Four hours later, the helicopter landed at the border of the Divine Beast Nation, not far from where the Flokwar river headwaters started at a natural spring.
Assembled to meet them was an odd assortment of creatures. There was a Dire Bear, a dragonkin Priestess, and a trio of Moor Cats.
Other than the Priestess, who was a Commander Rank High Priestess, the others were all strong Monarchs. The Colonel had been expecting the Divine Beast Nation to send a weak representative as an insult, but it appeared that they had sent an exceptionally powerful emergency response team to meet them.
There was still a portal open behind the beasts, waiting for the meeting to end, and Ophelia began to suspect that this meeting might not go the way they were hoping.
So, as they got out of the helicopter, she shifted into Werebear form, ensuring that there would be at least one Beastkin with their contingent. She had some hope that it would help alleviate the hostility she could feel, and unlike her Dire Bear Form, she could still speak as a Werebear.
The two sides stopped a few metres apart, and the dragonkin High Priestess nodded at the newly arrived clerics while ignoring the others.
“First, as a sign of good faith.” She announced, then opened a viewing spell that showed Karl teaching a combat class to a group of five-year-olds.
He was currently showing them the art of the side chokehold, where you could get close enough to a beast’s neck that they couldn’t bite you as you attacked.
Thor was napping in the background, and Colonel Valerie prepared for the worst. Karl was clearly accepted by the beasts if they were letting him be around the kids, and that was going to make it harder to get him back.
[We should have warned him not to be so friendly to foreign nations.] Colonel Valerie’s assistant whispered to her.
[But if he wasn’t what sort of condition would he be in now?] She whispered back.
The dragonkin gestured for Tessa to come forward and speak with her, but the beasts growled when the Colonel tried to join her.
“High Priestess. I have been informed that your team has a contract with the Dragon Gods.” The dragonkin began.
Tessa silently nodded and took out a copy of the contract.
“So, the four of you?” She asked.
“Normally, we travel as a group of eight. Ophelia is our fifth for most situations, while Morgana, Bob and Doug bolster our numbers for dangerous situations.”
That was a rather powerful group, with Bob and Doug both at Royal Rank, and Morgana right at the bottleneck.
But the High Priestess had been informed of Karl’s combat power with his beasts, and he would still be the designated leader of the team even in the Divine Beast Nation, despite his youth.
“I have been approved to bring his contracted team members to him. No more. I am willing to make an exception for the Werebear, but not the humans.”
“What are the chances that he could be returned to the group here? We do have duties to take care of as well.” Tessa asked.
The dragonkin High Priestess shook her head. “The Grand Priest says his skills are too valuable to let him go before his debt is cleared.”
“What debt?”
The dragonkin shrugged. “I have no idea. It wasn’t explained to me, as it was considered non-negotiable.”
“Can you ask? Perhaps we can help settle the debt right now.”
Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she used a communication spell.
“He did not clarify, and only said that they are still cleaning slimy footprints off the ceiling.”
That left Karl’s entire team confused. None of the beasts had slime type abilities, and the ones that could conceivably be on the ceiling were Rae and Hawk, neither of which would leave footprints.
Had Karl done something that involved him fighting indoors with slimy feet?
Hopefully, he hadn’t gotten into a fight with the Beast God Clerics.
Tessa turned to Colonel Valerie for answers. Sending more Elites into the Divine Beast Nation defeated the purpose of trying to recover one. But they did have a contract that said they wouldn’t leave each other behind.
He certainly seemed like he was on an adventure, and if they let him go alone now that they had the chance to join him, it might be a violation of the contract.
“Can I have a moment to confer with the Bureau Agents?” Tessa asked.
The High Priestess nodded and Tessa stepped back to talk to the others.
“Where do I go from here? It’s pretty clear that they’re not going to let him go easily. We came here to get an Elite back, but with the contract, most of us will have to go to him if he won’t be brought to us.” She whispered.
Colonel Valerie sighed and nodded. “If it comes down to that, try to get terms from them. Preferably a condition to return you all home once whatever debt he racked up has been paid.
I suspect that it’s a made up charge, an excuse to keep him there. I just wish that I could confidently say that him leaving slimy footprints on the ceiling was a false accusation.”
Dana smirked. “Yeah, we were all a bit startled at that, but I don’t think anyone would say it’s impossible, or even all that unlikely.”
In the distance, they heard the Dire Bear’s rumbling laughter.
“The bear has definitely met him. He wouldn’t be laughing that hard if he didn’t know Karl.” Doug noted.
The Dire Bear nodded in agreement, letting everyone know his hearing was sensitive enough to hear their whispers.
“Why are we pretending that any of this is a secret meeting? We can all hear each other.” Dana asked.
The Bear and the Moor Cats all made huffing laughing noises at her comment, and even the Dragonkin Priestess chuckled.
Tessa stepped back toward the Divine Beast Nation group. “We would ask to join our partner until such time as we can all leave together. What we ask is that you guarantee our safety and our return together to the Golden Dragon Nation at the soonest opportunity.”
The High Priestess was silent for a minute as she considered the wording.
“We can agree to bring you to him and assist you in fulfilling the terms of the contract with the Red Dragon until such time as you all leave together, at our earliest convenience,” she suggested.
That was not quite the same thing, as there were many exceptions to “earliest convenience”, but it was not a bad agreement, as they had agreed to allow them to fulfill the terms of the contract.
The contract stipulated that they needed to please the Red Dragon, so it would be difficult to keep them there in a secure temple for an extended period, as the Divine Beasts were not at war with anyone. The Black Dragon who ruled their nation didn’t see the need, the deaths on the continent were balancing themselves.
Colonel Valerie nodded and handed Tessa a small bag that she put in her storage. She could check the contents later, but it was most likely a method of contacting home from outside of regular radio range.
That was all the signal that Tessa needed to know that they would be leaving.
