Cthulhu Gonfalon

The experienced adventurers were always very rigorous and resolute.

In less than half an hour, three horses came out from the east gate of Golden Pagoda City. Behind them were two horses pulling a carriage, and running toward the southeast along the road.

Ray, Steele, and Liv were riding the horse, and Madame Teague and young Nice were in the carriage. There was a boy, Ranke, who was controlling the carriage; he was one of the young people who had paid off his debt.

Among those young people, few were good at the martial arts, and among them, Zesheng was the strongest. But if he came with Ray, it would mean that these youngsters would lose their leader and could be cruelly killed by the people from the church of the God of Aristocracy. So Zesheng had to stay behind, as well as the few who were good at martial arts.

Ranke was the younger son of that businessman. When he was young, the education he received was very different from that of his brother, who was taught to be a businessman. So he always admired the knight and learned horsemanship, swordsmanship, spear-play, and fast-shoot from Knight Parne from a very young age. However, he was not that talented, and after five or six years of studying, he was still a green hand who didn’t excel in swordsmanship, spear-play, or fast-shoot at all. There was one thing he was capable of: horsemanship.

Compared with the weak knight, Ranke had the talent to be a businessman. He was good at managing accounts, negotiating with others, and authentication. Moreover, he was good at riding the carriage. Even Liv, who was known for her horse riding skills, was not as good as him.

His brother managed to pay off all the debt, but he still chose to go and take adventures with his peers, trying to do more for them. That day when he went to pay off the debt, he actively decided to be the one to negotiate with the people of the church of the God of Aristocracy. After the negotiation, he successfully decreased the interest he would have to pay, and saved his peers a lot of money.

Since the group of young people had gone through hard times recently, they were very happy to see that Ranke had helped them save a lot of money. To celebrate this, they bought some dishes and alcohol and meant to hold a party at Liv’s home. When they heard that Liv would have to leave, they began to discuss—or quarrel—about her leaving. It was Ranke that managed to calm them down, and then decided to come with Liv.

He was indeed good at horsemanship; the two horses he was controlling were proceeding steadily side by side and at the same speed, and Madame Teague and young Nice just felt a mild tremble or shake in the carriage from time to time.

This also had something to do with the wizards there in the Mifata Federation. Since there were many wizards, and most of the roads that connected all the towns were built by magic spells, the roads were very smooth. This was how the roads were built: first and foremost, the soil was tamped, and then covered with a layer of a combination of gravel and clay; then this layer was tamped, thus the roadbed was created. Then the wizard made some hard rocks with a spell, and created an arc-shaped gravel road on the surface of the roadbed, which was very similar to the stone roads in some ancient cities on Earth. However, this was not the road inside the city; rather, it was the main road that connected all the towns in this country!

In the Main Plate, only the Kingdom of Wizards could establish such a magnificent project, since this country had enough wizards of the intermediate level. They could turn all the huge rocks into certain shapes that fit best with magic spells. And this way, they didn’t need much labor.

In fact, according to the rule of the Mifata Federation, if a wizard wanted to make a magic pagoda of his own, he would have to make sure that there was a standard road that connected the pagoda with the whole road system of this country, and he would also need to maintain all the roads around his pagoda.

With so much effort, the transportation system in this country was very smooth. There was no country in the world that could compete with it in this regard.

Things could be much better, though, if there weren’t so many monsters there.

It was getting dark, so they found an open space and rested there. Ray said, “I am going to check if the vicinity is safe or not.” Then he took a sword and a spear with him and went into the wood nearby.

Eventually, the tent was set up, the campfire was lit, the flour and wheat were made into porridge, and the meat soup’s flavor permeated the air. Ray came back at last with blood all over him, and a specially-made thick rope on his hand. There was a beast wrapped in the rope following behind him.

This beast was a bit similar to an ape, but it looked far more ferocious, since its face was more hideous. It also had sharp teeth and claws, which clearly showed that it was never a kind creature. Its strong body, which could even dwarf a wild bear, showed that it had great strength. Moreover, when it breathed, sparks came out of its mouth and one could smell sulfur.

Since Ranke and Liv were still not that experienced, they had no idea what it was. Madame Teague, however, immediately knew as soon as she smelled the sulfur.

“Purgatorized and ferocious ape? No, a huge purgatorized and ferocious ape! They are really difficult to defeat; I am very surprised to see that you managed to catch it alive,” she smiled. “Mr. Ray, you are really a powerful knight!”

Ray laughed and put down the rope, and the ape sat down on its own. Then Ray said, “Thank you for your compliment; actually, this beast is not that powerful, but it is a bit difficult to catch without severely injuring it.”

Seeing this ape, Liv and Ranke were completely stunned. Their own group, which consisted of some green hand adventurers, had only come across a purgatorized and ferocious wolf. Apart from that, there were four other common wolves at that time. They had a big fight with them, and if it were not for the help of some experienced adventurers who happened to come by, at least one person would had been killed.

It was known that among all the animals, the ape was the strongest, and a purgatorized and ferocious ape was so powerful that it would take a group of experienced adventurers to defeat. A group of green hand adventurers were bound to be killed when facing one.

As far as they were concerned, the ape, like the wolf, also liked to travel in herds. Ray must had killed the whole group of apes, which could be seen from the blood on him. He even managed to catch the leader of the group alive, which further proved his incredible power!

“Mr…. Mr. Ray, what is this ape for?” Ranke asked curiously. “Does it have any special value?”

“Not really. I intend to make it the night watcher,” Ray said casually. “An ape monster of this kind usually has a high intelligence, which makes it easier to tame. In fact, I have already tamed it, and from now on, it will be our night watcher.”

It? A night watcher?!

Hearing this, even Madame Teague was stunned.

“Are you sure this is alright? What if it attacks us when we are asleep?” Liv was very worried.

“That’s impossible; it is not stupid,” Ray said, and walked up to the ape. He stopped in front it and patted its head.

The huge ape became more mild and sat still on the ground, and didn’t make a sound when Ray patted its head, as if it had become a tamed wolf dog.

“See? Isn’t it very mild?”

Everyone was silent and had no idea how Ray managed to “tame” this ferocious beast.

“We have been taking turns to be the night watchers, haven’t we?” Steele said, while coming out of the tent. When she saw the beast, she then asked curiously, “Are you still going out tonight?”

Ray nodded and said, “Yes, when we arrive at Cloud Pagoda City, we may get into a big fight. I need to hurry and tame that damn dragon.”

“You are right; you have spent too much time taming that dragon,” Steele said. “I think you’d better find another one to tame; this ape is fine. At least, it is very smart, and knows to be mild when it knows it cannot defeat you.”

“You are joking. I have never seen a knight riding an ape!” Ray shook his head, and walked away smiling. Then he waved his hand, and freed the copper crown dragon from the space bag specially made to trap monsters.

The copper crown dragon was indeed something. Even if it had been trapped and tortured for such a long time, it was still very ferocious and powerful. As soon as it came out of the space bag, it shook its head and tail and began to roar. Then it opened its huge mouth, trying to eat Ray alive.

Ray punched it, and after it was hit, it fell over and rolled on the ground. It didn’t stop until it hit on a tree.

“Haven’t you learned anything?” Ray complained. Then he seized its tail, and pulled it along into the woods.

He walked a few steps, stopped, and gave another punch to the dragon which was struggling to bite him. Then it passed, and Ray warned the ape, “Be a good night watcher; don’t make any trouble. If you do, I will eat your brain tomorrow!”

The huge ape was terrified when it saw the dragon; in fact, ape monster was a food favored by dragons, even if this huge ape was much stronger than a normal ape. But that copper crown dragon was also much much stronger than a common dragon, so it would definitely be eaten if the two came across each other in the wild.

However, even a powerful dragon, which could easily make it its meal, could not fight this man, who was not big at all. Seeing this, the ape recalled what had happened in this morning. It was leading its herd to attack Ray, but while all the apes were killed in the blink of an eye, it was also hit, and passed out. When it woke up, it found it had already become a prisoner.

He had already been merciful on me.

Maybe the reason why I am still alive is because he really needs a night watcher, instead of trying to tame me.

Earlier, this ape was very unhappy about this, and wanted to find a way to run away or play a trick or two. Now it sighed, and one could see its disappointment from its furry face. It finally gave in, and decided to be a good night watcher.

The glory of the leader of a herd? The nature of being a monster? Which was more important?

Neither! Survival was the most important thing!