Candidate Greenwich

“I need a new slave girl, or I’ll die! Please help me!” Sato begged the demon approaching them as he kept hitting the door to the slave market with his hand,

“His Candidacy Greenwich has ordered a curfew while he’s staying in your town,” the demon said, carrying only a short sword. “Please return to your home.”

“We're homeless.” Sato cried back instantly, causing the demon to stop around ten paces from them, “And I’m broke mannn…” Sato complained as he started hitting the door to the slave market again. The demon started backing away, sword raised, as Luna started flexing her claws and her eyes shimmered as she looked at the demon’s neck.

“Alof! Someone has killed Maxum!” Another demon came running in carrying a hefty shield and halberd. “Do you think it’s them?”

“It could be. Have you seen these vagrants before, Lorlis?” Alog asked, hopping back to form up with Loris, who lowered his halberd at the group of seven,

“Of course you haven't, since we just arrived!” Sato said angrily, standing up and rubbing his nose.

“So you killed Maxum?” Lorlis demanded,

“Me?” Sato looked around at everyone. “Yeah? But he was making fun of me-” Sato started as Alof didn’t seem to need any more justification to launch a couple of stones at the heroes, which sped up as they left Alof’s hand,

“Hey!” Sato complained, raising his mace, but the swords all got destroyed as Idalec had put up a quick Pure Shield. The duo started retreating slowly. “I’m not done with you!” Sato lifted his non-dominant hand. “Come back.” Sato lurched the two forward with one-axis telekinesis; after a few moments, the two caught their footing again as Luna and Sato ran into battle.

“Can I have a sword? I can also help?” Aka asked, raising her fists. Garia very slowly pulled out a dagger, handing it over when Sato and Luna had already reached the two demons.

“HA!” Sato pulled the mace back and swung it forward like a ram into the Lorlis, who tried to cut Sato with his halberd while putting up this shield.

Sato lost his footing, but that didn’t matter as the mace simply kept dragging him forward and through Lorlis's shield, right into his chest. Alog tried to swing down at Sato, who was nearly completely exposed, but Luna clamped down on his neck, striking from the left, killing him. ‘I guess even a weak man can make a cave tunnel with dynamite.’ Idalec thought, walking forward.

“Light work,” Sato said, pulling out his mace,

“You would have died if I hadn’t killed him,” Luna said, biting off Alof’s hand to chew on the palm.

“Maybe we shouldn’t just keep running around just constantly killing people?” Idalec suggested right as Prix was about to say the same sentiment.

“If they were people, it’d be all the more reason to gut them~” Luna said happily as she started breaking the bones in Alof’s hand,

“Didn’t he say that they serve Candidate Greenwich?” Prix asked, peering over at the destroyed demons,

“Yeah? Does he own the slave market?” Sato asked, looking at Prix,

Prix looked down at the ground as she spoke, “If you kill him, then the slave market would open tomorrow… I’ll even give you a gold coin.”

“Sick. Now where is he?” Sato asked, looking around, “But how would the slave market open if I kill him?”

“Magic?” Prix looked to Idalec to see if he thought her lie would work,

“Killing the Candidate Greenwich is the good thing to do, which is why we must do it,” Idalec said.

“If you liberate this town, then the slave market will open,” Prix said quickly,

“Ahh- I see.” Sato said, “This is all part of MY master plan.” Sato then started walking and looking around as he walked. “You know, I get the feeling that Greenwich is hiding in there,” Sato said while standing right in front of an inn with two demon guards by the doors,

“Who are you?” an uncensored guard asked,

“God! Smite those demons. Right now!” Sato shouted at them, pointing his mace at them,

The guards chuckled as nothing happened. “You aren’t allowed to be out on the streets; go back home.”

“Luna! Let’s beat them.” Sato said, running at a guard who just put up his shield. The second guard lazily pulled out his sword just for Luna to jump him, and Sato utilized his opponent's surprise to deadly effect, ramming his mace through the demon's shield and head. “You overestimated me and still lost!” Sato pushed his way into the inn. Luna was not a step behind as she slipped in. The inside of the inn looked empty; there wasn’t anybody at the front desk. “Let’s find this Greenwich demon,” Sato whispered before wandering off,

“He’s mine,” Luna shouted as she started pounding down door after door.

“Well, we should relax,” Idalec said, brushing a tiny amount of blood that was floating above his boot.

“How can we relax when a candidate is around here?” Prix asked, her eyes flicking around. “Greenwich's probably traveling with a lot more guards and servants.”

“He might.” Idalec agreed, walking into the kitchen and pouring himself some herbal tea before walking out front and sitting at one of the many tables, sipping the tea.

The five heroes who didn’t run suddenly heard a quick scuttle ahead followed by a massive amount of destruction. “What do you think’s happening?” Prix asked anxiously as she moved closer to Idalec,

“I HAVE HIS HEAD~” Luna ran back towards the lobby holding a severed demon’s head, its eyes closed,

“That’s!” So I was panting, trying to keep up, “I-I-You stole my kill!”

“Go sulk somewhere else. I killed Greenwich, and I have Greenwich’s head, so stuff it.” Luna waved the head around, Sato's blood dripping from the neck,

“Luna, put that away; it's unpleasant for the ladies,” Idalec said as he kept drinking his tea.

“I’ll put it away.” Luna bemoaned, lowering her head to her side, remaining visible to everyone.

“Did you see any other demons?” Idalec asked as everyone just stood around,

“Nah,” Sato said, looking back. “Why would they be sleeping at this time?”

“It’s almost night,” Idalec suggested,

“I’ll look around, master~” Luna said playfully as she ran off to check.

“Do you also want tea?” Idalec asked, finishing his cup of tea,

“That would be nice,” Prix said, sitting down as Idalec walked back into the inn’s kitchen and poured seven cups, one for Luna when she returned.

“Tea parties are so cringey.” Sato sprawled out onto the table after Idalec placed a teacup in front of him. “This is like what little girls do,” Sato added after Idalec had finished placing a cup in front of everyone and himself, sitting down.

“I don’t see the problem.” Idalec sipped on his tea,

“Ostensibly, what do little girls like in your mind, Master Sato? Could you expand on this matter by chance?” Garia brushed her nose and mouth before picking up the tea and drinking it.

“It’s common knowledge,” Sato said as he started to drink the tea along with everyone else,

“If you hate drinking tea so much, why are you doing it?” Prix asked in between sips,

“I’m just larping,” Sato said smoothly,

“What does ‘larping’ mean?” Aka asked Prix, who was sitting next to her,

“It’s-” Prix thought for a moment. “It’s just some word Sato made up.” Prix laughed,

“That’s not true!” Sato said angrily,

“Then so is devetperdece,” Prix said,

“Use it in a sentence then?” Sato said smugly,

Prix closed her eyes as she sipped the tea. “Ok, how about this: tea is devetperdece, with the only thing that could be improved being using tea leaves.” Prix eyed Sato,

“What do you mean? Does this use tea leaves?” Sato said, looking into his cup,

“I checked all the other rooms, and I only found one more demon.” Luna landed gracefully in the inn lobby with both one head in each paw. She tossed it across the floor, bleeding as it rolled.