Chapter Sixty-Four: Marching into the Forest

“Is everyone here?” Alex gently wiped his treasured sword with a white cloth, his back to the doorway as he spoke.

Standing outside, Bekaron bowed respectfully and replied, “Young Master Alex, all the able-bodied men in the village have been summoned. They’re waiting for you now by the fountain in the village square!”

“Very good,” Alex put the cloth aside and sheathed his sword. “Go to the storeroom and take ten pounds of dried meat as your reward.”

“Thank you, Young Master Alex!” Bekaron was overjoyed at the news. He rarely tasted meat more than once a month and had long been craving it.

Alex made his way to the square by the central fountain and found, as expected, all the village’s able-bodied men assembled there. His father’s former subordinates—now his own—were keeping a strict watch over the villagers.

“Young Master Alex!” Bekaron, having safely stowed his dried meat, hurried over, rubbing his hands ingratiatingly. “All the men from fifteen to fifty are here—547 in total!”

“Very well.” Alex strode slowly to the front of the disordered ranks, his gaze icy as he looked upon the villagers, whose faces were twisted with reluctance and fear. Coldly, he addressed them, “You are the strongest men in the village. From today, you will serve as my personal militia! My father died a wrongful death, his soul unable to rest. As his son, I will seek justice with my own sword! But my enemy has fled into the dread Beast Forest—some cowardly foreigner who used the most despicable tricks to evade my vengeance! Because of him, my beloved Perrin also perished in the fighting. This is a blood feud that will end only in death! So I ask you now for your utmost aid. Let us unite, march into the Beast Forest, and find that wretched foreigner—kill him to avenge my father and my Perrin!”

“Hurrah!” Only Alex’s own men raised their voices in response. Every villager glared at him with the same look of deep hatred. But no one dared rebel or refuse him. He was the rightful heir to the village chief, commanded the chief’s formidable followers, and held the special status of a Town Guard—with the credentials to become the next captain.

With the power of the chief and the Town Guard, and with the weak and vulnerable families of the villagers all under his control, the men had no choice but to obey, no matter how unwilling.

“Now, each man will be issued a wooden spear and a bow! If you have your own weapons, bring them!” Alex drew his sword and shouted, “You have half an hour to prepare. Then we march!”

“My son, what will become of you? Will anyone return alive from the Beast Forest?”

“Father, don’t go!”

“That damned Alex—his father was a scoundrel, but the son is even worse!”

“Brother, if you meet a beast, you must hide! Run if you can!”

“Oli, come back safely!”

As the men returned home to prepare, their families were shrouded in sorrow. Even at the forest’s edge, villagers often fell victim to wild beasts or monsters while gathering fruit or chopping wood. On nights of the blood moon, terrifying undead would wander out of the forest.

To send the men into the Beast Forest—Alex was all but sending them to their deaths! Yet no one in the village dared defy him. After half an hour of tearful farewells, all the men gathered in the square once more.

“Move out!” Alex mounted his warhorse and led the way. He was certain that the foreigner was hiding somewhere in the Beast Forest. He had posted men to watch every route except the one that led straight to the forest’s heart, and after a whole day, the foreigner had never been seen leaving.

Either the foreigner’s band had perished inside the Beast Forest, or they were concealed somewhere, waiting for a chance to escape.

Alive or dead, Alex was determined to find him! Otherwise, the weight of his father’s and Perrin’s deaths would haunt him forever.

More than six hundred men—villagers and Alex’s own followers—marched in a mighty column into the Beast Forest.

This time, Alex was more cautious than before. He led the group around the horned apes’ territory, taking the safest paths whenever possible.

“Morlens!” But the dangers of the Beast Forest were not so easily avoided. A beast the size of a dinosaur, with a duck-like bill, blocked their way, sending the villagers into a panic.

“Do not falter! Any man who dares retreat will answer to my sword!” Alex shouted. “Think of your parents, wives, and children waiting for your return! With so many of you, you need not fear such a beast—attack!”

The men knew all too well that if they tried to run, Alex would surely take revenge on their families. They had no choice but to raise their wooden spears and nock their bows, launching an assault on the giant beast.

With a thunderous crash, the massive duck-billed monster finally fell beneath the assault of six hundred men.

But the victory was bitter—more than twenty villagers lay dead, and over forty were wounded.

“Onward!” Alex gave them no time to mourn, ordering the dead to be buried before urging the march forward.

Reluctant and fearful, the villagers fought on, battling fierce beasts along the way. For the sake of their loved ones at home, they pressed on with all their strength, praying only to survive and return.

But the forest offered no mercy, nor did its beasts.

The farther they went, the heavier the casualties. In just a few hours, over a hundred and twenty had fallen—the force of more than six hundred was dwindling fast.

“Look! Young Master Alex, there’s a wall over there!” As Alex’s patience wore thin, Bekaron cried out, pointing into the distance.

“A wall? How could there be a wall inside the Beast Forest?” Alex spurred his horse forward and indeed saw a walled structure standing amid the trees.

The wall enclosed an area about the size of a village—far from a true city. Inside, countless small figures bustled about, though from a distance it was impossible to tell whether they were human.

“Young Master Alex, the foreigner must be there!” Bekaron’s eyes lit up. “Beyond this is monster territory—he wouldn’t go in and court death. This must be the secret base he built! I see it now—the foreigner wants to use this as a hidden stronghold, a concealed armory. When the time is right, he’ll launch a surprise attack against our mighty Empire!”