Later that night, the antiheroes were all laid down in their room. They now lived in a much larger home, however this did not exactly matter much as they were constantly trapped within 3m of each other.
Garett was sitting in a beanbag chair that he had made from leather and straw, and Trevor sat in a chair backwards with his arms over the backrest of the chair. Ashley and Samantha both sat on the beds and the four simply sat there quietly, pondering the events of today.
"We... no. I made a judgement error.", Trevor said, disheartened.
"I did not think that they would start a fight after being intimidated like that by me... And to think they would do it in our village... I thought that I had exerted enough pressure on them, but I was wrong."
Trevor was holding his head in frustration.
Garett simply stared at the ground. He had not done anything about it either, or noticed the changes in mood throughout the meeting. He thought that they had completely dominated them, but apparently there was still one left who was not fearful of the antiheroes. They were not able to read peoples minds, so it was always a possibility that something like this could slip out of their grasp.
"We need to do better at protecting our people. If we can't even protect someone when were right here, what are we going to do? Now that we've announced our existence to the world, we can't sit back as if there aren't any problems."
It was Samantha who said this.
"You certainly are getting smarter, you dumb woman. Haha..." Trevor said jokingly, however she could sense the disappointment towards himself by his tone, as if he didn't have the right to call her dumb.
"..."
Ashley sat there silent.
She was the one who had become the most angry with those who had harmed Helen.
She ensured that they were punished severely, to the point where they would never again live decent lives. They would live the rest of their days traumatized and in fear of the antiheroes.
However, she didn't currently feel the satisfaction that she had felt when she was roasting them.
She felt the satisfaction of harming those who hurt someone who respected her when she was roasting and consuming the limbs of those two... but something was missing.
Ashley felt a void in her heart.
However, she then remembered the smile Helen had given her after they went to check up on her.
It was a wonderful smile.
Ashley upon remembering this found herself smiling. If one was not used to it, they would see it as a creepy and horrible smile, but there was actually no malice in this smile. It was one out of simple joy and love for a comrade.
"All is well that ends well. All we have to do is prepare better for next time. Am I wrong? No. I'm not. Why? Because I'm always right."
Trevor regained his usual smirk when he heard Ashley say this.
"You're right."
"Of course"
"I think we ought to consider bringing in some more loyal and strong members to the village to increase the defense. We terrorized both the lizardmen and the birdmen, so I doubt that any of them will want to have anything to do with our village, but do we have any other options? If not, we won't be able to leave this village for a while. We can get the Determined to run around and do things for us, but I don't think we should leave the village since that would leave our subjects basically defenseless.", Garett stated.
Trevor was putting thought into Garett's words.
"Are you sure that there were no members of the lizardmen and birdmen tribes who might want to pledge their loyalty to us?", Samantha asked.
"Well... I don't know that for certain, but I don't think we can assume that anyone will join us. That would be too optimistic. The lure of security only works on the weak... the lizardmen and birdmen tribes are too focused on strength to consider giving into a temptation such as security or stability.", Trevor responded.
"That's true... should we stay here for a while then and have the Determined go around seeing if she can recruit anyone?"
"I don't know whether or not she is suitable for that... I think she would be better used to smooth over our relationship with the birdmen and lizardmen villages. It is true that the fight earlier that led to the harming of Helen was caused by a single foolish member from each party, and we cannot judge the entire group based on that. That being said, we also cannot ignore the possibility that there will be more idiots... either way, we should send her over to the lizardmen village to patch things up and see if anyone wishes to come over to our side. What is it.... a deal with the devil? We could offer that they give up their silly senses of pride or honor and come live with us to be freed from that war with the birdmen, in exchange for helping defend the city."
"Hmm..."
"Well, I will give it some more thought before taking any action. For now, you all should rest up before we make any moves. It's been a long day. I for one am heading to sleep."
And with that, Trevor laid down on one of the four beds in the closely packed room.
"I'll keep watch for now... you can never be too careful, especially now that we've made enemies. Go ahead and sleep.", Garett said to Ashley and Samantha, who accepted his offer.
Garett stood by the window, looking out into the streets of the slime village. Lights now hung across the city streets and he even saw some drunk goblins wandering about.
"Heh. They're supposed to be slaves, for goodness sake. They could at least hold back a little..."
----
Pilir had fainted after his tail and 2 of his arms had been roasted and torn off. He woke up after some time, in a stretcher.
His comrades were carrying him back to the lizardmen village. He was not wearing his armor, but he was wearing the garments underneath so he wasn't completely undignified.
Something was wrong however.
Something felt wrong.
His right arm....
He tried to feel around with his hand before realizing that it was backwards.
His hand was the wrong way around.
"What... what's going on here!?"
He then remembered.
The antiheroes. The meeting. The torture. The broken wall. The slime girl.
What an idiot he was.
He went against beings who were in a completely different dimension than him, without even realizing it. Perhaps that elf had planned for this to happen, just to terrorize and send a message to the people of the lizardmen village.
They were beyond awful.
Abominations couldn't even begin to describe them.
They were otherworldly.
It was as if they were beings from a different realm, who had descended down in order to mess with the people of this world. It was as if they taunted and played him into attacking the birdmen before leading the village.
'Could they have predicted my every move this entire time?'
Never had Pilir met someone with such a great magical power that they could throw others around them to the ground simply by releasing their aura like the spirit girl had.
Even the one demon that he had come across in his travels- as fearsome as that was- was only able to make Pilir stumble to his knees due to the pressure that was exerted. To completely pin him down from the distance the spirit girl was at was unheard of.
Pilir cursed his own stupidity, however he then remembered.
"What is going to happen to our people!?!"
Rocko looked at him with a grim face. Igard also looked worried.
"We don't know. They merely said that we were being used to relay the message, and that is why you have been left alive."
When he heard Rocko mention this, burst of pain flared in his right arm. This was an imaginary sensation, but he could not help but writhe in pain from the trauma.
"Agh!!"
"Oi, stop wiggling around! Were gonna drop you, you idiot!", Arlo exclaimed.
Pilir could not stop shivering.
The memories of his limbs being torn from his body played over and over. He could feel phantom sensations of is flesh being torn apart as well, as if someone was biting into it.
Was it real or fake? It felt so real that he couldn't even tell himself.
"If they slaughter the lizardmen people,I want you to know that it's your fault, and that I warned you not to provoke them.", Arlo stated.
"As for me, I intend to gather my things and join their village. I won't be able to live without nightmares knowing that I am not under their flag. If I join them, then I will have no fear of being put under the same torture that you went at the least... however, after you made such a display, my chances of being able to do so are reduced..."
"Arlo! That's too far! Even if they are fearsome beings, you wouldn't abandon your tribe and kinfolk because of that! I understand how terrible they are, but to simply leave!?", Yerth reprimanded.
"Nothing you will say can change my mind. I have made this decision. I will gather anyone who agrees with me as well, though I might use some underhanded methods to brainwash anyone coming with me."
"Brainwash!?"
"They won't be able to become subjects of the antiheroes unless they have fear of them. There are many people in our village who already fear the determined, and so having them fear the antiheroes won't be such a stretch... however... if nobody else wishes to come, then that is also fine..."
"Rocko!? Do you have anything to say to this!?!"
"Do as you wish. If it saves more people of our tribe, and if they are willing to leave, then we should let them go. I will remain as the chief to lead those who wish to stay, however I cannot guarantee that we will not eventually submit our entire village to become a part of their domain. It would be the safest option, and there would certainly be no war with the birdmen this way."
"The war with the birdmen... it was truly insignificant, wasn't it?", Igard said.
"Indeed..."
----