Since this was why I came here in the first place I immediately stop my cultivation. Then I send a pulse of sacred power into his core, it doesn't take much to trigger the evolution. Since I don't need to use any power to heal his body I restart my cultivation.

Considering how young he is I don't feel the need to put any extra power into his core. He should be able to progress as a sacred beast all on his own without any problems. In fact, in the future he should be able to help others of his clan become sacred beasts.

Under the cover of night the entire group of weasels manage to cross the wall without raising an alarm. After that it is only a few hours walk to reach their village, meaning my job is done. However, I decide to stick around at least long enough to see the looks on the faces of the king and queen.

Cloud and Windy seem to be of similar minds on this matter, they ask me and Lizzy to walk beside them. So the four of us walk side by side as we enter the village, with everyone else following behind. With this big of a group, even in the middle of the night, it doesn't take long for us to be noticed.

At first there are shouts of fear, people thinking it is an attack, but then it changes. When the crowd is recognized the shouts change to those of joy and happiness. Of course, the noise level quickly skyrockets, which the king and queen can't possibly ignore.

When the two of them walk out of the main building and see the crowd they stop in shock. Their eyes go wide and their mouths drop open, all in all it is a fantastic sight. Mixed in with the shock I can see both disbelief and shame.

Cloud yells "Shaman!!"

Shaman says "Yes, Lord Prince?"

Cloud says "Prepare the coronation ceremony, I will be taking the crown! My parents have become weak and feeble!"

The king and queen show looks of outrage on their faces, but the crowd cheers. It is obvious that the prince has the people's support, while no one is backing the king and queen. It seems a little harsh to dethrone his parents, but it is true that they had given up on everyone.

King says "Son, you are going too far!"

Queen says "While I am happy that you escaped, now the snakes will come to attack the village!"

Cloud says "No, they won't. This hero who rescued us wiped them out!"

At which point all eyes turn to me and the king and queen go back to looking shocked. Once they recognize me they look horrified, especially when they hear people talking about the fights. When they hear the full story from Cloud they don't even try shouting at Windy.

In fact after hearing the story the two of them start shooting me fearful glances. They are probably wondering if I am going to retaliate against them for being so rude to me. However, now that I have seen the show I inform Cloud and Windy that I will be leaving.

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Windy says "What? So soon?"

"Sorry, little one, but I have things to take care of."

Windy says "Take me with you!"

Cloud says "Windy! What are you thinking?"

Windy says "I want to travel! I want to see what's out there! I'm sick to death of this village!"

Queen says "You stupid girl! If you go out there you will just end up as a trophy on some human's wall!"

Windy says "There isn't a human alive who could hurt me with Ash around!"

Cloud says "You have a point there sister, but have you asked Ash if he wants you around?"

Once again all eyes turn to me, although the looks are different this time. The king and queen seem to be trying to threaten me with their looks, guess they forgot their fear. Windy is looking at me with adorable pleading eyes that are very hard to resist.

Windy says "Ash, please?!?"

Lizzy says "Come on, Ash, how can you say no to those eyes?"

"You realize I am not a babysitter right? If you come with me you will have to earn your keep. You won't be treated like a princess!"

Windy says "That's fine! I will do whatever you want me to! Just take me away from here!"

The king and queen try to object, but Cloud quells them with a look. While I don't really want to take her with me, Lizzy is right, it's hard to say no to those eyes. After a minute of thinking I decide to try one last time to convince her not to come.

"Windy, I won't be back this way for a long time. It could even be years before you see your home and brother again. Are you sure you want this?"

Windy says "Yes! Absolutely! I don't care if I never see this place again!"

Cloud says "Windy!"

Windy says "Sorry, brother, but it's the truth. The only thing I will miss is you."

"Alright, let's go."

Cloud says "Wait, just a minute. Shaman, fetch the treasure."

Shaman says "Yes, Lord." and runs into the main building.

The king and queen look very unhappy but don't say anything about it. The shaman returns quickly carrying a wooden case that he quickly presents to Cloud. Cloud opens the case and takes out a roll of parchment, then turns and offers it to me.

Cloud says "This is our clan's treasure, please accept it as our thanks for saving our clan!"

Curious, I take it from Cloud and unroll it to have a look at what it is. It turns out to be a map, a very old map, of the entire north in exquisite detail. It even shows the territories of the various mana beasts, including villages of those that are intelligent.

On further study it also shows several places I might be interested in, forts and cities from the ancient empire. To my surprise it also shows the lake where the temple of water is supposed to be. While I'm not planning to go there right now, I will have to at some point.

"Thank you, Cloud. This will be quite useful!"

Cloud says "No, thank you! If it wasn't for you we would have all been snake food! You will always be welcome in this village!"

Lizzy and I walk away to allow Windy to say her goodbyes without an audience. A few minutes later she catches up and I mount Lizzy and then pull Windy up behind me. Once we are settled Lizzy takes off towards the south, making Windy scream in surprise from the speed.

A few minutes later, after the adrenaline wears off, Windy falls asleep against my back. It isn't too surprising, she had a long day with a lot of emotional ups and downs. I let her sleep until Ekard wakes up and wants breakfast, then we stop to eat.

Windy says "Can I ask where we are heading?"

"We are heading to find Queen Mercy of the human kingdom we are in."

Lizzy says "Ash is going to start a war."

"Not necessarily. If it hasn't already started I may have a plan."

Lizzy says "Oh no! Not a plan!!!"

Since Windy looks confused, Lizzy happily starts explaining why me having a plan is a bad thing. Of course, she makes my previous plans sound much worse than they actually were. To derail the conversation I start teaching Windy how to care for the tack and properly brush down Lizzy.