Capture the adventurers

Fuck it, you think. No one attacks my land and gets away with it.

With you issuing orders, the battle is won within minutes. The adventurers never stood a chance anyway, but they would have been able to escape had you not intervened. On your orders, they are captured alive, tied up, and brought to the center of the village. Your soldiers form a circular perimeter around the prisoners, outside of which a crowd of jeering monsters quickly forms. Before anyone gets ideas and starts throwing stones, you part the sea of angry villagers and approach the defeated adventurers.

The captives are lined up in front of the half deconstructed remains of the pillar monument, sat in the dirt with their arms and legs bound in spider thread. First on the left is the light armored man, the rogue of the party. He’s a human with fair skin and short, black hair that somehow looks stylish despite being unkempt. He’s got a rock climber’s build: slim overall, but with well-defined core and arm muscles. Due to his armor being only a couple of leather spaulders and gloves over a skin tight shirt and a regular pair of pants, the guy has several cuts, bruises, and burns currently weighing him down. The two daggers he used in the fight, now confiscated by Scarlett, are well made steel pieces, etched with runes that suggest they carry enchantments.

Second in the line up is the elven cleric in the white dress. Straight locks of cobalt blue hair frame her pale face and fall past her shoulders. Her dress, its white color marred now by dirt and blood, is similar in its prudish design to the one you saw worn by the Goddess; as such, you can’t get a good idea of what her body might look like underneath all of that cloth. She is less wounded than the man, but you know exactly what mana fatigue looks like, and she is definitely running on fumes. The elf used no staff, wand, or other weapon during the fight, though the enchanted ring worn on her right hand was removed as a precaution.

The third prisoner was, during the battle, a walking suit of armor with bunny-like ears poking out of the helmet. The impressive plate mail has now been removed, revealing the stunningly muscular bunnykin underneath. Curly chestnut hair and a charmingly feminine face sit atop a body that looks like it could lift a truck without breaking a sweat. White cloth is wrapped around the woman’s olive-skinned arms and chest, doing absolutely nothing to hide the bulging muscles beneath, while the region between her legs is covered with a modest pair of pink panties. Since she had her armor on during the fight, she got away with only a few bruises, but is as visibly exhausted as the cleric. There seems to be nothing special about her ball-and-chain or her suit of armor, though they both seem well made and taken care of.

Finally your eyes scan over the last member of the adventuring party, the ranger. With her hood pulled down, you see that she is a human woman with a braided ponytail of strawberry blonde hair. Her pale face is marked by a splash of freckles, as are the parts of her arms and legs that her outfit doesn’t hide from view. For clothes, the woman is wearing a leather breastplate over a forest green, hooded tunic and matching skirt. She’s got a lithe figure, perfect for running around and climbing into trees, and a matching pair of breasts on the smaller side. Her bow has, of course, been confiscated, along with a nearly empty quiver and a small collection of bottles containing various poisons. Damage-wise, she’s the least beaten up, on account of her mostly fighting from a distance.

With each of your prisoners sized up, you take a moment to consider how to address them. They all look upon you with confusion at first glance. Surely, they must think it’s strange that a human is standing in the middle of a village of monsters without receiving the same treatment that they got. They might even be wondering why you don’t look like you’re going to help them out of this.

Then it dawns on them. Confusion turns to recognition in each of the four adventurers’ faces.

“I know you,” says the rogue. He puts on a brave face, but the tremble in his voice betrays his fear. “You’re the new Demon Lord everyone’s talking about.”

Curiously, not all of the man’s party members react with the same bravery. The bunnykin knight seems stunned by your presence. Wide-eyed and floppy-eared, the muscle-bound woman won’t take her eyes off of you. By her side, the ranger woman has slumped her shoulders and downcast her gaze. With her face frozen in a state of shock, she looks absolutely despondent. Last, but not least, is the elven cleric. Rather than fear, courage, awe, or dismay, you see only anger and disgust in that woman’s eyes.

“That’s right,” you say in response to the man’s claim. “I am Evan Reynolds, lord of this forest and all of its monsters.”

“Why take us alive? What are you after, demon?” asks the blue-haired elf.

You think of answering the scornful woman, but ultimately decide to save that discussion for another time. For now, you just want them safely locked up so you can return to where you left Blythe and Lia. You instruct Scarlett to have the prisoners each brought to a different house and sealed inside. Guards are to be posted outside the makeshift cells at all times, and you want the adventurers supplied with adequate food and water. The harpy listens to your orders with her signature emotionless expression, but you get a sense, somehow, that she is confused by your decision to spare the adventurers’ lives. Even so, she voices no complaints and goes off to execute your orders.

Once the adventurers are dragged off and the crowd starts to disperse, you turn around and find Blythe watching you from a few meters away. “Where’s Lia?” you ask as the elf walks up to you. “Is she safe?” You haven’t introduced Lia to the villagers yet, so it’s very likely that she would be perceived as a threat if any monsters saw her right now.

“She is in there,” says Blythe, pointing towards the ground shelter that you and Blythe slept in last night. “Some monsters saw her and I together, but it would be better if you stay with her.” The busty blonde reaches out and touches your arm. Her expression turns serious and she looks you directly in the eyes. “What will you do with those captured people?”

“I’m not sure yet,” you say. “They’ve seen my face, so we can’t let them go anywhere for now.”

Blythe’s eyes peer into your soul as she analyzes your answer. A moment of silence passes between the two of you, then the elf’s serious look softens into a smile. The hand on your arm slides down and gently grips your fingers.

“I will interrogate them,” she says. “You go and make Lia feel welcome.” Her hand releases yours as she steps back and turns to leave. You watch her for a few seconds as she walks away, then turn your attention elsewhere.

The stick-and-mud hut that you and Blythe slept in is actually one of the nicer ‘houses’ in the village. It’s tall enough for you to stand at your full height while inside, and has a window on the left-hand wall. For a bed, the villagers have combined gelatinous slime, spider silk, and harpy feathers to create a mattress that is surprisingly comfortable. When you enter the hovel, you find Lia sitting on the mattress. She’s looking down into her lap, her black hair falling over her face and hiding it from view. Following her gaze, you see in her hands the eye patch that Cady knitted for her, and you wonder why she would have taken it off.

“Everything alright?” you ask. Lia twitches and her ears shoot up. Aside from the erratic swishing of her tail, the catkin freezes in place. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s, uh, okay,” she says, the movements of her tail slowly calming down. “I was just… distracted.”

“What’s on your mind?” You step over to the bed and sit beside Lia. As you do, she quickly turns her head to look out the window instead of facing you. She lifts the eye patch halfway to her face, as if to put it on, but then stops. Lia holds the silk patch up for several seconds before dropping it back into her lap.

“Remember what you said when we were on that beach?” she asks. “You called me a beautiful woman.”

“I remember,” you say. She then turns to face you, keeping her eyes closed. With the lids shut, you can’t even tell that the left one is missing. Thanks to your healing efforts, not a trace of scar tissue remains around the area.

“Am I… still beautiful?” she asks.

Your response is on the tip of your tongue when Lia opens her eyes. In an instant, you understand why she removed the patch, and why she hesitated to show you. The catkin is watching you intensely, not with one eye, but with two. Staring back at you from her left socket is the red, glass eye from Hesperos’s labyrinth.