Saving The Monster Race Starts With Breeding The Elf Village

Sigrid was absolutely baffled. ”What?! What in the world are you little ones talking about!?”

She looked at the mothers again, who promptly looked away as though they had nothing to do with this entire affair.

The pony named Nella pressed on.

”Like I’ve said, Big Sis, we’re going to challenge the Hero! All of us together!”

She gestured grandly at her companions. ”We’re going to defeat him and take down the evil villain who dared to sit on your back!”

The other children chimed in with their own impassioned declarations.

”Yeah! That’s right! No one gets to bully Big Sis Sigrid!”

”She taught me swordsmanship! She gave me treats!”

”She’s going to be our commander someday! And we have to protect her!”

”No one is allowed to hurt our Big Sis! Not even the Hero!”

Their tiny, pipsqueak voices rose in a chorus of adorable fury, and Luca found himself genuinely charmed despite the fact that they were apparently planning his defeat.

Sigrid, however, folded her arms and fixed the young ringleader with a skeptical smirk.

”And how exactly are you planning to accomplish this, Nella?”

She took a few steps forward, leaning down until she was closer to the child’s eye level. Luca watched the exchange with growing amusement.

”Even I couldn’t defeat the Hero. Neither could your mother...” She shot a sharp look at one of the mares in the back, who quickly looked away in shame. ”...Nor any of the battle-hardened knights in the garrison. So how are a bunch of fillies going to take him down?”

She expected this challenge to deflate the young centaur’s confidence.

But to her surprise, Nella had an answer ready.

”It’s simple, Big Sister!” Nella declared proudly. ”We are going to use our absolute, overwhelming cuteness against him!”

Luca almost fell off Sigrid’s back. ”...Say what now?”

”Our cuteness!” Nella repeated loudly, nodding frantically as if she had just unveiled the ultimate grand military strategy.

She then turned her smug gaze onto Luca, pointing her wooden stick at his face as she said,

”Our tactical analysis of the Hero has revealed your fatal flaw! You may be a terrifying monster who forced yourself onto our Commander...”

”Hey, I didn’t force—” Luca began, but Nella was already continuing.

”...but you are not evil enough to attack innocent, adorable little children!”

She crossed her tiny arms, looking up at him like a master strategist who had just played checkmate.

”Basically, you won’t dare lay a single hand on us, Hero! No matter how much we poke you, or hit you with our swords, or shout mean words at you, you’ll just sit there and take it! Because if you hit back, you’ll be the villain who beat up tiny little ponies!”

The rest of the filly army instantly backed her up, launching into a coordinated strike of weaponized cuteness.

”Look at my face!” One pony chirped, squishing her own chubby, rosy cheeks together. ”Look how soft! Do you really have the heart to punch a face like this?!”

”Look at my tail!” Another squeaked, spinning in a circle to show off her brushed coat. ”I brushed it for an hour today! If you strike me, it’ll get dirty! You wouldn’t dirty a little girl’s tail, would you?!”

”If I fall over, I’m gonna cry REALLY loudly!” A third threatened fiercely. ”And everyone will blame YOU!”

Luca stared at the scene, utterly speechless, while the mothers in the background buried their faces in their hands, dying of sheer second-hand embarrassment.

”With our cuteness as our shield, you cannot attack!”

Nella folded her arms, smirking victoriously.

”Meanwhile, we can whack you with our swords as much as we want until you get tired and surrender! It is an impenetrable tactic!”

Luca couldn’t help it—he threw his head back and burst out laughing.

”Alright, alright! Brilliant plan, little general!” Luca chuckled, leaning down over Sigrid’s shoulder. ”There’s just one tiny flaw in your strategy.”

Nella’s smug smile faltered slightly. ”N-No there isn’t!”

”Sure there is.” Luca grinned playfully. ”Even if I don’t hit you back, I can just stand here and dodge or block every single one of your attacks without sweating. It’s called a battle of attrition. Eventually, you tiny ponies will get tired, drop your wooden sticks, and go home for nap time. Boom—I win.”

”Aha! We already accounted for that!” Nella countered instantly.

”Oh? Did you now?”

”You see, Hero we’re all extremely weak compared to Big Sis and the others.”

She said in a pitiful manner, like she was trying to make him feel sorry for her.

”Even if you defend against us, the moment your sword touches ours, the vibration will send shockwaves through our tiny bodies. We’ll be knocked over immediately.”

Luca frowned. ”I could simply deflect as gently as possible. You wouldn’t feel anything—”

”That won’t work either!” Nella interrupted triumphantly. ”Us little ponies are very fragile. Even the gentlest tap would cause us terrible pain.”

She stepped forward, her expression shifting into something remarkably sneaky.

”Do you really want to fight such fragile little ponies? Do you want to hear us scream and moan in pain? Is that what the great Hero desires?”

Hee friends instantly supported her.

”Oh no! My delicate little arm!” One shouted while grabbing her arm like it was fractured. ”It’s broken into a million pieces because the mean Hero blocked my sword!”

”If I trip over my own hooves, it’s your fault!” Another whimpered pitifully. ”My leg will snap like a twig, and I’ll never walk again!”

Luca’s jaw dropped. ”Hey! Hey! That’s complete and total blackmail! You’re totally cheating!”

”It isn’t cheating, Hero. It’s tactics.” Nella smirked, tilting her head smugly.

”So what’s it gonna be? Surrender now, or face the wrath of our tiny, agonizing tears?!”

Behind her, the army of fillies cheered frantically, brandishing their wooden sticks in victory.

”For the honor of the Galloping Brigade!”

”Protect Big Sis Sigrid!”

”Death to the Evil Hero!”

That last one was delivered from a child barely tall enough to reach Luca’s waist that it came across as more comical than threatening.

The mothers, watching from the sidelines, covered their faces with their hands in utter mortification.

Their daughters were staging a miniature rebellion, using tactics of emotional manipulation that would have been underhanded even for adults.

And from the looks on their faces, they had absolutely no idea how to stop it.

Sigrid pressed her fingers against her temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache forming.

”What if I go and complain to Lady Poppy?” She suggested, grasping at straws. ”She would order you to return to your mothers immediately. You have no choice but to obey your queen.”

She expected this to end the matter. After all, even the youngest centaurs held the queen in the highest reverence.

The word of the Ivory Horn bloodline was absolute.

No child would dare to defy a direct order from Lady Poppy herself.

But Nella’s confidence never wavered.

”That won’t work, Big Sis.”

Sigrid blinked. ”And why, exactly, is that?”

Nella drew herself up to her full—admittedly minimal—height and declared: ”Because Queen Poppy is the one who issued this order!”

Sigrid froze. ”...What?”

”It’s true!” The fillies chorused together.

”Lady Poppy gathered us this morning!” Nella swore, crossing her heart with her wooden sword. ”She told us that the Hero was too strong for normal knights, so we had to use our secret weapon—our adorableness—to bring him down!”

”You’re joking. There is absolutely no way Lady Poppy would do such a thing.”

But Nella looked genuinely offended by the accusation.

”I would never lie to you, Big Sis! It’s true! Lady Poppy came up with this plan herself!”

The other children immediately rallied to support their leader’s claim.

”It’s true! We’re not lying! My mother said I should never lie, and I wouldn’t!”

”Knights would never use such deceiving methods! Especially not against you, Commander!”

”We’re telling the truth, Big Sis! The queen really did order us to do this! Hoof promise!”

Luca leaned over, lowering his voice so only Sigrid could hear.

”Does Poppy really have the intelligence to come up with a plan like this? No offense, but she doesn’t seem like the type for elaborate strategies.”

His breath was warm against her ear, and Sigrid felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine at their proximity. She quickly composed herself, forcing her attention back to the matter at hand.

”Of course it isn’t Lady Poppy.” She said with a tired sigh. ”She could never devise such a coordinated scheme. Yesterday, when she suggested simply overwhelming you with numbers, that was within her capabilities. It was a simple, straightforward plan. But this...

She gestured at the assembled children.

”This is carefully orchestrated. Every question has been answered. Every objection has been countered. This level of preparation is far beyond Lady Poppy’s abilities.”

Luca’s curiosity sharpened. ”Then who exactly is behind this? Who’s the mastermind?”

Sigrid turned to him with a look of profound, bone-deep exasperation.

”Who else but my sister?”

Luca’s eyes widened. ”Mavis?”

”She is the only one who could devise such an elaborate scheme.” Sigrid shook her head slowly. ”This is one of her pranks. She’s using the children to get revenge on you—and on me, as well. Since she knows I’ll have to deal with the aftermath.”

She let out a heavy sigh.

”Mavis is, in many ways, the devil whispering in the queen’s ear. She comes up with these naughty plans, then convinces Lady Poppy to implement them.”

”Our innocent, naive queen doesn’t realize she’s being used as a mouthpiece for my sister’s schemes.”

Luca processed this information with dawning understanding.

It made perfect sense—the elaborate planning, the psychological manipulation, the clever exploitation of his known reluctance to harm children.

This was exactly the kind of unconventional warfare Mavis had demonstrated during their duel yesterday.

But something still bothered him.

”Why is she doing this to me? ” He asked, his tone indignant. ”Yesterday, I was the only one who supported her. I was the one who told her she had a right to fight. The real villain in that situation was you. ”

He pointed at Sigrid accusingly.

”If she wants revenge on anyone, it should be you! But you’re standing here completely unharmed while I’m being attacked by a squad of adorable children.”

He sighed heavily with a look of sadness.

”Don’t tell me she actually hates me for what happened yesterday. I thought we had some kind of understanding.”

But Sigrid quickly shook her head.

”It’s not like that at all, Sir Luca. This is simply...Mavis being Mavis.”

She smiled wearily.

”You see, my sister has always thought highly of herself—perhaps too highly. She believes she’s above everyone else, and she enjoys proving it through these elaborate pranks.”

”The others, being much more simple-minded than her, fall for them every time. She finds immense amusement in watching her plans unfold perfectly.”

She shrugged. ”I myself have fallen victim to her schemes multiple times.”

She counted on her fingers.

”The itching powder incident. The time she rung the bell and made everyone wake up for training four hours early.”

”Or how she replaced all the training swords with replicas. And the...never mind. The point is, this is simply how she shows her affection.”

She looked at the group of little ponies, who were currently attempting to do a synchronized ’intimidating battle stomp’ that just looked like baby deer hopping around.

”So this is just another one of her games?”

”It is.” Sigrid’s expression shifted, becoming surprisingly warm as she added,

”And in a strange way, it means she trusts you.”

Luca raised an eyebrow. ”How do you figure that?”

”Because this entire plan relies on one absolute truth: that you are a good man who would never, under any circumstances, actually harm a child.”

There was conviction in her voice.

”If she thought there was even a one-percent chance you were a real monster, she would never put these little fillies in harm’s way. This prank is her weird, twisted way of accepting you.”

Luca considered this and it made sense in a convoluted sort of way.

Mavis would never have endangered children if she thought there was any real risk. The entire scheme was predicated on her belief that Luca would never raise a hand against them.

It was, in its own strange way, a kind of trust.

”That...actually makes me feel a bit better.” Luca admitted.

Sigrid, meanwhile, looked anything but comforted.

”I was wondering why Mavis had been so quiet all morning.”

She muttered, more to herself than to Luca.

”But of course. Of course she was plotting something like this. Her own special form of revenge—making me deal with an army of adorable children first thing in the morning.”

The weariness in her voice suggested this was far from the first time she had dealt with her sister’s antics, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.