Legendary Beast Master: Starting with Contracting SSS Rank Dragon

Rias ignored everyone's surprised gazes and went to sit on top of Jon, who happily gave her way so that she could be comfortable. He really looked up to her and did everything according to her desires.

Kael had wondered if he had begun to love her, but apparently, the big lion didn't have any such thoughts about her. He truly looked up to her, and she was no different than Kiona to him.

Rias cleared her throat and said, "So, yes, the first thing I did was gather the most important information there, and that was that their Chief is dying. Because of that, the Tribe is in panic and was even on the verge of civil war."

"Huh? Why is that?" Kael asked. "Don't tell me that guy is the Tribal Chief's son, so some Ogres are opposing him."

"He is one of the candidates to become the next Tribal Chief, but he isn't the heir," Rias said. "Their Chief only had three daughters and no son. While those daughters are strong, they are still very weak compared to the men of the tribe."

"So now the Tribe is divided into factions?" Kael guessed.

"Yes, but the Chief doesn't want that, so he decided to settle this with a competition of Champions. Whoever wins in it will marry his eldest daughter and become the next Tribal Chief. As the Ogres value strength over everything else, everyone agreed with it."

Kael hummed and said, "Ogres don't like to scheme; they would rather solve their problems with fists than with trickery, so this really is the best solution. The next Tribal Chief would be chosen based on strength, so they would also respect him."

"Clearly, there is an exception," Rias muttered.

Kael chuckled and nodded, "Yes. He is an exception to this, it seems. He is scheming to make himself stronger than the others. He's even using the excuse of hunting a monster to do his dirty deeds."

His hunt not only gave him the chance to absorb wild souls but also showed his dominance and power to the Tribe. After all, his group actually managed to take down a C-Rank monster without any casualties.

"Anything else?" Kael asked.

"Yes, apart from the Chief, none of them are named, and they just call each other whatever. There are a total of 328 Ogres of all types. The strongest is the Chief, who is on Tier 4 of the Ogre Evolution Tree—an Ashen Warlord named Callisto—and at B-Rank."

Seth and Kiona sucked in cold air hearing that. This was probably the strongest being they were facing, if they didn't count the damned Crimson Tree of the Labyrinth.

What was B-Rank? Just one step away from the Demi-God Rank, where one sheds their mortality and achieves semi-divinity.

For a moment, they were quite fearful of this mission with the addition of a B-Rank, but then they remembered Rias was with them and relaxed.

Although they hadn't seen her true strength, she was still the invincible lady in their hearts.

Rias ignored their expressions and said, "There are a total of five C-Rank Ogres in the Tribe, but only two of them have managed to become Ashen Warlords. There are a dozen or so D-Ranks and plenty of E-Ranks. The rest are all F-Rank, as you would expect. Even the children born there are of F-Rank or E-Rank directly."

She paused as she just remembered something and said, "There was also a piece of information I managed to pick up, but it was mostly passed around as a joke. They were saying that there was a prophecy which stated the volcano would erupt and drown their whole Tribe once they changed the Bloodline ruling them. That would be the end of the Ashfall Ogre Tribe."

"It could be true," Kael said as he turned to look in the volcano's direction. "I was getting an uneasy feeling from it. It might seriously erupt soon and kill everyone. What is their stance on this matter?"

"What would you expect from dumboes!" Rias shrugged. "It's been many centuries since the volcano last erupted, and even in recent times everything has been peaceful, so they believe that all of it was a joke made by the ancestors of the current Tribal Chief to remain in power. After all, there would be signs if the volcano was really about to erupt."

"Not necessarily," Kael said as he thought about the information he had just received.

One thing was certain—unless he asked Rias to help them, there was no way they could defeat this Tribe. It was quite strong and would wipe them out.

Of course, Kael had confidence in himself and his family that even if they went down, they would surely cripple the Tribe by killing a lot of them.

But he didn't really want that. He wanted this Tribe for himself, especially since it was clear that not everyone was associated with that Ogre doing the Dance of the Dead.

And the opportunity to do that was right in front of him.

"Master, you're thinking of taking part in the competition, aren't you?" Kiona asked, as she could practically see through his thoughts.

"Why? Are you jealous?" Kael asked in a teasing voice.

"Why would I be? I already told you that you will have many women beside you. It's inevitable even if you refuse, so why bother with ridiculous sentiments?" Kiona shrugged. "Besides, if my man is wanted by many, it shows that he is very formidable. I'll be the proudest person for that."

Kael laughed hearing her reasoning while Rias muttered to herself, "Why do I feel like she would be called out for her words in some other worlds?"

Kiona paused before adding, "Besides, this is the best course of action. We want them to be a part of our nation, and we can't do that by force—or at least, you don't want that. So fighting is really the last resort since it will also lessen the number of Ogres that can join us. So I support you on this decision. Kick all those burly asses and bring back their princess."

A mischievous glint passed through her eyes as she thought, 'I will handle her then. She needs to learn to be a part of this family.'

Kael could see that something crazy was being cooked in her mind, but he ignored her and turned towards Rias, "She is right, but I'll need your help."

"Why? You aren't confident in defeating them alone?" Rias asked. "I'm sure you can defeat everyone except two of them. They are rather strong even for C-Rank, and you are only at D-Rank. But they also can't win easily."

"I'm assuming one of them is that bastard who is messing with Death?" Kael asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.

Rias nodded, "Yes. What he does is use the modified Dance of the Dead to attract weak Souls and then absorb them like Soul Force. Normally, this would be nigh impossible, but the souls can't resist the influence from the Symbolism of Death."

She clenched her fists and said, "It gives him a portal of Soul Force from those weak souls and also a few Skills. It is similar to devouring Authority."

Kael froze upon hearing that but quickly returned to normal and pretended as if he was deep in thought, 'Devouring, huh.'

"But Sister Rias, doesn't this harm his soul and maybe even restrict his rationality and also future potential? It seems like a very reckless and dangerous method meant to seek death... well, yes."

"Because it is dangerous. It kills your potential and also fills you with madness. Even people with Death Affinity would find it hard to deal with a situation like his. It's a long-gone cause," Rias said.

"He is a ticking time bomb who can explode at any moment," Kael sighed and asked, "When is the competition?"

"Day after tomorrow."

Kael nodded, "We will go to them tomorrow and ask them to let me participate in the competition. I need to win the competition so that everything goes smoothly."

[Flag raised.]

'Shut up!'

"But Master, they will never allow an outsider to participate in the competition. Who would want their Tribe to be led by someone of another race?" Kiona asked.

"Was there any rule that restricted the participation of outsiders?"

Instead of answering Kiona, Kael asked Rias, who shook her head without even thinking, "They are too dumb and arrogant to focus on such rules."

"Great!" Kael smiled. "And if they dare go back on their word, then we have a deterrent here with us."

"You plan to use me to scare them?" Rias asked.

"Yup! It'll work for the short term since we aren't really hostile to them. Even if Ogres are known for being muscle-headed, they also value their lives, so they won't provoke us recklessly," Kael grinned and explained.

"And then using the opportunity, Master can win the competition, win a wife, and also win a Tribe. Woah!"