Even when they aren’t bothering with it at all Daniel muttered and he was rewarded with glares from Sam and Regina
Smiling Mrs Hamilton added and their continued presence allows them to intimately become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of our sister village
The others mulled this over for a short while In other news how is the Adventurer’s Guild building Mrs Hamilton asked
Daniel’s eyes came alive It’s extraordinary Not only does it provide quests but it also appears that there is a function similar to what Nul could provide with skill trials Though unfortunately the selection is much more bland but as more missions are completed the building grows and more options should be unlocked
In addition Clarissa added with a grin glancing at Daniel After the building was created we have seen a higher incidence of Yellow named monsters which seem to be related to quests Often these are quite a bit stronger than normal monsters in the area but you seem to need to accomplish a series of prerequisites to fight them or to barge directly into the area they are using as a lair Nothing bad has happened thus far but some of them are quite near to the village limits
But their bodies are excellent for parts Sam interjected smiling slightly
A bang rang out dragging everyone’s attention back to the center of the table where Glendel sat He looked up at them all pleadingly You are really alright with this Just letting those children stay over there They didn’t seem to mean us harm exactly but Could we at least ask them to return the children
After a long moment Mrs Hamilton nodded Actually that’s a good idea I’m sad I didn’t think of it They will likely refuse and it will make them think they have a negotiation advantage
Glendel blinked They will refuse
Mrs Hamilton checked the sun and stood to go Yes but that’s not the real reason that it wouldn’t work She will refuse to return too
I don’t want to go back Kiersty said with exaggerated patience before Hess even had a chance to respond Adults needed to be treated very delicately sometimes
Devan and Decklan’s squads were about to go out and help with the monster problem that Kith Klark was dealing with but Decklan had taken the time to ask that Kiersty and Nathan be allowed to return to Donnyton
After all there is still a bit more to do here Kiersty added then calmly walked out the door Right as she arrived Bert appeared gravely opening the door for her and giving her a small bow She smiled at him pleased She quite liked this turtle man that gave her cider and snuck her treats all the time
And in addition she didn’t have a bedtime over here Why would she ever go back to Donnyton
Scared and intimidated Nathan as always was dragged out by virtue of unwillingness to lose proximity with his sister He looked so scared that Kiersty almost felt bad But then she shook her head steeling her resolve After all there was a lot of work to do This wasn’t the time to be selfish
Arbor had barely gotten his roots into the soil here There was still much to do and lately Kiersty had felt that her growth had become somewhat stagnant She needed a new activity to distract her and keep her entertained
It was time to evangelize
Chapter 119
When Kiersty walked out of the hut several turtle guards with crossbows scrambled out of the way Originally they had been very disapproving of allowing her to wander freely but Bert had said a quiet word to one and instantly they became well behaved springing to attention whenever she passed
She smiled at them but they were not her quarry she continued onwards down the small path away from the hill that formed Hess’ and Bert’s house Kith Klark was built on a lake with the turtles having raft dwellings on the lake while the Rabbits built low to the ground clay longhouses on the lakeshore There was a large obelisk where the center of the town was which Kiersty had heard was the source of the strange animalistic characteristic they developed
Even with her newfound freedom Kiersty wasn’t that interested in the strange obelisk but instead went to the small clearing to the north of the town where she had laid the seed of Arbor When she had left it two days ago it had barely been a bump in the ground but now when she walked into the clearing she saw a few dozen of the small grey skinned children gathering around the central location where she had planted Arbor
As she walked over the group seemed to notice her and spread out clearing a path to the center glancing around nervously There poking around two feet out of the ground was a small sapling It waved excitedly as she approached which caused the grey children to mutter to each other
Do you like Arbor Kiersty asked simply looking a few of the nearest straight in the eye They glanced at each other but remained silent Shrugging Kiersty walked closer to the tree until she stood over it Then with a strange delicacy she drew a finger up what would be the trunk of this Arbor It curled protectively into her hand rubbing against her like a pet
She felt its confusion and its loneliness being here cut off from the other Arbors But also its growing curiosity and wonder for these new strange creatures around it
Nodding decisively Kiersty took two steps back and raised her arms to mirror the tiny Arbor and began to dance Gleefully swaying the Arbor followed her wiggling back and forth wildly The children took several steps backwards but Kiersty ignored them focusing on Arbor
She was after all the Priestess of Arbor The plant would always be her first priority
After a few seconds of hesitation Nathan walked up and joined her dancing with Arbor They continued like this for several minutes before the silence was finally broken by one of the grey children
What are you doing There was a thread of judgement and derision in the question but more curiosity Kiersty carefully kept her face serious It wouldn’t do for them to know this is exactly what she was waiting for
Dancing Kiersty said matter of factly
But why The grey child said emboldened Although they all looked the same Kiersty had the impression that this one was was slightly taller than the others and put its hands on its hips in a way that made her believe it was a she
Because it makes the tree grow faster Nathan added bless his heart Kiersty continued to suppress her smile feeling slightly warm that Nathan so dutifully answered when and how she needed him to
The grey child snorted and turned away Although the group walked some distance they eventually stopped and turned unable to keep their attention from the strangers that came to their village Just like Kiersty was slightly fascinated with them and their strange bodies and abilities But she had a higher mission right now and had no time to play around
Still now she simply danced feeling Arbor’s happy joy A miracle would come soon she knew They just needed to dance until then
Randidly’s arm trembled as he lowered the spear He had just failed for the second time on the training exercise where the series of rings hung and he had to stab through them at a constant speed Only today Mrs Hamilton had increased the difficulty
First she had raised the weight of the spear by 1 pound which Randidly had thought to be almost negligible but as his first attempt had dragged on it had become increasingly apparent Still he was able to grit his teeth and force through it His arms could handle more than this and he started using Mana Strengthening in order to make up the difference in physical conditioning
Unfortunately that wasn’t the only change she made to the exercise
How about we add a little complication eh Mrs Hamilton had said with a bright smile and she gently pushed the apparatus and it began to rotate The rotation was slow but it was uneven as it slowly ground to a halt and Mrs Hamilton gently pushed it again to start the spinning
To her credit she demonstrated an intimidating amount of control with her pushes without fail they reached the same speed and slowed down over around 40 seconds Unfortunately it was still quite easy to break his constant rhythm while waiting for her to press and also when Randidly hit the edges of the hoops half the time they were knocked to the side resulting in him failing the exercise