[Human Camp]
Stent Gaht pondered as he listened to the reports of his men one by one. His mind drifted thinking about the various bad possibilities that might happen.
He felt anxious, not because the bad possibility that he thought of actually happened but because the bad possibility didn't happen at all. The enemy in sight was not what he was afraid of but the enemy hiding from the shadows was the most terrifying.
Just like the Mana Ruling Family that used to hide in the shadows of the great empires but they collapsed after surfacing and were defeated by the PSA, which consisted only of ex-farmers and other low-class people.
Because of that right now Gaht was feeling extremely anxious.
He thought that the Black Swarm Insect God (Quadruple Arachnid) outbreak was the start of the demon attack on humans, but it turns out that after they conducted an investigation, they found no signs of demon interference in this matter. Gaht had repeatedly tried to confirm this point directly, even with his mana sensitivity he couldn't find the signs he was looking for.
Then a few days ago Gaht felt a new burst of mana explosion. The mana explosion was felt not too far from the Black Swarm Insect God's nest. Feeling this instead of being relieved, Gaht was even more anxious.
He felt like he was being led by something to go deeper into the Bog forest. His premonitions were getting worse and because of that until now Gaht had slowed down his troops.
He was extremely careful and forced his subordinates to investigate every inch of the distance they covered. Gaht knew that his decision would irritate the mages under him, but he couldn't shake the bad feeling in his heart.
"...That's why after carrying out our investigation we found no signs of foreign mana usage activity twenty kilometers around the camp."
One of his aides finished reading out the report from the investigative team. He took a deep breath because he had had to read the same report over and over again for several days.
"...No oddities at all?" Gaht asked after a moment of silence.
"Nothing. No mana activity, no mana shift, no mana color change, and no mana species." his aide said quickly trying to hide the annoyance in his tone of voice.
Even so, Gaht, who was sensitive, could still read the annoyance on his aide's face. He couldn't delay their movement any longer, inevitably he had to move his troops towards the place where the mana explosion they had sensed before.
Ghat took a deep breath. The longer they postpone it, the more pressured his position in the Gurru Committee will be. Currently, they are still helping each other because of the threat from the new mana species, the demon, but when the threat disappears then humans will fight each other again.
Gaht was appointed as the leader of this troop but it was not free. He must bear the burden and responsibility if it turns out that their expedition did not find anything. Not only the costs incurred but also the time needed for this expedition.
Humans are very selfish and they don't want to suffer losses that they should avoid. Therefore any losses in this expedition will be scapegoated on Gaht's head.
"Why can't humans unite like they used to?" Gaht complained.
Even though he asked, Gaht already knew the answer. The reason was that humans had gotten stronger and there were no more external threats.
Mana species is the leader in the world, this is because they are creatures that are loved by mana. Unlike monsters who can't feel mana at all let alone use it.
"Monsters?... MONSTERS!!!" Gaht suddenly stood up from his seat which surprised his aide.
Without warning, Gaht grabbed his aide's shoulder and shook him vigorously.
"Didn't you find any monsters?"
"W..Wh..What?" his frightened aide stammered.
"Didn't anyone encounter any monsters on our way?" Gaht repeated his question in greater detail.
"ah..err... No?"
"Check it again!"
"Yes... Yes, sir!" his frightened aide rushed out of the tent seeking the information Gaht had requested.
Gaht sat back in his chair and rubbed his furrowed brow. He almost forgot something important but slipped out of his mind because of how insignificant the creature was.
Monsters are the weakest species on the continent of Meer. They were so weak that a Copper Tier Danger Mutated Animal was able to take them down. There was no mana in their bodies at all, they were cursed creatures that were hated by mana.
However, twenty years ago due to human negligence, the number of the orc race in the Bog forest had skyrocketed. They attacked villages around the Bog forest and caused many casualties on the human side.
Apart from being a mildly annoying pest, there is no other use for this species. Their bodies couldn't be used to make potions or weapons. Because of that monster species were always allowed to live in the Bog forest as long as their numbers weren't too large.
Extermination of monster species in the forest of Bog is regularly carried out but it is very rare that a mage is willing to volunteer to do it. Instead of calling it a duty, exterminating monster species could be said to be a punishment.
There is no advantage to it and just a waste of time.
Even so, these very weak species are still able to survive in the Bog forest which is filled with dangerous mutated animals and rare plants. They are like cockroaches that are still able to survive in dark places and without oxygen at all.
Monsters are also one of the characteristics of the Bog forest. For adventurers meeting monsters is bad luck. It's not that they're dangerous but they're annoying and it's unprofitable to kill them.
But different from mutated animals, monster species are recognized as having intelligence equal to mana species. They are able to communicate and form their own culture. Even because of this, in human kingdoms, one of the monster races, namely sylphs, is very popular as pets.
A few minutes later his aide returned with the information he wanted. Gaht heard his report with enthusiasm but it was very short.
"We didn't encounter a single monster during this expedition!" said his aide with a frown.
He also felt the same strangeness with Gaht. But he immediately said to give the reason for that, "Most likely, the species of monsters that existed in the forest of Bog were wiped out by the Black Swarm Insect God."
Gaht was silent for a moment, not immediately agreeing to his aide's analysis. It was reasonable to say the monster species had been wiped out by the Black Swarm Insect God but what happen if it didn't happen like that?
He already thought that the Black Swarm Insect God outbreak was the start of the demon attack on humans. If he stuck to that assumption then there was a high chance that the monster species weren't devoured by the Black Swarm Insect God but instead were killed by demons.
The reason was that the monster species were able to communicate. If a human catches a monster then he will be able to report on the strange things that have been happening in the Bog forest for the past few months. From this information, humans can draw conclusions and identify the real demon's plans.
"Did you--"
Gaht suddenly heard a commotion from outside the tent which made him stop talking.
"What was that commotion?" Gaht asked his aide.
"I will find out, sir" His aide came out of the tent and asked the soldier on guard.
He came back a few seconds later and reported his findings, "Sir, it looks like a Detection Array found something and the mage on guard caught it"
"What's that?"
"Monster, Sir, a sylph"
"a sylph?"
"Yes, sir. It seems the sylph was trying to get past our camp but was detected by the Detection Array. Even though he tried to escape by camouflage with the surrounding trees, the mage on guard still success caught him."
Right after he thought about the oddness of not having any monsters in Bog's forest, a monster came into their camp. This coincidence made Gaht feel even more anxious like he was being led by an invisible rope.
Gaht shook his head and ordered the aide in front of him, "Bring the sylph to me!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Gaht saw his aide coming out of the tent to carry out his order. Although he was suspicious of this sudden coincidence, Gaht couldn't ignore the only clue he had.
As a native of the Bog forest, the sylph must have known what had happened over the past few months.
Why did Deak suddenly force himself to become a Level 4 Constellation Mage?
Why didn't Deak report his findings to him?
What does Deak have to do with the mana explosion a few months ago?
Who killed Deak?
The death of his favorite student made Gaht seem obsessed with solving the secret behind it.
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