Fate sat in a recliner in the dimly-lit living room of the fregog woman, who herself was in a similar, if smaller, recliner facing his with her hands in her lap.
Her blue eyes, devoid of any whiteness, were like those of goats, although unlike their imp cousins who gained such a trait from breeding with goats, these eyes were natural for a fregog. She wore no clothes, as there was nothing down below or up above for her to hide.
The fregog were one of the two races of demons that had accepted their lot with the humans and did their best to integrate into society. While classified as Magical Beasts, anyone with a Familiar knew that such a title was not one to be taken as meaning a lack of intelligence.
Jkn-ala had a torso that was as short as her legs and arms that nearly reached to the bottom of her feet. Her hands had three fingers and a thumb, and her feet were like Kravoss', with four scaled, birdlike toes that faced the front and ended in sharp claws much like her fingers.
Her legs were as thick around as two of Fate's fists and extended from the hips of her inverted triangle-shaped torso before thinning right above her feet to the width of Fate's wrist.
They were covered in dark gray scales, just like her head and her arms and hands past the elbows. Her torso, upper arms, eyes, and two finlike ears extending from the sides of her head near the back were as blue as the ocean, and her face was that of an iguana mixed with a frog.
Two boney, scale-covered ridges ran from above her nose-less nostrils, above her eyes, and to the back of her head, almost like eyebrows. Her mouth was closed, but the thin line left behind was as long as that of a frog's or lizard's, going from one side of her face to the other.
This mouth was the most terrifying thing about her, for those that knew what fregog were capable of.
Fregog held dominion over Greed and Gluttony, making them shrewd businessmen or businesswomen and giving them the ability to eat nearly anything, including Mana.
This is how they grew stronger, much like the kitsubi and imps absorbing Mana through their various means. While it sounded like a strong ability on paper, fregog did have limited space in their stomachs and couldn't very well catch Lightning with their mouths.
Due to the many drawbacks of such an ability, they were about equal with imps in terms of power. That is to say, they could be extremely strong in the right circumstances, but like imps were useless in battle if those circumstances were different.
All demons were unique in how they advanced Tiers. While other Magical Beasts were born at Tier I and advanced as they unlocked their bloodline, demons were Tier 0 throughout childhood before becoming Tier I as an adolescent and jumping to Tier II at maturation.
This benefit was stripped of those lucky enough to be born with enough Nephilim blood to gain a Facet, but the trade-off was well worth it to most, as they retained their demonic abilities along with gaining a Skill and the possibility of growing stronger than the limits of a Magical Beast.
The imps Fate and the sergeant's Guards fought were all adults at Tier II except the shaman and Gorn, who were each Tier III. With such a Tier, one would wonder why it was so easy for the humans to deal with them, and that brought Fate back to that key term: drawbacks.
Imps were essentially humans with red skin if they couldn't take Mana from someone, and their Sloth nature made them abhor working and training, so they were barely a threat in the first place.
Only Gorn, who had enchanted equipment and a hulking physique, and the shaman, who could cast Spells, were of any real threat without their main ability.
The fregog knew the drawbacks and weaknesses they held and gave in immediately after the Empress offered a truce, unlike the imps who overestimated themselves and to this day were left hiding in caves and mountains.
Jkn-ala was at the third Tier, on par with the Masters who taught at the Academy. And while Fate could turn intangible, he wasn't willing to bet his life that it would save him from the woman's ravenous maw.
"What do you need?" she croaked. "Make it quick, or I'll make you regret wasting my time."
Fate held out his hand, the Black Dragon's arrow appearing in his palm, which he proffered to the fregog.
She took it carefully in her clawed hands, turning it over and poking at certain spots before tossing it aside with a reptilian look of disgust, spitting at the arrow on the ground.
"Vile magic," she said. "A poison whose antidote does not come cheap. This will cost you."
"I was told to mention that this is for Venden Grendeven," Fate told her.
"Little Vendy?" Her ocean blue eyes swiveled to Fate, boring into his deep blue eyes for any trace of a lie. Her thin lips curled into a snarl. "He hasn't bothered to visit me in months. Where has he been?"
"He said he'd tell you soon. But right now, the poison in that arrow is working its way through Venden's blood, and he doesn't have that long left."
"Didn't even pop his head in to say hi, and the first time I hear from the brat in months is because he needs something. Typical human behavior," she said angrily. "I treated him like my own son, and he up and abandoned me.
"Do you know how we met, dark-eyed human?"
"No, ma'am. Now, about the antidote?"
"You humans only care about business," she lamented with a shake of her head. "He won't die from the poison for another three hours. You have more than enough time to entertain an old woman."
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather just buy the antidote," Fate insisted. "I don't want Venden to worry. His life is on the line, after all."
"No, no, we can't have that," the woman rasped, glancing at the arrow. "If you want the antidote, it'll cost you."