Chapter 80 (1/2)

“I heard Sir Raynold was fired?”

“Our Lord ordered us all to surround the forest, but Sir Raynold disobeyed the order and sent his men into the forest for a chance at glory. The result of which was Hans’s entire group getting killed.”

“Hans? That third child of the hunter?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Wouldn’t he know the forest better than any of us here?”

“Have you never been here at night before? It gets quite creepy once the sun sets.”

“Hey! Who do you think I am? Back in my day, I used to date my wife here. Kuh! I still remember it like yesterday. My wife saw me sipping on some wine while basking in the moonlight, and she fell head over heels for me instantly.”

“Ha! As if!”

“Hey, it’s true!”

“You lot! Focus! You think we’re here to play?”

The banter between the soldiers grew louder with each exchange, and the knight who was leading the soldiers at the front shouted at them when even he could hear their conversations. The soldiers who were conversing with one another quickly shrunk back and became silent, but some of the more senior soldiers in the group continued to whisper to one another while keeping an eye on the knight.

“Can you believe half of the entire fiefdom’s army was deployed to capture one person? I heard he’s critically injured too.”

“We’re the lucky ones you know. I hear cleaning up the dead corpses of those summoned monsters makes you want to kill yourself.”

“You have a point. What would happen if by chance you got cursed by touching those disgusting things? Uhuk! I never thought I’d get to see monsters in my life. They really do look hideous. But why do we have to do the search ourselves? Can’t we just send in the hounds to do the work?”

“Haven’t you heard? The magical artefact he has even erases his scent so the dogs can’t smell him.”

“Wow! You’d be set for life if you got a hold of that thing alone.”

“Don’t worry. The Lord said he’ll give us a bounty and a share of the artefacts the warlock has if we capture him.”

“Ha! As if that’ll happen. I’m sure the knights will get everything important, and we’ll be given whatever remains.”

“That’s better than nothing.”

“And would you even want to keep artefacts previously owned by a warlock?”

“You’re not so sharp are you? I’m sure any of the magical spires would pay a fortune to get a hold of anything a warlock owned. It’s not just the bounty, but even a small piece of his clothes would net you a decent profit.”

The senior soldiers continued to talk to one another, oblivious to the fact that one of the recruits was keenly eavesdropping on their conversation. The recruit followed the group diligently, when he suddenly noticed a gleam within the bushes.

Curious, the recruit approached the bush to find a ring of an unknown owner. The recruit was about to call out to his seniors, when he remembered the conversation about how he could sell the warlock’s possessions for a high price. Possessed by greed, the recruit carefully looked around and then s.n.a.t.c.hed the ring. As he did, he felt something snap, and that was the last thing he felt.

Smack!

“Uwaah!”

One of the soldiers in the group noticed that a recruit had split off from the formation and was approaching him to give a scolding. But then, he screamed as a ball of wooden stakes dug itself into the recruit’s head.

Seeing someone die was a sight that these soldiers had never witnessed, having never fought in a provincial war before – not to mention that the victim was a fellow soldier whom everyone was familiar with. Everyone fell into a panic, seniors and new recruits alike.

“s.h.i.+t! What happened?”

Everyone gathered around the dead soldier’s body, and even the knight who was leading the group had turned back to join them.

“It was a trap, Sir.”

The knight’s face crumbled at the report he had received. The loss of soldiers was always marked on a performance evaluation. The knight was indeed unhappy that this blunder had clouded his future prospects, but he needed to deal with the body for now.

“Sebril!”

One of the soldiers who returned with the knight seemed to have been close with the dead soldier, as he cried in agony. Seeing this, the knight tried to put up as somber an expression as possible as he gave his order.

“Let’s take his body for now.”

With the order given, one of the soldiers took out a dagger and cut the string tying the stakes together. With a loud ‘bang!’ the ball of stakes exploded and launched the pieces of the wooden stakes into the surrounding like a claymore.

“Aak! My eye!”

“Uwaak! Help!”

The damage had been magnified by the fact that everyone gathered next to the dead soldier’s body. The knight, who was secretly complaining about the situation, was immediately killed when a hand-sized splinter pierced through his eye, and other soldiers screamed in pain as they were turned into a b.l.o.o.d.y mess after being showered in shrapnel.

Logan was leading the way into the forest, cutting through every bush and branch that was in his way with great annoyance. This was because he was deployed to search the forest immediately after eliminating all of the monsters overnight, not allowing him any rest.

Too many things happened over one night. Monsters and a warlock suddenly appeared. Many fellow knights died in the attack, and those unfortunate enough ended up in the stomachs of these monsters. Remembering this fact set his mind ablaze in anger at the warlock.

“That son of a b.i.t.c.h. You just wait. Once I get a hold of you, I’ll wring your head like the chicken you are.”