Agatha The Legendary Guild Master

"Those who serve me well will be rewarded," I chuckled as I added, "as a token of our deal here you can have this as a reward. Later on you will be the leader of all the demons of your village, and you can also gather up more of your kin or others."

"What for?"

"As their accomplishments will be recorded under your name. Given that you will have as much pearls as you wish for, and you will have the authority to distribute them among your army."

He hummed as he was thinking about my words before nodding. "That's fair, I can accept these terms."

"Congratulations on your first peal, may it be not your last."

He grinned, and like my demon, his grin was really brutal. He kneeled, and behind him thousands of his tribe knelt with him. "We swore allegiance to our esteemed witch descendant," he said, and then the rest followed suit.

And at this moment, my acting dead system finally spoke again.

"Ding Dong! Congratulations on gaining the allegiance of an entirely alien race. The total number of the monsters joining your camp is four thousand and two hundred monsters. the total number of freed humans in their captives is numbering ten thousand humans.

The total assessment is exceptional. You gained one thousand pearls and the right to either raise the level of your village one rank directly or gain a legion of a thousand alien race as elite fighters."

"Oho, you are so generous this time!" I sneered, and the system didn't respond to my teasing words. "Alright, I will choose the fighters for sure."

My decision was simply made, and then I found one thousand pearls added to my inventory, plus a wave of energy appeared in the area.

Its sudden appearance startled everyone. "Don't panic, it's a gift from the world to us," I hurried to say out loud while that speck of energy grew larger fast to cover a large area in minutes.

"Boom!"

The next moment the energy exploded like a bubble before showing what was inside. The system wasn't lying. A thousand monsters appeared in front of me.

They were like horses, with a sturdy horse's body and head and chest of demons. The horse's body was enormous, matching the demon part of them. Each one of them was standing equal to the length of a single demon of those kids around me.

Yet they looked majestic, even without a single piece of armor on their body or weapon in their hands. They had heads like humans being exposed to fire; with skin melted and deformed over their bones. Their noses weren't there, except for two openings instead of them.

As for the eyes, they had four eyes, two on each side, and in the middle there was a slit closed. I swore there was an eye inside these slits!

The moment they glanced at me they moved, in unison and adorable order, while the largest of them moved ahead of all. "We, Tesakos, great our noble lady," he said, leading others to bow their frontal legs to stand on their fist like knees.

"What is your name?" I asked with two shiny eyes. This time I was really glad and content of the system. Knowing how much price it paid, I knew why it was so upset and didn't even reply to my tease.

"I'm Omad."

"Alright, from this moment on you will be the leader of your own army. I'm a straightforward girl, all I want is to go to battles bravely and kill all my enemies. Whoever will accomplish that will have my total support."

I paused before taking out one pearl. The moment it appeared, the eyes of everyone here were attracted to it. I smirked as I intentionally delayed my next words to let them drool more on it. "This is yours to take," I casually threw it towards him, while he hurried to receive it with the two pairs of thick hairy arms of his with extreme care.

"Thanks for your generosity, my lady."

I sensed more respect in his tone, and that was one reason I took this pearl out. "Serve me well, grow your army more and give me more victories than others and I promise you more," I said while pointing my spear towards the newly joined demons as I asked:

"What's your name?"

"Dredly."

"Listen, take everything you have in the village with you. Also, I know you keep humans captives, from now on you will feast only on the flesh of my enemies. Is that clear?"

"Clear."

I knew he couldn't refuse any order of me now, especially when the pearl already vanished. I didn't think he consumed it yet, or else he would be in a trance state like my two demons.

"There is a question," Dredly asked after arranging things to his subordinates, "will we go to the village to deliver the kids and the humans there or will we continue fighting here?"

Oh! I never thought about this!

I glanced over my new growing army and recalled my rendezvous with Jen and others. "I will lead them," my demon suddenly volunteered.

"Ah, that might work," I nodded as I realized the only one here knowing way home beside me were my two demons. "You will lead the humans and the demon kids to the village," I said to my demon before turning to Dredly, "as for the village token hand it over to me."

"In a minute," he complied before vanishing from my sight. He wasn't like my two demons, yet he was fast compared to other demons here.

"Do we have a target?" Omad approached me as he asked with some vigilance. I didn't know if this was for me or for the demons. "Sure, everyone in this world is a target," I smiled while answering his question casually.

Yet he nodded in satisfaction while standing still beside me, seemingly hesitant. "Speak freely Omad, we are one big happy family now," I encouraged him to say what he had in mind.

"Ahem, it's a question regarding equipment," he said and paused, while focusing his gaze on the spear in my hand. "I'm working to solve this problem, but it will take some time," I said while regretfully shaking my head.

"Is it an issue of wealth or strength?" he asked.

"It's an issue of technology," I replied, but it seemed he didn't understand my meaning well. "I want not to follow the rules of this world," I said, trying to explain things to him.

"You want to start from the peak of your civilization?" he was really smart, not like he looked. I just nodded, and he sighed. "This is going to be challenging," he commented.

"I know," I also agreed with a dejected tone. "I'm trying to amass many populations to look for those with great minds to help," I said.

"Yet this is a gamble," he paused before adding, "I have a better suggestion. Have you heard of the Golam cities?"

"Golam cities?" I asked with no clue.

"It's a term I accidently heard while I was in the transition period to here. This world has ancient legacies and old ruined towns and cities. Inside, you can find many treasures. Weapons and even technologies can be found there," he explained, and I understood his words.

But this was too good to be true! At least it wouldn't serve free on dinner. Omad was selected by my system, and I didn't know what that sneaky one was trying to pull. "What's the catch?" I asked.

"Well, a large army should be able to conquer the challenges there, but…" he paused as he continued his unspoken words by moving his eyesight around.

I got his meaning, and for me this wasn't a problem at all.

"Good, that means we need to expand our forces fast, right?"

"Even if most of them would perish there?"

"Even if all will perish, these cities will be mine!"

I wasn't coldhearted, but I was honest and direct. If there was a shortcut here, then I was totally ready to take, no matter the cost!

"And I pledge my life and the lives of my army to serve you," he bowed his legs again as he saluted me with much more respect.

I didn't know what was going on with him, but I was pleased he didn't feel regret joining me. "But I will amass a giant army to aim for such cities. Do you know the place of one?" I asked with a soft laugh.

"We already are its entrance," he replied while pointing to the depth of the valley, "the door to it lies in there, inside a very catchy thing," he added.

"Like a golden tree?" I asked with two shining eyes. The system was really cunning; he wanted me to go there. But I was smarter, as I wouldn't step a single foot there before making enough preparations.

"I think it might be the one."

"Good," I nodded, before pointing to the distant Dredly to come. "Listen, I will send you two armies off. I need you to fan out; note any settlement here and then come back and inform me about."

I intentionally paused before I added, "and if any of you convinced others to join me, he will have their loyalty as part of his army plus ten pearls from me for each clan you harvest!"

"Ten pearls?" Omad and Dredly said in the same breath, while for me I just chuckled and said nothing back.