Looking at the crop of red swinging grass, I silently admitted that the elven royalty might've had their reasons for not training the child before they arrived at the kingdom.

  We had first started with a set of normal ferns for her to practice the grow spell and I had turned elsewhere, choosing to take that time to train Leon and the skarpans on swordsmanship.

  I was now capable of diverting my attention between the two groups, as Willow worked diligently within my space and the others worked hard on the field.

  We'd agreed to leave in a few days and start heading for the Gamoceras estate since we needed to start moving quick.

  I was relieved to hear that. After all, before I could fully move onto my new life, I would need to make sure that all the consequences of my death were settled first.

  It wasn't just my death after all, with the death of my cousin and the disappearance of an heir being all extremely important events in the empire.

  It likely didn't cause as much of a issue on the religious side, as anyone with enough authority there should easily be able to find out the true story behind that, and thus ignore it, but the same could not be said on the noble side. There was definitely going to be trouble on that side.

  Hopefully the whole estate hasn't fallen into shambles. You'd think it would be impossible for an estate to fall into disarray so quickly after a transfer of power, but you'd be surprised. History has shown that depending on the new leader, a territory can fall apart in weeks if the leader is a moron. A good leader isn't needed, even an average noble would be fine, but a stupid noble is a quick acting poison.

  Naturally I was thus anxious about the estate. As for what I would do in the case of the estate being in a dangerous condition? I could call in some favors I have in the underworld, both in the pantheon, as well as those underground societies.

  Worst comes to worse, I pull that old man in. That old man is part of the foreign god program, and yet has not taken up any official position. Even I, his tenant had no actual clue of his true identity.

  People who submit to Olympus yet have such freedom under it are either not worth it's efforts to manage, or too powerful for Heaven to forcefully suppress. Having seen the old man in action once or twice, I'm inclined towards the latter.

  Unfortunately, I had to pull away from my contemplations as I observed the explosive situation in front of me.

  Yes, explosive.

  Those new, red curved ferns exploded into action at this moment as they started swinging crazily , reaching out as if to grasp something.

  [Tentacle ferns]

  [A mutated fern race born by chance, that grew wild, seeking to strangle anything near them, seemingly for no purpose.

  The only thing they don't target is their maker, and the land on which they've grown.

  A new mutated species.

  Has the strength of a D-rank species.]

  Observing the newly mutated ferns, which mutated from just this one spell, it was easy to see the potential of a high elf, but also the danger.

  It took her no effort to create such a mutation, and it was but one of many such results.

  [Burn furns]

  [A mutated fern that was born by chance, seeking to burn all things in a five foot radius.

  Targets everything.

  Has the strength of a D-rank species]

  [Solar flower]

  [A mutated sunflower. Absorbs sunlight wildly, releasing it in great bursts of energy when provoked.

  Mostly passive in nature, but will attack if unprovoked

  Has the strength of a C-rank species]

  [pirahnalante]

  [A mutated piranha plant. An aggressive mobile species that will attack anything in its vicinity.

  Has the strength of a d-rank species]

  That last one I had to kill since it was far too dangerous to just leave roaming around. Though I couldn't control it, I could easily expel it, and then killed it quickly.

  It was a close call, but in the end neither Servante nor Lenore managed to catch me in the act.

  Yeah, it'll probably be a while before she can use her powers in any sort of productive form.

  According to the guide, if she shows no signs of success in the next few weeks, it's best to change to another simple grass type spell to allow her to practice, with the spell pollinate being another suggestion. A harmless, less practical spell. FOr the ones who are still having problems practicing the growth spell.

  But this was expected. I was more worried that Willow would lose her will quickly. After all, while determination in reaction external stimuli is expected, what really matters is her ability to follow through.

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  And she's following through.

  Eventually we set off, saying our goodbyes and leaving quickly. There were many important things to be done, and now that we've exposed our location, there's no doubt they'll be on our tail soon.

  THe kobolds had already left, setting off to wherever they were going.

  I already had a line of communication with him, so who knows, maybe once I'm done escorting the high elf,

  However, our departure did not go as smoothly as I expected.

  We were stopped by an old man on the road.

  No, not a man.

  He looked humanoid, but the aura was that of a beast.

  A monster.

  He looked like he was 60, but that only made me cautious. Monsters do not get old, not unless they're strong enough, or cunning enough to reach that point.

  He had a light blue skin, and a pair of small horns, more nubs, that protruded from his head.

  His friendly smile revealed a pair of fangs, his lax posture the sign of a confident predator.

  The casual clothes were accompanied by a bongo drum, its strap hanging around his neck.

  Before I could speak, the Anubian emerged from the shadow, watching the approaching elder vigilantly.

  "State your purpose." he said tensley, only confirming my worries.

  "Oy oy oy. Why are you overreacting like that? Can't an old man just come over to have a chat?" the old man joked, and the anubian snorted.

  "Sure. But an S-rank Oni cannot." he said seriously, causing me to shiver.

  Yes, an oni.

  A terrifying creature of the east, said to be one of the pinnacles of the humanoid monster races, alongside the likes of titans, demonlords and minotaurs.

  Descendents of the gods Raijin and Fujin, the most powerful ones, the ones most favoured by the two lords of the storm often carried drums much like their great lord, beating them to hail a storm.

  No wonder I felt this fear.

  An oni had blocked our path.

  But why?

  Seeing the demigod unwilling to budge, the old man relented. "Fine, looks like you won't let me by unless I explain."

  "There are 4 skarpans with you right? Call them out. Tell them elder Chin Chin is here."

  I decided to go verify the comment immediately, heading into the carriage to ask.

  Within moments, all four skarpan charged out, and shouted with excitement as they saw him.

  "Elder Chin Chin!" They shouted, happily charging over and happily talking to the old man.

  Huh. Guess they are related after all.

  We decided to set up camp and welcomed the old man to sit with us.

  The old man seemed to return the favour by beating his drum.

  Thoom! Thoom! Tha-thoom!" Each beat felt like the sound of thunder, each strike causing my heart to jump.

  The day had been cliudy just moments ago, yet with these hints the clouds retreated, transforming the cloudy sky into a shining sky.

  Though the anubian seemed disdainful, "a meer party trick" he said, he made no move to stop it.

  Yes he was still standing about, watching us carefully. Guess he didn't feel comfortable to leave us and retreat to the shadows.

  Servante and Lenore were friendly enough, but it was clear that it was a forced friendliness, politeness in the face of strength.

  Their face seemed rather pinched when Willow and Leon ran over and started playing with him. Well, Willow followed. Leon played.

  It's hard to tell if he's insensitive, or extremely sensitive, especially in these kind of situations.

  Still, the old man seemed more than willing to humor them as he listened to the skarpans tell their story.

  I decided to confirm my suspicions by asking him a question that appeared once I realized the oni elder that I had thought of when we first met the skarpans was right here.

  "How long have you been watching us?" I asked and the old man gave me a toothy grin.

  "How long do you think?" he replied cheekily, watching my expression carefully.

  "I think you've been watching us this whole time." A thought I had come to after observing him long enough. While the old man had been listening the whole time to Redgar and his gang, he was attentive, but not surprised.

  As if he knew this whole time what had happened.

  I already believed the skarpans had been supervised by one of their elders. Of course, this thought waned when one of them was captured by the elves, given how dangerous that was, but now that he's appeared in front of us so suddenly, it's hard not to speculate.

  Hearing this he nodded in affirmation, chuckling all the while. "Indeed. Truly, you are worthy of the turtle bloodline, you thoughtful little bastard."

  The anubian looked skeptical as he questioned it. "Yet I haven't sensed you once throughout my whole time watching the young master."

  The oni rolled his eyes. A little snot-nosed brat like you thinks he can sense me that easily? Boy I've been sneaking for millenia, While you were still trying to open your eyes to see, I'd already served under the great god Fuginn for millenia.

  Trust me, I've met kaiju better at sneaking than you. You might be able to hide from these youngsters, but for other S-ranks it's no different than screaming in their face. The second your carriage approached these youngsters I'd already sensed you."

  ALthough he looked sour about it, the anubian made no comment and sat down grumpily as he gnawed on a dog biscuit(?)/

  "Speaking of which. Gramps! Why did you show up all of a sudden? Redgar asked curiously and Chin Chin responded simply.

  "I came here to pick you up of course."

  Protests erupted amongst the group of skarpans immediately, who showed immense distress at the notion.

  "No complaints. I was fine supervising you before, but this has gotten a bit too serious at this point. There's only so much I can protect you from." He said, scolding the young skarpans before delving in a long tirade about the dangerous things they'd encountered.

  "And to top it all off, Ygdrasill is involved." he said, sighing with great distress.

  "Is she truly that dangerous?" Damil said, unconvinced.

  The old man glared at the boy as he smacked him over the head. "TH3e innocens of calves provoking a lion, truly! If you heard the things I'd heard about that old tree, you'd be scared too." he sighed. "I'll give you guys a day to pack up and say your goodbyes, but then you have to go."

  He paused.

  "Borsche will stay." Hearing this, Redgar complained. "You just said it was too dangerous! WHy should Borsche staythen?! Isn't it too dangerous to leave him here then?!"

  No disagreements here. Divine affairs are something one should pull out of as soon as possible. I also kind of want to kick Borsche out, if only to keep him away from such danger.

  Chin Chin shook his head. "Borsche has taken the path of sage. In order for an orc sage to truly advance, he has to travel the world and observe many things, many forms of magic and culture before he can evolve. IN this case, it is a case of seeking wealth in great danger. Only the most dangerous of hunts can yield the greatest prize."

  Borsche nodded, seeming rather calm given the words that the elder spoke.

  Though he always seems calm. Perhaps that is simply his natural mindset and why he's evolved into a sage while the others have taken other various combat oriented paths.

  Hearing this, the skarpans began to speak amongst themselves as they began giving Borche their farewells.

  Despite his calm nature, it is easy to see that Borche was affected too, as he had a small look of reluctance.

  Even so, he was ready to send them off.

  And the next day , they were gone, with the elder taking them away.

  It was a bit funny really. I had made all those efforts to invite the skarpans in order to better protect ourselves, only for them to be the entry point at which we met the noble brat, who connected us to the elven cult.

  ON the path to avoiding the danger, I ended up encountering it instead.

  But it wasn't all a loss. It was because of this event we learned the true nature of our attackers, and Borsche is still here. that's still a C-rank helper.

  And now I know about the presence of the Anubian, which is equally important when it comes to how I maneuver in the future.

  It's all about what you make of the situation I suppose.