The man in goggles, Pepper, and the woman with an eyepatch over her left eye, Vinegar, touched down atop a sheer cliff in Northground.
"Hey, hey, isn't this presence seriously bad news?"
"It's seriously disgusting, but I completely agree!"
Looking anxiously in every direction, the two voiced their growing panic.
Suddenly, flames and rock materialized in midair before them, swiftly coalescing into human shapes. In an instant, they resolved into a brown-haired boy surrounded by floating rocks of pitch-black darkness, alongside a heavily muscled man clad in black with two horns jutting from his forehead, shrouded in dark flames. The pair promptly knelt before a man dressed entirely in black with a deeply pulled-down hat, who had appeared right in front of them. Catching a single glimpse of that hatted man, all the color instantly drained from the faces of the intruders—two people who wouldn't have batted an eye even before a dragon species.
"Damn it! There's no way in hell we can take that! Meet up at the rendezvous point!"
"Understood!"
Pepper and Vinegar bolted down the precipice of Northground at full speed.
"Lord Yakki, shall we pursue the scoundrels at once?"
When the brawny, two-horned man, Ifrit, asked for permission from the hatted man in black,
"Splendid, splendid, splendid. Pursue them. However, they are candidates to become pieces in the next game, so there is no need to go as far as capturing them this time. Thoroughly terrorize them as you corner them. Of course, should it escalate into a fight, you are free to slaughter them."
He gave his consent with theatrical flair.
"Ifrit, proceeding with the pursuit immediately!"
"Titan, proceeding with the pursuit immediately!"
Straightening their posture, the two shouted their acknowledgments, dissolved into dark flames and sand, and vanished over the edge of the cliff in the direction Pepper and Vinegar had fled.
"Weeell now, now, now, now... I wonder if that takes care of the last piece of trash trespassing upon the domain ruled by our God. We must not trouble our God's hands any further. For good measure, let us ensure the security is completely airtight."
When the man in deep black with the pulled-down hat, Yakki, snapped his fingers, over a dozen figures bound tightly from head to toe in white bandages emerged.
"Monitor all who enter and exit this territory. Should you spot anyone suspicious, apprehend them immediately. I shall conduct the interrogations personally."
"Gigi."
Placing their right hands over their chests, the figures wrapped in white bandages bowed respectfully and dispersed into the surrounding area.
"Lord Girimehkala, the disposal of the vermin is complete."
When Yakki looked up toward the sky and gave his report,
"Well done. I shall be sure to report your efforts to the Great One. Keep up the surveillance."
A deep, commanding voice of commendation boomed down from the heavens.
"Yes! Yes! What supreme bliss!"
Clasping his hands together, Yakki trembled with delight as tears streamed down his face. It was only natural; to the members of the Girimehkala Faction like Yakki, having their very existence acknowledged by their master, Kai Heinemann—that alone was their ultimate desire.
For a moment, he remained motionless with his hands clasped in reverence, before finally rising to his feet.
"Well then, shall I return to my original duty of guarding that city?"
His body dissolved into a swarm of countless insects and vanished down the cliffside.