Chapter 424

Cain was also left with another issue. There was a large group of Beastkin here, who didn’t know the war was over, or anything that had happened in the last two hundred years. Only one of them had a System interface that Cain has seen, and he hadn’t even reached the first advancement.

They obviously couldn’t be left alone here in the woods, but they would definitely freak out if he called a group of dragons to fly everyone back to the city.

“Would you all like to come to my house and we can catch up on everything that you’ve missed?” Cain suggests, and they all seem eager to get away from the place where they were imprisoned. Or perhaps it was because everything in the area was dead after being deprived of energy by the backlash of the spell.

Seeing no objections, Cain motioned for the Companions to take defensive positions around the group and gestured back towards the house. “Alright then, follow me, and we should make it back to the house tonight, even walking.”

That statement would quickly prove to be rather optimistic on Cain’s part, as the area between where they are and the farm is still full of random wandering Crazed as well as Awakened beasts. The crazed mostly stay away, as their numbers are insufficient to challenge a group this size, but the nearby beasts are another story. They smell the beast on the beastkin and come to investigate. Some are looking for a mate, and some sense an interloper passing through their territory, but none of them are happy with what they find.

“I don’t remember them being that strong.” The turtle kin whispers to Cain as Vala sends a large bear flying through a stand of bamboo, which it simply shrugs off and wanders away, upset that he’s not going to get any bear on bear loving today.

The bear-type beastkin woman in the group looks a bit shocked by the actions of the wild monster and is looking to the nearest Companion for answers. That turns out to be Nemu, and with the Felian’s prank-loving nature, Cain is eager to see how that conversation goes.

“I don’t know how things were two hundred years ago, but nothing short of a Mythic creature could even hurt that bear. Until you get more powerful, it’s best that someone is here to watch out for you, or you move into a city. We can talk about it when we get to the farm since I don’t know what sort of skills you all have.”

Cain looks over to see that Nemu is making suggestive gestures to go with her explanation and that the group looks somewhere between dying of laughter and horrified at the implications of the bear’s actions.

“The beasts can’t tell the difference in such a big group. They will think we have one of their kind held hostage, so when they realize it’s just a beastkin they tend to get upset.” Cain explains, a bit less colorfully than Nemu did.

“We should really get a move on then. If only we had some horses.” The turtle kin sighs and Cain realizes that his constant use of exotic animals made him overlook the incredibly obvious. There are under three dozen in this group, and he can summon more Lesser Golems than that, so Cain stops everyone to prepare to mount up.

“It has come to my attention that I have forgotten that you all could ride horses. With the System, I haven’t done anything that normal in quite some time, so it actually slipped my mind. I will call some mounts now, and we can get going at a much higher pace.” Cain calls, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Horses aren’t really a thing here, as they are so delicate and easily eaten, but Cain can call nightmares, which will appear at Epic quality. They’re tougher, breathe fire, and much faster than horses as well. An all-around win.

Cain summons mounts for everyone and the group gasps in shock, having never seen such a feat of magic before. They will have a lot to get used to though, so maybe it is best that they get through the shock and awe part now, so they can get through the day-to-day magic use more normally later.

Riding without saddles doesn’t prove to be too large of an issue for the group, as the long manes of the Nightmares give them something to hold on to and as summons, they make no attempt to dislodge their passengers. The path through the bamboo still needs to be cut though, with no road and since Cain and the others flew here. Being the fastest among them, Vala and Laura lead the way in clearing the path when the forest gets too thick, and in only a few hours everyone is safely back at the Farm, preparing to cook some form of water buffalo that Laura caught along the way.

The mythic grade meat should be a good tool to help these people adjust to the fact the world has changed since the taste and energy level of it will be so much different than anything that they have experienced in the past.

They are not alone though, the procession attracted attention as they passed through town on their way back, and a half dozen villagers have come to see what was going on that Cain had brought dozens of hunters home with him. It was not until after they arrived at the farm that they realized that these were not hunters, but lost ancestors and the local beastkin elders were sent for.

Most beastkin struggle to live much longer than humans, but some like the Tortoise Clan and the Bears have little trouble reaching their third century, and so have elders who were alive when these people went missing. They might have been soldiers and not form local families, but the elders will be able to do a much better job of teaching them about the world than Cain ever could.