Reincarnated in Another World as a P. 1000 Ratte

Age of Strife: A Priest's Plea

Sitting outside a town that he happened to find close to the castle, he looked at the people gathered at the outskirts. They mainly consisted of nervous soldiers and terrified civilians, even though he was well away from the closest paved stone. 

Having nowhere else to go, this didn't seem like a half bad idea. The town was lively when he had first gotten here, so he thought it would be nice to camp out in the surrounding area. 

The liveness of the town dropped when he started to stay for over a day, and the troop presence increased by 2 or 3 fold. It seemed that no matter how long he stayed, people just couldn't get used to him. 

Traffic in and out of the town had stopped altogether, and people who did want travel took a pretty massive detour around him. The only thing going for him was that the soldiers didn't seem as tense when his turrets weren't turned in their direction. 

Upon hearing the sound of marching, he looked through his viewports to see what was going on. A detachment of soldiers was moving out of the town and coming towards him, so he started to turn in their direction. 

*          *          *

Only the thudding of boots accompanied the silence hanging over the soldiers as they made their way towards the monster. Calm on the outside, but it should be noted that all eyes were focused on one thing only. 

The gray creature rumbled as they neared it, and slowly started to face them. Hands tightened on weapons as the monster turned their way, agonizingly testing their patience as it dug up dozens of horse carts worth of dirt. 

Even as they stopped their march, the monster was still moving. Eventually, it stopped, and its main head looked down at the soldiers. Those who had encountered it before relaxed when it didn't blow them up, but the others were struggling to not sweat. 

A guy stepped out front, presumably the captain or something, cupped his hands and yelled, "Hello!" He waved his arms. "Can-you-under-stand-me?" he said slowly, making sure to pronounce every word. 

The monster watched. 

"We-want-you-to-follow-us!" Using excessive hand gestures, he said, "Slowly! Behind-and-slowly!" He paused to catch his breath. "We-mean-no-harm! Just-want-to-say-hi! Yes?"

The monster watched. 

"Ok! Come!" Going back into formation, he received pats on the back for trying. They all turned about face, and marched back. The monster didn't follow them at first, but it took only a second before it started to tail behind them. 

*          *          *

He had no idea what the funny man had said, but judging from how many times he kept pointing at him and the town, he assumed that was the place where the soldiers wanted him to go. 

Keeping some distance away from them, the town was actually quite a bit bigger than he thought. He could see colorful market stalls over the roofs of the houses as well as sprinkling fountains. 

Little gardens were placed here and there, and there was a massive church-like building way in the back, making for a cinematic picture. All this place needed now was actual people going about their daily business. 

*          *          *

"It's an honor to have you here, Your Grace," said a short man in formal wear. "Thank you for coming all this way to see my town in its beauty." 

"The honor is all mine mayor," replied another man who had just finished greeting the soldiers who had come back. Not bothering to correct the mayor, he said, "Your town is a sight for sore eyes."