-Lord sorron there are many individuals marching towards the ratman village !

As I talked with the girls some more one of the slimes informed me of the case quickly making me go quiet as I reacted.

-let me see...

My sudden quietness made the girls a bit puzzled since I was in the middle of saying something further more seeing my serious expression a lot of the girls started to reach for their weapons.

I was focused looking through the eyes of the slime I could see the lamia going through the thick forest in a tight group in the front stood the exact same lamia that I had seen the last time.

-Why are they so early...

I muttered while watching the lamia go through the forest with nimble and quick speed,it was still midday not even close to midnight which was the usual schedule,why are they coming so early...

I wondered,but I couldn't think about the question and instead observed them further counting their numbers right now...

Uhh...they were 50 or 60 lamias right now storming through the forest their numbers were disturbingly double the size then dakiro told me about strange looking at their expressions I could also see that they were exceedingly anxious about something as if they were in a hurry.

I stopped observing them and quickly calculating on how long it would take for them to reach the village my calculation skill was pretty high the numbers flew inside my head as the distance and the amount of time it would take was revealed inside my head which was 30 to 45 minutes from right now.

-Dakiro do you hear me ?

I quickly focusing on the dakiro in the village he quickly answered a bit surprised that I called so early.

-Yes,my lord what is it ?

-The lamia they are coming to your village right now in 30 or so minutes get everyone ready and armed I am not sure why they are coming this early,but we don't have time to talk...wait for my signal you understand only attack when I tell you to !

Dakiro was panicked he started stuttering for a moment until he pulled himself together and answered me.

-Yes,sire !

With these words the connection between us was immediately cut as I returned back to my own senses raising my head I looked at the girls and realized that they were far ahead of me everyone standing tight and straight holding their weapons and armor with a cool look on their faces...

I grinned standing up myself as I looked out of the cave and into the forest.

-We are about to war keep your heads tight and don't lose your guard you understand ?

-Yes !

The answered in sync making my heart slightly calm thinking about the upcoming fight we would have.

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The forest wind howled as the cold air streamed through the gaps of the trees.A sliding sound could be heard shadows following along with eerie movements crushing the branches and small pebbles underneath them as if they were individual rollers leaving behind a line in their approach.

The day was bright,but not in this part of the forest where everything was hidden behind the cold fog the sun was blocked leaving behind a almost dark gray forest.

The lamia were moving with haste their eyes turning a bit wild charging towards the ratman village,but just as they were halfway through the road the spotted another group heading towards them.

The lamia woman who was standing at the front suddenly raised her body to look who it was cautiously just as she was doing that she noticed the furry small creatures with hunched up backs heading towards them pulling a small carriage with sacks of something inside of them they were the ratman without a doubt.

-You! How did you know we were approaching !

The leader of the lamia group spoke facing the other ratman who was leading his group he had a serene look on his face a bit alarmed and fearful,frowning really and trying to hide himself on the inside as did the rest of the ratman that carried the sacks full of calm,but fearful at the same time.

-Our sentries had contacted us that you are approaching we are guarded like this and always arrive first for the delivery I am not sure why your kind has come so early,but we are ready with our weakly deposit of prepared !

The ratman said looking confident and while speaking for himself the lamia who had come looked at the ratman almost ridiculing him as the leader of the lamia the woman also couldn't help,but smile seeing the old ratman in front of her kneeling down like the rest of them.

-Hmm very well,but I think that we have a small probably chief of the ratman village...

The words of the female lamia were sharp it made the old ratman perplexed for a moment as he raised his towards her anxiously...

-And that is ?

The female lamia smiled enchantingly the smile was almost malicious and bloodthirsty even frightening some of the ratman who stood glancing up towards her.

-Your services...don't seem to be needed anymore the demon king ordered for the lesser beings to be executed and used as food for the more powerful ones,the mine and the village from now will also be under our control so be obedient and bring your people to execution ground...

Her words were cold and sharp it made a lot of the ratman who were present shake and almost cry as they heard their cruel and unbelievable sentence to be said so lightly showing how little their lives in front of absolute power.

The the elder ratman didn't speak and kept his head low as the lamia guards slowly made their way towards the ratman about to capture them,but just as that was happening a voice spoke out.

-Hey you did you just say "Demon King" !

I walked out suddenly appearing from the side of the forest as I made my way towards the lamia and the ratman in my carefree manner,both the ratman and the lamia were astonished as they saw me come out of nowhere especially the ratman since they were expecting me,but it wasn't time yet,I already said that I would give them a signal which this was clearly not it the ratman elder knew looking at me just for a second until he shifted his eyes back to the ground waiting patiently.

-WHO are you stranger and how come you understand this language...

The lamia female shouted some of the lamia quickly pulled their weapons momentarily alarmed seeing me since they didn't notice my presence to begin with looking at me with a hostile look on their faces.

My eyes were hidden behind a cloak holding onto a wooden staff as my steps resounded in this small area not one bit nervous or showing any mistakes with a calm and indifferent demeanor in my action making some of the lamia who stood glaring at me puzzled.

-Thats enough stranger don't come any closer or you'l regret it...

The female lamia growled her eyes turning feral and uninviting so were the others without a question.

-I just want to talk my lady is it really such a hard request to ask from you ?

I asked humorously,but my mood didn't seem to have affected the lamia to the least as they continued staring at me cautiously the female lamia the leader of her group snorted taking a step forward or rather a crawl forward closing our distance to a mere 4 meters as she watched me not sure what to think of me.

-Who are you ? And why are you here ? How come you understand our tongue ?

She hissed observing me throughly trying to see the face that was under the cloak of mine which I slowly revealed with a smile dancing on my lips as I met her eyes,my outer appearance seemed to have momentarily enchanted the woman in front of me making her gap,but she quickly pulled herself together and kept on analyzing me finally discovering the deep blizzard inside my cold blue eyes it made her shudder for a moment while looking at me.

-Yes,it is very rude to not introduce yourself in your first meeting is it ? I shall give my name for it is Sorron The Ice Emperor.I am a sole wanderer in this forest looking for a good place to stay and as you can see or rather smell I am not human I am something different a being that can understand many profound languages and being able to converse with them too if you want to know my lady

The female lamia licked her lips for a small moment as she listened to me now even more confused and unsure about herself.

-Ice Emperor ? So you are a mage I take it ?

I laughed giving her a courteous smile while raising my hand slowly immediately summoning 24 different ice swords into the air...my practice and a few level ups made it possible to increase my control over water and ice resulting in my currently limit which was to individually control 24 ice shards at the same time.

Seeing this a lot of the lamia who stood behind started to draw their weapons prematurely because of the ice swords that I was summing.The female lamia the leader of her group just continued to observe she was alarmed like the rest and kept a sharp eye on me with her hand resting on the hilt of her sword not too far away,but she slowly started to understand through my mannerism and speech that I wasn't harboring any harm to her or anyone here...at least as of yet.

-I see...you can stop that if you don't want to get ripped by my people..

The woman hissed lightly threatening me trying to probe me,but I simply smiled and answered her not giving in to the least.

-They can try if they want my lady,but I advise you not to bite off a amount that you can't possibly swallow,both of us don't want any losses right and with my offer I believe that you would be the most satisfied if you don't fight me...

My reaction and response made the lamia leader in front of me blink for a moment as she raised appraised me again she was hesitant thats for sure and a bit fearful since I was mage a pretty powerful one it seemed too someone she maybe didn't want to offend and someone who had an offer for her that could benefit her.

She licked her lips again now a bit interested as she spoke.

-I still don't trust you stranger and if all things considered I will let you leave from this place with your life in tact so speak and if I don't like what you say or don't agree then you shall leave you understand?

I bowed giving her some face which she seemed to like.

-I didn't mean to listen into your conversation a few minutes ago,but from what I understand you work for the demon king ? The "Demon King" of olden times am I right ?

Hearing my question the lamia woman quickly answered not even remotely hesitant to reveal such information rather proud of it as she told me.

-Yes,it is indeed the demon king you speak of the one who will lead us all to victory and help us regain our might that had been lost for so many years with his help we will once again rise out of our shadows without a fear in the world and take away everything the other major races had taken from us...

Her words were passionate very worshiping even as her eyes sparkled dreamily about the person she just spoke of.

-Why do you want to know of this stranger ?

The female lamia said quickly returning back to her normal attitude glaring at me.

-I felt curious in my heart and as a non-human I am also considered a monster I had experienced many times grief and pain and secluded myself into this forest wandering aimlessly living my days in the shadows hearing that there was someone out there who could change this sparked a flame of hope inside my heart warming its original cold hard contents a bit and making me want to ask if I could join your...no,his cause help him in any sort of way ?

The lamia leader who stood in front of me seemed momentarily surprised as she heard my poetry a bit flowery words she didn't think of it as anything impulsive or stupid and rather looked at me with eyes of opportunity and curiosity she wasn't fully convinced of my true intention though and still harbored suspicion.

The reason I was doing this was simple,I was curious extremely curious of this so called "Demon King".This curiosity may kill me,but I was very confident in my actions and speaking to get what I wanted.I first demonstrated her a small taste of my power showing her my mysterious background which would also make it hard for her to take action against me and also speak in words that could pull sympathy towards me and ease her up for a bit to let her consider some more.

A very clean and solid tactic.

-You are a stranger,but if its true what you say you are also one of us then,if you really want to join us then you have to ask one of the succubus in the western part of the forest they know a whole lot more then we do since we only take orders as of yet they on the other hand work in a more insider kind of way well informed...

Hearing her words made me very satisfied inside my heart since I could now search for more detailed information from somewhere else it also told me a bit about their internal structure through this one little sentence.

Turning my head I looked at the elder ratman for a moment,my eyes were calm and without a ripple showing indifference towards this race as my spoke coldly.

-If I remember correct you just said that they were about to get turned into food what did you mean by that my lady ?

My sudden question made the female lamia in front of me very surprised she was now very unsure whether or not she should answer looking at me trying to read me some more with no avail.

-The demon king has ordered for the lesser beings in this forest to be slaughtered and to be turned into life stock for the more powerful beings this way we can build ourselves even stronger to reach our goal and as of now the lesser beings don't have any use to us they are taking space and training them will not amount to anything which I can understand..don't you think so too stranger ?

The female lamia said a bit too cheerily for something so cruel she was about to commit...but,still I wasn't going to judge her or anyone in any way the forest was under the rule of the jungle only the strong survive while the weak get devoured in this case it was inevitable that the ratman were the ones who would be devoured.

But now they had me someone who they could rely on it was a mutual exchange,but it was still fairly good exchange for both sides especially the ratman since they could now develop on their own under my wing.

What really made me a bit disappointed is the demon king who was the person who had personally ordered such a thing making me question for a moment:who is the demon king ?

Isn't he the person who should care for his fellow monsters ?Isn't he supposed to lead them for freedom and equal rights ? In my head I always believed that the demon king in a sense was the true hero the one who seeks equality and not power the one is the symbol of fairness among races that binds everyone under him...but this just sounds like he is a tyrant a person who wants to conquer instead of collect and bound...

I sighed...maybe I am just an idiot maybe I just don't understand these hard things myself I am not in his shoes so how can I possibly judge him ? Thinking all about this maybe just bullshit and nothing else will there even be true equality to something ?

The answer was simple:No.

Even if there was there would still exist this void distant wall from each other a troublesome thing not many can accept so they can't cross it very sad and cruel.

-If you want to help us stranger then I will let you capture these ratman for us it will be a big help and I will let you serve under me as my person aid how about it ?

The lamia woman asked cheerily looking at her made my blood boil for a moment,but in a very different sense.

For one thing I knew something without a doubt...the ratmen they were my people now they were the ones who I made a connection with thats why I will protect them.

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