In an attempt to stop something like this from happening again I offered an olive branch to the goblins, being a low intelligence race, they are used to being ruled by the strongest. Many of them accepted my rule. With both major factions of the forest under my control I can assure that the next villain to crop up on my doorstep will be a lone actor and not an army. I am currently adept at one on one fights. The kobolds and goblins worked on carrying the cages of demihumans back to the cave. I could have freed them on the spot, but that would be counterproductive. They would rush off into the forest and die from the first monster that sees them. While not a humanitarian I have a cursory idea of how to get them on my side. It all has to do with perception. They see me as a monster not unlike the one that enslaved them. I need them to see me as a nice person and a strong leader. I need to take a page out of Hans Sharff’s book and convert them with kindness.

I gather the meals for my five prisoners. Keeping prisoners now? They aren’t prisoners. They’re potential citizens. They just lack reeducation. Shut up Eris. This isn’t China’s reeducation camps, this is much nicer. I place the bowls inside their cages and step back. I give them a casual smile. I hope it’s casual. I wasn’t a very good smiler as a human and now that I have a lizard face I don’t know how my smile is perceived. I attempt to make small talk. “So how is the food? We don’t have much here, but I want you well fed.”

“Uwa are you gonna eat us mr dwagonman?” One of the child slaves asks me. She has dog ears.

“No, of course not, little one.”

A woman with large gazelle horns stands up in her cage. She has to be extra careful that her horns do not bang on the top of the cage. “Then why do you care if we are well fed! Is this some kind of sexual thing for you?”

I’m thrown completely off guard by that. “Aaaaaaaaaaaa. No! Why would you say things like that in front of a child?” I point to the dog eared girl.

“Child? She’s older than me?”

“What?”

“She just advanced.”

“What?”

I inspect the dogeared girl.

Name: Bluey Level 1/20 Race: Dogman, Dire Dogman Class: Villager, Merchant Skills: Merchant(Medium)

“There’s a class and race listed. That’s new.”

“Uwa, does mistew dwagon not know about demi-humans?” I shake my head. Her speech pattern was starting to get annoying. I dreaded having to receive exposition in uwu speak. Luckily it was not just to me who found it annoying the gazelle woman snapped at her. “Talk normally! You’re 30 years old.”

The dog girl rolls her eyes. “Fine! Demi-humans' appearance is based on their levels. When we advance our race the level goes back down to one. Leaving us in a child like form. Classes are different. They are more akin to how humans level up. We combine the best parts of being a monster with the best parts of being a human! Uwa!” She throws up the double peace sign.

“Will you show some demi-human pride! We are in front of the enemy! Stop acting cute!”

“Uwa, but mistaw dwagon is a kind king.”

I smile at her. She is rather sharp to see through me. “That’s right. I don’t want you to see me as an enemy. If you have no prior obligations in your home land then I would like you to settle down here. We are small, but we are up and coming.”

“Uwa, I’ll join your hawem mistaw dwagenman. Do we get to fuck ontop the gold pile?”

I recoil from her words. It has come. I wanted my story to be cool fight scenes and city building, but the harem shit has arrived on my doorstep in the least plausible way.

“It’s just her that is this crazy right? Y'all aren’t gold digging me?”

The gazelle woman scoffs. One of the other prisoners raises her hand. She’s a woman with long brown hair and a large squirrel tail. I point to her. “Please speak.”

“I actually have prior obligations. On the other side of this mountain my family is fighting in the civil war. I need to get there and help the tree dwellers.”

That’s a normal request. “Cool, let me get you a bag of dried food and a weapon then we will send you on your way.”

“Huh?” the other two unknown prisoners speak up.

“While I would like you to join my village. I’m not a monster.” They look at my body with disbelief. “Okay I am a monster, but I’m not a dictator. I won’t hold you against your will. The cages were for your own protection. It mitigates comical misunderstandings with disastrous consequences. That are common in this genre. If you actually need to leave then you can.”

“If you’re going to let the tree fucker go then let me go as well!” A woman with mole like claws speaks up. “I’ll kill you as soon as we are released. Dirt eater!”

The ties from this civil war run deep. I can’t release them at the same time or they’ll kill each other. Then again, if I release one before the other then there is a chance that the first one to be released will wait outside and kill the second on as soon as they are released.

“Well now I don’t know what to do. Can you two get along?”

“No!” “No!” They both shout.

“Can both of you lower beings shut up. You’re putting our host in a hard spot.” The final prisoner speaks up. She is a girl covered in feathers with large eyes like an owl’s. She has wings on her back, but one of them is jutting out at an odd angle.

“Your wing, is it hurt?”

She nods. I inspect the wound. It’s at the major broken status. Nothing in my cave can fix that, but time itself.

“Don’t help the airwhore!” the ground dweller and tree dweller both shout. This has only made my situation more complicated. “Are you fucking me? A three way civil war? I thought yall were supposed to be a republic of demihumans.” Never have I heard of a three way civil war.

“We were until the air dwellers stole our Chosen.”

“You took our Chosen too!”

“He chose to join us. Not our fault that he had a thing for tails.”

“Then it isn’t our fault that the Chosen we took had a thing for feathers.”

“At least both of you got chosen. The ground dwellers do not recognize either of them as the true chosen. The true Chosen is supposed to unite the republic not cause a civil war.”

“Yall went to war because the damn furries in anime club wanted to fuck diffrent specieses?!” I yell, how could they go to war for such stupid reasons! How could my club mates cause a war and not have fixed it by now!

They are silent. They look at me. They rub their chins in unison. The dog girls is the first to speak. “You talk like a Chosen.”

“What?”

“Anime club, furries, and you curse a lot.”

I bite my lip. I can’t tell them I’m one of the chosen now. If they go to war over the chosen then it’ll just get me involved as soon as I let them free.

“I’m just a regular kobold who evolved into a dragonborn.”

“Uhuh....” They speak in unison with heavy tones of doubt.