powerful than any Monster Tamer around. I never heard about one taming so many Monsters in such a short amount of time without fighting. She just talked with them and showed them she was a friend, right? Monster Tamers don’t do that. They force the Monsters to obey them by making their previous Monsters fight them while dominating them with their Magic.”

“But that Fae also sounded as if she was telling Meryda to go join the Ooman Alliance.”

“No, if you think about it, she only mentioned that your daughter could do that, and that soldiers were dying as she was talking. Soldiers are always dying on the front lines of that mountain range; that is nothing new. Perhaps it was a shock to you and your daughter because you came from a more peaceful place. Things can be dangerous in Crosslot depending on which country you are in, and the front lines near that mountain range are the most dangerous places in the World. You can do what she already told you: live with your daughter peacefully by hiding somewhere and not meddling with the Ooman Alliance. I am not sure if you or your daughter will do that forever. From what I could tell from our conversations until now, neither you nor your daughter will stand still if your actions can save a lot of people.”

Craydon Crawler slowly nodded, and he said, “Probably you are right, but the Oomans’ intentions don’t seem as noble as everyone thinks. Or better yet, like they claim, and everyone seems to believe in them.”

A noise in the corridor made Jack Cross bid his farewells with a whisper. “I think Mia finished watching the television show. I will try to talk to you tomorrow night.”