"That doesn't matter!" The Commander waved his hand grandly. "We trust your cooking, Dot! Don't forget, we have a secret weapon!"
"A secret weapon, meow?" Dot paused, confused.
"Exactly." The Commander revealed a sly smile. "The Grimalkynes of the New World surely haven't tasted the flavors of the Old World, right?"
"You mean... I get it, meow!" Dot suddenly realized, urging them hurriedly, "Then hurry up and hand over all the spices you brought, meow!"
Whenever hunters went out on a hunt, they usually had to stay in the wild for months at a time. To make their lives a little better, hunters typically carried enough seasonings when they set out, and this time was no exception.
Under the curious gazes of the Grimalkynes, several hunters pulled out a few packages of various sizes from their backpacks and handed them to Sparky.
"Is this all there is, meow?" Weighing the spices in his paw, Dot looked a bit disappointed.
"Is it not enough?" The Commander was taken aback. "This should be enough for us to eat for a long time, right?"
They had been escorted to the open-air kitchen. The Grimalkyne chefs, who were working in full swing nearby, were somewhat surprised and a little afraid of their appearance. However, after Sparky explained a few things, they went back to their own tasks, only occasionally glancing at these strange-looking figures out of the corners of their eyes.
"For a Glavenus, I'm afraid it's not enough." Caly was smart; he pointed to the Grimalkyne chefs who were busy roasting meat nearby. "Look."
That piece of roast meat barely looked like meat anymore. It was slathered in enough seasoning to choke any human to death; just looking at it made the hunters' mouths feel dry.
But even so, these Grimalkyne chefs still felt it wasn't enough and kept adding more ingredients to the roast—this was the precious experience left over from the last Grand Gluttony Festival: the stronger the flavor, the better!
"...Uh, that kind of roast meat?" The Commander said dryly. "No matter how much I like meat, that's a bit..."
"It seems we have to ask these Grimalkynes for some," the Sword Master said in a low voice. "We can trade with them."
"I'll try, meow." Dot walked over to the roasting chefs.
After a burst of gibberish meowing, Dot walked back, followed by a Grimalkyne.
"I think I got through to them, meow. At first, they weren't very willing, but I said we could trade things they haven't seen before, meow." As he spoke, Dot rummaged through the items in his backpack.
"Ah, let me help too," Caly said hurriedly. "How about this string of glass beads? The Grimalkynes shouldn't have seen such beautiful glass before, right?"
Caly pulled out a glass bead bracelet from his waist pouch. It glittered brightly under the sunlight and looked quite pretty.
However, the other hunters looked at Caly with somewhat strange expressions.
"Isn't that the bracelet they were selling at the port before we left?" Vit, the last hunter of the four-man squad, said hesitantly. "This... isn't this a bit not good? I remember that merchant only sold it for 200z..."
Profiteer!
In that moment, everyone else, including the Palicoes, looked at Caly with eyes that said swindler—strongly condemning him!
"That's not what I mean!" Blushing red as a Baboon's butt, Caly hurriedly explained, "It's indeed cheap for us, but for the Grimalkynes... Ahhh! Don't look at me like that! I know I was wrong! I'm willing to give it to them, okay?! A gift! To make friends!! Dot!"
"Understood, I'll pass that on, meow." Suppressing his laughter, Dot turned his head and meowed to the Grimalkyne beside him.
For the Grimalkynes, who were still in a primitive tribal stage, this string of crystal-clear, sparkling glass beads was naturally a miraculous treasure. The Grimalkyne who had come with Dot to appraise the goods had his eyes wide and round from the moment Caly took out the bracelet, refusing to even blink, as if the treasure would vanish the moment he closed his eyes.
And when Dot said he was giving the glass bracelet to him, the Grimalkyne was so shocked he couldn't even meow.
There was no polite refusal; the Grimalkyne turned around and ran off without even taking the bracelet. A moment later, just as the group looked bewildered and wondered what to do, he ran back carrying a large bundle.
He opened the bundle, and it was full of collected and processed spices.
"Meow won't take it for free, meow! This is a gift for a friend, meow!" The Grimalkyne happily took the glass bracelet from Caly's hand and said righteously:
"Meow knows you want spices, meow!"
"Thank you, meow," Dot said with a complicated expression. "But this probably isn't enough, meow. Can we continue to trade, meow?"
"Hmm... Meow will ask the others for you, meow?" Holding the bracelet in his palms, the Grimalkyne thought for a moment and said.
It didn't take long for the Grimalkyne chefs to gather around, abandoning the meals they were busy preparing.
The hunters had too many good things on them—or rather, too many novel things. After all, although missions were dangerous, as long as they were completed without a carting rescue, the rewards hunters received often allowed them to live very affluent lives. It was high risk, high reward.
Their lives consisted of nothing but training and fighting, so many hunters often sought other hobbies. Some, like Caly, began learning from scholars to investigate nature; others enjoyed fishing or cooking; and many hunters had a hobby of collecting various small items, such as pendants, stickers, lucky charms, and so on.
Even the Commander was no exception.
And now, these hunters' collectibles became objects of curiosity for the Grimalkynes.
BBQ timers, pocket watches, water cups... generally speaking, the shinier something looked, the more popular it was with the Grimalkynes.
And the most popular item, which even the hunters hadn't expected, was—Asterion's shell.
These were the rewards Asterion had given to thank the Sword Master for his careful guidance. According to Asterion's idea, the Sword Master could use those shells to make himself a new set of armor or a new weapon, but the Sword Master didn't do that.
In his words, his current armor and weapons were sufficient. So, those shells were divided into several portions: some were given to the Tech Chief, some to the scholars, and some were given as souvenirs to people like Caly, who had barely managed to exchange sword techniques with the Glavenus and studied alongside him.
Of course, the Sword Master also kept a piece of shell for himself as a memento of this novel experience.
What the Grimalkynes discovered was the shell that Caly had polished and wore around his neck as a pendant. The Grimalkynes from foreign tribes naturally didn't recognize Asterion's pre-evolution shell, but fortunately, there were cats from the Glavenus Tribe among the crowd, so they instantly recognized the true priceless treasure.
The Old World was too far, but the Glavenus Boss was right here. To the Grimalkynes of the Glavenus Tribe, nothing was more precious than something related to the Glavenus Boss.
Completely failing to understand the concept of making a fortune in silence, the Glavenus Tribe Grimalkyne shouted loudly upon discovering the shell hanging around Caly's neck. With a fanatical expression, he educated the foreign Grimalkynes about the origin of this shell.
A shell belonging to the Glavenus Boss of the past, which would never appear again—an out-of-print item!!
It had extreme collection value, which naturally aroused the desires of the foreign Grimalkynes, causing Caly to be instantly drowned in a sea of cats. Every Grimalkyne wanted to trade for that shell.
The open-air kitchen came to a near standstill. The chaos among the cats naturally attracted Asterion's attention. Sparky had reported the arrest of the hunters to the Old Shaman immediately, and the Old Shaman had explained the situation to Asterion.
To be honest, when he learned that the hunters claimed they came to participate in the festival and offer him a grand meal, Asterion almost couldn't hold it together. Especially when he saw the group of Grimalkynes below using spears to fork the hunters into the open-air kitchen, Asterion laughed out loud directly.
He had recognized the Commander and the Sword Master, which made it even funnier—a Rajang Cat Meal? That was interesting.
Asterion was already looking forward to it.
The commotion in the open-air kitchen naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Old Shaman. He waved his cane and told a young cat to go down and see what was happening, so as not to delay the offering of the feast to the Glavenus Boss.
Not long after, a member of the Glavenus Boss Guard brought a young Grimalkyne up. The Grimalkyne was hugging his chest nervously, seeming to be wrapping something tightly.
"This is my treasure, meow! Mine!!" he shouted excitedly as soon as he came up. "Meow want to offer it to the Glavenus Boss, meow! Meow won't give it to you, meow!!"
"Quiet!" The Old Shaman banged his cane on the ground twice and said grumpily, "No one wants to steal your treasure, meow! Don't make a racket in front of the Glavenus Boss!"
"I know, meow!!" The young Grimalkyne immediately covered his mouth. As he moved, Asterion saw exactly what he was hugging so tightly—a string of glass beads?
"Roar." (What is going on down there?)
The Old Shaman relayed the question verbatim, and the young Grimalkyne quickly explained what had happened below, and how he had exchanged for this beautiful treasure... well, not exchanged! It was a gift given between friends!
"I want to offer it to the Glavenus Boss, meow!!" Raising his head, the Grimalkyne looked at Asterion with anticipation. "Only a dragon as beautiful as the Boss deserves it, meow!!"
Asterion: "..."
Why do I deserve a string of glass beads?
He had already recognized what it was—a cheap industrial product—but to the Grimalkynes of the New World, it was rare. Uh, what was the difference between this and scamming African chieftains out of their gold with glass beads?
Come to think of it, the Wildspire Waste protectors were quite dark; at least their appearance was very tribal.
Ahem! Anyway, the hunters used the glass bracelet to trade for spices from the Grimalkyne, so the value was somewhat equal; no one lost out.
As long as his own cats weren't scammed.
"Roar!" (I accept.)
With a roar from Asterion, the Old Shaman stepped forward and took the glass bracelet from the young Grimalkyne's hands. Immediately after, Asterion turned his body sideways. Under his active control, a silver-grey blade scale trembled and disconnected from the rest, falling in front of the young Grimalkyne.
"Roar roar!" (This is your reward. Go.)
"Th-This is from the Glavenus Boss to Can, meow?!" Without needing the Old Shaman to translate, the young Grimalkyne shouted excitedly. His name was quite unique: Can.
The whole cat pounced on it directly. Asterion's scale was fully half the size of the Grimalkyne's body and glinted with a cold light; Can had to carefully flip it over to avoid injuring himself.
"Thank you, Glavenus Boss, meow!! Can will work hard, meow!!"
If the blade scale weren't so huge, Can would have wanted to carry the treasure and do ten backflips on the spot.
But this time, even the Old Shaman didn't scold him for lacking composure. The surrounding Grimalkynes stared at Can with expressions of envy and jealousy, wishing they were the ones holding Asterion's scale right now—even the Old Shaman felt the same.
"Damn it, meow! Can's luck is so good, meow!"
"Why didn't I see it first, meow..."
Unlike in the past, the evolved Asterion's shell and blade scales did not fall off naturally. Therefore, even if the Grimalkynes responsible for cleaning the nest wanted to collect things dropped from the Glavenus Boss, they couldn't find any.
It was a scarce item.
"Hey! Can! I'll trade my spear with you, meow!!" a member of the Glavenus Boss Guard couldn't help but call out. "Stop licking the Glavenus Boss's scale with your tongue, meow!!"
"No way, meow! This is my treasure!! Meow won't give it to anyone!!" Rejecting the trade request without hesitation, Can quickly licked the surface of the scale twice more as if demonstrating, wearing an expression of pure enjoyment.
"Damn it! That's too evil, Can, meow!!"
"He just wants to see us envy him, meow!!"
"..."
Amidst a wave of indignant meowing, Asterion noticed the Grimalkynes' reaction and nodded with satisfaction. This was exactly the effect he wanted.
It was just like buying a horse skeleton for a thousand gold. As the first Grimalkyne in the Glavenus Tribe to receive a scale bestowed by the Glavenus Boss, Can had struck gold. In the future, he might even be able to talk his way into the Glavenus Boss Guard.
And he would inevitably become the subject of discussion or envy among the other Grimalkynes. From now on, the Grimalkynes would definitely work desperately or research more delicious food to win Asterion's favor, making his life even more comfortable.
Parting with a single scale to exchange for a wonderful life—Asterion's plan was simple.
It would also cultivate the Grimalkynes' loyalty—killing multiple birds with one stone.
"Roar!" (Dismissed. Continue the festival.)
Lying back down on the ground, the Old Shaman faithfully conveyed Asterion's order. Unlike last year, this year's Grand Gluttony Festival would be celebrated for three days, and today was only the second day.
This was no longer just Asterion's festival; the Grimalkynes no longer had worries about food shortages, and each of them was eating with an open belly.
After being busy for so many days, the foreign Grimalkyne tribes, who had originally only come to help by invitation, had already sprouted the idea of joining the Glavenus Tribe. They also wanted inexhaustible food, and to be able to pray to the Glavenus Boss for protection when they encountered danger.
————
Supporting me on Pa-treon to gain early access to advanced chapters and enjoy expedited updates. Your support is greatly appreciated.
pat-reon .c-om/Dragonhair
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)