The Demon Lord's Successor

You think for a moment on who to bring. Alpha is an obvious candidate. There is hardly any use for her otherwise – if you leave her on guarding duty somewhere, chances are that, upon your return, you’ll find her starved corpse right on the same spot.

As for the other two... Delta’s healing abilities could come in handy, but if it comes to that, you do have your [Hellfruit] spell to provide some emergency healing. And, ideally, you would prefer to find an even better healer somewhere along this small journey. One that could heal Chi. Better keep your only healer here, in case there’s more trouble while you’re gone.

Musclebob’s ability seems useful, and it would add some variety to your party, maybe offer some different insight from someone who’s not influenced by your [Submission] spell. However, he’s not a hot girl, so you scratch him off your list.

Might as well maximize your fighting power, should you need it. You’re not going out looking for trouble, but testing out Epsilon’s debuffing potential while you can, sounds like a solid plan. And you might as well find out where Elza truly stands on the power scale. She gave your forces a lot of trouble last time, but the fighting was too chaotic and uneven to make an accurate assessment of her potential.

You’re leaving the protection of your base in the hands of Hercule, Gamma, and Delta... Thus far there has been no indication that any of them possess any leadership qualities. Another reason to have all of them to sit tight and wait for you to return.

“Alpha, Epsilon, Elza, you three are coming with me to Ranville!” you announce your choice to them, but also the rest of the gathered here. “Pack up some food for four people, prepare your weapons. Be ready to leave within the hour!

“Gamma, you’ll be leading the party to Birdville after supplies,” you say to the strongest of the Bunnies you’re leaving behind. “Elza, you have one more job—choose about a dozen people suitable for the job, and hierarchy for those who stay here. I don’t care who it is, as long as work gets done! You have thirty minutes.”

“As you wish,” Elza says without much enthusiasm. While there is little indication that Elza would be qualified for the job, raw power should hold still hold some sway in this world. And you figure that for now at least, it is better to leave someone like Elza to these sorts of minutiae, as Elza should know much better who among her remaining comrades can be relied on and for what. Micromanaging every single order and detail is not something you plan to spend a lot of time on. Choosing a strategy for accomplishing a goal is one thing, but choosing who should be on wood-chopping duty is something else entirely.

“Aw, shucks, I wanted to go!” the chess-playing scrawny guy looks disappointed. “They say, they have the best whores in Lignom!”

“Whatever, don’t worry about it!” the sun-staring blonde says cheerfully, patting the guy on the shoulder. “I found a cool trident in the lower dungeons. Want to take a look?”

“Sure!” the guy agrees and they both runoff.

You wonder if the trident is just a code word for them boning before walking over to the elderly goblin. You tower above the elderly farmer. He looks up at you, his giant eyes faintly remind you of a puppy.

“You folks should stay put here, at least until we return,” you say to the goblin. “Considering how much you care for Lady Ariadne, I would prefer to have you all alive and well until I can secure her return.”

“Thank you, kind sir!” Minknad bows his head.

Then you walk over to Delta and whisper, “Keep your eye on the goblins. Don’t let them be harmed, but do not allow them to leave this place even for a minute. Lock them up in the dungeons if the need arises.”

Delta nods.

You’re not as worried about the goblins as you might let on. At least not in the way they might think. You still have only their word to go on, that they are the same seven goblins your sister was talking about. On the off chance, that they are spies, it is better to keep them here until Ariadne can confirm their identities.

With this, the only unsolved issue you have nagging at the back of your mind is the situation with Beta and Chi. You seem to have reached a rough basic agreement with the leader of the bunny girls, so it should be fine just staying as it is until you return. Properly finishing your "discussions" with would probably take too much of your time, for now, no matter whether you choose to keep her free will or gradually force her to submit by... force. Beta on the other hand... If one level 2 [Submission] worked so well on her last time, then at level 3 it should be no problem. Chi probably wouldn't like it, but that's only a problem if you care about her opinion.