The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1349 Cara The Optimistic

”You are Cara? Wow, that scar is nasty when youʼre humanoid. Did your friend give you fancy clothes too? Weʼre going to have to go to a formal dinner, and that means pretty dresses for all the ladies.” Rue gushed as she examined Cara, who was wearing a tunic with the sleeves rolled up and short shorts with bare feet.

Cara smiled. ”Oh, the amount of fashion I have available would blow your mind. My sister is a famous fashion designer at home, and she doesnʼt mind if I borrow a piece now and then.”

”We could go as twins! Well, almost, since youʼve got that white stripe in your hair.” Rue suggested eagerly.

Cara rummaged through the clothing she already had, and came up with a suitably frilly black dress. Only, hers had dozens of pockets sewn into it to hold treasures she wasnʼt sure if she would keep.

She switched clothes, and Rue smiled. ”Oh, that is perfect. Did you get pockets to hide snacks? That is spectacular. So few people know the value of hiding food for later.”

Cara smiled. ”Even when youʼre not hungry, keeping a few snacks on hand is never the wrong answer. A wise person never has empty pockets.”

Rue frowned. ”But now that I have a class, I have an inventory. Donʼt people keep all their valuables in there?”

Cara nodded. ”Of course. But you should always have useful stuff in your pocket. If youʼre busy, others can grab it for you, and if someone locks your access to mana, you will still have what you need.

See this pocket? Iʼve got a nice slim dagger tied in it, and nobody would ever know without patting me down.

But in an emergency, or when Iʼm in restraints, I can still get to the blade.”

”Do you often end up in restraints?”

Cara shrugged. ”Itʼs a minor side effect of my exploration efforts.”

Containing a Chaos Badger was not an easy proposition, but many had tried to hold her until Karl came to get her in the past.

Rue likely wouldnʼt be so good at escaping.

”Where do we sit?” Cara asked, finally realizing that this dinner was a great opportunity to meet new people.

That helped their mission, and it could be fun, too.

”Probably at the small table for children along the north wall? Emissary Karl should be at the main table with the other high Nobles, since heʼs a Mythic Mage. But the rest of the seating is usually by age.

I donʼt know what theyʼll do for you, though. Youʼre also powerful, but still young looking.” Rue replied with a frown.

Cara shrugged. ”I am young. But beasts grow up faster than dragons.”

Her humanoid form was also much less aligned with her physical growth than her personality. She looked like a mischievous teen girl, only a few years older than Rue.

Putting a Mythic beast at the table with children was a grey area in protocol, as far as Karl knew. If you went by age, it was the right spot for them, as they would enjoy the company. But if you went by prestige, they should be with the other Myths.

Perhaps it was decided by species?

Some were definitely more prideful than others, and some would have political or innate enmities that needed consideration.

The whole thing sounded fascinating.

Cara turned to the maid in the corner. ”You work here, you must know. Where will we be seated?”

The maid bowed to her. ”Madam, I believe they had intended to seat you with Princess Rue. I have already informed them that you will be attending in humanoid form, so they donʼt arrange a whelp seat for your beast form.”

”Whelp seat?”

The maid nodded. ”Young dragons often take some time to learn to transform, so we have seats designed for four legged creatures up to a metre long. If the seat was unsuitable, we also have low tables and ground level serving dishes as an option for beasts accompanying guests, though they are not typically permitted in the main dining room.”

”Ah, that makes sense. Thatʼs wonderful news, Rue. We can make new friends.”

The Princess smiled sadly at Cara. ”I already know everyone else here, remember?”

Cara waved dismissively. ”Just wait. You will find that suddenly people who used to ignore you now want to be your friends. Not real friends, the sort of fake friends that only stick around because you might be useful in the future. But still, those are always first until you find the real ride or die sorts.”

The maid smiled at the enlightened look on Rueʼs face, but refrained from saying anything.

Caraʼs world view was different from anything that she would have expected, but the Chaos Badger was not wrong. Even within the palace staff, she could count the number of truly reliable friends on one hand, but the number of ”friends until it becomes a hassle” coworkers was much higher.

In general, everyone tried to get along well enough that it made their life easy.

The only issue might be the young Prince and his friends. They had bullied Rue relentlessly, and they wouldnʼt easily change without something to persuade

them.

Cara and the maid were thinking the same thing, but Cara had a very different solution to the issue.

The young Prince was only Royal Rank. Sure, that was two levels higher than Rue, but it wouldnʼt take much to bump her up to Commander Rank, and then they would only be one apart while being close to the same age.

Plus, the boy was a base warrior class.

Warriors were kind of boring and mundane. They didnʼt have cool skills that you could show off. The Karl had given Princess Rue [Limited Invulnerability] and that was a skill that she could show off without damaging anything.

At the very least, it would make her difficult to beat up without going overboard and getting themselves into real trouble.