Author's Pov:
In the distance, nestled in a clearing surrounded by a forest of tree and a river just a few kiloters away, lay a small yet chaotic monster village. It was the perfect spot—a sanctuary for ogres, lizardn, imps, that society had deed too terrifying or troubleso.
The village had been peaceful. Well, as peaceful as a village of unruly monsters could be. That is, until Scarface, the current stand-in leader, found himself grappling with an unforeseen crisis.
---
Scarface was an ogre of impressive size, an intimidating scar bisecting his face, and a personality that scread, I just want to hit things, not manage a village.
All he had ever wanted was to lead his people to glory and then die a legendary death—preferably against so overconfident human hero.
Instead, here he was, babysitting a ragtag group of monsters while their real leader, Aria the pint-sized runt, was off having fun in who-knows-where.
---
Scarface's day took a turn for the worse when Shine, the overly zealous scout, ca barreling into the village.
"Chief! Chief!" Shine yelled, skidding to a stop in the middle of the clearing. His tail flailing around, narrowly missing an imp.
"What now?" Scarface growled, his patience already wearing thin.
"Humans! From the north! They've set up camp near the river!" Shine declared, saluting sharply.
Scarface groaned. Of course, it had to be humans. "How close?"
"Close enough to sll their campfires," Gorn replied.
The imps started murmuring, their mischievous eyes glinting with excitent.
Scarface raised a hand to silence them. "What else?"
Shine puffed out his chest, clearly relishing the attention. "It's a rchant team! There's a party of ard adventurers with them— 5 females. And one of the females is dressed just like a rchant."
Scarface frowned. He rembered there being a rchant that the little runt told him in passing before, saying that if she ets one again she could have bought more things for the village.
---
Scarface gathered his "council," which consisted of the largest lizardn, the loudest imps, and the most bored ogres, around a crude wooden table in the center of the village.
"We're going to talk to them," Scarface announced, his deep voice booming across the clearing.
"Talk to them?" one of the ogres asked, scratching his head.
"Yes, talk," Scarface said. "The boss said she needed materials, and rchants have materials. Maybe we can negotiate."
"And if they resist, we capture them!" An Imp chid in, his wings fluttering excitedly. "It'll be a great present for the boss when she gets back!"
Scarface considered this for a mont. "Fine. But no eating anyone. The last thing we need is the boss yelling at us for 'diplomatic incidents.'"
The monsters groaned but reluctantly agreed.
---
Scarface turned to Gorn, who was busy carving a map into the dirt. "What are their weapons like?"
Gorn tapped the map with his claw. "The first one carries a sword. The second has a shield, big enough to hide behind. The third uses a bow."
Scarface grunted. "Typical."
"The last one of the party is a mage," Gorn continued. "She's got a staff and so shiny robes."
"Shiny robes usually an bad news," one of the lizardn muttered.
"And the last female?" Scarface asked.
"She's the rchant, Chief," Gorn said. "Probably harmless."
"Harmless?" Scarface snorted. "I've seen rchants do more damage than a drunk ogre with a hamr. We're treating her like the biggest threat."
---
After so hasty preparations (and multiple reminders to the imps not to set anything on fire), Scarface and his delegation marched toward the humans' camp.
The imps buzzed around the group like overexcited flies, while the lizardn ford a loose periter.
When they reached the edge of the clearing, Scarface took a deep breath. He had no idea how Aria managed to deal with humans without smashing their heads in.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's do this."
---
The humans looked up in alarm as the monster party erged from the trees. The adventurers imdiately drew their weapons, forming a protective ring around the rchant.
Scarface held up his hands in what he hoped was a non-threatening gesture. "We're not here to fight."
The adventurers didn't lower their weapons.
The rchant—a young woman with a wide-brimd hat and an annoyingly cheerful expression—stepped forward. "What do you want?"
Scarface cleared his throat. "We heard you're a rchant. We're interested in trading."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "Trading? With monsters?"
Scarface nodded. "We need materials. And maybe so of that... shiny stuff humans like to carry around."
"You an gold?" the woman asked.
"Yeah, that."
The adventurers exchanged skeptical looks, but the rchant seed intrigued. "Alright. What do you have to offer?"
Scarface blinked. He hadn't thought this far ahead.
"Uh..."
The imps began whispering frantically behind him. Finally, Tink piped up. "We've got so really shiny rocks! And, uh, mushrooms! Lots of mushrooms!"
"Mushrooms?" the rchant repeated, looking unimpressed.
"They're very tasty!" Tink insisted.
"And we have weapons!" Gorn added, holding up a crudely made spear. "Very sharp!"
The rchant tapped her chin, considering. "Alright. Let's see what you've got."
---
By the ti the negotiation was over, Scarface felt both relieved and exhausted.
The humans left with lots of monster-made trinkets, and the monsters gained several sacks of grain, so shiny human tools, and a promise from the rchant to return with more goods in 4-5 days. Humans couldn't be trusted so after they left Scarface told the lizardn and Imps scout further, to see if they brought so "friends" with them later.
As they watched the humans disappear into the distance, Tink grinned. "See? That went great!"
Scarface sighed. "Let's just hope the boss doesn't kill us for selling her 'shiny rocks.'"
The village erupted in laughter, and for the first ti in days, Scarface felt like maybe—just maybe—he wasn't completely terrible at this leadership thing.
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