The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1052: The City Never Sleeps

When Lotus came out with an entire cart full of freshly baked sweets, she was an instant hit with the visitors to the tavern.

Even the old construction workers who were sitting in a corner, looking grimly at their mugs of ale, were smiling as she passed them a small plate with a selection of baked goods on it. Her enthusiasm for snacks was contagious, and even Karl had chosen to ignore the fact that she had a large mug of coffee on the tray for herself.

If she got too hyper, he could just send her back to Ophelia.

The sound of blades clashing and wood smashing from outside caught Karlʼs attention, and the waitress quickly moved to bar the door.

”Is the area that bad?” Karl whispered to the man beside him.

The werewolf shook his head. ”Probably. We sit near the edge of the district, and the Naga get into it with the Trolls on a fairly regular basis. The city guard doesnʼt care how much they break in their brawls, and they never make them pay for the damage.

So, we just get out of the way, or bar the door, so that nothing happens to the building.”

The building itself was made of common field stone, oblong rocks patched together with mortar. If things actually got serious, Karl knew that it wouldnʼt take much to throw someone through the wall.

But it wasnʼt likely that things would go that far in the city.

”You look like you just had a strange thought.” The Werewolf noted.

”I was just thinking that if they were serious about fighting, it wouldnʼt take much to throw someone through a nonmagical fieldstone wall.” Karl replied quietly.

The Werewolf laughed. ”Youʼre not wrong. But theyʼre usually not trying to kill each other, just to assert dominance. A territory fight of sorts between the two most populous groups.”

A middle-aged Catwoman smirked at Karl. ”You say that as if you could also throw someone through the wall.”

Lotus giggled when she heard the comment, and sipped her coffee before patting the woman on the shoulder.

”The Karl is a monster in disguise. Forget throwing them through the wall, he could probably throw them out of the city from here. Over the city wall.”

The woman laughed along with her, but Karl did a quick calculation. If he transformed, he was fairly sure that he could hurl an average-sized troll at least two hundred metres. That was far enough to make it over the city wall.

Of course, if they were an Overlord or Totem Ranked Troll, it would barely injure them, and they would heal before they stopped skidding through the mud. But they would be outside the city.

Naga were much more difficult to throw.

Remi transformed back to her Naga form and settled down on the bench beside Karl, while Lotus continued to make friends. They had time to kill, and she wasnʼt ready to go up to the room and pretend to sleep.

But she had forgotten that this city had tens of thousands of Naga in it.

None of them actually slept, they just rested when they didnʼt have things to do, conserving energy. So, the schedules of everything in the city were adapted to a population that was active at all hours of the day.

The markets were always open, and the staff just changed shifts four times a day. The same was true for most of the shops, and especially the taverns. One shift would finish drinking and go home, but another would arrive right after.

And that was what the crowd did a few minutes later, once the fighting outside stopped.

There were more customers waiting to come in when the waitress lifted the bar on the doors, but Karl noticed that while the wooden stalls of the vendors on the block were mostly smashed, the ones right in front of the tavern were intact, as if the fight had skipped the spot in front of their building.

The waitress sighed as she saw the extent of the damage, then shrugged.

”Well, at least they spared a few this time. Though they might just have not wanted to annoy the Totem.” She muttered as she welcomed the next group to their seats, along with two more staff members, who were quickly served a meal so they could get to work.

That also meant a whole new batch of people for Lotus to meet and serve sweets to.

The Nature Priestess was quickly becoming a hit with the patrons, and when they found out that she had completely stocked the pantry of the tavern with stew ingredients and good flour for bread, she became even more popular.

Karl realized that would normally be considered very generous payment for simply getting to use the kitchen, especially when she was giving the patrons all the pastries, but that was the way of the Dragon Clerics.

Anywhere that they stopped, they tended to leave behind food, and the better you treated them, the more food they would leave.

It could almost be considered a devious tactic to build goodwill and recruit followers, but devious and Lotus didnʼt belong in the same sentence. It was just impossible to see her as anything but flaky and devoted to her principles.

{I should go back to work for the night. I need to make preparations before we reach the temple.} Remi announced a few hours later, as a third group of patrons was beginning to replace the second.

The waitress who had been on shift when they arrived was long gone, but the one on duty quickly brought them the key to a room, and refused Karlʼs attempt to pay for his drinks.

”The Priestess has provided more than enough. Just, please take her with you. Someone taught her about cream liquors in coffee, and itʼs going to end badly.” The waitress whispered.

Lotus had mixed them in an ale mug, and there was no doubt that the waitress was absolutely correct.

”Lotus, time to go. Ophelia is ready for a nap.” Karl called.

”Five more minutes. Weʼve got an idea for better egg tarts.”

Well, that was hard to argue with.