"That last possibility is optimistic at best, I doubt that we would be able to cease war tensions with a single meeting unless overwhelming force is used, but I agree with your proposal."
"I think we should leave it to the determinant to go invite the tribe leaders to our village for the council. I will message her about this now."
And so, Garett used the reply option to send a detailed message to the Determined describing his plot to gather the leaders of the 'soon to be at war' tribes.
Claire, who had received the message, was under the impression that they were trying to negotiate a peace with the tribes, and was completely enthusiastic about the idea.
Upon receiving the message, she made preparations and set off to gather the leaders of those tribes immediately.
As the antiheroes were walking on the surface through a forest after exiting the cave, followed by an entourage of goblins and the two spider people, Trevor approached Garett, and put his hand on his shoulder.
"I somewhat understand why you did what you did to that goblin back there, but was there really a need to go as far as you did?"
Trevor was slightly concerned, if only a little. He couldn't say that he felt absolutely nothing due to Garett's sadistic behavior.
Ashley stepped forward.
"I can explain this one.", she quietly murmured.
Trevor and Samantha intently listened as Ashley explained Garett's intentions.
"It's simple. You should know this yourself, businessman. We come first. This woman can heal and create barriers. She's saved our lives multiple times at this point. If we wasted all her mana on some slaves just to help them out and ended up running into enemies, what would we do? We would just die. And they would die with us. It would be a loss for everyone."
Trevor nodded with his hand on his chin, thinking.
"Yes, I understand that much. However, was there a reason to terrorizing that goblin like you did, red?"
Ashley then looked to Garett as well. She seemed to know why, but wanted Garett to be the one to say it.
"Ah... that's right. This is something I learned from you, elf... but also something that I have applied a little of my own experience to. You already know that we had a few options. We could have sacrificed our healers mana at our own risk, and become the heroes of the goblins. But what good would this have done? We could get some self satisfaction perhaps, start thinking that we are some sort of beacons of justice, and go on a crusade to rid evil from the world. Yes, we could do that."
Garett closed his eyes with a sly grin, his fangs poking out of his mouth.
"But I wanted to remind myself of something. We are not beacons of justice. I am not a saint, and I don't intend to be one. If I see myself treating others like this, it brings me to the reality that we are not heroes, nor are we saints. We are simply people, who are doing what we can with what we have, for our own gains. Never forget that."
Trevor nodded. He was satisfied with this explanation.
"Furthermore... I think that it would be even worse for these goblins if we were to become their heroes. What happens to people when a hero is around to protect them?"
"They become dependent on the hero, and begin to think that everything will be alright even if they don't do anything themselves."
It was Samantha who said this.
She sounded somewhat spiteful when she uttered these words, as if she had a personal connection to them.
"Exactly. If we want to be leaders, we have to encourage our subjects to perform their roles, whether it is out of fear and hatred or out of love. If we give them everything we have, they will never be able to do anything on their own, and we will be the ones suffering while putting on a false charade of happiness and peace."
Garett's eyes looked tired as he spoke these words. Right now he was not the evil sadistic demon that he had been when he was torturing Fargar, or when he was tormenting Oraguth. He was simply a regular person, who had been working hard for a long day.
"We need our people to see us as leaders, whether they see us as good or bad, but we also need them to be able to take care of themselves while we aren't around. After all, we are linked together and all four of us can only be in one location at a time. We need intelligent subjects, who can help us to rule. We need powerful subjects who can prevent revolt. We are going to need everyone to make this complex churning of gears spin round. And so, we cannot afford for these people to remain simpleminded slaves. We need them to be properly motivated, and if we spoon feed them, then they will simply sit where they are, never going anywhere unless there is a need to. If terror is what put them in this submissive state of mind, we will use terror to encourage them to come out of it."
The four continued walking back in silence, but Coran and Berith overheard this conversation.
They were astounded by the great minds and considerations that these higher beings were taking into account, but even more so than that, they were surprised that they actually cared for those goblins that they had not only called slaves, but seemed to take pleasure in tormenting.
Coran's heart was once more shook by the very existence of these demons. He had continuously been going back and forth between thinking that they were evil, and that they were kindhearted and human at their roots, hidden by a veil of their demonic image. Which one was it?
Coran decided then, once more.
"Berith", he whispered.
She looked at him, her face determined, as if she knew what he was trying to say, and agreed.
"I am prepared to give my all to serve these people, wherever it leads us."
Berith nodded, firmly with a smile, and the two continued on.
The antiheroes then began to make their way out of the cave, with the many goblins as well as the two spider people in tow.
Eventually, they made it back to the slime village.
However, the antiheroes were not the only ones plotting.
On the other side of the world, so too the Indeterminant was forming plans and making new contacts.
We now go a little bit back in time, back to the day where Oscar had left the royal court after killing Lancelot Harxeau.
Authors note:
This marks the end of Volume 3: The Dominant Slavemasters. Did you enjoy the story? I sure did. Look forward to Volume four if you've made it this far without giving this story up due to the unheroic and mentally unstable characters.