1 day since the last chapter…

Beastman Plains, Broken Wing Canyon

 

The walls of this canyon were so steep that the shadows cast inside the canyon made it appear black from the outside of it. It was incredibly steep with a river running through the bottom of it, and a large portion of the foliage was being stripped away. At the center of this valley was a large structure made of logs, it acted to move the water around it and form various pools with rice and some with fish. Moving around doing farming and gathering was a group of beavermen wearing ragged clothes, many of them naked.

 

“Greko, you are looking good!” Lunas called out happily. 

 

The female fox was standing on two legs as she carried a box with various supplies from the island, namely several large bottles of wine that she had imported. She had a smile on her vulpine face and her fur was slightly wet from her recent bath, she wore baggy shorts and a light green t-shirt. Beside her dressed similarly was a succubus carrying a bag with her used clothes in them. A small charm depicting a boy with green eyes and sandy blonde hair was sewn together in a cartoonish fashion.

 

Talking to the leader of this tribe of beavermen was a tawny mouse with spots on his body. He seemed lively and in a good mood, he was wearing black pants and a formal shirt that was modified from the ones that the Pride of Men wore. If Rex had been present to see if he would say that it was the start of a suit. That was because all of the cheese and beer had been affecting Greko’s figure, and he thought these clothes helped him look a bit trimmer.

 

“It’s all cheese and beer for us! We have begun farming, we just planted our first crop. If we can take out this bird brain, then we can secure the entire area.” Greko said with a laugh. “We need more weapons though, guns are scarce.” 

 

He had created a force to capture monsters, as well as normal animals, his goal was to find the tastiest cheese and he could do this easily with the mousemen’s future farms. At first, he didn’t think any of this was possible but now he was starting to think differently after he had been in charge for a week. That was because word of his victory over the elves had already begun to spread, and mousemen had been tripping over themselves to get to him. The population of Rattholme had doubled in a week, and it was expected to double again.

 

“We brought 100 more guns with us, but our production of them is still limited. We can only produce around 500 a month currently, but that should change soon.” Kira said.

 

In her mind was the completed weapons manufacturing plant, she could see various floors of complex machinery being used to produce hundreds of guns an hour. This was so that the succubi would have enough resources to trade so that they could rake in all of the resources they were being offered. One boat was not enough to carry even the copper or metals, and this was just a week of the beastmen working. Everything was untouched and unmined, ore was everywhere in the area.

 

“I must thank you for everything you have done for the beavermen, why are you so kind to us?” The old beaver chief asked now that Greko, Lunas, and Kira were together.

 

This beaver was covered in dark gray fur and his eyes had cataracts in them from his advanced age, unlike most tribes the beavermen were more pacifistic. They built places in hard-to-live areas like this large canyon, that way they can avoid conflict with other beastmen tribes. They were often targets for raiding though, due to their well-developed towns that we're able to produce food. They were often weak beastmen and unable to put up an effective fight against other beastmen.

 

Now all around their walls were belt-fed fully automatic 50 caliber machine guns, these were currently being covered with tarps that were covered in the bark to look like stacks of logs. While the outside of these large structures looked like they were composed of carelessly piled up stacks of wood, the insides were completely smooth and carved out by beavermen teeth and flattened with their tails. When covered in lacquer using a special tree sap that acted like glue, it gave everything a shiny yellow color that brightened up the room.

 

Small windows were also carved into the wooden structure that had the foxes' rifles leaning against them at the ready. A feast was going on, and all through the large hall in the heart of the structure was a hall with many carved and heavily decorated pillars. Large drums that the beavermen beat with their tails provided music along with string instruments. The fox beastwomen added flutes and pan pipes into the mix, and the mousemen used small drums and horns. 

 

“No, the Falcon King is also an enemy to the mousemen, besides one of your people is good friends with the Supreme Cheese,” Greko said.

 

“Right, Bob was his name? What a strange name for a beaverman.” The beaverman chief said.

 

“I know Chief Clubtail, also thank you for entrusting your son to us. I will see that he gets to meet Bob and spend some time under him.” Greko said. “I think when he comes back he will be able to help the beavermen, he might even become the Beaver King!”

 

This response got a hearty laugh out of both of the rodents, both him and the beaverman chief but for very different reasons. Clubtail thought that the mousemen having an individual who was showing battle prowess at the beast king level was already shocking, he thought there was no way it could happen to the beavermen. Little did he know that these two were paper tigers compared to the real beast kings who had the strength to back it up. That was unless you factored in the difference in weaponry, then it no longer mattered but Fourpaw, the former Hyena King had done something similar using swords and armor.

 

For Greko, he realized that anyone could become a beast king if they had the support of the Supreme Cheese. His weapons were incredible, his prices were affordable, and the succubi were incredible salespeople. Just this morning he had been convinced that he needed to buy several shore defense cannons, even though he didn’t have any shores to defend. That was because when the sales representative from the Succubus Fulfillment society said they had figured out a way to install the gas grenades in artillery shells he had bought 10 of them right away.

 

The skaarn was a nightmare for any beastmen living in the north, and if they could use the gas to defend themselves that would be perfect. Every decade a hive would produce several princesses that would go on a nuptial flight and then dig underground and start a massive colony. They either defended against it and killed the newly made queen before the colony got going, or they had to do it later when it was the equivalent of storming a fortress. These cannons would take up all of the storage space on one of the ships to accommodate them, but that didn’t bother the succubi.

 

Most of the succubi had no experience in settings like these that were filled with music and celebration but they were realizing that they liked it. Several of them had triumphant looks as they used pilfered instruments to add their chaotic notes into the music that drifted through the hall. They were celebrating before they went into battle against the Falcon King and the flying races. 400 foxmen, 400 mousemen, and 200 succubi against a force of unknown size.

 

They knew that the Falcon King had around 10,000 troops, this was an estimate that came from the last time he had gone out to battle a few years ago. Following Rex’s suggestion that they fight safely, she prepared for if they were fighting a force twice the Falcon King’s size. The heavy machine guns were something that was brought when Kira had received a call for assistance while Rex was unconscious and she used this as an opportunity. She then thought that she could use this as a part of their competition, this thought brought a smile to Kira’s face.

 

“Hey Welch, you seem to be quite a poor huntress, I think you might need to get your glasses replaced,” Kira said with a bright smile, as she looked over at the elf who just walked into the room. 

 

Welch looked over and grit her teeth at the succubus who was looking at her with a smug expression. Before she could say anything though, Kira already had another remark for her.

 

“Are all of those muscles on your stomach so that you can keep your stomach from sticking out after you eat?” Kira asked happily.

 

The succubi were such a powerful race that they did not require physical food like the 6 plates that Welch had made. Kira was very content with this fact, she just wished that she had a sense of taste that matched her husband's, that way she could cook meals for him. She had mistaken flour with baking soda, and sugar with salt, she then tried to make him pancakes and failed. After she had overcooked it, she was left with something solid that shattered when it was broken into sharp bits.

 

“No, they are there so that I can put winged bitches in their places after tomorrow!” Welch said then breathed out her anger. “Why didn’t you tell Rex about this? He is going to be upset when he finds out you agreed to do this while he was unconscious.”

 

Kira paused for a few moments as she thought about her reasonings, they were quite simple. It was necessary to take over the mountain that the Falcon King had if they wanted to take control of the area. If they could cripple the flying beastmen then that would make it even safer for the succubi and they could be a bit bolder in their operations. But if they failed here then a lot of it would be for naught, it would cause their plans to fall apart.

 

If they got cut off from the mainland then welding and cold iron would no longer be possible for them to create. This would lead to all kinds of issues for the island, that was also why they were trying to find more sources for borax on the mainland in the beastmen’s territory. From the description given to her by Rex of the areas that it can be found in, it is usually found in dried-out lake beds in desert regions where the rainfall evaporates away and leaves behind the salts. The largest one on Earth was in Boron, California, the town was named after the massive mine.

 

“They needed help, we aren’t able to produce the weapons they need to be able to complete the siege in time,” Kira said. “The elves are going to counterattack the mousemen soon, and they need to move all of the elderly and the young out of the city. We need to take over the mountain so that we can secure the area.”

 

“You want to place those giant cannons on it and make it similar to the mountain on the island,” Welch said. “I know that part, instead of taking risks like this, you should have just waited.” 

 

Welch was already well aware of what the greatest strength of the island was, what they lacked in people they could make up within firepower if they waited long enough to let it build up. Every day many dedicated succubi craftswomen produced more guns, ammo, and explosives, and they were constantly finding new ways to increase their yields. If there was a stove in a succubus’ house it was usually only used for carefully cooking her explosives. It was slowly becoming a succubus tradition and they had made several cookbooks.

 

“But all we do is create problems for Rex, this is something the succubi can fix!” Kira was adamant about not creating more problems for Rex.

 

The people of the island had already been complaining of the meat crisis, and the shore defense teams were afraid if they didn’t outperform the other teams, they wouldn’t get to pilot the Succubuster. Every one of the teams was eagerly imagining what this superweapon would look like with them being the ones operating it. Many horrible sketches were carefully devised by succubi that looked nothing like the blueprints, they had only just started producing rails after all. The concept of a train still did not exist to the succubi yet, so they could only imagine it currently.

 

“You do know that 10 years ago you wouldn’t even have been considered a village to the elves, don’t you?” Welch said. “The demons tossed your race out because they didn’t think you had anything to offer them, and now you are currently deciding how you are going to create beast kings and start stabilizing the beastmen plains.”

 

“I know we could have waited, but the elves are sending another force towards Rattholme and Rex said that we mustn't assume that the mousemen’s tactics will be as effective a second time now that they know what we are up to,” Kira said. “Also, if you are so worried about my husband, why did only 30 of the prisoners agree to follow you?”

 

Welch paused as she recalled how her trip to the prison went, then a vein popped out of her forehead in her anger.

 

“You locked them underground for weeks, they all thought I was a traitor! I could only convince 40 people to come after making various promises about their treatment.” Welch tried to defend herself.

 

She was shocked at the reaction she got from her fellow elves, she spent an entire day wandering those dark tunnels trying to convince one group after another, all of them only spit insults at her and she could only convince 37 people to join her at the island. The rest would be prisoners of the mousemen, they were currently set to be farmers and miners in labor camps. The only positive thing was that some of the people who agreed to accompany her were people who were close to her grandmother.

 

“Cough! Cough! You shouldn’t fight in public like this.” Lyserra called from the side after a few coughs. 

 

She was wearing a plain dress and was following Welch as a handmaid and a magical teacher, she had first-hand knowledge as a caster and Rex had been interested in this very topic. Since she had done poorly in hunting against the succubus, she thought that this would be a big help to Rex outside of their competition. When she thought about all of the dietary problems he had and how frail he was, she felt a pain in her chest for him. Both of them were going to get a huge shock when they returned to the island.

 

“That’s right, we are celebrating today!” Lunas said.

 

“It’s all cheese and beer today! Let’s enjoy the music and the party, and tomorrow we kill a bird!” Greko also chimed in.

 

Welch and Kira looked at each other at the table they were sitting at, the sparks firing between their gazes were almost visible. Suddenly the two smiled as a thought occurred to them.

 

“Why don’t we use tomorrow to settle our battles! We can decide based on who defeats more of the flying beastmen, I will fight with the foxmen.” Welch said this and nodded at Lunas who gave her a yip in response.

 

“Oh, you want me to put everything on the line? Fine then, I will fight with the mousemen, and the succubi will provide support by manning the heavy machine guns, as well as the other things we brought.” She said with a smile. 

 

The plan was not to fight in the air, the succubi were too slow compared to the flying beastmen, instead, they would be manning the heavy weapons for their vision impaired friends. This was for their strategy to work, everyone had come together just for that. That was what the group thought as they looked at the banquet, Kira was the one who was most excited about it. She got to see so many of her sisters trying new things, they were playing instruments, singing, and dancing, she wanted to hold events like this on the island.

 

“I need to get them to stop causing problems for Rex.” She muttered.

 

***

Meanwhile…

Succubus Homeland, The Exchange

 

Above the busy store that the succubi were manning, a crisis was happening as Rex, Kera, And several other succubi were all gathered. In the room filled with random furniture and odds and ends from the island. In the center was a large table with a glass jar the middle that appeared to be filled with smoke and little blue flames. This was the wraith messenger who the succubi at Acid Island had captured, and shoved in a glass jar. All of them had been harshly disciplined by Kera.

 

“They attacked a messenger, I can’t believe this!” Rex muttered as he continued to fuss with his hair in distress.

“Kera, what is that thing?” He asked as he pointed to the jar.

 

“It is a wraith.” She said.

 

“Yeah, but what are they? Where do they come from?” He asked.

 

“They are spirits and they usually are born on battlefields or places filled with death. Only some of them ever become intelligent.” She said.

 

“So it is no different than if someone attacked one of the succubi.” He muttered.

 

“We would destroy them for their insolence!” Kera said in anger.

 

“Oh, wonderful! Just what we needed… more enemies.” Rex said as he rubbed his tired eyes, he had only been awake a few hours. “So if they treat the members of their race the same way the succubi do, how will they react when they find out we nearly killed him?”

 

Kera smiled in response to this and puffed out her chest.

 

“I have dealt with the demons for over 200 years, I have plenty of experience in dealing with them.” She then turned towards the group of succubi who brought the jar with them. “A succubus takes shit from nobody!”

 

“Take no shit!” They all chorused as they threw their fists into the air.

 

“The succubi will rise!” Kera said with determination.

 

“The succubi will rise,” Kera said and this time her tail went into the air.

 

“The succubi will rise!” The other succubi chorus, and raised their tails into the air.

 

Kera nodded happily at this before turning her attention to the glass jar, she then put on a serious expression. She then motioned to one of the gathered succubi who were guarding the room, and she rushed over and began fiddling with the jar. Rex then saw it turned over, and the creature that looked like smoke was poured onto the table. It seemed to sit lifelessly for a moment before it finally began moving around.

 

The most jarring part of it though was the aura it released, it felt desolate and made his hair stand on end. The moment the jar was opened the entire room was filled with that eerie feeling, and Rex found himself trying not to shiver. He seemed to be the only one with a reaction to it though as the succubi didn’t budge in the slightest. He assumed that they were used to this race after having dealt with them over the years.

 

“How dare you attack me! I am a messenger fro-” The wraith began but was cut off.

 

Kera slapped the table loudly with her tail, silencing the creature as she stared at it fearlessly.

 

“For insulting the succubi you needed to pay a price, we are no longer allies anymore since you have decided to expel us,” Kera said this confidently. “We were not the ones who went into your lands insulting your people, you will mind your tongue around us from now on.”

 

Rex felt his jaw almost hit the floor out of shock, succubi did not normally speak this much unless they were pressed, or unless they rehearsed it…

 

“Now, I would advise you to state your purpose for coming here, or I can only assume you are here to start a fight with the succubi!” Kera said domineeringly.

 

Suddenly Rex realized that Kera might have been holding a lot of anger inside of her over how she was treated by her former allies. This attitude horrified Rex as she was putting the messenger in the position of fighting the succubi or backing off. Just as Rex thought that he might need to step in, he saw something even more shocking.

 

“No! I have no intention of starting a fight with the succubi! The Demon Lord wishes to apologize for his behavior, he wants the succubi to continue their spying work.” The wraith said. “I came to offer you 1000 meat sacks to come back and work for us!”

 

The wraith said this with a smile that no one but another wraith would be able to see, that was because he was pocketing almost half of the rewards through this offer. Even with him doing that it still seemed much too generous in his opinion.

 

“We wouldn’t come back for even double that,” Kera said flatly. “Also I want a different messenger next time, you were quite rude. Tell Rathios that I am on to him.”

 

These were all lines that Kera had heard other demon leaders use when they were leading their clans. She had gotten to finally tell the demons how she felt after being thrown out all those years ago. A pleasant heat had built up in her chest, and she was having to fight a smile from spreading across her face. She felt like this truly was a great time to be a succubus!

 

The wraith on the other hand would be dripping buckets of cold sweat about now, he had made the 1000 slave offer to start negotiations and maybe skim a little off the top, now it just looked like he insulted them, and was thrown out. If he went back to Rathios after having things turn out like this then he would be killed for sure. 

 

“Wait! I can offer you 2000! We even have a method to bring them here!” The wraith pleaded.

 

Rex had finally realized they were talking about people, that was the main food source of the demons. When he thought about what he could do with 2000 people on the island…

 

“You said you just want information?” Rex asked.

 

The wraith looked at the strange creature at the side of the succubus leader with curiosity, he had never seen something like it. It looked like a stockier elf with round ears, or a tall dwarf, he wasn’t sure how to accurately describe it. He assumed it was probably a pet of the succubus leader.

 

“Do you not muzzle your pets?” He asked in a joking manner.

 

This caused Kira to look at her son-in-law and then she thought of her favorite person in the world, her daughter. This brought a smile to her face when she was looking at Rex, and then the comment he made processed in her mind. His calling Rex a pet was the same thing as calling her daughter a pet since they were going to be married. At this point, Kera had already seen it as an eventuality and she had prepared her heart for it, feeling like her daughter was insulted caused Kera to go cold.

 

 “You can go back, don’t let us ever see you again,” Kera said.

 

The wraith suddenly realized he had made a horrible mistake but he didn’t feel any anger towards the succubi and he didn’t yell out anything. He followed the succubus who walked up holding a rifle and pointing it towards the door and let himself be escorted out. The Demon Lord had been erratic lately and had become harder to gauge. Now that he had failed his lord then there was a good chance he was going to have to beg Rathios for his life.

 

“I apologize for my conduct, I will pass your words on to Rathios.” The wraith said.

 

Rex watched as the ball of smoke left the room under the guard of several succubi holding rifles. A sense of unease was growing in the pit of his stomach, it only got worse when he realized how little he knew about the world. 

 

“Are there a lot of creatures like the wraiths? Ones that don’t have physical bodies.” He asked.

 

“Ghosts exist and will congregate in places filled with death, unlike wraiths they can’t leave them though. Wraiths don’t have any memories of a life before they were born, so they aren’t true undead.” She said. “Now we can see their reaction though, they will either attack us or send another messenger.”

 

“Working with them is no longer an option?” He asked.

 

“No, the succubi have deviated too far from the demons. We will not serve under anybody anymore.” She said. “Kira and I already spoke of this. The demons are the succubi’s problem.

 

Rex sighed as he turned away, on one hand, he felt happy that his mother-in-law had defended him but he was worried for the succubi’s future.