526 Rejmar Merchant Convoy

Just for the record, there was hentai.

And for fucks sake, it was NTR.

I actually asked if there was some kind of penalty involved in defacing or destroying one of these creations and Balin told me it was basically considered a taboo.

What's more, anyone who does so will be exiled if they were a citizen here or completely barred from entering any Rejmar settlements if they were an outsider.

How do they even keep track of this? Of course they have a book of grud-- Just kidding. They don't have a book.

Well, it's similar to it but instead of just writing it down somewhere, they carve the offender's name and actions on a stone slab and offer it to their god which then takes the effect of banishing the person away from the mountains.

Apparently the god Ralaie likes craftsmanship a lot and especially hates it when someone disrespects a craft. So if one were to provide the name and proof of someone doing just that, they would definitely be banished from god Ralaie's domain.

When I asked everyone what they felt about that particular piece of art though, everyone felt that it was especially vile… Save for one person.

"Ahhhh!! Whoever carved that 'oneshot' is a genius!" Lisa squealed, my Infrid hugging my arm. "I need to try it out on our next vict-- Ahem… Our next person!"

Yeah… I figured she would be into that…

At least she isn't into the actual NTR thing but just a rather skewed version of it… At this point I don't even know what I should call it.

Oh well… As long as she's happy?

As we were exiting the cave, a rumble came from behind us, like something heavy was stomping towards us.

All of us spun around, Katsuki pulling out her daggers in a defensive pose while the rest of us simply tried to see what was coming towards us.

Thankfully, it wasn't some kind of giant monster coming to attack us but a convoy of Rejmars that I assume were bringing trade goods to the outpost.

They had a wagon that was being pulled by some kind of lizard crawling on all fours and it reminded me of the komodo dragons in my old World. Except this one was bigger… Like a pickup truck size at least.

"Oh? What a coincidence," Balin commented from the side. "Looks like a merchant convoy is here. Let's move out of here or we'll be in the way."

Katsuki sheathed her daggers and all of us stepped out of the tunnels before the convoy.

Once we were past the tunnel's entrance, we stepped to the side and allowed the convoy to pass, the leader of said convoy also presenting a similar looking card as Balin which the guard inspected carefully before allowing them entry.

I realised why they needed to make the passageways and the meeting halls that big after seeing the size of the wagons and the things they were carrying.

On one such wagon was the carcass of a curled up giant snake, its size nearly twice the size of the beast pulling it even while curled up.

Behind were several other wagons though these were pulled or pushed by goats or other Rejmars, each of them containing seemingly normal trade stuff like clothes, furs and food. There were other wagons that had their goods covered with a layer of cloth though, so I have no idea about the contents of those.

I noted that the guards around the convoy were wearing especially heavy armour as well. I'm talking about full plate mail, shields and all that jazz.

"Are the tunnels not safe or something?" I asked.

Balin followed my gaze and saw that I was looking at the guards, "Well… Unfortunately, yes. Some of our tunnels require us to go through monster infested caverns so even if you were to travel through the tunnels, make sure you are equipped for battle."

"Doesn't that dissuade people from travelling through the tunnels?"

He gestured at the lizard pulling the wagon, "Actually, that animal pulling the wagons over there is what we call a Ground Dragon. It's quite docile and tame if you treat it well and most monsters avoid them. That's why travellers would usually move in a group with at least one Ground Dragon. But the danger is still present of course."

I watched as the giant lizard lumbered past us, the creature turning its head in our direction for a moment to flick its tongue at us before continuing forward.

It's pretty cute actually.

The convoy trudged into the meeting hall and out through a side door that I had missed seeing when I first came in since it had a similar colour to the walls around it.

The size of the door was also big enough for a Magridar to walk through without ducking their head and it looked like it led to a warehouse of sorts.

The line of wagons all proceeded there in a single file and the giant doors closed shut behind them, leaving us on our own again.

Balin must have noticed that I was still looking at the doors even though they have already closed since he asked, "Do you want to see what's over there?"

"Can I?"

He raised an eyebrow, "It's not like it's some kind of secret operation or something. That's just the warehouse where the trade goods are unloaded and stored and any passengers would also disembark there. Then tomorrow they will load up any new trade goods and passengers before going back into the tunnels again. If you ask me, there's nothing really special about it but you can go and see if you want."

I turned to the girls, "Wanna go?"

Katsuki immediately inclined her head, "I will follow you wherever you wish, Mistress."

"Wahaha! Sure thing, Aster! Hey, do you think they'll let me challenge that Ground Dragon?" Odeta asked.

Balin made a face, "I don't recommend it, missus… Not because I don't think you can challenge it, but because you might end up destroying the buildings around here…"

Odeta huffed in disappointment but said nothing more.

Delmare and Lisa also agreed with my suggestion so we moved to the warehouse to see how things are done here.

When we pushed open one of the doors, a sudden shout came from within and the growls of some wild animal could be heard.

The moment I stepped past the doorway, some kind of wolf monster was charging towards me with its fangs bared.

How did this monster get in here?!

Katsuki immediately shifted herself in front of me, her daggers out by her sides in a defensive stance.

Just as she lowered her body in preparation to strike, one of the Rejmars chasing after the wolf let out a cry.

"Wait!! Don't kill it!!"

Err… Alright…

I held Katsuki's shoulder with a hand to stop her from rushing forward, giving me time to shoot a [Static Bolt] that hit the wolf in the chest.

The wolf let out a cry before it crashed onto the ground, electrical sparks coursing through its twitching body as it was paralysed by my magic.

We watched as it slid to a stop at our feet, still spasming on the ground but at least it was pacified for now.

The Rejmar that had called out to us rushed up to the wolf, locking a collar with a leash attached around its neck before breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Tha… Thank you for the timely assistance," He thanked us while wiping the sweat from his brow. "This would have been a wasted trip if this one died. And err… I guess sorry for that scare too."

Odeta wasn't that amused and scowled at him, "What was that about? Why do you have a monster like that here?"

Balin quickly came up to us, "Ah, sorry about that. Maybe I can explain this. Do you know about the Democratic Republic of Modgnik?"

I nodded, "It's the country to the west of Frostiminir right?"

"That's right. They specialise in taming and training if you don't know, and they're really good at it. We would usually get tamed monsters from them to use inside our mines. So wolves like this one would be used to sniff out ores."

Lisa pointed a finger at the wolf that was being dragged away by the other Rejmar, "You call that tamed?"

He grimaced, "I guess it got scared by the Ground Dragon and tried to escape… I'm also assuming he just bought the monster not too long ago so it hasn't bonded enough with him yet…"

I'm more interested in something else though, "Wolves can sniff out ores?"

He scratched his bearded cheek, "Ehh… Some wolves can. That one in particular is used to find monsters that have ores growing on them specifically."

Oh right, like those monsters we hunted to get the Monster Gold in particular. So I guess it's no surprise that there are monsters like that too.

When I looked at the rest of the warehouse, I realised that there were several cages that were also filled with monsters, the wolf from earlier being escorted back into one with the owner scolding a younger Rejmar beside an opened cage.

I guess that Rejmar must have accidentally let the wolf out while they were unloading the cages.

Now I'm curious about that tamer country… I wonder if I can visit it from here?

Maybe I can get a tamed monster of my own?

Actually… Nevermind… I think having my girls around me is enough~