Chapter 98: Chapter 79: Agent Hestia ‘007’ Atsuko Kargryxmor.

<[Humanized (Major)] [Stage Fever (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko]>

“Yeah, there is nothing to do here besides to sing ♫

Because my hands are tied together, oh, oh ♫

And, this wagon shakes around far too much ♫

Why couldn’t you give us some cushions ♫

Look, this wagon is far too dirty to sit inside ♫

Go clean it up once we make it to your camp ♫

Come on, that’s the least you could have done, oh yeah ♫

And, the river is right next to these woods ♫

Do yourself a favor and go jump in it ♫

You idiots, you smell like excrement♫

You guys are losers ♫

Can you even understand what my words mean ♫

Or has crime degrade your brains to waste ♫

Or was it that barrel of beer from last night? ♫”

“FUCKIN’ HELL; you little noble bitch! Close your whore mouth, otherwise I’ll cut that damn tongue of yours off!” a filthy man shouted at me, banging on the wooden bars of this prison wagon with his fist.

“OH, SHUT UP you greased up rat! Threaten me as much as you want but you can’t do anything to me because…

You guys are losers ♫

Why can’t you try to live with everybody peacefully ♫

Get a job, instead of killing people wantonly ♫

Or at least try to clean yourself daily! ♫”

The bandits continued to let out their stress by violently shaking the cage I was in, trying to scare me off but I couldn’t feel an inkling of it as I kept singing. The other people in the wagon with me were obviously scared from this display of pure hostility but they looked like they were more worried about me, than themselves at this point, seeing as none of the bandits harassed them.

Whether friendlies or enemies, the more people focusing on me seems to not only increase my stats but also my morale. If I can increase it up to ‘Moderate,’ then [Stage Fever] would be pretty dope.

<Stage Fever: A skill reserved for those who seek attention. Increases all static stats and regeneration of Health, Mana, and Stamina depending on how long the owner is able to keep the attention of people, increasing in effectiveness with more people around. Increases mental fortification of the user, defending them from the effects of detrimental ‘Aura’ and ‘Mental’ skills or spells. Low effectiveness with Minor. Moderate = Level of Skill / 10 increase to stats. Major = 0.5 + (Level of Skill / 10) increase to stats>

“Will you fucking piece of shits shut your mouths already!” a man with a greasy mullet scolded the bandits from in front of the carriage. Seeing him waving his arms around, silencing the highwaymen made it clear he was the boss.“Are ya guys so dumb that ya would get provoked by the manablood?! She’s intentionally doin’ it! Ignore the bitch already, and don’t ya fuckin’ dare touch a hair on her! She’s made from pure goldite!”

He then stood up from his seat and glared at me with a distorted face. “Lass, you better shut ya mouth up, too. I’ve got nothin’ against some good singin’, but you’ve been spoutin’ out that shit for the past bell, now! Don’t forget that we can decide whether you get back to ya cozy home or become a whore for some fat noble pig!”

Hearing that, I let out a sigh and leaned my head against the cage bars, trying to look bored out of my head. “Yeah, you’ve already told me that. You’re repeating yourself, Mister, but I don’t care. Instead, tell these idiots to clean the wagons next time. My skirt is getting dirty from sitting around.”

He scowled at me for a moment but then turned around and sat back down with a loud bang to his behind. The hard wooden seat of the coachman's position probably wasn’t super comfortable, considering he had to massage his butt.

Heh.

Never would I have imagined I would one day be trapped inside a prison wagon, being transported like some item by these bunch of greasy, filthy, disgusting human and beastman men. It was right out of a movie. Well, I certainly got that idea from one after our group found these brigands. Operation “Agent Hestia ‘007’ Atsuko Kargryxmor!”

Well, it wasn’t like infiltrating a band of bandits was that crazy. Saori had lost Lorena’s lingering scent after the rain, so it was pure luck we managed to find some of them wandering about. We could have taken them out there and then, but the question was "how much would it benefit us?"

How could we know these were the only bandits? Where was their camp? Where were the other prisoners? Could we extract all this information from them and make sure they were speaking the truth?

Krim-Slak and Grazlahta both suggested to torture them for the information, and, in hindsight, that might have been the better idea to preserve my clothes’ hygiene. However, sacrificing my personal needs was more important here, as I had a way to efficiently finish this Quest, securing the villagers in addition to beating all the bandits.

First, we needed to sneak one of us inside. We needed somebody who looked weak enough to be a perfect prison target for the bandits without getting supervised too much while  inside their camp.

The saurians were out of the question as they looked intimidating. Saori could have done it but she wasn't able to transform into a human and her wolfkin form looked pretty scary, honestly. That meant the only choices were Tasianna or me … but Tasianna hated humans so much she would've probably blown her cover the moment one of them touched her. As such, I was the only candidate.

After my capture, I would try to gather all the villagers in one place and afterward signal everybody outside to launch the attack on the camp. With me inside, I could not only protect the villagers with [Sanctuary] or [Air Shield] but also take the bandits down with my spells. It was a pretty good plan if nothing weird happened.

So … then why was I purposely provoking these bandits, then? Antagonizing them and risking them being wary of me?

Well, the reason laid with the fact that these fucking bastards LITERALLY harassed all the women that were with me inside these wagons. They admitted to the fact they killed a few male villagers in their attack and then burned their corpses, all in front of their family.

There were also a few men inside but compared to the young women who had minor bruises, they were beaten up to the point they lost consciousness. Bloodied faces and black eyes, it looked like a mob thrashed them with sadistic pleasure.

Honestly? The proof was crystal clear. The bandits were aggravating those still awake to the point most began to tear up. The women were terrorized with demeaning statements like “You’re gonna make for a fine night partner, lass” or “Big ones bring in the money, mhmm.”

Lecherous filth.

So, the moment I heard their boss telling them to not land a hand on me, since they thought I was a noble girl, I knew I could bitch around without any repercussions. I just had to reign myself in a bit; not go too overboard. There needed to be a perfect balance for me to be a valley girl without getting hit. Yaaaaas, queen!

And, goodness, have I been doing just that. I didn’t just want to spit in their faces with insults, but I wanted to dedicate songs to their filthy appearances, enlightening them about why they were the scumbags of society. I drew the ire away from the women and men and towards myself.

Hiehie, watching their faces, reddened to the point of tomatoes, showing anger and frustration at me was the best. Oh, now I knew why some people find this sort of schadenfreude so delightful … and it was even better when I was stronger than every single one of them, despite only having 1/3rd of my original stats.

Yes, I was under [Humanization (Major)]. I was a human right now, instead of a dragonewt. I needed to look weak and innocent, after all. After Saori dressed me up a bit more, I just had to remember my etiquette training and I could pass at least as a merchant’s daughter. How fortunate that they thought I was a noble, though. I probably could have done it better if I had shoes, but, alas …

“Hey, it’s us! Drop your bows, lads!” the man with the mullet shouted once we were out of the woods.

“Jasper? Jasper! Lads, it’s Jasper and fire slinger. Don’t fuckin’ shoot!” one of the bowmen commanded from behind a fence made from wooden spikes, recognizing the two men riding on the front carriage.

‘Fire slinger?’ Oh right, the fire mage. Uhm, I think his name was Macklemor or something? Let’s check, again.

_____________________________

Name: Macklemor Talsyn  Level: 38   Race: Human

Age: 28 Years   Job: Fire Arcanist

Status:     Health: 712/712            Mana: 1345/1345

Strength: 234             Intelligence: 643

Vitality: 298   Wisdom: 598

Agility: 309    Stamina: 512/512

Effects: None

Skill:  Magic skills and related:

[Mana Control Lv. 7] [Mana Efficiency Lv. 5] [Arcane Mind Lv. 6]

[Fire Magic Lv. 9] [Fire Amp] [Fire Magic Efficiency]

[Chant Revocation Lv. 6]

[Magic Power Enhancement Lv. 4]

[Mental Stability Lv. 4] [Mental Warfare Lv. 2]

[Multi-Cast Lv. 2] [Delayed Cast Lv. 1] [Fluid Cast Lv. 3]

[Continuous Cast Lv. 2] [Long-Range Spell Enhancement Lv. 5]

Senses and movement skills:

[Stealth Lv. 3] [Accuracy Correction Lv. 5]

[Concentration Lv. 5] [Prediction Lv. 3] [Danger Perception Lv. 4]

[Probability Correction Lv. 5] [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Auditory Sense Lv. 2] [Enhanced Olfactory Sense Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Vision Lv. 5] [Tracking Lv. 1] [Night Vision Lv. 4]

[Presence Killer Lv. 1] [Evasion Lv. 4] [Acrobatic Lv. 1]

[Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 2]

Resistances:

[Physical Resistance Lv. 3] [Pain Resistance Lv. 4]

[Arcane Corruption Resistance Lv. 6] [Bleeding Resistance Lv. 3]

[Poison Resistance Lv. 7] [Paralyzation Resistance Lv. 5]

[Torpor Resistance Lv. 7] [Fear Resistance Lv. 1]

[Holy Resistance Lv. 3] [Fire Resistance Lv. 8]

[Earth Resistance Lv. 6] [Wind Resistance Lv. 6]

[Water Resistance Lv. 7] [Dark Resistance Lv. 4]

Stat growths and related:

[Health Recovery Lv. 2] [Mana Recovery Lv. 6] [Stamina Recovery Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Health Capacity Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Mana Growth Lv. 6]

[Enhanced Mana Capacity Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 7]

[Enhanced Intelligence Enforcement Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 2]

You are reading story A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale at novel35.com

[Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 1]

Others:

[Handicraft Lv. 4] [Woodworking Lv. 3]

[Identity Blocker Lv. 1] [Leadership Lv. 1] [Cooking Lv. 4]

[Dismantle Lv. 5]

Job Skills:

[Fire Amp] [Fire Magic Efficiency] [Magic Power Enhancement Lv. 5]

Spell List: Job Magic:

[Fire Wall]

Custom Magic:

[Ignite] [Reduce Heat] [Flame Bomb]

Fire Magic:

[Fire] [Firebolt] [Imbue Fire] [Fire Ball] [Strengthening Fire] [Flame Spear]

[Petal Flame]

_____________________________

One word … weak.

That was all I could think when I used [Identify] on him. It was a bit rude of me to think like that, but how could I after looking at Mister Kushlek’zar’s Profile? He told me he had the power of a rank B, but this guy looked like he was barely rank D. Then again, maybe he was considered stronger by normal people? Since he only had fire magic, I was his perfect counter, to the point I thought he looked nothing more than fodder.

According to Mister, society had adopted the ranking system of monsters into their own, giving each adventurer a rank to make it easier for the Quest givers to gauge their contracted employee’s strength. This rank should display their experience as adventurers, Profile quality, and reliability.

Mister Kushlek’zar and the saurians mentioned their stats would make them eligible for rank B, although they were a couple levels off the minimum requirement of level 100 for rank A. They were only rank C due to them being relatively new members of the mercenary guild. Reliability and being a veteran was important to the adventurer guilds, aside from the quality of your Profile.

For example, this Quest’s rewards. Besides money, they also gave “4 rank D points” which were points you needed to acquire by fulfilling Quests to be promoted to the next rank. This was the guild’s way to display a person’s veterancy and reliability.

I was pretty sure this would be extremely important for us once we registered at one of the two adventurer guilds. We would have to grind through Quests like jobless gamers. How ironic.

Anyway, back to Macklemor’s strength. The saurian priest called himself a “master mage,” a rank from the mage’s guild. So, what was this [Fire Arcanist] Job? How important was it and what did it mean?

Sadly, I didn’t ask Mister too much about the mage’s guild since I was more interested in his lessons. Still, from a quick look at this mage, he was around an upper rank E, lower rank D monster. Everybody participating in this Quest outclassed him by far. Even with [Humanization (Major)], I outstat him easily. I could break out of this rope with ease.

That was the source of my cockiness, right now. Among the bandits surrounding the wagons, he and Jasper were the strongest by a mile. The majority of these people wouldn’t even survive if a rank E were to attack them right now. Pitiful.

Still inside the wagon, doing my best to act like a normal prisoner, I was led with the bandit caravan through the camp’s entrance. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, I began using [Identify] on every bandit I saw.

Whether they were greasy men in their twenties or hairy beastmen like wolfkins, foxians, and a few other variants, they all had one thing in common: they all had shabby equipment. Their armor was a mix-and-match between cloth and leather pieces while their weapons looked chipped and badly maintained. Like hiring bandits from a run-down second-hand shop.

Although, I did find a few people who tickled that rough-looking brigand fantasy. Scars—some fresh, some old—covered their bodies like decoration, while others had missing body parts. There was also a minority with necrosis covering old wounds, disgusting me as yellow pus could be seen. There were attempts for first-aid or stitching, but it all looked amateurish. Certainly no holy mages or alchemists around.

No signs of that fat man who tortured Lorena. Is he gone?

The camp itself was also unimpressive. The tents were in tatters with only a few patched up, caused by fire damage and small holes from arrows and spears. Assuming this was caused by a recent battle, that would explain why some of the bandits were in a terrible state.

I haven’t seen the mercenaries who went before us yet, but chances were high that this was their handiwork. If that was the case, then we should make sure to not mess up this chance.

Although I couldn't speak with Saori right now, she should be able to see everything I could. I was currently holding my hair in a ponytail with a hairband that Saori made for me. It was covered in her [Shadow Armament] and she even hid a [Shadow Snake] in it, enabling her to spy through it as long as I kept mana flowing into it.

While I was examining everything, the wagons eventually stopped before a couple of large tents. The other prisoners and I were roughly taken out of the prison wagons and then pretty much kicked into the cages inside the tents.

They told us to “Shut up and be quiet,” before walking out of the tent, leaving us alone in the dark. Some of the younger women started tearing up while the older ones attempted to tend to their still unconscious men.

I ignored them for a moment and started looking among our other "roommates," the prisoners who were here before us. As expected, most looked like they were starving or dying. They were in a very similar state when we found Lorena. skin and bones with a crestfallen look, fatigued to the point they looked almost like corpses.

“The smell of death,” or whatever you wanna call it, filled the very air I was breathing in, overwhelming my sense of smell with one-month-old excrements and unwashed bodies. “Hope” was an entirely foreign subject for this group of people.

Oh, thank goodness, they’re here. Looks like I can give Lorena some good news.

Standing up, I walked over to a man and woman pair, slouching on each other as their gazes were lowered to the ground. According to Lorena, her father had brown hair while her mother’s was muddy green like hers, a perfect match with the two people before me.

I quickly checked with [Detection Sensor] if anybody was around me. Fortunately, most of the bandits were gathered around at a faraway spot, probably celebrating from all the cheering I was hearing.

Also, with a quick usage of [Mana Eyes], I confirmed that nothing magical, or at least nothing with mana, was eavesdropping us. However, from my paranoia of being in enemy territory, I also silently cast [Air Shield] around the cages to block all sounds from escaping. I was risking being detected, considering the fire mage, but I was confident in my ability to make this spell cast soundless but also untraceable.

“Are you Lorena’s parents?” I started after everything was in place, kneeling before the two.

Whether they actually heard me correctly or if they were surprised by the sudden name drop, a small glint of light returned into their eyes as they raised their heads. “What did you just say … Lorena?” Both of them spoke.

“Dark green hair like yours, ma’am. A happy face like this, and … I think she’s around 17 or 18? Now that I think about it, I haven’t asked her age yet but I guess that would be rude to do so, mhmm, yep quite rude,” I stated, nodding in confirmation about acknowledging my own thoughts. "Well, anyway, so are you—woah!"

As I was about to continue, the two of them suddenly grabbed my shoulders, pressing their dirty faces close to mine, speaking almost in sync, “You’ve met Lorena?! Our baby girl! Is she alright? Please, say that she’s still alive!”

Woah, I guess this is the best answer I could have gotten.

The glint of light returned into their eyes, casting out the hopelessness, as they urged me with newfound energy to answer. They certainly subverted my first impression of them. “Oh yeah, she’s fine. We left her at Carine village with Chief Colwyn and his wife Harriet.”

Dropping the names of the chief of Carine village and his wife seemed to have not only caused the pair's eyes to widen but it also caused some of the surrounding villagers to finally awaken from their fatigued state. They uttered "Colwyn?" and "Harriet?" over and over again as if they were in a trance.

Shaking off his bafflement, Lorena's father wanted to stand up from excitement but quickly keeled down as his legs lost all the strength in them. His malnourished and exhausted body had no right to strain itself right now.

“Mister, I recommend you to sit down for a moment. You can be excited as much as you want later on, but I need to heal you first,” I said.

Ok, girls, time for some training. Let’s try to get [Multi-Cast] now. Everybody try to cast [Cure] and then [Moderate Heal] simultaneously. Don’t forget, you girls need to focus on the Incantation, the second phase, alright?

Taking this chance to better myself, I began to treat the people around me. Two spells per mind, focusing on nothing else but to try to cast two spells at once. If getting [Fluid Cast] was a question of how well I could manipulate my spells, then getting [Multi-Cast] was a question of how well I could maintain two Invocations, at once.

“… H-How!?” A large commotion erupted from inside this prison cell, making me happy I had cast an [Air Shield] to muffle it all up.

The mumbling villagers had their mouths agape as the multiple white magic circles began to light up, silencing them as they couldn’t help but gaze at this spectacular sight. It wasn’t just the villagers but also a few well toned women and men hiding in the back of this place, not to mention the prisoners who arrived with me. All of them couldn’t keep their eyes away from all the spells, overwhelmed by the white color of hope.

Whether it was due to [Stage Fever] empowering me through all this attention or my nostalgia from remembering the faces of the lizardmen I healed back in Belzac forest, I couldn’t help but feel more motivated. Their expecting faces told me I couldn’t fail here. I had to see it through.

Slowly releasing all my spells, the sight could only be described as light descending from heaven, enveloping everybody I was targeting in a rain of serene, warm-looking white light particles. Like a miracle, their wounds and broken limbs began to heal just like that. Everybody, even the unconscious ones, received the touch of my mana.

… Yeah, my human form sucks, to be perfectly honest. I can still do my job but having less Mana and Intelligence is making me nervous. I should have used [Sacred Field] to save up on mana.

<Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Benevolent Aura Lv. 1] evolved into [Benevolent Aura Lv. 2]>

No [Multi-Cast] despite all of this? Tch, verdammt, seems like I need more practice.

“… A-Are you an angel?” Lorena’s mother asked.

“Huh? No, of course not,” I nonchalantly shot down her suggestion. “Oh yeah, where are my manners? Hestia Atsuko, it is a pleasure to meet you. Also, please, I beg everybody to be quiet. Help will come, but please continue acting like before, ok?”

“H-Help?” one of the strong-looking women, probably one of the mercenaries.

“Yup!” I winked. “A C rank mercenary party and my own party are waiting, setting up the ambush for tonight. I can guarantee you that all of them are rank B in strength, so don’t give up hope. We will get you out of here in one piece.”

“Y-You will? Y-You really will? But … Why are you here, lass?” one of the villagers asked me with non-believing eyes, formerly void of any shred of light.

“Me?” I pointed at myself, before showing a giant grin, winking and striking a pose as I continued casting spells. “Because I am here to save you all, that’s why! The shining light in your darkest hour!”

I was contemplating on also dropping Aurena’s name here, as I knew they had to be her worshippers from speaking with Colwyn and Lorena, however, I couldn’t help it, I wanted to act cool here. Not only was I infiltrating an enemy base like a special spy agent, but I also got the chance to strike a pose? Blame me all you want, but I wouldn’t let this opportunity fly!

With those words coming out of my mouth, everybody began weeping, shedding tears as they seemed to have believed my words. The people that were captured today also began praying, clutching onto invisible pendants. Everybody mumbled Aurena’s name.

Noticing the heightened motivation, I also took the chance to ask if there were any other prisoners around, but they denied it. All the people that were crying and praying before me were the only ones here, meaning the first phase was fulfilled on my part.

Knowing that most of them were starving to the point of being only skin and bones, I wanted to give them something to fill their bodies, but that would prove impractical as my [Detection Sensor] suddenly noticed signals approaching the prisoner tent.

I quickly told them to start acting crestfallen, cajoling them with [Noble Aura] so as not to appear suspicious before the bandits. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop the people who were already crying but I guess that was acceptable to a degree …

I dispelled any ongoing holy spells and also the [Air Shield] surrounding us, sat down against the cage's bars, and then hyped myself back into my "bitchy" persona. It was time to give an Oscar-worthy performance, again.

Bursting into the tent, two beastmen strutted forward, exuding the smell of alcohol and vomit, “Ha! Crying again, ya weak fucks? Guess you’ve forgotten what we-”

“Oh, shut up already, you mangled mutt,” I spouted out in retaliation.

“… Da fuck did you say to me, ya little bitch?” the wolfkin bandit uttered, looking far from calm.

“What? Deaf? Oh now I really feel sorry for you. Not only do you reek like you’ve thrown up your morning ale, but you also have a hearing impairment? Wow, must be really sad if a human can hear better than a wolfkin,” I said sarcastically, doing my best to impersonate the “nasty bitch” cliché from most High School movies.

His partner, the foxian— a fox beastman—began to snicker but was quickly sucker-punched to the ground by the wolfkin, who rushed to the cage bars to grab me but failed to do so. "Oh my, you really smell like alcohol. Poor pup, are you so drunk that you can't move properly anymore? Are you seeing things, or what are you doing?"

In truth, I was just dodging everything as I continued ridiculing him about everything. Even without [Foresight], dodging his grabs was as simple as doing a pirouette for me. He was so slow, I thought I had [Haste] active.

The wolfkin was furious, transforming into a berserker as he frenziedly attempted to grab me from the bars, forgetting that he could just open the cage. “Fucking hell, you little cunt! Stop moving around! I’m gonna rip that pretty face off, and use it after I take a shit on your-GACK!”

“Woah there, I guess ya didn’t get the memo about not harming the noble lass, huh?” Knocking the wolfkin out with a swift punch into his solar plexus, the greasy, mullet-hair guy who sat next to the fire mage appeared before me. “And you, lass. I’ve honestly had enough of your stunt. You’ve forgotten what I told you before, or are you so up your ass that you can’t listen to a commoner, huh?”

“Oh, fret not, I don’t really care about the caste system or whatever. I give the same amount of respect to everybody I meet just as my parents told me to,” I answered truthfully, seeing no reason in the noble-commoner relationship. “It’s just that I have no respect for you and your friends. You ruin the lives of innocent people with no sense of guilt, right? I honestly cannot and will not sympathize with such a mindset, so I apologize if I seemed … rude.”

"And from what high equerochs are you spouting that shit out of, huh?" Looking even more furious, it seemed I touched something sensitive as this man, Jasper, looked even more irritated. "Probably seems so high-and-mighty from ya gold and silver palace that you've never even thought what shit the people outside your view are stepping on, huh? You damn manabloods. Wow, just 'cause ya bloodline is somehow special, ya think you’ve got the right to reap what we commoners work for with our own blood and-! What the hell are you laughing for?”

“Hiehie, alright, I admit that was pretty rude of me. I apologize for interrupting you, hiehie.” It became harder and harder to stop myself from laughing. “However, didn’t you listen to me? Maybe you’re also deaf like that wolfkin over there, but didn’t you hear me when I said that I got nothing against commoners? I got something against you people who not only kidnapped a cage full of people but also myself. So, how about you drop that self-righteous act of yours because you have no right to say it after how you treated these people. You’re scum, plain and simple, making people outside your self-interest step in shit.”

Jasper turned silent, glaring at me with reproachful eyes. He didn’t say another word as I showed my disdain towards him with a cold glare, seeing him as nothing else but vermin. He eventually sighed and opened the cage.

“Step out, now. I’m doing my best to not punch your face right now, lass. Nobody would pay to fuck you if ya had a bloodied face.”

Giving a shrug, I obediently did what he said and stepped outside but was immediately grabbed by the nape. “Urgh, how rough. Where to, jerk?”

“To the Boss.”

With my hands still tied up, Jasper proceeded to drag me outside the tent. There, he ordered two guards to take the two unconscious beastmen somewhere for them to rest. With no one guarding the prisoner tent, the people inside should have a moment of respite until the plan commenced.

Eventually, we arrived at another unimpressive tent. Pushed inside, my focus was quickly directed towards a towering beastmen with a giant horn above his nose. Granite grey skin wrapped around his body, so thick that it could chip blades but flexible enough to not impair his movements. His muscles were thick and coarse, massive enough to even rival Krim-Slak’s and Grazlahta’s primal strength, covering his body like a natural suit of armor. If that wasn’t enough, the beast also wore an external layer of leather armor for extra protection.

On his back was a massive great axe, so heavy it made no sense how a normal human would ever be able to carry one this huge. The sight of this rhinoceros-looking beastman could only be called “monstrous.”

“Hoooh, Jasper, that really is a good catch. Damn, if we only had her a week ago, we could have just sold her off and gotten enough money to go south,” the huge man said with a deep, booming voice.

Alright, that was the surprise that I didn’t want to see.