Once again, most of the younger monsters were happily seated on the thick carpet in a large room, waiting for more stories to be entertained by as they lazed near the fireplace. This time, however, it wasn't Mephisto who was going to do the reading…

"Greetings, young children! It is I, Amira, the snake of the golden wind that will tell you stories of the hero Luka! All of you might have heard some of his exploits, and a few of you might have even been lucky enough to accompany him on one of his numberless adventures! But I, as the greatest informant that ever existed and one of the single most experienced adventurer, was requested to be by his side during most of his adventures! And now, my narrating skills have finally been acknowledged, and I have been asked by Mephisto to write down and narrate the hero's adventures! That's right! Even your teacher recognizes me as her superior! And so, I will tell you everything of the hero's adventures, as well as my close experiences with him…."

The reverse lamia moaned nasally, resulting in a strange vibration crossing the air.

"And the Dark Goddess herself only knows how close I have been to the hero… If you'd know how often I personally accompanied him… He cared for me and I made sure to take care of his needs like only the best battle couples do…"

A small voice interrupted the lamia's reverie. "You never got as close to Luka as that, and the reason you're the one telling stories today is because Mephisto is busy managing the food supplies with the cooks. Something about thievery."

Amira glared at the source of the interruption to see Gob. The small blue-eyed goblin girl was wearing a kimono from her native region of Yamatai rather than her usual leather outfit, and her short blond, messy hair were free from their leather cap for once.

"And what do you know, miss runner?! Don't you have to work today like your little friends?"

"The warehouse I work for no longer has meat to deliver. I'm on a day off."

"And then you decided to come here rather than to just run in the wild?" Amira eyed the small goblin suspiciously. "Are you a spy sent here by Mephisto who will snitch every enhancement I bring to my stories?"

"No, I'm not one. I only came here to enjoy the show."

Amira clicked her tongue for the first time of the day. "Then stay silent! You're disturbing your little companions and breaking the magic! Everyone! Isn't she annoying?!"

All of the other children shook their head negatively. Another small voice rose from the first rank. "Mephisto told us that in magic, it's important to be as close to the truth as possible. Or otherwise you end transforming your friend in a sheep when you want to heal her…" The monster looked down and started playing with her feet.

Amira started sweating as she felt the situation escape from her control. "Don't worry children! There won't be anyone transformed into frogs or anything like that! Everything I will do will be to teach you about the adventures of the hero and to entertain you!"

"Yaaay!"

"So, let's not lose any time and get started with one of the first of many of the hero's adventure…"

As we looked for a way to join the continent of Sentora to help his skills grow, me and the hero ended in the only city that had a harbor on the whole Ilias Continent: Iliasport. Unfortunately, not a single captain wanted to bring our company to the other side of the sea for a mysterious reason. The hero was worried, but I, the great Amira, did not lose my cool and used every one of my information gathering skills to find out why was that. After an epic effort from my end that involved judicious spendings to make the locals talk, I learned the cold, hard truth: A magical tempest was preventing us from reaching the other side. The forces of the Monster Lord were already terrified of the hero, and wanted to prevent him to join the other continent at all cost already! All seemed already lost as the hero's adventure threatened to reach a premature end! But once again, my information skills saved the day! After spending more times risking my life in a dump, cruddy bar to gather information, I learned that a cave not far from the city contained the treasure of the infamous pirate Selene!

And so, supported by my words of encouragement and guided by my directions, the hero started making his way to the aptly named Cave of Treasures. But the grotto wasn't as close as initially expected and we were forced to take a break midway. We happily camped together under the starred sky, and our bond became stronger as I taught him more of my crafts as he was eager to learn. When I think back of those nights we spent together, my maiden heart flutters like the wings of a butterfly, kyuuuu! ...Except our moment got interrupted by a lone centaur who was lost. What a brick!

Anyway, we reached the Cave of Treasures itself the next morning. It appeared the Monster Lord was aware of our plan, as she had sent an elite army of kitsunes here to take the Poseidon Bell for herself! Luckily for us, my knowledge into those damnable wolves-… Foxes! I know, I know! I was just testing your own knowledge! Stop interrupting me! So as I said, those damnable fox monsters were all over the place and relentlessly assaulted us! Fortunately, guided by my words, the hero managed to exploit their weakness and push the whelps back by outsmarting them.

Unfortunately, in spite of my repeated warnings, he later fell into an obvious trap. He opened a chest obviously placed into the middle of a cavern, and the chest opened to reveal a mimic! I had to step in, and nearly risked myself to save the hero… No! I wasn't the one who opened it! I swear on Domaimer's head! And I told you to stop interrupting me! I keep telling you that I'm the one who got- who saved the hero! Besides, it's only a small detail in the grand scheme of things! As I said, we finally managed to beat the mimic, but it was the first of our many encounter with those damnable chest monsters.

So eventually, we finally reached the deepest point in the cavern. Selene's treasure was protected by none other than Nanabi herself, one of the most powerful and terrifying monster out there. That bloodthirsty beast will trample you and kill you without a second thought… I'm not lying! You're the one lying! Tsk! Fine! The gate was guarded by Nanabi, one of the respected elders of the kitsune race! Happy now? Anyway, that horrendous monster trampled with alarming ease on my beloved and myself, and I didn't manage to get my famous second wind to pull us out of this situation. And so we were only rescued by a strange, shameless succubus who instantly hit on Luka before being driven away by my own love for him… And so we went to the sea with a bitter taste in our mouth, without any idea yet of the catastrophe that would befall us…

Because you see, while we were aware that the tempest was created by the Monster Lord's forces in a bid to keep us stuck on Ilias Continent, my network failed me! They didn't inform me that the monster creating it was that horrible, petty succubus named Morrigan! And so she descended and faced the hero, who only managed to hold out once again thanks to my advices. Our fight was long, hard, and epic, but we managed to put her on her knees and make her beg. However, that shameless useless bitch resorted to cheating- I don't care about the no bad word rule created by your teacher. I'm above her! Mph! And so after beating her, she cheated and used her undeserved powers to threaten to kill us after pretending to be beaten! And then a dumb seraph arrived and nearly blew us up while fighting her! They nearly killed us by accident for the sake of their petty grudge-fueled war! I suppose their mothers are shameless, useless whores too! Fortunately, having heard about me legendary prowess, mermaids came to rescue us. Still! This shameless ugly whore and her sorry excuse of sisters could use a few lessons in their pathetic lives. They also probably only wish they had as many men at her feet as me.

"Do you want to challenge them?" Gob was leaning back, fully relaxed.

"What? Why Would I?"

"Well, you're saying you're more attractive than a succubus, so I thought you would want to prove it to Morrigan. Succubi can get quite miffed when their sexual skills are put into question, and she's got quite a sense of family, soooo... insulting her directly on both front would look interesting."

"Pfft! That shameless harlot will somehow find a way to cheat by involving her useless sisters. I'd beat them all in a heartbeat and imprison them in a small cell for good measure." Amira looked up and proudly declare. "The lion does not care for the challenge of the ant, does he, children?"

Everybody nodded negatively. "You're right, the lion wouldn't care for the challenge of the ant. That's better like that." Gob smiled enigmatically.

Amira glared at the source of her annoyance. "Do you really want to listen to more stories?"

The goblin girl's smile became full blown. "Yes please… Actually, why don't you talk about… Solitary Island and the Spider Princess?"

"Why this one specifically?"

"Because… You know… Spider Princess wanting to get all lovey-dovey with Luka? I'd thought it would be one you followed closely."

The reverse lamia's eyes narrowed as she tried to guess if the small monster was not mocking her, but she nodded and started counting the tale none the less.

As you know, the Monster Lord had declared a war of extermination against mankind in the past. The hero heroically stood against her forces as they attacked the capital of the human realms, and, thanks to my guidance, managed to step in to defend each kingdom just in time. The arachne army was attacking Grangold in large number, and the city's defenders had almost been overwhelmed when Luka stepped in. It's only thanks to his intervention -and maybe the Grangold King, but still, mostly Luka- that the cities remain secure today. After pushing them back, I personally came up with a clever, crafty strategy to deal with them once and for all: Getting the queens on our side! …What do you mean it's been decided by the Grand Noah Queen? I was the one who came up with it!...Okay, I was there… FINE, I WAS HIDING IN THE POCKET CASTLE AFTER AN INCIDENT WITH THE COLOSSEUM! Yes, I was sidelined and got my second hand information from Sonya and Mephisto themselves… Please let me continue… (So much for a maiden's dream, kids are so cruel…)

And so the hero made way for Solitary Island to take down the Spider Princess, the monster who personally led the assault on Grangold. After crossing dark and treacherous caves and facing countless spiders, he eventually beat down the Spider Princess into an epic fight that made the world tremble. Afterward, she relented and accepted to end her attacks on the humans of Grangold. However that would not be the end of his issues with that monster: She became enamored with his power, and at the same time had her sight set on the vacant throne of the Insect Queen.

So naturally, she called up upon him a few weeks later, and I was a part of those that accompanied him this time. She wanted to get named by her fellow queen bee and queen ant to sit on the throne. However, her reputation as a cruel and ruthless leader was already acknowledged by the two other monsters who were informed by my-. Okay, fine, everybody knew that she's a bitch who eat everyone except her own servants already. Anyway, even as she presented herself as an atoner after the hero's actions, none of the other queens accepted her authority and stood ready to fight her to prevent her access to the throne. And so the hero was torn apart by his decision, stuck in the middle as both groups demanded his support. Would he help the supposedly reformed and rejected Spider Princess, or would he take a safer option and have one of the other two?

And so he turned to my advices to support him. I offered him every bit of my wisdom available to guide him and be sure that he would make a decision he wouldn't come to regret. He decided to face the Spider Princess to put an end to her ambitions once and for all. I'm glad to say that he didn't regret anything so far, confirming that he indeed made the good choice. Afterward, I smoothed out things so that she would join us peacefully. And so thanks to me we recruited another of the queen that attacked the human realms. And so, by respect for me, she stepped out of the way of the blooming relation between me and the hero, even as he refuses to acknowledge it and carelessly recruited disasters after disasters against my wish. This man is so dense he will never understand a maiden's heart.

"She's still as enamored with him as ever. And your advices could be summarized as shouting kill her ad nauseam. You definitively didn't smooth things out."

"Feh! What do you know! Were you here?"

"Mephisto was."

"And who do you think has more credibility? A yoma known for being a sick, twisted devious traitor that used to follow the Monster Lord, or the supreme mistress of this world's best network of informant?"

Every children answered in perfect synch. "Mephisto!"

Amira emitted several indignant sounds. "Do you really think that your teacher Mephisto is the best person around ?!"

"Yes!"

"Tch!" Amira clicked her tongue. Then I suppose I have no choice but to tell you the whole truth about her! Listen to the story of how Mephisto came to join us!"

She ignored Gob's widening smile.

So let's start with the arrival of me, the hero and that sorry excuse of a princess Sara in Grand Noah. We needed to go to Esta to examine the Tartarus located there, but the situation was tense because of the war of Grangold and we risked being treated as spies. Well I knew from the start that Mephisto was in cahoot with that useless whore Lilith -That idiot Morrigan's sister, not the other-, but still, we had to humor her and fight the arena because she had a little plan and was playing the Grand Noah queen like a fiddle… Still, we ended up fighting heroically in the colosseum for our dear lives for her twisted entertainment, and ended up facing no other than the succubus queen, Alma Elma herself! But as all seemed lost in that fight, I awakened to my second wind and heroically held her alone after the hero got incapacitated. What, it's true! This one is actually true! Pfah! Then don't accept it, it actually happened! Tch! And just when we thought we were done, it was revealed that it was a trap created by that dumb witch Mephisto to use Granberia, the Heavenly Knight of fire, to capture Alma Elma! Seriously, who brings a dragonkin to capture a succubus. Well, we beat this one back easily because the succubus queen also decided to support us to get rid of her. So much for Mephisto's plan I guess.

Fortunately, the Grand Noah queen also started picking up the hints… About time I guess! She sent us to infiltrate her magical advisor's academy where we saw her discussing with Lilith! And then we beat her down! We fought her and won after an easy fight! Tsk! So much for your tough teacher! The only thing I didn't understand is why the queen wasn't much harsher with that traitor! If I was her, I would have killed her on the spot…Yes, I was here, and? …I didn't act because I knew it would have saddened the hero. Certainly not because she would have slain me on the spot if I tried anything funny.

And somehow, she joined us back to help us infiltrate Grangold. Feh! You can talk about help as much as you want! First, we had to go through the whole of Gold Fort without her help, then we had to meet her in a toxic swamp, and then she ran out of spells so we had to destroy several of Grangold's golems ourselves! Yes, she had contacts with the mafia to help set the next stage of our plan in the city, but I could have done it myself! And when the chips were finally down, she got beaten into oblivion and proved as useless as any of us against her former allies! Even that useless succubus Lilith managed to beat her.

And so is the reality of your whiny teacher, the so ominously named Mephisto. See, children? I, Amira, the one whose words are carried by the wind itself, is on my league above her! Oooh, sure she helped us here and there, but she's always a torn in our side at risk of betraying us.

"And I know deep down that she's currently plotting every hour to overthrow us and go back to her lords, waiting slyly… Else why would she have assumed the responsibilities of the finances?"

"Because you're completely irresponsible with our ressources? Vanilla is still not over the fact that you tried to sell the herb stock mixed with mushrooms as recreational drugs." Gob was corpsing, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Tch!" Amira clicked her tongue once more. "In any case, I'm sure my stories are more entertaining than hers! Aren't they, children?"

All of the other young monsters were looking down, a mix of shame and confusion on their face before a small voice echoed from the back row. "I prefer Mephisto's stories... She won't be happy to hear that about her..."

"Neither will miss Morrigan..."

"Or Spider Princess…"

"Feh! They won't know anything about it as long as you don't tell anything! So don't tell anything!"

"They're already unhappy…"

Amira haughtily sneered. "And what do you know about that?"

Every young monster raised their arms toward the window behind Amira.

The trembling reverse lamia slowly turned to see Morrigan's insane grin, Spider Princess's frown, and Mephisto's cold, deadly gaze. The succubus showed one of her hand surrounded in her signature psychokinetic aura while mouthing death threats toward Amira, Spider Princess showed off her claws and her razor sharp teeth, while strange, complex magical symbols appeared in front of Mephisto.

"Kya!"

Amira jumped in fear and started waddling out of the room under the surprised expression of all the children. A spare second later, only Mephisto was remaining behind the window, saying that it was now time to work for her students. All of them magically pulled out books and started reading or taking notes.

Gob nonchalantly got up, dusted herself off, and left by the door without being so much in a hurry. She made her way back at the entrance of the castle without a care in the world while the building itself had been turned into the stage of a course hunt. She could occasionally hear a mix of furniture being broken, and various colorful screams flying from one or the other protagonist of this impromptu cartoony chase. Most residents of the Pocket Castle weren't even reacting to the mess, continuing their activities and only taking a second to avoid one or the other chaser or their unfortunate victim. The goblin girl patiently waited near the entrance and saw Amira rushing toward it at an impressive speed all things considered.

However, the reverse lamia ended up stuck in the doorway and was lifted from the ground by a web of sticky strings. Her three pursuers slowly stepped toward her as she struggled to free herself, but she only actually only managed to further wrap herself the webbing, and ended in a cocoon. The three monsters waited, smiling, and once the ball of strings that made for the victim of the trap fell on the ground, they slowly started rolling it away.

"I'm going to teach you to respect your elders you piece of garbage!"

"Good grief, we have a lot to discuss first. Then you'll teach her what respect means."

"Dear Morrigan, how about we join force for that one afterward? I have a few ideas…"

Gob turned away from the scene, indifferent to the future of the imprisoned monster who was being carried to a fate best left unknown. A few minutes later, her fellow past bandits came back to the Pocket Castle.

"Gaah, hey Gob! What's new?"

The goblin girl just shrugged. "Nothing much, really. The usual."

"Mini wanted to visit Grand Noah to see the colosseum! Wanna join us?"

"Sure. Just me let change, I'll be here in a minute."