Lain

Well, that was fun. I think to myself as I look over the couple hundred of prostrating Kobolds. All of them have their faces buried in the snow and are chirping happily in unison, probable saying the same thing over and over again. It’s almost as if they have completely forgotten that they were just in a fight.

I know that this makes me sort of a bad person, but I just couldn’t help but want to gush over them and play with them. They’re just so damn cute! When they all came charging to fight us, I just couldn’t help myself. I just had to play with them a bit. And by the end, I just had to pet at least one of them. They remind me of when Sky used to be a cute little cuddly fluffball. I just had to pet one!

Oh well, I can just consider it his reward for being the only one that actually managed to reach me. At least, I’m pretty sure that this one is a he… Sort of gives off a masculine vibe. I wonder if I will ever get better at telling Kobold sexes apart. There really isn’t much of a difference other than their general vibe and how they carry themselves… Ehh, should get easier in the future if we end up with anymore Kobolds changing to be like Sky. Should we call the ones like Sky as something else? A different species name, or should we just call them Evolved Kobolds? Hmm… Well, in that case, me and my Demons could be called Evolved Humans, so maybe not? What would we even call them…? Meh. This is all assuming that they even can change to be like her. It’s quite possible that Sky is just a special case for her people…

Speaking of Sky, I look over at her. Wow, she is just eating up all of this attention.

Sky is currently looking down at all of her worshiping people with a messed-up smile and a blush on her face. I find myself worrying that this is all going to her head, so I step around the Kobold at my feet and give her a poke. “Hey Sky. What are they saying? They just keep repeating the same sounds over and over again.”

She eventually manages to rip her eyes away from them and turns to me, an overly excited look in her eyes and her smile being barely contained. “They’re calling me their Empress! Hahahaha! This is actually happening! Oh, Lain. What should I do? I don’t know what to do with myself right now… This is just too much for me!” She exclaims, practically vibrating as she asks me what to do.

I just give her a smile and put my hands on her shoulders, massaging her lightly as I talk. “Alright, first. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down. You’re their Empress. You need to look dignified and in control, yes?”

She nods, “Right, right. Dignified and in control. Haaaa…. Huuuuuuuu….”

She starts to calm down a little as she breaths and I rub her shoulders. Once her shaking is no longer noticeable, I tell her. “Ok, next. You need to address them. They're still chanting, so you need to get their attention. Tell them to stop and listen. Then, earlier, those bunch of older looking Kobolds came running this way from the village. They look important, so you might want to talk with them and any other important people that are here.”

She looks to where I point and notices the older looking Kobolds. I hadn’t bothered binding any of them earlier since they immediately prostrated themselves after getting here. They didn’t even try to save any of their bound people during the ‘fight,’ so they probable know something that the others didn’t.

“Shamans!” Sky whispers with an air of reverence.

Oh? Those are the Shamans, Sky told me about? I never got the chance to meet one when I visited the Kobold village last time. They’re supposed to be of about the same standing as a Village Chief or so, I think…

Sky takes another deep breath and straightens out the wrinkles in her outfit. A quick check shows that her jewelry is all straight and showing right. Once she is satisfied that she is presentable, she raises her voice and gives a call in her native language. All the Kobolds in the area immediately go quiet. Looking around at them all, I can see that they are all struggling to keep their excitement contained. Their bodies are shaking, and they are visibly constraining their tails from wagging, the tips of many of their tails vibrating as they are barely held back.

Sky speaks and several of the Kobolds rise from where they are prostrated. The Shamans come forward along with several scarred and grizzled looking individuals. Chiefs probably. As they fall in line, they bark out some commands. Following their orders, all of the Kobolds in the area, including the one at my feet immediately get up and move to organize themselves in kneeling groups behind the gathered VIPs. Notably, the one that I was hugging is stationed right behind one the ones that I assume is a chief.

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Actually… That green scarred Kobold looks a bit familiar. Have we met before?

I give him a look over as he kneels alongside the others, but eventually disregard the question. I’ve met several green Kobolds so far, mostly talking through Sky as a translator, so I can’t really place him in my memories. Not that it is important. Instead of worrying about that, I instead move to stand beside Sky, crossing my arms across my chest, as I look on over the crowd and try to be intimidating. I want them to know that my power is Sky’s power, and that I am her protector. Even if I can’t speak their language, I need to make it blatantly obvious as to where I stand on their hierarchy.

As I stand protectively next to Sky, my shadows manifested and postured defensively around her back, Sky finishes collecting herself and addresses the gathered Kobolds with a dignified air about her. Her hands clasped before her, chin held high, back and shoulders straight and squared.

What follows is a short speech that I don't understand a word of… I’ll have to ask her to tell me what she said later. At the very least, the gathered Kobolds look enraptured as they listen to her. So, I’m guessing that she is doing a good job.

As I look them over, I check to see if there are any signs that I might have injured any of them. Despite having my fun, I had made sure to hold back against them as much as I could. I’m still practicing with using my shadows as a weapon, so this is my first time using them as a way for nonlethal capture and restraint.

I let myself relax a little as I see that nobody has any obvious injuries. No one is clutching a broken limb or having trouble breathing. It doesn’t look like anyone suffered terrible whiplash or anything… might be a couple cuts and bruises here and there. From getting pulled though branches and into the trees, but nothing serious and debilitating.

Smiling on the inside – because Sky is still speaking, and I need to look serious next to her – I go over the fight and think about how it went.

There is easily over two hundred Kobolds here, and I managed to catch all of them. As they charged me, I could only really get ten or so of them at a time. I don’t have the level of control necessary yet to able to catch hundreds of targets at once.

Luckily, my shadows are sturdy things, even after I cut them off from my focused control. Keeping the tendril narrow like ropes, I could have them wrap up the targets and then just leave them there to focus on new targets. The cut off shadows are weaker than the ones that I am directly controlling, but for restraining weaker targets like humans and Kobolds, they are more than good enough.

Thankfully, I had already learned to make my shadows more malleable like with my created clothing. So, I don’t have to worry about the ropes being solid and unmoving, preventing people from breathing after I wrap them up.

So, this should make for a good tool should I ever have to restrain a mob of people for whatever reason.

As for why the one green Kobold got to me?

I let him. I couldn’t help myself… I saw the determination and resolve in his eyes. He was ready to die facing me. He would have proudly thrown away his life for his people if he could just put one scratch on me. Delay me for just one more second.

He came at me like a Hero. And I had to meet him in response. My body ached to answer to this little Hero’s feelings; to be his ‘Big Bad Guy’. Even if it was mostly just some fun play for me, he was serious.

I look at the little Hero again and let a smile slip through my serious façade. I notice him shift a bit under my stare, his eyes flickering to me for a short moment before he quickly returns his gaze back to Sky.

Well, I guess I am supposed to be a Demon Queen now or whatever... But to think that I would already be meeting my first Hero. This is just hilarious. Sadly, for him, his princess has already been taken and I have no intention of giving her back. Nor does she have any intention of being returned.

Sorry little Hero, but your princess has already fallen to the dark side. Hahaha.

Still, I’ll be sure to keep an eye on him. He could end up being useful and, as cruel as it is for me to think this, I wouldn’t mind having some people that are willing to throw their lives away if it means protecting Sky while I am not around. A suicidal Hero willing to charge me with nothing but a hatchet would make for a perfect meat shield for keeping her safe...

I think I see him shiver a bit as I think this. His eyes darting back to me before frantically returning to Sky.

I finally remove my gaze from him and return to acting like Bodyguard #1 for Sky. She soon finishes up her speech and the surrounding Kobold look excited as they let out a bunch of squeaks and chirps.

The leaders of their groups come forward and start happily chatting with Sky. Occasionally bowing to her as they talk.

I lean over to Sky. “Tell them to lead us to the village. We should hurry up and get back to base as soon as we can.”

She nods her head and quickly starts telling the chiefs and Shamans what to do. They return a bunch of chirps in agreement and happily bow to her, before turning to the gathered Kobolds and barking out a bunch of orders.

With that taken care of, I turn to signal for our allies to approach. Flashing my Field a couple of times, I let SSG Haren know that he and his soldiers can approach. They had remained waiting within the range of my Field so that we wouldn’t scare the Kobolds into running away by having a bunch of armed humans ‘attacking’ them.

It doesn’t take long for him and his men to arrive through the brush, marveling at and scanning over all of the gathered Kobolds. Sky is quick to reassure her people that the soldiers are with us and mean them no harm.

With everyone gathered, and the Kobolds looking rightfully excited, Sky gives the order to lead us to the village. The Chiefs mirror her order, and all of the gathered Kobolds fall into orderly lines, heads lifted, backs straight, and spears held proudly for parade marching.

With one more call from the Chiefs, they march.

Sky takes my hand and smiles as we follow from within the center of the marching parade of Kobolds. Sky is barely containing her excitement as she squeezes my hand. I give her a squeeze back to let her know that I am here for her.