NOVEL NEXT Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Follow Me with All Your Strength (1)
Fully armed mercenaries swiftly gathered in one place under Ghislaine’s command.
Everyone seemed a bit tense, and the mercenaries were lining up like they were in a drill. They had shown some results from the short training they had.
Ghislaine led them immediately to the fortress close to the Forest of Monsters.
“Still seems like the status is a bit lacking.”
The fortress was only hastily constructed to provide basic accommodations for the moment.
It would have been nice to leave once it was completed, but there wasn’t enough leisure to wait that long.
In the past few days, retainers had come around several times with suspicious looks.
Every time, Ghislaine and Belinda gave them half-hearted excuses to send them away, but rumors among the laborers were barely contained and it was getting harder to withstand.
“Anyway, we’ll continue the fortress construction while we’re in the forest…”
Ghislaine loudly declared while surveying the mercenaries around him.
“I’m sure you all have heard the rumors, but the forest is dangerous! If you follow my instructions closely, we can minimize the casualties. Absolutely no actions of your own and stay alert!”
Seeing Ghislaine suddenly appear leading a fully armed force, the soldiers guarding the entrance of the forest couldn’t help but be taken aback.
‘What the heck is this crazy guy talking about…? Going into the forest?’
The soldiers, with blank expressions, tried to somehow stop them, but they lacked the strength to hold back nearly two hundred mercenaries.
Right before entering the forest, once all preparations were complete, Ghislaine briefly closed his eyes, lost in thought.
‘If this works, all eyes will be on this place.’
The Duke Delphine would not stand idly by as Perdium grew.
No, it wouldn’t be just the duke; surrounding lords would start eyeing this place as well.
In a way, Ghislaine’s actions were practically inviting disaster.
‘But I can’t stop now.’
It was plain to see that death was approaching, and waiting around doing nothing was not an option.
‘Do my best as far as I can. That’s the only way to survive.’
Once again steeling his resolve, Ghislaine opened his eyes and raised his hand high.
Just as he was about to lead everyone into the forest, someone shouted and rushed towards them.
“Grand Duke, you mustn’t!”
“Oh, Skoban?”
The one rushing in was Skoban, the current Guard Commander of the Forest of Monsters.
After the orc extermination, he had been drinking himself to oblivion, leading to his demotion, or rather, a punishment.
Ghislaine waited for him to catch his breath, respecting the bond they had formed during the orc extermination.
“Huff, huff, Grand Duke, are you really thinking about entering the forest?”
“Grand Duke, are you really thinking of entering the forest?”
“Yeah, I’m going in now.”
“No, you can’t! The Lord’s orders…”
“Skoban, can I ask you for a favor?”
“Yeah?”
“You made some money thanks to me before, right? Think of that loyalty and help me out.”
At the word “favor,” Skoban’s eyes went wide. He never imagined the Grand Duke would ask him for anything.
Ghislaine was the type to just snatch things away or force people into annoying tasks.
Seeing Skoban’s puzzled expression, Ghislaine chuckled.
“I need to keep the soldiers quiet for a while and keep my entry here a secret. I can’t have the territory’s troops following me right away. If that happens, we might have a knife fight among ourselves. I’m not joking.”
“B-but the mercenaries have already been seen entering the territory by the guards, right? A report is going to come in soon.”
“Exactly, that’s why I told you before. On-site commanders make their own judgments and take action.”
“W-wait, what does that mean…”
“It means to cover for me. We moved somewhere other than the forest. How about it? Can you do it?”
‘I-I have to reject it!’
If caught lying, he wouldn’t be safe either.
But…
Skoban gulped, looking at Ghislaine’s cryptic smile. His eyes sparkled with confidence, much like when they were facing orcs.
It had been the same before. The Grand Duke demanded command on a whim and charged ahead with his own plans.
But thanks to that, they managed to wipe out all the orcs without any casualties.
Seeing that look, he felt an urge to trust him one more time.
In the end, Skoban found himself nodding without realizing it.
After all, the Grand Duke in front of him was someone who wouldn’t listen to reason anyway.
“Now that’s bold. Alright, then buy me some time. Let’s see what you can do.”
Ghislaine turned to Ricardo, who had just caught up.
“Hey, Ricardo! So you’ve become Skoban’s deputy? Congratulations on the promotion. Still looking handsome, I see.”
Ricardo, still not fully grasping the situation, stared at him with a bewildered expression and asked,
“Grand Duke, where are you going?”
“To the Forest of Monsters.”
“If you just barge in there, we, the guards, will die!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you die.”
Ricardo gasped at that.
“Why are you treating me like this!”
“What did I do? You did this last time too, and now you’re at it again.”
Ghislaine clicked his tongue a few times before continuing.
“Anyway, since monsters might pop out, keep a close watch at the entrance. I’ll be back.”
He hurried into the forest before anyone else could stop him.
“Let’s go in!”
Following Ghislaine, the mercenaries slowly moved forward.
Skoban, Ricardo, and the other soldiers could only watch with blank faces.
No one dared to venture into the Forest of Monsters, a place no one had the guts to explore.
That was the moment Ghislaine’s expedition team finally set foot there.
*
They had to walk without bringing even a single horse.
If the monsters attacked, horses could panic and cause more trouble.
All the baggage was loaded onto several wagons, which the mercenaries were pulling themselves.
The entrance of the Forest of Monsters looked just like any regular forest.
A few small wild animals were spotted, and the occasional sound of insects chirping could be heard.
Some of the mercenaries thought it was nothing special, wondering if the rumors were exaggerated.
Among the mercenaries, there were those who thought that the rumors may have been exaggerated.
However, after venturing a little further into the forest, they had no choice but to change their minds.
“From here on, it’s the real deal.”
Everyone nodded at the words someone muttered absentmindedly.
The forest was eerily calm. For some time now, even the sound of insects had faded away. Only a suffocating silence remained.
As they went deeper, the size of the trees began to change.
The tall trees were adorned with large leaves that densely covered the sky.
It was dark.
If it weren’t for the tiny beams of sunlight filtering through the leaves, they wouldn’t have been able to see at all.
A small sigh escaped among the mercenaries.
“Is this why it’s called the forest of darkness…?”
Another name for the Forest of Monsters was the forest of darkness.
True to its name, a heavy darkness enveloped the forest.
Even though it was broad daylight, the mist spread wide at their feet without dispersing, giving off a gloomy aura.
The cool air of the forest wrapped around the group.
“Light the lamps.”
Following Ghislaine’s command, a few mercenaries lit their lamps.
As they held up the lamps, the mercenaries began to exchange murmurs.
“Why did we bring so many lamps?”
“It’s just for show, isn’t it? Is using torches too embarrassing?”
While lamps were much more convenient than torches, they weren’t exactly cheap.
Yet, Ghislaine had prepared hundreds of them.
There were also several boxes stacked, the contents of which were unknown.
The mercenaries hurried to subtly criticize Ghislaine, saying, “Only a noble would spend money like this.”
Once they shared the lamps and had sufficient visibility, the group moved slowly again.
Before long, the path ended, and Ghislaine gave instructions to the mercenaries.
“Start clearing a path from here. Cut down the trees and clear the grass.”
Up until now, there had at least been signs of people passing through, but now there was nothing.
To reach their destination, they needed to do some groundwork.
It would take quite a bit of time, but they had to secure a path now so that the laborers could set up fences and level the ground.
Ghislaine stepped forward, axe in hand, and began chopping down trees.
The sound of wood being chopped echoed through the forest.
“What’s this? The employer is getting his hands dirty?”
“Is that what they call leading by example? Is it some noble dignity? Heh heh.”
“How long can he keep that up? He’s just caught up in the moment, right?”
As they chopped the trees, the mercenaries began to mock Ghislaine.
Rather than respect, laughter arose as he strained himself in a manner unbefitting of a noble.
“Still, he’s chopping pretty well.”
“Yeah, but I bet he’ll stop soon enough. You know how nobles get occasionally, right?”
“True, he must be itching to move after only training in swordsmanship at home. Hahaha.”
Whispers continued here and there, but the Cerberus Mercenary Group said nothing.
They knew all too well that once their employer started throwing punches, it wouldn’t end easily.
Still, they had no obligation to share that fact with the other mercenaries. Such lessons were best learned through firsthand experience.
Belinda approached Ghislaine with a frown and whispered.
“Goodness, why are you doing this, Young Master? If you hired someone, let them do the work.”
“It’s okay. Even one person helping will speed things up.”
“This is strange. You’ve never been like this, Young Master. You wouldn’t even wash yourself as a precious person.”
“…I don’t remember.”
For Belinda, it was just a few days ago, but for Ghislaine, it was a forgettable past from long ago, back in his foolish days.
As the two were bickering, the mercenaries’ strength allowed trees to fall one by one.
With sunlight starting to pour in through the gaps made by the fallen trees, the party’s mood softened considerably.
Even while cutting down trees, Ghislaine never stopped thinking.
“There can’t be any discrepancies from the contents in that journal.”
In his past life, while investigating the Forest of Monsters, Ghislaine had come across a journal written by the Duke Delphine’s expedition team, and read and memorized it until it was worn out.
While he had the desire to reclaim the territory and seize resources, his longing for Perdium made him keep reading it.
The Forest of Monsters was one of the main culprits that blocked the development of the Perdium Territory, but it was also inseparably tied to Perdium.
“Although there’s a time difference, the ecosystem and the habitats of monsters shouldn’t have changed that much.”
He trusted the document that detailed when, where, the type of monster that appeared, and how much damage was incurred, and started this endeavor.
If that information was wrong, it wouldn’t just be about losing money, but the mercenaries could be wiped out too.
He had to move as carefully as possible.
As he concentrated on the work, time quickly passed, and the tension began to ease.
“Isn’t this just gloomy?”
“Right? It seems like everyone’s too scared to come in.”
“If we’re just clearing the path like this, I feel a bit bad for getting danger pay.”
The mercenaries chatted noisily as they sped up their work.
Since the destination wasn’t too far away, it felt like the job would be finished easily.
As they went a bit deeper in, Ghislaine, who was leading, stopped everyone in their tracks.
“Everyone, prepare for combat.”
“Huh? Why?”
“There’s nothing here.”
The mercenaries tilted their heads, peering into the forest visible beyond Ghislaine.
They felt no presence or even the familiar cries of wild animals.
Only thick, large trees obstructed their view.
“Don’t get any closer, back up a little. Get ready to attack.”
Ghislaine repeated.
Gillian cautiously surveyed the surroundings but couldn’t sense anything.
Looking at Belinda, she shrugged her shoulders, wearing an expression of confusion.
In the end, he quietly asked Ghislaine.
“Your Grace, what’s the matter? I can’t feel anything in the surroundings. It doesn’t seem like a monster is hiding.”
Gillian was quite confident in his ability to sense the atmosphere around him.
Hadn’t he easily found the assassins of the wildcat smuggling ring before?
However, Ghislaine shook his head.
“It’s not hiding.”
A phrase from the journal he had seen in his past life flickered in his mind.
[When you arrive at a place full of trees wrapped in thick vines……]
Indeed, the trees standing densely before him were all wrapped in thick vines.
Gillian asked again.
“There’s nothing around but trees, what exactly are you on guard against?”
[They emitted no presence whatsoever. Even the kingdom’s top swordsman, Count Valzac, who had the title of Swordmaster, couldn’t sense anything……]
Ghislaine, carefully observing the trees before him, answered.
“The very thing right before our eyes.”