Chapter 45—Demon Colonel
"So, tell now—are you two the only intelligent ones?" Sli#47 asked plainly, glancing at the cow and bull who had surrendered. He’d let the bull go. Both of them, the Cow and the Bull, knelt down.
"Yes, we are the only ones," they replied.
"What are your nas?" he asked, clicking his tongue as he realized it was silly—they were probably numbered like him, such as 47.
As expected, Cow replied first with sadness, "I don’t have one, but humans nad Cow#1."
"Hmmm... I will kill that human," Bull said furiously, but when Young Sli glanced at him, he said, "I am nad Bull#1." He’d gritted his teeth while ntioning his na.
’Yeah, he hates that na... who wouldn’t? Getting tagged like #1 or #9—at least if it were a secret agent code it’d sound cool.’ Sli#47 mused, clicking his tongue that humans sure make demons hate them with their actions.
They didn’t understand the human tongue, but when they were nad, their nas flashed in their status panels.
"I see," he nodded and asked, "How many of your kin are there?" He didn’t want to count them all.
Cow#1 replied plainly, "My kind are 30."
Bull#1 said, after counting everyone, "My kind are 10."
’Yeah... costs too much to raise them. Unlike slis, they don’t multiply like weeds.’ Young Sli mused. Slis numbered nearly 2300 in Oakfield village, while cattle totaled about 100.
Slis could be fed filth, and one sli could turn into a reproduction factory, while with others, that’s not possible. Due to this, slis were very populated in the village.
"You can lead your kind, right?" he asked, wary of their lack of intellect and not wanting to take care of their troubles.
"Yes, my lord," Cow#1 and Bull#1 nodded.
Young Sli nodded. "We are breaking out of this village," he said—simple, firm, deciding to take them along as they could be helpful.
Their intelligence changed his mind—he didn’t want to blindly kill them, as he’d felt they were like real people. If they lacked brains, he would have killed them without blinking his eyes.
"This..." Hearing this, they smiled with joy and touched their heads to the ground, declaring, "We surrender to you, lord."
’Didn’t they already surrender?’ Young Sli wondered, but a new status panel answered his thoughts.
[ Ding! You have gained a new title!—Demon Colonel {Common}! ]
[ —Demon Colonel {Common}—
—More than 2000 or so demons have acknowledged you as their lord!
—They won’t hesitate to act on your orders!
Congratulations!
Note: They might disobey if it goes against their morals! ]
’I see...’ Eyeing the panel, he understood—they had fully acknowledged him as their Lord, beyond light-hearted words. ’Before I knew it,...I had grown from weak sli to having 2000 demons under ,’
More than two thousand slis, despite lacking intellect, had acknowledged him as their lord due to his power and because he was their kin.
Wob!—Wob!Hearing the slis bouncing, he knew Elder Sli had arrived.
Old Sli entered the cattle farm by bouncing over other slis and stood in front of Young Sli.
"Child, let’s go... Have you finished your business?" He asked with a grin, showing no anger over the changed plans, as if expecting everything would turn out right.
’He really is a good ntor,’ Young Sli mused. He’d expected scolding... but Old Sli never disappoints.
"Done... they will be following us," he said, pointing to the cattle and Wob!—Bam!—broke the entrance with his punch.
Unlike fences in his field, they were made with tal; after all, bulls could break wood if they charged with full force.
The cattle glanced in disbelief as the army of slis appeared in front of their vision, since the entrance broke apart into pieces.
"Well?... Let’s go, move...," Young Sli said, grinning at the stunned bull and cow.
"Moooo," Bull#1 and Cow#1 roared as their kin stood up.
Thud! Thud! Wob! Wob! They rushed out of the cattle farm.
Then he broke another cattle farm entrance, but to his disappointnt, no intelligent ones there. He spared them, letting Cow#1 and Bull#1 lead them.
After they joined, the cattle grew to 40 cows, 30 bulls, almost touching 100 as Young Sli had expected.
Whoosh!—They rushed past in kneeling farrs’ awe, reaching Oakfield village’s upper section within minutes.
Villagers peeked from dwellings at the loud noises, bombarded by slis jumping and bouncing over, with cattle following.
"Stop," he ordered; everyone halted. He checked the barrier he’d cast—the fire had cald, leaving only burnt ash with no house signs.
Typically, a mana shield lasts seconds or a minute normally, but pouring enormous mana can extend it to hours or even days.
The shield dispersed at his command since it was his mana.
Bouncing on the ashes, he mused, tilting his body, ’How could there be none? There should be sothing—Bailiff must have hoarded people’s money as he’d titles like heavy tax imposer and stingy bailiff.’
Rembering the crate under the trough, he muttered, "Let’s try it; no loss anyway... Acid Fist," then slamd his glowing grey fist into the ground.
Boom!
A crater ford on the ground with debris rising into the sky.
"As expected," Young Sli grinned as the underground room’s interior finally revealed itself with a hole.
"Woah!" Little Sli exclaid; the little guy couldn’t hide his joy as he rushed over and asked, "Boss Sli, Boss Sli, I will follow you...."
Young Sli nodded, as the little guy jumped into the hole made by the punch—Thud!—he landed safely.
Young Sli then retrieved the small tal box he had thrown onto a nearby dwelling’s roof earlier—he hadn’t forgotten it.
Elder Sli and he jumped down; Mama Sli wanted to follow but stayed to oversee the other slis, as many annoyingly bounced into each other and almost got lost on the route.
The room asured just two square ters. He found one small pouch of crystals—both mana and aura dumped together—and one tal box.
Opening the pouch, he muttered, "Aha, so that’s how it is"—the pouch crystals had one stripe over them, while the crystals in the box ones had none.
"What a waste," Elder Sli said, glancing at the room with disappointnt. The box, half a ter wide and a quarter ter long, filled less than one-fifth of the space; the secret room appeared empty at a glance.
Little Sli, however, had the ti of his life, drilling into the box and playing with the crystals.
"Let’s go," Young Sli said, holding the box as he bounced out; Little Sli stayed inside.
Sli#47 could only agree, as Little Sli nearly cried when pulled out.
Elder Sli leapt, following Young Sli.
Both of them landed on the ground.
"Elder, how long would it take for adventurers to start looking for us?" Young Sli asked, needing an estimate to find a backer or escape to a human-unfriendly place.
Elder Sli glanced around and caught a woman peeking from a nearby dwelling window.
"You, co out," he said in the Lithya language.
The woman looked bewildered while Sli#47 grinned, finding the woman’s reaction amusing. He knew it as the third common human language, which he couldn’t understand.
"You... sli, you can speak?!" the woman stamred in panic.
"Yes, I can. Don’t worry, I will not harm you. Neither will he," Elder Sli plainly replied, pointing to Sli#47 to soothe her excited emotions.
End of Chapter.
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