As mana beasts, if they freeze up in a real fight because they got hurt, then they will die. It is much better for them to know what pain feels like so they don't overreact to it. Because there is no way they are going to go through life without ever getting hurt.
Suddenly, a bite on my hand pulls me out of my thoughts, it is Haku trying to get my attention. He is pointing at the forest we are passing through, but when I look all I see is trees. That is until one of the trees suddenly turns and looks at us.
At least that is how it appears, but in reality the tree didn't move, just something clinging to the tree. When it moves Lizzy stops and turns to look at it, it seems she didn't notice it either. I give Haku praise and pets for spotting it, even though I have no idea how he did.
When the creature realizes it has been spotted it drops from the tree giving me a look at it. It is a strange blend of a deer and a lizard, it has the body, head, and antlers of a deer. Yet its skin, legs, and tail are those of a lizard, it doesn't look dangerous, just strange.
Once it is away from the tree its skin quickly changes color to match the surrounding vegetation. The color change happens fast and it almost perfectly matches the surroundings. If I wasn't staring right at the thing I would have already lost track of it.
The creature lets out a low rumbling sound and suddenly a dozen more of the creatures drop from nearby trees. While the first one keeps its eyes on us the others move away from us, deeper into the forest. Even Haku looks surprised that there was more than one of the things.
Once the others have moved away safely the first one finally turns and leaves as well. When they have all vanished into the distance Lizzy finally resumes moving. Unfortunately, they all stayed too far away for me to sense what level of mana beast they were.
Not that it is surprising that they wouldn't want to come anywhere near Lizzy. From the way they acted I would guess that they are herbivores, so avoiding a predator is expected. When I check the map and figure out about where we are I don't find a mark, so there shouldn't be a maxed out mana beast here.
Even if there was, I doubt I could get close enough to them to help one evolve. After all, while I am not as intimidating as Lizzy, I also smell like a predator. Whatever the case may be, we do not stop to try and find them again, we continue on.
Not too long after that we approach the edge of the forest and start seeing signs of humans. The edges of the forest show signs of lumbering and the path we are following shows signs of use. Once we are clear of the trees I can see smoke, there is probably a village close by.
Honestly, I am surprised we haven't run into humans before now. I was expecting the Free Union to be a lot more developed, with less wilderness. Although I don't really know much about the Free Union, this isn't what I was expecting.
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As a nation run and ruled by merchants I was expecting it to be heavily developed. In my experience merchant types only care about profits, not preserving nature. So I was expecting the lands to be more like my old world, where greed ruled everything.
It must be the presence of mana beasts that have kept humans from spreading everywhere. Considering what my old world was like it is probably a good thing. Although, how long the mana beasts can continue to keep the humans in check is an issue.
That is probably why Great Mother Wolf asked for my help, she has probably guessed the way things will go. With more sacred beasts to help keep the humans in check it will delay things. However, it will probably only buy more time, it won't hold the humans back indefinitely.
It makes me wonder how things are on the main continent where humans aren't as suppressed. Or how things might be if the dragons hadn't wiped out the ancient empire. After all, humans have only had about a thousand years since then to rebuild and spread.
The first human we see is a farmer, who takes one look at us and takes off running. We ignore him and continue following the path east, towards Illium. We continue to pass farms, the farther we go the more developed the lands are.
Other than the first couple, the farmers ignore us for the most part, only stopping their work to stare. Not long after the path turns into a road we come across our first village. The town guard, which doesn't look much better than a militia, turns out to watch us.
They don't try to stop us or get in our way, they just watch us pass as if watching a parade. In fact all the villagers come out to watch us pass, with the kids even climbing on roofs for a better look. I am not all that surprised, they have probably never seen anyone like us.
In fact a group like ours has probably never existed before, at least not on the peninsula. Maybe back when the ancient empire was still around, since they created Lizzy's race. I can just imagine a hundred knights riding lizards, that must have been a sight!
Then again, the ancient empire had massive armies, they probably had some impressive parades. They must have made an impressive sight, at least before the civil war started. Once the war started I doubt they had time for things like parades, at least I hope so.
If they wasted time on things like that with a war going on then its no wonder they lost. Then again, the dragons intervened before the war was over, so I have no idea who would've won. The fact that the empire was desperate enough to create the beastmen doesn't bode well for them.
The hardest part of going through the village is keeping Ekard and Haku from running off to explore. Even Windy seems more interested in exploring than helping keep the kids distracted. Then again she has never seen a human village before so it is natural for her to be curious.
Once I promise her that she will be able to explore Illium all she wants she helps with the kids. Of course, I don't tell her she will be taking the kids with her to explore the city. Then again she will get a chance to explore on her own as well, with bodyguards.
That village is only the first of several we pass through before we reach our first town. We only slow down to pass through the villages, but we have to stop at the town. The town guard isn't about to let us just ride through without checking on who we are.
Luckily, my fame has spread this far, since I don't have any kind of identification papers. It isn't hard to convince the town guard to let us pass, but they try to convince us to stay the night. Apparently I am famous enough that the town leaders want to meet me and have dinner with me.