Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

Reslover looked at Bella seriously for a while, and after confirming that the red-haired girl had no intention of deceiving him, he wisely chose not to ask any further questions - even if Bella was really willing to describe the detailed process, Reslover had no way to confirm whether what she said was true.

"Okay, so what did you guys talk about?"

"It can't be considered communication. I just received the information unilaterally," Bella corrected. "The druids patrolling this area left some warnings. There are strangers wandering the wilderness nearby with malicious intentions. We need to be extra careful."

"I think this is probably a manifestation of what I've been worried about becoming a reality: as the empire becomes chaotic, all kinds of monsters and demons that were previously hidden are beginning to emerge."

"Perhaps you're worrying too much, Bella," Leslaufer thought for a moment. "If what you're saying is exactly what the druids in this area left behind, then they're most likely just bandits. Highwaymen are always there, but there may be more of them because of the war."

These bandits could be ordinary people struggling to make ends meet, or deserters or mercenaries who had lost their jobs. Reslaufer looked down on the latter two. If it were simply to survive, the wilderness wouldn't starve these blade-wielding men. The only reason they chose this path was because they needed more money to spend on wine, cards, or sex.

"Are there any towns or villages nearby?" Reslaufer asked. Druids like Bella had their own communication channels, and so did he. If it was the latter two, the gathering places of those veterans would surely provide him with some information.

"There are many villages, but I think you want to ask about the place that druids are most reluctant to go to." Bella used the wooden stick in her hand to draw on the ground. After a moment, a scribbled map appeared in the sight of Reslaufer and Angrita. "Xinmu City, one of the largest cities in this area."

It's easy to lose your way in the wilderness, even experienced warriors like Rathlaufer can be easily lost. But druids don't face such a situation. On the one hand, they can always communicate with various creatures, and on the other hand, the towns they have built stand out like scars in the wilderness, making them extremely difficult for a druid to ignore.

In the eyes of some extreme druids, that is a symbol of shame, mocking their weakness and incompetence!

"Xinmu City? Is it the Xinmu City that produces more than one-tenth of the empire's timber every year?" Angelita was excited. This was different from the town of Kiranda. It was a place she had heard of!

"...Yes," Bella's expression immediately turned grim, and she reluctantly said, "In the past, they could even produce about 30% of the empire's timber. They were cut down from the wilderness upstream of the Xinmu River, transported into the city by water power for processing, and then sent to various parts of the empire."

"Thirty percent!" the princess was shocked. "Then why has it shrunk to only one-third of its original value?"

The druid's expression turned even uglier. "Yeah, who's hindering me..."

What the wilderness lost were only patches of forest land, but what the empire lost were large quantities of high-quality timber!

"This matter is now a foregone conclusion. I think both sides have reached an agreement," Leslaufer had to change the awkward topic. "Since there are dangers in the wilderness, we plan to rest briefly in Xinmu City, replenish water and food, and then continue west along the road."

"Bella, can you bear to go into the city? If not, we can meet at a designated location outside the city, or just say goodbye..."

"Of course I can enter the city!" Bella interrupted Reslaufer before he could finish. She was reluctant to part with "Buddy Antich" like this. "I'm not a member of the Quiet Creek Society now. I only represent myself. Of course I can enter the city! Don't worry, I'm not the kind of druid who can't even get close to people. I won't cause you any trouble."

"As for what's next... I heard from Buddy that you're planning on heading to the Kolin Otto Mountains? The elders in the society told me there's a temple dedicated to Eldas deep within the mountains, and I'm planning to pay my respects there. How about taking me with you?"

Chapter 42 They are...quite silent

Even if they continued along the roads between cities, spending the night in the wilderness was inevitable. If Bella was willing to come along, that would be the best. Reslaufer was simply worried that she wouldn't be willing to live this way. After all, when he first met her, the druid was still hanging out with a group of chocobos.

But it seems that the chats she had with Angelita these days have changed her mind to some extent.

Although their next destination had been determined, it was already dark. The axe-beak that had come to them, smelling the scent, couldn't be wasted. Soon, the aroma of its meat and seasoning blending over the fire wafted through the air. Unfortunately, the axe-beak wasn't as strong as its subspecies. Even with Reslaufer's utmost skill, he couldn't make the dry, tough meat palatable.

Fortunately, it had been quite a while since they had eaten the five birds. Considering Bella's presence, Angelita, who had been reluctant to ask for hunting, did not bother about it at the moment. Although Bella no longer asked others to be vegetarians, she still did not eat any meat as usual and only used some fruits and vegetables to fill her stomach.

According to her, some druids can use magic to obtain some magical berries with special magic. Not only can one berry meet the nutritional needs of the day, but it can also heal injuries. Unfortunately, she can't do such a thing yet. She can't even create ordinary fresh water with magic.

Leslough suspected this might have been one of the reasons Bella was ostracized from the society, but he had little evidence.

For Angelita, the night's sleep was as unsatisfactory as her dinner. The axe-beaked bird whose head was chopped off by Leslough appeared in her dream just like the wild wolves before, covered in blood. However, without a head, it no longer seemed so scary.

Until the final appearance of the wild wolves, her sleepiness was completely dispelled, without a trace left.

"Having a nightmare again?"

It was already late at night when Angelita woke up. As usual, Leslaufer was on guard. The mercenary's profile was illuminated by the fire, with clear lines of light and dark, like a devil in a palace mural, giving people a vague sense of security.

"That big bird," Angelita said with a wry smile, "is all your fault, along with the wild wolves. They do whatever they want in my dreams, constantly threatening me, as if they were complaining to me about their grievances."

"But I don't understand why they appeared in my dream? I didn't kill them! They should have come to you in your dream!"

"Aren't there those stranglers? Where's the wild wizard?" Leslaufer looked at Angelita. The edges of the girl's ears formed a relatively sharp arc, making her look like a half-elf. Her newly grown face, coupled with the studded leather armor given by the dwarf Vondar, made her look quite neutral in beauty.

"No, I didn't see any," Angelita shook her head. Suddenly, she looked at Leslaufer expectantly. "It's you, right? They chose you, so they won't appear in my dreams?"

"People like you probably have dozens of times more blood on their hands than I do! You must also have many souls haunting you in your dreams, which is why you often can't sleep properly!"

"Yes, that's it!"

The girl nodded firmly, becoming more and more convinced that her guess was correct. "Restlover, your condition is much worse than mine! Although you act as if nothing has happened, you will definitely be tortured to death by those souls - you may have already gone crazy!"

That's why he needed to kill like drinking poison to quench his thirst! Before, Angelita just thought it was some kind of pathology, but based on her own actual experience, it might really be true!

Only she was much milder, and the wolves had only reappeared tonight, along with the giant birds. However, one question remained: neither the wolves nor the axe beaks had died at her hands, and neither the Wild Mage, the Choker, nor even Buddy, whose deaths she had witnessed, had appeared in her dreams.

"You can see those spirits, right? Everyone like you can see them?" Angelita tried to get an answer from Reslaufer. "They must keep you awake at night, too!"

"Can you hear their screams and howls?"

"If that's the case, what I need is not periodic killings, but periodic confessions," Leslaufer said slowly, glancing to the side.

The mercenary stood up, casting a long shadow in the bonfire's light into the darkness. Angelita was half right: he, too, was haunted by those spirits, but as far as she knew, he seemed the only one with such a problem.

Neither Amantha nor any of the other veterans had had similar experiences. Angelita was the first person he knew who had a similar experience to him.

But unlike Angarita, Leslaufer is not troubled by souls that he did not kill. Every soul phantom he sees was killed by him personally.

Leslough closed his eyes. The bonfire could still bring some light to the darkness behind his eyelids, but one shadow after another would emerge from the vast shadows that were beyond the reach of light. They were intact and did not show the tragic appearance of death.

They did not come forward, but just stared at the man silently from a distance, without saying a word.

"No, they can't," Leslaufer reopened his eyes and answered Angelita's seemingly absurd question seriously, "They... are quite silent."

"...Don't tell me you can see them even without being asleep." Angelita shrank her neck, imagining such a horrifying scene.

"uh-huh."

Just close your eyes? If those wolves and birds were this active, she would definitely go completely crazy in two days! This man is still able to maintain his sanity now - even if it's just on the surface?!

Angelita stared blankly at Reslaufer, recalling his words about killing and praying. Could it be that...

The princess, who hadn't even been able to hold a dagger for a long time, felt that she had gone mad. She was moving closer to the thinking of this madman! She seemed to understand Leslaufer's behavior!

He needs killing and blood from time to time not to calm the ghosts down, he is not afraid of them at all, but they need to be afraid of him!

She actually wanted to use her own experience to excuse him? He didn't need an excuse at all! He simply needed it! He needed fresh blood to expand the army of ghosts in his dream!

Chapter 43 Hyenas on the Roadside

Leslaufer carefully checked the beings in his hallucinations and found no trace of the wild wolf and the axe-beaked bird from today. This gave him reason to suspect that he had influenced Angelita, who was already afraid of the hideous faces of wild beasts.

However, considering that if he told the girl about this guess, she might be scared away, Leslough chose to keep silent about it.

Angelita is still far from the goal she set for herself. If she desperately tries to escape from Reslaufer, it will be detrimental to the mercenaries getting the subsequent rewards.

As expected, Bella, the druid of the Quiet Creek Society, overheard the conversation in the second half of the night and couldn't help but sigh inwardly: If "Buddy" hadn't been an informed aristocrat and hadn't changed her mind, she might have considered bringing this young man into the society and introducing him to Rufo and the others.

A young man who is afraid of killing wild animals, what a perfect candidate to serve the gods of the First Society, they will surely be ecstatic.

However, thinking of "Buddy Antich's" talent of never being able to learn magic, Bella had to hide this idea deeper in her heart - Druid's spells were closer to divine magic than arcane magic, and the other party could not comprehend the key points, most likely because he had no fate with nature itself and the gods.

As for Rathlough? Sweet dreams to him, seriously.

As they traveled westward, the temperature gradually turned colder. Even Leslaufer needed an extra layer of leather lining inside his armor, not to mention Angelita, who had lived in the central region of the empire since childhood. On the contrary, Bella, who seemed to be wearing the least, seemed to not feel the cold at all. She was still wearing the same attire as before and led the way in front, leading her two companions to the road leading to Xinmu City.

"Don't you really want to wear more clothes?" Angelita handed the thick clothes she brought to Bella for the umpteenth time. Of course, her clothes were mainly women's. Bella, who had long been suspicious, had determined that this "Buddy" might actually be "Bati". However, since the "half-elf girl" did not intend to reveal her true identity, Bella pretended to know nothing about it and firmly refused those coats made of animal fur.

"If I really needed a thick layer of fur to keep me warm, I would conjure up some myself," the druid said half-jokingly. "Even an axe-beak, a wild boar, an elk, or a wolf! Believe me, clothes stripped from someone else's body are no match for the warmth of hair grown from your own body."

"On the other hand, you've been tossing around in the wilderness for so many days. If your feet hurt, I wouldn't mind carrying you for a while. What do you want to ride? A horse, a chocobo, or a black panther? My fur is shinier than any leather coat you're wearing!"

Druids often adopt a particular wild form based on their personal preferences. For example, Bella herself is particularly fond of the appearance of the axe beak and its relatives. However, this does not mean that she is limited to a fixed form. If she wants, she can easily transform into most beasts she has observed.

Angrita wouldn't mind a mount, but a druid—forget it. Even within the palace, scholars dismissed the practice of riding people for fun as "tyranny," and her upbringing wouldn't allow her to do so.

"You don't even bother to ask me," said Reslaufer, half a length behind the two girls, jokingly. "My outfit is much heavier than his."

Whether in terms of weight, weapons and equipment, or the weight of the luggage he carried, Leslaufer was not in the same league as Angelita.

"You know Shen too?" Bella immediately rolled her eyes and threw a small stone at him. "If you want to crush me to death, just say so!"

"You want a mount? Isn't that a dog lying on the side of the road? If you ride that, won't it be—wait?"

Bella's right hand stopped in mid-air, and her left arm blocked Angelita's path, preventing her from passing. Angelita looked intently at the roadside not far away. There, indeed, lay a small dark figure, about the size of a dog, slightly smaller than a wolf.

"That's a hyena. Forget riding it. I can carry it between my legs." Leslough didn't think there was any reason to stop. "Just go around it a little. It's not blocking the road."

Most of these beasts bully the good and fear the evil. Ordinary civilians passing by here will inevitably be regarded as prey by them. But for a fully armed and strong adult male like Leslaufer, the guy actually lay there pretending to be dead, which was considered very brave of him.

"Hyenas don't usually travel alone, and they rarely come close to roads. Something's wrong. Let me ask them." Bella said, and suddenly a series of barks erupted from her throat, as if trying to communicate with the hyena. But even though she shouted at the top of her lungs, the animal in the distance didn't respond at all.

In fact, it didn't even move.

"Dead?" Angelita asked curiously, "I heard that dogs have very sensitive hearing. This distance should be enough for them to hear it."

"It should have heard it," Bella frowned, "You guys follow me, I'll go take a look first."

Perhaps because of her previous concerns about the land and the warnings from the nearby druids, Bella was extremely cautious.

There were wilderness on both sides of the road, and there was no place to hide or ambush. When Bella approached the shadow cautiously, she finally saw the other person's appearance clearly.

It was indeed a hyena, and it seemed to be a female. It fell to the ground and kept twisting, whimpering from time to time, and looked extremely painful. Bella quickly found the source of its pain: a disproportionately swollen abdomen.

The hyena's abdomen was bulging and its skin looked almost transparent. The swollen blood vessels visible to the naked eye were beating irregularly back and forth on it, making it look quite twisted and weird.

"Help, help me... It's... painful..." The hyena's voice was as low as a mosquito's, but only Bella, a druid, could understand the meaning behind it. "There's something... in my stomach... that's about to come out..."

However, faced with such a scene, Bella couldn't help but reveal a trace of pity in her eyes.

"Poor creature," Bella continued to listen to the hyena's incessant moans. She placed her hand on its belly, a lush green glow of magic radiating from it, attempting to alleviate its pain with magic. "It had a difficult birth, and its tribe abandoned it here."

"Hyenas don't have doctors. At most, they'll use a few plant roots to try to heal or induce an abortion. If these can't alleviate the pain, they'll beg for help from druids, or simply leave it to die on the side of the road like this."

Just like wild wolves that know how to lure the enemy in front and attack from behind, the wisdom of hyenas probably ends here: some cleverness, but not much.

"Leslaufer, can you come and help me?" Bella called to the mercenary behind her, "It's in a very dangerous situation now. I can't move it by myself!"

Reslaufer responded and subconsciously prepared to step forward to help move the big-bellied hyena on the ground. However, after taking only one step, his foot stopped in mid-air.

"Bella, you said they would ask the druids for help? There should be druids around here besides you."

"Of course," Bella's voice was filled with impatience, and she didn't even notice it. "Didn't I just receive a warning from him before—"

Bella stood up suddenly and stepped back in fear.

The hyena on the ground let out a sharp howl. It screamed happily, and even Leslough and Angelita could understand the words in it!

Chapter 44 Jackal

"Pain! Sweet pain!"

From the hyena's mouth came waves of praises in the Imperial language: "Blood! Fresh flesh! Ah! Praise the great master! I will give birth to new life!"

"Ah! I have seen it! I will—"

Something exploded in the air, bringing with it an incomparable stench. An arm that looked like both a human and a jackal burst out of the abdomen, followed closely by an even more evil hyena head. Its mouth with sharp canine teeth opened slightly, looking greedily at the druid who had just retreated.

"Come closer, come closer to me! You tender piece of meat!" The monster emerged from the hyena's broken flesh, howling non-stop and clawing forward, trying to grab the edge of the druid's clothes through the waving wooden stick. "Why don't you come here? Don't you want to heal me? Come quickly! Heal my empty stomach!"

"It's been corrupted by the devil!" Bella swung her stick and knocked away the monster's outstretched claws. "Damn it, this can't be an isolated case, it's a trap!"

"What do you think of the druid who warned you?" Leslaufer quickly replaced Bella's position in the front. At this moment, the monster that looked like a jackal and a human had completely separated from the flesh and blood that gave birth to it. It waved its claws fiercely, trying to leave scars on the mercenary's body.

But its efforts were in vain. Reslauf's greatsword would not give it any chance at all. The newly born, unarmed beast did not even have a chance to get close before Reslauf cut it in two with one sword, using its waist as the dividing line.

"I don't know! The whole air is filled with an evil aura!" Bella tried to communicate with nature and learn from it, but all her efforts were in vain. "I only know that this is definitely not an isolated case! The evil aura in the air is even stronger, and something is coming this way!"

"What the hell is this monster?" Angelita stared at the motionless creature on the ground, hammer in hand, in a state of panic. The hyena had left a deep psychological scar on her, but when the monster burst out of its belly, the nausea and vomiting she'd felt unexpectedly dissipated.

Should she be afraid? Would this thing appear in her next dream? Angritta couldn't be sure, but she knew for sure that its kind had already appeared in their sight!

Just as Reslaufer killed the monster, howls rang out from all directions of the road, one wave higher than the other. Following closely behind, arrows flew through the air. These arrows were either white, yellow or red, and were made of bones!

"Gnoll..." Leslaufer reached out and pulled Angrita, who was almost hit by an arrow, behind him. He looked at the bone arrows and the two halves of the monster's body on the ground. Thinking of the hyena praising the "master" loudly when it was dying, some bad memories resurfaced in his mind.

"How could there be gnolls here?! Where did they come from?" Leslaufer stared at Bella, wanting to get an answer from the druid. "They can't just appear out of thin air!"

"How would I know!" Bella used a wooden stick to push away the arrows, pulled out a bone arrow from the ground, and threw it not far away. "They definitely didn't migrate here, otherwise I would have received the news long ago!"

The bone arrows thrown by hand did not hit the target. The vicious laughter stimulated everyone's heart. Leslough wanted to curse, but he also knew that Bella should not be the target of his venting of emotions.

If these gnolls were truly part of a warband of gnolls roaming the wilderness, they would neither avoid the sight of the druids nor spare the surrounding villages. These monsters, driven only by bloodshed, hunger, and fear, had never known how to suppress their instincts since their creation by their evil demonic masters.

Reslaufer had dealt with them in East Inassus before, in much the same way as now, except that they had also been a whole warband back then.

And now there are only three of them.

"A gnoll? Uncle Reslaufer, are you sure it's this thing?" Angelita also tried hard to resist the bone arrows, but her hands and feet were obviously much more clumsy. In this situation, she could only hope that the knowledge she learned from books could provide some insignificant help. "This monster looks like the one drawn in the book--"

"I've killed at least four!" Leslaufer's answer dispelled Angelita's doubts. "Hold on! These monsters have little patience. They'll soon launch a head-on charge!"