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"Eeeh? So there's no challenge then!" said Yuki.
"Yuki, kids are coming with us, do you think they can handle Rank 2 monsters from the get-go? Are you nuts?" I sighed, patting her head a bit roughly.
"Agh… Okay, oaky…" sighed Yuki, as she noticed Flayr and Noirenn at our side. The two little girls were wearing special tunics and light armor made by me, which enhance their magic power, they also got themselves staffs to cast magic, and accessories that enhance mana regeneration through Enhanced Mana Regeneration Skill Runes.
In fact, most of the equipment of everyone was imbued the most with these Skill Runes, even mine, which multiplied my mana regeneration even more… Hehe, this is really cheating at this point-
"I wonder if we could find a new Spirit in the dungeon. They say that Spirits and Elementals wander Dungeons with a lot of mana into them because they need it to sustain themselves." Said Pekora.
"Is that so?"
"Yep! I found one of mine, the Sunflower, inside a little Dungeon back in my place, where snow wasn't as common. She was a little seed by then, I've raised her into the powerful sunflower she is after years of training with her." Said Pekora, the little sunflower emerged in her hand as it greeted us.
"Hehe…"
It only communicated by smiling or laughing like a little girl, but it seemed to be a pure spirit.
I wonder if I could get my own spirit…
We descended from Fuyu as Fuyu said her goodbyes.
"Don't take too long, okay? Hey, what about your weapons?" asked Fuyu.
"I'll leave the two here, for now, I prefer them to act as guards, the dungeon we are going won't be that fun for them anyway," I said.
"Sigh, alright… I'll have to deal with the psychopath Skadi…" sighed Fuyu.
"Who are you calling Psychopath? Is there something wrong in enjoying slaughter as a hobby?" asked Skadi.
"Uueh? You heard me?!" cried Fuyu.
I left the two speaking by themselves; I am sure that they'll get it together.
As we walked through the nearby pine tree forest and reached the town around the walls of the sect, we were greeted by a more peaceful sight.
Now that we defeated the annoying bandits and thugs going around everywhere, and how we took all the slaves, there wasn't any ugly situation like we saw before, in fact, the people seemed more in peace than ever before. Kids playing around the streets without risking being assaulted and then enslaved, old grandmas, enjoying the day out with their families, a man selling milk with his buffalo while going around the streets, and more.
I guess this might be not permanent, but taking care of the trash here really made things prettier.
However, the moment we reached town we immediately got some weird glares, that's because we were not just ice giants, I brought a giant ice wolf with a draconic appearance which I and Benladann were mounting alongside Flayr and Noirenn, and there were also a few Beast-kin and Ice Elves from the former slave's teams.
"Huh, been a while since I got into a town… Do all the people always looked at us like this?" asked Benladann.
"No, this is because of our friends," I said.
"Oh… Right…" sighed Benladann.
"What's the big deal? Did you lost something, big guy?" asked Yuki, looking defiantly at a man that was looking at her and the other rabbit-kin with furrowed eyebrows.
"Eh? What with that tone, you animal!" roared the ice giant.
"I apologize for her rudeness, she's such a rascal sometimes… But she's just a young girl, so please excuse us." I said, grabbing Yuki as I gave a few Mana Stones to the man, so he shut up.
"What are you doing, you dork?!" she roared.
"Try to ignore their glares, get used to them, you'll be coming to town with us a lot," I said.
"Geez… But they look at us as if we were monsters!" she said.
"Well, you were a monster…" I said.
"R-Right… Well, still!" she said.
"I get it, I get it, I'll invite you to eat something yummy later," I said.
"Oooh!" Yuki began to move her tail around excitedly, as Benladann chuckled.
"Yuki never changes, fufu…"
We got through the mass of people looking at us weirdly, as we made our way to Rakasha's town, my Slime Clone I left here had barely moved from its spot, but it seems that there are secrets that Rakasha hasn't revealed… Such as a little girl he has living on his hut at the side of his shop, but I haven't dared to spy on him for now, although I am curious if it is his daughter or something.
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Inside a little hut near a shop, a little girl with pale-white skin, short wine-colored hair, and crimson-red eyes wearing leather clothes looked over the window.
"He's gone again…" she sighed.
She moved around the hut and reached the table, which was made for ice giants, so she had to crawl over it through the seats.
"Oof… Ahh… Blood!"
Her "uncle" had left her a cup of fresh blood and a note, alongside a cookie.
"Be a good girl and don't try to come to the shop again…" she read the note.
She got a bit angry and pouted.
"Muh! I just want to see more of the outside world…" she sighed, drinking the blood.
As she drank it all, her eyes shone with bright crimson-red light, and her body felt revitalized and refreshed. The blood-red mana core she had in her chest glowed a bit, boosting her power.
"Hm? This blood seems tastier… Is it uncle's blood? I told him he shouldn't use his own… Rabbit or Bear blood is fine…" she sighed.
She remembered that her uncle told her yesterday that she was growing sickly, and she had said that if she were to drink humanoid blood, she could recover a bit more…
But who would be willing to give out their own blood or even sell it in this world?
Due to that, he decided to just give her his own blood.
"Gulp… Huh? Who's there?" she wondered, looking at a group of people entering her uncle's shop.
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