Late into the night, Karl and Dana returned to the Bunga Guild House, where the Gargoyles and the Bunny Maids welcomed them back with enthusiasm.
Karl got the impression that they were bored without guests.
He wasn’t sure if a Gargoyle could actually get bored, but he’d never put one anywhere that didn’t get frequent traffic. Even the ones in the Alliance house had rapidly spread to the whole house from the basement, and they had Lotus and the Lala bunnies to keep them constant company.
Or Thor. They loved to pile on the behemoth when he was relaxing on the sofa.
While the gargoyles just seemed like they had been bored, Karl got the impression that the bunnies viewed this level of even temporary isolation as a form of sensory deprivation torture on the level of locking Lotus in a concrete room with no windows.
They even went so far as to put the sheets by the fireplace to warm, so that Karl and Dana didn’t get into a cold bed on a cool night.
Not that it would have mattered, as both of them were in fully furred forms at the moment.
But it was the thought that counted.
[You’re going to need to gather Guild Members to the Guild House, or at least a few clerics or something. The staff is lonely.] Karl warned Orthos before taking Dana to bed.
[Why did you make staff that needs constant companionship?] The Bronze Dragon replied.
[They’re cute.]
Karl could almost hear the dragon sigh as he received that message, but a few seconds later, he responded. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
[I will arrange for a few of the Beast God Temple’s faithful to come and repopulate this branch of the Darklight Host. The residents of Bunga are not yet suitable. Perhaps in the next generation, they will be. But not now.]
That was good enough for Karl. They had started to bring the system back online on this continent, and that was one step closer to finding out why it wasn’t working properly.
The theory that it was someone from the Immortal Realm who didn’t know about the System seemed to be the most likely scenario. But until they actually found the source, Karl wouldn’t rule anything out.
Including that it was the Giants starting shit again.
They had been a giant pain in his ass all through the early Ranks in the Golden Dragon Nation, and he knew that their Titan God Clerics had been working since before recorded history to deactivate the System.
Or at least keep it for themselves.
Logically, it might also be both. An Immortal Rank Giant.
That wasn’t something that Karl could deal with, even with the multitude of tricks that he had at his disposal. But if an Immortal Giant did try to enter this world, it would alert Matilda immediately, and she could take care of it.
That brought up another thought.
Had the old Chaos Dragon sent them here as bait?
If they were bait, there was a greater than zero chance that Cara would get to punch someone in the face, and that was more than enough reason for the badger and dragon to coordinate to arrange the whole trip.
Cara was conveniently napping, so he couldn’t get her reaction to that thought, but Hawk wouldn’t put it past them.
Tian was sure that his sister wouldn’t lie to them. But if you never asked, did it really count as lying? Cara would be happy to tell them if being bait to pick a fight was her plan from the start.
Then he jumped out the window and activated [Avatar] along with a full set of buffs over the group.
Orthos joined them in the sky as Hawk appeared in the air by Karl’s side, with Cara riding on his back.
The bird immediately gained altitude, racing upward like a shooting star in reverse.
{That Hawk of yours is insanely fast.} Orthos commended.
{He shouldn’t have too many troubles dealing with rogue dragons. I hope.
What do we have? Have you gotten a report yet?} Karl asked.
{One rogue Sand Dragon Matriarch and her clutch. I’m afraid that we will have to let you deal with the Matriarch today. She’s near the peak of Totem Rank, so you’ve got the best chance of settling her aggression before the city is damaged.
You don’t need to kill her if she wants to run away.
Once the cult is gone and the spell they’ve cast over the dragons fades, their aggression will fade as well.}
Well, that was interesting.
Perhaps the dragons weren’t all going feral on their own. If there were dragonkin cults casting spells to make them more aggressive, the problem might be more easily solved than expected.
After all, they had a Cara.
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