“I know we must do something, but wiping out villages at the fault of a bunch is just… It's wrong my Lady!”

“And what do you want me to do?! If it wasn't for me, all of them would be dead by now, you know?”

After the dinner was over, I followed the Demon Lord to the throne room. I needed to try to stop her, but deep inside I know this act is futile. Even without being a Demon, I can understand how they feel, and why their blood is boiling right now. But I want to try one last thing.

“Let me try to save them! If they know what we are going to do, they are going to be so scared that they would return the stuff they stole and hand out the ones at blame!”

“You're really cute, human. That's not going to happen, and even if that did, there's a town that can't be saved. They must pay for what they did, and what they are doing right now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The room fell silent. She was debating herself if she should tell me or not the truth behind those words. Finally, the Demon Lord speaked.

“It's a secret between Dryads and the high Demons, but there are some Dryads that are actually being captive in one of those towns. They are still being tortured and… If everyone knows, I won't be able to stop their rage.”

“W-What?! That's just too cruel…”

“Thats why, even if they hand out the culprits, that whole village is at fault, and they must pay for their sins.”

The gorgeous Lady in front of me talked like this was a closed case. The moonlight entered through the window and gave her the looks of someone who shouldn't be questioned. She looked angry, sad, lonely and resolved. But I dared to question her one last time.

“Letme at least try with the other two villages! If they don't give us our stuff back and hand out the culprits, I'll stop caring about them!”

“You are such a stubborn human, huh? Sigh… I'll let you try. You’ll go with Phlum, and if they try something, they’ll die right there.”

I thanked her and left the room. I don't know what's going to happen next, but if I can save even one person, this will be worth it. As anyone could expect, I couldn't get any sleep tonight. After all, tomorrow is going to be a hard day.

A new day has come and I’ll go on a difficult quest with Phlum. Humans should normally be scared of Demons, but if Humans do those terrible things, maybe they aren't going to be frightened even if their lives are in danger. Of course Phlum is against my plan, but she could do something but obey the Demon Lord orders.

“I really hope for those bastards to try to kill us. If they do, I'll rip them in pieces and eat their flesh!”

“Hey Phlum please don't provoke them. I really think that the culprits must be punished, but we shouldn't just kill innocent people…”

“There's no innocent people in those towns! The food they ate and the drinks they enjoyed are all tainted with demons’ blood!”

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Phlum was ready to fight, she didn't even bother to bring a robe to cover herself, she was just a walking mass of anger walking towards a town. The town was surrounded by wooden fences and a few watchtowers. In each of them, was a pair of people supposed to be guards.

The people who saw us coming started panicking, screaming and running aimlessly.

In a short time, at the town entrance was an old man surrounded by people, some of them looked really nervous, some were even crying or shaking.

“W-what brings you here, Demon?!”

“Huh? Who do you think you are talking to, scumbag? You better hand out what's legitimately ours, or you all will perish right here, right now!”

“B-But... Our people need food!”

“Give us our stuff or I'll turn you all into food! And you better give us the ones behind these vile acts, or I'll turn you into ashes, old man!”

The negotiation started without me, Phlum was instantly triggered by the words of the town leader. Well if they weren't scared, this plan wouldn't work, sadly, Phlum is not just scaring them, she is serious, if they don't surrender, they'll die.

“Look sir, she's being serious, if you won't surrender now, your people are going to die horribly…This is your last chance, I had to beg the Demon Lord herself so you'll be able to have this, don't throw it away. Now, surrender.”

The oldman looked behind him. He looked at everyone's faces, the adults, the olds, the childrens, he had their lives in his hands, if he made a wrong choice, everyone is going to die, no exceptions.

“We surrender. We have none of the ones at fault here in this town, they all went to Churchville last night… Give us an hour, we’ll start preparing your stuff right now. We'll also work hard to pay for the things we already ate! We don't want to be in debt with the Demons…”

“You'll be in debt for the rest of your useless lives, humans.”

Phlum said without hesitation. She was right, no one could put that in doubt, if it wasn't for the Demon Lord’s orders, all humans in this part of the country would already be dead.

When everyone was about to leave to start preparing our stuff, Phlum stopped them with a murmur, a really fearsome one.

“...Their family, old man.”

“Huh?”

“Phlum?”

“Give us their family, old man.”

She repeated herself. She had a cold gaze, she wasn't angry, but she was being serious about this. No one moved, they were scared that the moment they moved, Phlum was going to kill them all.

After a few minutes of complete silence, the family of the stupids soldiers stepped ahead. There were approximately twenty people between brothers, parents, wives, daughters and sons one at the side of another.

“Give us a cart and a horse too, old man. We are taking them with us.”

Again, everyone went silent, but they followed Phlum’s orders without hesitation. When the horse was ready, one of the men nervously asked the one thing no one dared to ask.

“I don't want to be disrespectful Lady but… How are you planning to take us? We clearly don't fit in the carriage…”

“Huh? Did you really expect us to take you alive, trash?”

Everyone was shocked at those words. But no one couldn't react, nor murmur, nor move, because as soon as she finished those lines, with just one move of her arm, an air blade perfectly beheaded every one of the family members. Blood started flowing from everyone's necks and their bodies fell to the ground almost at the same time making a blunt noise.

When chaos was about to emerge on the mass of people that saw that execution, Phlum quickly stopped it.

“Start putting those heads on the cart, now! Or you'll be next!”

I fell on my knees. Is this really happening? I could feel cold sweat on my back, my body was shaking.

People started picking up the heads from the ground and putting them in the cart with grossed faces, they were scared. Some of them couldn't even move, and others fell to the ground and peed themselves.

“Phlum just… What have you done?”

“I'm sorry, little human. But we need vengeance, and vengeance must be paid with blood.”