I knew this was going to happen, there were so many things happening that I couldn't sleep, I spent the whole night with my mind wandering about the various things I had to do like the Cradle of Spirits with Nix, the battle against the two troops of Farus and about various subjects that I have been thinking lately.
Having lots of little creatures flying around my room didn't help either, I can't understand how Layla managed to sleep so well all night.
As soon as it dawned, I got up and prepared for a stressful day, it will be tonight that we will fight against the troops of Farus, but first, there is something I need to talk to the village leader about.
———-
After eating something I ask Alice to go ask the village leader to meet me behind the mansion for a chat.
After waiting a few minutes the village leader arrives looking like she hasn't slept either, she joins me on a walk through the woods behind the manor away from the camp.
"Looks like you didn't get a good night's sleep." (I)
"It's been two nights since I've slept, with what you did the other night during your evolution and the various things that have been going on, it's hard to turn your brain off." (Sapphire)
"I spend most of my day trying to train our troops, at night I think about what I can do to reduce the number of deaths, but the more I think the more I realize it's impossible." (Sapphire)
"You should expect that in a battle of this scale there's no way to prevent deaths, you should be glad they're not even 1/4 of our army by my reckoning." (I)
"This is already a very big value for me." (Sapphire)
"I'm not naive, I know I shouldn't feel bad about such small losses compared to the damage we are doing to the enemy, I also know that this is only possible because of you." (Sapphire)
"You know, there's something I wanted to ask you." (I)
"You've been helping us for a while, ask whatever you want." (Sapphire)
"Wanted to know what you're going to do when you find your daughter?" (I)
"…" (Sapphire)
When I ask this question I turned to the village leader to see her face, because of our height difference I have to look up to see her expression which became serious as she looked at me.
"She committed the great crime of betraying our people, if she had just run away it wouldn't have been a problem, but she joined the enemy and attacked other villages leading enemy troops." (Sapphire)
"By the village rules she must be killed, as the village leader the duty to kill her falls to me." (Sapphire)
"I can see from her expression that this is difficult for you." (I)
"Especially since she is my daughter I cannot forgive or accept what she did, but even so, my heart still aches every time I think of her death, she…she is still my daughter…" (Sapphire)
Suddenly I notice that the village leader has stopped moving and started looking at the sky with a blank stare, I can see tears streaming down her face.
"Do you remember the reward I asked for when I offered my help?" (I)
"…" (Sapphire)
I can see the confusion on her face when I ask her that question.
"I asked you to take whatever I could get from Farus and you accepted, didn't you?" (I)
"Wait…you mean…" (Sapphire)
It seems that she has begun to understand, I can see anger appearing on her face and a slight bloodlust begins to emanate from her body.
"It doesn't have to be that way, the truth is I was after a Serpent-type Demi who was a criminal or who was evil, your daughter just happened to fit what I was looking for." (I)
"Why do you want her?" (Sapphire)
"I have to fulfill a promise to help someone, I have a certain power that I haven't tested yet and I would feel bad about testing it on an innocent person, it goes against what I believe to be right." (I)
"I see, so is it okay to test anything against a criminal who would be killed?" (Sapphire)
"Yea." (I)
When I confirm her question I feel the bloodlust become more and more strong, I also notice the change in her posture as if she was getting ready to attack, her eyes became extremely dangerous
"Calm down village leader, instead of being angry you should be happy, what I'm going to do to your daughter won't hurt her, it will actually make her stronger." (I)
"And what do you gain by making my daughter stronger?" (Sapphire)
"I won't lie to you, my skill will turn your daughter into my servant, as will everyone in my group." (I)
"Are they all your servants? Didn't you say you would test your skill on my daughter?" (Sapphire)
"What I'm going to do with your daughter is something a little different than what I did with them, I'm going to give her a new strain, the experiment I want to do is just to see how big the changes are between before and after the experiment, that's all." (I)
"You said it yourself, your daughter's alternative is to die, would you rather see her dead or serve me even stronger?" (I)
"…" (Sapphire)
I can see the contradiction in the village leader's face, she doesn't like my proposal but in the end, she still has no choice, even if she refuses I will still take her daughter but it would make it much easier for me if she accepts.
"What will happen to my daughter next?" (Sapphire)
"She will be part of my group, just like everyone else." (I)
"You've seen my group yourself, I don't treat anyone badly, everyone is happy, some are even with their families." (I)
Her bloodlust gradually diminishes until it disappears, but her face still shows her anger, she closes her eyes for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and saying something.
"Looks like I don't have a choice, but I think being with you is better than seeing her dead, the village people won't say anything about it either since you're the one making this all possible." (Sapphire)
"Don't make me the bad village leader, but you should see I'm not doing anything bad here, I'm even talking to you before I do anything." (I)
"I feel like I'm selling my daughter to a Demon." (Sapphire)
"I'm not going to steal your daughter, you can see her whenever you want, think of it as giving her a chance to change her life." (I)
"I hope I'm not making a mistake and that you are even worse than Farus." (Sapphire)
Leaving those words behind, the village leader starts heading towards the camp and away from me.
"You didn't give her any choice, the choice was between seeing her daughter with you or dead, so what's the point of even asking her permission?" (Nix)
"Just to ease my own conscience, I don't care about the village leader's daughter, but she is someone I respect, I would let a bitter taste in my mouth deceive her, so I preferred to make it all clear." (I)
"But that made her suspicious of you." (Nix)
"Alright, after she calms down and thinks calmly, then she'll see that this way is better for everyone." (I)
I keep walking through the forest among the trees while talking to my own shadow.
"Now that it's just the two of us, I remembered that with all that's been going on, I still haven't made the changes we're going to need in the Dungeon." (I)
"All you have to do and tell me what you want to do, you also have to make everyone leave the floor you want to change." (Nix)
"Given the amount of DP you said we have at the moment, I'm going to want to expand the first floor even further and I'm also going to want to create a new floor." (I)
"The new floor will be the third floor while this floor of the mansion will become the fourth floor." (I)
"It won't be a problem, we had a lot of souls captured inside the dungeon last time, just like you asked I freed them all getting DP as a reward, but once again you're making us poor master." (Nix)
"This will happen often until this Dungeon is big enough that I don't need to invest so much DP in it." (I)
"I'm going to go outside and talk to you about the changes I hope to make too." (I)
"I think it's better not to come out here, I'm almost at the point where we're going to make the ambush and you attract too much attention, master." (Nix)
"We can keep talking like this." (Nix)
"Alright, what I want to do is…" (I)
———-
After the conversation I had with the village leader, I went to make some preparations for tonight's battle, spent some potions in my last battle that I will have to replace.
Besides that, my weapons were also a little damaged, so I left them with Anton for repairs, it's time to get everything I'll need.
When it finally got dark we were all gathered on the first floor near the exit, I was waiting for Nix's signal to leave and start the attack, Layla was already prepared to open the portal right at the entrance when needed.
"They're already here, get ready, the Mages will start the ambush any moment, get ready too Layla." (Nix)
"OK." (Layla)
"Be ready, as soon as we leave we will position ourselves as agreed and attack at the same time!" (I)
Finally, the time for this battle has come, after that, I will be one step away from defeating Farus.