Chapter 296: Chapter 296. Hunt with the Baron

Theo took the help of the ape and the boar to get the dead crawlers back. He didn’t really ask for help, but Clara and Elias knew their duty before this new task of reaching level 7.

When they got back, they threw everything in a big pile before eyeing the mantis and moving back, Theo saw the mantis with a smile.

"It’s finally asleep huh?" The baron spoke from the back, making Theo nod.

He moved toward the small hut they made and kept the mantis in the corner to sleep peacefully.

"You realize what you achieved, right?" The baron asked with prideful but sharp eyes.

Theo gulped but felt excited jitters in his spine.

"You just leveled up twice in less than 2 days..." The baron spoke again.

"If it were not for this gate, I don’t think it would be possible, father."

"Well, that’s another way of thinking about it... But I have been to the gates countless times and there’s only been a few times I have seen this level of leveling... they all were madmen, Theo." He spoke and grinned.

"Are you a madman, Theo?" The baron asked.

Theo didn’t know how to answer that question but soon he realized the best answer.

"It’s not me that is mad... it’s the mad beast with me that makes it all possible."

When the baron heard that, his grin became wider.

"Another great way to think, but you gotta give yourself credit. I know countless individuals who would have just sat back to let a beast like that do all the work. You would have reached level 7 in the 2 days... maybe 3 if I extended it, you know." The baron chuckled before he got up and went toward the hut.

"And even now, I know what you’re going to do." The baron spoke before getting inside, making Theo surprised.

"Go out there, help your people." He spoke before laying down on the bedsheet on the ground.

’No fucking way.’ Theo was surprised beyond measure.

He didn’t know the baron knew his heart this much, was it because Theo was an open book for him? Or was it the instincts of a father? He didn’t know.

He took out the sword from his scabbard and while cleaning the attached blood on the blade, he went toward the battlefield again.

It was a gruesome night, sometimes the torches stopped working and one had to endanger themselves to get the torch lit again.

Clara was hurt one time when a few of the crawlers attached their mouths to her back.

But with the help of medium grade potion and some disinfectant liquid, they were able to heal it in no time.

Theo realized that only he was the most non-vulnerable in the whole battlefield.

Even if countless crawlers were to attach themselves to him, they still wouldn’t be able to pierce his body due to the lesser dragon scale armor he was wearing from shoulder to toe.

It also made him realize just how vulnerable Clara and specifically, Elias was at the moment.

He needed to get the equipment of not only himself, but his people too.

And weirdly, the family didn’t help with anything but the attendant uniforms.

Theo could think of Lucien’s attendant, who had a different kind of armor too. It had the crest of the Merricks, but the armor was nothing compared to the ones in the barony.

It made him wonder if the heirs were the ones who had to invest in these things. Theo had a lot of the pocket money he used to get still in his savings, as he didn’t need anything but things that were already in the castle’s inventory.

His money usually only went to insects and the special orders he made to the blacksmiths outside the castle.

The whole night, Theo noticed one more thing. Elias was puncturing the crawlers’ heads with a small dagger in his hand.

The ape was very annoyed as it had to protect Elias a lot more times from danger that it detected thousands of times better than Elias.

Looking at Elias, it felt like he had no talent for melee combat, which made Theo wonder if this was the right thing for him.

Even he was not this bad.

In the morning, when the baron was awake, he saw the hut empty, even the mantis had vanished from the corner.

When he got out of the hut, he smiled.

Theo, Clara, and Elias were sleeping with each in one direction and their backs supporting each other.

Their sleep was so deep that they didn’t realize the big baron walking toward them.

The baron took out the small metal box in his hand and took out a few sheets of cloth.

He laid them on all three of them and then went to the big crawler to get some meat and start cooking it for breakfast.

Only to see the pile Theo had brought the last night already at half.

The baron’s eyes widened in shock when he saw only the mantis sitting on top of it, munching on big chunks of meat in its hands.

"Theo was right, you really are a glutton." He spoke with a few laughs.

"Want to go on a hunt with me? Can you even understand me, bug?" The baron asked while taking out the meat.

He saw a small flash of light coming toward him but he didn’t even flinch.

The mantis got on the body of the big crawler and then hopped on the baron’s shoulder while munching on the food.

The baron grinned. He took a big fillet out from inside the worm and then went to the camp with the mantis still sitting on his shoulder.

"We will leave after we eat this, bug." The baron spoke after keeping the fillet on a thick stick, which he was roasting the food on.

The mantis groomed itself for a few seconds before becoming a flash again and going to its pile to eat.

The baron kept looking at the mantis while the food cooked in amusement.

"It seems everyone is having fun, you all go and have some too. Don’t forget to hide your aura after getting out." The baron spoke, and giant flashing lights came out the top of his head and vanished immediately.

The mantis saw them and kept looking at the baron, but it couldn’t help but keep munching on the food.