“So, how does everyone feel after what happened last night?”

Zen looked around at the dwarfs sitting nearby.

“After hearing the details from the victims and after watching how he tried to blow us all sky-high? His execution was perfectly justifiable.” Frost mage Acar said with a shrug and went back to eating his vegetable soup.

“Although I dislike Ubel I’ll admit that he had a point in wanting to root out such evil. But who am I to talk to? I'm just a simple fisherman.” Mo casually added as he ripped into his rat jerky.

Zen rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think a normal fisherman can hit a mecha hard enough to make it fall over. But whatever. How about you two hunters? You've been under Ubel's command for a good while. Anything you wish to add?”

“He was irredeemable. I dislike how the whole operation was handled, but no one was injured or killed. On that note, I’d consider the mission a success and you can’t say much more than that.” Blink mumbled through a mouthful of rat jerky.

Joy nodded in Blink’s direction.

“I totally agree with Blink that the ambush was somewhat messy... we could’ve made the kill cleaner since he couldn’t use his magic. But...”

“But what?”

As Zen motioned for Joy to continue, the rest of the table stopped eating and put their attention on her.

Joy, flustered by their attention, turned red.

“Y-You all don’t need to stare at me...”

“Sorry.”

“My bad.”

“Don’t mind us, please speak your mind!”

The group apologized and urged her to keep talking.

“Ok, ok! I’ll talk!”

The table grew silent, setting the stage for Joy to begin speaking.

“So… I think one reason Ubel did the assassination the way he did was to display our power.”

“What?” Zen inquired, confused.

“This way he can show all the dwarfs, rat-kin, and fox-kin that no matter how strong they are, they can and will be killed if they step out of line. The powerhouses also showed their unity in killing such an evildoer, making us look quite stable to our new allies, the fox-kin. With one death Ubel accomplished Unity, Stabilization, and Security.”

“A-all through fear.” The busty Aqua broke into the conversation as she sat down with her food.

“Fear is a great motivator when there is nothing else stopping people from indulging in their desires.” Snorri followed up, making her presence known as she sat right next to Aqua, causing her to jump.

“S-Snorri?! W-what are you doing h-here?”

“Ya know, making the rounds, seeing how everyone is holding up after last night. That was some show Ubel set up. Man can be quite devious.”

Snorri put her arm around the fidgeting Aqua and scanned the now uncomfortable group at the table. Everyone was looking away from her.

In the face of their blatant discomfort, she just smacked her lips and pointed a question at the group.

“Come on, don’t stop talking just because I showed up. I caught most of what you guys talked about on the way over anyway. So please, Joy. Continue. I'm quite interested in your viewpoint. I promise I won’t bite, haha.”

Thrown for a loop, Joy stared at the newcomers before shaking her head to refocus and started to speak once more.

“Y-yes. A-As Aqua mentioned, Ubel accomplished his goals through the motivators of power and fear. And that makes me question... if he didn’t like one of us, would he do the same and make us into an example too? I mean Urist, Ubel, and a few of the older members hold a lot of power. What stops them from abusing their powers and killing anyone who defies them?”

Acar shrugged, “You’re worrying over nothing, there is no way Urist would allow such a thing. Unless another Agate shows up or Urist vanishes, we’ll be fine. ”

“Aye, my disci— I mean, our king would never allow such fiends to run rampant.”

“Having watched him these past few weeks, I can say he’s reliable, even if he’s still immature.”

Mo and Blink added on without much thought.

Zen then jumped in.

“What if he dies? What happens then?”

Snorri stirred her stew into a small whirlpool before downing it in one go.

“We just have to make sure he doesn’t die.”

Joy shook her head, “We can’t be sure of the future; that we'll always be able to protect him.”

“T-then what d-do you suggest?”

Aqua tried to pull Snorri’s arm off only for her hand to be slapped away by Snorri.

“I suggest that after this campaign we demand to institute a government, Urist’s successor, a rule of law, and a branch to enforce said laws. Only then can I rest at ease, knowing that no matter what we will have a voice in matters! That we can’t and won’t be snuffed out! Who's with me?!”

Snorri hit the table with her fist, filled with passion as she looked at the group of dwarfs around her who were putting on thoughtful expressions.

Mo scratched his chin in thought, “That does sound well and good, but who would write this rule of law?”

“What kind of government would it be?”

“How do we know that this branch made to enforce said law would continue to act in good faith?”

“Yeah, and about Urist’s successor. Who could possibly take on that role? Out of everyone here, he tries his hardest to keep pushing us forward. He takes time out of the day to meditate on problems between the people, and he cares for those who are wounded and can no longer fight. I can’t think of anyone that has the same compassion.”

Blink snorted, feeling quite heated over the thought of someone being Urist’s substitution.

As the group became impassioned with the discussion with questions and answers flying left and right, Joy rose her hand. It took a bit, but the table caught on and gradually quieted.

“I know it’s daunting to think about, but these things must be done sooner rather than later. If nothing is done then our civilization could be led to ruin. I just wanted to suggest that we all think about what we want and come back to this discussion with answers to those questions at a later date.”

The group exchanged glances before they all nodded in agreement, chewing over what Joy had said.

The meal finished soon after, and the dwarfs broke off into ones and twos as Aqua’s sister, Vesi, rescued her from Snorri’s clutches.

Joy was the last to leave. She walked about aimlessly, with no tasks to rush her steps.

Soon Ubel appeared and walked with her for a bit.

“Are the seeds planted?”

“Mission accomplished. Snorri was a big help.”

“Thanks for doing this. I can’t really get the ball rolling myself.”

“This is nothing compared to what you usually had me doing in war. Think nothing of it, Demon General of the West.”