Chapter 215: Is this what they call alone time?

"What did you do?!" Natto screamed, shooing away the alerted Orcs in the vicinity.

She had quickly drafted some of the lower-level warriors of the Rhak tribe to act as a first response team in the town since they had started spreading the word of the auction. They were called low-level but still well above any of the humans that had come and gone as they stood at around level 15 to 17 whereas the average human and other races that seemed to reach them were anywhere between 10 and 15 with a sparse handful above that.

"I didn't do nothin'," Drake said innocently, as he helped Sah Ul' up.

"I knew, I knew! You were up to something and you go and put the whole town on alert by producing your full aura! Just to scare a child! Have you no decency or respect for my time!?" she yelled incredulously.

Drake scoffed, "I scared more than just one kid…." he laughed, only to duck as a dagger flew his way.

He chuckled nervously as he walked over to the still-unconscious Kalik Tu'.

Drake swiftly nudged the teen with his foot, "You still alive?" he asked, knowing he was very well of the living.

"W-what happened….?" Kalik asked, his body shivering.

"You passed out like a loser. But then again so did everyone but Sah Ul' in the area."

Kalik's face paled in a gasp of disbelief, "T-that can't…"

"Oh, it is. That means you lost. Which means what I say goes," Drake smiled, looming over the teen, "Now, get your ass back in your tent until we get back and think about how you can beat me next time. No leveling up allowed, but you're fine if you just want to train and feel out your stats and skill."

Natto had since teleported to Drake's shoulder, hitting him in the side of the head, making him far less intimidating as he ordered Kalik around but it didn't matter. Drake's word was law now.

Kalik got up shakily as he glared daggers at Drake.

"To face what is your most hated weakness is the first step to real strength," Drake said putting his hands into his hoodie pocket, "And your weakness? Arrogance."

Kalik growled but refrained from saying anything, turning around in the direction of the tents this time obediently following Drake's order.

"Where is that saying from?" Natto asked.

"I dunno, Sun Tsu? Maybe Abraham Lincon? Honestly, I saw it in the comment section of a youtube video. And the internet doesn't lie."

Natto gave him a shake of her head, "I should have known better," she sighed.

"What?" Drake asked.

Without answering Natto vanished out of sight, presumably going back to doing administrative duties, leaving a handful of recovering onlookers from Drake's release of aura, Drake, and Sah Ul'.

Drake turned to her, her face still recovering the light green skin tone it normally held.

"Sorry about that. I kind of lost control of it there trying to teach him a lesson," he apologized.

Sah Ul' answered after a few steading breaths, "I did not think you had grown so much stronger since we fought…" she said, but then gave a face of realization as her brows scrunched into a frown, "Or were you going easy on me?"

Drake scratched the side of his cheek, "I wouldn't say I went easy… I might have not given it my all though," he admitted, "I didn't know at the time whether or not there were more people or monsters around. I might be strong but I still don't know how strong everyone else is in the world, it's why I'm working so hard and so pressed to make the kids strong."

He had been thinking of more and more ways to make everyone here stronger. Drake wasn't sure just how dangerous their new world was and after hearing what had happened in various tutorials, including the one with his brother. He was sure of at least that no one here except a scarce few were ready for it. This wasn't even mentioning the other world they would have to go to war with in just a few short years.

It was an immense headache for him when he thought about it. Going from his current goal of finding his family, and gathering his scattered party members, to freeing the slaves in Sandal, all the way to the upgrading of the planet through the Cardinal Beast Quest.

Then there was the issue of increasing his own Rank and level. During this next month, it would be rough for his progress stat-wise. He would have to pause his progress essentially to nurture the kids on their way to find his family and the fact that there were fewer and fewer monsters of E-Rank roaming around.

That didn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't improve. He had plans for a few things to do while they went through the process of teaching and helping the kids.

Looking back over to Sah Ul' he saw that her face was still plastered in a scowl at him when an idea popped into his head.

"Let me make it up to you," he suddenly said, Sah Ul's face showing a crack in its anger.

"W-what?" she replied warily.

"I have to plant some food for us first, but after that, I'm going to map a pathway for the kids, and learn more about the monsters in the area. While anchoring the crystal the monsters were in a wild dash to get here and that didn't really give us a good idea of the ecosystems of monsters around us. I want to properly map it out while looking for resources that we might be able to capitalize on. What do you say?"

Sah Ul' crossed her arms, tightening her grip around her fur coat as she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before finally nodding her head agreeing.

"I am bound by duty to watch over you as ordered by my father, so I will accompany you," she said blushing slightly.

Drake's eyes widened.

That's bad, did I just make a mistake asking her like that? I didn't know that shade of red looked so good on green… He thought absentmindedly.

Previously being an artist Drake thought he was familiar with most color combinations possible for complexions but he was pleasantly surprised seeing that this mix of colors was so tantalizing to the eyes.

"Good," Drake nodded before walking to move out of the area.

—------

After a bit of casual walking Drake and Sah Ul' had moved to an area where Natto had popped in for a moment and directed them to so that Drake could plant the man-eating fruit seeds.

[Man Eating Fruit Tree] [F-Grade]

An exotic plant found on various planets of the multiverse. They bear fruit depending on what they are fed.

The fruit tree can be planted in any environment and will adapt to their surroundings as long as they have access to nutrition in the form of fresh meat.

Warning: These plants are naturally highly aggressive to all living beings.

Drake blanched at the description, smiling grimly as he sighed, not enjoying the thought of the trouble he was about to deal with.

He looked around, finding a spot that he thought was fine to plant the trees.

"Back up a bit Sarah, I'm honestly not sure what is gonna happen when I plant these," he said.

Sah Ul' tilted her head, "You are planting something you are unsure if they are safe?" she asked disapprovingly.

Drake gave a wry chuckle, "Well…. Nothing ventured nothing gained?" he shrugged, pulling the seeds from his inventory.

Using a flourish of his hand, Drake conjured multiple magic circles of red, green, brown, and blue.

First, he melted the snow with warm air from his fire and wind magic, then tilled the soil by imbuing his earth magic into the ground, churning the earth until it was a desirable-looking mulch.

Placing seeds into the small mounds he had made one by one a ball of water above his head, squirting out a small amount of refreshing water after each one was planted until he was done, finishing with several long rows of the plants.

He clapped his hands together pleased with his work.

"Alright, should be about done. Wonder if I should do the other seedlings I picked up and do regular plants from before the system still grow?" Drake wondered, pursing his lips, "Well, after the snow thaws maybe I'll go check out some farmland."

"Are you finished?" Sah Ul' asked.

"Yeah, all don-" Drake answered but was interrupted by the sound of something cracking and sprouting behind him, the next second he was engulfed by something, his upper torso completely covered.

"Mnfaoakd!" Drake shouted in a muffled voice.

"Patriarch!" Sah Ul' shouted in a panic looking at the sudden growth of the plant sprouting out of the ground.

Drake easily wrenched open the mouth of the plant and spat on the floor, "God damn it! I didn't want to know what James felt like! Ugh… some of its…. Whatever that is, got in my mouth!" he grimaced, spitting again and summoning water to rinse out his mouth.

Sah Ul' gave a breath of relief, "Are you ok, Patriarch?" she asked.

"I'm fine… at least physically. I do feel violated though…" he grumbled looking back at the rows of plants that suddenly sprouted, swaying slightly back and forth.

The plants had long stalks coming out of the ground, with sparse leaves on them. On the top of the stalk was a large Venus flytrap-type head that snapped with serrated teeth. The one closest to Sah Ul' and Drake lunging forward at them.

Drake caught the plant and smacked it across its huge mouth.

"No! Bad monster plant!" he reprimanded, "No eating people you hear me!"

The plant recoiled back from the blow dropping its head almost like a wounded animal would.

Drake scoffed and brought out some of the monster corpses he had collected over the past week.

"Here, this is ok. People are a no," he said, giving a slight grin now.

The plant seemed to perk up, its stalk straightening out as it leaned forward seemingly ready to close its large maw around the beast in Drake's hand.

But just as it was about to close its mouth, Drake slammed his open hand into the side of its head again.

"Hey, you little bastard! I said people are no! I know you were gonna try to bite my hand off!" he growled.

The plant seemed to whimper and Drake threw the monster to the bottom of its stalk.

"Monsters yes, people no," he reiterated, "And if you try to eat someone…." Drake said coldly, snapping his fingers as one of the plants lit up in flames.

All the man-eating plants turned their heads like they were looking at the burning tree despite not having eyes.

"Got it?" Drake said, summoning another fireball in his hands.

The plants all turned to him and gave a nodding motion.

"Good," Drake smiled, throwing them all piles of monster corpses, "I better see some good fruit when I come back!" he ordered.

Sah Ul' and Drake made their way away from the area after Drake erected a small fence of earth around the plants, not wanting people to wander around the area. He also placed a small sign saying 'Dangerous man-eating plants' just to be sure, but he assumed Natto would make sure no one would get hurt.

"How do you know those plants will listen?" Sah Ul' asked as they walked to their next destination.

"Hmm? Oh, it's like training a dog I think, carrot and stick. But since these are way way more dangerous…They behave, they get food, if they don't I'll put them down without a second thought," he answered.

Sah Ul' nodded approvingly, "Anything that threatens the tribe must be dealt with."

Drake gave a wry smile, "Right. Well, now we have to visit the Doc before we go. I don't really like it but I need to make sure she isn't going too far with her experiments while we have limited resources and see if there is anything she will need while we're out."

Sah Ul' gave a terse nod but didn't say anything, just following behind Drake.

Does she not like doctors? Drake wondered.

A few minutes of walking later the pair were at a large square building with a single door and no windows. Opening it up without preamble and entering Drake gave out a shout.

"Doc! Hey Doc!"

No one answered, so they were forced to go into the dimly lit building.

There were chairs and tables in the first room that they passed. Drake knew they were for the large amount of patients he had sent to her. Freeing slaves and more and more people randomly stumbling upon the town in all sorts of conditions need to be looked at and treated. Yorth from Mikhail's party could only do so much with his healing and mana pool before he compromised his combat ability.

So they had to send most of them here, where they could be healed the old-fashioned way. With the literal mountains worth of things Drake had taken during his scavenging of the city, they had all the medical supplies they could ask for in the way of old pre-system medicine after all.

The further they went in though, the louder the sounds of grunting and shallow growls met their ears. Monsters in cages bayed and growled at them as they passed. Some of them looking sickly, others bearing boils or having hair and fur falling out.

"W-what is this place?" Sah Ul' asked, her face cringing.

"Not anywhere I'd like to stay for too long…" Drake sighed, "At least she was decent enough to separate the place she was experimenting on things with where she treated people."

Feeling like he was losing out in this war of mental attrition slowly but surely, Drake led Sah Ul' through the building until they came across a door that was heavily reinforced.

Drake knocked on the door, "Doc? You're here right! Not like you go anywhere else…" he scoffed, "I'm coming in!" he shouted again.

Sliding open the door, Drake was assailed by a horrific smell and then felt water touch his face.

He blinked several times then turned his head to find Bridgette with a spray bottle in her hand casually smoking a cigarette and a deadpan expression.

[You have resisted Mana Ravaging Poison]

Drake wiped off his face incredulously with his sleeve then took off his hoodie and burned it to be safe.

"Did you just try to poison me?" he asked irritatedly.

"Yes, yes I did. Did it work?" she asked matter of factly.

"No, I resisted it…"

"Damn," she spat, clicking her tongue.

"What is wrong with you?" Drake asked, "You could have killed someone, you're lucky it was me!"

The Doc waved her hand dismissively, "I knew it was you coming. I heard you at the door."

"Then why didn't you answer?!" he growled.

"I needed to test the new poison that I've made from the experiments. It isn't just for killing people I need it to develop a counteractive to certain viruses I've seen in the people you've sent me."

"Viruses? Are we in trouble of having an epidemic?"

Bridgette shook her head, "No, nothing like that yet. I've already studied some of the effects and they only cause slight fevers for those who are integrated and more severely cold-like symptoms for those who aren't. But thanks to the medicine you've procured before coming here it is easily managed. Good job doing so or we may have had some trouble," she smiled sardonically.

"Then are you saying something stronger was found? Or is it simply conjecture?" he asked.

Sah Ul' stayed quiet as she listened to the conversation, lowering her enormous ax after seeing that Drake was fine.

"Well, there will always be a new developing bacteria or virus. Even parasites are evolving slowly. But no unfortunately nothing that interesting. I simply like to be prepared," Bridgette sighed, disappointedly.

"Well, keep it in moderation…" Drake said, "I'll be leaving for the next few days, I may come across people or a town on the way I'm not sure, so I wanted to know if there's anything you desperately need."

Bridgette moved to sit down on a nearby stool, taking a drag of her cigarette as she crossed her legs thinking over the question for a moment.

"Hmm, let's see. If you can get me any more medical equipment it would be beneficial. Of course, more proper general physicians are welcomed…. I don't specialize in anything you are currently making me handle you know… My general knowledge will only go so far until something serious happens."

"No monsters?" he asked.

"I would like some stronger beasts, but it seems like we don't have the means to contain them currently."

Drake mulled over her words, "I'll see what I can do but no promises. I have to grab monsters for Natto regardless so I might be able to snag some."

"Perfect. Is there anything else?" she asked, obviously wanting to get back to her research as she wrote something down on a notepad behind her.

"Not that I can think of. But thank you for helping out and checking on the people."

Bridgette waved him off, "It is par the course. I took an oath, although it is not my specialty. I will do my utmost to adhere to it. And then again, you did promise to keep me entertained if I did what you said."

Drake shivered slightly, feeling eyes on the back of his neck. Not wanting to turn around and face whatever it was, he nodded.

"I'll be around."

Drake quickly ushered Sah Ul' out of the room and down the halls again to the outside of the building.

Breathing slightly more heavily than he expected for such a short distance, Drake wiped away the sweat that had somehow formed on his forehead from the ordeal.

"Alright now that that is done…" Drake said, trying to gloss over it, "Let's get going."

Sah Ul' only grunted, not turning to meet him.

Sighing, Drake took out an F-Grade Bow he had gotten from the tutorial and another hoodie. The abrupt withdrawal of the weapon made Sah Ul' turn.

"What are these for?" she asked.

"Well, I'm thinking we are most likely going to meet people while we are out there. So I want to sow some more misinformation about my class and level."

"Why would you need to do such a thing?"

"I have a lot of party members that are still uncounted for. I've made some waves with the announcements and I want to make sure that any information about me out there is severely conflicting."

Sah Ul' tilted her head looking slightly confused.

"Let's just say I like to confuse people," Drake said, giving a wry smile.

"Indubitably, my Lord!" a voice suddenly shouted next to Drake.

Drake's eyes widened as he heard the voice, but before he could utter the name Sah Ul' reacted first, her huge ax materializing as she swung down with a roar.

His endowment switching instantly to fire, Drake moved in front of the blow, blocking it with his arms glowing a deep gold from the infused mana.

"Whoa whoa whoa! He's a friend Sarah!" Drake yelled.

"T-thank you tremendously my Lord…." Theodore said with a pale face, "This one does believe he may have soiled himself a tad…"

"Who is this?!" Sah Ul' shouted.

"This is Theodore, he's one of my party members from the tutorial. And he's a dear friend so no killing him!" Drake shouted back with a nervous smile.