Chapter 2252: Strange Animal Companion

“Snow Cloud Peak” absolutely could not agree with what “Magic Sword” said.

If he hadn’t met so many fools, he wouldn’t have gone from the White Robe Snow Cloud Peak back then to the Snow Old Dog he is now.

“What you’ve run into are all half-fools, not-quite-fools.” Magic Sword said lazily. “Real fools, how could they ever make it to stand in front of you?

Even those ones who burn money to play with you, they’re all second-rate fools, not real fools.

Real fools don’t even know how to throw money at people.”

This time Snow Cloud Peak was a bit confused.

“For example, those guys who don’t want to spend money, don’t want to put in effort, but will wave flags for your enemies on the forum, that’s them.” Magic Sword said with a grin. “Of course, you’ve never been interested in those people anyway, so naturally you don’t feel much?”

“Nah… you’re insulting fools there.” Snow Cloud Peak said, a bit hesitant. “Fools will still take action on their own against people they don’t like.”

“Hey~ isn’t Ji Lanyuan getting ready to come kill you?” Magic Sword laughed. “She’s a top-tier, premium fool!

That crowd on the forum who only likes to talk, sure, they can cook up a lively scene, but when it comes to playing for real, they just crumble.

Ji Lanyuan used to be that type, too.

Even though she was annoyed by everything, and if she heard a dog bark she’d have to criticize the owner for not keeping it in check, she still only talked.

Unfortunately, once she got a bunch of people backing her, she really started treating herself as some kind of opinion leader.

I’ve always felt she walked out of Black and White Path because the men and women there are all busy thinking about love stories, never about freedom and democracy, hegemony and monopoly.

Inside Black Rose, though, you have every kind of type.

Heh~ just look at our Baldy bro, don’t you already know?

Even though he doesn’t do anything, he can still spit out a couple of bullsh*t lines.

Plus, we… have a ton of single dogs!

And also guys like Romance, chasing girls all over the place, carrying bags, fetching water, doing everything!”

“You and Romance aren’t the same thing?” Perfect Bald couldn’t help cutting in.

“I’m looking for Qingyuan! An actual serious relationship!” Magic Sword’s defenses instantly shattered. “I’ve got a car, a horse, a house, I just want to find a lady of the house… A guy like Romance who only wants to hook up with some chick for a quick thrill—how the hell can you put him on the same level as me?”

“Mm… there really isn’t much difference.” Perfect Bald gave his verdict without hesitation. “Romance is at least a bit more presentable than you.”

Snow Cloud Peak also looked at Magic Sword with a downright horrified expression. “Hold up, you’re not just joking around?

You seriously want to use this avatar to find a girl who’s willing to take things into real life with you?”

Magic Sword hesitated for a few seconds, then still said decisively, “There will always be someone who can see my goodness through my hobbies!”

“Old Dog, this time you’re planning to scoop up Ji Lanyuan and her lot in one go, right?” Perfect Bald felt he was really wasting his time bullsh*tting with Magic Sword and decided to get back to business.

“Back during Aesces, I already gave them one chance.” Snow Cloud Peak smiled faintly. “Next time, there’s no need. I don’t have that kind of leisure to help their parents educate their kids.

They should just go home and teach them themselves.”

“It’s just game stuff, if things blow up forty, eighty times, what’s the big deal?” Magic Sword couldn’t help muttering.

“Heh~” Perfect Bald looked at him with a fake smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Kid, just watch and learn.”

“You trust Old Dog’s Attack Power that much, Baldy bro?” Magic Sword said, deeply moved. “What the hell did you guys go through before?”

Perfect Bald looked straight at Snow Cloud Peak. “What can just the few of us do?

From the look of your attitude, the real trouble will only start when Elder runs into a real enemy and sends out a fresh SOS notice, right?

But, the area below is all our people, and we’ve laid down several layers of traps. Do they even have the skill to bypass all that?

Zhu Meili can at most sell our locations, manpower distribution, trap positions; she definitely won’t personally help them rush in.

That woman has clearly hooked up with someone again, so she wants to drag us down, see if she can build up some power in this world.

She’s not dumb enough yet to go head-on against us.”

“Ji Lanyuan and her crew don’t have Animal Companions, you know that, right?” Snow Cloud Peak asked softly.

“I know.” Perfect Bald nodded straightforwardly. “Black and White Path came late in the first place; their initial favorability was always the lowest Wave in our Alliance.

She was the very last of them; otherwise, there’s no way she’d have had a bunch of Black and White Path friends, yet ended up joining our family.

Besides, the Friendliness calculations on Hill’s side have always been complicated. If it’s Animal Companions, it seems they even factor in quest completion rates.

If you don’t take responsibility and let an NPC rack up death records during escort quests, you’ll lose a lot of points.

And if, while doing quests, you drag ordinary people into dying, points will be deducted as appropriate, too.

People unlike us, who started off with Friendliness already, have to spend quite a bit of effort just to enter Hill’s valley, let alone form a Contract with his animals.

Funny enough, it’s actually Young Master’s latecomers from Wenjian who managed to sign more agreements.”

“Well yeah, they’re students~ Their consciences are always a bit better than us numb adults.” Magic Sword cut in again.

“Are you that free?” Perfect Bald looked over at him with a thoroughly pissed-off expression.

“These should be people controlled with a method similar to Blood Slaves, I’ve pretty much finished observing them.” Magic Sword couldn’t help snarking, “Aren’t you guys also feeling nothing about this anymore, that’s why you’re over here shooting the breeze?

Otherwise what am I supposed to do? Write up whether Elder’s move here counts as sanshou, Wing Chun, or Baji?”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” Snow Cloud Peak replied faintly… With someone like Magic Sword, no wonder he can only hope to scam himself a girlfriend home in a game.

In real life, any girl who says two sentences to him would have to immediately block him.

“So what you mean is, Ji Lanyuan and the others got themselves some special Animal Companions?” Perfect Bald smoothly steered the topic back on track… Even though Magic Sword is always asking to be yelled at, that doesn’t mean outsiders get to do the yelling.

“Zhu Meili probably played a bit of a role too.” Snow Cloud Peak glanced at Perfect Bald, following his lead in changing the subject, “Over in Aesces, he must have gotten to know some shady types.

But don’t be fooled by what a scumbag he is, he absolutely would never risk his own people.

Besides, Zhu Meili’s crowd basically all use insect-type partners, there’s no way they’d casually swap them out.

That Night Butterfly, while she doesn’t really count as an Insect King species, with her strength, leading her own swarm of bugs is no problem at all.”

“Didn’t see any other bugs back in Aesces though?” Perfect Bald couldn’t help pressing, “Did you discover something later on Toril?

Wait, don’t tell me Zhu Meili introduced the Worm Mage to Ji Lanyuan and the others?

I remember that thing actually counts as an insect, right?”

Snow Cloud Peak gave him a helpless look: “Think on the bright side, please.

You think William is fake or something?

If Toril says that thing is an insect, you think he’d just accept it?

The only reason he can tolerate that Night Butterfly thing entering his Companion Space is because that kind of accidental pairing is a once-in-a-lifetime fluke.

Of course, it’s also because Night Butterfly was already Zhu Meili’s Animal Companion—given William’s Divinity of Justice, there’s no way he’d strip Night Butterfly of her rights over something that minor.

Speaking of, I actually thought William would start restricting our Undead Tribe’s success rate in signing Contracts with Demon Insect species!

But turns out, Zhu Meili’s side has signed a ton and not a single one got rejected.

Tsk~ Justice and fairness—stick to those long enough and you just end up screwing yourself!”

“As long as it’s not a Worm Mage, I fear nothing.” Perfect Bald said calmly, “No matter how ugly or disgusting, it’s still better than that thing.”

He added with absolute conviction: “Even Rose’s spiders, I can endure!”

“So, it is spiders?” Magic Sword instantly perked up.

“No.” Snow Cloud Peak lost any desire to keep them in suspense… He’d overestimated things; people from Black Rose have never had issues with anything cold or creepy.

“I had to put in quite a bit of effort to dig it up.” He took a deep breath. “It should be frogs.”

“The hell?” Perfect Bald whipped his head around, “Zhu Meili got a bunch of frogs for Ji Lanyuan?

Aren’t those the natural enemies of the Insect Race?

No, hold up, where would he even get frog friends… Hm? Uh… Slaran?”

Perfect Bald said in a tone of utter disbelief: “How the hell could that thing possibly pass William’s inspection and become an Animal Companion of the Undead Tribe?”

“Slaran isn’t Chaotic Evil.” Snow Cloud Peak reminded him softly, “Aside from that one in the Bottomless Abyss, most of them are Chaotic Neutral, including the lords.”

—————–

“Why would William agree to let that thing become an Animal Companion of the Undead Tribe?” Hill couldn’t help asking Shaer.

He didn’t know why, but he just felt this lady knew the truth.

“Slaran, in its juvenile stage, is just a frog.” Shaer answered coolly, “They need an enormous amount of energy and flesh to grow into true Slaran.

Without that, they’re just a bunch of Magical Beasts that happen to be frogs with decent strength.

In the Contract William set up, there’s no clause that forbids them from forming an Alliance with the Undead Tribe.”

Then she raised a brow: “Of course, the most important point is that he doesn’t want to become an official enemy of Slaran.”

Hill mulled it over for a while before asking in a daze: “So he figured it out later?

What the hell was that guy doing to overlook something this important?”

If you’re trying not to make enemies of the other side, it can only be because the alliance has already been established, and the only reason William wants to break it is because the other party is Slaran.

As for that bullcrap excuse about “sapient beings,” that can only be used when the alliance hasn’t been formed yet.

Perfect Bald’s tiger had already formally acknowledged him over on Toril.

“Heh heh~” Shaer let out two slightly embarrassed laughs, “Well, um, he just… didn’t pay attention!”

She sounded so guilty, it clearly had something to do with her.

Then what about the God of Time and Space? Why didn’t he intervene?