Grabbing the back of the merchant’s neck with its mouth the wolf lugs the body with it through the hole in the outer wall. When it’s fully inside the cave Jellal closes the opening and they continue on.

Sia and Beth are just coming back to the bodies to make another round trip as the pair saunters through the last defensive wall. They momentarily freeze at the sight of the unexpected guest. Snapping out of it quickly they return to what they were doing as if nothing changed.

Jellal leads Sif to the work area where all the bodies are being deposited. Once there he grabs the corpse by the shirt and chucks it into the pile with the rest of the bodies waiting to be processed. Disregarding the workers reactions he turns and leaves without saying a word.

Marching through the tunnel with Sif in tow he runs into Vincent and Meredith right outside the dining hall. Vincent does a double take before giving them a wide berth. He keeps his eyes on Sif as he scoots along the wall, walking backwards once he’s past them and continuing like that until they’re nearly out of sight.

Meredith’s eyes widen when she sees Sif. She energetically runs up to Jellal with her mouth hanging open while pointing at Sif.

[Can I pet it, please? It looks so soft and fluffy. Can I?]

Jellal smiles at Meredith’s bubbly reaction to his new pet. Looking back at Sif he shrugs lightly.

[It’s not up to me. If Sif doesn’t mind, then neither do I.]

[Yay! Sif do you want me to brush your hair? I promise I’ll be gentle.]

Jumping for joy she rushes over to Sif. Lowering its head slightly it doesn’t show any reservations about being treated as a pet. Meredith tentatively reaches out her hand and caresses the wolf’s head, neck, and back. Getting more comfortable she brings her other hand over to rub beneath its neck. It doesn’t take long for her petting evolves into full on hugging and face rubbing.

Sif looks to Jellal, seeking help to get away from the overly enthusiastic little girl. He obliges walking up behind her and gently lifting her by her armpits. As her feet leave the ground she reluctantly lets go of her fluffy friend. Setting her back down next to Sif, Jellal pats her head before sending her on her way.

Passing through the dining room they head to the abandoned living quarters. Walking to the middle of the hallway he stops and turns to Sif.

[Since no one’s using any of these rooms you can pick one for yourself. I usually practice in the very back so those rooms are off limits, but any of the others is fine. Basic rules are simple: no killing the captives without reason, no stealing food, and no taking something that belongs to me without my permission. Other than that, I’ll be closing off the entrance to the dining room when night comes so you’ll be locked up while I’m sleeping just like everyone else. Once you’ve decided on a room I’ll mark it so everyone will know not to enter for no reason.]

When he finished his speech Jellal leaned against a wall waiting for Sif to choose its room. Striding about it looked into each room. In the end it chose one of the rooms that was completely empty save for a bed. Jellal smiled widely as he walked over to Sif’s new room and used wind magic to cut its name above the door. Giving a light nod in acknowledgement he started walking to the depths of the living quarters.

‘As I thought! Not only is it able to effectively use the spikes as a weapon, but it’s also smart enough to understand give and take well enough for me to let it inside. To top it off it seems to understand what I’m saying or at least get the general meaning. It seems I’ve made a good find, kekeke.’

At the deepest part of the lining quarters Jellal sits cross legged and concentrates on improving his wind magic. The speed of his improvements are so impressive that even he finds it surprising. Naturally, he has always been extremely confident in his abilities and rate of improvement, so the fact it could surpass the standards he considers normal for himself shows how ridiculous it truly is.

An hour passes by in a flash while everyone goes about their business. Walking out of the living quarters Jellal stops in the dining hall to inspect materials that have been brought out. On one of the tables is the clothes and items left behind by the three deceased workers while a second table holds the sewn together furs.

Picking up one of the blankets he clicks his tongue when he checks out the stitching. He didn’t give them any instruction on how to sew them together yet the workmanship still looks a hundred times better than what he has on his homemade bag.

Leaving the room he first stops by the entrance to do a quick check of the defenses. Since everything’s in order he moves on to the work area to check on how things are progressing. As he makes his rounds the workers actively keep their heads down showing no intention to look him in the eye much less pull another stunt.

Giving them one last glance he turns and leaves. Passing through the dining hall he makes his way toward the treasure room. With the ridiculous amount of monsters about coupled with him having excess food available in the hideout he has no need to go out for the time being.

Without needing to go out he can spend all his time training, but if he’s going to spend so much time training he needs something to act as filler to keep things from getting monotonous. Because of his rapid improvements in regards to magic the schedule he had in his mind for paying a visit to the city has been pushed forward as well. Sifting through the treasure room to find a suitable disguise can thus serve the dual purpose of moving his plans forward and breaking up his practice so he can maintain his focus.

As he passes by his room he glances inside. Evangeline lays sprawled out on the bed in an unladylike pose as drool leaks from the corner of her mouth. Looking at the useless vampire he lets out a sigh before continuing onward.

Entering the treasure room he begins walking around peeking inside crates and bags as he goes. Circling around he gets to the pile of cloth and equipment he confiscated from the bandits. Finding some decent looking armor he throws it on for a test drive. He hangs his head as he looks at the armor that looks more like a dress than a chest piece on him.

After trying on three more chest pieces he starts breathing heavily barely able to hold back his urge to turn the pile of hand me downs to cinders. Giving up on wearing armor he shifts his focus to the regular clothing. Tossing shirts and pants about he searches through the entire pile but is unable to find a single article of clothing that suits his tastes.

He grabs a pair of shoes along with a set of clothes and stuffs them under his arm before continuing on. If worst comes to worst he can make something himself or have one of his subordinates that are definitely far less skillful then him do it.

Digging through more bags he finally stumbles across something usable. A pair of thin black leather gloves stuffed in amongst a bunch of other fabric. Removing the gloves he continues looking through the bag. Although he isn’t able to find any other useful articles of clothing he did find some needles and thread which could be useful if he needs to make it instead.

He cut a mark into the ground with wind magic so he wouldn’t forget where they were if he needed them before moving on. In the next set of crates he finds a hooded black cloak. Compared to clothes having a hooded cloak to help hide his features is a top priority so he immediately snatches it.

Putting on the cloak he grabs a fancy silver platter from one of the crates he went through earlier. Using the reflective surface of the platter as a mirror he frowns. Even though the hood is able to shade his face it isn’t able hide his features well enough that someone with half decent eyes will be fooled.

‘Hmm, going forward I have two options that are somewhat feasible. First, I could find a mask which would be even more suspicious than just a hood. Second, I could try to work out a magic to block out light and make the inside of the hood pitch black when I wear it. If it can be put into practice it would be better than wearing a mask but much more annoying. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try for both just to be safe. With the amount of random crap that’s in here it wouldn’t be too surprising to find a mask or two. Looks like I’ll have to come back every time I take a break from training.’

Jellal set the items he collected on a nearby crate to mark his spot for when he comes back later. Leaving the room he started heading back to the living quarters to continue his training.

As he was walking through the dining hall he heard sounds coming from the kitchen so he went over to take a look. Poking his head around the corner he could see the usual crew chopping vegetables and meat while chatting. Since it’s coming up on time to have lunch he doesn’t bother them and moves on.

When lunch is ready Meredith sets off to inform Jellal. Skipping through the living quarters she notices a room with markings above it that weren’t there before. Sticking her head in the doorway she flashes a bright smile and waves at Sif before getting back to her task.

Arriving at the deepest part of the living quarters she finally finds Jellal who’s sitting cross legged with his eyes clothes. His eyes slowly open as she approaches. Without needing to ask why she’s here he stands up and starts walking toward her.

The pair stop off at Sif’s room on the way back so it can join them for lunch. Just like that one little girl and two monsters walk the halls of the cave.

Entering into the dining hall Jellal isn’t surprised that none of the new workers are there. Taking his seat at the head of the table he waits for the food to be brought to him. While he’s waiting Meredith goes to wake up Evangeline so she can join them.

Eventually she returns pulling the sleepy Evangeline along with her. She lets out a yawn as she starts fixing her bed head. After an entire minute she at long last notices Sif lying on the ground beside Jellal with its eyes closed. As if noticing her gaze its eyes shoot open as it turns its head.

[A good dog! I shall call you Mathias! If you’re a good boy I’ll let you take me as your master. Here boy.]

Her eyes light up as she suddenly decides on a name and tries to coax it over to her. Sif looks at her before turning to look at Jellal with eyes that seem to ask if she was being serious. Seeing Evangeline being ridiculed by a wolf he chuckles lightly while wearing a big smile.

After they finish eating she’s right back to trying to coax Sif to come over to her. When all her attempts fail she puffs out her cheeks and switches to plan b. She walks over to Sif and tries to pick it up, intent on carrying the new pet back to bed to use as a hugging pillow while she sleeps. Her attempts to pick up Sif soon devolve into simply running around chasing after it. The agile Sif uses sharp changes in direction to avoid her while ducking under and around tables to add an extra layer of difficulty.

While everyone is enjoying the impromptu entertainment provided by Evangeline and Sif, Meredith heads out to get the new workers so they can have lunch.

As the group arrives Jellal shoots a glance their way. Even though everything seems normal on the surface he can feel an oddly nervous atmosphere from them. His eyes narrow as he stops paying attention to the skit and starts observing the new arrivals.

Without warning one a well-dressed man grabs Meredith. The man is from the cell next to Vincent meaning he’s most likely a noble or fairly important person the bandits had planned on ransoming. He holds a knife to Meredith’s throat as he glares at Jellal, madness present in his eyes.

[If you make a move we’ll kill her. We’ll show you the true strength of the human race you filthy swine.]

[Kekeke, this is the first time I’ve seen someone think taking one of their own people hostage is a good tactic. How mighty the human race must be to produce geniuses like you. What exactly do you think you can accomplish with this little scheme of yours?]

[You filth, you dare to talk back to me. Humans are the masters of the world not trash like you monsters. This bitch dares to act like your little whore and you say she’s one of us? Don’t make me laugh. If you don’t listen to what I tell you we’ll kill her first before slaughtering you. You filth aren’t fit to lick the boots of the glorious human race since it would stain our honor.]

[You, slaughter me? Stop, you’re bringing me to tears, kekeke. Do you really think I would believe a word you said? You won’t kill her. If you did that you pathetic cowards would have nothing to hide behind. Also you go on and on about how great the human race is and their glory and honor but do you really believe the shit that comes out of your own mouth?

I know all about how great the human race is. They kill each other for fun and menial gains. They use status they never earned to get away with detestable acts while proclaiming themselves as righteous. They judge others by appearances and hold bias towards those that take their side regardless of how evil and disgusting they may be. There are also trash that take little girls hostage to try to save their own skin like a bunch of useless trash.

You call monsters filth but I have to disagree. Some monsters may kill indiscriminately and perform heinous acts but I’ve never seen a monster try to push their deeds onto someone else. Monsters also don’t judge others by their appearances. If you enter their territory or look tasty you’re an enemy to be killed. It’s nothing if not fair, regardless of how stupid and pointless it is.

Compared to hanging around with humans that’ll stab each other in the back over the smallest things I’d have to say hanging around with monsters is a much better choice. At least a monster won’t stab me in the back while claiming to be my friend like a human would. So you can keep your so called human superiority and I’ll stick with my honest and straight forward, albeit despicable, monsters.]

As Jellal continually mocks humans in front of them complicated expressions show on many of their faces. The fact that anyone with even a modicum of intelligence would proclaim that they’d rather be around monsters than humans is preposterous to them. Yet the way it was stated makes it hard for them to dispute even if they wanted to.

[A damned monster dares to mock humans! We won’t stand for such an atrocity! The only recourse left for this filth is death! Someone go cut that trashes head off. Don’t worry, if it tries to attack you I’ll kill this bitch right before its eyes.]

The clown leading the group is livid at Jellal’s mocking and angrily yells as he presses the knife closer to Meredith’s neck. Jellal’s icy glare scans the group as a drop of blood rolls down her neck.

[Judging by the way you’re ordering around those idiots and saying “we” all the time I guess it’s safe to assume the lot of you are in on this together. I’ll give everyone one chance to prove their innocence. If you aren’t with this idiot and have nothing to do with his little schemes then drop to one knee and throw away whatever is in your hands. After that you’re to place your palms to the ground and lower your head. Anyone in the room that doesn’t do so is with him and will be punished accordingly. Three … Two … One … Zero, time’s up!]

Jellal makes his demands with a tone oozing with killing intent. Without hesitation the normal crew drop to one knee, throwing away whatever’s in their hands and placing their palms on the ground. Even the usually ditzy and noncompliant Evangeline stops chasing Sif and follows suit. Sif lays on the ground as well in a show of compliance rounding out the group.

From the group of workers the pair of seamstresses immediately drop to a knee followed by a former adventurer and a male merchant doing the same. The former adventurer appeals to her comrade with her eyes, unease apparent on her face. The second adventurer hesitantly casts away her knife after looking at Meredith who’s being used as a hostage. If it wasn’t for such a despicable method being used she would never have faltered in her determination to escape this cave, yet her morality won out in the end and she caved.

The rest of the group remained standing, glaring at Jellal defiantly. As Jellal counted down his killing intent grew thicker making it hard for the people in the room to breathe.

The countdown hits zero while the captives fight the urge to lift their heads and see what’s happening. While lecturing the rebels Jellal had already prepared wind magic. Taking advantage of their breathing he was able to slip wind magic inside everyone in the rooms bodies. On top of that he has five invisible wind needles aimed at each of their heads from varying angles. His final magic is a wind barrier ready to protect Meredith.

Slowly Jellal lifts his right hand and makes a finger gun. Pointing at them one by one, starting with the idiot leader, he drops the hammer. The magic inside them explodes eviscerating their heart and lungs in sync with his firing motion killing them from the inside.

One after another they drop dead without any wound visible on their bodies. The ones late in the order get to live just long enough to feel immense fear before their lives are snuffed out.