Chapter 448

Chapter Seventy-One Preparations

Time passed swiftly over four days.

On the evening I met Grandma Claire, while I was still having dinner with her, the knights sent by Angel arrived. After bidding farewell to my grandmother and assuring her that I would be careful and return soon, I boarded the Church’s unicorn carriage and headed south of the village to the knight encampment.

The camp was located on a lush meadow north of Woodward Forest, not far from the village. The unicorn carriage could reach there in just twenty minutes.

Over fifteen hundred knights were stationed here. As night fell, the blazing torches formed a line across the sky, casting a crimson glow on countless white tents. Knights clad in golden armor held their swords solemnly, riding tall unicorn beasts along the forest’s edge for patrol, with sparks of light stretching far into the night.

I stayed here only one night. Early the next morning, I set out with Angel and Bald Isaac, and over the next four days, we circumnavigated the ancient Woodward Forest, reaching the first knight division’s camps at the forest’s edge: the East Camp, Southeast Camp, and the heavily guarded large camp built to the south with numerous watchtowers.

During our stays, we quickly convened meetings each time. Angel summoned the bishops, commanders, and several key officials stationed at the camps, questioning the current deployment progress and search results. He arranged for them to pay close attention to critical matters, instructing them to strengthen the inspection efforts in nearby villages to prevent heretics from taking advantage, while also calming villagers’ emotions to avoid panic.

In addition, he organized search teams into the forest at each camp, requiring knights to search day and night for the location of the Dragon Homeland, securing it immediately upon discovery. However, the feedback was that knights had been working on this task for ten days, yet no camp had found anything.

No one knew what the entrance to the legendary Dragon Homeland looked like.

A mysterious cave? An unknown lake bottom?

Or remains of some ancient ruins?

No one knew.

Even Angel himself wasn’t sure.

But he was aware that I had seen a white dragon here, which Carlos had informed him about long ago. Thus, he instructed the knights to look for signs of dragons, and under my guidance, he warned them to lower all defenses if they encountered a dragon, avoiding unnecessary battles and sacrifices. Instead, they should attempt to negotiate with the white dragon, as it harbored no malice toward humans.

Two nights, accompanied by Angel, Bald Isaac, and dozens of knights, we ventured into the forest. I called out “Big White” hoping it might remember me and appear. But besides attracting a pack of hungry wolves, we found nothing, not even a single hair.

This reality saddened me.

Big White probably didn’t remember me anymore…

But I consoled myself, thinking perhaps it hadn’t heard me…

In these hurried four days, I felt the Holy Church… or rather, Angel’s, immense importance placed on this mission. Setting aside the well-equipped and highly skilled First Knight Division coming from the holy city, merely the watchtowers erected along the highlands of the forest spoke volumes. In such remote and desolate areas, the vast manpower and resources required, and the need for rapid completion and full operation of the watchtowers, demonstrated an impressive organizational capacity and rigorous execution ability… I could understand this much.

But I had no heart to marvel at it.

After all… as far as I could see, despite the four camps established by the First Knight Division in the northern, eastern, southeastern, and southern parts of the forest, with the Church’s most elite warriors ready, totaling five thousand people, plus many priests, monks, and even four archbishops, reportedly among the Church’s finest clergy, and including the fool Bald Isaac, me, and the Pope himself, this lineup was unprecedentedly powerful.

However, Woodward Forest was vast, rich in resources, and surrounded by countless towns and villages. The villagers here, like those in Grandma Claire’s village, primarily lived off the forest, gathering herbs and hunting. There were countless paths leading to these places…

Even with numerous watchtowers and knights patrolling day and night, they could only defend against a major offensive by heretics. If a few stray animals wanted to sneak into the forest alone, it would still be relatively easy.

Therefore… these camps guarding the forest’s edge, and the heavy checkpoints set up in major roads and towns, the preparations and orders made by Angel, and the focus of all deployments, were aimed at ensuring the Church could respond as quickly as possible in case of any incident.

Most importantly, they must find the Dragon Homeland before the heretics.

Only then could they truly gain the upper hand.

Angel told me that everything I saw on this journey was the best he could mobilize under the current limited conditions.

Even so, the entire western part of the forest remained unguarded—he said it was surrounded by mountains, with coastal areas beyond. Due to scarce water sources and treacherous terrain, it was almost uninhabited, so there was no need to worry about heretics coming from there, whether in small groups or large ones; no one could survive for more than a few days without food or water, let alone traverse such harsh conditions.

Having crossed the mountains, they arrived at the plain outside the forest.

Even upon reaching the plain, there was still a more terrifying barrier waiting for them—a chasm nearly spanning half of the plain, as well as the divine protections set up by the church beyond the chasm to prevent the Abyssal ooze from spreading.

Mm, I woke up from that side.

The four days of travel were tense and exhausting.

On the evening of the fourth day, along with Angel, Isaac the bald straight man, and over a hundred accompanying knights, we arrived at the fourth campsite with the largest number of people on the south side of Woodward Forest. This was also the intelligence hub of the entire defensive line. Without resting, Angel immediately summoned the Knight Commander and clergy to hold another deployment meeting.

Inside the white command tent, people in long robes or armor had serious expressions as they gathered around a table flickering with candlelight. The Knight Commander was summarizing the current intelligence information, while across from him, Angel sat with his legs crossed, listening calmly.

“…Half a month ago, I sent two squads of twenty each to investigate the area south of Silgaya. These forty all belonged to the ‘Punisher’s Fist’ of the First Knight Order, elite warriors who had previously fought against heretics. I attempted to have them reestablish contact with Commander Williams, at least informing them of our location… However, until now, no news has been received.”

“At normal marching speed, they may have already reached the coast of Mosley… Since there is no news, let’s hope that the coast of Mosley has not fallen, and the southern part of Silgaya has not been affected by war. If this is the case… it would be for the best.”

“Once ‘Punisher’s Fist’ arrives at the coast, we can discuss the next support strategy.”

“But if the situation is worse than we anticipated…”

“Now we must prepare for the worst-case scenario…”

“The whereabouts of Archbishop Ansheel remain unknown, and we cannot obtain the exact location of the relics… The defenses here are already stretched thin; if we act rashly, allowing the heretics to take advantage, it could backfire…”

I sat in a corner chair, my chin resting on my hand, my face never relaxing despite the tension.

These past few days have been incredibly agonizing.

I urgently wanted to save Barry, yet I didn’t even know where he was. Knowing his current situation might be dangerous… That day, I made a promise at Aelia’s grave, letting her watch over me… But after four days, I remained anxious and worried, doing nothing. This feeling was truly terrible.

But now, I could only wait for intelligence.

My mood was already poor, and these past few days, there was always an energetic bald man following me around. Every time it was time to rest, he would run up to me, shouting that he wanted to fight me. It was driving me crazy. I originally thought about dealing with him, but after leaving the village, I lost that resolve.

I didn’t want to deal with him, but he was unusually persistent. Only after being scolded by Angel did he show some restraint, though his gaze towards me remained intense. If someone saw that look without understanding, they would probably think it was from a lolicon pervert.

…No, I’m not a lolicon.

In any case, although my mood was terrible, I had to endure, ignore his face with its foolish tattoos, and avoid a real fight, in case he got hurt… It would definitely affect things.

At this moment, sitting at the meeting table, I didn’t look at the bald man beside me.

He occasionally glanced at me.

Soon, the sky outside the tent grew darker, and the lengthy meeting came to an end. The knights sent to investigate might not return within three to five days. Angel ordered everyone to prepare for battle while shifting some focus to searching for the homeland of the dragon.

I felt a bit tired.

Another fruitless meeting…

We still couldn’t grasp the situation in the south, unsure of Barry’s and the Third Knight Order’s exact locations, nor did we know whether the battle at Mosley Coast was ongoing. Angel temporarily wouldn’t order a move south, even though I was burning with impatience. I wouldn’t foolishly detach from the main force and rush to the south alone, as that would waste more time. I didn’t even know where to go, so staying here was the only way to get the latest information first.

Besides, I wasn’t just idly waiting.

I had another source of intelligence, already on the way to the south—the guy Beaumont. On the night he arrived at the village, he and Angel discussed for a long time. Early the next morning, he left the camp with part of the merchants and guards, heading to the largest city in the south, Aretheon, which was closest to the Mosley Coast.

This was originally the transit point for supplies sent to the coast by the Williams Trading Company. Beaumont had obtained much of his information from Aretheon. Four days earlier, Beaumont offered to represent the church and the bank, risking going there to thoroughly investigate the situation and ensure the supply route was clear.

I let the goat cheese follow him.

…………

After the meeting ended, several Knight Commanders and clergy gradually left. Angel closed his eyes at the table, his fingers tapping on the surface as if deep in thought. The sound of his nails hitting the wood annoyed me, so I left the tent and walked out of the camp.

“Hey, shorty! Where are you going?” Not far away, Isaac’s voice echoed behind me, “With nothing to do, how about we exercise?”

Ah…

Here we go again.

I turned around, ready to curse him out.

At this moment, a commotion suddenly erupted from the distant tents on the left.

…