“I am a Beast Master.” Karl explained.
“Then those beasts are summoned?”
Karl shook his head. “No, they are real beasts, bonded to me as allies. Thor is as alive as anyone else, and he’s been with me since he was an egg.”
That seemed like a good enough answer for the guard, and he motioned for Karl to move in front of the carriage, which had taken some damage, but looked mobile.
“What pace are you keeping? I’ve been jogging along with Thor.” Karl asked, looking back at them.
“We will match with you as well as we can. I don’t want to be out here any longer than necessary.”
Karl began to jog, then grabbed a few tubers from Thor’s space to roast with [Flaming Body] in his hand, and then passed them to the children. The skill was able to pass heat through the whole object, cooking them in a matter of seconds.
“Be careful, they’re hot.” He warned as he passed the tubers to the Elves.
They smiled and bounced them between their hands to cool them, then carefully bit into them.
“Oh, these are good, Mister.” The last of the girls to get her lunch declared.
“I’m glad you like them. I wasn’t sure what Elves liked to eat.”
The little girl smirked at Karl. “You’re losing the carriage, though. Horses aren’t as fast as a Cerro. Especially when they’re hooked to a carriage.”
Karl slowed down as he realized that the horses were already panting, and looked back with an apologetic gesture.
“Sorry, I forgot that your horses were just horses and not monsters.”
He took up a loping trot, which was a more comfortable pace for the carriage, while the Guards on their horses glared at him.
“Do you think he’s feral? One of the classes that is born in the woods and never sees civilization? His armour has been patched more than once, and it’s damaged again. It looks like he was in a fight with something nasty, possibly even second advancement. But he’s not at all concerned about the dangers of the road.” One of the guards was telling the occupants of the carriage.
“I think his class made him feral. Did you see how he looked at that poor man being torn apart? He has forgotten what it is to be human or feel empathy. He’s as much a monster as his partners are.” A new, musical voice replied.
[Do you think that’s true? Am I becoming a monster?] Karl asked.
[Nah, they’re just scared and weak willed.] Hawk assured him.
[Maybe they don’t enjoy playing with their food?] Rae suggested.
[I think that Sister Rae is right. They seem to have some rule against just killing things that are dangerous. They must like to torture and humiliate each other instead. Humans here are weird.] Remi agreed.
Thor snorted in amusement, and subtly shook his head. [They’re a herd prey species. Not like Elites. They only fight enough to defend themselves and then let the predators leave with their spoils so they don’t lose any more than they have to.]
That made sense.
They approached the city walls, and Karl saw that most of the visitors in line were nobles with guards, fancy carriages, and visible wealth.
So, he changed into is only, and best, suit. The concealed armour underneath gave him a bit of extra bulk, but nothing too excessive, and he had his weapons put away. That should keep the city guards happy, he hoped.
He was still relatively clean-shaven from yesterday, and with a quick brush of his hair and a bit of luck, he should look respectable enough.
Karl walked up to the line, and had just gotten settled into his spot when a group of guards with spears came running up.
“NO MONSTERS!” The captain shouted.
“Fine, calm your tits. I will send him away. Kids, you’ll have to walk from here. Thor needs to rest.”
Thor returned to his space, and the little Elves tumbled to the ground, giggling as they dusted themselves off and got to their feet.
“Where did you hire those servants?” The guard demanded, poking his spear at Karl.
“I rescued them from bandits. I was bringing them here to make arrangements for them to get home safely.”
“I don’t see a System Status for you.” The guard accused.
[Status] Karl thought.
Suddenly, there was information everywhere. Most of the people had names over their head, and they were in a bunch of colours, but predominantly in a boring brown that Karl assumed marked them as a Warrior type.
The city guard looked startled, then suspicious. “How did you hide your status?”
“Stealth skill. Handy when you’re in the wilderness and avoiding bandits.” Karl shrugged.
“You need to come with us. Bring the little ones as well, we want to talk to them.” The guard insisted.
As they passed by, one of the Noblemen reached down toward one of the Elf girls, but when Karl turned to watch him, he recoiled in terror.
From behind them, Karl heard the carriage guards laughing quietly as the Elves moved to put Karl between them and the people in line. He was the scariest person in line, but he was their scary person.
They were led into a large office evidently intended to interrogate an entire guard team for a carriage at once, and the children pressed against the back wall, putting Karl between them and the guards who were waiting for them.
“Alright, traveller. We have some questions for you. The system says your name is Karl, but we can’t see any more information about you. That shade of red doesn’t match any Class we’re familiar with, either.” The guard Captain insisted.
“Is that a particular problem? I haven’t memorized every colour either, and it doesn’t cause me any trouble.” Karl replied easily.
The guard did not think he was funny.
“When I focus on you, I should see your general power level and Class. But I don’t. That is a safety risk.” The guard insisted.
“In that case, I just reached the First Advancement, and I am a Beast Master. If you ask the gentlemen guarding the carriage behind me, they will confirm that. They were in a scuffle with bandits when I happened upon them.” Karl replied.
“So, they can verify your power level is at or above First Advancement?”
Karl nodded. “I would say that they can confirm the basic details. They’re not as strong as I am, but they should be able to tell that much.”
That seemed to put the guards more on edge instead of comforting them.
“And the bandits that they fought, where are the bodies?”
Karl shrugged. “I brought them with me, stored away in case there was a bounty on them. They were all somewhere around the First Advancement point, and robbing carriages, so there might be a bounty.”
“You say that as if you single-handedly took out more than one.” The guard replied.
The Elf girl laughed. “Six, he took out six. He even hunted them down through the woods so they couldn’t get reinforcements. He’s awesome.”
“Put them in the back room and I will check them against the bounty posts.”
Karl summoned them out of Rae’s space into the next room, and immediately heard a man dry heaving.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Some of them are in bad shape, but all the heads are intact.”
