Absolute Beast Dominion

"Alright, I may have not informed you previously, but there's a necessary requirement to be a part of my territory. And that is, every joining individual must sign a mana contract that prevents them from leaking information about the territory," Leo continued.

"I hope everybody understands why that is necessary and signs it of their own will."

Everybody nodded.

"We understand and are ready to sign it," Gerald responded as the spokesperson of the Kendru people. It seemed that after James and Sera, he was the most listened-to person among them.

The 3 women from the feather shop were already ready since Manager Oman had strictly told them to follow every order Leo gave.

The only ones who were still nervous and scared were the young maids. Though they had already become accustomed to the territory within the month's duration, they were not used to being around leaders like Leo, Lily, and Kaelion, as their presence alone was enough to suppress them.

So they could only nod at Leo's words because, in the end, they had been thrown away by their home city and were at the mercy of his will.

With that, Leo started calling every individual one by one for the mana contract signing because he needed to do it personally.

After a while, when everybody had signed them, James and Sera also stood up.

"Brother James, you both don't need to do it. We have more than enough trust in you both," Leo said.

Lily also spoke in favor of Leo's words, but James vehemently shook his head.

"Since it's a necessary requirement, why should we be exempted from it? Let us sign it too."

"It's really not necessary..."

"It is."

"Alright," Leo finally agreed.

Having lived a long life, James knew that even a blood brother was not trustworthy in the later stages, so a sworn brother was an even farther case. And he didn't want any sort of gaps left between him and Leo that might produce a rift due to the fragile thread of something like trust. Having been betrayed himself, he knew better. Thus, his insistence.

With that done, the meeting came to an end, and the elves started to escort the new people to their new houses, whereas Leo and Lily personally led James and Sera to their new house that the elves had been told to build on the plateau.

"Leo, your territory really feels great. It's warm even in this snowfall..." James and Sera tried to look around, but due to the dark night, they couldn't see much.

"Have you established your territory on some elevated ground?" James asked after he felt that he was climbing uphill.

"Yes, sort of..." Leo muttered. When the time came, everybody would naturally know about Howl.

"That's a great choice. It will give you an advantageous position in defense. I bet you have already successfully defended your territory in that compulsory bounty mission."

Leo nodded.

At that time, Leo's eyes caught a movement in one of the watchtowers.

Huh? Automated ladders? No, wait, a pulley system made of wood and vines? Leo seemed to have missed it, but every watchtower had these.

A system through which the climber could simply rotate a pulley with his hand, and a platform would rise up to the place where they were supposed to be stationed.

Nice! They did something! Now it's finally time for me to give them some golems to work with! Leo had been wanting automated golems for a long time, but he couldn't get personal time to research them, nor did he have the expertise to use the Earthpulse Heartcores as batteries like the tree behemoth did. So he had been waiting for an opportune moment so that he could give this work to the tech- and smith-oriented gnomes that were the majority.

As James and Sera were led inside the plateau by a staircase, loud footsteps started to approach them.

James was immediately alerted and shielded Sera while getting ready to summon his beast.

"Relax, Brother James. He is our secret domesticated beast of the territory," Leo said as Bigfoot appeared through the clearing.

Bigfoot himself had noticed a new presence in the territory and had come to check on it.

Seeing Bigfoot's hulking 3-meter frame, which was obviously stronger than James, he immediately started to evaluate it.

"I think it will be difficult to even take him on with Jbear and Thundercoil..." James muttered.

Bigfoot evaluated James back.

"Gugu... we-ak... gu." Bigfoot muttered before going back.

James was taken aback, not because he was called weak, but because it was the 2nd time he had seen a beast speak. The first was Niri, which was also the most shocking with her human appearance, and now this big guy.

"Leo, are you sure you have only been away for 5 months?" he finally asked.

Leo simply laughed as they continued to walk and show James and Sera their new house.

Sera's eyes shone at how good it looked. It was a two-storey building like most of the houses, but the woodwork on the walls and pillars was marvellous. She excitedly checked the interiors of the house, and after Leo brought out all their belongings from his spiritual space, they said goodnight and departed to their own houses to rest.

The next morning...

Everybody was sitting in a general area for breakfast, and James was sitting with a proud expression on his face as he looked around at everybody's faces filled with shock.

Because even when Lily had told Sera she should rest, Sera had proceeded to help with the cooking, and the food that came out was nothing but pure bliss to eat. Even Lily had to agree that her best cooking was no match for what Sera had made just now.

"Wow, sister, did you hone your skills more after we were gone?" She asked

Sera had a pleased smile on her face at all the compliments.

"This is the best food I have eaten as far as I can recall..." Even Kaelion couldn't help but praise.

James nodded.

"Her cooking skills skyrocketed after you both left the city. Things were so bad that many people started to try and persuade us to leave the Lord's position and continue the restaurant business. Hahaha."

At that moment, both Leo and Lily had the same thought.

Did she awaken a cooking-related talent?

But her talent could be checked later. Right now, Leo and Lily needed to go to Tarun's Villa to receive their rewards.

They had just received a message saying that Tarun would be available till afternoon, after which they would need to wait another 2 days for the next chance of meeting.

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