Chapter 21: Magical Oats
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Grimoire Points: 1060 Points
Instill Loyalty: 20 x 5 = 100 Grimoire Points
Outstanding Grimoire Points = 960 Grimoire Points
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“What are we going to do now, Master Ryan?” Tom asked as he eyed the five well-behaved Kobolds.
“Will we leave the Kobolds here to make traps and go home?”
“The day is still young, Tom. We’ll go explore the forest some more and delve deeper,” Ryan said. “But we'd be returning around sunset. We’re not going to stop until we find a solution to the problem…”
A loud growl erupted from Ryan’s stomach. It was so loud that the nearest Kobold visibly panicked, looking around to see if a pack of dangerous wolves had arrived.
Ryan kept his face neutral and he instead glanced at Tom.
“Did you not have any breakfast? Breakfast is an important meal of the day! We will not go on unless you eat something first.”
“…Ah, ah yes, I am starving!” Tom exclaimed and nodded. He wasn’t actually hungry, but if Master Ryan said he was the one who was hungry, then it's him. He would quickly admit that it was him.
Joan giggled. Even though Ryan didn’t want to say it aloud, the lifestyle that he was used to in the palace wasn't something easy to get rid of.
“How about we cook this rabbit, Master Ryan?” Spike said as he offered the rabbit from earlier.
“Excellent. You go pick up some sticks and spare wood for some fire. As for you, go find some stones to make the fire. And you should go find some herb that works well with rabbits, okay? And finally, this one, go skin the rabbit for us.” Ryan gave orders to the Kobolds and they quickly dispersed.
Tom, Spike and Doran all looked surprised.
All of them were ready to move and do all those things on their own, but with their jobs already assigned to others, they only needed to sit down on the ground to wait.
Even Joan was impressed with how fast the Kobolds set out to work.
‘Ryan is truly incredible. I did not think that he would have such an ability that would let other creatures follow him,’ Joan thought. ‘It is well-known that he does not have any magical abilities, but it turns out that he has this gift instead.’
“While waiting for the Kobolds to come back, let's discuss what is known about Ironcross Mountains. What are the most dangerous creatures that you are aware of in this area?"
“We… we aren’t knowledgeable about most monsters residing uphill since they rarely leave the Ironcross Mountains and we don't dare to come there,” Doran replied apologetically. “We only know of rabbits, deer, even wolves, and of course, the Kobolds.”
“That’s fine. But that means that we’re going into the Ironcross Mountains blind, unaware of the creatures that aren't Kobolds,” Ryan mused.
‘I’m curious as to what will happen once I upgrade a creature. I still have 960 Grimoire Points left, and if the price does not change, that’ll be 48 more Kobolds under my command. Builder, how many Grimoire Points do I need to upgrade these Kobolds into the next stage of evolution?’
“You will need 50 Grimoire Points for each Kobold.” Grimoire replied.
‘That’s a bit expensive. If I upgrade all five of them now, that’s 250 Grimoire Points in total and I will be left with 710 Points, which is about 35 Kobolds. Ironcross Mountains is extremely huge, and I don’t think that such an amount of Kobolds will be sizable enough to compete with an actual group of Kobolds. What exactly happens with each evolution? Is it quality over quantity? I’d like to think that it’s quality over quantity. Unfortunately, at the moment, we do need quantity, especially since the tasks I'll ask them to do are simple.’
“Ryan, the food is ready,” Joan gently called out and touched his upper arm. She was unhappy that the Kobolds prepared their food, but she couldn't complain because Ryan was the one who gave the orders.
Joan could only watch as they carefully did what they were asked. In the end, she was mostly satisfied with how they performed.
The rabbit had been cooked over a fire and was skewered. Joan offered him the skewered meat and Ryan happily received it and chomped down.
“This is delicious and it’s aromatic.” Ryan complimented. “What herb did you use, Kobold?”
One of the Kobolds stepped forward and offered a small green leafy herb.
“This is… parsley,” Ryan identified. “Huh. This even grows in here. Do you cultivate herbs in Stonefall?”
“No, Master Ryan.”
“Then this will be good for enhancing the flavor of the food. But this reminds me… do you Kobolds know of any useful plants here?” Ryan grinned.
—
Once Ryan and everyone had their share of the rabbit meat—even the Kobolds got a bit of the meat, the Kobolds quickly gestured deeper into the forest.
They had already spent nearly an hour inside of the forest, but the Kobolds continued to sprint down.
“Deeper still huh?” Ryan said. “This has got to be good.”
Although the rest of Ryan’s companions were hesitant to follow the Kobolds, they still did since even Master Ryan was trailing after them.
‘This is dangerous. I know Master Ryan said that he can tame Kobolds, but what if they still end up betraying us? We need to be extra careful,’ Tom thought.
Joan had a similar line of thoughts.
‘We’re deeper into the forest now. There were only bunnies grazing before, but now… this place is dangerous. Do I have enough strength? If it comes down to it, I’ll leave the villagers here and save Ryan. But I don’t think he’ll be happy with that…’
“Kriee!” the Kobold nearest to Ryan alerted him and pointed beyond the trees.
There was a patch of oats growing happily in the forest.
The crop looked ordinary at first glance. However, even for someone who was talentless in magic, there was a palpable change in the air.
“Mana. So much mana, you can feel it even here,” Ryan said.
If even Ryan, who didn't have talent for magic, could sense mana coming from the crop, then it meant that the mana they had was tremendous.
“Magical… Oats?”