Fred eagerly awaited hearing from Jim, and when the morning came, he called out first.

　　"Jim, are you there?"

　　Yes, Fred. What`s up?

　　"Oh my god, you need to hear this. Are you sitting down?"

　　Laugh. Yes, Fred, I`m ready.

　　"There was a demon. In town. Well, there`s three, really. But Kumbanaka smelled one. And then I found it, using my magic sight, and then&"

　　You used Mana Sight to spot demons? In your town?

　　"Yes! Yes! I can see them. At least, the ones here in my town."

　　What happened next?

　　"Kumbanaka got all up in its face. It was disguised as a human. Selling meat sticks. I wanted to check and make sure, but Kumbanaka grabbed it. And it all went crazy, and the demon popped out of its human suit, and started throwing fire at all the people who were gathered around."

　　That must have been terrifying!

　　"Yeah, it was killing people right and left, and I had to do something, so I controlled the wolf, and I made it attack. Wow, just thinking about it makes my head hurt." Fred winced.

　　You made the wolf attack the demon?

　　"Yeah, but that didn`t work, and I got& the wolf got its head blown off. Wow, that hurt. It was bad for a while."

　　Are you okay now?

　　"Yeah, I`m fine. It was just& really bad in the moment. Don`t control a wolf while it dies. I don`t recommend it. At all."

　　Well, then what happened?

　　"When I could see straight, the humans had cornered the demon, and were fighting back."

　　Wonderful!

　　"Yeah, but the demon was so tough. Super tough. Arrows and spells all bounced off. Then the fighter stepped up and stabbed it to death."

　　Amazing!

　　"Yeah, but then the blood was all acid, and it squirted all over everything, and started to smoke, and everyone started coughing."

　　I hope they stepped back. I told you that demons were toxic, but I didn`t tell you how they would&

　　"Explode? Yeah, it did that, and lots of people were hurt. But then, the Mother& the priestess stepped up, and did the holy magic, and blew the smoke away, and took everybody back to the temple for healing. And now the marble out front is all scarred up by the acid, and lots of humans are sick, and I found two more demons in town, and I`m not sure what to do."

　　Well. I`m actually quite heartened. Your humans actually fought and killed an actual demon. Do you know what this means, Fred?

　　"That the demons are here now, and they`re scary and dangerous?"

　　We knew that. But now your humans do too. And what`s more, they know they can kill the demons. And they owe it all to you. You gathered the creatures they fight. You gave them the equipment they use. You built the buildings they retreat to. You even gave them a special place of healing. And it worked! They learned, and fought, and won! Fred, this is the greatest news I could have heard!

　　"Wow, okay. Did you hear how I said the demon was tough? And it killed many humans? And hurt more? Don`t the demons have a whole army?"

　　Yes, and it grows larger by the day. But you can`t take this triumph away from me, Fred. Or from yourself. You`ve just proved the whole thing. Everything Aeru and I planned was based on the hope the humans could do the job. Just a hope. And now they have. They really have!Stolen story; please report.

　　"Okay. But I still have two demons in my town, and I don`t know what to do about it. I don`t want them to explode again, especially inside one of my buildings."

　　You can always drop them in a hole.

　　"Yeah, Kumbanaka and Martin suggested the same thing. Well, Kumbanaka was against it&."

　　Fred, this is important. What do the demons look like?

　　"Well, the guy looked just like a human. Like I said, he was in disguise. But with my magic sight, I could see that his magic was weird."

　　How weird, exactly? I have to tell all of your peers. Right away.

　　"Yes, I want you to. They need to know. It was like a weird shimmer. Most humans aren`t magical, but a few are. I can see some magic colors inside them. But most of the humans here carry lots of magical things, and those are all different colors. These demons are different, shimmery. Kinda hard to look at. Does that make sense?"

　　Yes, Fred, thank you. Okay, you said a fighter stabbed the demon to death?

　　"Yeah, but he musta had a special sword, cause lots of other swords bounced off. And all the arrows bounced off too."

　　What was special about that sword, Fred?

　　"I dunno! I don`t know magical swords. It coulda just been extra sharp?"

　　Unlikely. You said Kumbanaka was involved. You told me he could mix with the humans and talk to them?

　　"Yeah. You want him to find out about the sword? That`s a good idea."

　　Beg him or bully him, whatever it takes. He needs to tell us about that sword. Can you get the sword, and turn it into a treasure sprite?

　　"I dunno, it was totally melted at the end."

　　Your magic might fix it. Please try to find out about it, and turn it into a Treasure Sprite if you can. Please.

　　"Of course, Jim. I want to kill all these demons too."

　　Okay, before I go, do I need to know anything else?

　　"Well, the demon left chunks behind. I mean, when it blew up. And I tried to grab one of the chunks, and it kinda burned me, it felt weird, and I couldn`t push it into the ground, but I tried."

　　Fred looked at the front entrance of the domain, now brushed by the first glimmers of the sunrise. He thought the marble looked very pretty in this light. Except for the big burned and pitted area. And all the trash the humans had left when they scrambled to leave last night.

　　But he noticed that there were no more smoking chunks, no evidence of a demon left.

　　"I don`t see any chunks now. Martin said the humans would be clever and take them all."

　　Okay, good. Great! The more the humans can figure out, the better they`ll fight.

　　"Kumbanaka worried that the chunks could hurt me. But Martin laughed at him. He said I was much tougher than I thought. Am I?"

　　I told you Earth Spirits were very tough. And I told you that, during the last demon invasion, they laid a curse on the Earth Spirits. As far as I know they never tried to attack the Earth Spirits directly, with an army. So I don`t really know if demon blood could harm you. But I agree with Martin. You are very powerful, more powerful than you know.

　　I know you see some of the power Aeru gave you, and you recognize that such power could be misused. But you won`t. And you`re still blind to some possibilities, inherent in your growing power.

　　"Like what?"

　　Well, you can control your beasts. But I think you can do much more than control them personally, one at a time. Do you wonder why your naga defended you against the wizard attack? Could it have been an automatic part of your magic? I think your ability to tell your creatures what to do is much more than you know.

　　"Oh."

　　And you know of your mastery of Earth. But every living thing around you, save possibly for birds, relies on and needs that same earth, every moment of every day. So really, you have tremendous control over all the living things in your domain, just by commanding the ground they walk on. You could squash an entire army flat, with a thought.

　　"Wow, yeah, maybe I could."

　　And remember how you found the magic stones for the tree? What else is buried inside your mountain? I can`t imagine you`ve found all there is. So keep digging, Fred. Thank you. I have to go tell everyone.

　　"Okay, bye."

　　Fred looked around at the new day, wondering what he should do now. "Well, I sure want to fix the front porch." He thought to himself.

　　A few humans were setting up on the black stone of the front entrance, but they were staying away from the burned and pitted scar the demon had made. So Fred just& grabbed it, and fixed it. With a determined and frankly rebellious thought, the stone was made flat, smooth, and whole again. "Fuck demons." Fred ejaculated. "Whatever they do to hurt me, I can fix it. And fix them."

　　"That`s a commendable attitude, Spirit Fred." Kumbanaka spoke up. Fred hadn`t really realized that he was "speaking out loud", but he didn`t really care, either.

　　"Sure, the humans managed to kill one demon. One small one, I understand." Martin said. "But what happens when an army of them shows up?"

　　"Won`t they kill you too, Martin?" Fred asked.

　　"Not if you do your job. Not if you close up all the entrances." Martin replied.

　　"My job is to train humans, not hide a jerky-jerk dragon." Fred fumed. "And I`m gonna do my job, okay? Oh, ya know, I was just talking with Jim, and he said&"

　　"Yes, what fabulations DID the voice in your head come up with?"

　　"He SAID, last time the demons came through they cursed all the Earth Spirits, but they never attacked them. With, like, an army. So, aren`t you safe already?"

　　"If what the voice said was true, perhaps. But I do know a little about demons, and I know they are vindictive and cruel above all. If they don`t finish a job, they`ll keep trying. If an enemy escaped them, or survived, they take it personally."

　　"Yeah, now that I`ve seen one in action, I believe it." That made Fred think about the fight, which made him think about the wounded, which made him look into the temple.

　　The whole night of healing had had an astounding effect. Several of the patients had already left, and the others seemed much improved. As Fred watched, the Four Tropes were escorting the fighter out of the temple. He wasn`t moving at top speed, but he looked much better, and had no more trouble breathing. The four of them weren`t alone. Several other humans, wellwishers or fans or something, were following them up the ramp and outside into the morning sunlight. Because Fred had moved the Ogre, the group had no trouble getting from the temple to the entrance.

　　Once outside, people in ones and twos started to swarm the Four Tropes. Lots of bows and hand shakes all around. "Wow, I guess he`s the hero of the hour." Fred said to himself.

　　To Kumbanaka, he said, "See that guy? The hero who`s getting all the attention at the front entrance?"

　　"No. I`m back in my den now. But I think I know of whom you speak. The warrior who stabbed the demon." Kumbanaka replied.

　　"Yes. Could you find out all about him? And his sword? And can you find it, if possible? Everybody needs to know how to kill demons, and he did it."

　　"Do you really want me to abandon my den for such a mission? I don`t relish the idea of the humans coming to attack me, finding me not home, and smashing my lovely belongings in frustration."

　　This was a good question, Fred supposed. He didn`t want creatures to be unavailable for the normal fighting job they were supposed to do. But this mission was very important, and Kumbanaka was the only one he knew who could do it. "What if the Tropes leave town today?" Fred asked himself.

　　"Okay, Kumbanaka. Yes, I want you to leave your den. This is very important. What I can do is wall up your den until you get back. Is that okay?"

　　"Good idea, Spirit. I will undertake this task now."