56 Beyond the Mountains

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"Oh…this is some good stuff you have Uncle! Where did these came from?"

Raven's eyes shone as he saw the crates that Marco was unloading earlier. One the said crates were full of marvelously marbled cut of meats which carries a faint sweet scent through his nose, there's also a wide variety of seafood, vegetables and fruits. In just one glance, he was able to tell that these aren't the normal goods that Marco usually had. This isn't to say that Marco's previous stock weren't of quality, in fact the reason why he comes here is precisely because of that. But the ones he had today are a bit special.

"Hahaha! They're better right? This old man sure knows where these stuff came from!" Marco boasted. "Actually, it was the recent gossips that allowed me to secure this…"

"Gossips?" Raven was intrigued.

"Oh? I'm assuming you haven't hear huh? Very well…" Marco sat down and passed an apple to Raven, he also gestured him to sit down with him.

"Few days ago, my wife told me that she heard some bestial screech on a distant mountains, not too far from here, apparently she heard it when she was on the way to one of my suppliers. Of course you can't expect me to believe that now right? We might be in the Outer Area of the kingdom but there are knights literally garrisoned nearby! If there really are beasts here, then they should've dealt with it already!"

"But lo and behold, she wasn't the only one who heard those bestial screeches. Many people started talking about that and it spread like locust, specially here on the market since most of the talkative people go here. Of course, someone raised this to the knights and they investigated the area. And surprisingly, there really are some beasts in there!"

"Oh!?" Raven raised his brow in surprise, he never heard this story before.

"They said it was ants. I didn't believe it at first so I check it out with my wife, and holy shit they weren't lying. But these ants aren't the normal ones, they're big! Big I say! And mean too! Very mean!" Marco was really into his story telling at this point.

"I saw a knight fighting one of those. It had large maw, menacingly large fangs, can spew out acid that could erode steel. The common ones are like the size of a regular horse carriage, but they're fast as well. The knight who was fighting it can't even handle it and called for reinforcements. But of course that wasn't the only the reason why I was there. Of course, I have to see them goods you know? And this my friend, is product that I met by chance. I proposed a deal with them and they happily agreed."

"Ants huh…" Raven pondered for a bit, there is a knowing smile in his face as his curiosity was piqued. He then whispered the words: "New playground for me…"

"What did you say?" Marco heard Raven's mumbling but it was a bit inaudible so he had to ask.

"Nothing…" Raven smiled and stood up, he then started picking supplies for their daily consumption. "I'll take these Uncle."

Marco laughed as he saw the enormous amount of food that Raven picked, which was a good 50% of his entire stocks, he briefly remembered the first time that Raven did this and he remembered not being able to speak for quite sometime after that. Now he could just laugh it off since he was used to it. Marco also gave him a discount since he was buying in bulk, he didn't need to do it, but this was a sign of goodwill from a supplier to the consumer, Marco already saw Raven as his patron and thus he did this. Of course Raven won't say no towards it. After the calculations were over, Raven placed the supplies on his spatial ring and said goodbye to the old man.

***

"Holy shit bro!"

Back in the stone house, Raven and his crew are on the table, feasting on the recent acquisitions of Raven. Paul exclaimed and was almost move to tears.

"It'sh sho hood!" He exclaimed once more while his mouth was full.

The rest agreed to his claims but unlike him, they just silently devoured the food in front of them. The boys had long since ignored using utensils and stuffed their mouths using their bare hands. The girls were a bit more refined, they were using utensils to also continuously devour food. The person who probably has the smallest appetite here would be Anne. Since she could 'only' eat at least five servings of food and she does it slowly.

After eating, loud burps from the guys echoed across the room without causing the feel any remorse.

"Those were some good stuff there Avi! Where did you get it?" Ellen asked after they eat.

"Oh that? It's from the same guy where I usually get food from, apparently there are some rare specimens that came out of nowhere, just behind the mountains not too far away from the market. Some ants showed up, the army killed some and he bought the carcass, and the rest should be common sense for you." Raven explained while holding a glass of water.

"Ants? You mean we just ate ants!?" Ellen exclaimed which caused the rest to look towards Raven as well.

"Yep!" Raven said non chalantly, "They're good right?"

"Honestly…yeah." Ellen said in a bewildered sigh. She was finding it hard to accept the fact that Raven just fed them ants but she was already digesting it, and it was really good along with Raven's culinary skills so there's nothing much to say.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Anne chimed in, "You said 'some ants showed up, the army killed some'. Why does the army needed to kill ants?"

"Cause they aren't regular ants. Their queen probably awoken the bloodline of a Lord Ant, I'm not sure, I have to see for myself to confirm it." Raven replied after drinking a glass of water.

"Lord Ants? If I remember that correctly, then a regular ant of that kind should be the size of a hill then. Records said that they are unusually aggressive and tough to deal with." Mark said.

What Mark said was actually incomplete. The sizes of the regular Lord Ants are not 'should be' but 'at least' the size of a hill. The more stronger ants are much bigger than that not to mention the queen herself is at least the size of an entire mountain. And it isn't unusual for Lord Ants to be aggressive, in fact they are actually supposed to be aggressive since they are natural born predators. The Worker Ants often hunt deers, elephants, tigers, lions, bears, hippos, boars, and many more to being back to the colony. The Soldier Ants hunts demonic beasts for the colony and most of the times, they are the ones who are tasked to search for the Queen Ant's personal food. The Queen's diet should be monitored and healthy so that she will lay healthy eggs. This will continue until there is enough ants to constantly expand the colony.

"Yep, that's the one. But again I'm not exactly sure. The dealer said that the ants he saw were at the size of normal horse carriage. If that's the case, then their bloodlines mustn't be that pure. But then again I have to see it for myself."

There is an unusual excitement on Raven's voice, which were naturally captured by his friends. They watched as he took out a mortar along with some herbs and seeds. He then started grinding them onto a paste.

"Wait, you mean you truly are going?" Paul similarly asked.

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"Yep." Raven replied non chalantly once more. Collective sighs were heard across the room, it was like saying that they were somehow expecting him to say that. These people were together for months now, Raven is such an enigmatic person that they became numb about the decisions he make on the the fly.

"What are those for then?" Paul asked once more.

"Disguise. It's a paste that will change my appearance and my bone structure, once I apply this, not even my dad would be able to recognize me."

This was another shocker, they never heard of any pastes that could do that. If this thing made it out on public then it will surely cause a huge stir, but it's Raven that was doing it so it should exist, and precisely because it's him, then he naturally won't do anything reckless like selling the formula for money.

After a couple of minutes, Raven finished the process. He then used his hands to apply the paste all over his body. Moments later, his figure started changing. His hair became slightly longer, his eyes changed colors, his became taller and even grew a beard. The transformation was over before his friends realized that he was actually transforming right before their very eyes.

"Ho. Ho. Hmm…" Raven spoke and noticed that even his voice became deeper, he smiled and looked towards his friends.

"You guys wanna come?"