Starting Life From Zero: Far From Home

Chapter Thirty-Six

The following morning the Karsten Manor grounds were a bustling hub of activity. It had been hard to imagine before, but the combined forces Crusch's own troops, the Fang of Iron Group, some volunteers, and whatever mercenary groups could be bought was far larger than Peter would have guessed. The planning stages of this whole thing were always small enough that you could keep track of everyone.

Now there were people moving in formation all dressed in the same uniform and others testing strange equipment. His small contribution to the specialized weapons had been a web spear gun—while Peter probably couldn't build a new web shooter of the size that it would work on his wrist in this world, he could create a large version that could harpoon and hold the Whale down.

At least he hoped it did.

Over the course of the day more people trickled in, though some of them were just delivering supplies. Several merchants bearing supplies and provisions moved through the gardens of the mansion like a rotating roster of characters. Peter found himself introduced to so many people as he simply made his way through his day.

More awkward for him was the fact that some of them knew him. They had heard tales of the boy who held a whole tower on his back or who could be seen flying through the air on magical strings. Peter had never been known to the public as Spider-Man. He didn't even like to think of himself as a proper hero like Mister Stark or Captain America."

It was different in this world where some people were just born with innate magical abilities and there were knights who could unleash a bomb-like blast with a swing of their sword. Even though people with powers were still a rarity here, they weren't as rare as they had been on Earth and none of them seemed all that keen on hiding what they could do from the world.

Still it was odd to have people recognizing Peter for the actions of Spider-Man.

Rocket and Kate Bishop showed up with Anastasia Hoshin at some point, but there was barely any time for him to go over and acknowledge them before they were swept up in the commotion of the day.

It was weird, despite having been in this world for a whole month, Peter really hadn't interacted with Ground Dragons all that much. There several people fitting the creatures with armor and making sure that they were prepared for the journey and fight that lie ahead of them. As Peter walked between the rows of Ground Dragons one of them bucked forward, subtly nudging past the person that had been caring for it. The thing didn't seem to want to go on the offensive or anything and what it ended up doing was pushing itself eerily close to Peter's face and dragging its big tongue over his cheek.

"Oh, hey! Okay!" Peter shouted, through a bout of shocked laughter as he held his hands to combat being licked again. "Come on, cut that out."

"Wow, she doesn't usually like, well, anybody, really," said the person who had been caring for the creature.

"Keep that up and Miss Emilia might have a reason to be jealous," it was Ferris. He had just walked out from between two of the dragons with his hands clasped behind the back of the blue and white striped spaghetti strap dress.

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Peter waving his hands around in front of himself in protest which allowed the Ground Dragon to get back to licking Peter's face. He reached up and started to rub his hand down the snout of the creature, trying to get it to calm down. The Ground Dragon was covered in smooth black scales. It had a long, pointed snout and that widened back into its neck. There were almost feather like strips running from the back of the Ground Dragon's head. The Dragon's belly and the rest of its underside were a lighter tan color.

"Oh nothing," said Ferris with a big smile plastered own his face.

"Right..." Peter said.

"You know, you're going to need to have a Ground Dragon to get out to the spot," said Ferris.