They took up the sa formation as before, except that Rae was gone. She had retreated into her space and was sorting through her treasures and blood supply.
[Is it ti for an advancent bath?] Karl asked the intensely focused spider.
[I think it is. I've got everything that I need. I just need to adjust the balance for my new species so I don't end up with weird abilities.] She agreed.
Remi led the group to the village walls, expecting a warm reception. But they were greeted with a faint sense of hostility and suspicion.
{Strange Shaman, what brings you to our village.} The guard asked.
{The village to your south said that you had a Crocolisk infestation. We ca to help you with them. As you can see, we eliminated many of them on our way.} Remi replied.
There was a pause, and then the gates opened.
A deep brown and green Naga Shaman Princess at the Overlord Rank stood in the open gates, glaring at Remi.
[Oh, cat fight!] Cara cheered from the back of her new ride.
Remi gave the Princess a polite nod, then smiled. {Leader Ss'amanth it is a pleasure to et you.} She began.
The Princess reluctantly gave a small bow, but Karl could still feel the hostility.
{Thank you for your intervention, Your Majesty. I'm afraid that our village has suffered greatly from the repeated attacks of the Crocolisk Matriarch.} She replied.
Remi decided not to press them, as Hawk said the edge of the swamp was only ten kilotres away. They could just turn west and go look for more targets, as it was only early afternoon.
Instead, Remi took out a Monarch Rank cleansing potion in a decorative glass bottle and extended it to the Princess.
{A first eting gift from to you.} She declared.
A guard ca forward and took the bottle, while the rest of the Naga along the wall watched with great curiosity. Their village was in bad shape, but they wouldn't just accept a hostile takeover by another Royal lineage. Not while their current Princess was alive.
The Princess examined the gift and began to relax. It obviously wasn't the best that Remi could make, but the System said it was made by her. A polite gift that said Remi wasn't trying to insult them, but also wasn't going to cower before them.
{We have more hunting to complete today. It has been a pleasure making your acquaintance. But I am afraid we must be on our way.} Remi declared, then used [Minor Water Control] to close the gates before turning away.
Thor grumbled, unhappy about more walking in the swamp, but he imdiately turned west and began moving.
Lotus humd happily as she used her vines to pick nearby flowers from the Crocolisk's back during their trip. The swamps had all sorts of dicinal flowers available, and she wasn't going to let them all pass by without at least collecting a few.
Remi had her bodyguards pick ones she didn't have, so she could add them to her swamp. But that was much more practical than the Green Dragon Priestess. Lotus was just making a flower crown out of dicinal plants.
They continued for an hour after they reached the grasslands, headed toward the next region where Hawk had reported another anomaly.
But Hawk hadn't reported any sort of monster infestation around the Anomaly, just the location, and the fact that there were farms in the surrounding area. It was possible that the farrs had already dealt with the monsters from the spawn, and it was just the anomaly itself that was left.
Once they were on dry land, Remi retreated to her space. There were no new plants here to find, and she had potions to make.
So, Karl took her spot at the front, while Thor led the rest of their odd procession through the grass.
The group had beco heavily reptile biased, with Remi's bodyguards and the Lamia still active, plus a pair of Crocolisk mounts for Cara and Lotus. They fit in well with Thor's Behemoth body, but were clearly not native to the grasslands.
[There is a farm near you. They hid the house in the hill, you'll see it over the next rise.] Hawk updated.
Karl could already see the soul energy of the farr in the distance, out in a field tending to sothing living. It was on their way to the Anomaly, so there was no real reason not to stop in and at least get an update on the situation in the region.
The farr whistled as he noticed them, loud enough that Karl could hear it. That brought out a middle-aged Trollish woman and a teen boy with a sword in his shaky hands.
"Everyone, wait here, I will go say hello." Karl instructed, then deactivated his armour spell to leave himself in black pants tucked in his boots and a white silk tunic shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
[Brother Tian, help him out.] Cara instructed as Karl began walking.
The tiny fox ca out to sit on Karl's shoulder, as Cara had earlier. He was hard to spot among the white and black fur, being snow-white himself, but his bright blue eyes gave him away once they got closer.
Karl stopped a comfortable distance from the two Trolls and turned his hands palm up to show that there was nothing in them.
"Greetings. We were passing by and noticed the Anomaly in the distance. How long has it been up? We can offer assistance clearing the excess monsters." Karl greeted them.
The boy lowered his sword for a mont before rembering that he was supposed to be on guard against thieves and liars, but the woman just gave Karl an amused smile.
"We don't need help with that old thing. It spawned Grassland Buffalo, but that was decades ago. We've raised many generations of the beasts since then."
Karl chuckled. "That's impressive. Normally, the monsters are too crazy to be raised."
The woman nodded. "If you talk to the old shaman by the strange place, he can explain. But his magic calms them for a ti, and that let us breed them. Then the next generation was normal, so we killed most of the others and herded the rest back inside.
They don't get old in there, so we always have spares if bad things happen to the trolls' food."
"That is actually brilliant. I never thought about doing things that way.
If they are all tad now, I will make sure that my people don't attack any of your livestock. We're on a mission from the Dragon Gods to balance out the monster populations, and remove the excess from the anomalies.
But it seems your people have already done that here." Karl agreed.
The woman smirked and nodded. "I ca ten years after the army unit arrived here. Word got back to the big village that they had lots of food and hos built, looking for good wives."
"And a good Trollish woman will box her husband's ears until he becos a good husband as well." Karl joked.
The woman nodded. "Exactly. Good husbands make good living conditions. Good wives make good husbands. You are wise to the ways of the Trolls."
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