“I finally found you, Phlum”

After aimlessly walking around the city for hours, I came to find the former happy Harpy. She had her back laid on a wall and her head between her knees. She had been crying all this time? I slowly approached the defenceless girl. She let me sit by her side but didn't look at me.

“What happened Phlum? You looked so happy the last time we came here, and now… Well, it's clear that there's something happening, please tell me.”

“I fucked this up, little human. I really screwed things up this time… My Lady is going to kill me…”

“Why? There should be something we can do.”

“No, we can't! Humans know that we are going to attack them! They are going to fortify themselves, this is going to be a bloody mess… A lot would die, and all because I spilled the beans!”

When she said that, I felt really bothered for what I did minutes before she screamed at me. If this turns into a bloody mess, it is going to be my fault, not hers.

“B-But why do Demons plan to attack the towns?”

“This harvest festival is just to make fun of Demons, did you know, little human? First they slaughtered our Demonicboars, then they killed our Kappa fishermans by impaling them, and finally, yesterday they robbed, ravished and killed some of our farmer Dryads. With all the stuff they took from us, they made this festival while our people were hungry! They must pay for what they have done!”

“That's why everyone was so busy yesterday and why did no one talk during dinner? I guess that also explains why we have less and less food on our plates...”

“That's right, little human. If it wasn't for the Demon Lord’s orders this city would have already turned to ashes, but she is kind, so we were just going to take back our stuff that is being stored at those villages. People would die, but we are not savages, not like humans… And to be honest, no one cares, there's no amount of blood that can fix what they did to us, we are Demons after all, we need our revenge”

“So this is much more complicated than what I thought…”

I’m not the kind of person who goes around chasing revenge, but if Humans are really doing that kind of thing, then they should be punished. But wipe out villages instead of chasing the ones who did the actions… I guess that's just how Demons do things. They are angry, they want blood, they want revenge, and if it wasn't for the Demon Lord, this city would be already turned into dust, just like Phlum said, so destroying some random villagues is just the Demon Lord's way of calming the Demons' wrath.

“Of course it is, little human. We came here searching for information about the adventurers whereabout, we have to be prepared to fight them. B-But then I just… Whaaa! The Demon Lord is going to kill me!”

“D-Don't be too worried about that, she is really nice. I guess this is something that's inside her expectations…”

We talked a little bit more and then went to the Demon Lord’s castle. Under normal circumstances Phlum rant won't turn into anything more, but after what I did, there's no way that the towns are going to be defenceless when the time comes.

We travel back home without exchanging any more words. When we arrived, we reported the adventurer's condition to the Demon Lord and then parted our ways. During dinner, Phlum was acting weird. She clearly had something to say, but she didn't want to be executed for what she did.

When the dinner was over, our Lady finally asked.

“So, what's that thing you want to say, Phlum? You better do it now.”

“My Lady… I'm really sorry!”

Phlum slammed her head to the ground while saying that. She is really worried about what's going to happen after what she did (though it is not her who's at fault if something happens…). Somehow the Demon Lord looked acquainted with this kind of behaviour.

“Go on. What did you do this time?”

“I let the humans know our plans!”

The room went silent. You couldn't even hear anyone's breathing, then after a few seconds the Demon Lord asked.

“Huh? What did you just say?”

“I let the humans know our plans! I'm really, really, really sorry my Lady! I lost my temper there and spilled the beans in the middle of the city! I screwed it all, I know, but please! Please don't kill me!”

The room stood silent, even more than before, then, before everyone stunned eyes the Demon Lord started laughing.

“Phlum, Phlum, honesly, you cant be that stupid! Whakaka~ Dont be afraid, I'm not going to kill, but you'll be punished after tomorrow's party. If humans want to have a harvest festival, we are going to give them a Harvest Festival! Let’s get prepared for the bloodshed!”

“Whoooo!”

The declaration of war from our Lady was followed by everyone's war cry. I was shaking, they are not going back, even if the whole country was defending those towns, they are going to strike ahead, wiping everyone who stands in front of them. They want vengeance, and vengeance must be paid with blood.