Wake up bright and early

Morning comes the day after the naming ceremony. You and Blythe spent the night in a ground shelter, and the village is already bustling by the time you step outside: young monster cubs are heading into the woods, empty baskets in hand; a group of humanoid bees is busy dismantling the scorched remains of the central pillar; pairs of soldiers are sparring with each other near the southern tree line, and the worker team is already delivering the first milled lumber of the day to the stockpile. A small crowd of monsters, no more than a dozen, are standing nearby as if they were waiting for you to appear. At the front of the crowd is Scarlett, who doesn’t hesitate to approach you and bow her head.

“Good morning, Scarlett,” you say. “You can raise your head. What’s going on?” You gesture to the group behind the harpy. She glances back at the monsters, then looks to you again.

“I don’t know, my lord,” she says without a hint of interest in the matter. “I came to receive your orders.”

“Well, first find out what they want,” you tell her. The order sinks in, and without so much as a nod Scarlett turns around and walks back to the crowd. While she converses with them, your eyes wander around the village again. You look to your left, where Blythe was supposed to be standing, and notice that she has disappeared. Where did she go? you wonder. You look toward the tree line behind you, and catch a glimpse of blonde hair disappearing into the woods. Curious, you decide not to wait for Scarlett’s report and instead to follow the busty elf.

You don’t make it ten paces outside the clearing before finding Blythe. The light of the morning sun is poking through the canopy of leaves to illuminate her in an enchanting way. The elf is speaking to someone hidden in the shadow of a tree, but you would recognize the cat-like ears of that dark silhouette anywhere. As you approach your girls, Lia smiles and waves, prompting Blythe to turn and greet you as well. You walk right up to your catkin companion and give her a nice, gentle hug. Lia hesitates for a moment, then gives you a few pats on the back and says, “Okay big guy, I missed you too.” She then returns the hug in earnest, and you both stay like that for a while.

“Cady sent her,” says Blythe, after giving the two of you a moment. “She must know of our progress.”

“That’s not so surprising,” you say. With a final pat on her back, you separate from Lia. Then, extending your right arm into one of the rays of light piercing the treetops, you say, “Remember what she told us? Nothing moves in this forest without her knowing about it.” Even in the light of the morning sun, you can’t see the tiny thread you know to be wrapped around your thumb. Cady tagged you with her invisible thread before your first trip to the monster village. Thinking back, you definitely felt it happen; you just chose not to worry about it at the time. You were too busy running into griffins and dire wolves back then. It’s a little concerning, now, to feel like you’re being monitored all the time, but on the other hand you can’t argue with the benefits. If she hadn’t tagged you, Cady wouldn’t have been able to pull you out of the Trials before they collapsed. Much like those adventurers whose battle allowed you and Blythe to escape the village, you owe Cady a debt of gratitude for saving your life.

“What’s it like?” asks Lia, pulling you out of your thoughts. “In the village, I mean. Will the monsters protect us, like you wanted?”

“Even better,” says Blythe. The elf gets a mischievous look in her eye and suddenly hugs Lia from behind. Given the height difference, Lia’s head ends up sandwiched between Blythe’s tits. Confused, the catkin tenses up and goes red in the face. Blythe then whispers seductively into her ear, “Evan is the lord of the forest, now.”

After hearing those words, Lia does a double take between you and Blythe, then comes to her senses and breaks free from the elf’s boob prison. Still flustered, she shoots Blythe an odd look — something between annoyance, embarrassment, and possibly arousal — before addressing you again. “Well, that’s, uh, great, then. Everyone else is calling you a Demon Lord, so… it’s only right that the monsters should too!” She stands there, awkwardly shifting her glance between you and Blythe for a couple of seconds, before adding, “So, what now? Do we just… wait for the angels to attack us again?”

“That’s a good question,” you say. “Ideally, we would take the fight to them before they realize we’re still alive.”

“That is highly unlikely, though,” says Blythe. “It has already been a week since we left the Trials. Surely the angels must suspect, by now, that their plan has failed.”

“Which means it’s only a matter of time before Phoebe tracks me down in my dreams again.”

“Maybe there’s a way to block her power,” Lia suggests. “Like those rumors about the moon phases. I could try to sneak into Evris and do some asking around.”

“That would be too risky,” you say. “We don’t know what the situation is like in Evris now. If that priest made it back alive, there’s a good chance your face is plastered all over the city right next to mine. Same with Blythe’s.”

“But I—”

Lia is cut off by a sudden uproar coming from the village. You hear monsters screaming, and watch several of them run past you while fleeing deeper into the forest. Without a moment to lose, you retrace your steps to the edge of the clearing and look out over the village. Standing in the center of everything is a human man in light armor, a bunnykin in a full suit of iron, and an elven woman in a white dress. You immediately recognize the party of adventurers as the one that attacked the village last time, and scan the trees until you spot their fourth member. The party is currently engaged in a battle against Scarlett and several of the monsters from the soldier group.

You should really intervene, but weren’t you just thinking about how much you owe these people?