My Wife and I Became Sages in Another World-Chapter 178: Jungle Beastkins

I ended up saving the two massive alligators that Vespera hunted inside my void pocket since we didn’t want to butcher it right in the middle of the jungle and kept making our way deeper into it.

We flew for most of the way atop the trees, coming down every once in a while to check our surroundings from another view as we couldn’t see much from the air.

After a few more hours of exploring, we spotted a rocky edification not too far from us that looked like a building, so we quickly made our way there to check it out.

To our surprise, it was some sort of abandoned temple that resembled the Mexican pyramids from my past world.

Roots had grown all around its walls, and the rock had eroded heavily, which made me believe that the temple was extremely old and not a recently built structure.

We went up the stairs and saw that the main entrance was missing a door, a very massive one at that, showcasing the dark corridor inside the temple that looked quite eerie.

"Hmmm, should we go in?" I pondered out loud.

Going inside abandoned buildings wasn’t the safest thing to do, but with our magic and my companions, I thought that it wouldn’t be a big deal if something went wrong.

However, just as we started walking toward the entrance, two figures appeared out of nowhere and tried attacking Melina and me. Still, we both saw it coming and quickly avoided it with a back-step.

They were two beastkins, a man and a woman, sharing the same animal features of a jaguar. They wore light clothing made with vines and leather, which made me think that they were residents of the jungle.

"Stop right there, intruders!" the man yelled, pointing his spear at us.

Their weapons looked a bit primitive, but the craftsmanship on their spear tips was exceptional, as I noticed that they were made of adamantite.

Melina and I raised our hands and complied with the beastkins, explaining that we didn’t know we were trespassing.

"You didn’t know? Yeah right... Who are you!?" the beastkin woman said, getting the tip of her spear close to my neck.

I didn’t flinch or move at the threat, but my companions and the battle-maids did, appearing around the beastkin woman with their weapons raised against her and their eyes ready to strike.

"Guys, can we all just calm down?" I calmly asked everyone, lowering the tension as my companions and the beastkin woman still had their weapons raised.

After defusing the situation, we introduced ourselves to the jungle beastkins and explained that we had taken a contract to hunt the giant white gorillas.

Of course, they didn’t believe us at first since they knew that the rest of Kalusia had been taken by Zagor, so we had to tell them about his defeat.

The two jungle beastkins didn’t believe us at first, but after we showed them the contract from the adventurers guild, they reconsidered our words.

They introduced themselves as "Gio" and "Gia," and they were siblings tasked with protecting the entrance to their ancient temple.

I asked them out of curiosity what was inside the temple, and they said that only a special person could enter and obtain the artifact inside. Still, they didn’t elaborate any further on what it was.

Gio and Gia trusted our words thanks to Gina and Carli being with us since beastkin usually wouldn’t betray each other after their pact made thousands of years in the past.

Now that they knew our real intentions, they guided us toward their settlement located close to the temple. It was hidden behind towering trees that would have made it almost impossible to spot from the air.

The jungle beastkins’ settlement was quite lovely for where it was located, though. Their shacks were built on top of the trees, connected by wooden bridges that suspended in the air and connected all of the buildings.

However, the residents seemed to be reinforcing their homes while others walked around with buckets full of water.

A few minutes after arriving, an old beastkin man with the features of a bull came to greet us.

He had a long white beard and two massive bull horns on his head, introducing himself as "Bodego," the acting chief of their settlement.

Gina and Carli talked to Bodego first, explaining that Zagor had been defeated at the capital and the adventurers’ guild had restored their operations in Kalusia.

The old man seemed happy about the news, explaining that they had been doing everything they could to protect themselves from the devil and its monsters and felt glad that they managed to get that far.

"Umm, sir. What do you mean you’ve been protecting yourself from his monsters? Wasn’t Zagor avoiding this area?" I interrupted the man as his words caught my attention.

Bodego approached me and stared into my eyes. He was about my height, so we both just looked straight for a few seconds. Suddenly, he smiled brightly and responded to my question.

He told us that Zagor himself didn’t send any of his units to conquer the jungle since he had multiplied some of the most dangerous monsters that already resided in the area.

"Huh? I don’t really get it..." I said.

Zagor knew that his lesser demons wouldn’t last long if he sent them to the jungle, as the beastkins residing here were cunning and used the environment to their advantage.

Apart from them, the jungle was also filled with dangerous monsters that could easily take on a pack of lesser demons by themselves, so Zagor thought of a different plan to weaken them.

Apparently, the devil had used some strange magic on the white gorilla that we needed to hunt, and there were now dozens of them roaming around.

During the years that Zagor ruled Kalusia, the jungle beastkins had been protecting themselves and fighting the S-ranked monsters that had been attacking their settlements all that time.

’People thought the jungle beastkins were just living their happy lives here. But these guys have been suffering from the devil’s powers too...’ I thought, now more determined to complete our contract.