A Warm Peace Offering

Kaira, the representative of the Harpy Tribe Alliance of the Demon King's Western Legion and its temporary commander—known on the gallery by her fixed nickname HarpyQueen—was so overwhelmed by sorrow that she wailed loudly enough to be heard by the sentries stationed far outside her command post.

"Ppyyaaaaaat!!!"

She felt utterly devastated. The harpies had endured incredibly harsh days. Unlike the mainstream "demons" who made up the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠absolute majority of the Demon Realm, minority races like harpies, goblins, orcs, and ogres were never truly treated as equals.

As the representative of these harpies, Kaira bore an exceptionally heavy burden. The revival of our tribe. That was the sole mission entrusted to her. However, the prolonged war had already decimated the harpy population to a mere fraction of its former glory. Now, their ancestral home, the cliff fortress on the western coast, was completely besieged by the Hum-Elf-Dwarf Alliance.

With most of the major strongholds in the surrounding regions fallen, remnants of the military and waves of refugees had all converged on this single spot. Kaira had been practically forced to take on the grandiose title of Temporary Commander of the newly cobbled-together Western Legion, desperately struggling to ensure everyone's survival.

And yet...

She had been flatly rejected by the Head Mod in the gallery where she had gone to beg for help. And because the reason was the sheer rudeness of her most cherished adjutant, she couldn't bring herself to blame her subordinate, nor could she blame herself. In the end—

"Ppiyaaaaatt!!!"

Her pent-up sorrow and resentment exploded in a torrent of tears.

It's over! It's all over!

The situation was deteriorating by the minute, and there was nowhere left to turn. Even before seeking help from the gallery and the Head Mod, the harpies had requested reinforcements from the Central Army, only to be coldly rejected.

"The West? It doesn't matter if that place falls. Even if they capture the fortress, the nearby mountains and forests are crawling with goblin legions lying in ambush. Do you honestly think the human army is crazy enough to march through there?"

"B-but there are so many refugees here who fled from the surrounding areas, ppi!"

"And what of it?"

"Ppi...?"

"You clearly don't realize how dire the situation is on the Central Front. Because of the Hero's infinite supply capability, the front lines are being pushed back even as the main force of the Central Army fights to the death."

"But..."

"If the Central Front collapses, the path straight to Kronendike will be wide open! Do you understand? We have no reinforcements or supplies to spare for you, so I am hanging up."

"P-please, reconsider—ppi?!"

The Chief of Staff of the Central Army bluntly deactivated the communication crystal. It was practically a heartless command telling them, All of you, stay there and die fighting.

Clinging to a sliver of hope offered by the defeated soldiers and refugees, she had sought out the Cheerful Demon Realm Village Gallery. It was a place managed by a mysterious beauty known as the Head Mod. During the recent Sun Orb crisis, the locals living near the front lines had reportedly received immense help from her. Perhaps, just perhaps, she might extend a helping hand to the harpies as well. It was with that desperate hope that Kaira had entered the gallery.

Even though Kaira had openly revealed her identity, most of the gallery users were remarkably friendly. There were a few hostile trolls, of course.

The gallery users had stepped up to handle the trolls themselves.

Instead, they had offered her warm words of comfort. It was the first time in her life as a harpy that she had ever experienced such kindness. Deeply touched, Kaira had thoroughly enjoyed browsing the gallery. The users welcomed her, chatted with her in the comments, and even praised her dried fish. They had even created cute custom emojis—or "cons"—just for her, some of which were even animated. It was clearly a labor-intensive task, yet they had asked for nothing in return. It was only natural that Kaira was deeply moved.

Having lost her parents at an early age and lived a life of constant struggle, she had never once been called "cute." Yet here, she heard it countless times. For a brief period of less than thirty minutes, Kaira had been liberated from the crushing weight of being the harpy representative and the temporary commander of the Western Legion. Perhaps that was why the sudden crash back to reality hit her so much harder.

Kaira's weeping grew more intense. Watching her, the adjutants scratched their heads and glared at the culprit behind this entire disaster: the fixed nick BlueHarpy. Lapis had already voluntarily prostrated herself, face pressed against the dirt, trembling violently.

"Hic, sob, sniff, hic..."

"Y-Your Excellency, are you feeling any better..."

"Ppyyaaaaaat!!!"

Her tears showed no signs of drying up. Now, she was even flailing her wings in the air as she wailed in deep sorrow.

But then.

"Um... Your Excellency?"

"Sniff, h-huh? Sob, what is it?"

"...The gallery is still open."

"So what... huh??"

Because Kaira had been flailing her wings so wildly, an astronomical coincidence occurred—the kind of excuse a defendant might use in court, claiming their cat had accidentally typed a malicious comment.

"A... a post has just been uploaded."

A completely gibberish shitpost, with a title and content resembling alien hieroglyphics, had been published.

But that wasn't all.

"W-what is a 'video'?"

Within the post was a large, pitch-black screen. With a trembling finger, she tapped it.

— Ppyyaaaaaaaat~~~~!!!

There, captured in vivid detail, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was her own face, weeping as sorrowfully as a toddler who had just had their candy stolen. It was a mysterious, moving, and sound-producing recording that laid her embarrassment completely bare.

"!!!!!"

Kaira's face flushed bright red as she buried her head between her folded wings. She peeked through her feathers to check the video.

— Ppyyaaaaaat!!!

Mortified by her own pathetic state, she quickly snapped her wings shut again. After repeating this cycle several times, she finally built up enough tolerance to stare at the gallery screen with a burning red face.

"...We saw absolutely nothing."

"You can just delete the post, Your Excellency."

"Y-yes, right."

She couldn't leave such an embarrassing display online. But just as she was about to delete it...

"H-heeek?!"

In the blink of an eye, the post had accumulated nearly two to three hundred comments.

Whoosh!

Kaira's face flushed so hot it felt like molten iron fresh out of a furnace.

"P-Ppiyaat...?"

Slowly, she scrolled down the screen with the tip of her finger.

"Everyone is so kind..." Before she knew it, her tears had stopped. It was all thanks to the comments overflowing with warm comfort and goodwill. And then...

"...The Head Mod?" A direct message had arrived from the Head Mod.

"Are these bastards serious?"

The moment a cute female user showed up, they immediately made custom emojis for her, and now they were ganging up on me, claiming the Head Mod was in the wrong. But amidst all this, there was one surprising fact.

Contrary to my expectation that the forum would be flooded with trolls, only two enemy spies had been apprehended.

"So this is actually the genuine opinion of the gallery users?"

[It appears so.]

The Head Mod is wrong. The Head Mod went too far. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Head Mod needs to fix this, and so on.

"Sigh, this is why they say raising kids is a waste of time."

Of course, I had never actually cherished these gallery users like my own children, but they still needed to have a conscience. There was a whole truckload of people here who wouldn't even be alive right now if not for my support. And yet, not a single person was defending me.

"I'm a little hurt, honestly."

But that was a separate matter. For now, resolving the unfair situation with the harpies took priority. So, I reached out to the fixed nick War Correspondent, who was well-versed in the situation on the Western Front and other races.

In other words, with terrible conditions, insufficient armaments, and zero supplies, she was barely holding on while leading what was essentially a civil defense force.

"So she isn't like the other legion commanders I know..."

On top of that, he added that harpies were a marginalized race with a poor reputation, often looked down upon even within the Demon Realm.

"And I had no idea."

Looking back, the fault lay entirely with a single subordinate acting on her own. Telling the entire race to get lost was definitely an overreaction. I immediately summoned the fixed nick HarpyQueen to a chat room.

Harpies were a race with human bodies but feathered wings instead of arms. In other words, their biological base was avian.

"Since their diet is similar to birds..."

I happened to have some items that would make perfect gifts.

"I hope it suits her taste."

Kaira and the other harpies let out startled shrieks of "Ppyat!" as large, transparent containers suddenly materialized out of thin air and landed with a heavy thud. However, the moment they inspected the contents, their mouths began to water.

"T-this is!"

"All kinds of nuts and even seeds?!"

"Quick, how do we open this?!"

A rich assortment of walnuts, peanuts, macadamias, and more filled the Premium Nut Mix, while pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and other varieties packed the Premium Seed Mix. The Head Mod's peace offering was more than enough to capture the hearts of the harpies, who had been starving due to the severe food shortage.

Gulp.

At the sound of a loud, heavy swallow from below, everyone—including the commander—turned their gaze downward. There stood the fixed nick BlueHarpy, her face burning red as she craned her neck to stare longingly at the nut containers. Her comrades looked at her with expressions that said, Sigh, even in a situation like this, you...

However...

"Pfft, ahahaha!!!"

Kaira burst into uncontrollable laughter at her adjutant's pathetic display. After laughing her fill, Kaira bent down with a refreshed expression and spoke.

"Get up, Lapis."

"...Huh?"

"Let's eat together. And then, we're going to apologize to the Head Mod. Understood?"

Her superior, who had always treated her with gentleness, was smiling and extending a hand to her even now.

"See? The Head Mod doesn't hate us like the other demons do. So let's not be so hostile toward him, okay?"

"...I understand."

It was the exact moment the once-toxic adjutant, BlueHarpy, had a change of heart.

"I hope this is okay."

Though I had sent the peace offering, I was a bit anxious that they might interpret it as teabagging. After all, I didn't know much about harpies.

"It's been about thirty minutes now."

There was still no response in the direct message chat. But then...

Following the link sent by the sub-mod, I clicked through.

It was a video of BlueHarpy's apology uploaded through HarpyQueen's account. Confirming that the matter had been resolved amicably, I let out a chuckle and unbanned BlueHarpy's account.

What HarpyQueen had sent was...

"...An egg?"