Chapter 344 – Troops Advancing

Troops Advancing

「Aaah! Are the monsters here in the new world this weak?!」Gerhardt swung his great sword and severed the front legs of a six-legged monster.

The Beastman King didn’t look the least bit terrified, even though one of the monster’s leg was as big as a grown man. He rushed closer even as the monster shrieked, and bathed in blood, he drove his sword to the monster’s face. His weapon stopped halfway through the head.

「Pushovers. Next!」

「Y-Your Majesty, please slow down. Our men can’t keep up!」

「What?」

Gerhardt turned around and finally noticed the Einbeast army on the verge of total exhaustion.

The Einbeast army had marched from Lands Harvest into a deep forest, where the soldiers faced countless monsters in grueling fights. The only one who pushed forward easily was Gerhardt, killing all the bigger monsters.

Gerhardt clicked his tongue.「If only Gotthold was here. Things would be a little bit easier.」

Gotthold, leader of the rank A party Polar Tiger, was not here, as he had adventurer-related business to attend to, which meant the other members were absent as well. Even though Einbeast was known for its strength, the hole that the rank A party left was huge.

「I can see those Roots thing over there.」

The map provided by Vireocean—Hikaru himself marked the location of the Roots—showed that a Root was nearby. Gerhardt spotted a remarkably tall tree, which he guessed to be where the Root was.

Vicious monsters guarded these Roots. The thought of fighting such creatures thrilled Gerhardt.

Wait. These guys need a break, the king thought. But they’re not gonna contribute much in the fight at the Root anyway, so…

Gerhardt walked over to a commanding officer.「You there.」

「Y-Your Majesty! Is there anything I can do for you?」

「I’m going away for a bit. You guys take a break.」

「Go away?」

「Let me hear your response!」

「U-Understood, sir!」

Gerhardt nodded with satisfaction.「See ya.」

「Take care— What?! Y-Y-Your Majesty!」

Gerhardt leaned forward and exploded into a run, heading towards the Root. Alone.

Several large bonfires were burning in the center of the plaza. Three turrets were also built, each with a dragon stone of considerable size, glowing differently in the light of the fire: blue, yellow and purple.

「Damn, that’s amazing. They got those in just a day, right?」

「Quinbland, Ponsonia, and Einbeast came back with one each, apparently.」

「How much can you sell those for?」

「What’s up with the other one? It’s cracked in the middle.」

「Ssh, don’t say anything. The Beastman King will kill you.」

Adventurers and soldiers were gathered around the turrets, looking up and talking about the dragon stones.

The stones were placed there to show the fruits of battle and motivate the people—to let them know that they could earn this much from this land.

Huge monsters were unfamiliar to them. It would take a lot of mental strength to keep fighting them nonstop.

But a simple “bait” would be enough to overcome such difficulty. In fact, the motivation of the adventurers and soldiers had increased.

「Tsk.」

Not all were in a good mood, however.

「Your Majesty, please don’t click your tongue so blatantly out in the open.」Gotthold said with a serious look.

「This is your fault, Gotthold. If you were with us today, I wouldn’t have smashed the dragon stone.」

「Please don’t put this on me. I’m told you rushed to the Root alone, and in killing the monster there, the momentum from your swing smashed it. You only have yourself to blame.」

「Things would’ve been different if you were there!」

「Perhaps. But you were aware I wasn’t present.」

「It’s the monsters’ fault for being too weak!」

「Maybe the problem is that you’re too strong.」

「What’s going on here anyway? Why are all the monsters I fought so weak?」

「I don’t know.」

Gotthold did not bother telling the king his conjecture.

Like the briefing mentioned, there were indeed these things called Roots. However, unlike the information they received, not only were the monsters weaker, the dragon stones were also smaller in size.

The simple explanation was that Dream Maker had exaggerated about the size of the stones to entice the armies and force them to mobilize.

However, that brought up a question: why would they tell a lie that would be exposed right away? They also said that the monsters were strong, but they turned out to be weaker. Wouldn’t they have claimed that they were weaker in the first place? It didn’t make sense.

「Ponsonia’s was gathered by Lawrence, right? So who got the dragon stone for Quinbland then?」

Gerhardt, however, seemed to be more concerned about who was stronger, rather than Dream Maker’s intentions.

「I’m told it was Ram and Leg of Huge Twins.」

「Hmm? They’re adventurers like you. Why are they hunting for dragon stones? Weren’t you attending some serious matters?」

「Huge Twins is an enormous party. Their leaders left the guild matters to their subordinates and took some of their elite members to hunt for dragon stones.」

「That’s not fair! You’ll follow their example starting tomorrow, Gotthold.」

「It can’t be done. Polar Tiger is only a tenth the size of Huge Twins.」

「Damn them.」

「Unfortunately, the Guild is the highest in the chain of command for adventurers. Not even Your Majesty can do anything about this.」

「You also serve in the military! Who would lead the army without you?」

「That would be you, Your Majesty.」

「I have a job I gotta do. Hunting for dragon stones.」

「You’re the head of the army.」

「Not a chance.」

「No, that is your job.」

「I’m not doing it!」

Armies from various nations advanced towards different Root locations, with Lands Harvest as their base. Hikaru and the others had accepted a commission from the Adventurers Guild to survey the local ecosystem, staying away from matters relating to the dragon stones. It was clear that retaking Dream Maker was faster than restoring Lands Harvest.

After Dream Maker’s reclamation, it would be necessary to re-investigate the continent and study how to destroy the “evil” energy spreading throughout the lands.

Almost twenty days had passed since they arrived at the continent.

Roots had been gradually destroyed, and the central square was packed with dragon stones. But there were only few large ones. Smaller sized stones, the size of bowling bowls, were increasing in number.

All the Roots within a days’ round trip away had been destroyed. Now the army’s expedition squads were aiming for the ones three to five days’ round trip away. Some found Roots along the way, and every day there was something to discover.

They’re taking too much time, Hikaru thought.

Armies and top-ranked adventurers had gone out to hunt dragon stones. A large amount of stones would surely bring enormous wealth to each country.

But the original plan was to reclaim Dream Maker first. The distance the squads traveled to get to the Roots was already the same distance they would’ve covered if they headed to Dream Maker.

People were working on a road connecting Lands Harvest to Dream Maker, but they could finish it faster if they worked on it from the capital city.

They’re trying to harvest everything before the second batch arrives.

The guild had already established long-distance communication with the Adventurers Guild in Ville Zentra using the Linga’s Quill Pen, although they could only barely make contact with each other.

Since the communication tools owned by the military were more precise, they could keep in touch with their country more frequently. Information should already be passed around: that they were gathering a lot of dragon stones like it was some kind of a gold rush.

Vireocean, Einbeast, and Quinbland had sent a sufficient number of troops. Ponsonia, Forestia, and Bios, however, were vastly outnumbered. Combine that with the fatigue, they couldn’t act as fast as the others. Ponsonia would most likely significantly increase the number of their troops in the next batch. Each nation was trying to secure as much dragon stones as possible right away before the competition intensified.

Thought it seems Gerhardt only cares about not letting others fight the stronger monsters.

Gerhardt was the only one who did not return to Lands Harvest every time he destroyed a Root, opting instead to move on to the next one. Thanks to that, Einbeast was ahead of the pack in the number of dragon stones obtained.

As long as they were determined to collect all the dragon stones in the vicinity of Lands Harvest before the second batch of forces arrived, Dream Makers reclamation would only be delayed.

The people of Dream Maker, of course, were not happy about this.

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