“Urg, I need a cloak that’s actually my size…” I dusted off my clothes after standing up. Thankfully, the fall wasn’t enough to injure me. Then I noticed I wasn’t alone, and it wasn’t the bandits I was after either. “Uhhh…”

Wait, those two adventurers, I know them. Why? Why was it them, of every adventurer in the area? Akira’s party just had to show up, didn’t they?

The elven woman picked up a piece of paper, and I quickly realized I dropped the quest notice. The elf looked at with a puzzled expression.

“Are you trying to accept this quest?” she asked me, placing one hand on her hip. “What, you think you’re an adventurer now?”

“I’d never associate with scum like you, I just… I just need the XP!” I shouted, dashing forward and trying to take the notice back from her, but our height difference was too great, I had no chance of ever taking it from her hand.

“And we need answers, answers about our friend Akira.” she growled, her eyes glaring down at me. “You know what killed him, don’t you?”

“D-Dunno, wasn’t me anyways.” I answered her, crossing my arms in defiance.

“Akira chose to spare you, the last thing he ever did…” she continued to glare at me, but her voice softened just a tiny bit. “I won’t dishonor his memory by going against his wishes, so why don’t we cooperate?”

The lizardman nodded in agreement behind her.

“Ya wanna know what’s really going on? Fine, I can tell ya.” I responded. “But I need to know something too, the location of the goblin capital, can’t find it on any maps.”

“That information can be provided, little goblin.” the lizardman answered me instead of the elf, walking up to me and offering a rolled piece of parchment. “This map shows the way, so tell me… who or what is Beelzebub? I’ve sought answers for so long to this question.”

“H-He told me he wasn’t known in this world, so how do you know the name?” I asked the lizardman, recalling what Beelzebub had said when he had first summoned me to his world.

“Stories from my father, passed down from my grandfather.” he answered matter of factly.

I thought about this situation for a bit, and realized I was making the wrong play here, I had the chance to do something better, something that could end the game.

“I changed my mind about the map.” I shoved the map back into his hands, and turned to face the ruins of the old watchtower. “How about ya help me with this quest instead?”

“You can’t be serious?” the elven woman exclaimed. “As if I would work with a goblin!”

“Ya want the answers, or not?” I looked over my shoulder at her, smirking a bit to show off my fangs.

Somehow, against the odds, the adventurers paired up with me. If they had been Vi’s pieces that would be a checkmate, right? So I’ve confirmed they’re not under her control at least. We headed together to the ruins, not concerned if the bandits saw our arrival.

My sword Skills made short work of their outer guard, cutting and weaving through four men in an instant. In my field of vision, my combination ranked to A in just the first move. Three more appeared, firing crossbows at us. I dashed through the bolts, throwing Incindra into the first archer.

The blade spun and cut into him under its own power, then returned to my hand. At that moment, two glowing, enchanted arrows struck the remaining bandits down.

“Not much left for me, is there?” Gox the lizardman complained, though his voice remained calm. At the same time, a bandit who was hiding until then lunged at him. And that same bandit met his end with a single swing of the lizardman’s greathammer. “Forget what I just said.”

Once all of the bandits were slain, the three of us left the area and set up camp for the night. There, around the campfire, which was actually Incindra, I honored my side of the deal and told them everything I knew.

“So my grandfather wasn’t mad after all.” Gox said, taking a bite of one of his prepared rations. He held out half of the bread to me, and I gladly took it. “The demon outside of the world was real… Beelzebub.”

“He claims to be a God, though he did say that some considered him a devil.” I replied, taking a bite from the somewhat hard but still edible bread.

“So Akira was telling the truth, he was a hero put here by a god to defeat the Demon Lord.” Tyrael interjected, her voice sullen. “Dammit, what side are we even fighting on?!”

“If this raid is successful, the adventurers are likely to march upon the Demon Lord, having tasted such an unparalleled victory” Gox pondered out loud. “And with his defeat, Akira’s murderer will achieve victory, a very complicated dilemma.”

“Look, I know ya both want to defeat the Demon Lord, but I can’t let Vi win. Not that I want Beelzebub to win either.” I scratched my chin, trying to think of a way to convince them to my side.

“Screw the Demon Lord, I never cared about that in the first place!” Tyrael responded, her hand tightening into a fist. “I want justice for Akira, nothing else!”

-

The pieces were moving, both sides of the game gathering their strength. It was indeed true, that if the blue side was to defeat the goblin capital, nothing stood in the way of a full fledged march against the Demon Lord’s castle.

Even Beelzebub knew that his defense would crumble if he lost this ground. So he prepared, moving what pieces he could spare towards that point. Vi was well prepared as well, knowing full well that this could be the final conflict in their long game.

The game rapidly headed towards its climax, and at the center of it stood one single goblin. In her hand, Vi held her sealed piece, waiting for the right moment to open it.