The trio was expecting the Beast Lord to give them a quest or something of that nature, but they had not expected her to ask for a fight. If anything, asking for a fight made everything harder, since they were trying to avoid one. The entire purpose of the current quest was to speak with the Beast Lords without fighting them. Of course, they also questioned whether the Beast Lord herself asking for a fight made it so it was fine to fight her, or was the request a test from the dungeon that would only come back to bite them later? Either way, the party wasn't willing to risk the chance, and they hoped to come to a different agreement with the lord.

  “As much as we would love to fight you, I'm afraid we will have to decline, as it isn’t something within the rules of our agreement with the frog folk,” Alexion told the lord.

  “I see, well, that is rather disappointing,” Tigress told them as she turned to swim away.

  Not really having anything else to say, the party watched as the Beast Lord swam away. They were frustrated, as that was the fourth Beast Lord they had failed to recruit. With this in mind, they decided to check in with the chief to see if the rest of their team was doing any better. It was easy to forget, but the party had to remember that they weren't alone in the event, and other adventurers were also out there trying to recruit Beast Lords.

  The way back to town was relatively uneventful, even if they ended up getting into a few more fights. At the town proper, it wasn't hard to enter the chief's residence once again, and then it took even less time before they were in the throne room. They did end up waiting a few minutes in the throne room until finally Chief Ribbiton arrived, the frog already seeming rather stressed, his vocal sac slightly rising and falling.

  “Ribbit. Adventurers, what can I help you with today?” Chief Ribbiton began as he tried to make himself look more dignified than he felt.

  “Not much, Sir Ribbiton, we were just passing by to report on our progress, or rather the lack thereof,” Alexion told the frog, and the trio watched as he deflated in his chair, whatever fa?ade he had dropping away.

  “Is it really that bad?” Alex asked, starting to realize that their side was not doing well.

  “Yes, things aren’t looking good for us,” The chief answered, sinking further in his chair.

  “How come? From what we have seen, the Beast Lords are rather difficult to recruit,” Arctur stated, finally speaking up, and was quickly followed by Adriana.

  “Yeah, we have only spoken with four, and they all are rather keen on staying away from this conflict.”

  “Exactly as my two companions have said, recruiting the lords seems rather hard to bring to our side, especially without violence; however, I am guessing you are about to tell us that isn’t the case,” Alexion added after Adriana had finished speaking.

  “Indeed, somehow Victor has managed to recruit two Beast Lords. Ribbit.”

  “What!? How!?” All three friends shouted at once, having already expected such an answer but still somewhat shocked by the confirmation.

  “I am unsure how they did it, but they have indeed done it. Ribbit. One of the lords is Gama Junta the Toad, and the other is Goldie the Golden.”

  “And you are sure that they are real and not illusions?” Adriana asked, wary of possible trickery with any form of Mind Magic.

  “Ribbit. I am sure, as some of my agents have even met with these lords directly, and there is no doubt that they are there and real,” Ribbiton responded, leaving no room for doubt.

  “What manner of creature is this Goldie?” Arctur asked as he was curious, and it wasn’t hard to figure out what Gama Junta was.

  “Goldie is a large, plump, orange golden fish that has access to powerful magic and is rather feared by all other lords in the lake. Ribbit,” Chief Ribbiton told them as he detailed what was basically a giant gold fish that Dan had decided to create for the heck of it.

  “Sounds like a powerful creature,” Arctur stated after listening to the chief.

  “Yes, it is, and having it on Victor’s side is quite the blow to us. Ribbit.”

  “True, but even if losing two lords to Victor is certainly a blow, I don’t think all is lost; if anything, it gives us a harder challenge,” Alexion told the room with a confident smile, finally speaking up after listening to the ongoing conversation.

  “Yeah! We got this. There is still plenty of time to make a comeback,” Adriana added cheerfully.

  “Who doesn’t love a good challenge?” Arctur said smugly.

  The chief, seeing the three adventurers act so confidently, couldn’t help but gain a slight measure of confidence.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Indeed! This battle has just begun, and we will certainly come out on top!” The chief shouted, gaining ribbits of support from his guards.

  After speaking with the chief, the trio decided that it was time for a break. Sure, they still had lords to find, but they had been underwater for quite a while, and after receiving the bad news, they wanted to take a break and enjoy some food and fresh air. So, right after leaving the chief's residence, they headed upwards to rest before continuing their search.

  Considering that the overpowered trio was about to take a break, Dan decided to watch a different trio. This trio was the complete opposite of the overpowered friends, and if anything, Dan was happy that they were on the same team, as it helped balance things a bit. The silliest thing was that Dan had learned of this stupid trio through the help of the overpowered trio. And ever since he had learned of their existence, Dan had been watching them and couldn't help but enjoy their absolute buffoonery.

  In fact, as Dan watched both groups, he had been keeping track to see who exactly would have the biggest impact on the current event. Now, most would expect that the overpowered trio would be in the lead, considering how overpowered they were. However, that was far from the truth. Instead, the two teams had been mostly neck and neck in terms of their impact on the event, at least until recently.

  Honestly, it all began back when the second phase of the event started and the two factions began recruiting adventurers to speak with the Beast Lords. The three men had decided to try to join Victor first, but the frog had rejected them. That was not something that usually happened, since, for the most part, both leaders wanted more adventurers on their sides. However, Victor knew firsthand how idiotic the three men were and thus had straight-up told them off.

  “Who does that frog think he is!?” Poe yelled after leaving the vicinity of Ribbit.

  “Yeah! I can’t believe he called us idiots! Us!? Idiots!? He is out of his mind, boss, out of his mind!” Larry exclaimed as he swam after his leader.

  “He is a dumb frog. We are the best,” A heavily built guy added from the rear.

  “Exactly, Urly! We are great and we will show him that! We will go and join the great Chief Ribbiton and show Victor why he shouldn’t have insulted us,” The trio's short leader added.

  From there, the trio quickly went to speak with Ribbiton, who had also been rather doubtful about bringing the three men on board.

  “I am not sure. Ribbit. My guards tell me that they had to rescue you from the tigerfish a while back.”

  “Ah, yes, a blunder on our part! The damn fish caught us by surprise!” The short man with a bowl cut exclaimed, his demeanor easily indicating to Ribbiton that he was the leader of the three.

  “Indeed, Sir Ribbiton, we are great warriors and will have ten! No, 100 Beast Lords under your command!” Larry added confidently, only to be smacked by Poe, the hit causing the man’s frizzy hair to wiggle slightly, which was an odd thing, as that was the only part of the man that wasn’t wet.

  “Yes, we are great warriors! Burly will catch all of the lords!” A balding, burly man exclaimed, his squeaky voice not matching the rest of his visage.

  For his part, Ribbiton wasn’t convinced by the trio; however, considering he didn’t have enough adventurers, the frog chief had decided to bring the three men on board, hoping he wouldn’t regret the decision. And like with all other adventurers, he specifically told them to avoid combat with the Beast Lords.

  After being recruited by Ribbiton, the three men left the royal house and did very little. They weren't really sure how they would go about recruiting the lords or what the lords even were, outside of the idea that they were powerful monsters, and of course, they didn’t even think about speaking with the frog folk. Yet where there's a will, there is a way, though in their case, it was mostly luck.

  At one point, the trio had been leaving the lake and, through sheer luck, had stumbled upon a large toad. So in their great wisdom, they had decided that a giant toad had to totally be one of the Beast Lords. Of course, they had no idea if it was or not, but had approached the beast as if it was.

  “Great frog, are you perhaps a Beast Lord!?” Poe yelled, getting the frog's attention while also trying to sound smart enough to impress it.

  “I am not a frog, I am a toad. Gama Junta the Toad,” Gama Junta rumbled.

  “Well, Gama Junta, today is a great day for you as it is your chance to join Sir Ribbiton the Great in conquering the lake!” Poe exclaimed, trying to make the entire ordeal sound grandiose.

  “Sir Ribbiton? Hmm. I have heard of him; still, I have no interest in the conflict between the frog people.”

  “What!? But you are a frog and they are frogs, shouldn’t you be helping them!?” Lerry yelled while looking up at the giant toad.

  “I am not a frog!” Gama Junta grumbled once again, this time with some anger.

  “I apologize for my friend here. However, I must say you are being rather rude. After all, working for us and Sir Ribbiton is quite an honor. So, I will give you one more chance, come join us, or face the consequences,” Poe told the frog while smacking Lerry in the head with his staff and making the man bow slightly.

  “Ribbit. Consequences, you say?”

  “Yes, if you do not join us, I am afraid we must put an end to you,” Poe told Gama Junta as he and his two companions tensed.

  “Very well, a fight it is,” Gama Junta rumbled as a black coat and a large, slim one-edged sword appeared, the toad grabbing the sword with one of its webbed hands, the coat having appeared directly on his body.

  Finally, as the toad was ready for combat, it released a rumbling ribbit that sent out a shockwave of air, bending the nearby plants and causing waves to form in the shoreline of the lake where the trio found themselves. More importantly, the ribbit wasn’t just for show but an actual fear attack which easily overcame the idiotic trio's mental defenses and sent them running for their lives.

  After watching the trio run for their lives for a few minutes, Dan had to remind Gama Junta that he wasn’t meant to initiate combat, and the frog had stopped the chase. Not that the experience taught the idiots anything, and only hours later did they miraculously stumble into Goldie the Golden, who was less kind to them. In the end, Dan had to step in once Goldie had knocked them out, as he didn’t want the three bouffons to die from drowning.

  Of course, as the overpowered trio had already learned, after the two lords encountered the idiots, some adventurers belonging to Victor had come across Gama Junta and Goldie, and thanks to the three morons, had decided to join Victor. This had then placed the three men ahead in their impact on the lake event by quite the margin, while also confusing everyone, including Victor, since neither side was supposed to have Beast Lords just yet.

  As a matter of fact, the three guys were still knocked out on the shore of the lake, Dan having switched to watch others when he realized this.