"Muhahahaha! Tremble in front of me! For my name strike fear in the heart of everyone who knows it! My legions of terror will soon conquer the world and you will all kneel in front of your empress! First, you will KYIAAAAA!"

"Awww, aren't you the cutest little thing!"

Morrigan lifted Rami from the table the imp was using as a podium to give her speech. The latter was particularly terrified, her legs beating in the air.

When Rami checked its inside, the conference room of the Pocket Castle was as empty as usual, and the blonde imp had taken the occasion to appropriate it for herself and play pretend with her friends, reigning over a non-existing empire.

Unfortunately for her, the noise ended up attracting the unwanted attention of the blue haired succubus who was just walking outside the room at the wrong time.

"And these are your legions of terror I suppose…" Morrigan pointed at Rumi and Remi. The white and red imp was lying asleep on a chair, while the purple and black one was hiding behind one of the large thrones at the back of the room.

"Pleaaase, leave me aloooone!"

"Yeah, of course…" she dropped the imp before catching her back with her tail. "…Not!"

"Waaahaa! Help me!" In her panic, the imp casted a fireball that roasted the tail of the succubus.

"Hey! Be careful with that! You're gonna set the place on fire!" Morrigan let the imp escape, and looked at the burn stump behind her before regenerating her tail in a heartbeat. "Geeze, calm down, I only wanted to see what the commotion was about. I was worried it was another conflict between an arachne and someone else, those damn spiders have gotten onto everyone's nerves lately."

"We were just pretending we were dominating the world!"

Morrigan smiled at the pathetic looking trio. In spite of being born as lowly imps, their powers had grown quite a lot. However, one was the living incarnation of sloth, the second one was afraid of her own shadow, and their leader had breasts so disproportionate that they also occupied her brain.

"Naaah." She shook her head disapprovingly. "Trust me, dominating the world sucks. First you have to get huuuuge armies and power, and then you have to beat everyone. And when you think you're done, some people will rise up, or one of your bored ally will try to eat you, so you then have to manage all that with secret polices with all the administration that require, and by the end of the day, you don't even have a little hour for yourself. It's funnier to go on adventures."

"But Luka isn't here... He can't bring us on adventures..."

"Then why don't you start your own? We did just that with my sisters, mother didn't exactly care as long as she didn't have to clean anything afterwards." The succubus lost herself in the memories. "Aaah, the pleasure to travel with your friends… The joy of finding hidden treasures… The bliss of raping clergymen to death... Those sure were good times… Anyway, why don't you go on your own for a while? I heard there were troubles around Iliasport, you could start there, I'm sure people will appreciate. It's also as good an occasion to train as any."

"Yaaay, thank you for the advice miss Morrigan! Come, my friends! We will walk on Iliasport!"

The three imps left the room, leaving Morrigan alone as she gladly recalled her memories. When she looked back toward the door, she could see Mephisto leaning against the doorframe.

"Are you sure sending those on the road without supervision is a good idea?"

"Pffft, in my time, imps were left alone in the middle of Hellgondo, and they still found heroes to feed on. I'll just go check on them later I suppose."

Mephisto chuckled. "Have you ever been told that you sound like an old lady?"

"Oh, if it isn't the pot calling the kettle out! I'm more active than you ever was and ever will be!"

"Yes, about being active, didn't you want to investigate the chaosization in Ilias Village by interviewing its inhabitants?"

"Oh ffff… Thanks for reminding me. Luka suggested I asked his aunt Beetle or something like that. I'm off!"

"Wait. You, a succubus, are going to Ilias Village, one of the last places where the faith in Ilias is still going strong, to see Luka's Aunt Betty, a traditionalist, as you are?"

Morrigan shrugged, making her barely concealed breasts bounce.

"Yeah! Why? What's the matter?"

Rami was walking around Iliasport, carefully followed by Remi who did every effort to hide herself amongst the dark streets and the heaps of trash present, while Rumi was doing what was tantamount to sleepwalking. Their presence only attracted a few glances from the different passersby, but none of the people around really spared a second thought. There were stranger sights than a trio of imp, and as long as they weren't molesting everyone, they weren't seen as dangerous.

"Good we're now in Iliasport! Wait… How are we supposed to know where there's trouble?"

Remi shivered. "I don't want trouble."

"Why bother..."

Rami remained static for a minute. "I know! There are always rumors to listen to at the local tavern!"

"No! It's always full of scary people."

"Uurgh..."

The trio of imps searched around the town, but couldn't find any tavern. Eventually, they decided to go get some food at the market. As they were munching on fishes, they lent an ear to what was happening around them, in the hope to at least catch good gossips to share once they were back at the castle, when they heard a merchant talk loudly.

"I can't believe there are monsters who're raiding Iliasport from that damn cave again! Didn't they learn anything the first time?"

Rami made her way to the man. "Hey mister! What it is about Selene's treasure cave?"

The merchant looked awkwardly at the imps before answering mechanically. "Oh, there are monsters who set up their base out there, and they come attack this city from time to time. They're quite dangerous, and nobody who went to the cave came back."

"Okay, thank you!"

Rami then grabbed her two friends and loudly declared. "We know where the source of troubles is! It is up to us to defeat those bad monsters!"

"Wait!" The merchant rushed toward them and grabbed Rami. "It's too dangerous for lowly-."

Before he could finish his sentence, Rumi had turned and punched the man straight into the groin, stopping him instantly as he fell, clutching his wounded area in pain.

"Hueurgh, this better not be yet another bother..."

"Trust me Rumi-chan, I recognize a good adventure when I see one!"

Remi didn't say anything. Instead, she simply shivered for a bit as the group continued toward the outskirts of the town. On their way out, they attracted the attention of a thug who grinned evilly upon seeing the small girls leave the city.

"Look." Two of his friends showed up. "Some weak ass monsters are going to the hidden cave again."

"Damn, they're with the others?"

"No. It's even better. They will fight each other, then we'll only have to sweep in and enjoy the spoils… as well as the wounded monsters… Heheheheee…"

"Damn right! It's time we take our revenge on those bitches!" The thug slammed his fist in the palm of his hand.

"So let's follow them discreetly and see how it goes…"

Rami was standing at the entrance of the cave, carefully checking its inside. Once it was clear there was no immediate monster ready to lunge at them, she slowly started making her way in. She stood there, a minute, before going back outside.

"The coast is clear! We can explore the cave!"

"Do I really need to move in as well?"

"But this place is too scary!"

"It is a place of adventure! Come on, let's go!"

The trio of imps slowly progressed, sticking closely together in the cave like a trio of scared children. After several minutes of crawling slowly through the caves, Rami entered a room with a chest obviously placed in the middle.

"Hey, look! Treasure! Let's open it!"

"Hueurgh, the lid looks so heavy, why bother?"

"What if it's a trap?"

Ignoring her friends, Rami sauntered toward the chest and opened it without further ceremony.

"KYAAAA!"

She jumped back several meters when the chest revealed itself as a mimic. The indignant monster inside looked at the imp that had just disturbed her.

"Geeze, do you want me to eat you? What is it with people and opening chest they find in caverns? Next time, I'm going to enter your room and see how you like it."

Rami apologetically backed away from her. "S-Sorry, it's just there are often treasures in chests lying around…"

The mimic sighed. "This place got already plundered twice. First, by that damn hero, then more recently there's a bunch of pillagers who decided to set up shop at the bottom of the cave."

"Yeah! We came here to get the town rid of them!"

The mimic looked at the pathetic looking imps with wide eyed. Remi was once again shivering from behind a corner, peeking from time to time, while Rumi was resting against a wall, her eyes closed.

"…You don't have a single chance against them. There are arachne lords, high class vampires, and even a few elves. I have no idea what they're here for."

"Sure! Don't worry, we'll be fine!"

Rami enthusiastically walked further down cavern, followed not so enthusiastically by her two friends. The cave itself was surprisingly calm: There were no spider girls or other monsters wandering around, ready to attack any unfortunate intruder. The imps didn't notice, but it was clear that all past inhabitants had fled the place following the arrival of the new group. They didn't notice the large number of strings dangling from the ceiling either, sometimes nearly touching their head.

After a few minutes, Rami, Rumi and Remi arrived in front of the room where Captain Selene's treasure used to be. The place was filled with slightly more than a dozen monsters, most of them arachnes, but there also were two elven amazoness, an ancient vampire, and a pair of insectoid monsters looking like noblewomen. One of them groaned when she saw the three imps approaching.

"Drispa! Your alarm system is a failure, I'm afraid!"

An arachne came closer. "What?" She finally noticed the three imps. "Damn, they're too small, they just passed under!"

"Then next time, maybe you will be thorough and not simply botch your work because you're in a hurry to laze."

"Does it matter?" She licked her lips. "The dinner is served." The three imps recoiled slightly in fear.

The noblewoman looked disgusted. "I never understood your regime. We're not that desperate."

"Besides." The vampire glided toward them. "They're just children. We are above that."

"Above that?!" Another arachne started fuming in rage. "Just like our leaders are above petty things such as their people's resentment?! They betrayed us for the hero that pushed us back into our caves, for cattle that only exist to be fed upon!"

"You're right, but…" One of the amazoness stood up. "…They're only monster children. Not humans, we're not here for them and there's no reason to attack them."

"But I'm just hungry." An arachne licked her lips.

"Hueuurgh, spiders are so disgusting. I'm surprised the hero even accepted to recruit your lord."

Another arachne glared at the insult. "Oh, you think you're better? Kicked out of your village because you simply couldn't stop eating humans like a voracious whore?"

The insect noblewoman's face contorted in anger. "That's IT. You went too far."

A fight started between both monsters, as the insect jumped on the spider. They were joined by several others, leading to a full on brawl in the cavern. Only a few of them were not involved.

An older arachne glared at the imp. "See what you did, you weak children?"

Rami awkwardly scratched her head and stuttered. "But we only came here because we wanted to help those nice townsmen…"

The arachne's eyes widened in surprise. "You came here to help humans against us? Wait… I recognize you! You're those filthy imps that accompanied the hero Luka! Kill them!"

"Waaah!"

In a panic, Rami launched a fireball at the arachne, who take it in full force and ended up half singed for her trouble. She tried jumping at the small blonde imp, but got stopped by an arrow of light that came from behind, then got knocked out by a flurry of strikes from Rumi.

"They're so annoying… Can't they just leave us alone…"

"They're scary!"

In surprise, the ancient vampire and the amazoness charged at the trio of imp. The amazoness struck at Rumi with her spear, but the latter managed to nonchalantly grab it, and pulled the stunned elf forward, before punching her unconscious.

The vampire glided in the air toward the imp that ran away frightened, furious. She was not one to look for easy preys, but those annoyances were currently threatening their party. She managed to corner the small imp, but her target started glowing.

"No! No! Leave me alone!"

The next second, a barrage of light arrows disintegrated the elder vampire apart, reducing her to a handful of ash.

Eventually, the monsters were all wounded or too tired to continue. The bottom of the cavern was filled with the sound of pain-filled groans. Rami proudly looked at the mess and declared that the situation was resolved, leaving the bandits behind in their state.

"And let it be a lesson!" She left by the ladder leading outside, once again followed by her unenthusiastically moving friend.

"These useless scraps…"

Once she woke up, the arachne elder was fuming. After that small skirmish, the group split apart as everybody realized that, while they had a common goal, there were too many ideological conflicts between them to even function as a group.

And they left her alone. They were so close to their target, and they left her alone. They would have destroyed the hero's village, breaking his spirit and everyone's trust in him, but these cowards had abandoned her and their mission.

"No matter. I'll destroy the hero's village alone!" She chuckled madly.

She looked around her. Some of them had even abandoned their equipment. Those fools had invested up to the last of their gold for the best gear they could get to take their vengeance against the one responsible. And they gave up just like that.

She heard some movement from the hallway. Was one of those fools coming back to her to ask for forgiveness and to join her again? She scoffed. Maybe it was Stena, the vampire elder had disappeared during battle…

"Is that you Stena? Did you deal with those filthy imps? Those small whores deserve death!"

The movement stopped. She felt a small gust of wind, but couldn't see anything. The next second, she felt something rubbery tightening around her throat, choking her upper human body, while someone had apparently jumped on her back. She moved in every possible direction and tried to cut off her strangling collar with a claw, but the material reacted and never gave up. She felt a hot breath in her ear as someone started whispering to her.

"You know, I hesitated to deal with you when I heard you talk about attacking Iliasville. The only thing good that came from this village is Luka, and I'm not gonna lie, after seeing that damn place myself, I wouldn't have moved a finger if you had decided to raze it. But then…"

The rubber like collar tightened, and she could feel her body going dull as her energy was drained from multiple points. "You insulted the children of my race. Normally I would only have hurt you slightly, but those tight-ass dumbfucks put me in a bad, baaad mood." The voice turned sarcastic. "Oh sweet goddess! A shameless harlot of a succubus! You lie! You're not here to help us! Get away you filthy demon! There's no way someone as pure as Luka would do anything with you!"

The arachne was trashing around, choking as she tried to get rid of her impromptu rider. But even as she tried fighting back, she slowly resigned herself to her imminent death.

"Now, please, die faster. I also want to get those hoodlums for myself. It's getting hard to not drain any partner to death."

There was a sinister crunch as the arachne's throat finally collapsed.

Rami, Remi and Rumi came back to the town without fanfare. They initially planned to party at the tavern, but when they remembered that there were none in the small town, they instead decided to go eat fish at the market again. Rami was elated, but her friends were their usual morose selves.

"So, wasn't it a great adventure?"

"It was so tiring…"

"It was terrifying! I want to go home!"

Rami frowned for a minute, and checked around her. It looked like nobody heard about their exploits in those dark caves. Unlike the hero, nobody came to thanks them and to lavishly gift them expensive items. Was it because they were monsters? Or was there another reason?

*munch, munch*

She looked at her friends, they didn't look more saddened than that by the lack of recognition. Of course, the problem was obvious! They only did one good thing, while the hero did a lot! She grabbed her friends by her shoulders and happily cried.

"This is only the beginning of our adventures! Soon, everyone will know the legend of the three imps!"

"Do we have to move again for that?"