Around a campfire (2)

Cliff had waited a moment, letting the leaders talk among themselves while analyzing their dialogue, even drawing out information on questions he hadn't thought to ask.

He had gone to his place for a long time, also wanting to enjoy the meal served, he rubbed his hands vigorously, he had two chopsticks which seemed similar to those used in oriental countries.

He pinched a piece of meat, hesitantly dipped it in what seemed to him to be a sauce, and brought it to his mouth.

For a few seconds Cliff felt his taste buds catch fire, he couldn't help but widen his eyes and hum.

Cliff liked it when his meat was a little more cooked, and this sauce that we served him was quite exceptional, it had been a long time since someone had cooked such a dish for him.

Suddenly, his eyebrows furrowed, he looked up and looked at Rakahn and Akumu, who were both sitting on either side of him.

"Hey how do you find salt?" he asked

"I mean, we're in the middle of the forest, and we're more than a day's walk entirely to the sea, how do you get salt?"

Akumu looked at him with a questioning look, his crimson eyes seemed to be able to read everything around him.

"Are you talking about the salt crystals my lord?"

The words "salty crystals" seemed to have something to do with salt, so Cliff just nodded.

"So if you talk about salt crystals, they are found on Chibrax mountain, there is a whole big mine there. This mine is until now exploited by the Xarus clan, they mainly live from this mine , they do all the necessary cleaning, and provide them to us in refined form, ready to consume."

"Ahah I see, I was asking where did this salt come from that they used to give the meat and the sauce this texture, I had this question in mind for a very long time but I never had the time to ask it. ask," Cliff said, hungrily devouring his meal.

A few minutes passed, everyone had concentrated on their meals, the dishes were copiously spread out on the tables, we could only hear the sounds of chewing and the sounds of a knife separating the chair on a plate which seemed to have been carved from marble.

The silence continued for a while until someone broke it with a question.

"My lord, what do you intend to do with us, heads of the clans? Are our clans no longer of value by agreeing to follow you?" Barock, the leader of the dwarf clan, had posed.

Everyone was attentive to this question, their eyes fixed on Cliff, waiting for his answer.

"I kinda wanted to do that at first, *scrunch* but something changed my mind *scrunch*" Cliff replied, voraciously devouring a piece of fruit that had been placed next to his plate .

Quickly swallowing his food, Cliff returned their scrutiny.

"Even as a general of the legion, you will fulfill your duties as clan leader, for the moment, but once we have more territory under our control I intend to expand your control, I have no intend to limit it to just your clans."

If we heard these words in the mouth of a king or any lord, we would think that it was to give his vassals more powers, more notoriety... but that was not at all the case.

Cliff had noticed the workload piling up before him, with all these people under his responsibility, so had decided to proceed differently, leaving all the responsibilities to the clan leaders while supervising their work.

And it worked !

The clan leaders have more experience than him in matters of administration and each clan has their own culture, beliefs and morals that they have long assimilated, Cliff who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere could certainly not govern them on a whim, unless he decides to go against the promise he made to himself.

He did not want to impose his will too much on his subjects.

Ultimately, the clan leaders will keep their positions, this would make it easier for Cliff to control territories by granting them new titles.

"After tonight's banquet, the stones of variant species will be distributed to a minority of people, although I would have liked to give them to everyone, the rescue operation is in two days, I am obliged to give them give to the strongest and most skilled in the use of their abilities in order to strengthen them so that the operation is a success.

Tomorrow afternoon we will have a ceremony, I will assign those who have recently joined us to their positions and personally gauge their newly gained strength."

"It would be with the greatest joy my lord, I really want to face you, you are my master, I really look forward to knowing your strength." Kido suddenly said, grumbling under his breath.

Rakahn who was sitting to his left patted him on the back.

"You're such a battle freak, wait until you wipe the floor with your body tomorrow."

"Is the master that strong? Aside from this colossal amount of mana he possesses, he's still equal to a variant monster right?" Kido said questioningly.

"I'm a bit special, during my training sessions I discovered that one of my skills had an ability, "chimerization" it allows my body to adapt to the cells of the creatures from which I absorb their essences, for example for me my strengthening skill is more effective than even a half-ogre itself" Informed Cliff bringing a cup made with a bamboo to his mouth.

"And each cell that I absorb can evolve, if I absorb other similar cells, like slimes for example, I have absorbed a lot of them and my body can now secrete acid and by absorbing them a little more , this ability will also be increased… so even being a variant monster my power is equal to that of a mutant!"

He took a sip and suddenly felt a warm liquid go down his throat leaving a sweet and tangy taste in his mouth.

His eyes widened, it had been more than a month since he arrived in this world, a whole month without tasting such a masterpiece, the magnificence that was found in this liquid had taken him to pour a tear.

It was alcohol, Cliff had tasted alcohol!