Chapter 68

【Shush-shush~~ shush-shush~~~】

A troop of Forest Spirits were sprinting wildly through the mountains and forests, with Igo Ni Ni at the lead.

He is not only the captain of this scouting troop, but also the Forest Son of the Igo tribe, with the most orthodox goddess blood flowing in his veins.

On White Sturgeon Island, there are more than thirty big and small Forest Spirit tribes, but only three tribes have a population exceeding 4,000.

They are Nalin, Heg, and Igo.

Thus, Igo Ni Ni, who bears noble blood, holds a high position on White Sturgeon Island.

Soon, he followed the familiar path and arrived before a hidden mountain cave concealed by vines.

After crawling into the cave and advancing about several hundred meters through its labyrinthine passages, the view ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a very huge cavern within the mountain.

Numerous large and small winding fissures dot the cavern's ceiling, connecting to the outside world and bringing in external light, fresh air, and some rainwater.

Scattered east and west along the cavern walls are many small caves, either natural or artificially dug, each housing a Forest Spirit family.

At a glance, it looks like an enormous ant nest.

Igo Ni Ni followed a wide spiraling corridor, climbing up to about fifty meters high, where he arrived at a relatively spacious cavern entrance.

Two guards, as tall and slender as he, stood at the cavern entrance; they were the tribe's warriors.

Igo Ni Ni saluted them, then said, 'I have gathered the island's situation and must report it to the great grandmother.'

The warriors returned the salute, saying, 'May the goddess bless you,' and then stepped aside.

Igo Ni Ni entered the cave.

The cavern floor is flat and dry, not dark at all, because an additional window-like opening in the nearby rock wall draws in some sunlight from the fissures in the cavern's ceiling.

By that window, Igo Ni Ni saw his great grandmother, who is also his paternal grandmother—an elderly woman with snow‑white hair and a kind face.

This Forest Spirit old woman was mending a hide cloak; without raising her head she said, 'I sense the fear in your heart, child.'

【Plop~】

Igo Ni Ni knelt on a soft moss cushion, hands respectfully resting on his knees, and said, 'Grandmother, the eldest son of Ted has returned from Dawn City.'

The great grandmother lifted her gaze to her eldest grandson and asked, 'Has he done something great?'

'He has taken as his wife the Dawn Princess of Weilan Giant Island.'

The great grandmother's motion paused, her brows slightly furrowed, and she accidentally pricked her finger with the bone needle, drawing blood.

'Reason tells me this is absurd, but the long ages tell me that the world is always producing all kinds of outrageously absurd events.'

'So I believe what you say is true. And then?'

Igo Ni Ni said bitterly, 'He returned in the morning, and by noon had retaken Crescent City from Ales; by evening he had utterly annihilated the Phoenix's Blood‑Warrior Legion.'

'I also heard that, despite accomplishing such a great feat, the Crescent Knights suffered hardly any losses.'

The great grandmother set aside the hide cloak and bone needle, straightened her body, and earnestly regarded her eldest grandson: 'Any other news?'

'The princess brought back a very strong guard unit; it must be this guard unit that defeated the Phoenix.'

'Furthermore, he immediately relocated the residents of Highland Town and Sturgeon Wharf, even abandoning the Sea‑Wind outpost, and completely withdrew into Crescent City.'

'He also brought back a large amount of supplies; it is said that various grains piled up into small hills in Crescent City's warehouses.'

The great grandmother listened attentively; after Igo Ni Ni finished speaking, she let out a long sigh: 'It seems Mbahat has already been defeated.'

Igo Ni Ni agreed: 'That's right; Weilan Giant Island has endless reinforcements, and Mbahat has no chance of victory.'

The great grandmother shook her head: 'Even without reinforcements, Mbahat would have no chance at all.'

She continued lowering her head to sew the hide cloak, and said leisurely, 'Marrying a princess at a young age, commanding a strong army, holding vast resources, yet lacking reckless arrogance and instead being cautious—this alone suffices to show the excellence of the baron's eldest son.'

'Watch; in the coming time he will step by step pressure Mbahat, driving him to the cliff's edge, forcing him to leap off the high cliff and shatter to pieces.'

Igo Ni Ni trembled slightly all over and could not help asking, 'Grandmother, what should we do?'

'It is not what we should do, but how the goddess will decide.' The white‑haired old woman's face showed a hint of sorrow.

'The goddess believed Mbahat's lies and bestowed her divine blood upon him. That in itself was not a major mistake, but who could have imagined that Ted would father such an outstanding son?'

【Ah~~~】

The old woman let out a long sigh, slowly shook her head, and began to continue mending the hide cloak.

Igo Ni Ni wore an expression of unwillingness: 'Grandmother, are we really going to do nothing?'

'What would we do? Betray the goddess and pledge ourselves to the human lord?'

'No, we persuade the goddess to change her mind.'

The old woman's face showed a relieved smile: 'It seems you have not been completely dazed by fear.'

'I will go to persuade her, but the goddess has little deterrent power over Mbahat, so let us wait a bit longer.'

Igo Ni Ni looked anxious: 'But grandmother, why must we wait?'

'If some irreparable conflict occurs during this time, then even if the goddess changes her mind, I fear… I fear it will be too late.'

'Rest assured, Ted's son is very cautious, while Mbahat is reckless; unfortunately his control over the tribes is limited, so nobody will fight desperately for him.'

'As for the goddess, have you ever seen her personally take action? Hehe~~'

The old woman gave a low chuckle a few times, then continued earnestly mending the cloak.

Compared to the calm of Ige great grandmother, the Nalin tribe, which had just lost 200 warriors last night, was filled with a panicked, desolate atmosphere.

The Nalin tribe also dwells in mountain stone caves similar to those of the Ige tribe.

At this moment, in the largest cavern, various arguments rose and fell around a scar‑faced middle‑aged Forest Spirit woman.

'I think we should retaliate immediately. Unite the Heg tribe and human knights to form a coalition and launch a strong assault on Crescent City!'

'That's utterly impossible. The Heg tribe has never seen eye to eye with us; they even supported Sad to oppose Ales, so how could they possibly join forces with us now?'

'Exactly, the Heg's Andoxa and the Phoenix are mortal enemies; he would love to see our Phoenix die.'

'Yes, yes, yes; they might even be celebrating our defeat.'

And those human Knights, if it weren't for having no retreat, I bet they'd definitely go lick the new Baron's asshole right away!

That scar-faced female Forest Spirit finally had enough, picked up the wooden stick beside her, and struck the ground hard.

My husband Phoenix's fate is unknown, yet you keep arguing non-stop here!

If arguing could bring victory, I'd say you'd already be kings of the world!

As soon as these words were spoken, all the Forest Spirits fell silent, looking at each other, no one speaking for a long time.

Finally, a tall male Forest Spirit cautiously said, 'This revenge was proposed by the Prophet Mbahat; now that something has gone wrong, we ought to go to him for a solution.'

Just as his words fell, a wooden carving of a human face hanging on the wall suddenly spoke.

It's not my fault. I had Phoenix lead people to attack the sturgeon dock, but I didn't let him attack Crescent City; it was his own unilateral decision that caused the failure.

The scar-faced female Forest Spirit instantly flew into a rage, rushing at the wooden carving and shouting, 'Prophet Mbahat, are you really going to ignore this?'

The wooden carving evaded the question.

I can feel that Phoenix is still alive.

So wait; since the eldest son of Ted has let him live, he will surely come to you with demands.

This news greatly eased the scar-faced female Forest Spirit's anger: 'Good, then we'll patiently wait a few days!'

(End of chapter)