“It’s an honor to receive such a welcome!” You say with a smile and step forward.

“Yes, I’ve heard some of my little friends met an unfortunate end at your hands,” Pythia says, and any hint of kindness disappears from her face.

“Yes, well, we were just defending ourselves,” you say.

“I see. At least it doesn’t appear that you tried to eat after.”

“What!? No! Who would to that? That’s disgusting!” You shamelessly reject the idea.

The troglodytes all turn their beaks toward you when you say the word “disgusting”.

“No disrespect, of course!” You say to the troglodytes.

“You would be surprised that the mind does to a man, who’s been in the dark and starving for days,” Pythia says slowly. “And when they finally have to choose between cannibalism and eating a troglodyte… Troglodyte meat reacts with stomach acid. Have you ever seen someone melt from the inside out?”

“No, I have not,” you say calmly, while you wish that the backpack on your back would somehow evaporate. You need to change the subject. Fast. “We have not come to start a fight with you.”

“Oh? The weapons you carry say otherwise,” Pythia points with her right wing at Ariadne’s greataxe behind her back.

“You see, we’re actually just passing through. Perhaps you’d be so kind as to show us the way through the tunnels into the outpost at the base of these mountains?”

“Haah!?” Pythia’s eyes grow wide. “Why did you go into the tunnels, to begin with?”

“I have some unfinished business with the inhabitants of that place.”

“But those two,”—she points at the bunny girls—“aren’t they that man’s underlings?”

“That man’s?” Gamma tilts her head.

You can’t help but sigh. Even you can guess who the bird girl is talking about. You look at Alpha. This would be the point she’d yell at Gamma and insult her. Alas, she just stares at one of the white clouds in the sky.

“Ah, right,” Pythia says and grimaces. “It’s the stupid one.”

“Stupid?” Gamma asks and doesn’t hesitate with a retort. “How about I pluck out every single of your feathers and then roast you like we did your dumb furball friends back ther—”

“Gamma, slam your head against your own shield!” You command the bunny girl. You were late with the interrupt due to simply disbelief at what you heard coming out of her mouth.

Gamma does as you say. See her bang her head against the iron shield. She recoils from the pain and wobbles in place, dropping one of her shields.

“Ahhahahaha!!” The bird monster laughs hysterically. “Do it again!”

She brought this upon herself, you think and command, “Gamma, do it again!”

Another bang. Followed by a thud as Gamma falls to the ground and grabs her bleeding head. She did not hold back.

“Bwahhaahhahahh!” The Pythia falls to the rocks and holds her tummy with her wings, rolling from side to side.

Was it that funny? You wonder and say to your sister, “Ariadne, heal Gamma. We still need her.”

“What did you do to her?” Pythia asks as she rolls over and wipes a tear from her eyes with her feathered appendage. “I haven’t seen such degree of control over another since Graf Wilhelm himself ruled these lands.”

Both you and Ariadne freeze in place.

“The Demon Lord?” you ask. “You know him?”

“Know him!?” She asks and looks insulted. “I fought in the Great War with him! Though the way his reign ended was unfortunate, to say the least. I hear he’s cooped up in some ruins to the north. Such a shame. It’s not as fun without him!”

“So you’re one of his former minions?” you hear Ariadne’s voice behind you. But the tone is completely different.

“Minions?” Pythia frowns. “I take offense to that! I would say... Allies with a common goal.”

“And why aren’t you with him now?” Ariadne asks and steps forward. You see her golden bangs cast a menacing shadow on her eyes that now have a tint of red in them.

Oh no! You can guess where this conversation is going.

“I simply refuse to ally myself with weaklings!” She throws that statement without even looking at Ariadne, literally brushing off that topic with her wing, like one would an annoying fly.

“You, tr—”

“ARIADNE!!” You scream at your sister. “Control yourself!”

“I... But she! ... Sigh, yes... My Lord!” Ariadne bows her head.

“Pythia, if I may ask about the leader of the outpost below,” you attempt to cool down the conversation, for now. “What is he to you?”

“An annoyance.” Her reply is short. “I would much prefer to tear off his white little ears and shove them down his throat. But he’s a powerful fire mage. And together with his sister... Let’s just say neither of us is ready for the losses we would most definitely incur in the fight. So we’ve learned to co-exist... For now. Sometimes my little friends eat one or two of his underlings that wander into our tunnels, but that’s about it. Which, again, makes me wonder—why are those two with you?”

“I took them for myself,” you reply bluntly. “They, along with the other three and their leader belong to me now."

“Hoooh?” She measures you up with her eyes, top-to-bottom, and then asks, “Why have you come here exactly?”