NOVEL SIMPLE Ch 11. Festival at Riverfall
“...I see, this is serious. Phlum, go and tell those goblins camps that they should attack these towns in three days, at midnight!”
“Yes, Madam!”
“You two, go and check our reserves! And you, go to the armory now!”
“Yes, Madam!”
The room was a mess. Demons were running in and out the throne room when I arrived and the Demon Lord was giving orders to each of them. The atmosphere was serious, some of them looked really worried, but the Demon Lord… She was furious.
“May I help you with something, my Lady?”
I asked, but she didn't seem to hear me, so I waited for her orders. They had put a table near the throne and over it, there was a map with some towns and cities marked. The towns nearest the goblin camps that me and Phlum replenished days ago were strikethrough in red.
“I swear that if any human comes near this castle, I'll shatter his body with my own hands!”
The shout of the Demon Lord was followed by the warcry of everyone in the room, somehow I felt out of place. I want to go back to my room and hide as soon as possible. When I was about to run away, the lady herself called me.
“Oi, you are going to Riverfall tomorrow with Phlum, so don't play around today or you'll be punished.”
She was really serious, so I accepted her orders and went to my room until dinner was ready.
Now that I think about food, this is really weird. I mean, you would expect Demons to always eat meat and drink alcohol, but somehow I haven seen any of that since I came to this world. At the beginning we ate fish and vegetables, and from time to time I saw the Demon Lord with half a cup of wine. But for today, we just have a really small amount of vegetables and water.
The dinner was quiet, no one dared to break the heavy silence in the room and of course Im not that stupid to do that while Im surrounded by the most powerful creatures of this world.
The next day, I went with Phlum to gather information at Riverfall. She was strangely quiet during the journey, but I didn't dare to ask for the reason. It had to be related with the attack the Demon Lord is planning to the human towns near the goblins outposts. Just to think about the goblins we delivered weapons to and how they are going to kill people soon, makes me want to vomit.
When we arrived at Riverfall, there was a lot of noise coming from inside the city, it looked like they were holding a festival and were enjoying it to the fullest. Outside, a long line to enter the city made by the lot of people that came to gather here, even from the farest towns, welcomed us.
Phlum looked really irritated and I could see how she was squeezing her fists ready to start a fight. Luckily that didn't happen and we started walking through Riverfall’s streets without problems as soon as the useless guards finished our check in.
The people around us were full of joy, smiling, joking, dancing, singing and laughing. Phlum on the other side… She seems like she was looking for someone to fight with.
We headed towards the adventurer’s guild. The building has been already repaired and the nearest adventurers were enjoying the festival too, in other words, they were all dead drunk on the floor.
The counter girl told us that almost all the adventurers were in the city, and the ones who were outside were expected to return tomorrow at most. I slid a paper note to the girl with the names of the towns that were going to be attacked tomorrow night by the goblins. Whatever the reason was, attacking during a festival during a festival is just a cowardly act. Phlum didn't notice me doing that, she was too focused looking at the drunk adventurers with murderous intentions.
We began our walk to leave the city, and while doing so, we passed by a lot of food stalls, so I decided to buy some meat skewers, after all, I haven't eaten meat in a while.
“Take these Phlum, I bought them for you.”
“No, thank you, little human.”
She didn't accept my offer, but I could see her drooling by the smell of all the delicious food around us. Maybe I should go with something more powerful? While I was thinking that, I saw my next target: candy apples. Again, I bought one for me and another for Phlum, but it did not work.
“Here Phlum, you like sweet things, don't you?”
“Y-Yeah, but… I need to refuse, little human.”
I tried the same thing several times, but none of them worked on Phlum, even though I could hear her stomach growling. Finally, I saw my trump card, a food I never thought I could see in this kind of world: Takoyaki.
“Okay Phlum, this is your last chance go and eat a little.”
Phlum got really angry at hearing my words, she slapped my hand and threw away all the food I was carrying. Then, she grabbed me by the collar of my clothes and pushed me against a wall.
“Are you having fun, right, filthy human?! This is really funny for you, righ?! I'm a pet or something?! If I'm going to eat something, that's gonna be the insides of the people living in the towns nearby, so they better be prepared, cause tomorrow night I'll have a feast with their flesh!”
Phlum shouted at me, she was so angry that you could see the murderous intention in her eyes and around her. Like a beast who has been acting calm, but that is so tired to keep that facecade that can't hold on any longer.
All the people around us were shocked by those words, and so was Phlum who did not expect to say them out loud. She started running away and a murmur began flowing through the masses.