Chapter 401

The farmer they met was an Obsession demon, with light pink skin and black hair, so somehow, Cain had just assumed that his wife would be the same. That was not the case at all, and they were greeted by a 2.4-meter tall wrath demon in a flowered dress, sporting biceps the size of Cain’s chest. Wingless and pale white, the lady of the house was roughly cubic, as wide and thick as she was tall.

Now that they had determined that the visitors weren’t a direct threat, the children were released to play in the yard again, small pink forms running outside to continue a game of catch in the yard.

“Now lookie here, you brought home nobles and I don’t have a single thing to wear. You might could have sent them across to the Davos house. His wife is all fancy like from the city.” The large demon complains in a thick accent but doesn’t stop her work.

“Now darling, don’t be like that. They are travelers, I’m certain they don’t mind that a farm wife dresses like a farm wife. Look at them, they are all in leather and armor like adventurers should be.” The older farmer tries to console her, but she sends him a glare that sends him running back outside.

“Grab a spot anywhere and I’ll get the soup started in a few minutes.” She sighs, brushing flour and dirt off her dress.

“We brought some meat for the stew. From the big purple cats with the white spots. I don’t properly know what they’re called here. The system called them Purple Leopards.” Cain explains, pulling a 3-kilo chunk of meat from his inventory.

“Yeah, that’s them. The locals just call them howlers for that noise they make when they’re in rut. Tasty too, are you sure you want to waste such good meat on the likes of us?”

The companions all laugh and Cain shakes his head. “These ladies will be eating too, and they would never forgive me if I skimped on their dinner.”

That makes the big woman give a bellowing laugh that shakes the windows in the house and causes all the children to turn and look back at the kitchen. Getting a mother of twelve to laugh like that was no easy feat when she is a Wrath Demon. She takes the roast from Cain and slaps it down on the cutting board to start slicing it for the stew though, getting the bone out to soak in the nearly boiling pot.

“So you’re headed for the city, are you? Or just wandering about looking for things to hunt?” She asks as she works, deftly slicing the meat into thin pieces that will cook quickly and turn tender.

“We’re looking for a couple of things. Mostly a chance to upgrade classes, but also an Elf that should have a very old library from the Central Continent. I don’t know if she has it hidden or available for others, but it predates the war by a good bit, and there is a book in her collection that I need.” Cain explains with a shrug.

“The first is easy enough. Opportunities are everywhere if you can live long enough to grab them. But finding one particular elf on a continent full of elves, Youkai, and demons? Those are mighty slim odds, even if she survived.” The demon has a very good point. Their best bet is accidentally running into her or having her recognize Cain when he passes through her hometown.

Even if you go looking for someone, unless they work with the public, the odds of actually seeing them outdoors are very slim. They don’t need to hide, it’s just a fact that most people spend their days indoors. Normal people don’t spend all day just wandering the city waiting for random people they met a thousand years ago to see them.

The smell of the stew keeps drawing the kids back to the door to ask when it will be ready, driving their mother a bit crazy. She has told Cain and the companions all about the area, and the problem with the crazed, while she waits for the stew to be ready and makes some sort of biscuit to go with it.

The city got a great idea a century or so ago that they would stop executing criminals for so many crimes. Instead, they exiled them from the city by the hundreds and emptied out their prisons. While that reduced the number of criminals in the city, it was horrible for the villages around them. The city residents look down on the poor demons of the rural areas though, so they didn’t bother doing anything about it until the problem got so out of hand that farmers stopped sending wagons into town with food, determining that the roads were too dangerous for them to travel.

The prospect of starvation was enough to get the city to act, sending daytime patrols to deal with the crazed, and making it safe enough to travel in daylight, if you stayed near the main road anyhow.

They do have a bounty on the crazed, but they gather together into bandit groups to attack travelers and patrols, so one or two awakened isn’t enough to safely go after them. Cain’s group has three, but the farmer insists that isn’t nearly enough to be safe. The patrols do come all the way to the village though, arriving not long after dawn so that they can spend the time escorting the wagons back to the city.

Not that they particularly care about the farmers, but they are under orders to make sure that the goods for the market make it there safely. She recommends that Cain and his group go with the escort. It is a little more likely to get attacked than a lone group, because of the wagons full of food, but the guards make it safer, and they will still have some chances to trigger an advancement quest.

Cain looks at the dinner spread and decides it is missing something. His group usually has at least one sugar addict in it, so there is always a dessert.

“Can I borrow your stove for a little? I have the ingredients to cook a special dish that I’m certain the kids will like.” Cain offers and the big woman smiles.

“A man who comes with Mythic Beast meat and knows how to bake? I don’t suppose you need a wife, do you? I know a couple in the village are at that age now and haven’t chosen yet.” She jokes with a wink.

“I think I’m at my quota on wives. But I’ll make your dessert anyhow. I’ve got a barrel of apples to make an apple crumble if I can borrow that large pan.” Cain indicates the cast iron skillet he needs, which is hung up near the roof, almost out of reach, even for him.

The kids have gathered around to see the visitor cook, along with their father, who is brave enough to return now that his wife is used to the visitors.

For once Cain doesn’t just summon a Puppet to cook. Instead, he merges with a master Baker and pulls the ingredients out to make the sweet and fruity concoction. It is easy to prepare and can slow cook in the wood-fired oven while they eat. Both demons can use magic, but they still use wood for cooking, either out of tradition or because they’re not good with fire magic. Most likely tradition, given that most wrath demons are of the fire aspect.

Dinner is a lively affair with twenty people in the rather small farmhouse, but right afterward everyone heads back outside to get more space to relax. Cain can see the evening patrols begin walking the fence lines around the village as the sun goes down, a bunch of nervous-looking demons in farmer’s overalls.

“Would you like me to add a few summoned creatures to the patrol? I’m pretty sure that nothing would attack if I left a couple of Mythic Dragons sitting at the edge of town.” Cain offers, bringing the same confused look to the old farmer’s face as when Cain tried explaining the big cats to him.

“Where would you call the dragons from though? Could they even get here before morning?” He asks, not understanding Cain’s offer, and his wife rolls her eyes at him.

“Forgive him, sometimes I swear he was dropped as a child.” she says to Cain before turning back to her husband with a look of long-suffering patience.

“This man is a summoner darling. He is offering to summon the dragons for the night so that they can help the patrols.” The man’s eyes light up now that he understands what is going on.

“Oh, yes that would be good. But we should tell someone first I think. If they just suddenly see Mythic dragons they might soil themselves.”