Holy hell… Victor thought as he watched the fireworks from the foot of the mountain. The crater above appeared in the middle of a fiery eruption, fireballs and clouds of rancid smoke flying out while the earth trembled.

While not religious at all, the adventurer prayed to the twelve gods that Vainqueur didn’t start an actual eruption while rampaging. “Guys…”

“Chief…” Red and the other kobolds cowered at the sight, hiding behind the hill of lead Vainqueur’s hoard had turned into.

“I think it would be best never to mention the event ever again around Vainqueur.” The critters all nodded at once. “He will calm down eventually, but when he does, we will show our beloved dragon ruler full emotional support, and carefully avoid the word ‘lead’ until we die. This is for everyone’s own good.”

Victor glanced at the mess around him; he had managed to make a semi-respectable emergency landing without Vainqueur’s support in the badlands, stashing the hoard there. Not that he thought anybody wanted to steal it now.

Maybe they should consider becoming plumber adventurers? It worked out for Mario.

“Chief, what do we do?” Blue asked him, terrified and looking for guidance.

“Right now… well, you have family here, right?” The critters nodded. “Go visit them, or practice your choreography. Take some time off.”

“But chief,” Pink protested, “We can’t abandon Master Vainqueur when he needs help!”

The ground trembled with another fiery detonation. Victor looked back at the mountain, noticing huge monsters fleeing the volcano. It appeared the local horrors had wisely decided to bolt the hell out of the region. One giant worm flew over the crater's edge, probably tossed out by Vainqueur.

How long did dragons rampage? Days? Or would he calm down if he managed to kill Furibon?

“Right,” Victor said. “Look, ‘Master Vainqueur’ is too furious to act rational, and he isn’t calming down anytime soon. Consider this a vacation. You earned it after all your good work so far.”

As the kobolds and kobones kept exchanging glances, Victor suddenly realized these professional minions had no concept of a vacation. They literally lived to serve bigger creatures and didn't understand life outside it.

“Okay, look, minions, I am giving you a secret mission. Do you remember Vainqueur’s glorious vision about V&V?” Merely mentioning the name gave him cancer. “You said the local minion job market is crowded, and His Majesty has a shortage of them. So, fetch us more minions.”

“Chief, are…” They looked about to cry, even the undead ones. “Are you replacing us?”

“No, in fact, you are now no longer interns, nor even new minions, but minion lieutenants,” Victor improvised. “You will be the admins serving under me, but above new minions. The elite of our adventurer guild.”

“We… we’ve been promoted!” The tears quickly turned to joy, with Red outright jumping on place. “Promoted!”

“So go find more interns.” Victor made a dramatic gesture. “They will be your responsibility though, so accept only the best.”

“Yes, chief!” They bolted off so fast, Victor’s eyes could barely follow them.

Truth to be told, Victor actually started to enjoy leading minions around. He mostly blamed it on Stockholm Syndrome and Vainqueur rubbing off on him the wrong way, but it felt nice to be obeyed, rather than obeying.

Damn, he was turning into a dragon.

That, and after that stunt with the duchess, Victor was all but trapped with Vainqueur. Without the dragon's protection, he would no longer be able to set foot in Gardemagne without being executed. More minions meant less people likely to pick a fight with him.

Now alone, Victor decided to visit the one village around, in case he could buy supplies. He was aware of the minions’ warnings about the place, but he could probably handle it on his own if he was careful.

From afar, it appeared the town had less than two hundred people living there. It was a small farming community, with Victor recognizing olive, citrus, and stranger fruits orchards, even a vineyard. The large stone houses could accommodate entire extended families, reminding Victor of American ranches.

Also, he noticed that they had a lot more sheep than they should need.

Besides these details and the pervasive scent of dogs, even if he couldn't see any, the village seemed relatively normal. Victor approached it warily, and two locals immediately came to greet him.

The two looked like a couple of ranch hillbillies, one male in his late twenties and a girl a bit younger than Victor himself. Both were brown-skinned, with eyes of the same color, and similar enough that Victor assumed they must have been part of the same family.

"Hi there, traveler," the man spoke up. Powerfully built, with a mane of black hair and dirty, rancher clothes, he looked straight out of a Clint Eastwood Western. "I'm Croissant and this is my sister, Chocolatine. Welcome to Murmurin."

"Hello, handsome," said the girl, a pretty creature with semi-long coffee hair and dressed like Little Red Riding Hood, "You're an adventurer coming to hunt the dragon, right? Right?"

Victor had the strange feeling a lot of eyes were observing him. "Hunt the dragon?"

Croissant pointed a finger at the volcano. "A dragon just made its lair in our mountain and is frightening the livestock. If you could kill it, that would help us a lot."

“No, I’m a lead merchant,” Victor deadpanned.

“Lead?” Croissant repeated, confused.

“Lead. I love lead. Are you all vampires?”

“What? Of course not! Vampires are vile, tasteless things! Nobody likes them!” Tasteless… odd choice of words. “Why the sudden accusations, stranger?”

“My Kobolds interns told me of bad moon mojo around here, and you’re a creepy village in the middle of nowhere. I’ve watched movies, and I can defend myself.”

Victor suddenly realized that wording made no sense, but the duo seemed to understand. More and more suspicious, the adventurer decided to use [Monster Insight] on them, just in case.

Croissant

Werewolf (Humanoid/Beast)

Strong against Moon, Beast, Madness and Fairy effects.

Weak against Silver, Manslayer, and Beastslayer effects.

Older brother of Chocolatine, and a werewolf; can turn into a giant wolf-hybrid at will, but goes berserk during the full moon. Kind of rough around the edges, especially if you mention Gevaudan. Oh man, you are so BEEPED if you mention Gevaudan. Almost as BEEPED as if you BEEP his sister.