[center][h2][color=F0E68C]Asteria[/color][/h2][/center][hr][hr]
She’d managed to create a tailstrap knife – perfect! The grass packroll was a success too, but there was no way Ed could possibly carry it by himself to the lakeside town they’d observed. Perhaps they could harness the two or three of them and drag it like that…If they’d had a small cart, that would be even better, as odd as it would be to have rats acting as draft animals. Then again, this was an odd world.

Unfortunately, mother rat resisted Asteria’s attempts to wrap the protective cloth around her. When Ed butchered the goblin, which was rather fascinating if mildly morbid to watch, mother rat stole a piece for herself, and Asteria chittered amusedly. [color=F0E68C]“I’ll go check with the gnome later if that worked,”[/color] she informed Ed. [color=F0E68C]“The meat we have left for ourselves may even spoil before we manage to eat it,”[/color] she considered thoughtfully. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that though.

Asteria listened patiently to Ed’s recounting of the goals he believed they should focus on, and she nodded in agreement several times. [color=F0E68C]“We [i]absolutely[/i] need to get stronger,”[/color] she confirmed. [color=F0E68C]“Right now, we can’t even carry all the stuff we have easily enough to make travelling viable,”[/color] she commented. [color=F0E68C]“I’d like to evolve to a bipedal form – I didn’t choose to do so the first time because I did not want to be stuck in some sort of Ratwoman line, but if I get the chance again, I’ll take it regardless. So yeah, training and evolution definitely sound good,”[/color] the dire rat affirmed.

[color=F0E68C]“I’m all for getting more information about this world in general, though a map and a compass are certainly a good start,”[/color] she nodded. [color=F0E68C]“I’m fine with doing our best to find the Demon King, though I’m personally not too concerned about returning to Earth. Nonetheless, I’d like to meet the person who brought us here and see what to make of him. Who knows, maybe I’ll even feel like leaving this world by then,”[/color] she concluded. She didn’t have anything to add, besides, [color=F0E68C]“I’m going to that other chamber to see if the gnome is willing to offer some information for the food you gave him.”[/color]

She did exactly as she said, entering the room where she’d previously spoken to the gnome beforehand. [color=F0E68C]“Hello? Mister gnome? I hope that food offering my buddy offered was enough to make me semi-welcome here…”[/color] watching if the earth being would appear or not, she added, [color=F0E68C]“Hope I guessed right that food was the thing to bribe you with.”[/color]