Chapter 124 – Knight of a Certain Country (7)

 

-Emperors Kingdom’s First Knight’s Commander’s POV-

The knights who had gone to investigate the forest informed me that the 5th Knight Order had been wiped out.

I had expected that result.

I let out a sight.

There were two empty cages near the place where the 5th knights were.

They were probably cages that contained slaves that the 5th knight order took with them.

 

Considering everything that has happened so far, they couldn’t have killed the slaves.

If that’s the case, where did the slaves go?

Did they escape to the forest?

But there were many broken-hearted slaves among them.

Even if the cages were open, they wouldn’t leave.

…no matter how much I think about it, I can’t seem to find the answer.

 

What will happen next?

The king will never admit defeat.

He will try to win at any cost until he is the last man in the land.

However, the odds are already stacked against us.

No matter what we’ll do, there’s no way we can win against the forest.

…..the power difference is too much.

I only want to stop my men from dying in vain.

However….

I sighed.

I feel like no matter which step we take, it won’t change anything.

We have incurred the wrath of the forest and that wrath has been unleashed.

We have been warned many times but this country never stopped.

Is it already too late?

 

—Scene Change—

 

There was a strange tension in the castle.

They are frightened because they don’t know if there will be another attack.

That lightning shows no warning.

You can’t even see the attacker.

It would be impossible to tell them to not be afraid.

It seems like many have already escaped.

 

There is also quite a stir among the knights.

The 5th knight order was not liked because of how they behaved.

However, all knights recognized their strength.

With their last mission, a lot of knights were cheering for them, partly out of fear.

I know that it sounds pathetic but that’s the only thing they could do at that time.

Then, in a blink of an eye, news came that they were wiped out.

The knights, who they recognized as stronger than them, all died.

They felt how strong the enemy was.

Even though they were knights, they have never been attacked by an enemy before.

This was because there’s no country that would dare attack Emperors Kingdom.

I guess I should be happy that they didn’t run away after knowing the power of the enemy this time.

 

My legs were heavy as I headed for the commander’s meeting.

No result will come out of this meeting.

I look out the window.

It’s the end of summer.

Cool breeze is blowing and it’s even a mild day today.

Looking at it for a moment, I feel as if nothing’s happening.

It’s peaceful….

No, it’s not because this peace is basically an invasion of the forest.

It was….our own fault that this happened.

 

My great grandfather left a diary in which he wrote about the forest in the past.

It brought back memories of when I was reading them in secret when I was a child.

 

Gentle wind flowed, the trees in the forest swayed, and the forest gave grace to people.

I was envious when I read that he had seen the kings of the forest.

I want to see them too.

When I was young, this country had already invaded the forest so I could not talk about the forest.

 

—Scene Change—

 

When I entered the conference room, I found that every commander and vice commander had grim looks on their faces.

….it seems that my friend will join today’s meeting too.

Since the 5th is gone, it would be better to have more allies.

「Let’s start the meeting.」

The room was immediately wrapped by tension after those words.

The report on the result of the investigation of the place where the 5th knight order was wiped out begins.

The search for the 200 or so children slaves who disappeared resulted to zero.

However, many small footprints were found so there’s a possibility that the slaves are still alive.

Their current whereabouts are unknown.

 

Finally, the report on the recovery of the corpses.

Many of them were confused when they saw the number.

I asked the 2nd knight order commander who is reporting to make sure that the numbers are correct.

Number of mage bodies, 0.

Number of knight bodies, 64.

I believe there are 35 mages and 121 5th knight order knights.

「Those were all the bodies we found.」

Maybe they were eaten by monsters….

No,92 bodies have disappeared….that’s too many.

Did they completely disappear in the forest?