Guard:
“Excuse me ma’am. I’ve been instructed to escort you to the palace.”
Ariel:
“Eh?”
Why would they ask me to visit the palace? With one guard in front and one behind, I just chose to follow as they led the way. Refusing or escaping would just be asking for trouble.
After reaching the castle gates, a different guard escorted me along to a large dining room. The table had lots of food, several men and women sitting at it, with one at the head of the table whom then spoke.
Table head:
“Welcome, please take a seat and eat as much as you’d like. Let me introduce myself, I’m the local lord and ruler of this territory, Fen Ger.”
As he said this, the mana fog in the room vanished, and I immediately realized everyone in the room was a monster. They all looked human, but it was clear to my field perception that they were all powerful monsters, far stronger than I. Especially the lord. He was clearly the monster lord of this territory. It was a little bit terrifying, but at the same time, the power growth I gained just from being in this room with them was comparable to being with mother.
Fen:
“Sit, sit already.”
… ah, right, was stunned and forgot what I was doing.
Ariel:
“… may I ask why you have requested my visit?”
Fen:
“Curiosity mostly. Your mother has never sent an underling out of her territory before. Wanted to get a better look at you to figure out what makes you so special. Your soul. It’s not normal.”
Ariel:
“That’s right, I was told that she found me in the void between worlds. I still have memories of living on another world as a human.”
Fen:
“I see, no wonder she did something so out of character. Please, eat and tell me what you think of the food.”
As I dug into the food, I noticed it was all just different kinds of meat. Are these guys carnivores?
Ariel:
“It’s good. I’m afraid if you want advice on how to make better food, I can’t really offer any advice. I only know a few very basic recipes. “
Fen:
“That’s a shame, well if you don’t mind, I’d still like you to talk with the chef a bit. See what you can teach her.”
Ariel:
“That’s fine with me. If I may ask though, why are you ruling over a human town?”
Fen:
“Food and drink of course! Humans make marvelous things. Delicious things. Entertaining things. It might not be as much fun as a good fight, but good fights are so rare and hard to find. Unlike Wynn, I’m not about to sleep through my recovery time to avoid boredom. I’ve got a pack to watch out for after all. Ah, right, you might not realize it; We’re wolves.”
---
The chef turned out to be capable of fire-breathing, and cooked the meat with their own fire breath. It was quite impressive. I really didn’t have any idea how to help them cook better or faster though, so I wasn’t able to make anything for them.
Afterwards I was escorted to a room to sleep. I don’t need to sleep, but I guess they expect me to? Sleep dependency and food dependency are options for making powers and abilities cost less. Monster advancement is a lot like a point-buy system in a game, with lots of modifiers to ability costs available.
This close to a monster lord, I could improve and expand my abilities much like I did while with mother.
