An eerie stalemate settled over the Golden Pasture.
For the first time, they seemed to discover Ruger's existence, to realize someone else was standing there-a strange Kobold. Perhaps, in their eyes, Ruger was the oddity, one that even ate grass, and it was the grass that had drawn this dog-headed oddity here. It was as though Ruger had been unobservable to them, and that mouthful of grass had broken through the boundary.
A crowd of unknown things stared blankly at him.
The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Ruger blinked and raised a hand to point. Just then, another strange thing appeared. Like the others before it, it paused upon arriving in the golden grassland, then lowered its head and began eating the nearest grass.
As this newcomer moved, all the strange things lowered their heads again and resumed grazing, one after another.
"Phew-"
Ruger stood where he was for quite some time before gently letting out a breath.
Suddenly, a small strange thing nearby, barely reaching his calf, stopped grazing. That indistinct mass was impossible to make out clearly, but he had the vague impression that it was turning to look at him.
Ruger raised his eyebrows, sorely tempted to walk over and give the little thing a kick.
But it seemed to know better. Soon, it returned to normal, drawn once more to the golden grass.
Rule one for a Wizard's assistant: do not eat the experimental specimens, even if they look harmless, even if they look as though they might taste good.
Ruger silently poked fun at himself and added a rule to his career as an assistant.
He frowned, raised his hands, and began pointing again and again.
Large numbers of strange things, big and small, began appearing across the vast golden grassland.