A cheerful company gathered around the chimera.
An entire military camp with soldiers of the kingdom armed to the teeth.
True, instead of the rifles and rockets that are familiar to modern soldiers, medieval infantrymen use primitive swords and bows. There are not even catapults and ballistas. The progress of this world stalled in the early Middle Ages, and because of magic, the situation is unlikely to change in the near future.
What is the point of chemistry if there are spells - most likely, such are the foundations of the current society. It will probably take more than one millennium before this world will have production factories and weapons superior to tenth rank magic. In the meantime, the soldiers of this country will have to suffer and overcome in the best traditions of the heroes of popular novels.
"There are no sentries," Kurumi stated calmly, walking with me through their camp.
It's a complete mess here, all the people are running here and there in confusion. So almost no one paid attention to the two visitors. Perhaps someone might have thought that two clowns had come to the camp, judging by our clothes. Well, the military would be almost right. Personally, I like to bring joy to the masses. Kurumi also likes to amuse people, albeit in a very peculiar way, by shooting off their limbs.
- They are preparing a new shock wave to try their luck in destroying the monster, - without turning to my interlocutor, I pointed with my left hand at the giant chimera, which after a couple of hours of such accelerated feeding will increase its level. Then it will begin to move around the world, sowing chaos and destruction. - According to their command, they should throw all their forces into the attack now, than regret inaction later. This is the right decision without waiting for help from outside, but the implementation is lame. The commander sends small groups of the army and militia, consider it to be slaughtered - harsh criticism of stupid actions for the armed forces of the kingdom.
"Can you resurrect them?" I heard an interesting question, but not from my ward.
Ignoring the rest of the noise from the soldiers, I walked around a couple of military tents, meeting an interesting group of people. Of the two, the one I remember the most was the short one in a cute mask and red robe. Her clothes are quite interesting, especially her tights, which are so modern for this world. It must be the machinations of the players from Yggdrasil, who were lucky enough to get here before me. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine how history developed in this world, that modern tights appeared before gunpowder.
- How? - the girl with beautiful golden hair and emerald eyes asked a little hysterically. During the fight with the chimera, she did not stand out for her strength, but still exuded the unique charm of an elegant person in the face of danger, even through the mirror of distant vision. - I spent too much energy! At best, I can try tomorrow. We wasted time... And now it is unknown whether our comrades will be able to return to the ranks after the resurrection, - angrily turning towards the chimerical city, the warrior with the dark sword splashed out all her anger, forcefully kicking the stone closest to her.
"Good day," a polite greeting never hurt anyone, especially before entering someone else's comfort zone. "I see you've had some trouble resurrecting your comrades," my eyes quickly scanned the three corpses: two twins and one, despite her rough features and large muscles, a woman.
"Who are you?" frowning her light eyebrows, my interlocutor decided to ignore the formalities, immediately moving on to finding out my identity.
"He's dangerous," a warning came from the short man's mask, but thanks to the light aura emitted by my amulet, it didn't come to hostility.
- I am Bondrewd. Researcher of Life. Usually people call me Lord of Dawn or Lord of Dawn. As you wish, - having introduced myself, I stood half-turned to my new acquaintances to introduce my companion. - My assistant Kurumi. Despite her slightly sarcastic nature, she is extremely kind and shy, - on the face of my ward one could read barely restrained laughter, probably maniacal. I am one hundred percent sure that no one had ever introduced her like that before.
Still, today is her first contact with people.
"Yeah, a beauty in submission, as you would expect from life researchers," to my surprise, it was the little girl in the red robe who made the sarcastic comment.
She has a tongue that is boneless, very interesting.
"Evileye, wait," her more prudent companion, possibly the leader, took a few steps forward. She had been more confident on the battlefield, but even now the sword maiden's spirit was not completely broken. Excellent. "I apologize for my companion. We haven't seen you before, and we've had some difficulties," she glanced briefly at the dead comrades lying on the brown cloth, and quickly returned it to my helmet. "My name is Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra. Leader of the adamantite adventurer group Blue Rose," a rather quick introduction that made the ears wither. "Where did you come from, and for what purpose?" The question sounded unusually suspicious, and considering the muscles in her arm were tensing…
She is preparing to catch a magic bullet with her head at any moment during an unsuccessful attempt on my life.
"The rumors about the unusual creature spread so far and sounded so loud that they reached my humble abode," after my brief explanation, Kurumi lost interest in what was happening. With her eyes rolling back, she headed deeper into the camp, waving her hand goodbye.
I hope she doesn't start chaos like Shalltear.
She has a setting for caution and reasonableness, so she can probably be let out for a walk. Otherwise, plan B.
- And what will you do? Research this monster? Well, well, good luck to you! I'll be happy to watch you study your falling out insides, - crossing her arms and pressing them to her body, the little girl in the mask again attracted my attention.
The thing is that lately, mostly only praise and words of admiration have reached my ears. It's like eating only one delicious dish, but only one, without being able to taste anything else.
It's extremely annoying, bland and boring, and then I came across…
An undead being with a different opinion from most of my surroundings. I should have used the hunter's assessment earlier to know her race. Surprisingly, in this world, humans have allied with vampires.
Curious, very curious.
The creation of a country united by all races and peoples may be easier than expected. It remains to find out the opinion of the motley people about replacing prisons for criminals with laboratories isolated from society. Science requires sacrifices, and not all subjects can be used as expendable material. Still, it is important to protect your new base not only from local enemies, but also from the summoned heroes.
Trucks are especially dangerous these days; they can send me unexpected guests.
— Researching a creature that accelerates evolution by absorbing living creatures is the last thing you can do while the kingdom's soldiers are constantly storming it — sharing a piece of information about this monster, I didn't immediately notice how a whole horde of peasants armed with pitchforks ran past us. Are the elite warriors really gone, and are ordinary farmers being used? It's hard to even call this a militia, its participants are given something more suitable: more than nothing.
"Do you know what kind of monster this is?" Lakyus pressed harder on the handle of the dark blade and asked me how I knew the details.
So far everything is going according to plan, which is not bad.
- It's a chimera, but judging by what I saw, it's quite unusual, - without a tail, I shouldn't be perceived as a fellow of this amazing little animal, so it's better not to associate myself with it for some time, even in my thoughts. - Each death of a living creature is reflected by the transfer of their mana to the monster after the absorption procedure. This is clearly visible if you slightly strengthen your gaze, - a confident lie, but a lie to save the lives of the strongest creatures in this camp.
These two probably have a lot of connections, so some friendly contact wouldn't hurt.
"Do you… have a talent for recognizing magic like Fluder?" The name was familiar, perhaps I had heard it somewhere before, but I didn't pay attention to it.
- Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to meet this man or non-human. Is he your friend? - an attempt to tilt my head should give more credibility to my doubts.
- Eh? It's impossible not to know the most powerful mage of the Empire! What cave did you crawl out of? - the miniature lady waved her hands in a cartoonish manner and tried to prick me again. How cute. Just like a cute little animal trying to make its first attempts at its signature "bite". I want to take it home...
- Evileye! - the swordswoman tried to calm her subordinate down, embarrassed. Ah, raising your voice to your servants, and that might work if you need to impose the importance of your will. Live and learn. - I apologize, it's just that we're all on edge... Well, you must understand...
— Exactly about that. You complained about the lack of magic to resurrect allies, — I casually reminded them of their problem. It will be interesting to see how a potion to increase mana regeneration will affect a living person. There should be no problems with resource expenditure, some members of the Hands of Umbra have class skills that significantly improve alchemy. And also a couple of items that allow you to process Yggdrasil gold into consumable minerals for creating potions.
It's funny, first we send organic matter to the Cursed Furnace of Midas, receiving gold, which we then process into minerals for potions.
It's a real cycle of things, it's a pity that there is no cycle.
Besides, organics take a long time to grow, and not only minerals are used to brew potions. It's decided, this issue should be assigned to a research group. Otherwise, they always want to work only with living creatures.
- And what can you do about it? - The sarcastic tone was gone when the conversation turned to her comrades. Rather, the question sounded concerned, and with a little hope.
- Nothing significant, - opening the inventory, under the surprised looks of two girls, I took out an orange potion. One of the advantages of being a chimera is that I have the ability to carry a bunch of potions that I can pour into myself during battle. This is the main difference between chimeras and skeletons, who have a lot of immunities, but they have trouble with additional regen. - This is a potion for regenerating magical power. You can test it in all known ways. Or you can refuse to use it, - politely handing the item to their leader, it was a surprise for me that the bottle with the potion was intercepted by the shorty.
- Unbelievable! This is... Where did you get a potion of light... divine class?!" She asked in a squeaky voice, but with more respect.
It's getting cuter and cuter.
I wonder if collecting miniature vampires is a good hobby?
— Unfortunately, it is difficult for me to answer the question posed, since for me it is the most ordinary consumable, produced in my workshop — the word "laboratory" is not advisable to use at first acquaintance. It evokes unpleasant associations in living beings. The instinctive fear of doctors and their devices has not been cancelled.
— Is it safe?
— Yes, but…
- Give it here...
- No, wait, this is a treasure!
- Our comrades!
While the two blondes were arguing about the advisability of using the potion, I was getting a little bored watching it. I think I'll go see Kurumi and then quickly deal with the cute monster.
The monster city was supposed to be empty again.
I'm sure the recently dispatched peasant squad has been completely destroyed by now. The command hasn't had time to prepare new reinforcements, so you can use the window that has opened. But before that, it wouldn't hurt to make sure. Trust your feelings, but verify.
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