After the demon invasion it is time to go back to Mirfield. The envoy from Heorot is there, so I'm going as Beowulf.

"Before teleporting, I want to try one thing. Say goodbye to Sepal."

The faerie freaks out. "Oh, Grendel you monster! You are going to kill my sister! No! I won't allow it!"

Helen tries to help, "No, you got it wrong, nobody is killing her."

"It is a magic puppet. It is going to vanish and be recreated whenever. I want to see if I can make a Beowulf clone. I can make another Sepal later."

And just as easily it comforms. "Oh, well. I guess that is true. Just a little goodbye!"

I touch myself and use Magic Puppet. Sepal disappears, and so does the sun.

The result?

A thirty foot clone of Grendel, the colossus troll. Birthday version. Beowulf is a persona. The proof is right there. Not that I didn't know. I've used appraisal on Beowulf's severed body parts a lot, they all come up as troll parts.

"You know, that is awesome in its own way," Marcy remarks.

"Marcy, there is no way we can practice for that," Helen gives her opinion on something I have no idea what is.

Dismiss magic puppet.

Zahariel is slightly dizzy, "What was once seen, cannot be unseen."

"Petal, one very important thing. You will address me as Beowulf if I am in this form."

" ♪ Aye, aye, sir!" Her salute needs work.

I teleport to the lord's estate.

"Welcome back, my lord." Less than a minute after teleporting we were greeted by Sebastian and two maids. "I hope your expeditions were fruitful."

"Thank you, Sebastian. Is there any problem with the estate? How is morale with the staff? Everyone happy?"

Sebastian's business face is friendly but impossible to read past the surface.

"We are humbled that your first concern is our welfare, lord. But you don't need to worry."

"I look after my own, Sebastian. But I heard there is an envoy from the king, is it so?"

"Yes, lord. An envoy of the king is at the guest chambers."

"Sebastian, can you fight?"

"I was a low-ranked merchant before becoming a butler, sire. I can hold my own against E-rank monsters."

"I have this sword for you then. It is a good weapon, I am sure of it." It is one of the less thematic weapons the demons were using.

"I will treasure this gift, my lord." He sounds earnest. Maybe I'll take him to level up a bit later.

"Send for the guildmaster and the mayor. We are having an audience as soon as they are present."

Petal that was quiet until now takes a look around, "Wow, this is awesome ♪ ... Is this house yours, gre-Beowulf?"

Now that I think of it, Sebastian said nothing about this faerie trailing behind us. Strange.

"Yes. I am the lord of this town. Now stay here with us."

She throws a little tantrum, "But I want to explore the house! There should be so many things to see! So many things to touch! Feel! Smell!"

Marcy picks the faerie, "You sit on my shoulder. Once the envoy goes away you can explore everything in the manor."

"Okay then," She quiets down with puffed cheeks.

At the waiting room before the hall we were served tea while we waited for the conference to assemble. I am supposed to enter last. Some time later Sebastian came to guide us to the meeting room.

"The Viscount of Mirfield, Hero Beowulf!" The butler announces us and we enter the room, taking our seats. Helen and Marcy at my right and left, and Zahariel next to Helen. Alvus and Mercy are here, and so is a skinny middle-aged man. He has a waxed mustache and a triangular chin. Behind him there are two knights.

"I welcome the king's envoy to our humble town. What business brings you here?" Nobody told me, but I know there are twenty soldiers with him. They are in the manor's barracks.

He raises from his seat and points a finger at me, "I came to end this charade, Beowulf! The king did not grant you the title of Viscount! This is treason! And what you did to the guild, it is unforgivable!"

"Did he grant the title to the late Julius?"

"Yes. I already know your reasoning that by taking the second-hand goods the former viscount..."

I have no love for Heorot or Hrothgar. Or the mainstream adventurer's guild for the matter. I'd pretty much demolish that corrupt organization that holds zero value for human life and replace it with my own. And I really don't need to take shit from this lowly bureaucrat.

"Psychic assault!"

He just flops forward on the table. The two knights make a motion to get their weapons, but Zahariel is faster. He created twin flaming swords and placed them in front of their necks.

"Draw your weapons before the lord and incur our wrath. Your impudent envoy is fine, just stunned for a while. But this town had more than their fill with kind of madmen Hrothgar usually sends our way."

They decide to wait a bit, and we reanimate the envoy after a couple minutes.

"Sebastian, please excuse us and leave with the other servants." The butler bows and leaves with the maids.

The pissed off envoy decides to throw his weight. "This is an offense to the king himself! You will hang for it, usurper!"

"Does anyone in my party thinks this will go anywhere?" I blatantly ignore the envoy and look at my people. "Is it brainwash time?"

"About time," Sighs Alvus. Honestly, if it weren't for Cloude and Mercy this guy would have taken over the town already."

Helen shrugs, "I guess so."

Marcy agrees, "Right. Brainwash time."

"Ruthless master ♪ ♪♪ ... "

Sixteen minutes later, the envoy and the two knights are enthralled. I'm seeing him off at the manor driveway.

"Well, Viscount Beowulf, it was a pleasure to stay in your lovely town. Of course I will report to the king the wonderful work you are doing here. I would like to move my men to an inn in the town so I can see with my own eyes your works. I think it will take some while for me to return. This town is idyllic!"

And then the king's envoy leaves to spend the king's money on the town's tourist traps, instead of leeching off of my own gold.

I talk to Alvus, "We are going to solve the problem on the other side of the valley. If by any chance you are in trouble, use some chytheria extract and we will rush back once we see you with MP exhaustion."

"I will don't worry."

We bought some twenty odd days regarding our problem with the rest of the Heorot kingdom. I am sure the enthrallment will be discovered one or two days after the envoy returns, and some bigger shit will be sent our way. The trip is nine days long from here to Heorot.

Anyway, I now need to deliver the princess and get some sort of truce with the demons. Or turn the east tip of the continent into a huge Exp farm.

"Mercy, is everything in order with the guild branch?"

"Yes, but who is this pretty new little lady?" This is funny. Nobody noticed Petal until now.

"I'm petal, ma'am! I'm pleased to meet you! I'm the faerie guide for gre.. Beowulf! And, Beowulf, I was invisible for anyone except your party members. There, how did you like me answering you before you asked, huh?"

Indeed I was wondering how none of the maids batted an eye to the faerie.

"I wish I had more time to visit the town, but we need to get this matter with the demons settled fast."

"Don't mind us old timers. Just go. This hero business is surely tiresome. We can hold our own here. Cloude is doing an excellent job as a garrison commander," Alvus reports.

"Well, after we solve all the current problems, we will find some time to visit. I'll have to do some preparations, you could stay here and I'll pick you up later?"

Marcy nods, "It would be nice to spend some time in town." I think I could make a tool to allow transportation between guild branches.

"Do you need anything from the item box before I go?"

The rings are still with Zahariel. We need to reschedule the wedding.

Mercy signals to herself, "I want more honey." Helen is still not able to make her own honey. Her bee's production is all being used to grow their hive.

I take a barrel of honey out of the item box, "This should be enough. If it is not, I'll go visit the dungeon again later. Anyway, I'm going to work."

I teleport to the furthest anchor I have in the demon territory, the one in the plateau where I stole the wyverns. Petal came with me even though she was on Mercy's hands.

"How did you follow me?"

"I am part of you! I'll go wherever and protect you no matter what!" It is not reassuring, but I didn't have time to measure her combat abilities.

I'm swimming in SP, maybe I should put the summon skill at level 10. The moment I confirm, Petal glows and spins. The glow vanishes after a while.

"How are you feeling?"

"I am feeling awesome! Check my status, it is just like your tame monsters."

Name: Petal Race: Faerie Guardian Age: 3 days Prowess: 58 (957 HP) +216/h Agility: 161 (885 ST) +420/h Magic: 209 (3448 MP) +612/h

"I can't see your other skills."

She flies around me and teases, "I don't have any others, silly. Why would I? I'm part of you!"

"Sorry, but I don't understand. What can you do then?"

"I can use any skill you have at a downgraded level." She places a finger at her cheek as if thinking and continues, "There are some I can't use. The ones rated 'SS', for example. Or monster taming. Or the innate skills. I guess it is not 'any skill' then, silly me."

"Can you cast the spells I know?"

"Yes! Almost all of them if the rank is S or lower." If that is so, this faerie might be a big help. I can even sic her as a healbot.

"Good to know. You are a summon, right?"

"Yes. But those diabolical eyes of yours are thinking of making me suffer. I got feelings, you know? Humpf." She crosses her arms and turns her back to me.

"What happens if you die?"

She shudders and turns around, her eyes already dripping tears, "I'll tell you what won't happen! A callous troll having a shred of remorse for finishing me off!"

Ah, this is bad. "If you die I can't resummon you. Is this what you are telling me?"

"Yes! And don't think you can replace me. If I'm gone, you'll be lonely the rest of your life! It is either me or me!"

"I want to scout the demon camp, can you please help me?"

"You want to send me alone to that scary place, right?"

"No. I want to go with you. Using possession. And please leave the sexual harassment part for the redhead mother and daughter."

"I am a redhead too, you know? Pink and purple are tones of red! Why can't I do sexual harassment too! It is unfair that I am the only redhead that can't do it! Hold, what is 'sexual harassment'?"

"Please never find out. Hold my hand, shall we go?"

"Sure! Where to?"

Possession. "The demon country."

"Waa, you went inside me! I can't move myself!"

"Calm down, Petal. You are part of me, and now I am part of you. You are stronger this way, see?"

"Oh, wow! It means you accepted me! Right? Right?"

"Yes, of course. We will be best partners now!" It seems the faerie guide skill is one of those mixed blessings. Well, it did evolve my summoning skills and I think she will get less annoying as I get used to her.

"YAAAAAAYYYYY!"

We flew east at top speed. One, two hours. Differently from the time with the wyvern, I did pay attention to her body condition. But faeries don't rely much on physical movement to fly. It is almost pure magical flight.

"How are you feeling, Petal?"

"I'm good. It is very good to fly this fast, isn't it? The wind. Also the magical power is thicker here. Can't you see?" It is true. The magic energy here is almost as dense as the dungeon core room.

And I can't even see the fort yet. We fly for about two more hours and I find it. Fort Gehenna. I was expecting some thing out of a heavy metal album cover, with skulls and an eternal darkness, but it is just a plain stone brick medieval fort. Six walls forming an almost perfect hexagon, several stone buildings inside. The mana density is so thick I can't see any magical energy. It is like lighting a lantern during a sunny day.

"Beowulf, there are dragons there!"

"Yes, those are wyverns. They are proto-dragons." Please, if there were real dragons there it would be really bad.

I wandered around for a few minutes until I found a depression behind a rocky formation that could be a nice place for an anchor. It is about a fifteen minutes walking distance from the fort.

Teleport to Mirfield, I guess. Let's pick up the party for the meeting with the demons. They are at the lord's manor. Marcy, Helen and Zahariel were having an afternoon tea at the patio.

"Hey Petal, are you back already? Where is Beowulf?" Zahariel asks me.

"Right here. We are 'together' right now." I land on the ground and dismiss the possession.

Petal recovers from the possession disorientation really fast and starts her hyper blurbing, "Wow, this was awesome. Beowulf possessed me like bwoon and then we flew super ultra fast like shoom and we saw the demon's fort!"

"Yeah. I got an anchor ready to go and try to negotiate with the demons. Who is coming?"

Zahariel shakes his head, "None of us, I guess. The negotiations would become a brawl if I went there, and no human can survive the thick mana of the demon's places."

"Is it like when the demons weaken and almost die in a low mana area?"

"Yes. If a demon would be brought here, they would just choke and die."

"Then I think it will be just me and Petal escorting the princess back. Enjoy your tea."

"Can't petal stay?" asks Marcy.

"If she wants to stay, its fine. Petal, do you want to stay here and play with everyone?"

"Yes! That demon place is too yucky and those wyverns too nasty."

"I'm gone then. Enjoy the town life."

Back to Willow Hill. I need to ready the demon princess for transportation. I enthrall her and dress her in her own clothes.

"Well, Jel'rannalath, it is time to see if you can make a good bargaining chip."