The First Legendary Beast Master

Sure enough, thirty seconds later, one very annoyed old woman with a scarf over her head, covering her hair and her ears, stomped out and smacked him over the head with a wooden spoon. Then she placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“In my defence, she is the best in my group with food creation.” Karl tried.

“And you didn’t think to send someone to keep her in line? One experiment obsessed Naga Queen is not enough. They just hype each other up.”

Karl could see that. Especially in the kitchen, when Remi was excited about experimenting with new foods.

Anything that could be turned into a research project was enough to get Remi excited, and if it was both an experiment and edible, it was even better. After all, food was the introductory level of Alchemy in Remi’s mind. All the mixing and precise measurements, none of the requirements that the creator have magical aptitude.

Karl patted the little mouse woman, who huffed and turned away.

“They’d better be helpful in the kitchen, with all the mess that they’re making.” She muttered as she walked away.

“Ask them to make you extra sweets, and to stock your pantry. High Priestess Lotus will help you out.” Karl called after her.

The beastkin laughed quietly as the angry chef returned to her work, then laughed harder at the sound of happy squeaking after the door was closed. She could pretend to be angry all that she wanted, but her instincts got the better of her once she was alone with Lotus and a kitchen full of fresh vegetables.

“Well, now that we know we will be getting a well-stocked pantry for the next week, what would you like to drink? We have ale, mead and wine. Or Dwarven Whiskey if you have deep pockets.” The waitress asked.

“Ale is good. I’m sure that they’ll have something special for dinner soon. Lotus loves to cook almost as much as she likes fluffy ears.”

The waitress shook her head in dismay. “One day, I will meet a sane Green Dragon Cleric.”

Karl shook his head. “That’s the problem. This is as sane as they get. The Green Dragons are just as excitable and curious as their Clerics. So, while they can be rational, they’re never going to not want to touch the fluffy thing.”

The waitress smiled gently and nodded. “That makes sense. We tell our children to watch for them, like they’re a terror, but I can’t recall the last time that I heard of a Green Dragon Cleric intentionally starting a fight.

They get in plenty, but they never mean to start them.”

Thor relayed the situation to the others, who were happy to remain in the Tiny World for the night instead of coming out to deal with whatever chaos Lotus and Remi had caused. Thor had explained fairly well that the spot Karl had found was not very welcoming, but it would be good enough for the evening, and then they could come out tomorrow to see the city if they wanted.

However, his description didn’t make it sound all that appealing, other than the food that was promised once Remi and Lotus were done experimenting.

Really, this city wasn’t all that grand. It was large, and built on somewhat of a hill, so it wasn’t too swampy, but the land around it was still very much waterlogged, and the buildings were all discretely elevated by a metre, with a space underneath to allow flood water to pass when it rained.

The terrain was the primary reason that there were no major cities between them and the western border as well. It simply wasn’t desirable enough for tribes who had the resources to contend for territory elsewhere to stay.

The waitress continued to bring drinks as Karl chatted with the locals about the situation in the area.

There were no major incidents lately, which was a good start, but there had been quite a bit of rain, so the roads would be worse than usual between here and the Temple. It wasn’t open enough to travel by boat, but the Naga group would certainly want to make the last bit of the trip under their own power, as it seemed to be some sort of holy pilgrimage for them.

Or at least for their Shamans.

In fact, it was almost suspiciously quiet in the town, with everything that was going on in the nation to their west.

It was only a few hundred kilometres away that things were utter chaos, and the whole army spent all their time fighting monsters that had wandered out of the changing zones. But the tribes here didn’t appear to have the same issue, and the problem certainly wasn’t a concern this far east.

Not only that, but the attacks by the Bomgon Army didn’t target this region, so they weren’t even having problems with foreign spies or curses.

It was almost as if Gabil itself were cursed with misfortune.

“Why did you go to Gabil? That land is dangerous.” One of the beastkin asked.

Karl shrugged. “I was with a Black Dragon, and her Goddess demanded that the excess monster population be kept in check. Gabil has had many issues with them in the past, so the Death God decided it was time to start putting things back in balance.”

The locals at the tavern looked suitably impressed with that answer.

Though many of them worked hard to build their power, it was mostly so that they would not be suppressed by more powerful forces in the city. It took a unique sort of personality to willingly go out into the wilderness and put your life on the line when you could grow your System stats with trade skills and a vigorous training regimen.

Of course, that logic was why so many never reached more than mediocre levels of power, even with long lives. But it was safer, and it was better in nearly every mind to live a long and uneventful life than a short and brutal one aiming for the top.

That thought, naturally, had never occurred to Karl.