Just as the emerald eyed lamia came halfway forward,the shadow behind her rose in a very eerie and fascinating manner forming into a figure and then materializing revealing hobusaku who quickly jumped forward and kicked away the sword in the lamia's hand and then shoving her down on the ground completely neutralizing the not so threatening lamia.

-uhhh...grrr...

The lamia struggled completely pressed onto the ground growling like a beast,her eyes were lightly crazed showing that she didn't really think this through.

I stared at her for a few seconds until I made my way forward towards the other lamia hobusaku still held her in place while hobura and hoboku followed closely behind,from behind us I could hear the footsteps of the other girls walking towards this direction,probably alarmed by the huge banging sound that came from the collapsed steel door.

-From today on you are all my prisoners you will pay for what you did against my people and get your set punishment for it,rest assured I promise that I won't kill you,but know that if you resist or try to harm anyone in my group you will be joining the person inside the sack earlier...

There was a moment of silence after,my words soon after the girls started to come inside the treasury one after another they quickly stepped into formation and watched the lamia in front of them with a wary and hostile look on their faces.

-You...you promise you won't kill us ?

One of the lamia asked stepping forward as if representing her group,she also had a very unique appearance her scales were purple and light blue she was busty and had also tanned skin with rosy lips purple eyes and black long hair that flowed down like a river stream she was pretty and cute looking for a lamia.

-What is your name ?

I asked small amount of curiosity rising inside my heart,she was very calm and collected and seemed to be very observatory with her eyes constantly squirming around.

My questioned seemed to have momentarily threw her off,but she quickly recovered and answered rigidly.

-My..My name is zephalpia...

She said a bit shy while keeping her head low she seemed a bit fearful of me really,but I didn't mind and just continued speaking...

-Good from today on you are the leader of the lamia prisoners and as I said I will not kill you or abuse you in any way,but be sure that I will give you punishment for the amount of suffering you had brought to the ratman so keep in mind that I am not going to be lenient in this point am I clear ?

-Yes...

Zephalpia understood and quickly walked back to her people keeping her head low like the rest she glanced at me more then once appraising me with her smart eyes thinking about something,looking at her I believed that she would be useful in the future.

Ending this small conversation I ordered the girls to tie the lamia's and bring them in one straight line the emerald eyed lamia whose name seems to be Aphiexi had struggled a lot she didn't calm down so hobura had no choice,but to knock her out with a punch to the gut tying her throughly and giving her to the other lamia to carry...

The treasures that were inside the room amazed me there were all kinds of items here mostly valuable minerals such as gold and gems some high quality weapons even,but I could also see the tightly piled in one area making me realize what they were doing,but for what cause it was unknown...

I didn't wait for too long and simply started to shamelessly take everything inside this room sucking in the treasure and all kinds of items into my without a pause,the lamia who were standing aside gaped at the display of me pocketing everything through a single hand with no idea where these items were going to some of the lamia were very sad seeing me take everything which could be understood since it seemed like they had put a lot of effort collecting so much.

Later when I finished taking everything and inspecting everything inside the cave I asked zephalpia or rather zeph-thats what I call her from now on since their names are very hard to pronounce-for what purpose these valuable were for,it highly interested me since I didn't see what the lamias would need treasure for in this forest since I am not sure if they can trade with anyone at all.

Zeph was very quick to answer and came forward carefully not to spark the anger of the other two girls that were standing behind me ,protecting me.

Her eyes were honest without deceit well rather she didn't dare to lie since she was in such situation.

-We as the lamia are only a branch group that isn't considered a part of the main group in the forest,to make things fair our queen medusa had made a rule that for a branch group to be able to join the main group or part of her kingdom would need to pay a proper price for entry the amount is very big and until now we had only collected half of it...

She said making me quickly understand their situation and why they were going after the since they were valuables,but one thing I couldn't understand why they suddenly changed their opinion on using the ratman as miners and now instead decided to kill them and use them as some sort of food.

The question in hand was also answered,but not by zeph and instead wylniva,who seemed to be very tired of keeping quiet and turned towards us interrupting zeph.

-A few days ago my superior told me that the demon king and the other two great monsters being queen medusa and queen malcanthet discussed on the issue and decided to kill off every weak monster inside the forest and use them as fertilizer or a food source for other more powerful monsters to grow and cultivate the idea itself seemed very dumb to me,but further asking into it I was told that the demon king had a way to raise our power through the weaker monsters,the order is very new and not many know of it as of yet only the succubi and the lamia are going to understand the order since the other races inside the forest wouldn't understand our language nor would they willingly follow this order by us,it is also not decided to be done since one of the other great monsters the dragons aren't siding with the idea and opposed against it as idiocy locking the situation somewhat,but not entirely...my guess is that the lamia had already passed on this message to the nearby smaller groups and clans in return of this service they allow these clans and groups to be added into medusa's small kingdom near the core of the forest which is what these guys tried to do of course and to be honest me too...

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Wylniva said confessing the reason she was here in the first place,the information she had just given me sparked a flood of other conclusions of what was happening inside the forest what the first succubus tried to do and why these strange cores that control corpses are appearing all of a sudden.

They are basically trying to farm the monsters on the outer part of the forest to quicker their own cause,it is a slow process since the succubi and the lamia aren't the only people who are residing here with many other races like the dark elves or orcs who are decently strong too that can't be just lightly taken to war without suffering their own losses,the succubi and the lamia are also few in number if I had to guess some may not be even willing to do such a thing making me also believe that the organization to this cause was simply jumbled together with no real official or leader to guide them all,the main point here also seems to be the dragons who oppose the idea of the demon king making the whole issue even more problematic.

Politics and decision making in this forest was undecided and non-existing what else could I have possibly expected.

I sighed...it didn't seem like I had to worry about anything in the near future,this group of lamia aren't even connected to the main group they just talked about,meaning that even if the queen or a higher official knew about this,they most probably wouldn't even care or take action against it,the forest was simply too big monsters lived by the law of the jungle "kill or be killed,hunt or be hunted" to get by everyday there were also more intelligent races who had their own civil structure and society,but still acted as one and survived together like my group does keeping to themselves and killing anyone who seemed to be a threat or attacked us,the unity it takes for such an order and decision to be properly work out needs the consent of every clan and group inside the forest which in itself...

Is almost impossible.

There are just too many problems to count them all,the main being trust overall and working together,hell even 30 or 40 % of the forest united would do to make this plan of the demon king possible they could even be strong enough to rival a kingdom maybe,but right now thats just wishful thinking.

There is a very huge difference between us the monsters and the other kingdoms like the humans.

We are different from each other while they aren't.

"Race" is the key of the problem if we can't understand them how they understand us ? This alone brings up problems like misunderstanding on each other which can lead to conflicts the ratman and the kobolds had once build this very conflict since the thought was simple like this.

They aren't similar to me so why should I care about them ?

Its very logical,egoistic and selfish in a way,but the truth and the reality at the same time.

The Demon king is simply a joke.

I laughed my laughing sound seemed to have surprised the people around me since I was very quiet at the moment indulged in my thoughts suddenly laughing like this made me look like an idiot maybe even a madman of some sort,but I didn't care.

It didn't matter to me in the end,it wasn't my concern to the least,but something good to know nonetheless.

Finishing up my round of laughter,I quickly turned back to normal a bit embarrassed from the way I just acted now and how the people were staring at me weirdly,other then the girls who seemed to like my laughter rather then think it was weird.

I coughed clearing my throat trying to make the awkward atmosphere to disappear.

-There is no,point in staying here any longer hasumi,hobuha round up the prisoners and lets leave...

I said quickly rumbling up the situation as everyone understood and started to take their position about to leave.

The situation with the demon king and the great monsters still intrigued me somewhat,but with the way the forest was it seemed very impossible for something to ever really happen making me feel calm from the inside.

Legends aren't always how they really are maybe the demon king will turn the things around who knows.

But one thing I am sure about,I will definitely not join him.

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