Fafnir's POV

I glanced over the nervous men in front of me and a small, cold smile formed on my lips. I cleared my throat and shouted, "First of all I would like to thank you for you unconditional surrender. It really warmed my heart to see you all throw down your weapons out of the goodness in your heart. Secondly, I would like to introduce myself. I'm Fafnir, your new boss and if you try anything stupid your judge, jury and executioner. Now since I can't be bothered to actually take care of all your small problems I will be introducing my second in command. Please step forward Jay."

A flabbergasted Jay, who also took part in the attack as a member of the main army, slowly walked up to me. I grabbed his arm and raised it in the air as I shout, "Come on men, cheer a bit for the guy."

A few men start applauding a bit confused and the whole army joins in after a few seconds. The reason why they all suddenly joined in was that they actually had a lot of respect for Jay and had nothing to do with the humanoid dragon behind him slowly but visibly gathering destruction energy in his palms.

I slapped Jay on the back and smiled, "Now give your new men a good and rousing speech while I'm giving the other chiefs their instructions.

As I neared the biggest tent, formerly Diedrich's sleeping quarters that are now serving as makeshift 'throne' room (the place where I talk with all my guest) the two guards outside of it quickly saluted me. I entered the tent and saw the three bandit chiefs waiting for me.

I put on an amiable smile and said, "Before I give you guys your instructions I would like to congratulate you on our splendid victory."

The three of them silently nodded and I continued, "Now for the next phase. Safrit, I would like for you to spread the information that the bandits in these mountains are now united under a single leader and that these bandits will attack anyone passing through these mountains. But more importantly, you need to spread the information that there is a way to buy a safe passage. I would also like for you to be in charge of making those transactions. I will send the girl called Lisabeth to help you with your job."

The man's lips turn into a cold smile before he asks, "And will I be..."

I interrupted him by saying, "Of course what do you think of a cut of 25%."

"Perfect, I love when I get to earn money without a real risk.", replies the man before walking towards the entrance of the tent.

Seeing the greed of the angel, I raised my hand and threatened, "You know what will happen if you try to cheat me out of my money?"

The angel visibly paled and quickly said, "I would not dare to."

I smiled wickedly and chuckled, "I know, but I still wanted to remind you that you are not out of my reach once you are inside a city. Oh and don't forget to send me a list of the merchants who are allowed a safe passage."

The angel quickly nodded and walked away while I turned my attention towards the two bandit Chieftains, "You two will be working together with Jay to raid every merchant that dares to pass through these mountains and bring the loot to this place. You will be allowed to take 40% of the loot for yourself."

The two accepted the deal without hesitation since they did not really expect to earn anything, except the promise that I would not kill them, from working under me. While they were leaving the tent I said, "Oh and leave six of your most trustworthy men behind, I will have them bring you the list of merchants who are allowed to pass through the mountains. Also if there is a high-value target passing through these mountains who you think is too strong for you to rob, just send one of your men and I will personally help you or send you a few more men. Oh, and if you see a someone or a group of people who have a special skill, capture them. "

"Special skill?", asked Magnhilde.

I nodded and replied, "Yeah like famous blacksmiths, carpenters, mages... Oh in case you find a well-known mage you should let me know and then I will come over to capture him myself.

Just a quick question Boss, but what do you plan to do while we are following your orders?", asked Jorn

"Simple, I grinned, "I'm going to take it easy. It really is fun being the boss."

After the two, who are quite irritated that I shoved almost all of my work on them, left the tent I sat down on one of the chairs and ordered one of the guards to tell Jay to come over when he has a bit of time.

After a few minutes, Jay entered the tent and I beckoned them to take a seat. I cleared my throat and asked, "Could you give me a bit more information on the composition of the alliance?"

Jay nodded and said, "Well like I already told you there are four races in the alliance, the dwarves, the elves, the humans and the angels. The dwarves live almost completely separated from the other races and hardly ever leave the territory of their clans. The elves are separated in two big factions, the wood and the high elves, who each think themselves to be the superior of the two. Many members of the alliance are convinced that the only thing that kept them from killing each other was the threat of the demon race and it seems that they were right since the relation between the two factions has almost turned into an open war at this point."

I made a small mental note of such an abusable weakness and even felt a bit bad for the goddess of chaos. I mean how much energy would she get from that conflict if her connection with the planet had not been severed.

Seeing that I was still paying attention, Jay continued, "The humans are divided into five kingdoms, each having their own hero. These five countries have a relatively good relationship with each other. The nymphs are a perfectly united race but they don't really have deep ties with the other races since they are quite solitary and don't have that much interaction with the other races of the alliance. Lastly the angels. They are completely united under a single leader, or that is at least what it looks from an outsiders perspective. Safrit told me that most of the angels are actually far from united but just have a common goal, the destruction of as many evil races as possible and that their so called leader is just the strongest of the bunch."

Hearing the last part I asked, "Evil races, so there are more races just like the demons?"

He nodded and said, "Yeah there are a few but none of them even come close to the strength of the demons, well none except the dragons."

I replied, "Ah, so I'm considered a member of the evil races, interesting."

"Yeah the dragons are also technically one of the evil races but no one, not even those angels dare to provoke them.", shrugged Jay.

I nodded knowingly and added, "Let sleeping dogs lie. I get it."

After a small silence, Jay continued," Well there are actually two more big factions. One of those two is the free city. This city filled up with people who fled the alliance. The alliance and the free city don't really get along but since they are quite far from each other there is no real conflict between them."

"The last faction is the beastkin, "They are a strange crossover between man and beast created by the God of War. The beastkin don't really involve them in outside conflict and prefer to wage war between themselves for fun. During the war with the demons, beastkin mercenaries could be found on either side.", finished Jay.

"I nodded thank you, Jay, I can put this information to good use. Oh, do you know anything about the evil races?" , I asked

'A bit, but most of it is rumors.", replied Jay while shrugging.

Hearing this I mumbled,"Maybe I should ask our mutual lizard friend for some more information?"

"I don't really think he would not that much considering that he and his clan have been living in that cave for who knows how long. But it might be worth a shot.", replied Jay.

I sighed, "Jay, how big do you think is the chance that a hero is going to come looking for me?"

Jay thought for a second and then said, "There is almost no chance of the hero coming after you as the bandit king but it would not surprise me if they came to exterminate the nightmare that destroyed the fortress city."

"I groaned, "Do you have any idea how strong a hero is or how many of them will be coming and when?"

He shrugged, "I guess that only one hero would be sent here in around a month or so. The hero that would come will most likely be the hero of the wind, who works together with the Elderwood Kingdom, the country that the fortress you destroyed was part of. As for her strength, I have no idea."

"Any idea how she looks like," I inquired.

"Mhh, long wavy red hair, quite busty, green eyes and quite a few freckles on her face.", replied Jay.

"Mhh, Is she by any chance called Monica?", I asked.

"Yeah, that sounds about right.", confirmed Jay.

I silently mused, 'Perfect, Monica always the biggest idiot of the five. She is also one of those I see the good in everyone. So let's see, I guess that if I told her some sob story about how dying made me realize the error of my old ways and then beg her to 'free' me from the evil goddess that is controlling like a puppet then I can most likely get her to drop her guard and then give her a mortal wound."

I nodded and said, "Thanks, Jay, can you send tell the guards to call back Safrit when you leave I have an extra job for him."

"Sure," replied Jay.

A few minutes Safrit enter the tent and I gesture for him to take a seat. I poured two glasses of wine and took a sip of mine and then asked, "Safrit I got a favor to ask of you. Do you know anything that gives of red light and can cause an explosion after detonating it from a remote location."

He contemplated for a few moments and then answered, "I'm sorry but I do not know of an object like that, but getting my hands on one might be possible."

"Please elaborate.", I asked

"I know a mage who might be able to make something like that given enough time and resources.", he finished.

"Perfect, is there any way for me to meet him.", I asked

He nodded and replied, "He is a teacher at the arcane academy and each year the students of the academy will go on a field trip into these mountains to test their spells against some nightmares. This trip should be next week."

"Wait, they are sending a bunch of kids and geezers into these bandit infested woods.", I asked flabbergasted.

Safrit nodded and casually said, "Yeah normally bandits are no match for magic since even the most basic spell, arcane arrow, can kill most of the bandits."

Thinking how a bunch kids were going to play hero in my domain was strangely aggravating and I growled, "Now let's see if these kids are going to end up as fertilizer or become the first group of mages under my command."