Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

164. Secret of the Timid Perilroot

For some reason the praise completely caught Seamus off guard. At the guild he'd managed to get used to praise in general. But this was so different, Cal seemed to be swelling with pride and Seamus was too unused to the parental affection that he couldn't help but completely forget his anxiety over the parasitic plant that had buried its roots into his bond and sprout a purple shrub.

Seamus's crocked smile of genuine joy and surprise was endearing to Cal. He made a fist and affectionately pounded it against Seamus's chest a couple of times as he laughed good-naturedly.

"You're just too much kid." Cal beamed. "Now let me see what you got there." He pointed at the shrub now growing on his son's arm.

Seamus held it, up eager for Cal's expertise on the matter. "it just kind of happened."

Cal inspected it for a second. "Well, you may have struggled when it came to familiars, but you seem to have a natural talent for plants, especially poisonous ones. This is a flawless execution of a bone graft. Do you still have that world tree seed I gave you?"

Seamus was confused by the shift but pulled a small pouch from his inventory and handed it to Cal. "Yes, what are you going to do with it?"

Cal emptied the pouch into his hand. "Why settle for flawless when we can accomplish something much more interesting?" Cal had an evil glint in his eyes. "close your eyes." Cal grabbed Seamus's arm by the elbow and waited for Seamus to close his eyes.

"Okay, you can open them. But just for a second, we are here." Cal said and Seamus opened his eyes.

"CALLOWAY!" Someone shouted.

Seamus was sure that they hadn't taken a single step and now they were in a completely different room.

They were in a very large cavern of somewhere else in the Gauntlet. High above them was a large crystal giving off a soft light that gave the impression it was daytime, even though they were still underground.

Tall green tree-like plants grew along the perimeter giving off the appearance that they might be in a forest. Shallow creaks weaved their way through green grass that covered the ground of the whole room. All except pathways and bridges that lead to small houses that looked more like decorative semi complete rooms. Every ounce of this room screamed a gentile luxury.

Unlike the danger Seamus was in a moment before, this felt more like the upper city. It had maidens with numerous fox tails dining on the green grass or Druids in unnaturally dark garbs chatting with Earth elements in elf form.

The person who had called Calloway's name as a charmingly stunning blonde fox maiden with nine tails. She didn't hesitate to throw here arms around Cal's neck and squealed joyfully.

"It's always a pleasure Silvia. I was just in section D and we roughed it up, so it needs to be cycled through a reset. Are you all meeting the quota for summoning's?" Cal returned the hug and they separated.

"I'll get my best people on it. And as far as spawning and leveling up monsters, progress has been smooth. The foxes here are resting while their magic recovers but we've managed to fill up sections F, J, and just put the finishing touches on G with reserves in stasis." The maiden stated. "But we are being rude." She hopped behind Cal and bowed.

"Seamus, this is Silvia Moonshine. She is my familiar and trusted companion. Unlike the others, I didn't raise Silvia, she acknowledged me and has been endlessly reliable since then." Cal introduced. "Silvia, allow me to formally introduce you to my son."

Seamus bowed respectfully. Yamamoto formally hopped onto the ground and bowed respectfully toward Silvia. "It's an honor."

"I don't get many new visitors, so the pleasure is all mine." Silvia smiled.