Entropy's Servant

Chapter 15 - War

Hello everyone, Astaroth here.
Back on earth, 'people' and 'humans' meant essentially the same thing. However, in this world, 'people' encompasses a few more species than just humans. Of course, there are humans, and then there are also beast-people- essentially humans, except they have the ears, tails and occasionally horns or wings of an animal. They also have the heightened senses and instincts you'd expect an animal to have, and can oftentimes be a bit... impulsive. Then there are also races who have received divine 'providence', in a sense, from one of the Goddesses. There are the dwarves, who have the power of Lady Gnome- far shorter than humans, averaging out at about half height, but physically stronger. Males often have a large beard. Then there are mermaids, who possess the power of Lady Undine- the upper bodies of humans, often quite beautiful or handsome, and the lower bodies of fish. As a result, they are aquatic. Elves possess the power of Lady Sylph, and are often taller than humans. They possess pointy ears and have an increased affinity with nature. Lastly, the Drakonids, who possess Lady Salamander's explosive power of fire. As with beast-people, they possess wings and horns, but their hands are replaced by claws and their mouths are lined with sharp teeth. They can also breathe fire.
If you had to compare my physical appearance to one of these races, I'd probably be most similar to an elf- however, elves often look quite androgynous, so I'm far too 'bulky' to actually resemble one.

Of course, what the actual difference is between these races of 'people' and a Half is unclear. It seems to be a simple matter of opinion from Lady Luciel. 

"The war's going rather well, isn't it?", I mused, looking at the Goblinoids' village from a distance. Generally, the Goblinoids were staying inside, only coming out once Heroes neared to defeat them before sneaking back in. The amount in which they were picking up on the concept of 'tactics' was pleasantly surprising.

"Indeed, Master", Charlotte said, standing at my side. "We've lost more if we're talking about absolute numbers, but percentage-wise, though slightly, we are in the lead."

"Even so, one thing troubles me..."

"What would that be, Master?"

"The actions of the Saint, and that Hero. I see no reasonable patterns in their movements."

"Indeed, they are an enigma... Ah, they've appeared again."

"Has another one of your Vampires found them?"

"Yes. They appear to be further north of where they appeared last time..."

This was the reason I had chosen Charlotte to stay by my side. Since the power of the old Vampire crown ran in her veins, she had the ability to communicate telepathically with any of her subordinates, in a way not dissimilar to the [Telepathy] skill. Unlike the skill, however, this method consumed no mana.

"Further north, is it?", I asked, marking a location on a map before taking a step back and looking over the entire thing. "... Incomprehensible", I finally concluded. "There's no pattern or reasoning at all, is there?"

"... Master, there's more", Charlotte said, in an almost gentle tone of voice, as if trying to inform someone a relative had passed away without upsetting them. "There's a Hero who appears to be carrying... Claiomh Solais, the god-sword. Luckily, the Hero himself appears easily agitated, but this..."

"The... The god-sword, you said? Claiomh Solais, the weapon Lady Luciel made herself, the sword capable of killing even a god... Isn't that an interesting toy you've given your puppets, Lady Luciel?"

Although it's impossible to see one's own face without a mirror, just by looking at Charlotte's resigned expression, I could tell that my mouth had distorted into the grin of a very bad person.