Chapter 103 - The Hopeful Redeemer

It has been a couple of hours of nonstop bickering from Sylvania and more than once I though about using my new skill [Space Bubble] to enclose her in. But a second later the part of me that knows I was in the wrong made me settle down and take it.

"I'm sorry to bitch at you Vexsus but this is a recurring problem that, well, everyone has with you. You go off and do things without telling us, or you go off on a one man mission only to then get distracted and do something else. I know I sound like a mother but what you need is a babysitter. So from now on you need to bring atleast 2 of us so that way we can keep you on track." 

"Yes ma'am." I said as I hung my head while walking. It would mean things would get done quicker, but this world is still undiscovered for me. There's still so many things I haven't seen or felt.... or eaten. 

"I have one condition though." 

"What's that?" 

"If things get to dangerous than I will be left behind while you runaway." 

Everybody stopped walking and turned to look at me. I could see faces of anger and confusion, and downright denial. 

Kitsoma who was walking hand in hand with me up to this point let go of me.

"Why do you keep doing this to us. Do you not trust us to fight with you? Do you think we are so weak that we cannot handle problems at your side?" She said while her tail was sticking straight up. I could see little wisps of flame start to erupt from her body.

"Kitsoma..... I trust you guys whole heartedly. But you've seen the people I face, you've seen the power those monsters hold and even at the end it, sometimes it takes me sacrificing my life force to pull out a victory. Even then I'm either unconscious or I literally meet a Reaper of Death. If I can barely handle them than I don't want to see my loved ones be tortured and killed with a single move. I would rather sacrifice myself to give you the chance to run away and live." 

I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight before whispering in her ear.

"Plus what would happen if you were to be pregnant." I said that last part because I knew she would get embarrassed and shy and no sooner had I said that a flame as hot as hell erupted all around us.

"P-p-p-p-pregnant.... I-I-I-I.... I haven't thought that far ahead...." 

So that was one person down and 4 more to go as I looked at Sondar next. This guy was easy.

"Sondar, Your my brother, my right hand man, my guardian. I trust you with my life aswell as the next to lead after me. If I lose you than that means everybody loses you. I am an ok leader but you.... Man you are the real deal, you bring everybody together and maximize everything. I cannot let you sacrifice yourself."

"Sylvania, Your and Shorunt are this families main healers. Without you 2 this whole group would have died back in that god forsaken cave. You and Shorunt have to stay behind no matter what and train for the brutal fights ahead of us. I am a pawn in the grand scheme of things. I am a fighter. But you are a healer, the ones who support everybody and keep the fight going. My life is useless without you and as such I cannot risk your lives."

I looked and saw 4 people with teary eyes. Boom. haha suckers.

Until I turn and see Howy..... and this bastard has a shit eating grin the size of a canyon.

"Don't even try you sly bastard. It won't work on me. Liosa and I are the ones who will be babysitting you, so don't even think you can get rid of us. I'm learning a new skill where I will literally be your shadow." He said while sauntering up to me.

He patted my arm and kept walking. 

Ugh dammit.... I just want them to be safe.... As much as I want to explore new things, the enemies I face are even scarier.

I sighed before I continued to walk. "You may be my shadow but I still want you to run away if things get to rough ok? Atleast go to bring back reinforcements." I said hoping that atleast something I said would be listened to.

He waved his hand in the air nonchalantly before disappearing into the shadows of the forest.

I smiled before grabbing onto the still steaming Kitsoma and lifting her up and carrying her princess style.

"Wahhh, Vexsus put me down!" 

"No can do, I feel a surge of happiness in my heart and I am overflowing with power. As mine you deserve to get carried."

"And here we go again with the romantics." Sylvania said but then in the corner of my vision I saw as Shorunt quickly grabbed her hand but Sylvania quickly looked at him with a 'Not in front of the others' look. That made me chuckle I knew something was going to happen with those 2, it was only a matter of time.

-----hours later-----

We finally got back to camp with a some extra baggage. Along the way we were attacked by some Fire Boars. These guys reminded me of the ones I fought a long time ago when I was young. I remembered how tasty they were and quickly moved to kill them with a quick slice to the throat and a small stab with my claw to the brain. I had Shorunt create some orbs to gather up the blood and I stored them and the bodies in my bubble.

I walked up to Romeo as he was stoking the soon to be dinner fire and unloaded the carcasses. 

"These are Fire boars. They should still be hot since they have the fire affinity, but with some ingenuity I know you can make some awesome food. They taste delicious raw but I know some of our other companions aren't fond of the raw diet."

He smiled as he brought out a sharp as hell looking knife and started butchering.

"Thanks to my job as a chef, I can easily prepare some foods, but I don't think I have the necessary tools. At most I can throw in on the spit and roast it, or I can slice it up and throw it on the flat rock and cook it that way."

"Hmmmm, what if you took the fat and fried em? Could that work? I mean they are pretty large and I know not all of that is meat since it's starting to get colder they should be bulking up for Winter right?"

He tapped his chin for a few seconds before a lightbulb went off. 

"Yea, I think I can do something like that but the fat would have to be rendered and purified before I could do anything with it. Who knows what kind of parasites they have swimming in there."

Uhoh. That never crossed my mind before, does that mean that I ate parasites back then? I mean back on Earth I was always careful around pork products but in this world do they have things like that? I don't feel weird other than always being hungry but that's just my Gluttony skill.... right?

"Don't worry dad, I will think of something and when dinner is ready I promise it will be delicious."

I nodded and patted his shoulder before walking off, but then quickly stopped and opened up my bubble to pull out the fruits and seeds along with some sap that I collected of the Tree of Silence.

"These things are from an odd tree I found. The fruit blocks magic for half a day while the sap when cooked becomes a healing item. I don't know about the seeds but I plan on planting them and growing a couple for future products. I want you to experiment and see if you can come up with something and maybe make something useful out of them. Howy cooked the Sap and it became an inferior product but I believe with your mastery it could become something great."

"Wow, well thanks for the vote of confidence dad, thats a bit more pressure than I was expecting but I won't fail you." He had a huge smile on his face and when looking through Aura vision I saw a combination of Red, Orange, and Yellow.

I felt like those colors meant something good so I nodded with a smile and left him to get at it.

I didn't exactly know where to go with the seeds as we didn't really have a specific person who was in charge of growing. I guess I could hold a quick meeting since this was another important part of self sufficiency.... Ugh public speaking sucks.

I sucked in a deep breath and added some mana into my throat and let out a yell.

"EVERYONE PLEASE MEET UP FOR A IMPROMPTU MEETING." And then I felt bad as yet again I did something on the spot instead of talking it over.... dammit, well ahwell I'll just try and do better after this. Besides it's for the future of the group.

Next few seconds was like being in a stampede as I felt the ground tremble at the sheer amount of feet racing towards me.

After everyone was settled down and I apologized for doing something so quickly and without warning I dove into the topic.

"Ok, again sorry for the rush but during my latest mission me and Howy came upon a unique tree, I'll be honest. If it wasn't for Howy I might not have been here today. The tree had these weird vines that emitted this sweet smell that lured in prey and then made them fall asleep or at the very least calm and docile. To which the vines would then burrow into my skin and started draining me of blood."

I let that sink in for a second before talking again.

"But Howy saved me and we got rid of those parasitic vines to reveal a tree with some special qualities. 1. It has a unique effect over mental intrustions. I for one have the voice of Wrath trying to corrupt me whenever I use it's power. But with that tree nearby I no longer hear her voice. Then Howy decided to cook up some of the trees sap, and it became somewhat of a healing item. It's effects are more along the lines of regeneration than fast action healing. It's meant for after battle healing, but with the proper people handling it I believe it has the potential for great things."

"Anyways, I brought along some of the seeds and I plan on growing a few nearby and hopefully creating a renewable source of income when we start trading and also a food source for the base. But here comes the issue of why I called you here. We need to form a smaller division of the base dedicated specifically to farming and any future animals that we can domesticate. Does anyone here have either a Druid class, or maybe the Farmer job? Really anything having to do with plant growth or nurturing will do." 

I waited for a few seconds before a hand raised in the far back. Then as if gaining courage a few more hands raised.

"Great, can you 5 please come up here?" 

5 of the smaller Dragonoid children walked up to me, they were all varying colors of green and brown, Kinda fitting with the new jobs they will have.

"Hi there, Oh? I believe your names are Missy and.... Jazzy correct? You have the mysterious prowler outside your tent? How is that going?"