Chapter 53: Four Kings (2/2)

”Oh... my bad, it's still an habit.''

”Well get rid of it!” She yelled angrily startling Lora awake. It was impossible for someone not specialized in stealth or have an usual amount of perception to sense Albert while distracted so Everytime he moved he was almost used to this type of reaction.

”You're so loud Gail, what's up?” Lora said rubbing her eyes. ”It's nothing, go back to sleep.” Gail replied not wanting her to notice Albert which would end up ruining the current sleeping rotation they had in place. ”Oh, ahhhh-hhaaaaaa okay, goodnight.” She yawned as she folded up and went back to sleep almost instantly.

”So, did you notice anything?” Albert asked again as he hadn't yet received an answer. Gail scratched her messy hair and replied a little hesitantly. ”Well, I'm not sure if this is much but.. um... Ahhh... Although there is movements in this section of the forest, there doesn't seem to be any strategic patterns to it so I'm not sure if it's the scouts, they move semi randomly through the forest so i think they're beasts.”

”Really, what do you mean semi randomly.”

”Mmm... yeah, i think they're changing or expanding territories so most of the weaker monster are moving elsewhere.”

”Expanding their territories? If that was really the case it would mean, one of the four kings has perished.”

”That's why I'm not entirely sure about this, for one of the four monster kings to die in battle, more than one of the other three would have had to team up against them.”

”Yes, although that's not out of the question giving how intelligent they are, a fight between kings would've caused a huge commotion and would never had gone unnoticed even by us, and the fact that the others are making a move in winter proves this was sudden.”

Albert thought about the information for a while, this was a big deal, if one of the four king's that had ruled the Darknar forest for centuries had really died, this would cause massive changes in the entire forest and could even send waves throughout the demon continent.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the four kings or maybe three kings now was also one of the main factors why the Great Five hadn't completely claimed the entire Darknar region. The Darknar forest contained more than half of the resources in the entire Darknar region so the fact that the great Five were hesitant in claiming more territories deeper into the forest show how fearsome the four king's were.

So how would one die without destroying a large chunk of the forest with them. 'Hmm, come to think of it, i had sensed a massive amount of negative energy coming from the direction of the forest a while back. I hadn't paid it much attention back then so perhaps...'

”Captain. Captain! CAPTAIN!”

”Uh, what is it.”

”There is more movements”

Gail said seriously as she watched the forest through her single eye telescope. Albert activated his skill and his eyes glowed slightly and his pupils turned into a slit. He then turned towards the direction she was looking at. His eyes functioned even better than the one eye telescope and he was able see exactly what she was looking at.

Towards the southwest of the forest there were shadows moving around in a section of the forest. Concentrating even harder he could now vaguely make out the shapes of these figures. There was a pack of wolves and judging by their glimmering silver fur, they were most likely silver wolves, engaged in a fierce battle with a different type of wolves and Albert couldn't tell which type just by their fur alone as it wasn't

unique enough.

He could make an educated guess as to which species those were, judging by other factors like their sizes and how they fought on par with the silver wolves they were most likely Dire wolves. Normally these monsters wouldn't run into each other like this as they lived on the opposite sides of the forest. The fact that they were now fighting over territory means the balance of power in the forest had really been broken.

Albert closed his eyes and massaged his temples, his previous elation this morning over the snow went out the window and he was now full of worries. There was no doubt in his mind that the scouts for the Great Five would've already noticed this a while back and had probably already sent words back to their respective families. It wouldn't surprise him if the other families had already received news of this.

He now realize how much he had underappreciated his previous information network when he was a Lord. His information now was surely lacking and he hoped to discuss this issue with Lord Ty as soon as possible. As his thought wondered it seemed like the silver wolves had won in the time he had his his eyes closed and the dire wolves were forced to retreat, both sides having a large number of casualties.

Even the survivors of the brief but intense clash had grievous wounds and were struggling to maintain their ranks almost like they were expecting another round of attacks. Gail let out a sigh and spoke to Albert. ”I think we need to investigate this section of the forest if we want to know what exactly is going on.”

Albert stared at her curiously, the fact that a lazy person like her was actually taking this so serious, shows how serious this situation was.

”You're right.''

”Should we make a request to Lord Ty.”

”A request huh.”

She looked like she was more interested in the situation than him, perhaps it was her instincts as a sentry at play or maybe it was something else but Albert had no choice but to agree with her. However, Lord Ty wasn't available right now and he had no idea when he would be back. Even if he was to sent a team out on his own authority he wasn't even sure if they could exit the barrier without Lord Ty's help.

As he thought to this extent a sudden force enveloped the entire castle. It was a feeling that was hard to describe and every single person in the castle could feel it. Albert was even sure if the barrier wasn't up that this force would enveloped the entire region.

The space inside the barrier felt distorted and heavier, it made every feel like taking even a single step would have dangerous and disastrous repercussions. This went on for only a short while though, as the force was suddenly eclipsed by a presence and disappeared completely.

Albert turned to head back to stare at the castle, a long sigh of relief escaped his mouth as he thought. 'Looks like Lord Ty is finally back.'