The rest of the villagers wondered why Achram stopped just as they were about to start their ascent onto the mountain. He seemed to be looking at the distance, towards somewhere along the road that led up the mountain.
Of course, they didn't have Achram's enhanced vision, so they didn't see the figure of the Bear, the Slime, and the Flame in the distance.
Achram knew that he wouldn't be able to bring all of these people up the treacherous and freezing mountain without any help. After all, even when it was just himself without any heavy weights, he almost died.
There was no way that 20 people with a lot of children would be able to survive the trek up the snowy mountain, especially if they were carrying a very heavy cart. That's why he agreed with the Diplomatic Slime that they would come down and escort them safely up to God's kingdom.
"Oh, my God! There's a bear!"
"Take cover! I'll try to shoot it from here!"
"Mommy! I don't want to get eaten!"
The rest of the villagers went into a panic as soon as they saw the figure of a large brown bear walking towards them on its four feet. They knew how ferocious these kinds of beasts were, especially the alpha ones that lived in the mountains. Only a cooperation between 10 experienced hunters could safely take down an Alpha Brown Bear.
The women and children all cowered under the cart, hoping that the men could muster up the strength to save them. However, there were only about 4 eligible hunters in the group. There was the archer, the lone man, the butcher, and Achram.
They weren't confident.
Achram saw their panic and immediately tried to resolve the misunderstanding. "Don't worry," he said as he raised his hands and let them know that there would be no trouble.
To prove that it was okay, he walked backward towards the bear.
They immediately feared for Achram's safety, especially Rhita and her family. What was he thinking? Why would he put his back against the bear?
However, when the Achram and the bear finally got close, they saw something completely out of their imagination. The Alpha Bear that could tear a Thall in two with just one swipe, started to nuzzle its face on Achram's neck. Achram reciprocated and endearingly rubbed its fur.
"How've you been?"
ROAR
Then, a flame suddenly erupted from the top of the bear's fur! However, they soon realized that this was no ordinary fire. That was because it suddenly jumped and went inside Achram's clothes and came out of his sleeve like it was some sort of ferret animal. The weirdest thing was that Achram wasn't burned at all!
"I missed you too, Flamie." The flame burned a warm orange as a response to Achram's greeting.
"Looks like you've been busy, Achram. You've gathered quite a large following!" Slime hopped out of the Bear's back and jumped on top of Achram's head.
The rest of the villagers couldn't believe what they were seeing. There was a friendly Alpha Bear, there was a fire that wasn't burning, and there was a green blob of slime that seemed to be talking directly to Achram.
They had seen a lot of animals, humans, and demi-humans, but they hadn't seen anything quite like this.
Achram and his motley crew of weird animals walked towards the villagers to introduce them. He could see curiosity in their eyes and a little bit of wariness, which was normal.
"Everyone, these are the summons of the God of Icy Rock. They were the ones to rescue me from the brink of death. They treated me as family in my hour of need, so I wish that you do the same to them."
He then looked at the Slime and let him have the first greeting.
"Hello, Thalls. I know that you are all confused as to who we are, but you don't have to worry. We are simply the same as you, we are believers and followers of our Master."
The Slime then hopped bit by bit closer to the recruits, making sure not to get too close that they would get uncomfortable. "My name is Diplomatic Slime. My job is to make sure that everyone transitions to become citizens of our Master's kingdom as smoothly as possible."
The villagers didn't move, and if you could look under their clothes, you would see their body hair standing up a little bit. They were cautious.
"First of all, to make sure that you are all safe from the cold, I have asked one of my colleagues to join me in this expedition. Flamie, introduce yourself."
With the Slime's word, the 'fire' suddenly jumped out of Achram's sleeve and rolled right next to the slime. The flame got bigger and more intense, sending out heat radiation towards the rest of the villagers.
One second they were feeling the cold breeze of the mountain, then next, they felt like they were right next to a cozy campfire in the middle of daylight. It was warm. The children immediately felt comfortable and let out a sigh of relief after their bodies stopped shivering.
The adults in the group were stupefied. They still felt the warmth even though they were far away from the flame-like animal. This show of power made them realize that these were not ordinary animals. Maybe Achram was right. These were animals that only a God could create.
"Cute! I wanna eat it!" Tres couldn't help herself and ran over to the flame. She saw that her father was near, so she didn't see any harm in it.
Rhita tried to stop her, but she saw Achram give her a nod of assurance. Everyone witnessed as Tres waddled over towards Flamie and gave it a big hug. Everyone thought she was going to get burned, but instead, they saw Tres' arms safely pass through the flame like it was nothing.
She tried to hug it, but she couldn't. It felt like she was touching a very dense air, a fog even.
"Hehehe, you're still cute! Want to be my friend?" Tres asked the Flame.
In response, the flame curbed its flames and made it much more tangible. Now, Tres felt like she was touching something, it felt like she was hugging something much smoother than a bag of feathers.
Seeing this warm interaction between Thall and Flame, the rest of the villagers weakened their wariness. They were starting to warm up to these new creatures.
Slime saw this opportunity and decided to pull them in even further. They needed to be completely comfortable with the summons so that they would feel like they were at home in their Master's kingdom.
"You guys must be hungry, so I brought some of these." Slime created a portal inside his body and took out a couple of layers of Meaty Mushrooms.
They immediately recognized it. After they tasted the mushroom yesterday, they couldn't take their minds off it ever since. They wanted to eat more of it, but the Elder interrupted them and prevented them from talking to Achram. They thought they would never be able to eat it again until they finished the trek up the mountain and reached God's kingdom.
"Here, take it." Slime created a large table out of his own body and presented the Meaty Mushroom to the villagers, free to take.
At first, they all looked at each other. They didn't want to be the first ones to take it. The seamstress took this opportunity and took a whole layer of Meaty Mushroom for herself. And like a hungry dog, she started to take bite after bite of the mushroom.
The juices and aroma flowing out of the Meaty Mushroom enticed the rest of the villagers to finally take the leap and take one for themselves. The adults felt their appetites get satiated from the abundance of delicious food right in front of them.
Just like that, the barrier between two different species was broken.
The rest of the children felt envious of Tres and also walked over to Flamie. They all played with it, and Flamie played with them in return.
"Hehehe, you're so cute!"
"What's your name?"
Achram answered for them. "It's name is Flamie."
"I feel so warm when I'm with you, Flamie."
Most of the boys, curious as they were, walked over to the Bear.
Throughout their training in hunting school, they were taught that bears were apex predators that spared no one. Now, they were standing face to face with such an animal. Yet, it didn't react with its jaws unhinged. Instead, it welcomed them and lowered its body to let them take a ride on top of its body.
"I'm on top of the world!"
ROAR
"Woah, cool! My turn next!"
The villagers and the summons spent about an hour getting to know each other and getting warmed up. Their reservations and negative notions about the summons completely dispersed. They were friends, and soon enough, they would become family too.
Slime walked over to Achram and asked him something. "Did you bring the black rocks?"
Achram smiled and pointed to the three carts filled with about a thousand high-quality Kores. "Yes, we have gathered enough to give to our God."