Chapter 59: Chapter 58 – Leadership

I quickly returned to the camp with Shams on my back, looking up there was a tiny bit of light signifying dawn. Well, light was an overstatement, just the shade of darkness was a bit lighter than usual.

I noticed that Jia was in the middle of the camp alone but I did not approach her, I threw Shams off my back on the top of the watchtower after telling him to wait and went to hunt something for them.

With my map, I immediately found a boar just near the camp and brought it to her after severing its head from his body and carried the body with my claws.

*Thudd*

I dropped the boar by the campfire and landed beside her.

"Hey you, excited about returning to your kind today?", I went to sit beside her and spoke.

Hearing what I said she smiled faintly and replied, "Well, not exactly but I'm excited about leaving this god-forsaken place."

"Did you grow tired of me that fast?", I said grumpily.

"Yeah, I could not stomach seeing your non-majestic feathers and gorgeous golden eyes anymore." Knowing that I was just teasing her like the last time she also teased me back.

Yet, I felt embarrassed!

Due to my past and the life, I chose to live previously if we could even call it that, I had no experience with girls just something small in high school when I still did not hate myself that much.

So hearing this gorgeous blond long curly-haired woman with small freckles on her nose and captivating green eyes, call me gorgeous though teasingly did manage to move something in me.

However, I quickly felt ashamed for even feeling that way.

How low!

She was just teasing me back and from her point of view, I was a beast. A harmless one, but a beast nonetheless.

Seeing me lost in thoughts she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just remembered something." I smiled sheepishly, and I hurriedly changed the subject, "Do you have any plans after going back?"

She sighed and said, "Actually, no. The rest of the other women except for Cai Yi work with a merchant group called Ancestral Hedge, they asked me to join them when we return but it was not something I was looking forward to."

"How about you work for me? I'll pay you handsomely", I smiled and asked.

"Work for you?", She smiled thinking I was just joking with her.

I looked at her with a serious gaze and said, "No, I'm serious I'd also be going to Vance city with you and I need someone I can trust there."

"You can't be serious? A free demon beast in Vance city is just looking for death. The Cania Kingdom is strictly for humans, other races are only used as slaves. Demon beasts like you are not even considered slaves just battle pets." She voiced with a tone filled with bitterness and resentment in her eyes.

I also gained new information that there were slaves. How crazy is that!

And that there were other races and the kingdom I was in has some human supremacist issue or something.

"Don't worry about that I have a secret technique that can give me a slave's imprint without any negative effect.", I assured her.

"That can't be. I've heard of secret techniques like those but they are forbidden and more than that very rare.", She said once again, then she laughed bitterly, "How ironic is that? Slave imprint techniques are endless you can find them everywhere and yet the opposite is forbidden. It's like selling poison and banning medicine.",

I liked her tone as she spoke of those things, I was getting to know her more and more but she was not ready to be a party member I could tell.

As we were sitting side by side looking at the campfire even though it was not lit, I turned around and looked at her dead in the eyes, "I'm serious. So do you want to or not?"

Noticing my serious gaze even hers became serious, "Well, if you are serious then alright. Though, I doubt I'd be of much to help you I'm not that strong."

"Don't worry about that now.", I turned to look at the wooden houses then I continued, "However, I need a human so that they can put that imprint on me. I'd have chosen you but there is not any real benefit to it, so I thought going with Cai Yi is better, it'd her help somehow in what she's going through perhaps."

"Cai Yi?", She followed my gaze and smiled, "Yeah, that is a good idea. I've noticed that she's been getting a bit better lately, she still does not talk much but I could tell."

"That's good to hear, how about you go wake up her and I'll be waiting for you."

"Alright.", saying that she stood up and walked towards the houses.

As she stood up, I also went to the watchtower, Ashe was still diligently cultivating she seemed to be even more serious about getting stronger. Shams was at the edge of the window and was looking at me when I was talking with Jia.

I flew by the window and made a gesture with my head for him to jump on my back.

"What is that", after I connected us he asked.

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I told him about the humans and what they are like because it was his first time seeing one. I also told him about the women's experiences and the bandit's unholy desire and how different it was compared to a monster's instinctual desire to feed and survive.

I felt like he did understand it simply on an intellectual level but not profoundly. After all, what the bandits did might have seemed mild to him because he doesn't have that big of a sense of self yet so he doesn't deeply understand subjects such as humiliation and doing things against one's will. But still the level he managed to understand was way more than what I was expecting.

It was even more so when I told him to imagine someone stronger than him holding him against his will and everything that person says he has no choice but to follow regardless of whether he wants to or not, then I told him what if that guy ordered you to kill a bunch of monsters just like him who wanted to learn more about themselves and the world just because he did not believe in their thinking and thinks that monsters should only think in terms of survival. Hearing that he made a very complicated expression, it was a sight to see.

I liked to toy with him like this, all in good fate of course just some moral gymnastics to stretch and deepen his thoughts about the subject and show him that it was more complex.

As I was talking with him we arrived at a distance away from the camp, where I left the tigers and Kali before.

I transferred a memory to the gecko of a vague arcane sigil and told him to draw it on the ground, since he was more or less an Earth mage he had more command and skill over the element.

Of course, I did not forget to introduce him to the others.

I went back to find Cai Yi and Jia waiting for me in the middle of the camp and I landed directly in front of them.

"Hey Cai Yi, did you sleep well?", I did not wait for her to finish before I quickly added, "I need your help with a secret technique to give me a slave's imprint. Don't worry it won't affect you in any way, it's just for show."

"Okay, let's do it.", I thought she'd take a long time to consider doing some strange technique with someone but she sure replied quickly.

I helped them on my back and went back to the place of the ritual.

I was also aware that it was Jia's first time on my back, so I did not return immediately and took a small stroll in the forest around the camp.

Even though the trees were very tall they were not reaching the skies, but I always had this terrible feeling about flying above them, I did not know why.

"Jia, do you like it?", While making a sharp turn dodging a big branch I asked.

"Y.- Y-yes yes... slow... slow down I'm barely holding on", All I heard was a pleading and helpless voice.

"Sorry, I had no idea, I'll slow down.", Of course, I only did the opposite and went even further. I flew a bit higher and as I wanted to dodge another branch I tilted on my left side, the side Jia was on, I controlled the wind and made her release her grip over my back feathers.

"Noo....", I heard a shrill scream that almost broke my ear drum. As she was falling at an astounding speed, I hurriedly followed after her.

Just as she was about to fall to the ground, I slowed down her fall using my mana and caught her ankle with my claw, I made sure not to stab her with the sharp pointy endings.

"Zed you bastard!!!", Jia shouted with her head down as she was being carried towards the place I designed for the ritual.

"Zed...", I heard Cai Yi on my back murmur softly.

Only then did I realize that I never gave her my name, I somehow got used to being obscure that I did not even consider that.

We quickly arrived at the designated spot, I got close to the ground and let go of my grip of Jia's ankle only for her to scream again even though it was just a short distance. Just as she was about to land, I controlled some wind elements to give a gentle upward push in a spiral movement, some dead leaves, and tiny insects could not help but get swept in towards the tiny tornado forming a natural captivating dance.

As I was admiring that strange little scene, I could not help but find it funny how what I deemed to be beautiful must've been utter horror for those poor tiny insects caught in the middle of it.

I landed by the drawn sigil and it was simply fantastic!

It was exactly as I had received when I bought the Beast Master's Mark technique, I also instructed him to toughen up the dirt in that area, because it is a blood ritual and if the dirt is too soft it'll just get buried underneath it.

Even the fact that the middle point of the sigil was low compared to its outer edge to help the blood flow along aside it smoothly was done perfectly.

"I did not know that there was an artist in you, Shams.", I connected the mind link and complimented him on a job well done.

Of course, he did not know what an artist was so I briefly explained to him what creativity was.

"Are all of these your demon beasts underlings?", Jia was shocked to find herself surrounded by two dark tigers with purple stripes almost her height and another Umbra Storm Eagle on a tree nearby.

As for, Shams the strongest of the bunch, he was hiding his strength so if you're not stronger than him, which is now Peak Foundation Establishment You would not be able to tell that this harmless reptile was the most dangerous.

Hmm... Underlings, previously I'd not have accepted such terms because I believed in so-called equality. I still do, of course.

However, now it was more complex. I realized how my previous attachment to such a concept was merely done to make me feel good and righteous in some ways, but now I see the necessity of a hierarchy and a chain of command.

Not in a narrow-minded and stupid sense that one is better than the other, but that people have different roles to play in different situations. The roles we would play going forward would be in combat, in which error meant death and the suffering of dozens of people.

So, a clear and single chain of command to unite all of those moving parts was necessary.

The order I wanted to establish in my 'Order', had to be deep and meaningful through each individual's own will not through dominance.

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