“Hahaha,” Enok gave an awkward laugh, touching his neck with his right hand.

The multrow had relived the traumas of his childhood. His obese body began to produce large amounts of mucus to the point that one of his assistants had to stand up to help him clean himself with special tissues.

Darthañan ranked his opponents. Madame Dembe was the smartest of the three, and apparently had a somewhat higher rank than the others; Zihan on the other hand was a stubborn and emotional man, if he was not treated with care he could react with violence; and finally Enok, the easiest prey, was a rich jerk and the weakest point of these three.

" We are not seeking to be hostile to my lord, " said Madame Dembe.

The tortoise quinoid heeded her words to emphasize that they could come to terms with him, but she left Albella out showing that her hostility was only towards her.

“Hahaha, but you are commoners threatening a noble. What do you think my friends in the high islands would say when they hear that three commoners dared to threaten the daughter of a baron?” Darthañan grabbed his tea cup and took a sip without taking his eyes off the Quinoid.

“Ai!” Enok let out a shriek and fainted in his chair.

Darthañan almost spit out what he had just taken, his plan was to use the multrow to gain the upper hand in the negotiation, but at no time did he thought that mentioning the high islands would deal a critical blow to the slimy being's trauma.

When one of Enok's helpers, the one who had helped him clean up, set out to help his master. Madame Dembe stopped him with her hand, waking Enok would only lose them more face. The turtle quinoid never imagined that the weakness of this cunning merchant was the nobles of the high islands, information that she saved for the future.

“We are not making these threats; we are only the humble messengers of our masters.”

Madame Dembe's response was exactly what Darthañan did not want to hear. He took a sip of his drink to buy time on how to resume the rhythm of the conversation and as soon as he finished his drink he threw the cup against the floor.

The ceramic mug broke into hundreds of pieces making a lot of sound. Enok woke up to the uproar and froze seen Darthañan red faced.

“Do you think I'm stupid?” Darthañan asked getting up.

Zihan got up too, if a fight started he would not shake his hand and kill the noble. The consequences would be for later.

“My lord!” Frigglene interrupted and cut the tension in the atmosphere.

Darthañan was never carried away by his emotions in a negotiation, much less was he violent. This was just a strategy he shared with his wife asking her to interrupt him to stay in command of the conversation.

“Yes, yes I know. No killing commoners for three months.”

Of the three leaders, Zihan was the only one who was not frightened by the comment. The voidmaw were governed by force, the subjects of nobility and politics did not interest them. Their race was found in the lower islands attracted by the dangers offered by Morgrum, not by being inferior to others. Although they were few in number each of them including the children were strong as elite warriors.

Darthañan took advantage of the fact that nobody answered him and continued.

“I will be honest; I am also interested in what is producing that energy. So to show my benevolence and show that I am worthy to inherit what is rightfully mine, I will give all four a chance.”

Albella opened her eyes not expecting that comment.

“In three days we will leave Vorpiax and look for the object. The first one to take it can keep it.”

The four listening to Darthañan's proposal thought for a moment. Zihan trusted his strength and that of his men so this deal would benefit him. Enok had supplied himself with various gadgets to handle the large amount of energy from the object that his master was interested in, so Darthañan's proposal also caught his attention.

On the other hand, Madame Dembe, although sure of the abilities of her group, could not help asking.

“How can we guarantee, that we all keep our word? I'm not doubting a high ranking noble, but how can we be sure that no one will attempt to steal the item?”

Darthañan smiled, he had just accomplished his goal.

" Nothing is safer than a pact of death, " Darthañan replied, causing everyone, including Frigglene, to be surprised.

 

 

On the other side of the castle the children were doing gymnastic exercises. Bouncing, jumping, climbing branches and sneaking through the bushes was quite fun. Crispa had designed this place to stimulate their motor skills. Although the 5 were still too young to start more advanced workouts, the stimulation they were receiving in this safe environment was much more than what appeared to the naked eye.

Soon it was lunchtime and then nap time. After doing enough exercise and eating all the little ones fell exhausted. And as he had promised the day before, when they woke up, they went out to the castle stables.

A purple ubax with orchid features greeted them at the stables entrance.

“Little ones are you ready to see the animals?” asked the humanoid flower.

“yeah!” All but one answered.

“I am not a little one, I am bigger than you” Shimu answered when noticing that the ubax reached to his waist.

“Larger Lutza” said the gorilla of almost two meters.

“Hahaha I mean little of age not size, young master” smiled the flower.

" I'm three and a half years old, " Shimu stated proudly placing his hands on his hip.

" Me too, "   Mushi followed.

" We have three, " said Tod and Eli.

“Lutza two and a half.”

The ubax continued laughing.

“Well, I'm seven and a half” she answered with her head held high.

Shimu's ego deflated at that moment. Crispa at forty-seven years old remain silent. This was not a conversation he wanted to get into.

“At 7 years old can we work in the stables?” Asked Tod fascinated.

“Each species has its own growth rate, and in this case the ubax live up to 15 years, reaching maturity six months after germination. If ubax had standard longevity, our friend here would be around 170 years old.

“Wow!” Several of the children made alluring sounds when listening to number 170.

“Mr. Crispa, please” the ubax said annoyed to see that in some way they had called her an old woman.

“What is longevity?” Elizabeth asked upon hearing a term she did not know.

Crispa smiled at the question and scratching one of his six eyes answered.

“Longevity is the life span of a species.”

“How long is my longevity?” Theodor asked curiously.

“Me too. How long is my longevity?” Shimu followed.

“Hahaha” the ubax laugh with the children 's questions.

“Let me see, humans have a longevity of almost 200 years. Vampires are immortal if they manage to fulfill all their needs, so Tod and Eli, being of mixed race, would have a life of around 500 to 800 years.

“Wow!” another round of alluring sounds.

“Lepiots have a longevity of 250 years, while pikmi have a longevity of 300 years.

“Wow!” The children exclaimed again.

" I'm going to be big when I grow to two hundred, " said Shimu excitedly.

“Little and pretty Lutza better” said the pikmi hoping to get smaller over the years.

Crispa did not continue explaining more because that was enough information for the children, another day he would explain to them about how growth worked in each of their bodies.

“Children, the rules in the stable are simple. You can walk all over the place, but you cannot get into any of the corrals. Nor can you put your hands in ...

“And feet?” Shimu asked interrupting her.

“You cannot put any part of your bodies in the corrals” the ubax affirmed.

“Okay!” Theodor replied starting to run.

The other children when they saw him also started running in a hurry.

“Wait!” Shouted the flower” I'm still not done with the rules” she said in a murmur.

“Calm down” Crispa smiled at her.

The children's guardian sat on his four hind legs and making movements between his hands and front legs, five energy spheres shot out towards the children.

“With these shields, none of the animals that have permission to enter the castle will be able to harm them.

“But, but, we also have visitors and the children can get into trouble” said the orchid hesitantly.

“Do not worry, I don’t think that anything bad can happen to them” he smirked, starting to walk.

The Ubax followed him, neither of them ever could have thought what this carelessness would trigger.