Akira and the rest of the delegation of envoys were wary when they left Beegus DeKus’ stronghold. They all stayed together for safety as they traveled out of the enemy territory. Although they thought Beegus DeKus would do something stupid like attack them when they left, nothing happened and everyone was able to return to their territories safely.
When Akira and the other escorting guards arrived at the border fort under the control of Kodria and their allies. Klyn went quiet and sat still as he started to receive a message from another shaman from a long distance away.
Klyn only sat still for a short time before opening his eyes and taking a shaky breath.
“What was so important that the grand elders needed to use a shaman messenger?” asked Akira.
“Because of the distance between me and the shaman in Kodria, the message was rather short and lacked concrete details. All I know is that one or more demigod guilds have set up a small settlement near Kodria’s outer territory. We are the closest to it right now. If I remember correctly there are several semi-nomadic demon races and a few newer human towns that are around that area.”
“They said there are rumors that the demigods of that new village have been going around helping the nomads and other villages with all sorts of problems ranging from building projects, monster extermination, and farming.”
“That kinda sounds familiar, like that one weird group we met a while ago,” said Zundar.
“Which one? To me all demigods are a bunch of crazy people so that does not narrow down which group or guild,” said Akira.
“The one with all the fanboys and girls that were all fawning over that demigod girl…” Zundar rubbed his horn as he thought for a second. “I think her name was Sister Teresa or something like that.”
Akira let out a long sigh and said, “You know, I didn’t expect to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off during the warm months. One thing after another has popped up and now the last weeks of the warm months are already around the corner.”
“I know it is quite painful to be away from your wife and newborn children for so long, but this is a serious problem. We need to investigate this and if need be, we must take care of the potential problem before the winter months set in and large-scale movement becomes far harder than right now,” said Klyn.
“Alright, let’s go check what this group of demigods are doing. I doubt it will be anything good with them setting up a village so close to our territory,” said Akira.
“Varbu will be leading a group of warriors to meet up with us sometime later. We will definitely need their help if we are to take action. We should just inspect the situation and wait until they arrive to sort out any issues. If there are none then he can just escort us back to Kodria. We will probably arrive well before the last harvest celebration starts,” said Klyn.
“That’s good news. I also hope that the outer city is finished with its rebuild. It would be a pain in the butt to work during the cold months,” said Akira, as he was remembering the hard work that they had gone through at the beginning of building up Kodria.
***
“Thank you so much! With the sudden appearance of the wild monsters…” said an elderly man as he wiped away tears of relief. “ If you had not appeared and taken care of the problem, several people would have been killed or wounded and our crops would have been ruined!”
“It was nothing. We were just passing by and decided to help. We are living in a village several days from here so it is only natural that we help our neighbors. We hope that you don’t forget about us and let everyone else know that if they need anything they can come to us,” said a young female wearing cheap iron full-plate armor and holding an expensive shield.
A large cheerful smile covered her face making her look less barbaric.
“We won’t forget your guild’s help and if there is something that comes up in the future we will definitely ask for your help!” said the old man. He stood at the edge of the town and continued to wave to the small group of oddly armored people as they left the nomadic village.
“Kira, I didn’t know you had such a kind heart,” said a red-robed man in a mocking tone.
“Shut it, Klee,” said Kira her fake smile gone. “Birgin, what are you doing lagging behind?”
“I still don’t get it. Why did we have to say things about us that are not true?” asked Birgin, he was using his long black staff as a cane to walk slowly behind the group as he was deep in thought.
The others ignored him and looked around to see if anyone had followed them. No one was in sight.
Now that they were well out of range of the village’s view they stepped off the small dirt road and walked towards a nearby small cluster of trees that looked dead but still had several leaves growing on them. At the base of the trees were several hardy bushes.
Kira reached behind the bushes and began pulling out several large cages. Klee also reached in and grabbed onto the handle of a small hand cart and pulled it out.
Inside the cages, several hisses, growls, and constant scratching could be heard. The cages were neatly stacked on the hand cart once again. A few of the cages were empty.
“Birgin, don’t act like an innocent idiot. You know that our guild needs to build up a good reputation to allow us to further grow and conquer the nearby territory. The guild leader’s plan is way too smart,” said Kira.
“We’ll need to capture a few more monsters on our way to meet up with the other groups. Birgin killed a few of them instead of knocking them out,” said Klee.
“Hey, my skills are used for killing, I can’t weaken them! Plus it was more believable with blood being spilled.”
“Let’s hurry up! We need to get back to the next town. That should be around the time when the guild leader’s main plan starts!”
“Wait. Do we really need to carry these monsters anymore if we are going to meet up with everyone else?” asked Birgin. He was tasked with pulling the cart and did not have to deal with the heavy cart full of angry monsters only inches away from his back.
“Hmmm, you’re right. There’s no point in keeping them now,” said Kira.
They all stepped away from the cages and used a long stick to open the latch on the cages one by one.
As soon as their cage was open many of the monsters ran off and escaped from the three who had repeatedly knocked them out and put them back in the cage.
A few of the more angry monsters tried to charge them but were quickly cut down.
The remaining monsters that neither ran away nor attacked the demigods had decided to get in a fight with the other nearby monsters that they viewed as being in their territory.
Similar things were happening all around the local area. Several small groups of demigods were ‘Saving’ or ‘helping’ the nomadic tribes and nearby towns.
But soon after they left, the previous small problem turned into an even worse disaster.
***
As Akira and the others headed toward the territory that was claimed by the demigods. They encountered more and more signs of disasters and an unusual amount of monsters that were not native to the area.
With a swipe of his sharp claws, Akira sliced a furry [Buck toothed Ponkey] in half.
It was a monster that looked similar to a monkey he had seen in Acadia. But unlike the monkey, these [Buck toothed Ponkey] had thousands of poisonous quills all over their body mixed in with their fur. Its two large front teeth were as sharp as daggers and could pierce light armor easily.
“This is the third abandoned nomadic town that we have come across… what is going on?” asked Akira.
“Demigods?” asked Zundar.
“But the reports stated that they were supposed to be helping clear up the area?” said Akira.
“We’ll find out soon enough. We should be reaching our destination in a day or two,” said Klyn.
Akira and the others spent the next two days killing the wild monsters as they moved toward their destination. On the third morning of clearing the area, they finally reached the outskirts of their destination, the suspected demigod town.
Akira looked at the Kingdom map and watched as the territory information updated to show that it was indeed controlled by a demigod guild.
“What’s with all the tents, teepees, and shoddy shacks being built outside of the town walls?” asked Klyn to no one in particular, as he looked at the large crowd of humans and even a few demon races that had gathered outside the town.
They stayed out of sight for well over an hour and a half just watching the town. But they only gained little to no information from this.
“Let’s go see if we can talk to the people outside and see what is going on. If demigods show up for a fight we will not back down!” said Akira as he stood up from the hiding spot.
“For Kodria!” Everyone chanted as they stood up.
“Yap!” said Fluffball.
“What about waiting for Varbu?” asked Klyn quietly as they started marching towards the town.
The people in the new ramshackle camps soon noticed the group that was led by Akira.
As they got closer to the camps Akira sensed something was off and instead of heading further into the outer encampment he held up a hand and stopped the rest of the group.
The eyes of the refugees in the outer encampment were staring at Akira and those around him with hostile and angry looks. More and more people were gathering and pointing at them whispering things that Akira could not hear.
As Akira was about to try and ask them what had caused them to end up in a situation like this, the crowd split apart allowing several people wearing mismatched armor to pass through.
Akira recognized almost all of them from past encounters in the wild. He also recognized some of the demigods were part of the group that had led the failed attack on Bent-Gii.
Immediately Akira and the others drew their weapons ready to defend themselves from any attacks.
“See everyone! Look at them. Are they not the brutes I told you they were?” asked Ben who stood at the front of the group of a few dozen demigods.
“You guys sure have guts coming here after all that you have done and all the disasters you have caused! Now you’re pointing your weapons at us!?” shouted Dover as he pointed at Akira.
“…”
“What?” asked Akira, completely lost at what was going on.
