Please Behave

"Great shot, Vel!" Shige grabbed onto the elf. "That's my girl!"

"Please let go of me."

The mood calmed down quickly, and for the nobility, it became hilarious. The floating, angry, squat man screaming into the void was very funny. A sort of court jester body, he had. The protagonists also found interest in the dwarf but it was more fleeting. He was less of an anomaly and more, for the best word, annoying.

Marine ran onto the scene. “Thank you, miss! Please bring him over here. Yes, thank you. Bring him over to this corner, okay?”

The elf did so, and Dige was released, contained and out of sight in an open holding cell. As expected, he tried to barrel over her avatar to re-engage the enemy, but he couldn’t get past her magic forcefield. Nobody could see them, nobody could hear them.

“What the hell are you doing!?” she hissed. “You’re embarrassing me! Why can’t you be normal?”

“WHERE’S AK-!”

“Shh!” She closed his lips. “I don’t know where he is. I don’t know if there’s an Akira whoever in this city. If he didn’t come out before, he won’t now, but listen. Listen with your thick brain, dwarf man.” Marine’s fury fell away with shaking hands. “You need to answer my calls. I don’t understand why you won’t do it. It’s the chirpy chirpy sound. Please, Dige.”

The goddess’s blubbering was enough to break him from his murder trance.

“Who the devil are you?”

“I'm your goddess! Marine! Ruler of the seas!"

No response.

"The blue-haired girl from the lighthouse?"

His eyes widened. "You're not her! You're far too ugly."

"I'm possessing my avatar! First of all, thank you. I'll take this as a compliment. Second, I’ve explained how to answer my calls twice now! Why don't you answer!?”

“I dunno. I was busy with being dead at the time, you heartless wench! I swear, I won’t forgive that Kasuga for killing me! I’LL KILL HIM BACK! I’LL-!”

“No, stop it! Please Dige. You’re my only champion. My sisters and I are trying to save the world, and you’re the only guy I have. If things go bad, I don't think I could ever forgive myself. Dige, listen to me. Listen to my sisters. We’ll explain everything. Just be nice to the others. They look nothing like him…I think.”

Dige stood there, fighting a rollercoaster of emotions. If anything, the dwarf was passionate. Marine had been watching him for the week from his second death to now, and he had spared no time trying to find the mysterious black swordsman. It was a miracle he made it to Dreams at all, but he needed control, a new focus. She would provide that.

“If he’s not here,” he heaved. “Then I’ll go find him elsewhere.”

“No, follow my instructions.” Her eyes turned away, pausing. “Uh, if you do, I’ll tell you where to find him.”

“Ah, alright then.”

Wait, was it really that easy?

The two reemerged into a colosseum full of gossip and snickering. It felt like the two had entered a lion's den, and the protagonists made for good lions.

“I knew what dwarves looked like, but this is-...”

“I can smell him from here.”

“So that’s what cartoon noses look like in 3d.”

“Apologies for the misunderstanding,” Marine said, pushing the dwarf forward. “This is my champion, Dige.”

“Hello, nice to meet you.”

There was no reply. The entire stadium was on edge. Didn't this guy just try to murder everyone?

Marine laughed nervously. “Now, Dige is a dwarf, so I’m sure there are many cultural differences that need to be gone over.”

“I have a question,” Dige said proudly.

“Oh, good! What would you like to ask them?”

“Why do they all look the same?”

Marine smacked him on the back of the head. “That’s rude!”

“But it’s true!”

Yes, but it was still rude, offensive even, and now the guys were looking at each other and inspecting their level of dress. They were unique on some level, but they were a collection of Japanese teenagers all dressed up as either knights, wizards, or rogues. They have clearly been engrossed in the same culture. Some of them even knew each other on Earth. It was a little embarrassing. Was there a god they were aping?

Rani stepped in from the stage above. “Hey, how about we save the questions for later?”

“Right, sorry sis.” Marine returned to her position, but not before having Dige join the others like a parent trying to get their child to play. Everyone stayed at least 3 meters away from him.

“Now, we don’t have much time,” Elbeth said, taking command, her voice booming. “We’ve been able to give you some information, but this is better suited for the people as a whole, both heroes and the nobility of Glynn’s World.”

Through magic, Elbeth constructed a painting-like map of the realm. The world itself acted like an island chain with Dreams on the central island and two smaller land masses to the northeast. With a dash of color, the crowd gasped as a creeping black mass fell over almost a quarter of the land from the northeast down, pincering upon the great mountain.

“Glynn’s World is experiencing what is known as a Category 2 Corruption. This is what happens when Darkness is able to seed on a light world and take root. Usually, we goddesses keep most Darkness seeds from taking root, but this one came with a powerful devil, one too powerful for us to abate with our limited capabilities.”

Elbeth zoomed in on the map and focused on the northernmost island, where a circular structure was represented in 2d. 

“It’s centralized here, on Mariglynn Island. In the past year, the devil has been flooding in monsters from other Dark Worlds and conquering the surrounding land via force or influence. Raniglynn Island was taken second, and our powers were only able to maintain the light on this line here. Since then, the devil has been sending in demon generals to act on their behalf. These generals control enough monsters each to destroy towns and villages, and the further they reach into the light side, the more power the devil will gain. However, defeating them will help us push the corruption back, which is where you all come in.”

A protagonist raised his hand. “Um, I have a question. I don’t want to keep it a secret or anything, so I’d like to ask it now.”

“What are you asking?”

“Uh, I have a demon general in my party.”

He presented a beautiful, if gloomy, girl to the group. Her skin was a light lavender, and her eyes suggested pure evil, but she stood there demure and soft. A cold air blew through the stadium.

“Yes, I am one of the demon generals. I am Rycilia,” she said, looking up at the goddesses. “But, I’ve changed my ways! I want to work on the light side with Daiki. Please, let me join him.”

“Yeah! Wouldn’t you be able to purify her, or something?”

The three looked at each other, none with an easy answer, but they weren’t against the idea either. Rani glanced back. “What information can you give us?”

“There are 100 of us. It’s the maximum number of generals that can exist in this world at the current time. Of those 100, 6 of them have been slain already by the heroes here.”

The crowd looked to each other with confusion, though a couple had looks of quiet smugness on their faces.

“Whenever a demon general is slain, the remaining number become stronger, and the number of their army increases. To add to what you said, Demon Generals are actually powerless when in the dark realm. We only have power in the light realm, and the darkness creeps to our current location, so most demon generals can be found on the corruption's borders. You can expect to find them in cults, hiding in caves or dungeons, or masquerading as powerful noblemen. It may be best to take them out first, but corruption moves like waves. Where demon generals move changes the strength of the dark world's armies.”

“That’s useful information, Rycilia. Thank you,” said Elbeth. “Your mission is clear: defeat the Demon Generals. Find them hiding in our lands, uproot them, destroy them. Use everything you can at your disposal. Heed the adventure guilds and maintain the sanctity of this realm? Understood?”

The protagonists nodded. It was everything they dreamed about.