“I thanketh thee f’r thy assistance.” The elf man said with a smile, his previous nervousness slowly dwindling along with the wounds of the human child.

“No problem.” I nodded, a smile gracing my lips as I saw the expression of the human child slowly go from pained to relief, then joy.

The other demi-humans also slowly let their guard down. My previous show of assistance enough of an incentive to calm them.

I directed my eyes towards the two remaining demi-humans, their bodies tense for a brief second.

“Calm yourselves, I mean you no harm.” My voice caused them to wince, but slowly, and surely, their guards were let down, one layer at a time.

“W-what do you want with us…?” The normal looking demi-human – whose species I still have no idea about – asked while trembling, his lips quivering in anxiousness once again due to having my attention.

“Well, for starters,” I backed away, giving the demi-humans their space of comfort, “I’m in need of workers. Mostly manual labor.”

The group of demi-humans tense slightly, my words sinking into their thoughts as they tried to process why I, a monster, needed manual labor.

“Now, now, the manual labor I’m speaking of isn’t anything heavy, just helping the community with building some houses and buildings.”

“W-wait… Community…?” The female demi-human, probably a gnome going by her appearance, shookily looked at Merethyl, her eyes asking the meaning of my words.

“A community of monsters.” Merethyl’s short explanation caused them to freeze once more, and this time, it wasn’t out of nervousness, but instead, it was out of fear.

“M-monsters…? Like… Goblins, orcs, and kobolds…?” The normal demi-human’s teeth chattered as he breathed out his question. I withheld a snort of laughter, not wanting to cause friction with the group of demi-humans I wanted to partner with.

“It is as Merethyl says.” I stated, causing them to focus their gazes on me once more as I gestured to Gong, who was silently watching the entirety of the situation unfold. The gorilla nodded and slowly made his stride towards me, the group of demi-humans watching all the while.

Once he was right beside me, I gestured towards him, as if showing him off as some kind of entertainment.

“Everyone, meet Gong, one of the newest monster species to walk the kingdom.”

Their eyes widened as Gong puffed up his chest, basking in the attention given towards him by the group of demi-humans, however small.

“New…?”

“Monster species…?”

The normal and gnome demi-humans blinked, their bodies once again trembling at the revelation.

Well, I don’t blame them; Teleported into an area where a community of monsters lived. A new monster species was born, and no one knew their characteristics, other than big, black, hairy humanoid monster, and they are armed too.

Unlike them; dressed in rags, carrying a human child, and without any sort of equipment for defense on their person, if you exclude the common sword or dagger they are currently holding.

“Anyway, before we go onto the specifics, I would like us to introduce ourselves.” I said, garnering their attention once more as they stopped their thoughts from derailing into darkness. “My name is Jionni, and if you were present at the Hunter’s Association back in Kazanpan a few days back, which I would guess you were not, I and your Town Lord made a deal, which was then broken due to a demon.”

Merethly flinched at my words, her head slowly looking away as she reminisced about the time when the demon was friendly to them and her team, which then prompted her to snarl silently.

“You already know Gong,” the gorilla in question nodded his head, signifying to the demi-humans that the hairy monster beside me also has above-average intelligence for a monster, “and the female elf over there is Merethyl.”

Merethyl nodded in their direction once before turning away. Her gaze focused on me as she slowly made her way towards my location.

“How about yours? May I know the name of the demi-humans who Merethly here rescued from that town…?”

The group of demi-humans were silent, before the elf male took it upon himself to go first.

“Greetings, benevolent jionni. Mine own nameth is Anduin Ildroun, and the child on mine own backeth h’re is Alice” The human child in question, now named Alice, gave me a wave, still a little on guard. After Anduin’s introduction, then next to follow was the normal looking demi-human.

“Erm… H-hello… Jionni… My name is Krag Vavrus, and before you think about me being a human, allow me to correct you. I am a gnome.” His words got a little heated at the end there, probably a bit fed up with constantly telling other new people that he is, in fact, a gnome and not a human.

“I figured you weren’t a human, but I had a hard time coming up with the type of your species.” This got Krag to perk up, his lips slightly arcing upwards.

“Really…? Then how did you know I wasn’t a human…?”

“The situation in the town. Most, if not all, demi-human human supporters are probably dead now in that hellhole, and demi-humans are chained and locked up, either waiting until the humans execute them, or for torture purposes.”

Krag deflated a bit at my response.

“…” Krag went completely silent, his thoughts going to places I have no idea where the destination was.

“U-um…” The female gnome piped up, her slightly pointy ears bouncing up and down… Probably due to nervousness.

“Hm… No need to be afraid.” I assured her, causing her to slowly loosen herself up, but still tense enough in case the situation goes awry.

“… My n-name is Lara Sedlak… Gnome…” Her tiny voice was barely heard, but I was able to.

“I see, well then, Lara, Krag, Anduin, and Alice… How would you like to live here and gain security and living privileges in exchange for manual labor?”

The group of demi-humans were considering my offers, but another light show blinded us, causing everyone to be on guard, as well as Domino to come out of her hiding spot and rush towards me with concern.

Once the light died down, my guard slowly went away, my glare directed at the cause with a smirk on my face.

“Well then… I see the Town Lord is safe and sound…” I smirked at Luke, who was groggily standing up due to the sudden teleportation. My eyes roamed around the newcomers, the Town Lord, his wife, a muscled scarred man, and a… Is that an office outfit…?