Chapter 61 (1/2)

Seol Ji-Hu stared at the march of hundreds of beasts as they kicked up a mighty dust storm on the rugged terrain.

”O—iii!!”

Ian raised his hand and waved it while shouting out. Someone from the march also raised a hand as if to reply back. When that happened, the cavalry slowly decreased their ground-shaking march.

A beast boasting the greatest size among them approached the location where the expedition team was. Shortly thereafter, the beast stopped in front of Ian.

When the rider pulled on the reins hard, the horse-like creature went prrr! and reared on its hind legs.

”I didn't expect you to arrive before us, Ian.” (?)

A voice that sounded at once vivacious and energetic but also refined could be heard coming from the top of the beast.

Ian replied with a short bow and a smile.

”How dare a gentleman be tardy when invited by your majesty, Princess Teresa Hussey?” (Ian)

”Thank you for your kind words. I was worried that you might ignore the invitation.” (Teresa Hussey)

Teresa smiled, before turning her shapely chin away to shout at her men.

”We shall take a short break here! With the exception of the soldiers entering the Arden Valley, the rest will immediately prepare to return to Haramark with the carriages and the horuses!!” (TL: Not sure if the author was going all Konglish on ”horse”, but in the raw, the horse-like beast is called as ‘horuse'. So, I'll go with that. Hope I'm not wrong here….)

Instantly, lots of activity broke out behind her.

Ian slowly rubbed his beard.

”But, isn't there a road leading to the fortress? By riding on horuses, we should get there much faster compared to running on foot.” (Ian)

”Well, the communication with the sentries posted on the road to the fortress has been cut off as well.” (Teresa Hussey)

Teresa replied in a clear voice and elegantly dismounted from her horuse. When her feet landed on the ground, a loud metallic clank resounded out.

”Which means….” (Ian)

”It's obvious. The sentry posts have been lost already. And we don't know if there's an ambush lying in wait for us. Rather than taking on the risk, it'll be better to climb up the Dawn Peak to survey the situation first.” (Teresa Hussey)

Ian nodded his head as if he understood her intention.

With a fatigued look on her face, Teresa Hussey scanned her surroundings, and upon finding the team of Carpe Diem silently standing to the side, she winked at them.

”Been a while, Dylan, Cho Hong, Hugo.” (Teresa Hussey)

Dylan bowed slightly to greet her, while Hugo raised his hand and waved it. A cold aura was oozing out of Cho Hong as she deliberately avoided the princess's gaze.

Next up, Teresa's disinterested gaze s.h.i.+fted over to an unknown young man staring back at her; he kind of looked dazed at the moment.

”….And this gentleman here is?” (Teresa Hussey)

”He's an Earthling that graduated from the Neutral Zone during March this year. He's a comrade who partic.i.p.ated in the scouting of the Forest of Denial with us.” (Dylan)

”Oh…. Wait a minute? Hold on. If you're talking about this year, then he's only a level 1?” (Teresa Hussey)

Without realising it himself, Dylan took a look at Seol Ji-Hu. And then, didn't open his mouth anymore.

The youth was simply staring, utterly dumbstruck….

….At the beautiful woman and her pale smooth skin that seemed to have shunned sunlight until now.

Suddenly, there was a gust of wind.

As she was not wearing a helm, Teresa's hair flowing down to her shoulders like a waterfall danced in the air. Her pale pink-coloured hair playfully wavered about, scattering reddish-golden sparkles around at the same time.

When Seol Ji-Hu gazed into her deep, profound eyes that were seemingly carved out from a Pink Star and emitted the same golden hue like her hair, he was finally able to regain his senses.

Sunlight reflected off her marvellous silvery-platinum armour, making it hard to keep his eyes open.

Seol Ji-Hu placed his hand on his chest.

Thump, thump - his heart was beating wildly.

‘But, why?' (Seol Ji-Hu)

He failed to hide his fl.u.s.tered state.

The moment he saw her, he was captured by an unexplainable emotion. Although it didn't violently rampage about in his head, he was overcome with this inexplicable sense of deja vu.

'….Right. Must be….' (Seol Ji-Hu)

”Argh! Let's chat after we sit down first. I haven't caught a wink of sleep for the past two days, so…. Ouch, even my a*s hurts like h.e.l.l.” (Teresa Hussey)

Teresa tore her gaze away from him with ‘Oops!' and as if she was performing a light exercise routine, began turning and loosening her lower half. And then, after finding a boulder with the right size, she strode there and plopped down on it.

She even beckoned others to come and join her.

Ian opened his mouth first.

”It is truly praiseworthy that you have set off as soon as possible with a contingent of elite troops, but the Parasites have been making a mockery out of our expectations every time. If they are using radio wave interference to block the communication, then we do need to hurry, but you must consider the possibility that the fortress has already fallen.” (Ian)

”I know that. That's why we're climbing up the Dawn Peak first, too.” (Teresa Hussey)

”In that case, I shall follow. However, what are your plans if it's the latter situation?” (Ian)

”You mean, the fortress has fallen already. Just thinking about the dogsh*t… Cough, cough!! Argh, G.o.dd*mn it!” (Teresa Hussey)

Kaahk, ptooi!!

Teresa's rather beautiful eyes suddenly narrowed to a slit; she roughly spat on the ground before taking several large gulps of water from a bottle.

”Oh my gosh. My bad. My throat was hurting a little, what with riding hard and fast on this dry desert sand.” (Teresa Hussey)

Teresa covered her mouth ‘primly' and grinned brightly. Others didn't mind that at all, but Seol Ji-Hu's face looked as if he was struck dumb by a huge culture shock.

‘What the h.e.l.l.' (Seol Ji-Hu)

Her outer appearance of a dignified knight was straight out of an old-school fantasy epic, yet the way she acted was straight out of those backstreet hooligans.

‘Did he mean this by saying those words back then?' (Seol Ji-Hu)

Seol Ji-Hu recalled what Ian had said not too long ago, and told himself that he should try to be more understanding.

Well, going by the examples of both Maria and Cho Hong, he should be able to get used to this, too.

”What can we do? We go back home. However, I think the possibility of the fortress falling to their hands is very low. The Arden fortress is a heaven-defying defensive structure. Simply by utilising the surrounding topography well, the fortress's personnel can defend against an army several times bigger in size.” (Teresa Hussey)

”Che, it's not even finished, you know.” (Cho Hong)

”Well, it's almost finished, you know.” (Teresa Hussey)

When Cho Hong spoke up in an icy voice, Teresa eloquently returned the volley. Then, she crossed her arms and frowned slightly.

”However, something just doesn't add up. I definitely had lots of sentries stationed all over the place, so how did the enemy manage to sneak attack us…?” (Teresa Hussey)

”I have something to report in that regard.” (Ian)

Ian informed her in a swift but well-organised fas.h.i.+on on the result of the scouting of the Forest of Denial. Teresa's eyes narrowed to a fine slit when they got to the part about the ambush of Lioners.

”That's impossible. How could the b*stards calling the mountains on the other side their home enter there?” (Teresa Hussey)

”If I were to offer up an opinion, then I believe they were chased away.” (Ian)

”Chased away?” (Teresa)

Teresa quickly let out ”Ah!” after that.

”That certainly does make sense. Sensing the presence of the scouts, the Parasites traversed through the mountainside next to the forest, and the Lioners ended up running away towards the Forest of Denial after sensing the approaching danger…. G.o.dd*mn it. I should've commissioned the scouting of that d*mn forest sooner.” (Teresa)

”And also….” (Ian)

Ian then made a short report regarding the demise of Samuel's and Kahn's teams. Teresa hid her face while sounding deeply unhappy.

”Screw this. Losing Vanessa already hurt like h.e.l.l, but now, Kahn's and Samuel's teams are all annihilated…..? When we need every single high-levelled ranker we can find….” (Teresa)

”I understand your concern, but the current situation is far too urgent, your majesty. Right now, the soldiers of the Arden Fortress could be locked in a bitter battle of attrition, believing only in the timely arrival of the kingdom's support.” (Ian)

Teresa wordlessly nodded her head. She let out a soft groan and rubbed her cheeks, before s.h.i.+fting her gaze over to Dylan.

One of the reasons why the army decided to stop here, even though the situation was urgent, was to take a short break. But, there was also another, much more important reason, as well.

”Whew…. Dylan, what are your thoughts?” (Teresa)

Dylan quietly waited for her to finish.

”I'm well aware that you're tired from the scouting of the Forest of Denial. However, I'd feel a whole lot more rea.s.sured with a trustworthy Arch Shooter and two experienced warriors watching my back.” (Teresa)

She extended an invitation while sneakily raising the evaluation of the other party. However, Dylan remained impa.s.sive as he opened his mouth.

”How many Earthlings heeded the recruitment call?” (Dylan)

”……..It's not even 100.” (Teresa)

”Surely, you should know the exact number of them.” (Dylan)

”It's 68. 12 Level 4s, 56 Level 3s. Ian is the sole Sorcerer, while we have four Priests.” (Teresa)

”That's far too few.” (Dylan)

As soon as Dylan displayed signs of doubt, Teresa squeezed her eyes shut.

Cho Hong snorted loudly.

”Of course there are only a few. Aren't these the consequences of your actions?” (Cho Hong)

”Consequences?” (Teresa)

Cho Hong had been waiting for this moment, so when Teresa curtly replied back, she went on a full-on snide attack.

”You know what I'm talking about. You forcibly got this thing off the ground, so we all thought you had the confidence to take care of stuff by yourselves. From what I hear, not one answered your draft notice, right?” (Cho Hong)

”If you really thought like that, I'm disappointed.” (Teresa)

Teresa shot back in a tone of voice that said, ”How can you even say such things?”

”How many times do we need to say it before you finally understand? This is something we simply had to do. Once completed, we'll have ourselves a st.u.r.dy fortress that will encompa.s.s the entire mountain range, you know?” (Teresa)

”Gimme a break. And that's why others were saying, you honestly think the Parasites won't do anything and just let it happen? Look, they came invading already! Why did you have to poke a…..?” (Cho Hong)

”But, that's not such a bad thing.” (Teresa)

Teresa cut Cho Hong off there.

”….What?” (Cho Hong)

”At a bare minimum, we'd be helping indirectly.” (Teresa)

”And we'd be helping who now?” (Cho Hong)

”Who do you think it is? The Federation, obviously.” (Teresa)

Cho Hong formed a dumbfounded expression.

”I can't even bring myself to call you a thick-headed idiot. So… Well, have you forgotten the fact that the core of the Federation is actually made up of those foreign races that invaded the Paradise in the first place?” (Cho Hong)

”Of course I remember. I fought them off several times myself.” (Teresa)

Teresa nonchalantly replied and began her explanation.

”Currently, the warfare between the Federation and the Parasites are getting far more intense.” (Teresa)

”I know that.” (Cho Hong)

”I acknowledge my oversight in failing to consider the possibility of the Parasites traversing through the rugged, hostile terrain of the neighbouring mountain range. However, it is undeniable that we managed to draw their attention away by building a fortress there. And they even attacked us, too.” (Teresa)

”Oh, so you wanna split their focus, is it?” (Cho Hong)

”That's right. The Federation had been expending all of their military might to fight the Parasites, but with us doing this, they should feel less of a pressure now. Of course, it'd be no more than splas.h.i.+ng a couple of cups of water on the bonfire, though.” (Teresa)

”Oh boy~. You must be feeling pretty comfy with your life now? Worrying about the folks over at the Federation and all.” (Cho Hong)

”You shouldn't take this issue so lightly like that.” (Ian)

Ian cautiously offered his opinion, having been quietly listening to the t.i.t-for-tat between the two ladies.

”I don't know what your thoughts are, but I wholeheartedly agree with the princess's opinion.” (Ian)

Ian slowly stroked his salt-and-pepper beard and continued on.

”Once upon a time, the Beastmen Alliance boasted the second greatest power in this land, but eventually, they couldn't withstand the Parasites' offensive and ended up being destroyed. Meanwhile, we humans stood by the side and did nothing. The end result was that, only a few remnants of the formerly-glorious Beastmen survived and they had to enter the Federation in order to survive.” (Ian)

”The battlefront we have to fight in has increased by two folds, as a result. And, the Parasite army grew even stronger after preying on the corpses of the Beastmen, too.” (Teresa)

Teresa wrapped the strand of her attractive hair around her index finger while muttering out helplessly. Ian, too, looked rather bitter about that.

”You all heard about the Cave Fairies joining the Federation recently. To be more specific, they have entered the Federation that the Sky Fairies have entered first.” (Ian)

Now that Seol Ji-Hu thought about it, he could just about recall Dylan and Ian discussing that very matter earlier.

”Those two might have come from the same ancestors, sure. The important point here is that these two opposing forces that had been at constant loggerheads with each other for centuries - nay, millenniums - are joining hands. I want you to think carefully about how pressed and desperate the Federation must've been for such a situation to occur.” (Ian)

Seol Ji-Hu listened to those words and quietly agreed with them.