That was... awkward. I thought after my interaction with Kara, and I could see on everyone's faces that they thought the same thing. “Does anyone have any ideas on how to gather...”
Just as I spoke, the entire herd of gazelles, or drackolopes as they were called here, rushed back over to the spot where the crack used to be.
“Uh... never mind.” I said, and most of the women laughed. I turned to look at the man that owned the herd. “I guess you don't need help corralling the herd back together.”
“I don't want them gathered here.” The man said, a little disgruntled, and waved at the field they were in. “I still have the same problem that I had before.”
“Oh, that's an easy solution.” I said. “Just give them what they want where you want them to go.”
“Yes, easy.” The man sighed. “They won't even look at me while they wait for more of those creatures to appear.”
“They won't be appearing here anymore, so they should lose interest.” I said. “Eventually.”
The man chuckled. “You obviously don't know how stubborn animals can be.”
“Do you have a bag of holding?” I asked and the man nodded. “Then I have the solution to that problem... at least, I hope I can give it to you without alerting the herd, which would defeat the purpose of giving it to you.”
“I don't understand what you just said.” The man said, slightly confused.
“He's saying he has some of the creature carcasses and can give them to you, so you can lure the herd back to wherever you want them to go.” Maylia clarified for me before I could. “If they see it or smell it before you start moving, though...”
“Oh, I get it.” The man said. “If they see it appear here again, they won't leave.”
“They'll also probably assault us to get at it.” I said with a smile. “They apparently find them extremely delicious.”
“Then we need to block their senses for a few minutes.” The man said. “Does anyone have a 'stun crowd' spell?”
“There's a spell for that?” Josh asked, clearly surprised.
“What world are you from?” The man asked with a laugh as Diofra started to dig through her bag of holding. “Every town guard outpost has a copy in case of emergencies.”
“To stun their own people?” Jessica asked.
The man laughed. “Riots, panicking from monster attacks, you name it, they have to handle it all.” He said. “Mind you, it's only a low tier spell, so it's low range and low power that only affects about twenty feet.”
“How do you know that?” Josh asked.
“I used to be a guard.” The man said with a smile. “Picked by the queen herself.”
“What are you doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?” Steven asked.
“Steven, that's none of our business.” Kara said.
“It's fine.” The man said. “I lost a leg while fighting a pretty ferocious monster that thought I was a tasty morsel.”
Jessica gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.
“I get that reaction a lot.” The man said with a smile. “The queen's healers managed to grow my leg back eventually and she asked me to retire. She said I had done my duty for her and that she wouldn't ask me to sacrifice anything else for the kingdom.”
“That's what you're doing here.” I said, now that I understood. “You're breeding monster hunters.”
“Trying to.” The man said with a laugh. “It's really difficult to balance their strength with their ability to be domesticated.”
“Not to mention a voracious appetite.” I said and he laughed. “All right, just a second.” I said and closed my eyes to concentrate. I chose the dome-like protective Presence shield and poured my Presence out to form it. Once it started to come into existence, I started to add mana to it. I hadn't had the chance to modify this technique yet, so it took a few minutes for it to appear and cover us all.
“What are you doing?” Maylia asked and grabbed my shoulder.
“Blocking us off from being seen... and hopefully felt.” I said and added more mana to make the green color thicker and thicker.
“What if they attack?”
“Then I'll be hurt again.” I said and pushed as much mana as I could into the structure to make it a solid green dome that blocked out everything, then I made it solid. “Whew. That was a bit difficult.”
“A bit?” Kara asked and looked at the size of the dome that covered them. “Hunter, you... how did you do this?”
I smiled. “Sheer obstinance.”
“No, how can you create it so large and not have it collapse under its own energy?”
“It's solid.” I said and her mouth made a little 'o' of surprise. That made me smile, because it wasn't very often that I could surprise the very seasoned Order council member. I looked out through the bubble with Detect Mana Presence and watched the herd as I took out one of the tree-like carcasses that I had harvested on the other side of the crack. It wasn't quite 'dead' in the sense that a living creature would die when stabbed through the heart. All that had happened was its mana center had been disrupted and the tree was no longer animated.
Maylia caught her breath at the thing and she touched it. “Hunter, do you remember the story I told you about fighting an evil mage that used their magic to animate trees?”
I nodded. “That's what I was thinking about when I killed the first one of these things.” I said. “I couldn't detect anything inside them that was really alive, except for their flow of mana.”
“The poor things.” Maylia said and stroked its arm.
The others exchanged looks as if to say she was acting really weird. I couldn't tell them that she was an elf and loved trees, because of the prejudice against elves. I handed the large tree-like thing to the man and he slipped it into his bag of holding. The herd didn't react at all, and I relaxed.
“I took out all of the ones close to the portal and started to put them into my bag of holding, when that root thing appeared.” I said and handed the man another one. “It started out small and then more and more of it kept flowing out of somewhere.”
“You couldn't tell from where?” Kara asked.
I shook my head and kept pulling the tree-like things out and the man kept taking them. “Whatever was generating it was either blocking me, or it was too far outside of my detection range, which is considerably huge when I'm sharing god's energy.”
“The part that came out of the crack was about the size of a small building, so the main part must have been gigantic!” Jessica said.
“I didn't see much besides a general shape, because it attacked and slammed into me as I was covered. I'm just glad I was near the crack and it had shoved me through by mistake.”
Jessica put a hand on my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I'm glad, too.”
“We all are.” Diofra said. “If fighting... an arm?” She asked and I nodded. “If just the arm was like that, imagine if we had to fight the whole thing!”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“No, thanks!” Steven chuckled. “I've never felt so superfluous in a fight before.”
I laughed. “Hey, I was swinging an ancient artifact around and pretty much felt the same way.”
“Ancient artifact?” A few of them asked at the same time.
“This.” I said and pointed to the hilt of my mother's Light sword. “At least, that's what I've heard.”
“Why is it considered ancient?” Kara asked.
“Probably because of the focusing crystal.” I said and she nodded. Even though a lot was known about what they did and could be used for, how the crystals had formed in the first place was all just speculation and conjecture. The refinement process was also a closely guarded secret. I didn't tell Kara that I knew what that was because of the information my parents had left me, or that I had shared the information with all the people I had rescued, in an attempt to disrupt The Order's stranglehold on the crystals.
“How many of these things do you have?” The man asked.
“Only a few hundred.” I said and the man stopped taking them and stared at me.
“Did... did you...”
“Yeah.” I said. “I doubt we'll get anything for a bounty, since these things are just animated trees, so I've got no problem handing them all over to you for your drackolopes.”
“This will save me so much money in feed.” The man said and started taking them again.
“Don't try cutting the arms and legs off, though. They dry up and crumble when separated from the trunk.” I warned him, and he nodded.
“That must be why they eat them so fast.” Jessica said. “They know if they only eat so much, it dies and they don't all get some.”
I chuckled. “I really would like a small group of them when they're fully trained.”
“I'm sending a pack to the queen when they are. If her monster expert approves of them, I should be able to sell them in pairs or even small packs to the city guard posts across the kingdom.”
“That's a lofty goal.” I said and we kept the transfer from one bag to the other in a steady stream. “I hope you achieve it.”
“I'm not doing it for the money.” The man said and everyone looked at him with expressions of disbelief. “All right, not only for the money.”
That made a lot of us laugh. It didn't take long to hand them all over, and the man thanked me profusely. I waved his thanks away and clapped him on the shoulder.
“Tease the herd with one when you're a few hundred feet towards where you want them to go.” I said. “I should suggest dropping it and let them have it; but, you're training them. It's up to you how to use the bait.”
“You're saying I should leave them like breadcrumbs and make a trail back to the farm?” The man asked.
I nodded. “It's worth a shot. If that doesn't work, blindfold them all and drop one of the tree things into a paddock or something. They'll follow the smell blindly and you should be able to get them all gathered up easily.”
“You just thought of all that, didn't you? You weren't planning it beforehand?” The man asked.
I shook my head. “I can think pretty fast sometimes.”
“If you have any other ideas, let the queen know. She can contact me at any time.” The man smiled.
I smiled back and nodded as I absorbed the Presence and mana bubble that surrounded us. The man looked around and saw the herd not far away, so he walked calmly in the direction of his farm for a few hundred feet, then he took out one of the tree-like things and dropped it on the ground. The entire herd took off as if a gun had gone off and ran over to him to consume their favorite treat.
The herd stayed in the spot instead of going back to where the crack used to be, which the man was very happy about. He waved to us and moved off another few hundred feet and dropped another tree-like thing. The herd ran over and ate it and stayed there, so he repeated this until he was out of sight.
“I have to admit that was a good idea on my part.” I said with fake smugness. “Thank you, me! You're more than welcome, me! You deserve a pat on the back!” I tried to do it and sighed dramatically. “Dammit, my arm can't reach.”
Afyne snorted a laugh and Maylia and Jessica had huge smiles.
“I think someone's getting a swelled head.” Josh loudly whispered and Steven laughed.
“Did I just hear a garglemacer burp?” I asked and looked from side to side with my hand up to my eyes as if that could make me see farther. “As long as it didn't come out the other end, we'll be okay!”
Afyne laughed and covered her mouth, several of them chuckled, Josh huffed and rolled his eyes, and Steven slapped him on the back and kept laughing. Kara just stood there and stared at the man in front of her and didn't know what to make of him.
“All joking aside, it's getting late.” I said and turned to face everyone. “We should set up camp for tonight and then have a nice meal.”
“Good idea.” Diofra said and looked at the area they stood in. “Give me a minute with this.” She said and waved at the uneven ground that had been torn up by the roots and was now covered in a foot deep ash-like substance. “Jessica, want to team up again?”
“You're thinking of the Wind Gust and Pull Item spells, aren't you?” Jessica asked.
“If my guess is right, this powder should be highly flammable.” Diofra said with a crazy smile.
“Do you think it can be used as a Firestorm spell component?” Jessica asked, and Diofra laughed.
“Finally! A like mind!” Diofra said and took her hand. “Bwahahaha! Come with me!”
“That was not an appropriate laugh when asking for help!” I said after them, and Diofra waved me away as she and Jessica got to work.
“I'll keep an eye on them.” Imiryl smiled and walked over to help them.
“I'll help set up the carriage.” Josh said and went to go talk to his wife, who had stayed in the carriage the whole time, because she was not a fighter.
“I'll start setting out our tents and bedrolls.” Maylia said and went to get the appropriate things from the horses. Afyne slid off my horse and handed the reins to Evus, who had guarded her the whole time, and she came over to me. She had barely started to hold her arms out when I bent down and picked her up and wrapped my arms around her. She put her arms around my neck and we held each other tightly. Neither of us said anything and just stood there in silence, as did the others.
By the time Diofra and Jessica had cleared the area of the debris from the crumbling roots and split them to use in their spells, Maylia had everyone's tents out. I propped Afyne on my hip and used a normal hand and a Presence Hand to help construct them. When that task was done, I turned around and saw a huge table had been set out. I almost laughed at the size of it, and then the driver of the carriage pulled out enough chairs for everyone to sit down.
That had surprised me, because there was no real reason to have so many extra chairs, unless you were expecting to have company. Maylia set up the cooking fire and Diofra lit it, then Afyne and I cooked up some of the restaurant food we had. The smells filled the cleared area and several people's stomachs rumbled. We were only warming the food up, so it didn't take long to have enough ready for everyone to have a good meal. Afyne served as I dished it out, and we ended with plates for ourselves and had just enough left over for the driver.
“No, thank you.” The driver said. “It's not my place to...”
“My job is to take care of the horses and I'm allowed to sit.” Afyne said as she held out a plate to him. “You better sit down and eat or I'll stand right next to you and not eat, either.”
The driver had a pained look on his face and looked at the table with a silent plea. The emissaries tried not to notice this, so I waved to my empty chair.
“Have a seat.” I said and created a solid Presence box for Afyne and I to sit at the end of the table. The man reluctantly took the plate of food and sat down, and Afyne nodded and sat down next to me. We all ate in silence, except for the sounds of silverware and food being chewed. The food was still quite good, even after being reheated, and I sat back from the table and sighed. Afyne stopped eating as well and leaned back onto me, so I put my arm around her shoulders. After a few minutes of silence, Kara pushed her plate out of the way and looked at me.
“Hunter, we need to coordinate our work on the cracks.” Kara said.
“Why?” I asked, even though I knew the reason why it was a good idea. I wanted to know if it was the same idea she had.
“As you clearly saw, we all worked well together.” Kara said. “I think...”
“No, that wasn't my thought at all.” I interrupted, and saw Jessica's disappointment. “This one time it worked; but, that was only because we all had something to do.” I said. “What happens when there's only one crazy monkey, or a dinosaur, or some birds? Who gets to fight and use their abilities?”
Everyone exchanged glances and then looked at me.
“Do we take turns or hope there will be more monsters to take care of, so most of us won't be bored?” I asked. “You understand what I'm getting at, don't you?”
“Yes.” Kara sighed. “It would be a waste of our skills to have a group this big at every crack.”
“I won't deny that it was great to have everyone here and doing their best to help.” I said and pointedly looked at Jessica. Her face flushed a little red and she didn't avert her eyes like I thought she would. I gave her a big smile and her face flushed a little more red. “If we stay as two separate groups, however... we can close the cracks twice as fast.”
“Hunter...” Kara started to say.
“Both Diofra and Jessica can cast that light ball communication spell to stay in touch. We can also mark off on our maps which cracks we sealed, so we're not doubling up on our efforts uselessly.”
“What if we find another creature like we did today?” Josh asked.
“I can't say that you won't, mainly because it's always possible something huge or powerful did manage to come through.” I said. “I can positively say that none of you are stupid enough to do what I did today.” I chuckled. “I won't be repeating this performance if I can help it.”
“No more crack incursions?” Maylia asked and took my hand.
“Not like today, no.” I said. “I'm going to barely poke my head in, and depending on the creatures we find, I'll glance at the stars and then close it.”
“Thank god.” Maylia said with a smile.
After that, we went to our respective sleeping arrangements and went to bed. None of us got changed, mainly because there wasn't really anywhere to do that, and we would have to hastily get dressed if something happened. I entered a meditative state and relaxed in the oversized bedroll with Maylia, with Afyne jammed between us. None of us complained about the close quarters and drifted off to sleep.
*
Kara pointedly ignored all of the suggestions that she stay inside the oversized carriage to sleep. She had been too energized by Hunter's shared energy to even contemplate going to sleep. She had taken a normal bedroll from the storage and set it up a little ways away from the carriage, then she sat down on the bedroll in the lotus position and started her shift on watch. She almost smiled because she would be the only one on watch the entire night.
Kara used her Detect Mana and Presence technique to scan the area, to make sure that nothing was going to sneak up on them during the night, and she also put herself into a partial meditation state. If she hadn't, she would have been constantly distracted by seeing Hunter cuddled up so closely with two other women. Even then, her eyes lingered for an extra second every time her eyes passed over his tent.
It was going to be a long night for her, in more ways than one.