Galthor shrugged. "It's all well and good, but how would I know you are worth it?"

She met his eyes. "And how do I also know you are worth it, Galthor Stronghide?"

Galthor smiled. With the feel of her aura, he already knew she was the real deal, but at the same time, she must have felt the same from him as well when they clashed earlier.

"Can you help me take back my territory?" Galthor asked.

"I can," she replied calmly. "I am strong enough to do something like that. But what will you give me as compensation? Our partnership isn't a one-way thing."

Galthor snorted. "I see."

Galthor decided not to hesitate anymore. He stretched out his hand to meet hers and then shook it. "I do."

The instant he said the word, a binding connection instantly snapped into place between the two of them. Galthor didn't know how things would turn out between them, but he was most looking forward to it.

Lady Pelica sat back and waved her hand. One of the rings on her fingers glowed, and at the same time, a set of papers appeared on the table, which she gently pushed toward him.

"This contains everything about you joining the Howling."

Galthor looked at the papers. On the first page, boldly imprinted, was an image of a monstrous tree. The leaves were made of deep dark tentacles, and the branches resembled the spines of living things, while the roots looked like tongues.

Merely looking at it made Galthor feel an overwhelming revulsion.

"That is the symbol of the Howling. It's also called the Dread Tree, and it was apparently made from the corpses of demons," Lady Pelica explained as she saw him studying it.

Galthor looked at her. "Is it true?"

"I don't know what the tree was made of, but its powers are undeniable."

Galthor looked at the symbol once more, and he could have sworn he felt it gazing at him. He snorted at himself mentally and opened the first page. His eyes widened at what he saw.

"Congratulations for joining the Howling! The first barbarian in thousands of years! The Lower GrooveKeeper bids you welcome, Stronghide!"

Galthor looked from the papers to Lady Pelica. "What the fuck? We already joined the Howling?"

She smiled mildly. "Of course. All of this was done by your father, but it was only now that it was approved. Everything was thus passed to the new leader of Stronghide."

"This wasn't really going to be approved under my father, right? It was only now, because I am here, that it was approved," Galthor said in a light voice.

She shrugged. "True. I pulled some strings to make it happen. Lots of other barbarians are also looking to join the Howling, and they've always been left on airs. But now, all of this might begin to change."

"All because of a god," Galthor said.

"Yes, all because of him."

"So I was already in the Howling, and you made it seem as if I wasn't there, just so I'd make a deal with you. Lady Pelica, this is not a good way for us to start."

She flashed a smile. "But I did not lie to you. I advised you to join the Howling while I made a separate deal with you. It's different. Besides, you already agreed to join."

Galthor did not continue the conversation. "I thought joining the Howling was going to be hard. Maybe do some secret test, perhaps, or something like that."

Lady Pelica laughed. "Of course it's hard. But you're joining at the root level. The real deal is if you can hold your position in the root."

"It's hard being in the root?" Galthor asked skeptically.

"It is. Each force competes fiercely for territory and missions. They can move against each other at any time while everyone looks away. So if you have a good recommendation, you can get into the Howling at the root. But staying there is another matter entirely."

Galthor gestured to the paper. "Who's the Lower GrooveKeeper? It's mentioned here."

"The GrooveKeepers are the enforcers and general overseers of the Howling on behalf of the main branches. They don't interfere unless any members do something that explicitly goes against the rules. They don't even care about the internal struggles of the Howling. But they are in charge of managing resources and such. The 'Lower' there represents the GrooveKeepers in charge of the roots."

Galthor nodded slowly. "Alright then. Thank you."

She shrugged. "We're partners now, of course I'm going to give you all the relevant information."

As she was saying that, she reached up to one of her fingers and pulled off one of her rings. It was a silver ring set with tiny gemstones that sparkled as it caught the light. "This is a spatial ring for storage. It has thirty meters of space. It's one of my gifts for this partnership."

Galthor looked at the ring but did not immediately pick it up, only commenting mentally that the Drowning relics had more space than it. "Thank you. What are the other gifts?"

"One of them is this blacksmith, Han. The rest are the advice I'll be giving you going forward if you ask."

Galthor smiled, then spread his hand over the ring and let divine energy pour into it. Red and silver energy hovered over the ring and slowly soaked into it.

Lady Pelica's eyes widened when she saw it. What she felt was pure and absolute divinity that could not be denied. "This..."

Then she suddenly flinched and twitched as she felt something snap in her head. Her eyes glazed over, and she grimaced.

She looked at Galthor, and Galthor looked at her.

They both said nothing, even though they knew what had just happened.

Lady Pelica had put some kind of tracker into the ring, and Galthor had brutally snapped it.

He picked it up and wore the ring on his left thumb, the metal expanding to fit his thick finger. "I'll say, this is a nice welcome gift."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.