Early morning and we are already on the hill where Helen's pets were waiting for us. She would be one of those bug catcher trainers you meet right after a city, three rattazas, two beescrews, and one high-level scyssors park-mons that would make you curse what the heck with that lineup. Except they would all go for the rival trainer and eat him up.

In hindsight, I should've made a carriage for Mittens to pull. Or...

"Let's get back in town. I want a carriage." I tell the girls. "Let's buy one."

Marcy gives her two cents, "A horse-drawn carriage? It would be nice to travel with some comfort after all. But it would be a bother to take care of horses."

"Who said anything about horses? It will run on monster power. C'mon it will be fun."

Convinced, I left the girls and bugs behind and returned to town. I know a place in the merchant ward that deals in wagons and carriages. I want a large wagon that is closed. I'd prefer an insulated one, but I can insulate it later.

"Hey, that guy is the immortal loincloth maniac!" Someone shouts when I dash in a rather empty street. That nickname! Even the guild personnel has stopped using it. I guess.

I was able to buy a covered wagon for 4 gold coins. The guy said it half as a joke, but I called his bluff and the deal was settled. When he asked me about the horses I just picked up the 4-horses harness stick and pulled it out of town.

Back at the hill, we load everyone on the wagon. Even mittens can fit inside. There is a slight problem as his butt was coming out from the rear and his head from the front, but it is fine.

"Mittens, if we meet any humans on the road, stay very quiet!" I grumble to him in the monster language.

"Tic tic?" It asks.

"No, you can't eat the humans! Eating humans is bad!" Helen scolds the mantis. I think that staying apart these few days lowered his loyalty.

I wrapped the harnesses meant for horses over my shoulders and dragged the wagon forward on the road. We met a few puzzled gazes from the farmers while on a path that goes around the fields following the walls to merge into the main road going south.

We didn't meet anyone during the morning. When we stopped by noon, Mittens complained.

"Tic tic!"

"You want to go out hunting?" Helen asks to confirm.

"I guess it is too boring for him to stand still all this time." And for a praying mantis, even a giant one, having a problem standing still is very weird.

"Isn't it the mana level of the road?" Zahariel suggests.

"Now that you mentioned, there is something like that, isn't it?"

I probably can't feel it because of the [Humanization] skill and the rats and bees are too low ranked to be affected. But high-rank monsters really feel uncomfortable in the places where human towns and roads are. It is not enough to hurt them, but they get uneasy and would rather avoid getting near. Something about humanity only surviving by fleeing and settling places with low mana. I hope Beelzebub dungeon doesn't raise the mana level of Colchester too much.

Around us is a plain terrain, with very few trees. The tall dry grass looks very flammable, like an African savanna. It will be hard to walk in it.

"Let's leave the wagon here parked by the side of the road and take Mittens hunting," Zahariel suggests.

Marcy thinks a little and says, "I think I will stay behind with Zahariel and watch the wagon. It would be bad if someone came and steal our stuff."

"Why don't we all go together? I can always store the wagon in the item box."

Leaving luggage behind when I have lots of free room in the item box? What is going on here? It is almost like Marcy and Zahariel wanted some time to talk alone... I'll try something later to confirm it.

I stow the wagon in storage and we start talking in the wilderness. Mittens unfold its wings and take to the skies. After a few minutes, Helen gives a warning.

"Mittens found some prey west of our location. Let's go there."

We accelerate through the tall grass, and after a few minutes, we hear the sound of fire. A wide wall of smoke is rising ahead of us. Right after we stop running we hear the creaking and cracking of the grass burning.

I issue quick commands, "Everyone, huddle together. Helen, have the bees fly the highest they can above us. Get Emory and all the rats inside your coat. How are Mittens?"

"He is fighting, but his HP is good. He seems to be inside that fire." She answers and waves at the bees to send them away.

"Is it a boy?" I ask with amusement.

"Yes, girl mantis have problems flying. Their butts are too large." Maybe the mantis we turned over to the guild was Mitten's sister.

Marcy calms Helen, "Don't worry, blood mantis are a fire-resistant species."

"Is everyone ready?" I check that the entire party is right next to me. I make the girls crouch and stand right next to them.

"Helen, shoot a low powered burst fireball mixed with wind magic to detonate right behind me. Zahariel, ready the healing magic. Synch your fireball to go right before I finish my chant." I begin chanting my area freezing spell, {frozen wonderland}.

Right before I say the last word of the chant, Helen's fireball explodes right behind me. I focus my concentration on the spell and after the flame spreads all around us comes the secondary impact of wind admixture that spreads the burning grass blades that were set loose by the explosion and are burning fast. The result is a lot of sparks and ashes being tossed away from us.

"Frozen Wonderland!" My spell finishes, and freezes everything in an area around us, killing any fire or embers that were in the area. I cancel the spell immediately after but the result is an area with a radius of about 30 feet where nothing flammable was left.

There was some damage dealt with our party, but most of it was soaked by my sacrifice aura. The rats were unaffected because of Helen's [Familiar Contract] skill. When they are inside her clothes or her bag they are considered part of her being and cannot be individually affected by AOE effects. Single target attacks and spells like that frog's tongue still can hit them. I had the bees fly out of range because they are not familiars but subordinates to her [Queen Bee] title.

The wind is pushing the fire to the side, to the north. And not straight at us, my biggest concern. But it is burning fast. Out in the already burned area, there are some big creatures fighting. One of them is slender and long, probably Mittens.

"How are Mittens doing? Call him back here if he is too wounded," I ask Helen.

"It is safer to bring him here. Mittens, come back!" Helen yells.

One of the creatures on the ground jumps and grabs one of Mitten's legs, pulling him down. Time to act. I use [Instant Movement] to accelerate forward and run into the wall of burning grass. I got a little singed, but nothing to worry about. On the other side, I see Mittens struggling to get free from a big red gorilla that is pinning him down with both fists. These gorillas have black bodies with a red fur covering their backs, scalp and the upper side of their arms like a coat. Small tongues of flame appear and lick this red coat at random.

The others are closing fast on Mitten's location. It will be bad for him if they bunch and clobber the mantis.

My dash placed the mantis inside the range of the sacrifice aura. "{Proxy} Designate Mittens." The gorillas start hitting Mittens, but I am taking over two-thirds of the damage. I am amazed at how strong they are! Their rearguard arrives and surrounds Mittens, nicely in the range of a cone-shaped {Stunning Shout}. I let my roar cover the crackling noise of the burning grass. "Mittens, get out of there and back to Helen's location!" I shout in the monster language.

Mittens take off after beheading two stunned gorillas and flies over me. "Tic!" it thanks me. I'm beginning to understand mantis dialect. Or is it insect dialect?

I use the time to arm myself. Horn spear and living shield. "Come to me, monkeys! I'll show you a true warrior!"

The gorillas recover from the stun and look at me. They seem ferocious. Now that I can measure them, the big one is over ten feet tall. They run to my location and right before they enter my spear range they bow down and prostate.

"What the?" I'm surprised.

I lower my spear, but the gorillas don't move. Only the occasional tongue of flame flickers and dances on their red pelts.

One of them, the big one that grabbed Mittens speaks. "Ook! Great monkey leader! We the survivors of the Fire Fist tribe pledge loyalty to you!" It is true. I have a title of monkey leadership.

Now that the combat has stopped, I see other smaller red-furred gorillas coming from behind a tree. And the ones in front of me, they are mostly female. The big one has several old scars on his body.

I turn a little to shout at the people behind me "Everything is fine, they are friendly." Back to addressing these monsters, "What happened? Tell me your tale, Fire Fist tribe."

"Ook! Several suns ago, a troll attacked our tribe and slaughtered everyone! We tried to burn it, but the troll just grew back the burnt parts. It killed and killed and killed. I took the women and the children and fled our lands. We were walking and traveling and lost in the sea of grass."

"And then the mantis attacked you."

"Yes. But we are defeated. Now we pledge ourselves to your tribe. Please protect our children!" The timid flame gorilla children come behind their elders and also prostate themselves.

"Stand tall and tell me your name," I order the leading gorilla.

"I am Kochuraerc, warrior of the Flame Fist." He executes my command without hesitation. Scratch those ten feet. I'm looking at the gorilla's belly button. But I am in human form. I might get some weird complex if I recruit monsters way bigger than me.

"Kochuraerc, do you hate all trolls?"

"All trolls? I don't understand, lord!"

"Are trolls your natural enemy? Are you unable to live with a troll as an ally?"

"The trolls burn and are weak. They fear our fire might. But not that one. He was unburnt."

"You did not answer. If your new lord has a troll friend, will you be friends with that troll?"

"If my lord so commands." There is some shuffling among the adult females. Some of them disliked the proposition.

"I do not know of the unburnt troll that attacked your tribe. But I know of another troll that does not fear flame. I know of another troll that mastered flame."

"A troll that mastered flame!"

"And he will master you. I will make a deal with you, Kochuraerc. Walk with my group in peace. Tomorrow morning, you and the burning troll will spar not to the death. If you lose, you and your tribe will submit to the burning troll."

"And what if I win?"

"Then the burning troll will submit to you." I took a good look at the strength of these monkeys. Kochuraerc is a solid upper C-rank, maybe B. I bet their monster race is tier 3. The females are upper D to lower C. The children are as strong as a burly monkey but they are also on fire, so lower D for now.

"I accept that challenge. I will fight your burning troll subordinate."

"You are mistaken. The burning troll is me. Tomorrow we fight. I am Grendel the troll, but in this form, you will call me Beowulf. Engrave this name in your minds!"

"I shall see it with my bare eyes, human." Kochuraerc is suspicious.

"What is the custom of your tribe to deal with the dead?" I am interested in the pelts but I must ask. The other monkeys did not care when we collected the bodies, they even ate their own kin.

"Your subordinate blood red mantis killed them. The bodies belong to you."

"I will accept them. The dead will live on with me when I wear their pelts. I shall make their strength mine and all my enemies will fear the red pelt of the flame gorilla." I don't even know if this species is called flame gorilla. But it never stopped me from naming stuff my own way before. I order the gorillas to gather their dead and return to where the party is.

"Beowulf, what just happened?" Marcy has a bit of concern in her voice. The kind of concern when you get a kid doing mischief.

"I recruited more monsters to our crew. This is Kochuraerc of the Flame Fist tribe. Tomorrow he and Grendel will spar, and if Grendel wins they will join me. How is mittens doing?"

"We healed him. He is healthy and content," Helen replies.

"Good." I address the blood mantis, "Mittens. I will take the pelt and pemadra of your kills for myself, and you can eat their bodies. But don't go out to fight on your own. We are stronger if we fight together. Do you understand?"

"Tic, acceptable. A deal, tic. Rescue tic thanks." My understanding of blood mantis dialect has improved. Good.

Zahariel floats a bit up in the air and gives his counsel, "We should get out of this dry grass before the wind changes and the fire reaches us."

They bring four bodies to me and I just store them in the item box. Everyone leaves the grass and get back on the road.

"The wagon is flammable, so we are walking for the rest of the day. Helen, keep a bee ahead of us to scout for humans coming the other way. We will need to hide all the monsters away from the road if humans come. I wish I had an invisibility spell."

Despite my worries, the rest of the day went without a problem. At night we left the road and went into a river valley about ten minutes away from the road. We found a rocky area where everyone could get a place to rest. I shared food from the storage with the monkeys, but they were capable of foraging, so in the end, they traded some weird fruit for the human food.

I skinned the bodies and stored the pelts and pemadras. Mittens was able to feast on one of the bodies. He was especially adamant in having what was left of the blood too. The others will be left for the next days.

The wagon came out of storage in a place next to a cliff. I set the cushion for Emory and the rats under the wagon and the bees settled on the underside. I think they want to make their hive there. I should get more wagons. Zahariel's bedroll was set next to the wagon.

This is my last night as Beowulf. The girls and I are taking the inside of the wagon for ourselves.