Chapter 207: Under their Noses (6)

Since dozens of chimera had flooded out together, there was a clear trail left behind for Desir’s party to follow.

After verifying their paths with Romantica’s detection spell, Desir distanced himself from the party members. It was to establish contact with the Side Guard.

To prepare for the worst, he arranged for the Side Guard to remain on guard within the village where the teleportation gate was located.

Desir contacted them, delivering information about their encounter with the chimeras, and added his own judgment as a Royal Guard.

The content was a more detailed and official set of information, more refined than what he had explained to the party members.

A Side Guard member seemed surprised when he received the information.

“And please report this matter to His Majesty the Emperor.”

[-Understood, Sir Desir.]

* * *

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It was dawn with a full moon still hanging in the sky, not yet obscured by the full might of the sun.

“How’s the current situation?”

A middle-aged man asked while stroking his beard.

He was Count Nordin, a Marquis in charge of defending the western border: the border between the Hebrion Empire and the Kingdom of Divide.

Karos Nordin looked out the window with sharp eyes. His pupils reflected the outline of the forest below the cliff. Even though he was a middle-aged man, the aura he gave off was sharp like a sword, no different from the time when he was young.

The leader of an order of knights kneeled before him and reported.

“It entered Phase Two.”

Karos turned around and faced him.

There was no reason for the leader of an order of knights to lie. It must be the truth.

He stroked his beard again and soon entered a reverie.

When the vital sign of the chimera tasked with eliminating trespassers who entered ‘that’ territory stopped, Phase Two would be triggered. It was a level of defense that would kill the trespassers by releasing all of the chimeras.

Phase Two had never before been initiated since the chimera had been placed there.

After spreading the rumors of its existence being that of a guardian, there was no one who dared approached the area. And obviously, there were no monsters that would dare to stand against a chimera.

However, the current situation implied that a powerful chimera had been defeated.

“Did you identify what trespassed in that area?”

“The dispatched team is currently investigating.”

“What are your thoughts on this matter?”

The leader of the order of knights pondered, then spoke.

“A group of basilisks have been seen near the border recently. They may have strayed across to this side… ”

“I know about the basilisks as I’ve already been notified. They made appearances around three weeks ago. There’s no reason for them to suddenly cross the territory when they weren’t able to do so until now.”

Karos gathered all of the information at hand and organized his thoughts calmly. Along with the important role of defending the border, the role of Marquis was not handed to just anyone.

Because the Emperor thought highly of his skills and judgment capability, he entrusted him with this heavy responsibility.

“What about the people living within the territory? Has anyone suspicious left recently?”

“There was no one who left the territory. However, there were foreigners snooping around the territory two days ago.”

Foreigners.

Karos nodded, waiting for him to continue speaking.

“After investigating the inn that they’re staying in, we learned that they paid for a few days of rent in advance and their rooms have been empty since morning.”

“Were they thinking of staying longer, but went back in a hurry due to some circumstance, or… ”

“They were students from the Hebrion Academy who received a request to eliminate the basilisks. I heard there were five of them in that party.”

Karos descended into his thoughts once again.

Hebron Academy was an educational establishment that gathered people with outstanding ability from all over the continent and trained them. Some of the people who underwent such training had great ability that allowed them to be knighted before even leaving the academy.

“That’s not enough. Bring me more detailed information.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll contact the operatives in the capital.”

After the leader of the knight order left, Karos, who was now left alone in the office, slumped into his chair.

‘Surely they didn’t go down the cliff… ?’

It was something that he carefully prepared for. If the existence of the chimeras were to be discovered, he had to silence whoever survived.

The chimeras were a problem, but that ‘something’ which the chimera protected must not be revealed.

‘It wouldn’t matter, even if they overcame Phase Two.’

Karos thought about the conversation that he had with his ally.

The last defense system, Phase Three.

According to his ally, Phase Three could only be brought down if the combined military force of an entire country was gathered.

Even if this party from the Hebrion Academy was strong, it was hardly possible for them to win against the power of a whole country.

‘What a pity.’

Karos sincerely felt sad about losing talented individuals in the Empire. However, it was necessary in order to accomplish that goal.

He clenched his fist, looking at the tapestry with a magnificent lion weaved into it.

“To Hebrion.”

* * *

No one was able to stand up against Pram’s stubbornness.

Desir ordered Pram to return to the territory, but Pram only shook his head.

“I won’t be a burden. Please, Desir!”

“But your condition… ”

“I’m fine!”

Pram unsheathed his rapier and swung it around a few times.

Desir finally gave in to Pram’s plea. Even though it could be dangerous to take Pram in his condition, Desir also judged that they had already overcome what was likely to be the biggest hurdle.

The Starling Party rested until Pram had recovered enough to walk, and then set out towards their destination.

The morning air was extremely chilly.

The Starling Party was able to follow the trail of the chimera back towards their den.

“This is… ”

There were horribly mangled bodies and that which must be monster corpses. Judging from their injuries, they must’ve been victims of the chimera.

Some of the corpses seemed fresh and some of them seemed to have died many years ago, judging from their rate of decomposition.

There seemed to be quite a number of victims.

After the Starling Party expressed sorrow for the unknown casualties, they started to move again.

After walking for some time.

A high cliff and a giant cave came into their sight.

‘Was this the place that the chimera were guarding?’

This place was right below the cliff that they passed when they were on the wagon, heading towards the Nordin Territory.

“Isn’t this the place where Pram heard a strange sound?”

“I’m guessing it was the sound of the chimera.”

“Great hearing.”

Pram waved his hands.

“N-No. I heard a faint sound, so I thought it was the sound of the wind.”

Desir looked up the cliff. The top of the cliff was too distant for him to see with the naked eye.

‘At this distance, I don’t think a scream could be heard, no matter how hard one tries.’

“What is it, Desir?”

Romantica’s call woke Desir up from his thoughts.

“It’s nothing.”

After shaking his head, Desir entered the cave together with the party members.

The interior space inside the cave was very wide. It would be no problem for two-hundred people to enter the cave at the same time.

However, there was something that caught their attention more than the area itself.

“It’s clear that someone used this place with some kind of purpose in mind.”

Just like Adjest mentioned, there was evidence of human traces inside the cave. There was also a strut propped up to prevent the cave from collapsing.

It resembled a military base.

[Light]

They created magical light and ventured deeper.

After a while, they were able to find steel-barred windows. On top of each set of bars was a number.

The number of them was exactly forty-nine. This was roughly how many chimera the Starling Party had eliminated. The chimeras must have lived behind these empty barred windows.

When they entered deeper into the cave, an enormous iron gate appeared.

Desir drew in closer to check, and naturally, it was not a gate that one could open simply by pushing.

“Leave it to me. This time, I’ll… ”

“Just wait!”

Desir restrained Ronde, thinking that he may cause trouble.

“Ronde, what do you think would happen if you use an explosion spell inside a cave?”

“I’m, I’m sorry, brother.”

Only then did Ronde realize what he was trying to do and quickly apologized.

After smiling bitterly, Desir waved his hand towards the gate. Then, the thirteen defensive spells that had been placed on the gate dispersed soon after.

It was designed to send a signal if the spells were removed by force, but they had been removed before being able to serve their function.

Even though the magical barrier had been resolved, the thick iron gate still needed to be dealt with.

“Pram, I need your help.”

“Huhu, it’s a good thing you brought me along, right?

Pram coiled aura around his sword. Pram’s aura, which had now reached Bishop Class, emitted a dazzling light beyond compare.

*Slash*

*Slash*

Even the iron gate with a height of several meters was cut down in a breeze.

*Thud*

The iron gate collapsed.

This was the place that the chimeras had been guarding. When they looked inside, they were surprised.

“What the hell are these?”

Preserved rations, enchanted weapons, magical scrolls, and an abundance of mana stones lay before them.

There was a reserve of supplies beyond count.

Romantica drew in closer and inspected the supplies.

The supplies had seal stamps of the merchant group that produced them. Romantica recognized the seal stamps on the weapons.

“… Nepsilon.”

On the mana scroll was Naptille and on the food supplies was Eraca.

“Desir, these are products from the merchant groups that you talked about.”

“So were these the products that the Nordin Territory was trading with the merchant groups from Divide… ?”

After checking the supplies, Des1r was able to confirm the goal of the Nordin Territory.

Food, weapons, and magical scrolls with mana stones to power them.

There was only one situation that would require all three kinds of supplies.

War.

The Nordin Territory was preparing for war.