>>5512239“If you're planning on trying to 'recruit' me into some sort of army, you're wasting your time.” you tell him seriously, shaking your head. “The matters and lives of people outside this village are of no concern to me.”
“Perhaps it is of no concern now, but if the Sorcerer King is not stopped, it will be.” the figure tells you. “The Re-Estize kingdom had a truce with the Sorcerer King, as did the neighboring Baharuth Empire. But the Sorcerer King sided with the Empire in their foolish annual border war, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of their men with a single, devastating spell. All to claim one of the Kingdom's border cities as a base of operations for himself.”
“Look. I'm sure the Sorcerer King isn't a good person. But this isn't any of my business.” you tell him, raising your hand. “I have more important business now, and already confronted the Sorcerer King in person. We have reached a mutual understanding. If he comes into my territory uninvited again, I shall destroy him and his people, along with his underground fortress he calls the 'Great' Tomb of Nazarick. But until and unless he does so, I won't go out of my way to wage war with his people.”
“You would side with that undead monster over humanity?” the armored form asks, to which you can only laugh. “What is so funny?”
“You people. Your worries, your lives, you are all so small.” you tell the armored man, unable to contain yourself while doubling over laughing. After all the mounting stress of the last few months, it feels good to just let it all out. The armored figure actually leans its head back in surprise as you keep laughing, letting the pent-up stress of your wife's pregnancy melt away. You lose track of time for a while, then as your laughter dies down and you regain control of yourself. “Sorry, sorry. But I needed that laugh.”
“You think yourself so above the mortals of this world?” the armored being asks, yet doesn't seem as offended as you'd imagined it would be. “But you are one of these beings as well.”
“You clearly have no idea who or what I really am. So allow me to give you a little demonstration.” you say, using your crystal teleportation magic to send the sword back to the roof of your tower before throwing your robe off, exposing your muscular upper body while still holding on to it in your left. And exposing your tail as well, which you'd had wrapped around your waist. Now freed, you stretch your tail out, which clearly draws the armored being's eye. “Take your hammer and swing it at me as hard as you can.”
