Outside, a commotion could be heard. A man with a tough build and glaring eyes was sitting on a chair in what would be his study. He wore something like a fur coat with a fluffy collar.
Boom! The door which was to the right end of the room swung open.
"Elden! We have trouble!!" Said a slender man with concern all over his face.
The man who was apparently named Elden responded, his voice monotonous. "Fay, what could be so important that you would interrupt me in my rest?"
The man named Fay answered as if waiting for this question. "One of our troops have gone missing, the mage flares weren't even shot and they're nowhere to be found!"
Elden stared at Fay for a good minute before saying, "Send a search party to look for them, even if some demon got them their bodies probably weren't swallowed whole. We need to know what happened to them, figure out what happened and be sure to come back alive, got it?..."
"Yes!" Responded Fay as he left the study.
Elden looked back down at his desk before letting out a sigh. The room he sat in was windowless and had a lamp hanging from the ceiling. Books lined the few shelves of the room and dust settled in multiple corners.
Elden stood up, and picked up a dusty old book. On the cover was a label "The Promised Land".
* * * * * *
Mattheo stared at a group of men that had emerged from the rustling bushes. He was surprised but didn't show it. They were all rough looking people. Their faces looked as if they were stone, and their muscles gave off the feeling that these men were always using them.
The approaching men walked mouths agape as they stared at the group of six. Just how had these 6 men take out a demon bear?! Without clothes even! It made no sense. The guards quickly determined that these men, whoever they were, had not come from any camp he was familiar with. Not knowing how to approach them, one of the group stuttered as they asked. "H-Hey, did you guys do this?"
He hadn't known their identities, but if they were to come off as hostile then he would be in serious danger. A demon bear was rare at any point in the world, assuming the guards got caught they would have to concede their lives. If they were to run back to their camp, it would simply cease to exist!
But before they could hear Mattheo speak, everything went dark.
****************
Human test subjects! Mattheo didn't think he would get some so soon, but luck was on his side today. Naturally, whatever words the guards had spoken were complete gibberish to him. Mattheo ordered 4 of his "princes" to carry the guards onto the demon bear's back.
"I'm glad there was no resistance, had they resisted the sleep spell...well let's just say they're lucky that they didn't.
The demon bear which Mattheo now controlled got up carrying the 4 guards and 6 naked princes through the forest back to the village. Having arrived, an eruption of howling could be heard as they approached. Mattheo ordered them to stop, immediately they knew it was him and forgot it as if nothing had happened.
Mattheo ordered the new prisoners to be put into a prison unit that he had been reserving for occasions just like this. Although 6 was more than he expected, he didn't actually see it coming. Mattheo congratulated himself on his own readiness.
Having returned from the expedition, he returned to his "house". After a while he heard knocking on his door. Once he opened it, one of his followers stood on the other side. In his hands were the various items from the specimens which he had procured. Taking it, Mattheo felt ecstatic. These were the first products of civilization he had encountered since coming to this world.
Mattheo closed the satchel his minion was carrying and took it off his hands. With a loud "Slam!" the door was abruptly shut without consideration for the werewolf's feelings.
Mattheo hauled his new goodies to the dark wood desk he had made for himself. Pulling out each item one by one, he placed each onto the desk. An array of items were set up along the darkwood table. Things like gold, books, and some food which was most likely the provisions of the people he had caught.
The gold didn't interest him and neither did the food. What he wanted was the knowledge. Although he wouldn't be able to read it, the contents could be studied with the help of his captives. How? By mind control of course! Such things were easily used by the other races on captive humans to get intel for wars.
Of course such things were frowned upon, but what would the demons care? Ethical is not a part of their vocabulary, alongside virtue, innocent, and kind. Instead, to them these words held different meanings like, idiocy, delicious, and naive.
Studying the book's contents for as long as he could on his own; Mattheo headed to the men he had just caught to begin taking control of them. The bunch were still sound asleep when he arrived, some even drooling.
Snapping his fingers, one of the people in the bunch woke up. Before that man could successfully defeat his daze, Mattheo began to assault his mind gently. When he began feeling his way around this person's mind, he realized just how rusty he had been. He missed many key points for him to take control because of his lack of practice.
Although having woken up, the man did nothing. Or rather, he couldn't. Mattheo's assault on his mind prevented any complex thought as he just sat there staring upwards.
"Come on...just a little bit more! I'm so close!" Mattheo shouted as his magic took over every corner of this person's mind.
"Done!" He shouted once again, lifting his hand whilst bumbling towards the wall from exhaustion.