The silence Alex had caused was thick enough to chew through.
One of the gatekeepers actually stumbled backwards, eyes locked onto Brontes as if he was the most fearso, dangerous being she had ever encountered.
…And she was most likely correct.
Barely anybody had the fortune, or misfortune in most cases, to encounter a Divine class beast, and so the fact that there was one standing right amongst them, acting so casual and ta the whole ti without them knowing…
It left a weird taste in everyone's mouths.
Everyone except Alex, of course.
He was already used to the attention his beast companion caused.
The Grand Cartographer, trying to keep up her act of composure, blinked not once – not twice, but three tis – before slowly turning her head to Alex.
"A divine beast…" She echoed, the words leaving her mouth with the sa reverence that one might use when ntioning sothing taboo.
"You… failed to ntion that."
Alex shrugged, feeling unapologetic. "Must I announce our strength everywhere we go? That would get tiring very quickly."
Brontes, as if on cue, gave a deep, guttural snort and lowered his massive head to glare at the Solari in the room with them. Alex could feel the mischievous emotions crossing over through his connection to the beast, so he knew he was just playing a little prank on everyone.
But nobody else could tell he was just goofing around.
The strange beast's eyes above his jagged snout shimred, as if he was about to do sothing unforgivable.
He slowly opened his mouth, and not knowing whether it was a hallucination or not, Reluun, the gatekeepers and even the Grand Cartographer herself started to see a strange light brewing at the back of Brontes' throat.
The looked towards Alex with pitiful, rciful gazes, but their throat caught any attempt to speak before they could do so.
And Brontes…
Buuuurrrrp!
Let out a hearty belch…
He let a satisfying snort escape his lips before he collapsed down in satisfaction.
Reluun, looking like he might just implode at any mont from second hand shock, sputtered. "A-A Divine Beast!?? That… He was with us the entire ti!? In the fracture! While I was talking to you!?"
"Yep." Alex said, popping the 'p' with a casual glee.
"And you didn't think that might be worth ntioning?!" Like I said to Miss Grand Cartographer over here, doing that with everyone I et gets tedious very, very quickly. Besides, hiding our strength makes our lives much easier. Do you know how awkward it is to simply go around town when everyone is either scared of you or reveres you? I just want to have so normal interactions with so normal people man." Alex shrugged and sighed as so unwelco mories were brought back up.
Reluun's mouth opened, closed, then opened again – only to give up entirely. He waved his hands in the air as if physically throwing away the conversation.
The Grand Cartographer pressed her fingers together beneath her chin, her expression unreadable.
"This changes many things…" she murmured. "Divine Beasts do not appear lightly. To have one tad makes you infinitely valuable to almost every interested party in the universe… You are wise to conceal both your, and this beast… Brontes' strength." She paused.
"The powers at the centre of the universe might not see the risks vs rewards worth it to recruit the stronger Higher life forms of your civilisation, but if they found out that you had a Divine Beast bonded to you, they wouldn't waste a second to co searching for you, personally."
The Grand Cartographer's words made Alex frown. Sure, this was sothing he hadn't delved too deeply in since in his opinion, he still had much more pressing things to worry about.
But after hearing her speak, he knew that this couldn't be taken lightly.
"What would happen, hypothetically, that back in the outside universe the news of my taming of Brontes wasn't concealed, and many were there to witness his birth and our subsequent bonding…?" Alex asked this question, but he felt like he already knew how she was going to answer.
"That depends, in this hypothetical scenario, who was there to witness it?" The Grand Cartographer asked, frowning.
She knew where Alex was getting at, and she knew all too well that this 'hypothetical' situation had most likely happened for real.
"A few of the strongest S tiers of my civilisation, along with a few strong S tiers and other higher life forms from other civilisations – though most of them were killed, I should add. But what would the likelihood be if through so advanced thod, they could discern how they had died, or what had killed them?"
The frown on the Grand Cartographer's face deepening was all Alex needed to see for his question to be answered.
'Fuck.'
The scowl that appeared on his face confird that Alex was in such a peculiar situation for the Grand Cartographer.
She steepled her fingers beneath her chin.
"You've ignited a fuse, Alex." She said after a long pause. "One that leads to a warhead that you, not even with the help of your Divine beast companion over there, may be ready to defuse."
Alex didn't respond right away. His mind was already moving, already racing.
He had always known at the back of his mind that there would be consequences to his very public awakening, and taming, of Brontes. Heck, he'd been born in the middle of a warzone, though it would be more accurate to say that he was the warzone, considering they battled on what they originally thought was a planet, only to be Brontes' shell.
And now, he understood just how dangerous that visibility might've been.
"Those who survived that day would have spread the tale," he murmured aloud, not needing the Grand Cartographer to spell it out for him.
The Grand Cartographer nodded, adding on: "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you should consider that the most likely leak of such information would co from internal sources… like one of the S tiers that witnessed your… situation."
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