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

"You may plan your own journeys and do not need to come with me, but of course, I hope there are as many people as possible around you. If any of you happen to be injured, you can return to the nearby villages or the vicinity of the brewery. I have left people in various places, and there are also priests in charge to ensure your safety."

Before King Henning could finish his explanation, Louise, who was still seething with anger from the previous night, spurred her horse out and led her retinue quickly into the woods ahead.

"Please forgive us, Your Majesty. We are adventurers and are not good at mingling with so many people," the red-haired adventurers said, stepping forward to the king's horse. "We will go ahead as well, and you can wait for good news."

Sid simply walked behind the adventurers, bowing to the king as if he himself had spoken those words. Soon, more lords also bid farewell to Henning, rushing into the forest after the first few groups, quickly reducing the group to almost half its original size.

Of the remaining nobles, the vast majority were either not good hunters or did not have enough followers, so they had to rely on Henning and his army. But perhaps surprisingly, Count Katina did not leave either, and when he saw that Skottie's side had not moved either, he immediately smiled.

“Count Dole, please come this way!” he hurriedly greeted, merely wanting to appear friendly; whether Skadi appreciated it was secondary. “Your Majesty, this way…”

Do you think we should go in now?

Faced with Count Katina's warm invitation, Skadi simply turned her head to look at Raslaufer beside her and asked for his opinion, as if she had not heard the Count's words at all.

“Why don’t we go first?” Dubul glanced at the direction of those “troublemakers” in the distance and sneered. “The real big shots can’t be in this position. Let them deal with those small fry first, and we can rest and recharge.”

Hunting is quite different from charging into battle, especially in this kind of encirclement hunt. It's not a matter of who charges the fastest getting the best. Sometimes, it's even the opposite. When those creatures, who may have some intelligence, come to their senses, the first to fall into their traps are those who charged ahead.

So Skoti rode up to Henning's side and rear, away from Katina's position.

"With the two of you protecting me, I can rest assured this time." Hengning laughed as if he hadn't noticed anything, and then ordered the army to set off, casting a large net across the wilderness ahead to catch any stragglers.

“I don’t like this kind of scene,” Bella, who was in the group, swung the wooden stick in her hand, not entirely approving of such activities. “But the existence of some creatures is itself destructive to nature. If we can trim them to some extent and thus protect the civilians in the surrounding villages… it’s a good thing.”

If it were the Bella from back then, she would definitely be furious and stop such a cruel act now, but after following Raslaufer on his adventures and learning in the Land of Refuge, Bella's understanding of the druid's duty is completely different now.

As long as it's not solely for the purpose of satisfying one's own desires, and involves the indiscriminate killing of ordinary wild animals, she considers it acceptable.

As Henning led the group into the woods, they spotted their first notable target within two hours of the hunt.

"What a magnificent tiger!" Count Katina's eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately drew his short bow. "Let me first present His Majesty with a tiger...skin?"

Chapter 551 Two-Headed Giant Tiger

Count Katina had already nocked the arrow, but the next moment he froze, though he wasn't the only one who was stunned.

But the tiger that had just poked its head out of a bush had also spotted them. If it were an ordinary beast, it would have run away long ago upon seeing so many people, but it showed no intention of running away. On the contrary, accompanied by two intertwined roars, a second tiger head emerged from the bush.

But what appeared in everyone's sight right after that was... a body!

These two tiger heads actually grew from the same body!

"Roar!"

Count Katina flicked his wrist, and the arrow on the bowstring flew crookedly toward the two-headed giant tiger. The monster easily dodged it. Then, an even more ferocious roar was heard, accompanied by a foul wind. It leaped onto a tree trunk and, with a powerful push of its hind legs, pounced toward Count Katina like a cannonball!

Those two mouths, still stained with blood, contained not only sharp teeth but also foul-smelling saliva that danced wildly in the wind. Even a mere scratch, let alone a bite, would be extremely dangerous.

"Stop it! Stop it!" The soldiers were not pampered noblemen after all, and they immediately began to organize a defense. However, the two-headed tiger was agile and powerful. With each swing of its hips, the spears that came thrusting at it could not hurt it in the slightest. Instead, it used the momentum to pounce on the group more and more fiercely!

"Get out of my way!"

In the blink of an eye, just as the foul-smelling saliva was about to splatter onto Count Katina's face, he instinctively ducked to avoid it. The monster misjudged the count's height and missed its target, passing right over his head. At that moment, Skadi arrived on her yellow horse, her halberd grazing Count Katina's head as she slashed diagonally at the two-headed tiger.

It's hard to say whether her rebuke was directed at the monster or at the count who nearly fell off his horse.

The monster, its two tiger heads pointing to opposite sides, immediately spotted Skadi's attack. It quickly leaped aside, causing its halberd to slam heavily into the ground, carving a furrow. Unfortunately, although Skadi possessed some strength, she was not a true warrior. In her haste, she could not retract the halberd. The monster noticed this and immediately shifted its target. After dodging the attacks of several soldiers, it leaped high again and pounced on Skadi.

The added weight of its head did not affect its movement at all!

But for some people, an extra layer of heavy armor wouldn't matter.

"Bang!" Most of the people present were momentarily stunned. They only saw a yellow wind and a black wind collide instantly. The black, tower-like body only swayed twice in place, while the yellow wind leaped several times and ran out of the encirclement!

"Give me an arrow, quick!" By this time, Henning had also come to his senses. He snatched the crossbow from the servant beside him and fired an arrow in the direction the monster was fleeing. The angle of the arrow was not particularly tricky, but it happened to hit the spot where the giant tiger had jumped. The monster roared twice in pain and fled into the depths of the forest with the crossbow bolt in its arms.

"Your Majesty's archery skills are excellent!"

Some nobles who didn't understand cheered, but Skadi and Leslaufer, who had just made their move, did not join in—this king doesn't even know how to draw a bow, let alone a crossbow.

Can crossbow bolts be considered arrows?

“Just luck,” Henning said, clearly aware that there was nothing special about using a crossbow. He casually tossed the crossbow to his servant. “Quick, let’s go after it! What kind of monster is that?”

Before he could finish speaking, Count Katina, who had just lost face, could no longer maintain his composure. His face turned red and then pale. He called out to his squires and knights, and without even saying goodbye, he chased after the monster in the direction it had fled.

He was originally eager to show off his archery skills, but unexpectedly, he was almost killed by a two-headed beast in the middle of the army! And the reason he escaped was twofold: firstly, because he was too short, and secondly, because of Skadi?!

How can he possibly have the face to stay here any longer!

Unless we bring that freak back and skin it alive!

“Thank you,” Skadi glanced indifferently at Count Katina, who was quickly disappearing behind the trees ahead, then turned and nodded to Leslaufer. “That beast is far too agile.”

“I’ve only ever seen similar freaks, but those were dogs, and this one is… a tiger?” Dubul shook his arms and, with a “crack,” put the dislocated joint back in place. “It’s so much more troublesome now that it’s a tiger.”

He originally intended to use the momentum to knock the monster to the ground and then finish it off with a sword strike, but before he could even react, the two-headed tiger leaped up again after being knocked away and fled in a flash.

"As expected of you, Lord Raslaufer," Raslaufer's move clearly shocked Henning even more, who had already witnessed his strength. He couldn't help but turn his horse around. "My court happens to be lacking a warrior. I wonder if you have any thoughts on this?"

"I've heard you live in Zebrecht. I imagine Count Dole wouldn't mind giving up a piece of land there as your fief. Baron? Knight? Which title do you prefer?"

When they first met, Henning didn't know exactly who Raslaufer was, and Doppler's threats at the time made him quite wary. But now, those disagreements could be considered as a thing of the past. If he could recruit such a person to his side, it would definitely be a great help.

Putting aside everything else, if someone were to set their sights on his kingdom, after learning that Leslaufer was on his side, what kind of foolish mercenary band would be willing to clash with them?

However, Henning's efforts were ultimately doomed to failure. Reislaufer shrugged, offering no reply, but his answer remained unchanged.

If he really wanted a noble status, he would have had it long ago; there was no need for Henning to recruit him.

Even the king was helpless in this situation, and could only awkwardly change the subject: "Alright, let's go and support Count Katina. That monster is not to be trifled with; we must ensure it is completely destroyed and can no longer harm the surrounding people!"

The knights and soldiers responded with a roar, but as they continued to advance, Daisy quietly fell behind. She held the mattress higher and turned her head to look warily at the camp that was almost out of sight.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the connection between her, Zheng Ling, and the third party had just been severed due to physical distance.

"No wonder you sent Old Lei to kill that old king...it turns out there was this connection."

"The witch from Kolasund, that Sid also claims to be from Kolasund..."

Chapter 552 The King's Witch

For the next ten days, almost everyone who participated in the hunt repeated the routine of hunting in the forest during the day and returning to the camp to rest at night. Although there were many ferocious beasts in the forest and occasionally some monsters, only a few could pose a threat to a hunting party of this size. Therefore, as the camp was built on the opposite side of the forest, with hills behind and swamps in front, many participants became bolder.

"The Strongmans aren't planning to come back tonight either." As the torches around them were lit one after another, Henning waved his hand, dismissing the servant who had returned to the camp with a message. In recent days, Louise had been eager to hunt, abandoning her "abnormal" routine in the forest and even hunting at night with a torch.

Even standing here at the camp, you can see the light of her and other similar groups holding fires just by looking a little further away.

"Where is Count Katina?"

“He’s still chasing that tiger, Your Majesty,” the red-haired adventurer—the leader of the red-haired adventure party—respectfully replied with a bow. “We take back what we said earlier; none of you here were mistaken, that monster does indeed have two heads.”

Before this, they had secretly mocked these nobles and soldiers as a bunch of cowards, saying they were so frightened by an attacking tiger that they hallucinated and let it escape. After all, they hadn't seen any particularly unusual creatures in the forest these past few days.

But just two days ago, while continuing their hunt in the swamp, they happened to encounter Count Katina and his retinue, and witnessed the two-headed tiger darting away with extraordinary agility into the deeper waters. Only then did they believe that all the rumors were true.

After that, they abandoned their original plan to follow Louise and the others, and obediently returned to the camp to rest in the evening.

“I thought you would help the Earl hunt it,” the King chuckled casually. “After all, I said that if we could catch it, it would count as double the reward.”

“We know our own limitations,” the adventurer shook his head. “We briefly clashed with that monster, and if it hadn’t been for Count Katina’s men surrounding it, we would never have been a match for it if it had just been a normal encounter. You can make money, but you also need to be alive to spend it.”

As he spoke, he glanced warily at Count Doule's camp. That man, it was said, had exchanged a blow with that strange tiger without any magical aid, and stood there without even trembling!

He had also fought the beast a couple of times, and the wound on his hand that had split open had not yet fully healed. His upper body was still numb and tingly, which was an illusion caused by the bone fracture being healed.

This is also the main reason why they decided not to spend the night outside – tigers are mostly solitary and skilled at ambushes. Coupled with the monster's terrifying strength and agility, they would be in serious trouble if they were alone at night.

Adventurers not only don't have a fixed salary like regular squires, but they also don't have the high pay of mercenaries. Most of the time, they can only earn a little money to make ends meet. If they want to get rich, they have to rely on windfall gains. And the most important thing to get windfall gains is to stay alive—they don't receive any pensions if they die.

Henning naturally knew what kind of adventurers these were; otherwise, they wouldn't be adventurers in the first place. Therefore, he didn't pay too much attention to their retreat.

His gaze also fell upon Skadi's camp; he was concerned about the people on that side.

"Witch, do you mean that Leslaufer isn't a follower of your master?"

“No,” a hoarse, aged voice responded in the same way as he sent the message in the mind link, “In fact, strictly speaking, none of them are followers of my master.”

"But there are two people being monitored by beings of the same rank as my master, and the level of attention they receive is far greater than that for you."

"Not a believer, yet receiving this kind of attention? What's the logic behind this?"

“What you can get easily is never the best. That’s the truth, my dear Your Majesty,” said the witch who had long ago predicted that Henning’s father, Erich, would die in an accident and who had been supported in his household ever since. “Although you have ascended the throne under your master’s arrangement, you still have a long way to go to become a seasoned king.”

Henning let out a disgruntled snort upon hearing this: "I don't need you to remind me of this. Don't you have anything else to tell me besides things that everyone knows?"

"I asked you to divine the meaning of the appearance of that two-headed giant tiger before, and it's been almost two weeks since then!"

He neither heard news of the monster's death nor saw it reappear; all he received were constant reports from Count Katina about encountering it and letting it escape again—what good were those?

He had never seen such a creature before, and the problem was, none of the other people here had seen anything like it either! Although Henning Wenzel also admitted that the wilderness always brings unexpected surprises, and the appearance of the unknown is quite normal.

But once the surprise turned into a shock, things got really weird! He had to figure it out and make sure something like this didn't happen again.

Henning ascended the throne because his immortal father died unexpectedly. Although he did not make any such wish, it is hard to guarantee that no one will want to inherit the throne from him—he does not want to die in an "accident" too early!

This is also why Henning wanted his witch to risk secretly contacting Raslaufer and his group. He had been suspicious when Raslaufer was fighting for Skadi's interests, and now, seeing that Raslaufer's relationship with Skadi was unusual, his sense of crisis intensified.

If I were to die here for any reason, and if Raslaufer were to support Skottie again, who would be able to oppose the infamous Duple and Count Doule, whose territory now ranks among the top three in the kingdom? No one!

He and his well-fed and healthy brother's children could never outmaneuver them!

“If that’s all you’re worried about, then you can rest assured,” the witch’s voice echoed into Henning’s mind, having overheard the king’s entire monologue. “If he really wanted to, you might not be able to do anything. In fact, he has no interest in that sort of thing.”

"As for that two-headed giant tiger, it has nothing to do with him. However... I suggest that you don't go too deep into the area next."

"Is an unusual creature something that evolved on its own, or was it created by human intervention? If it evolved on its own, then it must have an entire group, and even if it is the best of the best among them, the other members of the group will not be too different from it."

"And if it was caused by human intervention, where do you think that person or those people would be hiding?"

"...So did you actually have a divination performed or not?"

"No."

Chapter 553 Petrified Lizard

"Left wing! Left wing, outflank it!"

Louise's shouts echoed through the swamp vegetation, followed by the sounds of armor and weapons. Under her command, squads of men formed a huge encirclement, leaving their prey with no way to escape.

Unless, of course, it can burrow back underground.

The hard scales scraped against the surrounding rocks with a loud noise, echoing the threatening roars of a trapped beast. In the torchlight, its body could be seen to rise like a small mountain on its back, with two rows of bony spikes hanging brightly on either side of its spine, pointing skyward. At this moment, its eight short, thick legs were pacing restlessly in the soft mud pit beneath it, while its short, thick tail was swaying, as if it were preparing to charge at these two-legged creatures that had disturbed its sleep.

But in fact, Louise knew that the creature's slow movements were far from sufficient for it to perform such an action; what she needed to pay most attention to were its eyes.

"Don't look directly into its eyes, just like I said!" she shouted again. By the firelight, they could see that there were many stones scattered around the mud pit where the creature lived. But these were not natural rocks; they were like exquisitely carved images of various wild animals, villagers, and even soldiers, many of which were already broken and missing.

But no craftsman would be willing to carve a statue with such a terrified and bewildered expression, let alone move it here. The only true explanation is that these unfortunate creatures were once living beings.

“A petrified lizard…” Louise lowered her head with burning eyes, “I never expected to encounter one here.”

These creatures actually prefer dry, warm areas. The overall environment of Eastern Inas is not suitable for their survival. But perhaps Dieter recently turned the underground world upside down, and maybe that's when this petrified lizard left its original underground home and stumbled upon this place, taking advantage of the short summer in Eastern Inas to settle here.

Thinking about it this way... there might be another cave nearby that leads to the underground world!

If that's the case, then she's incredibly lucky! Although Dieter opened up a completely new business route for the family, the price he paid for it was too high, which lowered his reputation considerably. But here... this is where she'll find it first!

All that's needed then is to offer that king some paltry concessions—no, not even any concessions at all! If she offered to become the lord of Scott Territory, would Henning refuse? He'd be overjoyed!

She's a member of the Strongman family! If no one surpasses her in the line of succession within a few years, she'll be the next head of the Strongman family! It's his good fortune to be his vassal!

And this place will inevitably be the final cornerstone for her to establish herself as the head of the family!

“Keep the right flank open, don’t kill it!” At this thought, Louise even wanted to hug and kiss the cold-blooded animal with the ochre scales in front of her, but she restrained herself. She couldn’t do that now—at least not until it was completely dead.

"Ow!"

Enraged by the encirclement, the petrified lizard swung its body and attacked as the circle tightened. It grabbed a fragment of a statue and hurled it at a group of guards. As the guards instinctively tried to block or dodge, they turned their heads and saw the eight-legged creature's eyelids open and close, revealing a pair of bright blue eyes fixed on them!

"What's happening... Help! Help me! I'm petrified!" "My legs won't move!" "I—"

In just a moment, the five or six guards were in complete chaos. Except for one lucky one who managed to avoid their gaze by chance, everyone else showed signs of being petrified.

"You bunch of useless trash! Didn't I tell you already?! Don't look into its eyes!" Louise felt as if the top of her head was being blown open by internal air currents. She lowered her head, listening to the commotion around her as she cursed, "Fire! Fire arrows at it first! Aim for its eyes!"

The clanging sounds soon became incessant. The petrified lizard's scales overlapped so tightly that there were almost no gaps to insert them, and it was not restrained. With its body swaying and its four claws slapping, almost none of the arrows shot at it could stay on its body. Even the arrows aimed at its eyes were all deflected as its eyelids, which were as hard as its scales, closed.

"My lord! We have no way to break through its defenses!"

"Useless! They're a bunch of useless trash!" Louise was so angry that her teeth itched, but she was helpless. All she had ever handled was purified petrified lizard oil. This ointment, which was taken from the secretions of the petrified lizard's stomach, could be used to remove the petrification phenomenon. However, she had never seen a real petrified lizard in person, and she had not expected to encounter one this time.