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The scouts escaped from the forest and proceeded to cross River Gris, bringing back the news of the enemy knights’ invasion from the Palas region.

Brendel’s young attending wizard wore a long robe, held a staff with his hands and stood on the watchtower, looking towards the north as far as he possibly could, then turned around and spoke:

“The casualties are far heavier than expected. The scouts stationed in the north suffered a death toll that’s higher than fifty percent. All of them are veteran soldiers with rich experience. In addition to this, we lost another fifty men and have three times the number of injured men within three days at other defense lines.”

Ciel took a pause before throwing down another line:

“If I’m the lord, I would have rolled up my blanket and flee.”

“Which is why you’re not the lord.” The Elven Princess who wore a suit of silver armor glanced at him and answered emotionlessly.

Medissa wore a unique pointed helmet that covered her small face completely. Her lips were pursed tightly and she looked dignified.

“He’s trying to remove our scouts. Is there some kind of scheme?”

“Maybe not. This most likely happened because Lord Palas know we have Subterrane Dwellers. He probably doesn’t want to be attacked on the flanks during a battle, avoiding the mistake that Lord Macsen made.”

“Truly difficult to deal with,” Ciel shook his head, his eyebrows were nearly about to bunch together, “I wonder if we can delay them for another three days.”

The full army of Count Randner had already arrived—

“There are people in the nearby forest!” Someone shouted.

The first glint of light appeared in the forest, and a knight covered in full armor appeared at the edge of the forest near River Gris’s opposite bank. Very quickly, more men appeared behind him. That knight raised the flag in his hand and stabbed it viciously into the riverbank’s loose soil. The flag unfurled to show a sky-blue pattern.

The emblem of Lord Palas’s hunters.

“The north, even the east.....!”

“That’s a lot.”

The soldiers who wore intercrossed red and blue uniforms came gushing out; their numbers were no less than a thousand. Ciel watched an archer shoot an arrow from River Gris towards the city, and the projectile struck the ground approximately fifty paces from Firburh’s walls.

“Are they preparing to attack the city right away?” He glanced at Medissa and asked.

“Not yet. He’s testing out the distance. This army might try to attack us and test the water. But they will probably observe instead.”

As the youngest princess of the Silver Elves, the number of battles Medissa fought could not be compared to the other Silver Elves, but the atmosphere of the impending battle did not make her tense. Instead, she felt it was a familiar welcoming feeling.

[But the enemies are too little.]

She shook her head.

Medissa did not predict wrongly.

========== Lord Palas’s POV ==========

Lord Palas was currently on a hill that was approximately a kilometer away, sitting on his mount with a posture that was as straight as a sharp sword.

He was a retainer that Graudin formerly trusted in the most. His hand pressed down on the sword’s hilt firmly, his eyes in their sunken sockets surveying the distant riverbank like a hawk.

The old knight was the oldest amongst all of Graudin’s retainers. Even though he maintained personal contact with Lord Macsen, their age difference was quite far apart.

Lord Macsen was still in his prime, but Lord Palas’s sideburns were in patches of white. The old knight had experienced hundreds of battles, and though his fame did not reach places like Ampere Seale or Bucce, he was a figure of terror amongst Trentheim’s barbarians, capable of silencing their children from crying.

He had been to River Gris a few times and now that he was near it, he suddenly recalled that the land was supposed to be a plot of flat grassland, but the current scenery made him wonder if his memories were wrong.

A verdant forest had completely covered the land past the opposite riverbank. Still, there was proof that they did not come to the wrong place since the river ended at the port with shallow water. This period was when the water levels were at their lowest. Even a foot soldier could trudge across the icy waters to reach the other side.

There seemed to be fortifications in the forest. As proof, watchtowers constructed tall enough to reach the tree crown could be seen.

[The time that I came here was merely three years ago, but the trees in this forest don’t seem like they can grow so quickly as to cover the land like this. Any of the trees would need two or three people to wrap their hands around it. Perhaps ten meters tall? These trees are specimens that could reach for the skies one day but they grow slowly. ......Never mind three years, they probably couldn’t reach this height even after thirty years.]

“The scouts have just sent in their reports. There’s a stronghold in the opposite riverbank, and the rumors of the Druids aiding the rebels seem to be true.”

“The Druids are capable of making a forest in such a short time? Is this an illusion or a forest that has been transferred from somewhere?” Lord Palas asked.

It was clearly a dense forest that was easy to defend but difficult to invade. It was unthinkable that the Druids could create a forest out from nothing, but it was just as difficult to transport an entire forest. It was not as if he had not seen magic, but most of the spells are over in the blink of an eye. Even though they were powerful, it was not unacceptable.

This forest was at least tens of kilometers wide, presenting itself before he and his men. This was not a case of hallucination.

The other knights around him did not answer. The Druids were a bunch of mysterious people. No one could describe exactly what they were capable of. There were plenty of rumors about the Druids, and putting aside whether they were capable of casting magic spells, the Druids were said to be capable of taming animals to fight for them, or that they were capable of becoming powerful animals to do battle.

Lord Palas eventually sent out a messenger to the wizard personally dispatched by Count Randner.

“What? This forest wasn’t here in the past?” The old wizard was also greatly shocked. “The Druids are capable of making plants grow faster, but it’s definitely not to this extent— Unless the number of Druids is surprisingly high, or that they are Grand Druids from the Circle of Skies.”

“Grand Druids? That’s on par with a wizard from the Silver Alliance. That youth leader called Brendel is capable of commanding someone like that? I refuse to believe it. How many Druids are needed to create this

forest...... if the time restriction is two or three months?”

“Months!?” The old wizard’s voice was nearly a shriek, clearly intending to leave: “If this forest is truly created in a few months, then there must be thousands of Druids!”

“Thousands? That’s not possible. The rebels definitely do not have thousands.” One of the knights interrupted and denied the notion.

“Even if that’s the case, A Grand Druid, or at least thirty Arch Druids to form a Circle..... Thirty Arch Druids are as good as a full-fledged military unit.” The Wizard said in a dark tone.

“That doesn’t sound right either. If our opponents are so strong, why are they waiting to be attacked?” Another knight asked.

“Is it not possible that this forest is some kind of illusionary magic?” Lord Palas cut through the chatter and inquired on a possibility with the meager knowledge of what he knew about magic. The wizard also thought about this possibility, but it was the adjutant who answered first.

“Our soldiers have already tested them out, or at least the trees in front are all real.” He shook his head.

“Perhaps a combination? The trees in front are real, while the back is an illusion of sorts. But even then, it’s still impressive.” The wizard groaned.

“Perhaps we can try using fire?” One of the knights asked.

“If we’re facing Druids, they would easily be able to extinguish the fire. Do not forget, these people are protectors of the forest, and they are very capable of handling fire better than we do.” The wizard said.

“Regardless, let’s try out this method.” Lord Palas issued an order with a stoic face: “Have the soldiers prepare fire arrows. We will test out the enemies. Whether the plan is a success or not, we will set camps here and have the Grey Bear Knights cut down the trees.”

============= Ciel’s POV =============

A portion of Count Randner’s army moved out.

A row of soldiers appeared in the forest, wearing dull green combat gambesons, wielding shields on their hands with their longswords hanging on their waists. The three rows of soldiers behind the frontline wielded lances that had a long grey triangular flag tied near their tips.

The northern Trentheim had three regions next to each other ruled by knights. The emblem of Lord Palas was the Hound, Lord Raleigh was the Grey Bear, and Lord Kruss was the Crescent. These marching soldiers’ raised flags were all crescents.

“I thought such a large forest would have paralyzed them with shock,” Ciel shook his head.

Even though the Druids presented their precious Magic Seeds and worked tirelessly day and night nearly without rest to create this defense line, they still lacked a little time. Only a part of the forest that reached the hastily built stronghold were real primeval trees, while the rest of the trees was actually an illusionary spell created by him.

The soldiers from the Kruss territory advanced slowly. Their two flanks were accompanied by highlanders who wore ragged surcoats over their thick leather skin, wielding sharp axes and round shields. These three units made their way across the river water and were about to reach the other end of the river.

“What does our Lord say?” Ciel raised his hand to give an order.

“‘These are not even classified as the lowest tier of soldier types! Private lancers and shieldbearers that the nobles randomly hired? Just get it done and over with already, why do you need my orders? Fool!’” Medissa imitated Brendel’s tone.

“Lowest tier of soldier types? What the heck is that?” Ciel’s eyebrows were already tied up into knots.

His Lord seemed to be fond of talking about strange things. The young wizard did not really understand what the term ‘level up’ meant back then in Fortress Riedon, now there was the ‘lowest tier of soldier types’?

But there was not much time to think about it. Count Randner archers had finally caught up to the soldiers. These trained men were all of Lord Palas’s chosen elites. They took out their arrows and drew a thin line across wet sand that was out of the water level, then took out a pouch on their waist and poured the contents into the drains they created.

“It’s oil, they are using fire arrows!” The Elven Princess’s expression changed.

A fiery dragon suddenly emerged near the edge of the forest. The archers raised their longbows with flaming arrows placed into position. There was a loud cry, and arrows were let loose at their commander’s order.

The next instant, almost everyone in the forest saw a fire cloud forming across the sky, dyeing the surroundings with a sea of red at its apex, before it rained down onto the ground with fury.

“Fire arrows!” A sharp yell warned.

The arrows were buzzing through the air. It was fortunate that the trees were dense and most of the arrows were affect the leaves at the trees’ crowns. There was a noisy din with thuds and clicks, but only a small portion struck near the mercenaries’ stronghold.

There was almost no direct damage done from the Fire Arrows.

Lord Palas who observed the event from afar did not reveal any particular expressions. He was waiting to see an effect, and it appeared like there was going to be one very soon.

The archers raised their longbows once again, and the second wave of fire arrows was on their bowstrings.