Chapter 110

Korobo Forest was vast and dark even in broad daylight. Thick branches hung overhead, covering the sun despite the few dried leaves.

The freshness had disappeared, and the Korobo forest, where humans had only touched its wide roads, remained unchanged, like the belly of an insidious beast.

Some hid, watching the road like the beast’s backbone from afar. It was a group of soldiers and knights. Their number reached thousands, widely surrounding from the middle of the road through the forest to the exit of the forest, which was the beginning of the county.

In their minds, waiting for their prey while holding their breath, the bright future that would unfold if they contributed this time was pictured. There was no lack of anxiety, but it disappeared as they looked back at each other.

The preparations were thorough. Even if the Imperial Knights tried to speed away and run forward upon noticing their presence, several trees and traps were already blocking the way in the direction they were going.

Not to mention it would be of little use to try to avoid the obstacles because the trees standing on the left and right of the wide road would make it impossible to get out of this place on horseback, and even if you got off the horse, would the count’s forces sitting among the trees remain still?

And when they tried to return to the way they came to retreat, the forces already waiting would block the rear, so there would be nothing they could do.

In the most unexpected case where they managed to, the count had ensured that the knights would be in position. So except for a few designated by the count, the Imperial Knights and the 2nd Consort would be buried here.

“Did you hear anything?”

“No.”

“There must be something.”

Raymond, who became more sensitive after hearing the warning that there would be an ambush, stopped the party several times. Everyone was annoyed, but they held it in.

Korobo Forest was a well-known place. At the moment, the party was about to pass through the middle of the forest. As Raymond, who was running in the lead, slowed down again, the others, who were now accustomed to it, pulled the horse’s reins. Slowly, the group’s movements ceased.

“What’s wrong? Did you hear anything?”

When Count Dyke asked, Prince Raymond shook his head.

“No matter how much I think about it, the 2nd Consort is suspicious.”

“Is it because the three things she said shouldn’t happen?”

“The first two are obvious. But isn’t the third one a bit daunting?”

Count Dyke also agreed to some extent on that. Maintain a moderate speed. Never stray from the road, and never scatter.

“Maybe she’s using us as bait.”

But he shook his head unconsciously at the prince’s following words. Apart from his dislike of the 2nd Consort, he was sure she wouldn’t do that. But it would be useless to say this to the prince.

“What can she do alone without us?”

“She might’ve gone over the wall alone to cut off Count Guillaume’s head, right?”

“Ah.”

The 2nd Consort did have the potential and ability to do it, but the moment he tried to persuade Prince Raymond that there wouldn’t be such a thing-

“How ridiculous! Will the subjugation even end after killing Count Guillaume? Isn’t the real enemy Duke Verdin? The battle in the Verdin Duchy will be difficult to win even if we preserve our power as much as possible with the 2nd Consort intact. She wouldn’t do such a thing!”

As a rebuke came from behind, Prince Raymond turned his head to check his opponent.

“Are you affiliated with Viscount Cain?”

When the opponent didn’t answer, Prince Raymond’s forehead wrinkled.

“Right. I heard that Viscountess Cain frequented the 2nd Consort’s Palace. Hmm.”

“It has nothing to do with that. I was just stating the truth-“

“Shut up. Even a count’s knight dares to make unreasonable excuses!” Count Dyke rebuked him in a heavy tone. 

The atmosphere of the subjugation team, which had been bad, turned worse. They were initially improvised personnel made of people from different groups. And now cracks appeared, weakening the already weak solidarity.

“How long since the 2nd Consort left her seat?” Someone’s murmur reached the ears of many, but none of them could deny it.

“In any case, since we decided to do it, shouldn’t we follow the instructions? The general of this subjugation group is the 2nd Consort. We can’t change our plans at will.”

They thought it was a Centrist knight from the Imperial faction speaking this time, but it wasn’t. Count Dyke was honestly a bit surprised because it was an Eastern knight. Prince Raymond was reluctant, too, but that didn’t mean he had a different mind.

He was just trying to lead the mood in his direction, so he felt terrible when an Eastern knight—not a Centrist knight—pointed out these things.

As he was about to retort that the knight talked without knowing the subject, his spine suddenly became cold. There was no way that the other knights, especially Count Dyke, didn’t feel what he felt.

On the left and right sides, one could see black figures covering one’s head among the trees standing far away. They resembled a long wall built on both sides of the road.

“There really is an ambush.”

The 2nd Consort’s prediction was correct. Everyone had said that a woman who’d never commanded an army would soon reveal her limits. However, the 2nd Consort naturally controlled the 300 knights of different origins and affiliations as she wanted and saw through the enemy’s strategy.

Despite confirming her ability once again, Prince Raymond turned back his head.

“Prince!”

When Count Dyke called him, Raymond swallowed and looked straight ahead. And the subjugation team started moving again.

***

Elisha, who’d separated from the subjugation squad alone, was running on a tree. She checked that there were a lot of forces below, waiting for the day to turn blue. Count Guillaume was so thoroughly prepared.

Everyone wanted to fight while looking down at the opponent from a position that was advantageous to them. Count Guillaume didn’t surprise the subjugation squad until they entered Korobo Forest because he thought it was more profitable.

In the same way, Elisha also entered the Korobo Forest, knowing that Count Guillaume was waiting for her, because she thought it was advantageous to her and the subjugation squad.

Regardless of whether Count Guillaume accepted it as the arrogance of the 2nd Consort or considered it the subjugation squad’s qualification, the two forces would eventually meet in Korobo Forest. Only then would they know whose gamble was right.

Elisha continued to the left side of Korobo Forest. Moving at high speed, a hollow canyon was revealed at the end of the forest, and a sheer cliff stood beyond it.

Behind the cliff was a reasonably high mountain, but it didn’t lead to Guillaume County. Elisha looked down the canyon from the edge of the forest. The place where the water would have been swirling in the past has dried up, and the bottom has been exposed.

But this was better than the area near Polek in the Syuphl Barony during the westbound trip. At that time, the village where Elisha stayed was a place where it was dangerous to step out of the path people used.

Elisha raised her gaze from the canyon and looked around. She’d heard in her previous life that it was somewhere around here.

The type of monster that lived in the vicinity where there were few people and water. At first glance, it looked like a tree, but when touched, its skin was smooth and bobbed like human skin. The inside wasn’t a hard wick but filled with toxic purple liquid, which would be troublesome when it exploded.

However, it didn’t attack first unless someone invaded its territory. So most people would rather avoid Forge rather than fight.

Dell’s discovery of Forge in her previous life had nothing to do with Count Guillaume. It was said that Dell had been fighting a battle in the baron’s territory across the canyon in front of her, and someone had stopped him from escaping and mentioned Forge.

It was difficult enough to cross the canyon, and once you enter the realm of the Forge, it would be difficult to overcome them. But Dell had never been a good listener. He could even rebel against Elisha, barking loudly.

Although he would eventually follow Elisha’s will, at that time, Elisha hadn’t been there, and Dell had almost died.

There were so many things to do, and he’d almost killed himself. What would he have done if her future schedule went wrong?

Elisha had feared that she wouldn’t see Dell again. She’d feared that he would die with only the shabby shell he had right now, without ever having the splendid name he wanted. As she bit her tongue, Elisha’s eyes, recalling that time, contained what she was looking for.

“I’ll give you a prize when I return,” she muttered.

Whatever the reason is, I was wrong, so I’ll pay a fine. I couldn’t give it to Dell in my previous life, so I’ll pay him several times more in this life.

Elisha approached the Forge colony. Forge that would shake branches and threaten only when someone entered its territory tried to make threats by hissing even though Elisha had only appeared nearby.

She’d expected this to happen. Even all the other monsters were running wild, not to mention Forge, who was more sensitive to water than other monsters.

Elisha waved her hand toward a group of Forge.

Pang!

As the stream hit them, the upper part of their skin was torn lengthwise, revealing the green pupils inside.

Pang! Paang!

Elisha struck hard enough to shake their entire colony. They lifted up their roots that had been stuck on the ground.

Pssh! Psssh!

The first one pulled out a root from the ground. It stepped on the ground as the other roots were pulled out. Soon, the Forge, fully raised, looked at Elisha.

It was unknown whether it was because Elisha had attacked them or because they smelled water properly after a long time, but one thing was sure. When Elisha retreated, they began to chase her out of their territory.

Forge didn’t need a separate area to stay in. When hundreds of Forges took root, it became their colony.

Shh! Shhh!

Mouthless things staggered toward Elisha. One could feel the desperation that they wanted to put her in the middle of their colony.

Elisha moved quickly to lure them in. The monsters she encountered along the way were a bonus.

Thuuuuud!

One side of Korobo Forest began to shake as if an earthquake had occurred.