Chapter 284

Chapter 284

The auction, which was destined to be recorded in the history of the Beast Pet Store, concluded with a flourish.

Although the people from the Beast Pet Store returned to their daily routines, it was hard for the outside world to remain calm.

What followed was another piece of news that stunned everyone.

A message came from the frontline of Pokara, stating that the monster wave was now completely under the control of the military, and it had not escalated further but instead began to recede.

The hunting grounds were cleared, and the temporary old fortifications were dismantled and returned underground.

The Beast Pet Store and other organizations also began to withdraw from the frontline of Pokara.

The benefits from Pokara for the Beast Pet Store were so significant that Lorant appeared reluctant as they prepared to leave.

What he valued the most were, of course, the astonishing number of live beasts.

The live beast capture team led by Lancelot and the subsequent missions assigned to the Beast Tamer community allowed Lorant to gather most of the beasts needed for the store’s current breedable animals.

At present, the vast majority of beasts sold by the store could be bred again.

Even the Devouring Frogs, which required extremely rare beasts, had been gathered by Lorant with two complete sets of breeding pairs.

In addition to that, another gain from Pokara was the rapid development of the Blue Star platform.

Following the battle of Pokara, the user base of the Blue Star platform grew significantly.

Now, not only were practitioners from the military and the Congress of Magic attracted by specific beasts, but even those lone adventurers who were used to doing things on their own had grown accustomed to taking a look at the Blue Star platform after checking related tasks at the Adventurer's Guild.

They had practically started treating the Blue Star platform as a task hub on par with the Adventurer's Guild.

The majority of the store’s external sales had stabilized into a routine process. Even with just the Floating Giant Duck, it could be handled perfectly without requiring much attention from Lorant.

As for the Floating Giant Duck and other unhatched beasts, there was no critical point that required Lorant’s special attention for the time being; they just needed time.

As a result, Lorant was able to enjoy a brief respite.

Lorant and Lancelot could now spend their days leisurely doing whatever they pleased at the Beast Pet Store.

They casually whiled away the beautiful time, watching the snowflakes drift down from the sky and feeling the warm winter sun shining on their bodies.

This perfectly aligned with Lancelot’s desires. The knight had been very seriously following his 'pursuit path,' trying in every way to pursue Lorant.

However, despite his usual excellence in many areas, Lancelot lacked experience in romance.

He wanted to get closer to Lorant, so he often stuck to him.

He wanted to make Lorant happy, so he tried to do things that he thought Lorant would like.

However, the count’s pursuit was not an easy one.

Fa Meng, Baby, and Maomao acted like three envious children. They had a slight resistance toward this person who seemed to have different feelings for Lorant.

Although they didn’t understand what pursuit meant, apart from Monroe and his partner, who Lorant had told not to pry into other people’s affairs, there wasn’t another complete couple in the Beast Pet Store to provide them with sufficient reference.

But the perception of children and beast pets is always exceptionally sharp.

They could sense that Lancelot would occupy an important place in Lorant's heart.

This made these little ones, who were constantly vying for attention, unusually choose to unite against Lancelot, this "external enemy."

So, every time Lancelot prepared a candlelit dinner or a moonlit walk to create a peak moment between him and Lorant,

And every time he mustered the courage to try and hold Lorant's hand or embrace him,

There would always be some annoying little guy jumping out at just the right moment to disrupt the atmosphere.

At first, Lancelot would get a bit annoyed, but after it happened several times, he got used to it.

What mattered most was Lorant's feelings and thoughts, not these mischievous little ones.

Although these little guys had ruined a few good opportunities, Lancelot quickly found his place. This cunning knight began to act all pitiful in front of Lorant.

Much to the exasperated glares of these little ones, Lancelot willingly fell into his arms under the moonlight.

The knight, holding Lorant, smugly raised his eyebrows at the several furious beast pets behind them.

Having won the battle against the beast pets, Lancelot had been floating on air lately.

He also developed other hobbies.

These past couple of days, he had been fishing with Lorant by the Holy Shield River, which introduced a newfound hobby to this knight whose life had otherwise been filled with noble duties and knightly training.

The aquatic beasts living in the water could bring so much fun! Lancelot marveled while casting his rod gracefully toward the middle of the river.

The entire set of fishing gear in his hand had been custom-made by someone Lorant found previously.

Given that the creatures in the Holy Shield River were real aquatic beasts, not just harmless fish,

And because these aquatic beasts were often more troublesome than regular beasts when in the water, generally, even struggling practitioners would not set their sights on these river beasts.

After all, there were too many land-based beasts to hunt, so these more hidden aquatic beasts would naturally not attract practitioners' attention.

Thus, the concept of "fishing" did not exist for the people of this world.

No one would think of it as a leisure activity.

Oh, except for Lorant, perhaps.

So, if Lorant wanted to engage in this activity, he had to start from scratch to make the fishing gear.

Fortunately, there was a great variety of wood in this world, and some peculiar properties could be found in the wood.

The fishing rod in Lancelot's hand had excellent flexibility and toughness.

Its strength rivaled some of the strong metals Lorant recalled.

When swung in the air, it produced a whooshing sound.

In contrast, the rod in Lorant's hand looked no different from commercially available fishing rods.

It even had some colorful plastic blocks, and the entire rod shone, both light and strong, resembling something made of alloy.

This fishing rod was naturally a masterpiece of Faimon.

The little chubby dragon now sat beside Lorant, mimicking his every move by dipping the makeshift 'fishing rod' made from a short twig and a tied thread into the water, without any bait at all.

On top of the little one's head was a woven straw hat, and behind him, a similarly woven straw cloak fluttered in the non-existent breeze, creating an atmosphere around the small dragon that resembled that of a solitary fisherman in a boat.

If it weren't for its plump and short body, it would indeed look quite the part.

Baby, on the other hand, perched on Lorant's shoulder, with a long strand of spider silk extending from its tiny claws to the center of the Holy Shield River.

Both humans and beasts were deeply engrossed in their fishing.

"It's here!" Lorant exclaimed in surprise as he saw his float move, immediately jerking up the fishing rod.

Before he could even speak, Baby's spider silk had already wrapped around Lorant's fishing rod, secretly applying force to ensure that its baby wouldn't be dragged into the water by the large creature that had taken the bait.

This was the usual process of Lorant's 'fishing.'

These aquatic beasts, due to the river water, possessed astonishing strength. Even the smallest first-level aquatic beast was too powerful for Lorant to reel in by himself.

Fortunately, he always had help.

Before Baby's spider silk began to exert force, Lancelot's arm reached out from behind Lorant, naturally grabbing the fishing rod.

"I'll take it," Lancelot said, rushing to Lorant's side with his incredible speed and pulling the fishing rod.

Just by looking at how much the fishing rod was bent, one could tell that the creature biting the hook was a sizable one. Someone like Lorant, with his slender arms and legs, could easily be pulled under if not careful.

That was certainly not what they wanted to happen.

Lorant didn't insist on taking over and immediately stepped aside, letting Lancelot start the tug-of-war with the big creature in the water.

"It's out, it's out!" Lorant's eyes were glued to the fishing line. The big beast had been darting back and forth underwater, and it took nearly ten minutes before it finally surfaced, making Lorant shout out in excitement.

"It's a big one!" Lorant was initially delighted, but as soon as he saw the true form of the beast revealed in the water, he quickly urged Lancelot, "It's a Green-Backed Azure Water Buffalo! That guy loves to shake the rod side to side. If you pull the line up and down, it won't be able to do anything!"

Lancelot nodded, without letting up for even a moment.

The Green-Backed Azure Water Buffalo was a Level 3 aquatic beast. In this area, which was relatively deep within human territory, it was considered quite a large catch. This type of beast was even bigger than a fully grown Furious Ragdoll Bear, and its strength was not to be underestimated.

Half an hour later...

"Roar!"

With a satisfied grin, Lorant hoisted the fishing rod high. The Green-Backed Azure Water Buffalo, worn out from Lancelot's skillful handling, could only be dragged to the shore with Baby's help, letting out an unwilling, hoarse roar.

Baby quickly wrapped its silk around the beast's raspy mouth. The little white puffball leaped nimbly onto the back of the massive water buffalo and began to bind it up bit by bit with silk.

'Baby is amazing!' The little one didn't forget to praise their own Baby: 'You caught such a huge one!'

Lorant selectively forgot that he had only held the rod for a moment to feel the sensation after Lancelot had tired out the opponent. Amidst Baby's nonstop compliments, he puffed out his chest, basking in the moment.

"Sure thing!"