Believe it or not, this was familiar territory. Well, of course Ryan hadn’t actually staged a coup with an elven princess before, but he had assessed some of the Fourth Trial solutions with this exact scenario… online.

Okay, even in his head that sounded really bad. Still, it had gotten him this far, and the pieces were all there.

The first goal was to figure out Rax’s spying capabilities. Second was to suborn the princess that everyone seemed to defer to.

Then… Ryan had a few more ideas.

Okay, no matter what happens it’s going to be a shitshow, and I’m going to have to kill a Realmer. Or at least a Realmer that believes its own kind were monsters.

That thought really pissed him off. Look around. Ryan saw industry, turrets lining the city for protection and families… stalking about.

Yes it was dirty, yes black smog covered the city, yes used skulls as decorations.

But it was a city.

A smaller Unwanted elf was peeking out from an alleyway and staring at them. Instead of fleeing like a good scared child should, it stayed very still. As if the Unwanted elf child instinctively knew the best way to get about undetected in the dark was to be very still.

Many still fled from him of course, fleeing when they realized they were in the way of their path, clearing out from the holes in their building that could charitably be called windows.

Shara did try to calm them down.

“So Shara.” She bared her teeth as she heard the name he used for her. “You don’t believe your people are monsters, right?”

Shara went still, as if she had to be quiet for her dreams to come true. “We… can be more. We have family, we can speak. Language, copy for now, but will get better, yes?”

Her eyes listlessly looked ahead. As if she understood how impossible that task might be.

Ryan frowned. “Didn’t you create your language?”

That seemed to startle Shara. “No. That was by sire.”

“Well, created by him still means created by someone of your species, right?”

“No, sire was–is different. We would not be here if it wasn’t for him. All of this was from him. Without him, we… would not understand.”

“I see.”

Ryan turned around and the child that had been staring at them screeched and fled. Fast too.

“What is that, realm two speed? How old is an Unwanted elf that small anyway?”

Shara walked in silence. Probably angry that he had freaked the child out, or maybe angry that he kept calling them elves.

“If you aren’t going to respond I can go back to jokes from realmnet. There’s this archived post called hatedoc that–”

“That youngling is the equivalent of your two years old.”

The hogtied elf on his shoulder went still while Ryan just whistled.

“That’s pretty impressive. Would make a great Leafstalker don’t you think, Tar’el?”

“Only monsters begin with innate magic.” Tar’el muttered.

Ryan gently bumped the elf with his shoulder, “You forgot about drakes. Don’t a few of their young start belching smoke when they’re born?”

“Even drakes have to train to increase their realm. Their evolution is different.”

Tar’el seemed to be in denial of this great and terrible city around them. All Tar’el saw were monsters. The elf turned his head around and stared directly at a bunch of Unwanted slowly stalking them from behind. They did not flee from Tar’el’s gaze. Even Ryan with just his fear passive wasn’t enough to scare them off. At least not since he changed his apex title.

They were getting bolder. Using logic to overcome the fear effect.

Shara turned around and tried to wave them off. Ryan took a glance and that was enough to scare them off. He had, for a split second, seen what they wanted. Their mouths were open, almost salivating.

It wasn’t logic that helped them overcome the fear effect.

Tar’el seemed to take that as justification. “Look at them, they see us as food, as prey. It’s innate to them.”

“Or, they’re just starving. Shara, what’s the food situation like?”

“Food is not plentiful down here, yes? Big monsters are hard to kill and carrying corpses down here can be dangerous.”

“What about those grubs that Rax was eating? You can’t farm those?”

“No, from bullipede nests we take. Impossible to raise, need food to raise.”

“So… the city is at critical mass, you all go up there, start eating Leafstalkers and adventurers alive then you think they would be willing to negotiate after you make camp?”

Shara for some reason didn’t seem to think this was a problem at all.

“Food is food, yes? We do not waste it. Show power and take like they did.”

“See?” Tar’el declared, “They’re not just looking at us because they’re hungry, they’re staring at us because we’re prey. It’s instinctual.”

“Yeah, and when I see a kid swinging a sword around I get the urge to pinch them in the cheeks.”

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Shara turned her big eyes at him. The monster seemed to find that idea completely weird.

“That is not the same, yes?”

Ryan just shrugged, causing Tar’el to grunt in pain. “Agree to disagree. Wanted elves get the urge to plant things, dwarves like being stoic. Humans… uhh get a ‘zest in your step’. Plenty of people like that can and do live together with different instincts all the time.”

Ryan was referencing a famous quote by Jeauamper, a [Royal Chef] that once mentioned that his magical foods seemed to bring out different urges from different species.

Everyone had instincts, everyone starved. Ryan wondered what these people would be like if they weren’t all starving.

“Hmm, what about we feed your people first? Is there a particularly big monster nearby that we can hunt and bring back?”

A crawling whisper came back across connections in the city.

“He cannot leave.”

There we go, so Rax is still listening.

Ryan talked to the air. “Hey, you can’t be expecting me to just stay here for several days, right? I still need to level and get stronger. Besides, it’s not like your threat doesn’t still work. I’m also not going to escape and get lost for several days, I’m just going to go hunt a monster and bring the corpse back, you know, food for the Unwanted.”

No response came back.

Ryan clicked his tongue, time to bring out the big guns. “You know, I could just use [Return to Earth] and post everything I know about this online, right? If I make them flee and post all of what is going on here and give them a heads up I bet I could make them flee and treat you all differently.”

“If you leave then I will send the young.”

Ryan shook his head. “You’ll send them to their deaths anyway. At least let me feed them before you send them off, show you and Tar’el that they can grow up as people. At the minimum just let me feed them and let me take away the children before you go to war.”

There was silence at that. Then a response came back a couple seconds later.

“Closeby. Tunnel four and six. No more than four bends.”

Ryan had tipped his hand about caring for children of the Unwanted a little early, but now he was using it as his advantage. Rax probably thought Ryan given up on fighting back and he chose only to save the children instead.

He turned to Shara. “Hey, so… what’s about finding some big bullipede and bringing it back to eat? Adventurers don’t work for free though. You gotta show me some of that natural enchanting you’ve got there. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

–

Tar’el had decided that Artigan was not sane. Of course he already knew that was the case, but the way Artigan’s mind worked just stumped him to the core. Some of it was familiar. Like the shitty jokes from realmnet and the arrogance that he expected from Trialists.

The other parts? Where Artigan seemed to peer through every single trap and entrap his enemies from a singular discussion?

That unnerved him the most.

It was like the story of dragonslayer [Mages] that could think ten steps ahead, and analyze every little thing. Breaking you down as a person and analyzing your life history from one casual conversation. That never really happened, Tar’el had met dragonslayer [Mages] before. They weren’t like this.

At least to your face.

Someone being raised by the Witch Tyrant was, of course, different. He had listened to the conversation between Rax and Artigan. Or at least the half that came out from Artigan’s mouth through the [Translation] skill. One key fact stood out to him. The Witch Tyrant had been corrupted.

It reaffirmed his beliefs that nobody could be trusted to have the powers that the Trial System bestowed. That the Leafstalkers cause was just and true.

Artigan was already corrupt. It was easier to think this way.

Yet… his actions and words. It was hard not to listen to them as just and true either.

What did it mean when someone so dangerous and intelligent looked at monsters and declared them the same species as Tar’el? That they were indeed a people worth fighting for.

At first Tar’el had believed Artigan was just making fun of both him and the Unwanted monster in front. Tar’el was proud of his heritage. It was only natural. After all, most Earthers chose to throw away their uglier human bodies in favor of becoming elves themselves.

That alone said it all really. Not to mention their naturally long lifespans, magical talent, and a true love for nature meant that their species were just superior.

Artigan was of course making fun of that by pointing at these dirt monsters and calling them elves. As if having pointy ears made them the same as him.

Even these monsters didn’t like being called Unwanted elves. Both Rax and Shara seemed to find the idea repulsive. While some part of that annoyed Tar’el, he had preferred it over accepting that idea.

Then he heard the argument with Rax the monster leader.

War and a true siege. The insistence these monsters were a people.

That was when Tar’el had truly decided Artigan wasn’t sane. The Trialist hadn’t just been making fun of both of them. He actually believed these monsters could be a people… no were a people. Tar’el’s eyes glanced over the skulls adorning the top of entranceways. Long gangly bones used as structural support and carcasses being ripped apart and dragged to a nearby warehouse.

Blood trailing behind as some of the others tried to fight over it, the weaker ones giving up and bending down to grab the bloody dirt and licking at it. Relishing in the taste.

Tar’el shuddered. These Unwanted could not be a people. Not even the basest of orc and drake tribes could survive in filth like this. The thick smog would likely kill anyone that wasn’t at least realm one in a short period of time.

A screech sounded out from the ‘windows’ of one of the buildings nearby. A smaller head ducked down as Artigan’s eyes glanced over it. An angry screech came from the window and a much larger adult appeared to glare at them. Artigan merely glanced that way and the adult jumped backwards. Loud crashing sounds echoing from within.

Tar’el remembered the words. There were children running around.

That was the toughest thought to ignore. Those words were like a memetic poison, worming its way in his mind. Tar’el was a Leafstalker. The stalwart watch that stalked Trialists and nipped any budding monster before they could grow stronger roots. That was their unofficial doctrine. Their true beliefs…

The Leafstalkers were there to protect Realmers.

And it was getting increasingly more difficult to stop thinking of these monsters as something other than a people he needed to protect.

There was a saying on Earth that perspective would change on the back of a lion. That on the back of the Tyrants, Realmers could come together and not be afraid of the unfair world around them. Not against the Trialists, not against Earth, and not the monsters of The Realm.

It was on Artigan’s shoulder, where there was nothing to fear, that Tar’el had finally started to see past the monstrous appearances.

There were children running around, doing silly things, being dragged away by more responsible adults. They were dirty, afraid and hungry.

Maybe the children and the parents could be helped. Maybe there would be a way to help them look less monstrous.

It was why Tar’el couldn’t help but let Artigan keep insulting him. He closed his eyes, trying to tune out the sights and sounds of the city. But it was futile, he took a deep breath–then noticed Artigan peering at him from the corner of his eyes.

Smirking. Artigan had noticed how Tar’el had changed the way he looked at the people around him.

That knowing smirk sent a shiver down Tar’el’s spine.

Was everything a plot?

There were always the rumors of the Witch Tyrant when she was merely a Pioneer. People talked about the path she took, the way she plotted around and destroyed her enemies. Yes, she had powerful allies that guaranteed her victory, but even the Dwarven Tyrant had admitted that the reason why things had gone so well was because the Witch Tyrant had been the tactical mind behind the Tyrants.

She was the original reason why people once said that [Mages] could entrap you in a plot ten moves ahead, making you lose before you even made the first step.

Artigan grinned as he continued to make jokes amongst a city of monsters that looked at him as food.

Tar’el felt like he had seen a little of the true face of Artigan as the Trialist pleaded with the leader of the Unwanted. Then the mask came quickly back on. A deliberate facade of a foolish adventurer that pretended like he was bumbling around. Trying to lower your guard so he could strike.

Then Tar’el thought of the fate of everyone that had the misfortune of going up against Artigan.

Rax, the leader of the Unwanted, had screwed up. The moment he had agreed to let Artigan hunt for food–no, Rax had messed up the moment he let the monster into his city.

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