Chapter 23 - Hovestad Town

First, Ye Han talked about the region they were in. They were in the Nagahart Kingdom, in the territory of Duke Mo Feng. The nearest city from Hovestad town was Mortos City, which was a mid-level city. 

Second, he mentioned the power level of this kingdom, with the strongest person in charge was, of course, the kingdom's King, who had reached the Peak-level Dominator Rank Beast Master.

As for the other power levels in this kingdom, he only knew that the lord of their territory, Duke Mo Feng, had reached the Peak Martial GrandMaster, while Hovestad's town lord was at Peak Rank 4, and the lord of Mortos City was at Rank 6, but Ye Han didn't know the exact details of the city lord's rank.  

Third, he informed James that this world as a whole was a cruel place. Fortunately, Hovestad town was not a cruel place in his opinion, as the town's residents often relied on each other because beast tides happened every once in a while and they needed to gather everyone's strength to protect their town. 

Fourth, Ye Han warned James to be wary of Mortos City's lord since he was a bad person who became worse after receiving support from Duke Mo Feng as a result of the marriage.

Basically, the Mortos City lord's daughter married Duke Mo Feng's son, and this duke also doesn't have a good reputation either. However, Ye Han also didn't know the details about it. 

Ye Han also talked about many things, from unnecessary topic to his knowledge about beasts, etc. 

After a while, they arrived near the town, and James heard a few notifications from the system. 

  

[Ding! Detected a High-level Rank 2 Martial Warrior 100 meters ahead.] 

[Ding! Detected a High-level Rank 2 Martial Warrior 100 meters ahead.] 

[Ding! Detected a High-level Rank 2 Martial Warrior 100 meters ahead.] 

[Ding! Detected a Peak-level Rank 2 Martial Warrior 100 meters ahead.] 

  

"Young master James, we have almost arrived at Hovestad town, I will show you around later and treat you to a meal as a thanks for saving my life before." 

"Okay, show me around the town. Don't worry, I won't let you do anything for nothing." James spoke while ordering Little Fluffy to only scan anything above rank 3, to avoid a continuous stream of useless notifications flooding his mind. 

"Young master James, you don't have to give me anything, as you have already saved my life and given me the beast corpse before. I would be ashamed of myself if I still accepted anything more from you for something trivial like that." Ye Han said it with a serious look on his face. 

"Okay then, I'm sorry for taking up your time later on." James said while thinking that this man should be an honest person. 

When they reached the town's entrance, James saw the stone walls looming overhead, around 7 meters tall, with a few towers on top.

"Welcome back, Sir Ye Han. How was the hunt?" The man in his late 20s who has the aura of peak rank 2 stepped forward to greet Ye Han, then looked at James curiously. 

"It's okay, I will go inside first as I have something to do." Ye Han answered while waving his hand, signaling not to bother him as he continued walking past the gate, and James also followed Ye Han while he glanced at the guards and smiled. 

Ye Han toured James around the town and took him to many places, such as a market for people to barter their things, an inn, shops, restaurants, and more. 

However, after they were walking around the town for a bit, James heard a notification that caught his attention. 

  

[Ding! Detected a Fire Lion Beast, Low-level Ferocious Rank Beast 100 meters ahead] 

 

[Race: Fire Lion] 

[Attribute: Mid-level Fire Attribute] 

[Rank: Low-level Ferocious Beast Rank] 

[Qualification: Platinum] 

….

 

James's eyes lit up when he saw the beast's information. He hadn't expected to see such a beast in this small town. This beast fits his requirement to be his mount, as the Little Snow needed to protect Minji when he was not around. 

James couldn't wait to ride a majestic lion as his mount, so he instructed Ye Han to go to a restaurant to order food while he would take a little more walk and join him afterward. 

Ye Han quickly went to a nearby restaurant and ordered a lot of food, while James walked in the lion's direction. 

After a while, James entered a shop and spotted a lot of cub beasts. Ignoring other beasts, he focused his attention on a little lion in a cage not far from him. 

James approached the cage and saw the little lion clearly. The lion was as small as Little Snow when he was born, and it has a unique flame mark on its forehead. 

James quickly went to the desk and told the clerk he wanted to buy the little lion. 

However, when James learned the price of the little lion, he was surprised. 

He expected it to be expensive and was even prepared to buy something in the system shop to trade for the little lion because he was determined to buy it.

After inquiring about the little lion, James finally understood why the price was cheap. 

It was because someone had unexpectedly discovered the little lion when they were hunting outside and didn't know its origin, so they assumed it was a common Fire Lion and sold it to this store. 

The store was also unaware that the little lion had a high qualification and sold it at the usual price.

Of course James didn't inform them about its qualification since he could buy it for a cheap price.

He immediately gave the beast core of the low rank 3 lizard that he had killed previously and received the change of four peak rank 2 beast cores since the price was only one peak rank 2 beast core.

James then walked to the cage and opened it. 

However, when he opened the cage, the little lion was wary of him and hissed at him while showing its teeth, as if he would bite James if he dared to touch him. 

"Don't worry, little guy, I won't hurt you. Follow me, and I will help you become stronger and protect you from now on." James smiled at the little lion. 

Nonetheless, when he moved his hand inside again, the little lion maintained the same attitude. 

James quickly thought for a while, and then took out a piece of meat from his inventory. 

It was Mid Rank 2 Big Boar meat that he had already roasted and placed on his inventory for emergency food, so that he wouldn't need to cook in the middle of the forest. 

"Here, this meat is for you, little guy. Follow me, and I will give you meals like this anytime you want." James said while shoving the meat inside the cage and smiled harmlessly towards the little lion. 

The little lion stared between the meat and James back and forth a few times before deciding to eat the roasted meat that this unknown hooman gave him because it smelled good. 

After taking a bite, the little lion felt its body becoming somewhat stronger, and it became addicted as it continued to eat it until only the bones were left and licked its bones too. Then it looked at James as if asking for another one. 

"It tastes delicious, right? Follow me, and I'll give you as much as you want. How about it, little guy?" James said while smiling, looking at this little lion's behavior and thought to himself, 

'How shameless can it be when it was hostile towards me a while ago? And now asking for another meal.' 

"Hmmph, you're the shameless one right here, coaxing a newborn beast who knows nothing and acting like you are the one being taken advantage of." Little Fluffy mocked James since he couldn't stand this shameless host any longer.

James ignored Little Fluffy and waited for the lion to respond.