It didn't take long until the group made it back to Melroe, and just before they entered the tunnel, Eisen and Bree stepped down from Yamikuma and Tsurishika respectively and simply led them into town with a hand on the beast's back to show everyone that they were tamed.
And while they were walking through the town, surrounded by men and women either walking home from or getting to their shift at the mines, they did get a few looks here and there, but most were just in awe at that scene.
However, the one that was looking around in awe the most was Caria, the small Myconid Hatchling that Eisen tamed not too long ago, that was now sitting on his shoulder. With a soft chuckle, Eisen rubbed the top of her cap, causing her to look up at him before quickly leaning against his face in the same way as she basically constantly did, trying to hug Eisen.
Eisen smiled and looked forward at the Inn that was coming closer. When they were finally standing in front of it, Eisen turned back and looked at Bree. "Could you go inside and ask the Innkeeper if he has a room where there's enough space for the beasts and me? I'll wait out here to make sure nothing happens to them."
The Fey-kin nodded in response and grabbed her backpack from Eisen again before heading inside, leaving Eisen and the beasts standing outside in front of the Inn.
That was when a familiar face walked past him.
"Oh, gramps! How are ya doin'?" Belrim, the Dwarven Lord of Melroe asked with his fists held onto his hips before looking at the different monsters surrounding Eisen. "Huh? I thought ye're a crafter, not a tamer!" Belrim exclaimed with obvious surprise in his voice.
Eisen chuckled lowly in response and nodded his head. "Yes, don't worry, I'm a crafter. When I was out of town with Bree for a few days to get my level up, I met this kid out there. He's a tamer, and all of these beasts are his. Well, except for this lil' girl." The Giant-Dwarf explained and laughed softly while holding Caria on his palm.
Belrim frowned slightly and leaned forward to look at the wooden figure of a Monkey-Beastperson that was sitting on the Black Bear's back. "Huh, gramps, ye sure that this isn't somethin' ye carved out there to fight loneliness?"
"Haha, yes, I'm sure it's not that, Belrim. He's called Jyuuk, and like me, he's lost his experience. Both he and I enter some kind of 'statue state' when we sleep. Bree said it's a protection-thing that can start happening when you have a high level, or something like that. Jyuuk turns into wood, and I seem to turn into metal." Eisen quickly explained, and Belrim nodded thoughtfully.
"Oh…? So that means ye used to have a high level? Interestin'…" The dwarf muttered out in thought, but then simply shrugged. "Well, if that's the case, then it seems like it was at least worth it ta steal yer experience."
"That's definitely true, haha." Eisen chuckled and scratched his beard with his eyes closed and a smile forming on his face.
"I've got ta go now, Gramps. Visit me at my place sometime, ya 'ear?" Belrim laughed and waved at Eisen and the beasts while taking his leave down the slope toward the mines.
Nearly at the same time, Bree came back out through the doors of the Inn and looked at Eisen. "Alright, you can come in~! The Boss- erm, Innkeeper told me that you can have one of the big rooms on the ground floor. It should definitely be big enough! It will cost a bit more than usual, though…" She explained, and Eisen nodded.
"Don't worry, I didn't expect it to be as cheap as usual!" Eisen said and turned to the beasts, telling them that it was now time to get inside.
The beasts followed Eisen inside slowly and sluggish, as if incredibly tired, and were then led to the room by Bree. It was quite large, with chouches, beds and different furniture inside. Before letting the beasts lie down, Eisen moved some of that furniture around to make space for them, and laid some blankets around the central carpet so that they had enough space to sleep.
"Bree, there's two beds, do you want to stay in here as well? We'll just leave Jyuuk to sleep with the beasts. Yamikuma's fur seems quite comfy anyway. But this way might be good, since I will be getting on my way to finish my quest, and I don't know when I'll be back. So until Jyuuk wakes up, just check up on the beasts every once in a while, alright?" Eisen suggested and sat down on the bed after Yamikuma shook Jyuuk off of his body onto the center of the carpet.
That alone looked quite weird. Jyuuk's body moved still like he just had a normal body, just a lot… weirder and slower, but he still fell onto the ground and ended up laying there like he was sleeping.
Immediately following this, Yamikuma and Tsurishika laid down around him and basically instantly fell asleep, while the Eagles laid down in the empty spaces between Jyuuk and the other beasts.
Bree smiled brightly when she saw this scene and nodded. "Okay~! But be careful tomorrow, alright?!" She exclaimed and sat down on her bed, while Eisen chuckled and laid down on his.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful. Goodnight, Bree!" He said with a smile and quickly changed out of his leather armor under the sheets, and then watched Caria as she laid down on Eisen's chest, using his beard as a pillow.
"Goodnight, Eisen~!" Bree responded and laid down as well.
And just like that, the group spent the first night in a while sleeping without needing to worry about being attacked by a horde of Goblins.
---
"Alright, I'm off! See you later, Bree!" Eisen said with a smile and waved at Bree while walking toward the western gate with Caria on his shoulder and a small backpack on his back, filled with a few provisions and different pills, as well as his Zweihänder over his other shoudler in case he met some monsters on the way to the Cat's lair.
"Be careful, Eisen! See you soon~!" Bree yelled out and waved at Eisen as well as he was taking his leave. The old man took his time walking through the town and then walked through the western tunnel together with the large amount of physical laborers, although Eisen wasn't sure where they would be going.
In the direction of the forest it was obvious, as it was simply to gather lumber, but out in the direction where there were basically just rocks everywhere that was a bit more complicated.
Maybe there were mines, other than the two main ones in town, somewhere around? Since most of the laborers were carrying pickaxes with them, Eisen figured that something along these lines was the case.
This reminded Eisen to maybe buy a pickaxe, or better even make on himself, and try out what mining was like in this game. He did earn a little bit of money a few times through something like that while traviling in the past, so he was somewhat familiar with it. It definitely couldn't hurt to get to know the different materials of this world more intimately in such a way.
Back in the day, the ways that Eisen's father made him train to get intimate with metals were… well… really intimate.
Eisen shook those thoughts away again and simply followed the path in front of him. This morning, he talked to Bree, the Innkeeper and a few other random people to ask them about some local legends or rumors that had to do with a mysterious being hiding high in the mountains somewhere near town, and apparently there was really a case of there being something like that, and all these rumors and legends pointed toward one place. The peak of the highest of the mountains immediately surrounding Melroe.
That was actually the place where Bree was formerly abandoned by her comrades, which, in Eisen's eyes, was only more reason for her not to come along, as it seemed to be some kind of trauma for her.
So, Eisen chose to go there just with Caria by his side. After all, he didn't think that it was really possible for her to be too far away from him, as his tamed monster.
And he also hoped that whatever he was going to meet soon wouldn't mind, especially since this little bean of a Myconid couldn't be a threat to anyone! Eisen obviously hoped to keep it that way! Since there seemed to be different paths for monsters to evolve, Eisen resolved himself to make sure that Caria would take the best path to stay as adorable as possible!
Eisen followed the description he was given as closely as possible and walked up the narrow paths that would bring him up the mountain. At the beginning, they weren't really that steep, so it was just like a nice, relaxing walk. But soon enough, the paths became so steep that parts of it were already carved into steps to make climbing them easier.
After about two hours of climbing these paths non-stop, Eisen stopped for a bit and looked around to take in the scene in front of himself. From this spot, he could oversee all of Melroe! This high up, it somehow looked like just a hole in the ground, maybe something that was literally drilled into a rock.
He could see the Inn, all the places he worked at until now, and even the bottom of the whole town where his 'duel' against Hendrick took place.
With a somewhat sentimental smile, Eisen sat down on a nearby rock and simply took in the sight with his elbow rested on his knee and supporting his head with his hand. Seeing this, Caria tried to mimick him, but instead simply ended dropping forward when she tried to rest her cap on a nonexistent hand.
Chuckling softly, Eisen caught her and placed her back on his shoulder. "Be careful! Don't want you to hurt yourself, Caria." He said and continued looking forward for a while.
Not long after this, Eisen stood back up and slightly stretched before continuing to ascend this mountain.
It also didn't take much longer that Eisen was met with rather serious hurdles, ones that he wouldn't have been able to overcome in his real body, as they required him to actually climb up certain areas that consisted of completely vertical walls. It usually wasn't much, only two or three meters at most, and due to his new strength and agility, it wasn't a problem either, but it was somewhat annoying to Eisen to only be able to walk a few meters and then have to hoist himself up a wall.
But at least this made the climb somewhat faster than Eisen had expected, and it didn't take long until Eisen was met with another simple path.
With slight sighs, Eisen followed that path for a few hundred meters until he was standing on a large platform so high up he could see basically everything that surrounded this mountain for miles and miles on end.
It was truly a beautiful sight! And then, Eisen turned around and looked at the giant cave entrance with a looming darkness at its core.
"I guess this is it, huh?" Eisen said with his face turned to his tiny companion, who seemed to be shaking in her boots! Well, if she was wearing any.
And that was when Eisen was hit with shudders all over his body, and only a single thought took up his mind. A thought that appeared so suddenly, and unexpected, but at the same time was strong enough to hit him like a train! A thought that he simply couldn't help but voice!
"Ah… Caria in tiny boots would be super cute…"