As Axis Wode walked into the next town, the person following him began to sweat bullets under his clothing and mask. This was not due to the heat, as his attire was enchanted to the extreme to protect him against all forms of environmental hazards, but instead due to the entities that were occupying some of the stalls along the road through the town.

Now, some of these people were ‘normal’, meaning they were draconids that Monarkea had no doubt stationed there to play the part that would have been played by the Races had she and her father not wiped the slate clean already. Those draconids were of course rather annoying, but they were not the ones making Vaile worry about his health, safety, and freedom.

While they were, like all monsters, overwhelmingly attracted to him, their dedication to the roles given to them by the true dragons made them only a nuisance, but while they would flirt and brown-nose, they were of no real threat to him. But the five other Tamed Beings that were manning their own stalls and eyeing him with obviously lustful and obsessive gazes were far more of a threat to him, and Vaile knew that all too well.

After all, he had been on the run from them for quite a while after escaping them when he was in their own little despotic realm of malice and cruelty, and now that the Five-Clawed Paw of the Rattan Under-Empire had come here, Vaile felt rather uneasy to say the least. He only hoped that the deterrence provided by the countless other god-tier Tamed Beings would be enough to keep them at bay, but he still had his doubts about that regardless.

However, while Vaile had his issues with the situation at hand, Axis, oblivious and idiotic as ever, did not. In fact, it was actually quite absurd as to how oblivious he was right now, as he was not merely dealing with draconids any longer, but instead towering amazonian rat people who made no attempt to hide the utter malice they were emitting towards him.

“Get the fuck over here, you dumb little shit!” spat the rat woman covered head-to-toe in armor. “Let me smack you upside the head for tainting our Vermin-king with your disgusting presence!”

“Hold your strength, Rippa.” growled the rat woman with horns made of glowing green rock. “A bit too much force would result in that bastard’s innards becoming his… outards.”

“And?” hissed the first rat woman. “Why should we care so long as our husband is away from any of the Races?”

“Because, you muscle-headed brute,” interjected a rat woman clad in a cloak made of the skin of sapient beings who hid her own face behind one she had removed from someone else. “we agreed to play this game by that lizard’s rules in exchange for the previously agreed concessions as well as a chance to try and convince our beloved to abandon everything and come back with us. Or did you forget all of that the moment you saw that little shit so close to him?”

“Enough!” shouted the horned member of the Five. “We should just be glad right now that this idiot can’t understand what is going on. Now, get your Vaile-damned ass over here and talk.”

That last comment had been directed at Axis, who, in his typical fashion, had failed to notice anything even remotely wrong or insulting about it. He did, however, do as he was told, and made his way up to a stall with some rather choice options for what one might purchase there.

Vaile kept his distance, fully anticipating the five rat women attempting to rush him and try and drag him off to what would likely be a terrible fate. Axis, though plopped a few coins down on Chuu’s counter, which initially confused the roughly 2-meter tall evil rat person before a look of realization flashed across her face, which was followed shortly by a look of superiority and mockery.

“This?” he looked down at the ‘money’ that Axis had placed on the counter. It wasn’t anything used by any system that existed on this world or countless others, and that was saying something. No, it wasn’t some rare material, nor was it minted with a fancy design.

What Axis had placed there was nothing short of a wad of pocket lint. As Chuu’s eyes narrowed and smirk of cruel emotions parted her lips, the sound of countless beings snickering and mocking the ‘Hero’ behind his back grew ever louder.

The ‘Hero’, though, was oblivious to it all.

Chuu snickered a bit more before slapping the teen’s face not with her hand but with pure magical force. The crack of the impact resounded loudly through the area, and yet Axis was completely oblivious to the whole thing even as a small trickle of blood dribbled out of his nose.

“What the fuck do you want, human?” Chuu snarled as she readied another magic slap.

“Potato.”

Chuu nodded before her eyes shot open and then twitched with annoyance.

“The fuck?”

Vaile shook his head and sighed before letting the people present in on the ‘secret’ that he had been forced to deal with over the past days.

“You can’t reason or argue or even negotiate with stupid.” Vaile said with a tone laden with irritation, annoyance, disappointment, and regret. “Don’t try and understand what he says, or you’ll just end up as furious as I got. There is no reasoning with this kid, and there is no way you’ll be able to understand what thoughts are bouncing around in his head like a screen saver.”

“I know the Races are, as a whole, dumber than shit,” mumbled Snickty as she worked with some meat of unknown origin, fusing it into a new form with a mix of unnatural science and horrifically twisted magic. “but can that bastard be that dumb? If so, I’d like to open its head to find out why.”

“Just ignore him.” Vaile said in a defeatist tone. “You may have jumped into this game, but you’ll end up just as vexed as me given enough time dealing with this idiot. I mean, there’s being ‘On the Spectrum’, but this is beyond any of that.”

“Meaning? Asked the mad flesh-crafter.

“Meaning he doesn’t have Autism, Asperger's, or any normal mental condition.” Vaile said as he took a gamble and walked a bit closer than he normally should have to Chuu and Axis. “He isn’t suffering from any known mental issues that are medically treatable or even diagnosable.” with a swift kick from behind, Vaile’s foot found its way into Axis’ groin, and yet the teen did not react. “He’s just stupid and dense to the extreme, and there is no fixing that.”

“So?” asked Chuu as she slowly moved away from behind her stall and made moves toward Vaile.

“So do what I decided to do regarding him.” Vaile said as he matched Chuu’s movements towards him by moving away from her. “Just have some fun at his expense and enjoy watching the leaps in logic, or lack thereof, that he makes. Sometimes the best comedy is entirely random. Well, random and slapstick, at least.”

…

As Axis walked off, with Vaile behind him, Vaile looked back at the five humanoid vermin and nodded subtly. They curtly nodded back with a small smile on their faces that vanished just as quickly as it appeared, the six people sharing a knowledge that someone else who was close hoped that they, and so many others, did not know.

Vaile, among other actors, would play their parts to the best of their ability, just as so many others had done. And when it was time for the charade to come to an end, the big reveal would be more than worth it, in their eyes, at least.