28 The Thief

A dark cloaked man was moving swiftly through the Wesser forest. The forest was endless, dark, and thriving, its canopy was competed for by alder, linden, and felwood, enough light shimmered through their crowns for a mosaic of ferns to reign the rich grounds below.

Curling branches dangled from the occasional tree, and a range of fel herbs, which were unique to the region, grew sporadically in the otherwise jade scenery. A hodgepodge of beastly noises, belonging to various kinds of demon beasts and other forest natives added to the life of the forest.

While James was preparing mentally for his interaction with Mikael, Johnson was strolling through the forest looking for wood-based materials to assist the Devil Ancestor in forging.

He had to go to the unclaimed territory for the level of material Kogthoz needed. As long as he didn't head to the truly deep areas, the forest was like taking a stroll in his backyard.

The Wesser forest was a wild and unclaimed territory in this Abyss. Even he did not know what terrors lurked in the deepest areas. Only a negligible amount of it had been converted to campgrounds and deemed safe for ordinary travel. The rest was unclaimed wildlands.

"Jurrath!" yelled the dark-robed man as he got to the deeper part of the forest near a gigantic cave.

Outside of the cave was clear, you could see not even a mouse. The demonic aura emanating from the cave was stifling. It was easy to tell that this was a territory claimed by a powerful demon beast.

Out came a creature about the size of a large cat, with six legs and a long thick tail. It had a soft, but strong skin covered in thick hairs. The hairs were a combination of blue, yellow, light gold, and bronze. It had a rather small mouth with large canines and a long tongue.

It had thin eyes and large standing ears. The creature moved agilely outside of its cave. The demonic creature sat on a rock opposite of Johnson. His air was the air of a ruler. You could see not a bit of subservience from this creature's demeanor.

"How have you been my friend?" said the black-robed man with a smile as he greeted the demonic beast.

Jurrath was one of the strongest demon beasts living in the Wesser forest. A truly terrifying existence. He was even stronger than Johnson, the hand of the Devil Ancestor!

Johnson was not even sure of his exact cultivation level because he would never dare fight him. Jurrath cared more about creating mischief than creating wide massacres. He was always a good demon beast to trade with. He always somehow got his hands on rare materials.

The creature roared and faded its form to become more humanoid. Light green, sleek hair hanged over a handsome face with violet eyes.

"Meow, What brings a civilized person like you to my demonic wilds Johnson?" said the demon beast, Jurrath.

"Do you have any rare wood resources?" said Johnson.

"Meow. You know about the old Soulwood tree guarded by that Condor tribe? It's very difficult to get them to trade away any Soulwood," said Jurrath.

"Meow. Luckily for you, I recently gained a few Soulwood branches from them," said Jurrath as he laughed.

He hated those unreasonable bird brains and was a mischievous demon beast who loved to cause chaos in the forest.

They quickly came to an agreement in the trade, Johnson received the branches and Jurrath got some new shiny things for his collection.

"Thank you, how is the forest? There aren't any new hostile beast lords trying to push their weight around?" said Johnson.

It was always good for him to have the best information available to [Mountain Shadow].

"Meow. Only newly ascended Viscount beast lords like to push their weight around corralling weak-minded beasts to attack locations so they can pillage the benefits," said Jurrath.

"Meow. That old jaguar has an iron grip on this part of the forest and doesn't like it getting too hectic."

The old jaguar was wise and had spent countless years as a beast sovereign, so his management of his territory was top notch. Anyone that violated his rules would die swiftly with a hint of murderous demonic aura around them from the forest, so no one dared disobey his rules!

"Meow! Newly ascended lords in this area have to think twice before causing trouble less they end up dead."

"Meow! Right now the forest has been peaceful. That stupid condor leader has been heading around bullying demon beasts taking their Soulwood claiming they stole it from his tribe!"

"Meow. What kind of heartless demon beast would steal Soulwood branches from those condors?"

"Meow. We should go help the condors seek justice!" said Jurrath. He had a righteous demeanor as he spoke.

Johnson rolled his eyes internally.

It's obvious it was you that has stolen the branches from the condors. You're even gloating to me about it! That condor just doesn't have the face to ask you for them back so he has to pretend he's looking for them elsewhere. It's a classic occurrence of someone bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

"I think they can handle that themselves," said Johnson while shaking his head, he couldn't be bothered with Jurrath's antics.