Because the ravine itself had an overall size of more than ten acres and gently sloping land surrounding it, this place was a popular destination for hunters and boat fishing. An hour or two of trekking up for the day with small groups and large boats could yield large quantities of fish for the older generations while the youths worked lumber or went hunting. The river leading out from the ravine as also smooth and free of most obstacles so it could be used to return home at the end of the day.
And because of all this, I chose to ride my wisps from the final waterfall to the ravine over the water ahead of Sili and the breeding serpents I had selected.
Sili alone would immediately yield cries for help in alarm and terror while anyone with a weapon took up arms. Hunters with spears and bows in the area would run to assist. Magic beasts were fairly common in these parts and the lumber milling afforded the village moderate armaments.
I, however, could clearly be seen hovering a casual ten miles per hours leading the procession at a non-threatening pace while waving to people. I stood with one arm proudly behind my back and tried to appear as if I were displaying trophies from a hunt. Many people stood up in their rafts and boats and a few even awkwardly returned the wave but at least nobody started calling for help.
To many of them, this would make a story to tell again and again to their kids and grand kids with the story becoming more and more fanciful every time. Eventually, I would be turned into a local legend. Which would eventually be overshadowed by the insects.
Every time I thought about them, now, it was at random times as if I was trying to suppress the memories and in brief flashes of shining bodies and large numbers. Most of which were now solid blocks of alchemy materials or whole specimens for display and deeper study. However, there still existed that one big boss.
That creature alone could threaten a country in this world and entire continents back home without serious air power.
The best thing I could do about it for now was what I had already done and was going to do. What was this, exactly? Running back to my parents!
Mom and Dad were high ranking Guild officials with loads of connections, they were just the people for me to run crying- report my findings to. Since I had completed the act of erecting an anointed shrine, I could simply carry on with my pilgrimage afterward. If this first shrine led to finding that hive then the other shrines were probably important steps I needed to take.
I could only hope today was not one of the days I would run into Gryn and his team. Because our parents were simply the evaluators, they were to stay in this village and do whatever they liked while Gryn and the entire team were forced to trek back and forth each week to rally and report their activities.
As long as everybody could keep up this annoying physical routine for the duration of the mating season, they would be decently ranked specialists as well as early Guild mercenaries.
When I finally arrived to the bridge at better speeds than when I crossed the ravine, the place seemed mostly empty except for a few stay-at-homes watching children and some small animals that wandered the bridge village. All of the lumber milling was done at the ends of the bridge and then cast adrift from under different areas of the bridge.
From upstream there was little obstruction except for some kids and youths fishing from the bridge itself so I veered off to the nearest bank and waved at the fishers for a while before signaling Sili and the serpents to come up from below.
The kids all began freaking out when Sili's head broke the surface of the water just a few hundred feet out from the bridge. All she was doing was propping herself up with her immense tail to take in her first look at civilization. They thought she was going to bring about the end of the world.
It was a cruel joke on both of them but I only let myself laugh until the kids started running away before sobering up. I had to put on an appropriate appearance for the adults and leaders of the bridge village. As well as for my parents who would certainly come out to investigate.
To that end I quickly summoned Sili and the serpents onto the rocky bank with me while the lumberers at the ends and front of the bridge became alert and curious. Many people were seeking out weapons of some sort, but that was to be expected for Sili's first introduction to society.
It was not everyday a stranger showed up with an amphibian dinosaur and almost two dozen giant snakes.
This was all going as intended so far and the eventual reports from the older generation would support my claims of non-aggression. For the sake of the future, I was seeking a method of the serpents and villagers working together to secure the area. Similar to how Templeton would breed magical creatures for an agriculture industry.
My parents finally appeared at the back of the bridge of the water where the kids were fishing by the time the armed lumbers cautiously walked half of the way to our position. If not for the seriousness of the situation I would have considered it comical that Sili was actually crouched down behind me among coils of her tail as if hiding.
The serpents were openly curious and hanging out atop sunny rocks near the water's edge while leaning about to view the situation.
They were both young and sub-sentient. After experiencing my silent ways and abilities, they were simply wondering what kind of show I was going to put on. Luckily, my parents both rushed down from the bridge and over the water to intercept the twenty-odd lumberers.
A few moments later, they were standing expectantly in front of me without even dignifying the creatures with a glance. I said nothing and simply smiled sheepishly at my parents while gathering my thoughts. Finally, my father gets tired of waiting and asks, "Did you somehow create a new species and want our help conserving it?"
"No, I have that covered," I reply with a distracted wave of my hand. "Sili was originally a basilisk, the serpents are just breeding stock for Templeton, and I needed to bring them here for future relations with the village. What I'm stuck on are the creatures I can't carry out in the open. Dad, could you give us some rock privacy?"
As soon as the question was asked, rocks from the surrounding embankment rolled and melded together into a division between us and the lumberers. I would inevitably introduce the insects to the village, but not physically. My parents, though, needed visual confirmations for their Guild reports.
When the wall was erected, I took out the bag of breeding drones and dumped the bugs out on the ground while saying, "What I'm about to tell you is very serious and long so please, no matter how you feel or what you want to say, let me finish all of this in one go."
While feeding the drones some fish taken from the river, I did my best to swiftly summarize my pilgrimage after leading the village starting with Sili and grooming them for evolution. My parents spent most of their time examining the insects that were forced to pay attention to food by my will in their condensed minds, but after explaining my goal for evolving the basilisk into a shrine guardian they frowned.
They did not say anything, though.
Then I explained how I found the serpents in their sorry state recovering from becoming refugees and how I fed them while preparing to investigate the tunnels. I quickly glossed over all of the rampant hunting and the methods I decided on for my first exploration. The only information I gave about the first contact with insects and cave rats was 'dozens of 'em'.
Then I told them about waiting to anoint the shrine and evolve Sili before making further investigations into the multiple tunnels. After pridefully detailing Sili's evolution instead of talking about the loot I had used to make vague weapons with I rushed them through the first couple of floors of my dungeon.
Then I took the time to break down the numbers and intelligence levels of the different insects involved as well as how much of a threat their big boss really was.
They were mad. Big mad. But I reassured them with my methods of blocking up the tunnels and using the rats to sustain the serpents as well as my intention of leaving the serpents open to bonding with humans.
All the villagers had to do was send their hunters up to the shrine with large hauls of fish and game to seek the shrine's blessing and befriend the serpents. If every person in a hunting party was paired with a rock serpent and the older generation fishing on the ravine were guarded by water terrors, their ways of life could only improve. Older rock terrors exceeding fifty feet could even support the lumber industry.
The increased industries and reasons for it would gain notoriety, causing increased traffic in the area which would increase industries and cause the village to grow. The potential security against the arrival of the insects would also be a huge benefit. Sili's support would proliferate under the shrine's blessing.
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