Despite the oddity of the encounter, Mikhail decided to take it as a good omen that the creature left him alone. And thus, with no fanfare, he reached his destination.
He reached a ringular clearing that surrounded a large congregation of smaller trees.
A break in the canopy above revealed the sky in all its glory, illuminating that congregation in an almost artistic way. These, were the Bijugatus Trees. They grew in groups like this all throughout the Shagar Jungle.
These trees bore the Kennepa Drupes that Spencer wanted Mikhail to collect. These trees were incredibly thin and short when compared to the surrounding Pentandra Trees. One might even suspect that these were just infantile Pentandra, but they'd be mistaken.
Their leaves were very clearly different, their bark was different, and even their seeds were different.
The Pentandra Tree pods contained cotton, while the Bijugatus pods were edible drupes. Pentandra leaves were thin ovals, while the Bijugatus leaves were more like tear drops. Pentandra bark was an extremely pale brown, while Bijugatus bark was almost white.
Mikhail brought the kart over to the trees, and began getting to work.
A single branch of the Bijugatus Tree could hold a ridiculous amount of drupes at a time, so filling up a single crate wasn't hard in the slightest.
And thus, Mikhail got to work, bringing all the empty crates over to the gathering of trees and leaving the wagon towards the edge of the area.
As he began filling up the crates with those small green drupes, several juvenile Sharovipteryx approached him. These were lizards about the size of a squirrel, and their legs had a thin membrane connecting them that allowed them to glide from tree to tree.
Their underbelly had gray scales, and the membranous skin of their hind wings and the scales of their legs shared the same coloration. Its back was a vibrant blue, with white streaks here and there.
Spencer had told him how these young critters congregated around the Bijugatus Trees around this time of day, and how they were harmless.
A few had even perched on his shoulders for a while as he worked, happy to take a drupe when offered one before gliding away to go eat it.
His work continued peacefully like that for a long while. Such a long while that he lost track of time. He had become so lost in his work that he didn't even realize there was a huge beast sitting right behind him now.
At least, not until it made its presence known.
"You must be the new human Spencer told me about last week."
Mikhail jumped out of shock when the sultry voice of a middle aged woman suddenly passed over his ears. He spun on his toes to turn around, grabbing his spear off the ground and preparing to fight.
Yet when he saw a large Sharovipteryx taller than the trees right behind him, Mikhail thought it wise to drop the weapon as fast as he had grabbed it.
Such a large beast with such an imposing aura could have easily killed him with the element of surprise had it been interested in doing so. Hell, fighting back would be fruitless even if the beast did want to kill him.
In comparison to the tiny things that had been treating him like a jungle gym, with extremely thin limbs and small bodies… The beast that had suddenly made its presence known was a great deal bulkier.
Its entire body seemed to be bursting with muscles, and its claws looked incredibly sharp, on top of being half the size of his body.
"...I guess I am."
Mikhail looked at the beast with a neutral expression, easily hiding the faint worry he felt from crossing his face.
There was an awkward silence as the towering beast calmly rested its legs on the ground. It seemed to be inspecting Mikhail with its reptilian eyes as it got comfortable.
"You know, these drupes are unlike any others in the world," the beast said while raising its arm forward and gently plucking a branch off one of the trees.
"Are they now?" Mikhail asked, standing awkwardly as one of the juveniles on his shoulder scuttled down and stole a drupe from his grasp. Though, unlike the others, it simply sat in his hand as it clawed at the drupe's thick shell, cracking it.
Meanwhile, the large beast brought the branch over to itself and then bit through it, taking the top half into its mouth.
As it chewed, it nodded in response to Mikhail's short question. And after it was done, taking its sweet time, it finally gave Mikhail a proper answer.
"Yes. These are especially nutritious and juicy Kennepas, and that's because this is my territory. I wouldn't want my young to settle for anything less, after all."
The beast puffed its chest out with pride, raising its head into the air.
"So… You tend to this gathering of trees yourself."
The beast nodded again.
"Please, sit. You need not be so tense here."
Mikhail wanted to let himself relax when he heard that, but the beast's overbearing aura prevented him from doing so. At the very least, he was able to sit down comfortably, minding the little creature who seemed adamant about staying in his hand as it ate.
"So, what's your name?" Mikhail asked as turned his attention from the tiny dude.
"Merry. Spencer gave it to me many, many years ago."
Merry eyed the little guy in Mikhail's palm for a second before asking, "What about you?"
"Mikhail. Came up with it myself after… losing my original name," he said while scratching the back of his neck with his free hand.
"Lose? That's a curious way to say you forgot," she said before eating the rest of the branch in her grasp.
Mikhail could only shrug his shoulders in response. He didn't particularly feel the need to extrapolate on that matter.
"Well, no matter… Anyway, do not let me keep you from your work. I'll just be resting here."
Merry laid down after saying that, resting her head on her arms.