Chapter 165 – Worshipers
Noah appeared in the small room that was completely empty but for a small stand at the very furthest side of it. On the top of the stand lay a velvet pad in the middle of which lay a round lump of metal.
Noah looked down at the medallion that he gifted to Mr. Purrils on the ball and raised his eyebrow.
"Seriously?" He asked, turning to the Mist Cat monsters standing guard at the only entrance to the room that stared at him surprised for a few seconds before straightening their postures. Noah noticed that they both had small spheric bells on their paws that they both shook slightly producing barely audible noise.
"We honor our deal with you, Your Highness, and as a token of respect we treat the medallion gifted to us as we would treat a sacred regalia." Answered Mist Cat monster bowing.
"You know who I am. Good. I would like to meet your Clan Chief." Said Noah.
"We have informed the Chief of your arrival, Your Highness. He will come to greet you shortly." Said the second Mist Cat and bowed as well.
A few seconds later two Mist Cats walked into the room and Noah smiled recognizing Mr. Purrils.
"Your Highness, we waited for your visit." Said Purrils. "Allow me to introduce my father Clan Chieftain Byorrn."
"It's a Pleasure to meet you, Count McDaniels, Please let us proceed to the hall." Said Byorrn bowing before beckoning Noah to follow them.
They walked through the cave halls of the hidden Mist Cat village and entered the hall where an entire clan was assembled waiting for them.
Noah smiled at their grand welcome sitting down in the center with all the warriors after short introductions.
"Your Highness we thought of what we would like to ask of you as a price that Lady Priscilla promised us in return for our help. We made a list of things we need to quickly evolve a few of our youngest clan members and also a list of clans and merchant companies that may sell them, as well as those who may want to purchase our items." Said Byorrn with unhidden excitement in his voice, giving Noah a stack of papers.
Noah looked over them quickly, turning a few pages.
"There are even clans from Labyrinths in other countries listed." He said after a moment raising an eyebrow.
"Khem." Coughed Purrils. "Oh, well, yes. Lady Brianna mentioned that you may want to spread your influence further than the Moonstar Kingdom…. But if you don't it is ok there are other places that…." He started to quickly explain with a bit of worry in his voice but stopped as he saw Noah put the papers away.
"I will be clear. I did not come here today for this." Said Noah seeing that Purrils went silent. "Chief Byorrn. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the problem you have is quite severe. And all these ingredients… even if you get them immediately, it may be too late for you and your clan."
"Your Highness if we are quick I am sure that….!" Exclaimed Bryorrn with clear worry in his voice but Noah stopped him with a raised hand.
"This is too much of a risk, Chief Byorrn. You are relying on luck. According to what I saw from Mr. Purrils on the ball, he was quite desperate, and we lost a few days as I was busy with my matters. Unless you have received some guarantees from that Observer Cat that listened to Mr. Purrils' plea, I doubt you have that time." Said Noah.
"I see. You are saying we are useless to you?" Said Byorrn clenching his furry paws.
"No. On the contrary, Chief. You are too important to me." Said Noah. "That's why I came here to make sure that nothing would happen to your clan while we continue our partnership." Said Noah and Byorrn lifted his hands in surprise.
"How?" Asked Purrils seeing his father was at a loss for words.
"I want you to take this medallion," said Noah. "And bring it to the second most hated clan that harmed you, the clan that this Labyrinth's Lord is quite fond of."
"Why?" Asked Byorrn.
"Because, if the Labyrinth Lord is so adamant on getting rid of you, he already has a Keepers family in mind that he wants to bring in, and most likely already negotiated it with the Crown. So the only way to save you right now is to leave a free spot that the Labyrinth Lord would need to fill instead of getting rid of you. The only way to save you is to get rid of someone else." Said Noah, his face turning grim with every word.
All the Mist Cats in the room started to murmur discussing it.
"We are too weak to achieve that." Said Byorrn a few moments later.
"You helped me. I will help you. This is the payment for your last service. I will get rid of them myself. Alone. You don't need to fight….No. You all must be spotted in some other places of the Labyrinth while this is happening." Said Noah.
Byorrn opened his mouth to say something but the loud voice of another warrior interrupted him.
"Why second-most?" Asked Verrly. "Why not the most powerful."
"Because the most powerful you all will kill on your own in honor of all those warriors of your clan who fell at their hands. Because with our partnership you will gain the power to take revenge on them yourself." Said Noah.
Verrly jumped up to his feet surprising everyone in the room and walked forward gazing at Noah.
"Verrly!" Said Purrils jumping up worried. But before he could take a step he froze seeing Verrly fall on his knees and bow to Noah with his head pressed to the ground.
"I Verrly of the Mist Cat clan swear my loyalty to you Count McDaniels." He said loudly, silencing the whole room. A second later every Mist Cat jumped up and bowed swearing loyalty to Noah. As if worshipers before their deity.
*****
Black mist flew through the air, swirling around trees and bushes evading all monsters that walked the hillside, ascending from bottom to the very top in just a few minutes.
As it reached the top Black Mist swirled in a circle for a few seconds as if looking for something, before suddenly gathering together. As mist concentrated in one spot a human-sized cat dressed in leather armor stepped out of it. Cat stood up on its hind legs and straightened as a bipedal, taking out from its pocket a round metallic object.
It stretched its hand forward and dropped the medallion-like object into a small crack between stones. Medallion fell into a deep dark hole and flew through a long pass between rocks, hitting walls and stones for half a minute until it finally dropped on the floor of a wide cave that was hidden within the mount.
Once the cat dropped the medallion it immediately dispersed into mist and escaped down the hill the same way it came.
As metal objects hit the rocky floor it produced a loud ringing noise attracting the attention of several monsters that sat in the cave.
Two creatures with hunched backs walked on their beastly hind legs toward the source of the sound. Kobold warriors stood watching the big coin that fell out of nowhere with an expression of surprise on their faces mixed between dog and lizard.
They lifted their heads to gaze up, looking for a spot where it could come from, but something whizzed through the air. In a second they died, toppling on the ground without even realizing what happened. As they fell battle puppet stood over their bodies looking around, with energy swords coming out of its both hands.
Kobolds were bipedal creatures that had human-like bodies covered in dog fur, walked on big dog-like hind legs, and had big dog heads. Some of them had traces of other species mixed in as well, but common knowledge was that they were canine.
Normally these monsters had enough mind to just cooperate in groups creating something similar to an anthill society. They had a leader, warriors, and workers. But no matter how much they looked like a society they were no different from beasts as they lacked one simple thing - sentience. Their kind just like ants acted purely on instincts and had no rational thinking to be considered rational beings.
The creatures that were held as keepers however had to have rational thinking and be able to understand things logically. Even if this logical thinking was at the level of a small child as long as the monster had it, it could converse and could be reasoned with.
This rationality awakened only in a select few monsters and they always stood out in their pack of simple monsters without sanity. With this rationality they could avoid danger, could plan and scheme, they could feel, they could wish, and they could have ambitions.
The Leader of this pack of dog-like monsters was born with a rational mind but not an overly strong body. In the monster world, he was bound to stay as the lowest cast.
However, with his power to scheme and rational thinking, he could discern the beings that similar to him, stood out from the mass of monsters with their rationality. He offered them protection and support, slowly growing a team of followers akin in their difference from simple monsters.
It wasn't quick, but as an ageless being, they had lots of time to grow this group. And soon from the team of rational yet weak monsters that gathered to help each other stay safe, they grew into power that threatened the seat of power in their pack.
When their logic and rationality allowed them to hide themselves from strong opponents avoiding dangerous fights and choosing their opponents carefully it brought them respect from monsters in the pack for living so long.
On the other hand, their pack members that served the leader were being killed left and right as any monster in the world. None of them lived for long. Even mindless beings saw the difference between these two groups. And slowly monsters changed sides allowing the rational group to finally topple their pack leader.
There was however a problem. Dangers did not disappear. Many monsters lived in dungeons. Lots of them far stronger than Kobolds. Also, other Kobolds clans often tried to claim their territory.
In these territory fights, unlike their rational team that considered themselves superior because of their minds and valued their own safety more than anything else, enemy packs had powerful mindless monsters as leaders that could fight fearlessly at the front of the army. That brought discord in this pack as well and respect of the pack was diminishing.
They realized that if they wanted to stay safe as rulers, they had to find a safer environment where no one would threaten their status. They had to change the way they were viewed but did not know how.
The answer came to them in the shape of a monster in the shape of a human that approached them knowing that their pack can be reasoned with. They found a common language with that stranger to converse and after a long discussion made a deal. They agreed to become the Keepers household and relocate to Labyrinths to serve humans.
With this agreement, they were allowed to have a limited amount of simple monsters that they took with them to their new home. Most youngest monsters that still did not know the common pack knowledge that they took with them, were taught new ways. The ones that stranger gave them as a solution.
This new pack lived by worshiping rational pack members as deities and served them like slaves. This was finally the life they were content with. Absolute power over their pack with no one to threaten them. This is how the Gray Scaled Kobold Keepers household has appeared and lived in the human Kingdom for almost a century.
But this day, they were going to lose everything.