After Kiara left, I made my way back to the village. I summoned the ministers and told them that I would be visiting the Hornies. They were rather surprised, for I had never been so earnest about a trip to the home of the Hornies.

“Is there any reason?” the ministers asked me.

“Nothing in particular,” I replied. But there was indeed a reason.

It was with a troop of no less than fifty Skhites that I went to the Hornies. I had not wanted so many Skhites to escort me, but the ministers kept on insisting. I was well aware that deep inside the hearts of the Skhites there was still no trust for the Hornies, especially after all the blood spilled in the past.

The Hornies were elated when we reached the dome. The guards at the gate ran inside to inform everyone about me. I checked my character sheet and was pleased to see the trust and faith levels at all time highs.

I had expected the dome to be as dark and as gloomy as the village of the Skhites. How wrong was I! The dome was a different world in itself. Plentiful light poured in from the ceiling of the dome. The Hornies explained that the dome had been built using a special metal which didn’t bar most of the outside light.

The Hornies lived in clusters of houses that were built inside the dome. At the center was the residence of the former king, who came out of his house--the largest one in the dome--and offered to give it to me.

“You do not need to do that,” I said to him, patting him on the shoulder with a laugh.

“But wouldn’t you come to stay with us?” one of the Hornie ministers said.

“He will only live with us,” a Skhite minister beside me hissed.

“But that is unfair,” the former king of the Hornies protested.

I sensed that a quarrel between the Hornies and the Skhites was on the verge of erupting. That could not be allowed at any cost.

“Why don’t you build me a new home?” I asked the two evilun races. “Together.”

The Hornies took this seriously.

“It shall be done, but do they want to work with us?”

I raised my brow at the Skhites.

“But Vicky, aren’t you already comfortable living with us?”

“The village is a good place,” I said. “But a new residence would be welcome. Both Skhite and Hornie guards can stay to give me protection there. Can you do that for your king?”

The last few words sealed the deal.

Everyone was now ready to set to work at once.The idea for the new residence really took off.

I instructed the two races to build something with windows and proper ventilation and good lighting, though I left them to come up with their own designs for the project.

I brought the Hornie king and his ministers with me to the village of the Skhites. We proceeded to my chamber, and soon the place was cramped with Skhites and Hornies.

“There is something important that I want to tell you all,” I said to the small gathering, wondering what kind of a reaction my next words would draw from them. “I have decided to start farming the Evil Crop.”

A brief moment of astonished silence ensued. The monsters looked from one to the other and didn’t seem to know how to respond to my latest initiative.

“Is there any reason behind this?” the Hornie king asked. “Neither of the two races have ever engaged in farming in the past.”

“I am tired of the killings,” I said to them. “Every day troops of Skhites and Hornies leave to hunt players for evilese. In the process countless monsters lose their lives. Can we not just farm the crops and live in peace for the rest of eternity with no conflict with players, just like the Zombies?”

“But… if we do that we will no longer remain Eviluns,” one of the Skhite ministers pointed out. “We will lose our very identity!”

The others agreed, their faces sombre.

“But what is more important?” I asked. “ ‘Evilun’ is just a tag that the game world has put on us, so that players can get a kick murdering us. You won’t lose your identities; you will still be Skhites and Hornies. I just seek to save lives.”

“But setting up farms is demanding,” the Hornie king said. “It took the Zombies a long time to learn the quirks of farming. At one point their numbers had drastically reduced because their farms were not producing anything, while the players continued to kill them because the Zombies were not even defending themselves.”

“Well,” I said, “we won’t stop defending ourselves. Nor will we stop sending parties to hunt players. But at the same time we will toil on our farms. Only after we can generate enough Evilese to sustain ourselves through farming will we stop hunting. This is worth a try, come on!”

After some more reluctance, it was eventually decided that an experimental farm could be set up after all.

The Skhites and the Hornies did not look the least bit excited about the undertaking, a contrast to the joy they had displayed when I had asked them to build me a new home. Once the monsters were gone from my chamber I examined my stats.

General Information:

Name: Vicky

Affinity/Inclination: Evilun

Honors: King of Skhites, King of Hornies

Level: 2

2X(Health/Strength): 801/2000

Stamina:177/200

Mana: 18/200

Spells/Abilities: Merge, Transform

Average Trust and Faith of Fellows: 4

It was disheartening to see that the levels had plummeted steeply. At the same time some volatility was inevitable.

I anticipated that once the farms commenced producing Evilese, the monsters’ trust and faith would be restored. At the end of the day they needed evilese to survive, not violence. They had always complained of how heartless the players were. Now it was their chance to prove that they were better than the enemy.

At night, I connected my chamber to Kiara’s room. She was sitting on her bed dressed in an olive green top and jeans, biting her nails and shaking her legs. She lit up on seeing me. She bounded through the portal even before I had spoken a word to her.

Kiara frowned at the compact chamber.

“So this is where you live?” she asked me. “It’s kind of a small place for a king. You said you are a king, didn’t you?”

“I am one,” I said. “They gave me the chamber of the old king, but I refused it. This was the room where I was first treated for my injuries, and I decided to remain here. They are going to build a new larger residence for me though.”

Kiara went to the door and took a peek outside.

She let out a shriek, followed by a shout from the outside. Kiara dashed back to me. A couple of my guards appeared at the door. They would have pounced on Kiara, but seeing me standing next to her relaxed, they took no action.

“Who is she, Vicky?”a guard asked, addressing me by my name as I had mandated.

“Do not worry,” I said, “she is a friend. She is not here to harm. You can go back to your positions.”

“So those are the monsters that you rule over?” Kiara asked once they left.

“Yup,” I answered. “They have been good to me. Tell me, how was the office today?”

“Boss got scolded by seniors in the morning for arriving late,” she said. “Otherwise, everything was normal.”

“That man is the same, isn’t he?” I said. “But he is a good person. If he was a bit punctual he’d be a perfect boss. I hope they don’t fire him.”

“He was talking about giving me a promotion,” Kiara said. “But… I am not sure if I want to work in that office anymore.”

“Why?” I asked. “A promotion would be pretty cool.”

“Office is getting boring,” Kiara said. She looked me in the eyes. “I miss you there.”

I curled my lip.

“Well, I am happy to hear that.” A few seconds we stared at each other until it got a little awkward. I initiated one of my abilities.

“Behold!” I said, extending my arms, as I transformed into a Skhite. Kiara gaped in bewilderment.

“Wow! How can you do that?”

“It’s a game world, remember?”

I then converted into a Hornie and showed off the horns on my head. Finally I was back to my human form.

“Care to go on a walk?” I said. “I will show you the village that I rule over.”

“The village?”

“Yes, that’s what the Skhites call it.”