The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1446 Strange Guests

When they got to the Mayorʼs house, the garden was set up for a party, and the doors were open to welcome them into the main ballroom directly from the entrance.

The dragons were in party mode, and the mood shifted as quickly as the band could start a new song.

Then, more Nobles from the city began to arrive, having gotten word of the event and hastily prepared to come meet with the Nobles from the Capital.

It was an excellent time to build alliances, and that left Karl and Dana to mostly just mind their business and answer a few questions about the Darklight Host and their crafting capabilities.

The fact that they had a Mythic Rank blue dragon among their crafting team surprised very few.

The Guild was much more famous here than most other places, as Gathuzan was directly across the straits from Cyhosasa, and the dragon were long-lived.

Most of them had flown over the Supreme Ladyʼs territory on their way to Kopji or Nazilbar, which were both largely dragon populated nations.

”Guild Leader, did the Prince not come with you today? I had heard that he was in town?” One of the younger dragons asked, excitement in her eyes that told Dana her interest in his interest was very personal.

”Unfortunately, he had some business to take care of tonight, so he had to retire early. Iʼm afraid that our plans to continue to hunt leftover monsters from the invasion has generated extra paperwork for him.” Karl explained.

The girl nodded dejectedly, then realized that this might still be an opportunity. ”Will he be returning to join your journey?”

With the attempt on the Princeʼs life, Karl wasnʼt sure if he should answer that honestly. But Rae did still owe that assassin for escaping from her.

”Yes, I believe that he will be staying with us as we cross the country.”

She was about to speak when Karl crushed her dreams. ”However, the group is all Mythic Rank combatants, with a few Totem Rank assistants. With everyone flying in to attack, weʼre not bringing any support staff.

Well, none below Totem Rank, as we have some senior cooking staff with us.” Totem Ranked cooks were a relatively normal thing among the dragons. They might be from a lesser dragon species, or they might just be obsessed with their craft. So, they would grow old and powerful, but keep a humble profession.

Dragons slowly flooded into the gardens of the Mayorʼs house, and staff came around to serve a standing meal, which Karl found curious.

He had thought it would be snacks, like most parties, but they brought out small entrées, bowls of soup, and other hearty options along with the sweets, pastries and savoury snacks.

It was a curious thing, but far less stressful for the staff than trying to make a full sit down meal for so many distinguished guests on short notice.

Other than the unfortunate soul that had to plate so many dishes.

Karl idly scanned the crowd as he chatted, and noticed a few who seemed out of place.

They were dressed as well as any of the other Nobles, but nobody was really speaking to them, even when they were standing in a group, and their attention was on the Palace Guard members more than the Nobles.

It was as if they were visitors from the Capital and didnʼt know anyone here, but they werenʼt Mythic Ranked, so they hadnʼt been at the battle with Karlʼs

group.

However, they werenʼt being kicked out or snubbed, so they should be somewhat important, just not from Gathunbu.

Karl wasnʼt the only one that noticed their presence, but the Palace Guards werenʼt going to take action when they knew that the Prince was already somewhere safe.

Instead, they acted as if they were sent to keep an eye on Karl, which would be a perfectly normal thing to do if he was a guest of the Crown.

[Theyʼre definitely sending System messages to someone. They keep blanking out.] Rae noted eagerly a few minutes after Karl had noticed the oddity.

[They could be informants from the family of some of the Elder Dragons. I suppose thatʼs normal enough given the items we sold today. But Iʼm thinking what youʼre thinking.]

[That they are here to verify the condition of the Prince.] Rae agreed.

And now that he was missing, safely tucked away in the Tiny World, nobody could confirm whether he was injured in the attack or not.

In hushed corners of the party, the same questions were being asked.

”How did the Prince look this afternoon while everyone was shopping?”

”Did anyone see where he went?”

”Who was with him the last time you saw him?”

”What did he buy from the Darklight Host.”

Individually, every one of those questions was perfectly reasonable, and followed a lot of the conversations. After all, everyone had new items to show off, and they were happy to talk about them.

It was who was asking and the fact that they were so repeatedly focused on the Prince, but never twice in the same personʼs immediate vicinity, that caught Karl and the Palace Guardʼs attention.

Whoever had sent them had picked poor associates.

Either that, or they were all sent by different people, and only the abundance

of them made it so suspicious.

Karl stopped a server and collected small bowls of soup for everyone around him, then led them to seats near a hedgerow.

”I must say, the dragons really know how to socialize. This liquor is pretty good, but the idea about being able to just grab your favourite dish multiple times makes dinner much more fun.” He joked.

”Donʼt let Lotus know, or she will find a way to have nothing but cake for

dinner Dana agreed.

”You know, there are forms of low sugar savoury baked goods available as well. We keep them for the younger dragons, mostly. You know how it is, they just got out of school, and theyʼre on their own for the first time, so they havenʼt realized that nobody is looking out for their health yet.” One of the older Shadow Dragons joked.

”The great horizontal growth spurt of their first appointment.”