The horde came into sight before Alexis and her troops did, so Dominic didn’t wait for them.

The next group they came across was only a group of Froggers as the men of Wistover called the species of amphibians with frog like heads and webbed feet.

They didn’t belong out here in the open grasslands, the hard dead grass would hurt their feet, and their gills would dry out with no pond to sleep in. But they couldn’t leave, they were being bound with magic to remain.

"They’re so cute." Amie whispered as they saw the hapless monsters.

"We can skip them if you want. They’re not fast on land, they won’t catch up to us." Dominic suggested.

She crouched low in the grass as she cast a spell, then shook her head. "There is another portal beacon here. We need to get it and destroy it. They’re not going to miss the fact that a full invasion has started, there is no need to spend the time to change the targets on this one."

"Alright. Stick to fire magic. They’re already half dead from dehydration, might as well make it fast."

They moved swiftly, rushing through the long grass. Like Goblins, these were level one monsters, not a high value target. But Dominic needed lots of low level cores to pay debts and workers with.

The more that he could collect on this mission, the better.

[Fireball] imbued into the pistol shots exploded among the Frogger crowd, and the monsters dropped by the dozen.

They were so lethargic from being trapped out of water that they hardly even responded to the attack, and Dominic began to view this as an act of mercy. These poor creatures were suffering.

"You go look for the portal beacon, and I will clean up the monster cores. That’s likely going to take longer than finishing off the froggers did.

It makes me wonder, though. Did they summon at random? Or are they targeting somewhere in a swamp that would actually be a viable target for these guys?

Calling them out here into the grass is a massive waste, and they couldn’t have walked all the way here from the nearest swamp." Dominic noted.

"We will have to try to find out. They might have been brought here with a portal as well. Not summoned, but herded here by a mage with control magic." Amie suggested.

Then, she turned to look at the ground. "I found it. There is a portal beacon right under my feet. It won’t take long for me to relocate it, and this time the monsters might not actually mind if they were sent through without anyone checking."

For amphibians, being sent to the ocean, somewhere offshore and out of sight of land, was not the punishment that it was for other species.

"Perfect, so you can help me collect all these cores. I might need a bigger storage cube if we’re going to be doing this all the time. So many little round things." Dominic joked.

"I think that is a good problem to have, isn’t it? But you should have a safe or vault somewhere in the Manor as well. You can put your valuables in it."

Dominic thought about that for a moment. It made perfect sense, but they hadn’t found one when they looked through the house. At least not one that wasn’t the small personal safe in the office.

The Manor might actually hold a wealth of not just secrets but actual wealth.

"Good point. Money doesn’t have to stay on me, I can put it in the house and trust that it will stay there. Or make it accessible to Alexis and Julio, since they do most of the actual spending anyhow."

Amie laughed at his reluctant tone. "It’s not like you actually need the money. When was the last time that you bought something that wasn’t work related? I mean, have you ever? Even when it’s work around the Duchy, you have someone else take care of the money part while you either help with magic or study."

She had a point. He really should make more of the wealth available to the ones who were paying the bills, so they didn’t have to ask him for it when things needed done.

But on the other hand, holding on to the money made sure that they did actually mention the spending to him.

Not that he distrusted either of them, or thought that Alexis needed his money to do what she wanted. But it was nice to know that they were keeping him in the loop, at least peripherally.

It was better than sitting in the meetings about how the money was being spent.

He would refrain from mentioning that to Amie.

She didn’t know that the issues in his mind stemmed entirely from his reluctance to actually sit through meetings or do paperwork.

With hundreds more level one monster cores in their possession, the duo made their way toward the spot where they expected to find Princess Alexis and her guards.

Dominic’s sensitive hearing could pick out fights from all over the monster horde as the army rolled in, but none of it was distinct enough that he could tell what force was fighting on their side.

Some he could tell what sort of monster it was, though.

"Turn left. I hear Ogres. Not bad to kill, and they pay very well." He instructed.

"I like the way that you think. Though, you’re wrong about the whole ’easy to kill’ part." Amie replied.

"Well, they are magic resistant, but we’ve got some decent blades with us. I should likely make some Rare Grade swords and spears to deal with Ogres. But I keep getting distracted making guns.

They’re just so much more versatile." Dominic agreed.

The mana revolvers did struggle against the Ogres. But with their level this high, and the rare grade, they should only need a few shots per Ogre. Not more than four or five.

That was one reload per monster, so as long as they didn’t get too enthusiastic, they could deal with Ogres easily enough.