I came to regret the whole affair with captured humans.

There was an obvious problem with taking prisoners I was always aware of, but had failed to consider when I ordered my monsters to take most, if not all, members of that caravan as prisoners. After all, my attempt at a peaceful conversation with natives had failed. Almost spectacularly, it was the only way to brute force the issue, force interaction, stop hostilities. At least it was what I told myself.

As my monsters shuffled through the contents of the caravan, looking for something that could be carried away with us, either food or equipment, it became increasingly clear that we would have to handle all the humans that came with it as well.

It was, however, never so simple.

We were poorly equipped to keep any captives.

There were no shackles and very little rope to tie the still struggling humans down, and what we could use was simply salvaged from the surroundings. A lot has been done with torn clothes, though it was flimsy and required my monsters to actively keep the humans restrained. Though some whimpered and gave up, others resisted. I saw their anger and their bitterness in their eyes. It was, however, something to solve later.

We had to improvise, and the option to make use of ‘Corruptors’ powers to do so was something hard to pass on.

With the little of native greenery, and the generous application of the monsters’ magic, it quickly sprouted vines strong enough to tie down the person. The strange, tangled creepers, with mismatching jagged leaves of green and purple, appeared to be exotic, to say the very least, but made a very strong binding material. It was exactly what we needed.

I found out that they were also toxic to some humans too late. One man tied down with it received what I assumed was an extremely strong allergic reaction after contact with the plant. He died within the.minute, maybe less, his body swollen and covered with rapidly spreading blisters.

It happened so fast. I didn’t have the time to even reach the dying man, let alone panic over the limited first aid knowledge. The only thing I was left with was the corpse.

“He is dead.” Narita stated flatly when I looked up at her.

My monsters despised humans greatly, and she wouldn’t shed a single tear over one dying. Though looking at how hostile the natives were, the hatred was mutual. I couldn’t argue with her.

Perhaps my feelings were dulled, twisted, by the entire experience.

It was, however, still my first instinct was to check on the other captives, to find out whether they suffered with the same symptoms. It wasn’t too late to do so at least something.

If the vines were poisonous by default, and indeed as deadly as it was in this single particular case, they would kill all of them. They didn’t, which meant I had the chance to do something.

The first I opted to examine was the boy that threw the stone at me previously. He was tied with those same alien plants..

When I tried to inspect him to find whether he developed any kind of allergic reaction to the plants ‘Corruptors’ created, I had to pull away the creepers around his legs. Neither his skin, nor mine, showed any sight of even irritation from contact with odd leathery leaves.

The older man's death could have been a freak accident, after all.

But because of my lack of focus, and my mind preoccupied with other things, it just gave the youngling the opportunity to kick me, pushing me over.

It agitated the monsters to no end. One of the vulpine ‘Purifiers’, one of the over enthusiastic that was fully kitted with the mismatching armour and helmet, didn’t take to that kindly and immediately started beating the young human with the pommel of the sword.

“For Master!” She screeched, her voice filled with rage.

“Stop that! Don’t kill the humans…” I screamed, and the fox monster obeyed, looking at me, entirely confused.

Though already badly beaten and bloodied, the boy had quite a pain resistance, or simply was filled with adrenaline, and attempted the fight back. With surprising agility, he kicked again, with all his strength, into the perplexed, vulpine face. Teeth flew. Blood splattered all over.

Suddenly, something within me broke, and I overreacted.

It was me who was entirely overwhelmed by the blind, uncontrollable anger after seeing my foxy hurt by the damn human I wanted to keep from harm. As I scrambled to my feet, I booted the offending youngling violently.

“Narita! Heal my Purifier!” I bellowed the order and gave the bastard that harmed my monster another kick, then turned back from him, gesturing the growling and snarling menagerie to seize him. For the moment, I was entirely indifferent if they tore him apart.

As the rodent-like monsters worked their magic, transferring the life force of the small plant to heal the little overprotective ‘Purifier’, the rest of the monsters were increasingly agitated.

They were likely unsure how to react, thanks to my acting up, which demanded them to not kill our captives, although they obviously wanted to. I could sense it, but they stayed back,

“Then try to heal this asshole just enough. Don’t kill him.” I continued, “I want to see if our powers work on humans.”

“Yes, Master!” Narita answered. Her ‘Defilers’ dragged the beaten prisoner away. I didn’t even look in that direction.

“Throw the remaining prisoners into one of those damn huts, tied down!” I growled and finished with: “I don’t want to see them until we are ready to go!”

The sea of tooth, claw, and fur sprung into action. Only then, when hugged protectively by the looming statue of my Miwah, I could regain enough composure to realise what this had just done - this was the first genuine outburst of rage, or aggression, I had after arriving in this world. It was not quite me.

“Master?” Miwah said, sounding concerned.

“It is nothing.” I replied absentmindedly, too focused on the little introspection after my sudden, wondering why I acted the way I did.

It was strange; it was alien; and it was completely irrational. I didn’t quite feel like myself at this very moment, as I realised this was truly the very first occasion, a juncture of sorts, when I wanted a human dead rather than to see one of my monsters harmed.

Monsters that came back from the dead, several times ever, yet it felt they were more precious than the constantly hostile natives.

I didn’t know what to do with that shifting emotions, with those sentiments that took me over in that moment, so I tried to push them back. I shook my head almost as I swung away from those thoughts and leaned again against my black werewolf. At least, for the brief moments.

Then I turned my focus back to the smaller ‘Purifier’, one that avenged the attack on me so vehemently, and kneeled in front of her. She was healed back to normal. Normally, the ordinarily sized vulpine types were smaller than me, though in this position I looked up.

She still wore that scavenged helmet, even though it obviously didn’t fit her considering her more animalistic shaped skull and pointy fox ears.

“Helmy.” I said, realising that I actually remember the plainly ridiculous name I gave her, recognising her by her obsessiveness with the looted equipment. I also recalled how protective she was, even recalling her throwing herself against the super-powered warrior we killed in this damned ravine.

I wasn’t entirely certain I could tell the difference between the individual ‘Purifiers’ despite them being very similar to each other, with their fluffy anthropomorphic vulpine forms, but I assumed I would be after spending too much time with them.

“Master?” she whimpered, looking at me, puzzled. I took her helmet off.

“Sorry, I yelled at you.” I said, gently touching her muzzle, scratching her fluffy ears, and finally hugged her. “You protected me, more than once. Thank you!”

“Master!” She perked up, her voice changing.

“Always stay close,” I said. It was quite difficult to get some distance from her afterwards.

“Master!” she said, in an acknowledging tone.

“Oh, Master. I am getting jealous again.” Tama remarked when her smaller kin received more attention than her, though she did so playfully. Perhaps she minded, or maybe she did not, and was just sure about her.

I didn’t react to her, instead I raised my voice so the entire crowd could hear me. With the prisoners put into the makeshift cell, much of my menagerie was back to accompany me

“Thank you all for protecting me!” I raised my voice.

“Master! Master!” They answered in unison, as always.

“It was my fault. I need to be more careful with the locals next time!” I added.

“Master!” they acknowledged. With their innate distaste towards the humans, I didn’t doubt this was difficult for them to attempt any non-violent solution. Though, to be fair, I doubted whether such a thing even existed. Locals were extremely combative as well, and the aggressiveness of my monsters reflected that. It was a situation in which the cycle of violence may never stop.

Sometimes peace wasn’t an option, though, despite the frustration,I still tried to convince myself to try. Problem was, I didn’t know how.

Mai, accompanied by the ‘Defilers’ and ‘Eviscerators’ dragged the youngling, or boy perhaps, back in. His injuries were gone, suggesting that the ‘Defilers’ powers worked on this, the similar it worked on us, though he didn’t seem there.

Despite his previous aggressiveness towards me, or my monsters, he wasn’t resisting this time. In fact, though alive, he barely stood despite his bindings were gone, his eyes glassy, almost like he was heavily drunk, or drugged. He didn’t seem in condition to do anything.

It was a sharp contrast with how the life draining powers worked for us - in our case; we were strengthened by the spell.

Still, it meant we had abilities that could benefit humans as well as us, which seemed a very marketable idea - if only we could talk to each other.

I didn’t want to deal with it at this very moment though - I was still quite irritated.

“Ewww, humans are so ugly and slimy.” Mai remarked.

She pushed the boy away. He collapsed to the ground. Though he tried to move, he didn’t really fight back, though he flailed his hands around almost like he tried to drive away the unseen spectres, or perhaps annoying insects.

“Tie him down and put him with the rest.” I ordered.

“Yes, Master.”

The rebellious boy put little into the fight this time, though at the very least, and I was glad he didn’t end up dead - he was so far the youngest human I met here, though unremarkable in any other way with the bland Asian features and messy hair, similar to how all natives looked like. His enmity was a notch above the others, and they were all combative already.

Perhaps I would never understand what was going on in those lands and heads of those people, I mused. I still, however, wanted to try. Later.

I let my monsters put them with the rest of the captives.

I looked around, reconsidering my options, nervously tapping my fingers on the small ‘Purifier’ shoulder. She didn’t seem to mind, though I was preoccupied with forming some sort of plan - better than the previous one, at least.

Transporting the prisoners would be difficult, even keeping them would be quite a challenge, and I didn’t need all of them if attempting to learn the language was the question.

“Miwah, did your scouts find any humans that way?” I asked, pointing in the direction from where the caravan came.

“We didn’t run into anyone close by.” Werewolf answered, “Though the road leads somewhere.”

“Does this mean that if we return to that shrine, we will be closer to human settlements?

“Yes, Master.” She confirmed.

“Hmmm. Perhaps it would be better to put the distance between us and them.” I pondered.

It was possible that this hamlet, or rather ruined remains of it, was truly a secluded place, possibly abandoned for this very reason. Though the people we run into must have come from somewhere, they could be just the same group, splitting up. Houses around there weren’t in good condition either, though there were no fields as far I could tell. Still, Mai magic could remediate that, and there were still animals in the area.

“And source of water?”

“The human had some water-skins and bottles. There is a stream downhill.” The werewolf confirmed, gesturing somewhere past the ravine.

“There is?”

Looking around for the last time, I changed my mind, and changed my decision from merely an hour ago. There was no point in going back, I thought.

“Change of plans, then.” I said. “We will settle down here for now. Ladies, make this place a little more secure and liveable.”

“Yes, Master.” My ‘Alphas’ answered in unison, and the crown once again exploded into the flurry of activity. Eventually, I would have to get used to the whole affair of commanding such many creatures, but for the moment, I was still uncomfortable with it.

“Mai, I put you in charge of the camp then. Your power would be the best protection right now, though we will need some berries or something else edible than simply draining everything with Narita’s power. ”

I added, in a slightly uncertain voice, though my newest reptilian companion found no complaint about my decision, and answered with the results: “Yes, my Master.”

“I’ll go to see this stream, then.” I decided. As much as I wanted to get on the bottom of this language barrier, I was more disgusted with the premise of attempting any interaction with humans which were so far using every opportunity to attack me and mine.

I was almost eager to step away from this place for a while, to gather my thoughts.

“Yes, Master.”

The overturned wagon, and the handcart, left behind by the travellers our group jumped, reminded me I should probably start caring more about the items of common use. Now we were forced to make a living in this hostile land.

“Perhaps we should send someone back to the shrine, take everything we can use from there, so we can make a living here.” I mused. There, of course, wasn’t much left out there, but bringing it to a more defensible location was probably for the best while we struggled with the whole communication issue.

But more to that later. I wanted to at the very least see the immediate surroundings of our new home.

At least, until we reached the spring that was supposed to supply us water.

Of course, I didn’t go alone.

My small, vulpine protector was walking next to me. In fact, I still had the hand over her shoulders to which she didn’t object to it even the slightest.

Tama and Miwah were within arm's reach as well, with Narita and the detachment of my assorted monsters that played at being my personal guards.

It felt strangely right, slightly more than even before I felt a certain bond with my monsters forming, with their presence being more of the assurance than it was before, a barrier between the hostile environment and me.

There was a bond between us, and I had to repeat myself. I should try dealing with natives in a peaceful, civilised manner. Somehow.

I tried to play out the way to initialise conversation, the situation, how I would conduct this learning process for the new foreign tongue, the gestures to make and object to point out to - and I felt more frustrated by the whole prospect of trying.

I said nothing for several minutes.

We had to descend the sharp decline where the path went downhill, cracked, with a few trees dangerously leaning over the road, damaging the landslide. Further back, the bubbly creek runs through the forest, ruins of the stone bridge over it replaced by the wooden platform.

Construction didn’t give me much confidence.

But it was a border.

Flimsy connection between us and them.

The terrain was uneven and difficult at this side of the ravine, making it a defensible location. Between the dense forest, landslides, and rocky cliffs, an army would have difficulty getting to us.

Humans couldn’t fly. But so couldn’t either.

“We could easily burn the bridge if humans try to pass through here.” Tama offered, nicely predicting what I was considering..

“Better to not trap ourselves in here.”

“There aren’t any settlements behind this point,” Miwah added. “Not within the distance we ran to.”

“We just need to figure out how to talk with people around here…” I sighed, “I guess I’ll have to try learning language now. I guess I can keep one, and let everyone else go. But who?”

I was not excited by the prospect, despite it being exactly the thing I was desperately trying to do until now. Dealing with it was still a nuisance.

“That merchant…” I mumbled. I recalled there has been a man among the group I didn’t really pay that much attention to, unfit, but better dressed than others. I wasn’t paying him any attention, nor I didn’t know if that guy was indeed a merchant, but after resistance from even subdued prisoners, the biggest coward was possibly our best chance.

“...set him aside from others.”

However, when I looked at Tama, possibly for support, I caught her staring at the horizon, which usually happened when she called her kin over the longer distances.

“Prisoners are proving to be difficult, Master. Humans killed one of their own.” She said,

“Why? How?”