Harbingers of Change

Chapter 26

Finally, she had gotten her first mission, a simple task of either taming or eliminating the beast-type monsters roaming Tempest's territory. Aura could barely sit still on her wolf because of the excitement. The only thing that dampened her mood was the rather extensive wolf rider escort. They just slowed her down too much.

Sure, wolf riders could reach somewhat decent speeds, but the wolf named by her and empowered by her Beastmaster skill could reach a speed of up to four hundred kilometers per hour, compared to regular tempest wolves who struggled to reach even a hundred. The only way they could even remotely keep up was by the use of Shadow Step.

Their first destination was a nest of crab spiders. The three-meter and six-meter long insects were not an enormous threat to wolf riders, but a random hobgoblin forager could easily get killed by them.

Aura's wolf ran circles around the wolf riders, with Aura squealing in delight when he jumped over the entire group from time to time. The group's leader, Gobtar, had given up on trying to follow Aura's frantic movements and just rode forward, stone-faced. His second in command, however, made this mistake. His attempts at following the overly excited elf's movements were foolish, and not even half-hour in he fell off his wolf, losing his breakfast in the process.

Understanding Aura's status within Nazarick, Gobtar was terrified of the idea of his subordinate insulting the floor guardian with his unsightly behavior. Luckily, it wasn't the case, as Aura was amused to no end by the results of her antics.

If she wanted to be very efficient, she could have just used Teleport, but both her mother and Lord Momonga let her go about at a leisurely pace and didn't concern themselves with fast results.

As they moved forward, the increasing lack of other wildlife showed they were getting close to the spider's nest. The shaking of trees somewhere nearby was a reason to be prepared for an ambush, at least for the hobgoblins.

Aura still charged forward with little care, as even her mount radiated enough of power to scare off anything that wandered close enough to the monstrous wolf.

The small hill with countless large holes clearly was the target.

"Looks like we found it." Aura said, looking around and hoping to find at least one of the giant spiders.

"Please be careful, Lady Aura, these things can gang up on you fast." Gobtar said, eying the cave entrances for a potential ambush.

"They are too weak to do any damage." Aura said and then put her gloved finger to her chin. "I'll have to make them come out."

"I-Is that wise Lady Aura?"

"They are just bugs; what's the big deal?"

"Umm… right. I-I'll leave you to your work then. Please be careful, Lady Aura, just in case. We can't take on more than ten of those things on our own."

"You are kinda weak then, you know? Just step back, it will be fine."

While the goblins assumed a battle position close to her, Aura activated the Taunt ability. It took just a few moments for the giant insectoids to pour out of the hill as if it was on fire. One of the last ones that came out was much larger than the rest.

The young elven girl approached the giant bug with a casual stride as if it was a small bug sitting on a flower, not a four-meter tall monster. Seeing their queen threatened, multiple spiders tried to jump her.

Gobtar shouted for her to look out and charged with his wolf forward, only to see the elf swatting them away like mere bugs, which, by her standards, they were. The giant bugs hit the nearby trees, taking them down, splattering the area with their remains.

"Just what…" He and the other goblin raiders stared in shock at the display of power from the elven girl. When first they saw her, Gobtar and others assumed she was just an elf and would need the protection as they couldn't sense her magicule count. But the current situation clearly showed that she was just hiding her power, just like Lord Momonga and the other high-ranking Nazarick members.

Aura, meanwhile, grabbed the fangs of the attacking Spider Queen and used Tame. Instantly, the giant bug calmed down and, by the looks of it, gave the order for her cluster to stand down as well.

"I will name you Spidey." Aura exclaimed as the already gigantic spider grew even larger with its height reaching above the treeline.

"Done. What do you think we should do with these guys?" Aura asked.

"When we manage to kill one, we usually use them for food. Their meat is both delicious and very nutritious."

"You will not eat Spidey! Spidey is a good girl, aren't you?" Aura said while stroking a spot between the immense creature's many eyes, who gave out chattering sounds of contentment.

"Spidey says you can use the weak ones as food. She will sort out her cluster and other clusters when they show up."

"O-of course. We will do as you say, Lady Aura. Should we gather the remains of the ones you killed?"

"I guess so. If they are tasty, I want to try them out as well."

{ Lord Momonga, I tamed the spider. }

{ I sensed it. Good job, Aura. }

{ Thank you, Lord Momonga. The goblins say these spiders are good for eating them. What orders should I give? }

{ You can hunt other creatures. I will tell Rigurd and Ezanima to organize the gathering of the food. Your spider already gave me the details I need to know. }

This skill her beloved Lord possessed was a wonderful thing indeed. Just as she named Spidey, she too became a part of the Nazarick skill.

"Let's move. I want to catch a few more pets before the day ends." Aura announced and hopped back on her mount, waving goodbye to her newest pet.

The current Tempest territory didn't have other nests of more dangerous creatures. All that remained for Aura to do was to catch one of each type of creature roaming around.

A blade tiger was the next to fall into the clutches of the tamer. The cat-like creature was less of a threat than the spiders, but it was a delightful addition to her collection nonetheless. The last catch of the day was a hedge bear. It was more dangerous than the blade tiger but still nothing to worry about by the wolf riders' standards.

The rest of the encountered wildlife turned out to be beneath Aura's notice. She had hoped to find more interesting creatures, but, for now, three recent additions were enough. And with Tempest expanding constantly, who knows what kind of interesting creatures would be found in the future?

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The moment his mother and sister disappeared, Mare looked around worried. Aura had only a small escort of eight wolf riders. He, on the other hand, had about fifty. Every single tribe had sent at least one of their shamans and gatherers to learn from the Floor Guardian who ruled over nature. His task of making hills for the watchtowers quickly had become secondary to the primary goal of thoroughly investigating the forest for usable plants, both for gathering and cultivation.

The young elf nervously shifted on the wolf his sister had gifted to him as the sizable crowd closed in.

"Give space to Lord Mare!" A lean, green-haired goblin shouted next to him.

"T-thank you, Tom."

"Shall we start, my lord?" Tom asked. There were many options who would have led Mare's escort, but the Goblin Lord named by him won in the end.

"Yes, I think I sense a plant similar to coffee about a half a kilometer in that direction."

"Coffee?" Tom asked.

"Y-you can make a drink out of it, helps to wake up in the morning."

"That sure sounds useful. Lead the way, my lord."

Mare gave the command to his wolf to move. There was no particular need to rush, and the large group meant he needed to move at a slower pace, not that Mare wanted to test his mount's limits in the first place.

Choosing Tom as his second in command for the mission surely helped. The goblin understood his master's mindset and gave him plenty of space to not feel crowded.

It only took a few minutes to reach a small field filled with meter tall bushes, each holding a large amount of blue-colored fruits. Mare quickly hopped off the wolf and approached the nearest bush picking one fruit.

"Oh, we eat those." one of the goblina's said loudly.

"Y-you can eat them," Mare said, popping one in his mouth and spitting out the seeds in his hand. "But the coffee comes from the beans. Roast and grind them up for use."

"Ohh!" The crowd echoed in excitement.

Tom dutifully noted the location of the field on the map and added a written description of the plant and its properties.

Not wanting to waste too much time, Mare hoped back on his mount and led the crowd to the next destination.

'I hope Lord Momonga will be satisfied with the results.' He thought as the giant wolf gently carried him on his back, nimbly avoiding the trees.

Being outside and on an important task was a thrilling experience indeed. The only thing that disturbed his current relaxed state was the loud chatting of goblinas in the background.

"Lord Mare is so cute."

"Did he pick his future wives already?"

"I hope he will pick me."

"You are too skinny. I will be his first wife."

Not being able to escape the commotion, his cheeks slowly grew redder. To his credit, Tom was again on the point as he turned and shouted.

"Shut up back there. You are distracting Lord Mare!"

"Sorry!"

"I apologize, my Lord. If they act up again, I will sort it out personally."

"I-It's fine. Our next stop is just ahead."

The wild mustard was something the hobgoblins hadn't used before. As the list of useful plants slowly grew, so did Mare's satisfaction with the work. Lord Momonga had expressed the wish to find at least two or three useful plants to cultivate, but, not counting the one's hobgoblins already knew about, there were fifteen new ones added.

The one he was most excited about was the cocoa tree. He may have overdone a bit with the explanations of just how useful the plant was. The excited crowd looked at him like he was a messenger from the heavens who had brought a gift upon the mortals.

By mid-day, the survey of the lands had concluded and the gatherers already planned the optimal route to find additional locations for all the useful plants and gather seeds to cultivate them in the next season. The few fields that were free of trees within the Tempest territory were to be used for farming.

"I will take on the next task with just you and a few other wolf riders if you don't mind. It is easier to move around with teleportation." Mare addressed his second in command. The planned tower locations were rather spread out and it would take a long time.

A recent discovery made by Demiurge let him connect with his named goblins in a way that they could jump to his shadow almost immediately. All he had to do was to teleport to a particular location and his guards would jump out of his shadows a second later.

As he worked on, moving from spot to spot and making the hills for the towers, Mare couldn't help but notice a presence observing him. It wasn't hostile, but a more curious one. His Lord of Nature let him identify the observer rather quickly, as she, too, was connected to nature. A lone dryad was watching him intently from a safe distance.

{ Lord Momonga. A dryad is watching me. What should I do? }

{ A dryad? Does this creature pose any threat? }

{ I-I'm not sure. She doesn't feel hostile, but if I had to guess, wolf riders alone wouldn't be able to defeat her. }

{ Try not to engage her if possible. I will send Demiurge to investigate. Good job Mare. }

{ T-thank you, my lord. }

The moment Demiurge appeared next to him, the presence of the dryad was gone. Demiurge looked around and said.

"I do not sense any presence. Mare, can you point out her location?"

"S-sorry, she just disappeared," Mare said, looking down.

"I guess she reacted to my presence, as hidden as it was. A cunning creature, for sure. Do you have any method to trace it by using your skill, as I would assume a creature deeply connected with nature would fall into your field of expertise?"

"I-I can try, but I don't feel her anywhere near."

"If you could locate her, it would be most helpful."

Mare activated his Lord of Nature at his full range but, unfortunately, the elusive creature was nowhere to be found.

"I-I'm sorry, but she is gone."

"Strange that she avoided shadow demons. Just in case you sense her again, do not engage her alone." Demiurge said and teleported away.

With only a handful of the hills to make, Mare resumed his duty, but the elusive observer didn't come back.

'I wonder what she wanted?'

The elusive dryads surely piqued his interest, but it was wise to follow Demiurge's advice and be careful. The last hill was made and with the sun already setting, it was time to return home.

Edited by Edgy.