Micky had purchased a land lizard mount for Mags and generally whoever for a few chips. Land lizards were generally desert creatures though Micky had picked up the more expensive forest variant. Not because it was better (Though it was for him) but it was more expensive because it was rarer, with there being many desert variants. The biggest problem for Micky was to actually get Mags on the thing. Mags wasn’t dumb per say, but she simply did not get the concept of riding it. At first she complained about having to carry it, then she was resigned. She thrust herself forward into its mouth. Micky had to order her to a stop quick before she hurt herself. The forest variant had smaller teeth than the desert or aquatic variations but they also had smaller shaper ones and all variants had extremely deadly [Disease] debuffs to their bites. Not as bad as humans ironically…

Finally after he was able to get over the connection “Do as I do” basically, she figured it out. Luckily he didn’t actually need to teach her how to direct the creature either. Unfortunately both the new beasts were already [Tamed] so he couldn’t add them to his own count. Which was another thing.

Micky felt like he was at a midsummer’s dance festival, clammy hands and all. At first he sent out the connection, now stronger and more… everything after his recent additions. This was quickly rejected, a first for a monster. However, when the quilin realized what he was doing she was hesitant when he reestablished the connection. The connection simply sat there not doing anything for some time as both parties didn’t know what to do about it. The quilin didn’t know if she wanted this, but she didn’t have any better partners in the immediate surroundings. Meanwhile Micky was nervous about her even accepting someone as weak and poor as him. His palms were sweaty and he had butterflies in his stomach. Eventually she decided to accept the [Bond], it wasn’t like she had any better options. At least until something better came along and she could jump ship to someone richer, more powerful, and more noble then him.

Finally. The connection was there… and she laughed at him. Micky almost fell on his ass in surprise. “What, never heard a [Bond] before?” asked the quilin. “Not surprising if that’s the level of things you’ve ever [Bond]ed with.” sneered the quilin.

Mags growled. While the connection between Micky’s other [Tamed] was faint, it didn’t take a genius to figure out the quilin was insulting her… who knew whether that was good or bad for mags…

Micky, seeing where this was going and not wanting to literally be in the middle of it, decided to allow them to have at each other and directly linked them. He didn’t need the voices of two catty female monsters in his head… yeah…

As for bonding the lizard? Probably the most easy [Bond] he’s ever done. He kept getting feelings of wanting to eat so much that it was full for a week and bathing in the sun. However, it knew its place in the world and would farry people as necessary, or cargo. This worked for Micky, as he would need it to do both in the meantime.

Now that Micky had done all that he wanted to, and still hadn’t been contacted about his people he simply walked back to the gate. Ironically he was back here now by choice…

He talked to several of the people here. Mostly it was hunters that ended up trapped. They would spend time in the arenas until they paid their way and their stuff was mostly returned to them. On the other hand, the young masters were having decidedly more trouble. Some of them even having impressive backgrounds like being the xx of noble title here, or the last heir of the line of somebody and now that there were no other claimants xx would be able take everything from them…

There was a lot here for an author to right about, so much potential… But none of that really interested Micky. He was more interested in other things. Finally, near sunset, the guards contacted him that the riders were closing in. They had actually been spotted two days ago with Micky, so they knew all about the whole adventure, but the monsters didn’t really interact much with the world outside of their wall. It was literally a monster eat monster world out there. This was one of the reasons there were a large number of gates at regular intervals that Micky hadn’t even noticed. This was the main, races entrance. The others were used by the monsters so that they could avoid coming out near powerful monsters that had just exited the relatively safe amiability of the walls.

What the guards told Micky however, pissed him off to no end. Apparently they had slowed down long before reaching the walls, and now they were simply slowly trotting towards them. They had seen the bandit tracks and they knew that they were closing in on Micky’s. Yet they had purposefully slowed down. Well now, somebody was going to have a bad end to the rest of the day…

Finally the contingent of heavily armed knights reached the walls. Cataphracts by the looks of it, at least in the lead. Probably one of the few valuable soldiers at his command. They were still a mish mash of mixed units, however it was clear it was a mish mash of highly trained smaller units thrust together to artificially inflate their numbers. Welp, their Micky’s now, at least if they want to live slightly longer lives.

Micky stood by the gates to meet them as they rode up. The commander at the lead, but decidedly not the spearhead held a big sneer on his face. Micky stepped forward ahead of Mags who herself was growling, feeling Micky’s dissatisfaction over the connection.

“And why did it take you so long, commander? Hell, why were light cavalry not sent in the first place. What the hell were you ‘protection’ doing even?!” Micky stated as his voice cracked. At that moment he felt like he had channeled a small amount of the dissatisfied young master from the guardhouse building… he didn’t like it. It made him feel like a petulant child…

“You are no longer in charge, centurion. Now, I’m in charge of this outfit. You where covorting with monsters I see, it all makes sense now. Now that you’re out of the way I will surely be promoted and...”

Micky didn’t bother to hear the rest. He stepped through the man's inseam, placing his foot behind the man’s heel. Then, as the man reached for his sword Micky placed his hand on the man’s pammel. Finally, with his other hand he thrust it into his neck, toppling him. Not done Micky palmed a knife into the axillary artery, not that Micky knew the name of the thing. The man was on the ground bleeding out in a moment to fast for the other soldiers to react.

“Who is next in command?” Micky asked. Still holding the bloody knife and now his hair, which had grown a bit in length since he wasn’t cutting as often, was flopped all around his face. He looked like and angry baby badger with its hackles up.

A man stepped forward with a board look. He was a professional soldier and this wasn’t the first time he had seen this kind of thing, it wasn’t even the last time he would see this exact scene and scenario play out. At least so long as he lived. Though as heavy cavalry he had a good chance of that, at least better than the common soldiers. “I am.” The man stated plainly and evenly.

“And do you have a problem with my command?” Asked Micky in a challenging manor.

The man hesitated for a moment. Not over his response, but on whether it would be scene as an aggressive action if he went over there and pet the kids head. He just looked so cute, but he knew better than to approach a baby wild animal. The soldier was tempted to look around for the momma criter, but he controlled himself. “No sir, I don’t have a problem at all.” Stated the soldier.

*Cough* “Are you going to waste em’ like that or...” asked the guard. He had to admit he enjoyed the little farce, but it would be a shame to let the human [Dead] right at the gates when they could get so much more out of him in the arena.

“Nah, you can have him. However, I want the Empirio boy in exchange and he lives no more than a week.” Said Micky.

“No worries, we know how to take care of his kind. He won’t be coming back. You would be surprised how common this kind of thing is for us. Anywho, yeah, you can have the Empirio kid, that should be fine.” The guard said as he handed Micky the command token from the commander. Or well Micky looted it and gave it to the guard to inspect before it was handed back. Micky then looted the man in full view of his troops in one last humiliation.

Micky had already used up his red chips in exchange for the two adventurers under retainer contract, which left them little more than slaves under his command, costing him two tokens each, as well as several young masters. They would have uses later… many many uses. Afterall, they were sent here for a reason, mostly to keep some hands clean and to do things quiet because the backing of these kids was to big. Those that were directly escorted however, were taken directly to the arena and would face challenges there. Not many were like Micky’s and would have no chance at escape through triumph. However, monsters respected conquest and they wouldn’t argue with his decision.

But Micky had other plans for them. As they were walked out before him Micky stated “Welcome all, you’re in the army now.”

The young nobles all looked at each other, fear and worry on their faces. Then they looked back at the guard house. Micky could see the gears turning in their heads as they processed what some young masters would do… “I guess we’re in the army now...” They said.