LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 19: Around the Trees
The Next Day...
"Carfeld, how long do we have to follow the map? I think i just saw the same tree from yesterday— Are you sure this is the correct path?" Said Davira, her eyebrows furrowed in frustration.
"Umm– I think so.. Just keep looking and send report to me immediately if you find the tree with red claw mark."
It's been an entire day since the expedition group arrived in the inner part of the forest, qthey spent the entire yesterday evening walking and looking for a path that might have a close resemblance to the one that is drawn on the map, but unfortunately they couldn't find anything similar, and since at that time they heard a loud roar followed by a hiss from the distance, Carfeld decided to order all of his troop to search for a safe place so that they can rest for the night.
They eventually found a somewhat nice little spot, there was a plant with giant leaves that is enough to cover the entire expedition group beneath it, the plant is only a few meters long so the leaves are pretty much served as a massive blanket that will protect everyone from dangerous monsters, as long as they don't disturb the leaves by moving it from its position.
The entire group spent the night in silence without making any noise or fire, it was a cold night, thankfully the knights are immune to the cold thanks to their armor, but the same couldn't be said for the mercenaries.
***
Thump!
Thump!
'I still can't tell exactly where to go, this is not good.. We lost the way out of this forest..' Carfeld thought.
***
A few days ago, before the mission started, at the Knight Palace..
"Are you serious? Why do Sir Julian wants to go to that place?!.." Said Carfeld, his voice had a hint of anger.
He was at one of the hallways inside the Knight Palace, a place where all of the knights live and train, in there he was approached by the Military Minister, Alaric O' Flameshade, Alaric stopped Carfeld when he was about to go to the training grounds, Alaric's appearance is similar to Carfeld in terms of body, they're both swordsmen so they train with their swords frequently, his long hair that stretches to his shoulder shines in red color alongside his eyes, he had a lot of scars from the time before he was appointed as a minister, but the most obvious one is the big vertical scar on his lips.
Alaric told Carfeld that the Finance Minister Julian have requested 5 Special Knights and 10 Knights for a mission, and after explaining to him that the mission took place at the inner part of Monoghriad Forest, Carfeld initially refused, but then Alaric told him something that catches his attention.
"Listen, Sir Julian said that the goal of this mission is to find a Cave full of untouched Mithrils, you and other knights will have to check whether that cave is true or not because right now it's just a rumor." Said Alaric.
"What!? It's just a rumor! there's no need to believe it! Why do I have to go to that dangerous place out of everyone?! What if we get killed by the monsters living there? And what if that cave never existed in the first place? are you saying to sacrifice our forces just to check whether a rumored place exist or not?!"
"Calm down now— Carfeld, i understand your concern, but in my opinion, and also Sir Julian's, it is still worth the risk— Imagine, if that mithril cave turns out to be true and YOU found it, think about how many shares you're gonna get from the mithrils, not only this will benefit our kingdom tremendously, this will also benefit you aswell, Mithril is a precious mineral that can be used for many things, including weapons— Doesn't it sound fascinating? You can wield a sword made out of mithril."
Carfeld was taken a back by Alaric's words, he is not entirely wrong, even if its just a rumor, you can never know whether its true or not, a rumor means something that is true but also not true, unless anyone found the answer themselves, no one will ever know its existence.
Not only that, but this is also a chance for him to make a quick money, Carfeld remembered that he is about to be married soon to a noble, his wife had told him a few months earlier that if he wants to marry her, he needs to atleast buy a mansion for them to live in, and to do that, he'll need some money, the salary of being a special knight wasn't enough because there hasn't been any war or big incident happening inside the kingdom.
'1 Large Gold coin per month is not a bad salary, considering what i've been doing for the past 6 months is just training and clearing up small conflicts around the city, for many people, this job is their dream, but if i want to buy a mansion, i'll need more than just that, the cheapest one i could find cost around 50 Large Golds, thats 5 thousand normal Gold coins!!' Carfeld thought.
"gulp— How many shares will i get?"
"Well, let's see, it all depends on how much mithrils you brought back, but let's say the cave was true and you were able to bring back a chunk of mitril, 30 centimeters in size, then that would sold for.. 20 Large Golds i think."
Carfeld's jaw dropped as soon as he heard the price of just one chunk of mithril, it is indeed a rare minerals, one that is always sought after by every powerful individual, and now at this very moment, Carfeld could possibly took upon a mission where if he succeed, it would greatly changed his life forever.
"— Alright, i'll take the mission."
"I know you will agree with me!— Alright, since you're the first special knight that agreed on this mission, you'll be the leader alright? You've already took many role as a leader, so you're the perfect man for this position."
"Isn't that should be the commander's–
"Come tomorrow morning at the West Gate, i'll give you the detailed information along with everyone else."
"Uhh, okay.."
And so, Alaric walked away from Carfeld, he went to other place to recruit more members for this mission and the next morning, everyone was already standing just outside of the West Gate of Larim, they received the information regarding the Monoghriad Forest and what monsters lived there, Alaric also gave Carfeld a pouch that is imbued with inventory spell that could hold almost 100 kilograms of weight and a map for the supposed cave, after that the rest of the lecture went smoothly without any problem.
"Sir Alaric!" Carfeld said, calling Alaric from behind.
Alaric turned his head and saw Carfeld approaching him.
"Carfeld, what's wrong?"
"Ah, no im just curious with the map you gave me, if im allowed to know, how did you know where the cave is located if we haven't checked it yet? You said its location is still a rumor, so what is this?"
"Oohhh, that, well i guess you're right haha— Sir Julian gave it to me yesterday, he said that he got this map from an Adventurer that is said to know where the cave is located, that adventurer also the one that started the rumor."
"Wait, if that's true, then why don't we bring that adventurer here and make him act as a guide for us?"
"Well– Sir Julian also thought about that, but when he met with the adventurer, he said that he would never go there even if they were paying him with Large Gold Coins, Sir Julian said to me that he tried really hard to convince that adventurer, but he is just way too stubborn.."
"Does he perhaps had a traumatic experience in that forest?.."
"Could be, we don't know for sure, just be grateful that that adventurer created a map to the cave for us to find it."
"Hmm, okay, but still, im quite impressed with how there are mages that works as a mercenary, we have two of them in our group."
"Haha! There are many types of people, some people just don't want to work in the army or other jobs inside the city, for them, all they want is freedom and adventure, where they won't be bound by a random town or city."
"...I don't understand why they want to explore the world when there are many dangerous monsters, you could die at any moment, why would they do it?.."
Alaric tapped Carfeld's shoulder with a smile.
"Ohh Carfeld, maybe someday you'll get it."
***
ROGGHH!!
A loud grunting sounds can be heard infront of the expedition group, they were originally going to walk past this area, when suddenly one of the dead tree trunks infront of them moved and stood up as a 15 meters forest treant.
"IT'S A GREAT TREANT!! WATCH OUT!" Carfeld screamed to everybody, urging them to stay calm and watch out for incoming attacks.
***
Forest Treant is a monster that had an appearance similar to a tree trunk with a lot of branches, they usually acted like they're just a normal dead tree trunks that had just fallen to the ground, but when an unsuspecting creature walked near them, they woke up and immediately snatched the poor creature with their long branch-like arms.
There are three types of Treant, one is normal Treant, they mostly averaging between 3 to 5 meters in height, the second one is Great Treant, this variant is basically a treant that have reached Adulthood, they can grow up to 10 or 20 meters long and had some magical abilities, lastly, the most dangerous type of Treant, the Elder Treant, this treant is frequently known as one of the Catastrophic Monster in the continent, Elder Treant can be as long as 100 to 200 meters, that is an extremely colossal size, Elder Treant has only 2 known appearance record, and it all happened hundreds of years ago, at that time the Elder Treant caused almost 20% decrease in human population on the continent.
If it weren't for the heroes and other powerful beings working together to kill the Elder Treant, who knows what might happen to the world.
***
ROGGHHH!!!
The Great Treant smashed its arms on the ground, creating a loud shockwave and also debris being thrown everywhere, the knights dodged the attack on time and they watched as the Great Treant's green eyes glows in their direction.
'If we don't defeat it quick, other monsters in the area may heard the commotion, it would be over for us if a Chimera or the Two-Headed Giant Snake appeared!!' Carfeld thought as he gritted his teeth.