Chapter 54
－Emperas Kingdom, 1st Knight Order Commander's Perspective－
The King's audience chamber was filled with silence.
As I watched, I considered the report we'd just received.
The 4th Knight Order had returned to the royal castle unusually quickly.
Moreover, all their faces were tense, and not one of them opened their mouth; they remained silent.
The commander of the 4th Knight Order went straight to the audience chamber.
The commanders and deputy commanders of the other knight orders were summoned.
I knew something had happened, but surely not...
"The slave escaped—not died, but escaped. Is that definitely correct?"
The king's aide asked the commander of the 4th Knight Order to confirm it.
The answer was affirmative.
Silence spread through the room.
Amid this, reports continued to come in about abnormalities in the forest and among the monsters.
Surely no one had even imagined this.
Those who had panicked at the cracks in the magic stones had regained their composure, and only a few were considering the fear and the abnormalities.
There had even been an atmosphere of ridicule toward that minority; then this report came in.
Every face seemed to recognize that the forest was a threat, though it was rather late for that.
There had certainly been changes; they had merely interpreted them in whatever way suited them.
Because they had already regarded the forest as belonging to their country.
However, this report...
The slave must have escaped because the slave mark had been nullified.
The monsters our country sent into the forest must have recovered the instincts that the magic stones had warped.
The cause of the forest's abnormalities was completely unknown.
Everything except the forest was related to magic stones.
A clatter echoed through the room.
It was the sound of the king rising to his feet in irritation.
His wordless departure revealed considerable anger.
With the forest just one step from being theirs, this unforeseen turn of events must have made him extremely angry.
However, I felt somewhat relieved.
The commander of the 4th Knight Order was my friend.
The king never forgave failure; my friend might have been killed as punishment.
I patted my friend's shoulder, and we left the audience chamber together.
"I'm glad you're safe."
At my words, he grimaced as if he'd bitten into something bitter.
How unusual—his feelings were actually showing.
"What is happening to the forest?"
That's what I want to know, too.
"It looked the same, but I felt a fear unlike any I'd ever known..."
His voice trembled slightly, as though he were recalling it.
He must have felt fear that intense.
What would the king decide?
He wouldn't back down now.
He would probably wage war on the forest.
I knew he would use magic stones then.
But this report meant that the involvement of those very magic stones was now a problem.
Was continuing to use magic stones like this really the right choice?
To the king, magic stones were the very source of his power.
He would never choose to stop using them.
"What do you think a being more powerful than the king would be like?"
My question made my friend look surprised.
Why was he surprised?
Could he be thinking that the king of the forest was fighting back?
If that were the case, it would have struck back much sooner.
There was something in the forest with power greater than the king's—greater than that of the forest kings.
What kind of being could it possibly be?