"Igas" they called their village, filled with pride they proclaimed its beauty and name on a fancy sign in front of the gates. The old woman Samuel only talked a minute to one of the poorly equipped guards before the whole caravan was allowed inside, free of any toll or tax. “A golden tongue” I muttered to myself while shaking my head.
Her command of the caravan and talent of enticing those of weak will left me speechless quite often, she had proven her talent a few times on our shared journey.
I was still pondering if she tried to make the poor villagers ego bust out of their chest, as she had already disappeared with the village steward to discuss the trading terms.
Frankly the woman scared me a bit, she always seemed to know where or if anything of importance transpired anywhere.
Currently I was hidden inside my mothers tunic, we had managed to avoid any bigger attention by labeling me as a very rare beast from our homelands. The old Woman had tried to trade for me as she had accidentally witnessed my capability to store things. Mother had in all seriousness explained that my kind of beast was immune to any form of enslavement,tame or binding magic.
Furthermore she lied through a smile that my race could only be raised by imprinting right after birth, if the imprinted person died we would just return to the aether. Samuel was highly interested, I am fairly sure she at least noticed some parts of the lie, but she did not pursue the matter further.
While sometimes a bit boring the current style of life was actually quite enjoyable.
The old enchanter had taken a liking to Gale, believing her to be destined as his disciple he spent every free minute engraving his very knowledge into her. As she had tried to gain some freedom by telling that she missed her family, the old man simply made Samuel place our entire bunch on his wagon.
While unusual Gale really had a talent for the runes, she had developed a technique allowing her to combine enchanting and her magic that even I had never seen. Using raw Mana as medium she inscribed temporary runes onto spells, vastly boosting their power by taking advantage of the runes natural ability to draw in ambient energy.
The unknown use of magic had rekindled my own desire to gain more knowledge, I had become complacent by the current strength my body displayed. The glowing rune in the air had once again shown me that I was “just another frog in the well”.
Because of that I accompanied Gale to her lessons intent on finding my own use for runes or enchanting to bolster our battle prowess. Gale did not seem to mind often scratching my head when deep in though or contemplating an idea. If I ever got another life as a pet an owner like her would be like winning the lottery.
The village steward and Samuel had come to an agreement quite fast, our caravan would stay in the village for roughly a week and then proceed north. The old enchanter had also allowed my father to offer his leather-works at his stand. This allowed us to gain a medium income preparing items for our not that distant departure from the caravan.
After traveling together for roughly a month he had finally warmed up enough to tell us his name. Gale had refused to divulge the information, saying that her master would- or would not tell us. He went by the name Lusarth while unfamiliar I could not help to have a slight nagging voice in the back of my head trying to remind me of something I could not place my talon on.
The leather-works were a family project, Ere preparing the pelts together with Mother, treating the skins in herbal tonics produced by my mother. The finished leather then finely crafted to durable equipment and clothes finally enchanted by Gale under her masters supervision. I helped by heating the big kettle we used for treating the raw pelts with my flame and infusing some energy into the process.
This way the products offered in our small booth were of extremely high quality, not fancy but highly durable and resistant, the dream of every professional adventurer.
Most customers first avoided the ”beast people”. That changed after a drunken man had been forced to buy one of our travel bags over a lost bet. Not only coming back, but buying an entire set made many curious, the people were so happy with the purchase we ended having to sell “slots” where people could commission items based on crafting time.
Never in my life had I seen my father smile and laugh so much, it pained me a bit that we could not stay in the caravan. The risk of being found was just too great, unable to hunt with my small size I was slowly developing a physical depression that started to affect my thoughts.
Mother and I had a very serious talk, her worry was evident as I told her of my situation and that I would be soon forced to either leave alone or risk going feral. We decided together on leaving after the next stop, it would lead us close to our target the old temple.
POV Dotra C-Rank adventurer currently inside the biggest Inn the village “Ignas” had to offer.
With a deep sigh I placed the little papers back into the small leather bag that had accompanied me through many battles. “There is not much left to do here.” My friend and colleague barely reacting to my statement. It had been his idea to come to this remote place to collect enough assignment to finally complete my rank-up to B-rank the same as him.
“Then lets just head to the nearest city-dungeon.” I had heard that sentence so often my ears could bleed. Grabbing Aisi's ear I gave it a sharp tug, the red haired sword-man wincing in pain I was sure he did not feel. “It is not fun with you hot blooded physical types, we priests can't even tease you with that ridiculous resistance.” His act seen through Aisi freed himself from my grip “Dotra we need to do something if this place has run out of things to do, then we need to move on.”
“How about first heading to the market, grab some food, get some information I heard a caravan is in town.” That had gotten Aisi's attention, like the hot blooded breed of horses with their red mane that had gotten him named Aisi, he dragged me out of the inn. I barely managed to lock our room as he stormed off with me in tow.
We got us some meat skewers that got my friend to calm down, which made the stroll through the market far more relaxed.
Using the skill the guild provided to all C-Rank and above adventurers I scanned the local wares.
Item:Iron Bastard swordGrade:UncommonDamage 12-34Durability 112/150A finely crafted iron sword, it has long shed blood, its core is damaged by a strong impact.
Item:Unrefined ManastoneGrade:CommonStatus:SaturatedDurability 5/5Raw material for enchanting and weapon crafting
Item:Bronze tipped ArrowGrade:UncommonDamage +12Durability 29/30Mass produced arrow commonly used for regular soldiers
Item:Cuirass of the NightwolfGrade:MythicCondition:NewDurability 500/500+150 to all stats +30% to Dexterity
Immunity to external enrage effects
50% added poison resistance
20% reduced magic damage taken
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Masterfully crafted Leather-Cuirass made of enchanted and treated leather, the low quality of the base material is the only detriment on this masterpiece.
Item:AppleGrade:CommonCondition:FreshDurability 2/2Restore 30 satiety over 5 minutes
It took a few seconds for my brain to register the information
This time Aisi was dragged behind as I tried to stop the hunter that was carrying his fresh purchase. Out of breath I managed to stop him right before he reached his home. “Sir where did you get that chest-gear?”
The hunter frowned, “i bought it what do you think? Now screw off I am not selling!” the door slamming shut in my face.
“What had gotten you so riled up Dotra? That was totally out of character, dragging people around is MY job.” Repressing the urge to facepalm I tried to keep it simple for my friend. “Aisi what is the best grade item you currently own?” the question taking a moment to pass through my friends brain.”Rare grade why?”
The urge to facepalm grew even stronger, “because my slow friend, that common hunter just now was carrying a Mythic grade item. Not only Mythic but NEW!” The next moment I was back to being dragged along as we sped back towards the marketplace, due to the time most stalls were already closing down for the day.
Spamming
It took me thirty tries until I could get any info at all.
Beast, World-Boss class, Type unknown, Level unknown, no further information The target has noticed you
The silver animal suddenly watching me intensely its small green eyes scanning every pore. To my great relief it lost interest and scurried onto the shoulder of a huge beast-kin. Slowly I released a breath that I did not even remember holding.
“Aisi?”...”Yes?” “i think I found our hidden craftsman....” “And where is he?” “Trust me on this we come back tomorrow and properly and politely ask for his service. Please Aisi, on our friendship let us head back!”
Question-marks were flying around Aisi's head but he followed me quietly back to our room in the inn. As the key clicked in the lock sealing the room I slumped down next to the door.
“Now tell me, if you found him or her why did you not at least talk to him?” Collecting my thoughts, my answer frightened him quite badly. “Because the sign clearly said no service once the shop is closed and I am not suicidal enough to anger a person strong enough to have an unbound World-Boss class monster as his pet. If we really make contact, we have to be extremely polite! All these country bumpkins here may not realize just who or what is sitting behind that stand but we cannot take the risk.”
Aisi swallowed dryly the graveness of the situation had just sunken in. “ I am suddenly really happy that you have decided to level that trash skill
POV Kai
We were just packing up storing the tools and cleaning what had to be cleaned as I felt someone use an information skill on me over and over. I could not locate the source of the skill so I took a gamble. Intentionally I gave the skill the smallest piece of information I could send. Tracking the signature of the returning energy my gaze fell onto two young men.
Obviously adventurers, a red headed swords-man was lazying around while the priest next to him was white as a sheet of paper. I took a moment to scan the priest myself, his level and background were of no threat so I lost interest returning to my fathers shoulder.
“Maybe I should tell mother” but I dismissed the notion since we would leave in two days and it was unlikely that those two could organize anything that would obstruct us.
I also did not want to kill those two over something as small as the small intrusion but just in case I had saved their energy signatures.
Lusarth insisted on another lessen before sleeping while close to torture after the busy day I kept Gale company while the remaining family was already snoring in a big pile as was our nature.
Finally satisfied the old enchanter allowed Gale to head to bed as the night was already over us. Both of us joined the peaceful pile of furs, father reminded me of a sleeping puppy. Sleeping on his back his limbs were twitching softly it looked like he was running in his dream, a stupid grin plastered on his muzzle.
Gale took a spot in the middle close to Ere, I curled myself to a small ball on mothers chest.
Activating
The rising sun stirred, awakening the caravan camp, sleepy faces cursing the morning peeked out of a colorful mix of tents and wagons. Mother was the first to rise, putting me around her neck she sets off to clean herself and prepare the day. Condensing a ball of water she proceeded to clean her fur, despite my sleepy protest I also got a bath.
After properly rinsing every nook and cranny her comb appeared, her silver fur quickly returning to its pristine shimmer. Brushing hers and my teeth (father stayed true to his vow) she began to prepare breakfast. Gale was the next to rise, quickly cleaning herself she joined mother in the preparation.
As the odor of fresh food began to radiate from the cooking place my father got up, still half asleep he went through his own morning routine. Bucket full of water in arms he returned into the tent. * splash * Still in sleep zombie mode he headed back towards the small compartment we used for cleaning ourselves. Following closely came a deeply drenched Ere competing with father who was the best Sleep Zombie.
This had been our regular routine since we had left Hercs, a “normal” family life. The only sour note in all this was my current occupation as “pet”. If only there was a convenient skill like “humanoid transformation” or something similar. You only realize how much worth simple things are once you lose them. I had little to no illusion that there was any such convenience hidden in my evolution, even
Deep within I made a vow to myself, if could not be a regular part of my family because of my bestial nature, I would become the strongest beast there is! No one could destroy our peace if I got strong enough, no puny mortal may touch our own.
Absentmindedly I followed through the preparation for the last day on the market. We had just set up shop as my wandering thoughts were forced back to the current situation as two familiar faces approached. The two adventurers were back!