The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 161

But World Tree, if you were in the same situation as me, would you believe this without a shred of doubt? These are the ones who have repeatedly disappointed me, showed little sign of remorse, and tried to deceive me until the very end. Is there really a need to go through the trouble of giving each of them a chance to distinguish truth from falsehood?

It was obvious without even looking. The contents of this report would be quite different from the truth. Iel… In the end, as soon as she got away from the castle, did she try to pull the wool over his eyes once again? Was this why she bothered to follow along with that woman?

While he agonized, the sultry wind that tickled the leaves of the World Tree flew endlessly on a long-awaited northwestern breeze. Toward the direction of the thorn forest.

Whooosh!

“Ugh, it seems like it’s winter here all year round.”

“It’s so cold…”

Not long after the happy, frenzied Aika Festival ended, the guardian trainees who had been deployed to the thorn forest were experiencing endless hardships. Since they were training in an area considerably farther away than before, they had brought plenty of food supplies, so at least their tongues were happy during meals. However, all other environments and difficulty levels had risen to extreme levels, making things so tough that one evening they couldn’t even taste the tangy flavor while eating tomato stew.

This time, the problem was that there were knights surrounding them protectively and keeping watch. Their captain, Brax, was originally generous and readily helped with difficult tasks, but the recent atmosphere was completely different.

Especially that knight. Because Lord Iel, the king’s steadfast right hand who shouldn’t have come, was stubbornly holding his ground there, it was quite burdensome. When they were at the castle, he was a magnificent and impressive figure to look up to, but now that he was positioned above their heads, the feeling was bound to be different. After all, superiors are the great enemy of subordinates.

Everyone expected that Brax wouldn’t be able to help them with anything because he was busy reading Iel’s mood. Eventually, someone bold enough voiced their complaints.

“I mean, if Lord Iel came to look after Polyxene, then the two of them should be going around intimately together. Why is he staying here monitoring us?”

Some of the guardian trainees were conducting high-intensity training near the forest, quite far from this camp, having set up an advance base there. And since Polyxene had gone there, the complaints of the remaining trainees pierced the sky.

Rustle rustle rustle!

Suddenly the wind rose and the sound of leaves rustling could be clearly heard. Just as the grumbling trainees thought it was just ordinary wind noise and didn’t move a muscle, Iel, who had been standing tall, drew his sword like lightning.

“Wh-what is it?”

“What should we do…?”

“Wasn’t today’s training over?”

Surely he wasn’t telling them all to spar with Lord Iel, who was praised as a knight among knights. Just as everyone was exchanging troubled glances, he uttered unexpected words.

“All trainees, fall back behind me. Those whose archery accuracy is poor, put down your bows and protect yourselves with daggers!”

Before Iel’s shout had even ended, the knights rushed forward and, unlike the trainees who were fumbling around, maintained a thorough defensive stance. With no need to give orders again, Iel whipped his head around to look ahead.

Rustle rustle rustle rustle!

Now the guardian trainees finally realized it. That wasn’t the sound of leaves swirling in the wind, but the bizarre roar made by some other artificial thing.

“It’s, it’s coming. The feeling is… too strange. I think I’m going to be sick…!”

Someone’s tense muttering could be heard, and shortly after, the ground kept rumbling and then became quiet. What was going on? Just as the trainees were about to whisper among themselves in anxiety, a high-pitched scream full of terror came from far away.

“Aaaahhh!”

But before the scream had even ended, there was a loud and eerie sound as if something extremely heavy was striking stones or the ground. It was like what might happen if an earthslide poured down from a mountainside during a storm. Since there couldn’t be any travelers in this area, it must surely be a scream from one of their comrades. While the trainees huddled together in fear, Iel shouted.

“You protect the trainees! I’ll go check and return, so absolutely do not break formation and stand by.”

“Lord Iel…!”

“That’s an order!”

His figure shot out alone like an arrow, leaving clear drag marks along the path where his feet had scraped. If someone as cautious as him was acting like this, it was clear evidence that something difficult had occurred. The trainees forgot even the instructions to hold their weapons properly and were sweating profusely from their palms.

Thud, crash!

Before long, there was a thunderous sound like something collapsing from the place where those ominous sounds had been heard earlier.

And some time after that.

The sound of jumbled footsteps could be heard nearby, followed by sobbing that burst forth.

“Hic, sob. Big brother…”

“You did well. You did good.”

“Ah, big brother. Big brother… I did it.”

The trainees who had been hiding tightly behind the knights looked at each other in surprise.

“What is that sound?”

“Wait, isn’t that Polyxene’s voice? The only one who can call Lord Iel ‘big brother’… it’s only her anyway.”

“Polyxene!”

Iel’s shout, filled with pride, rang high into the sky. It was like the resounding trumpet sound announcing tremendous achievements that no one could have predicted.