Chapter 235: Twenty-sixth Episode: Chapter 1-1 (1/2)

Chapter 235: Twenty-sixth Episode: Chapter 1-1

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

If you wanted to understand the soul of a forest, then you should find a stream in the forest that was surrounded by huge trees and walk from upstream to downstream once.

After going past the branches and a bush with blooming flowers, a most common stream could be seen! The flowing water was blocked by the tree roots in shallow parts, so it crashed into the roots and released gas bubbles naughtily. The water flowed from the north toward the south and passed through the forest. It faced many obstacles but paid no attention to any of those. It simply gathered into a kind of force that had never changed for a thousand years. It was just like the muscle that had to stiffen in face of an unavoidable fight.

The seeds of spruce and poplar floated in the stream and sometimes, the grass would flow with the water. The sunlight gradually thinned when it was transmitted through the leaves. There was no reflection on the water. Only a large area of light was left at some wider places just like a group of silver carps that came from the sea.

There were human figures moving about in the forest. The hidden ones took advantage of the thick leaves and the complicated geology in a smart way. He or they went upstream with great speed! Even though it was difficult to distinguish their faces, the sound of flying birds and shuffling branches still betrayed their movements.

The river water flowed peacefully. This noise would not be able to disturb the serenity of the forest. Suddenly, slow footsteps could be heard by the stream! Even though the sound could not be heard unless one listened very closely, the footsteps broke a branch when it approached the stream. The crisp sound of a broken branch made the footsteps stop. After waiting for some time and ensuring that nothing odd was happening, the footsteps began to move again.

A pair of alerted eyes appeared by the stream. The eyes were of dark blue. They kept scanning the surroundings. Slowly, a young man's face was reflected in the stream. A young aura leaked out from that pair of blue eyes from the person's face. He was bearded, and his face was full of oil and sweat. His age could not be determined from one glance. Gradually, the man's body appeared. He was wearing an armor which was full of dust and mud. Both of his hands were holding a bow and there was a double blade hanging by his waist.

”It's Steinberger Family's forest warrior!” the stream could recognize him. It had been two hundred years!

This forest warrior of Steinberger Family quietly squatted by the stream. His gaze fell on the water surface not far away from him. There was an aquatic beetle shining like copper. It was floating on the calm water. A bumblebee was crashing here and there but the water remained unmoving. A butterfly, huge and beautiful, flapped its wing and danced at the brightest place near the stream. Then...

His gaze suddenly set upon something. The pupil of the forest warrior shrunk. A dead body stained with blood lied quietly by the stream, allowing the stream to caress his limbs and the injuries on his back. The injuries were terrible. The forest warrior could see that the injuries were caused by a saber and a wide-blade war ax.

Wellington Steinberger calmed his quickened breathing and made a sign to the forest behind him. Then, more than ten warriors appeared from the forest. They were the same as their young commander with a double blade and a bow in their hands.

”It's Sully!” Colonel Wellington's voice was extremely coarse. He stood up carefully and strings of sunlight fell on him through the branches. The serious young man whose art of archery was superb before was gone. He was tall and had a strong build now. His skin that was exposed to the air was full of scars and appeared muscly.

”Sully?” a comrade of his came forward but he did not touch the body.

”It's him!” Wellington's face stiffened. He was no longer young. His deep gaze was full of determination and his knitted eyebrows and his large beard very well covered up the facial feature of a beautiful man. It was hard to imagine that the messenger who seemed to always be clean before and would always pant when he spoke too fast had actually become a dirty uncle. However, Wellington could hardly imagine that he was still playing chess with his youngest cousin yesterday and today. To be exact, it was during dawn that his Sully was brought away by the fairies in the forest.

”God!” a warrior shouted. He just turned the body over.

Wellington approached him but it only took him one glance to turn away immediately. Those Deiss people had dug his cousin's heart out! The stream water had washed the blood away and the young Steinberger was no longer his previous lively self. His chest had turned into a pile of mud with white meat and chest bone exposed in the air.

There were numerous legends about Blackwood and in these legends were countless brave forest warriors. Steinberger people still wholeheartedly believed that there was a large fairy who manipulated arrows staying in Blackwood. It was this fairy that taught the Steinberger to create arrows and to deal with the enemy in the forest. The great fairy would grant the bravest Steinberger the heart of the forest. It motivated the soldiers who guarded this place as it gave an unbreakable willpower and luck to the soldiers who roamed amongst the enemy.

The Deiss had taken away the heart of a forest warrior. Under usual circumstances, they would not waste such energy on this unless they were facing the Steinberger warrior who owned the heart of the forest! Digging a heart away was naturally something that would incur the wrath of both man and God. However, from the Steinberger's point of view, this was pride. The great fairy had come to retrieve the heart of the forest. He would give the true warrior's heart to the next warrior who had this pleasure.

Sully was the youngest man in this generation of the Steinberger family. According to tradition, he would be enlisted into the family's armed unit when he reached eighteen like all his brothers did serving in the most difficult and dangerous position. This was the fourth day of his enlistment! This number bumped into the mind of Wellington. Sully was counting every single day, counting when he would be able to become a platoon commander and company commander.

He was counting the days when he would become a general, leading numerous soldier dashing toward the enemies like his father.

Sully had the heart of the forest. The evil action of the Deiss had proven this point. His comrades found his empty arrow pouch. Wellington found his blade and there were cracks all over it. A thick layer of dried blood stained the blade.

Sully was believed to had made the time difficult for the Deiss people who chased after him or those people would not dig his heart away!

Thinking of this, Wellington suddenly felt refreshed. He walked across the stream and the icy water woke him up. This stream was the last bloodline of the great fairy. He washed the dirt away for the warrior who had the heart of the forest and let the flowing water bring the precious mind away. At last, Wellington believed that the water would find another thirsty Steinberger warrior in some place in the forest. When this warrior was by the stream drinking to his heart's content, the forest that nurtured him would send him the mind of a warrior via the clear water.

”Allow me!” Wellington approached his cousin and the warriors immediately parted way for him. They watched calmly at their commanding officer. This officer was a legend in the forest. He could defeat a bear with one shot of arrow and slashed the half-meter wide spruce into half. Now….he took off his blade and put down his arrow. He carried his cousin on his shoulder and held his brother's stiff leg with his palms.

”Let me help you...it will be quicker that way,” a soldier came forward.

Wellington was carrying a heavy dead body that was swollen from soaking in the water. He took a difficult step forward, ”It's okay! Since I brought him into the forest, let me bring him out...”

The stream became quiet and the forest warriors were gone even if they did not want to part with this stream. It was this stream that nurtured the forest and the forest, in turn, nurtured the warriors. The warriors continued their journey. They would forever treasure the heart of the forest in their chest. Only the knife of the enemy could bring their mind away, but this was not the end. The water that witnessed all of these would remember the soul of the warrior. It would ask the forest to gather the heart of the warrior.