Epilogue.

Somewhere in the Monster Realm...

"Unniiiii! Unniiiii"
Commander Ampari sneered at the cloaked woman before her. Only the woman part was cloaked, with the hood pulled up to conceal her face. The larger, more conspicuous horse part stuck out from behind its billowing tail. All things considered, it hardly even looked like she was trying to conceal anything. It looked more like the horse was wearing an oversized black veil, and it sure didn't help that the horse part was covered in a thick but short coat of white fur as soft as spun sugar.

The centaur towered over most people, the commander of the Demon Army especially, being shorter than most. Yet it was Ampari's presence that dominated the musky tavern like a shadow cast over a battlefield. Her skin was unnaturally pale, akin to a porcelain doll. Purple gems like the eyes of snakes were fixed to the silver tracing the curves of her frame, whether it was ornate armour or lavish jewelry was impossible to tell at first glance.
With each step, the jingling of her mail boots accompanied the clacking of metal on damp wood. She strode up to the much larger centaur. Uncomfortably close.
"You heard me well enough the first time, Big Girl." Commander Ampari boomed, her piercing pink eyes staring long into her gaze, "You, along with everyone here, are to serve in the Army of the Demon King. Consider yourself drafted."
"Unnniiiiii!"

"Listen here, Big Girl." Ampari hissed through clenched teeth, "Looking around this joint, I see two kinds of people. There're those who are gonna be helpful, and there're those who are gonna leave in a bag."
She rolled out the scroll, which until then she had held against her chest. The centaur took it.
"Good. Good choice." Ampari afforded herself a smile, "Now we're getting somewhere. We're marching from town square tomorrow. At dawn. The Free Cities are a long way from here, Big Girl. Don't got a minute to spare. So when time comes, I'm gonna need to know who shows up, and who..." She gripped the hilt of the sword hanging sheathed from her belt, "...Are gonna sleep in."
She pulled a quill from her satchel, "Won't you be a darling and sign your name?"
The centaur leaned in. She opened her mouth and snatched the quill up between her teeth, sucking it into her mouth and chewing it with loud smacks.
Then she swallowed, "Unnniiii!"

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be!"
Commander Ampari narrowed her eyes. Her blade flashed with a dull ring. The fluid motion followed the curve of its scabbard, ending with its tip leveled at the centaur's throat.
The loud bustling throughout the tavern came to an abrupt end. It was as if that moment was frozen in time. Until...

"Hey! What the fudge do you think you're doing, axe-for-face?"
Another stranger ran up to the table, veiled in a cloak just like the centaur. Ampari turned to aim her sword at the new arrival, who slowed to a halt and raised her hands.
"It's called war, Little Girl." Commander Ampari's voice was exasperated and condescending, "The Demon King needs soldiers. Anyone who's not ready to test themselves in the crucible of combat is better off dead. Welcome to the Monster Realm."
"Yeah? What the fudge good does it do the Demon King to friggin' kill someone else's draft horse?"
Ampari lowered her blade as she looked at the stranger amused, "Draft horse? Little girl, this is clearly a galmon."
"...That's a friggin' horse!" The stranger slapped the equine rear of the centaur, "A horse-sized galmon with a person sized brain... You think that'll amount to anything smart enough to sign her own name? Bull-cheese!"
The stranger wrapped her arms around the centaur's horse neck, or human torso, to lead her away from the commander.
"Unnniii!"
The commander glanced at the table. An empty tankard rested there, the remaining liquor gathered at the corner of the base. Her gaze landed at the new stranger once more.

"I understand." She sheathed her blade, "I'm not accustomed to take such things at face value. In the court of the Demon King, only the smart ones ever think of playing dumb."
"Tsk.." She glared at the commander through the hood's shadow, "Yeah, I friggin' bet! To anyone working for the Demon King, this girl's gotta look like a friggin' genius."
"But this won't be a problem! We'd be more than happy to accommodate you, if you decided to bring her with you. When you come with us."
She shrugged, "Sure. Every woman's got her price. I mean, there's no heck darned enough I won't follow, if you got gold to spare. You try and fudge me over, I'll fudge you over three times back."
"I'd presume your life would be sufficient payment." Commander Ampari said sternly, "Even if only the chance to earn your life on the battlefield. Rest assured, it's not negotiable."
"Oh, have I ever heard that friggin' song before? And all the mother-fudgers believe it too. Then they find out..." The stranger pulled on her hood to reveal to the commander alone a pair of blue eyes and a deadpan expression, "... just how much of a heck I can raise. In a manner of speaking."

Commander Ampari recoiled at the sight. She knew that snarky face. She knew it all too well.
Angel Katey. A contestant who fought in the 129th Rasheul **** Tournament. She was supposed to be missing. Killed.
If nothing else, she was supposed to be enslaved.
Slavery wasn't prohibited in the Monster Realm. Neither was breaking out of slavery. It functioned as a sanctuary for escaped slaves, only insofar as they can resist their master. The law of the lawless reigned supreme in these lands. The strong ruled. The weak obeyed.
Few dared to subvert this rule. And they weren't the kind you wanted marching alongside soldiers commanded by fear.
Katey pulled out a purse from behind her cloak. It landed on the table with the heavy rustling of metal.
"It's like I friggin' said," Katey smiled, "Every woman's got her price."
Commander Ampari glanced down at the purse. She picked it up, weighed it in her hand, letting the coins inside roll on her palm.
"Does it have a twin brother?" She asked calmly, almost curiously.
Katey sighed and dropped another purse beside the first. Ampari snatched it as well, along with the scroll from the centaur, then turned away, "We never met."
Katey laughed, "Never met who?"

The commander walked off, rolling up the scroll on her way to her entourage. With one flick of her wrist, they started moving behind her like a pack of obedient puppies. Everyone else in the tavern had already signed up. Everyone but the cloaked figure seated by the counter. They merely passed her by without so much as a glance.
No sooner had the door slammed behind the last retainer, when life returned to the halls. Joyous song joined with angry bickering, and the centaur finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"I can't believe that worked. Again."
The tension that built up through the conversation caught up to the centaur, and she slumped over the table.
Katey raised a finger to the barmaid for another drink. She patted her friend on the shoulder, "That was some grade-A bull-cheesing, Uni. You did great."
The barmaid soon arrived, balancing a couple on a tray, each frothing at the top. She slipped one of them before Katey, the froth spilling onto the table. She pulled the handle into Uni's shaking hand.
Uni rose, staring into the drink as if searching it for answers.
"...How much longer can we do it?" She asked in a shrill whisper, "How much longer can we do 'great'? Being on the run... It's much harder than any of us had thought. So much harder than being in... Her control. Maybe this isn't worth it. Maybe we would be better off..."

Katey slapped Uni across the face, "Don't you friggin' give me that bull-cheese! What if she heard you right now? Huh? Sure, it's not an easy life. But it's our lives! Not that worm's! So, the fact we gotta rely on our own wit and grit to get by? That's no reason to give up! That's exactly why we gotta keep going! Cause it's our wit and grit we need! Not her permission!"

Uni's eyes teared up, "Y-you're right... Of course you're right. I'm sorry."
She buried her face in her hands.
Katey let out a sigh, "Yeah. Me too. Now, get that muck in your throat. You heard that bee-yatch? By sunrise we gotta split."
Uni whipped her neck back, letting the bitter taste of liquid courage drown out any remaining doubt. Katey slapped a single gold coin on the table as they rose and stepped towards the door. The tavern was bustling with roaring nightlife. The both of them fit in with the crowd perfectly, most of whom had their faces concealed behind cloaks like them. That place was where people ended up when they wanted to escape.
When they wanted to forget.

Katey inadvertently bumped into one of the cloaked strangers. She stumbled into the back of someone sitting by the counter. The very person that commander Ampari had ignored.
"Hey, watch it, you son-of-a-bee!" Katey waved her fist at the inconsiderate jerk, "Sorry about that. We cool?"
The stranger at the counter extended her closed fist. Katey bumped it with her.
"Cool." Katey confirmed, before raising her hand casually to wave, then rushing towards the door.

Once they were out, the cloaked stranger leered towards the closed door.
"Huh. Perhapth that madwoman wath not ath intholent ath We prethumed." The stranger mused to someone, perhaps concealed under her cloak, then sighed, "Oh, what are We to do? It ith beneath Uth to dethtroy that which hath to be worked for tho diligently to accomplithh. Perhapth We thhall find better luck in the future."
"Oh, sure thing, Boss!" A bombastic voice under the cloak answered back, "I mean, if they had fought a fraction as hard when they faced you... You'd be toast in zero seconds flat!"
"Thhut up, Gilbert."