Chapter 208 - 207 Unexpected Reunion

While following behind Findlyier, Marcus sent a mental message to Blitz telling him that it was safe to enter the area and how to find the place the intelligent beasts were staying.

As they walked towards the intelligent beasts' home, Marcus looked at the war-torn area that was certainly beautiful before.

Fortunately, as they got closer to the place the intelligent beasts resided, the scars of battle became less frequent, and Marcus saw an abundance of natural treasures.

Normally just one type of natural treasure grew in a certain area, but all-around Marcus could see loads of different ones, some he even recognized.

'There are a group of the mushrooms that I first had so long ago, and there is a batch of yellow leeks like I once gave to Lilia when we met back up in River Landing, and there is even another one of those trees I found in the golden lions' glade.'

As Marcus looked around like a kid in a candy store, he could not help but be overwhelmed by the treasure trove of natural treasures around him.

Yet as they entered the perimeter of the beast's home, the natural treasures seemed to become even more rare, and on top of a hill in the distance Marcus recognized the fruit growing on the tree.

'Fruit of cognizance! They have a tree growing fruits of cognizance here.'

Stopping and staring, Marcus looked up at the tree that was growing a number of golden colored pears that were as big as melons and now understood why the magical beasts here had all gained intelligence. 

Marcus was tempted to go up and begin filling his item box with fruits of cognizance since in his opinion they were the most valuable natural treasure he had come across so far. And while they would certainly have no use for him personally, the ability to give a beast or monster intelligence was invaluable.

However, Marcus held himself back since he figured that was probably the tree of wisdom Findlyier had mentioned as their most sacred place, and he did not want to offend them and end up in trouble.

'I am confident that if I ask nicely once this war with the demon is over, that I could get at least three, so that Blitz and Lilia' golden lion cubs could gain intelligence. Though I shudder to think of how the two cubs will become if they learn to speak.'

Continuing through the area, Marcus looked at the beasts that were sleeping in different areas as suiting their comforts, but soon a serries of tents that were certainly none of the beasts' came into view.

'That must be where the other adventures are staying. I will need to be careful how I deal with them, so as not to reveal too much about myself.'

As they approached the tents both Marcus and Findlyier began to hear the sounds of arguing coming from inside.

"This is getting crazy, for all of our safety we need to leave. If this keeps up, we are all going to die, and I have been ordered to protect you at any cost."

"We already promised them we would help and have been given a number of natural treasures as payment. Also, we cannot very well let a demon do as it wishes in our kingdom. For all we know it will set its sights on the city next and such a high-level demon could bring untold ruin."

"I understand that the demon is dangerous but all of us dying in vain will not help the kingdom, if we leave now, we can get support from the grand archmage and the knight commander, and they can easily deal with this."

While eavesdropping on this, Marcus winced a since Findlyier was obviously hearing the same and leaned over and whispered to him, "Are things going to be okay?"

Findlyier then leaned in close to Marcus and said, "Yeah they argue like this a lot, but the leader of their group always stands by her decision to help us, and the dissenters eventually do what she says."

The argument that Marcus was listening to continued for a bit longer, and while listening Marcus felt a sense of familiarity towards one of the voices.

He then took a good look at the tent the voices were coming from, and his eyes went wide with realization as he was becoming more certain about who this tent belonged to.

With curiosity welling up inside him Marcus no longer stood back and approached the tent hurriedly.

The voices quickly stopped as he got within ten feet of the tent, probably triggering some type of alarm, but before anyone from the tent came out to investigate, Marcus flung open the tent door and saw inside.

Sitting in a circle were eight people, and all of them were stunned to see Marcus open the tent door, especially since one would normally need prior permission from the tent's owner.

However, the surprise did not last long as at the appearance of an unknown person entering the tent, two of the people went into action reflexively.

One was a middle-aged man who was dressed in full plate armor and looked like a knight, while the other was a beautiful young lady with fiery red hair in what were obviously mages robes.

They had immediately moved in front of the person sitting at the head of the circle in a protective manner, obviously prioritizing her safety over anything else.

Luckily though, no one was so rash as to attack first and ask questions later as looks of recognition began to pop up on most of the people's faces as the recognized Marcus in his guise as Irene.

A big smile then began to form on Marcus' face as he looked towards one of the few people, he would actually consider to be his friend in this world.

"Well, I certainly did not expect to see you here Mraz."

Mrazivý Borealia the thirteenth princess of the kingdom looked out in surprise seeing her friend she had said goodbye to in Loursend over eight months ago.

Six of the other members also recognized Marcus, five of them from their meeting in Loursend, though the mage with fiery red hair recognized him for another reason.

"Baronetess Geist what are you doing here and how dare you speak to her highness so casually."

As Diana one of Grand Archmage Aria's apprentices began to berate Marcus for his lack of manners towards someone of a higher station, the princess stood up and put her hand on Diana's shoulder and said, "It is fine I told her she could call me that before you joined us, when we met in Loursend."

Mrazivý then looked towards Marcus and said, "It really is a surprise to see you here Irene. Last, I had heard you had been granted the title of baronetess and recently been accepted as an apprentice from the famed Thabon Blazegram. So, what are you doing in the Cordillera Depths and how did you find yourself here?"

Marcus quickly told Mrazivý about how he had come here to train before the kingdom's tournament and that while exploring the dungeon he had run into Findlyier the pixie dragon and been asked to help.

"I see, so not much different then us. Well, it is good to see you again Irene although these are certainly not the best circumstances. Now would everyone else leave, there are some things I want to talk to Irene about alone."

The other members of Mrazivý's party heading her request got up to leave though both Diana and the man who is her guardian knight took some extra persuading to leave.

Once everyone else was gone Mrazivý slumped back down into her chair before beckoning Marcus over and saying quietly so as to not be heard, "How did you get in here, hm. I know I never gave you permission to enter, yet you opened the door without any resistance, and I know you did not use some method to force your way inside."

Marcus was a bit shocked to suddenly be getting the third degree, and he was wondering what was going on as he did not know about this enchantment on Mrazivý's tent.

However, It was now that he realized she must have permitted him to enter when they were stuck in the dungeon together but while he was in his form as Marcus.

Sighing Marcus decided to come clean to avoid gaining Mrazivý's distrust and he switched his form over to once again take on his original form.

Mrazivý let out a little gasp when she saw this but her overall level of surprise seemed quite low in comparison to the secret Marcus thought he was revealing.

"You do not seem all that surprised, that I am both Marcus and Irene."

Mrazivý began nodding her head and said, "I did start to have my suspicions on the day you came to say goodbye to me twice, first as Irene and then as Marcus right after.. Also, you told me you were heading to the capital both as Irene and Marcus, plus in either form you have the same hair and eye color."