Chapter 325: It Was Really an Accident!

"What? Two thousand?" Gervas blinked, then immediately turned his gaze toward the shore.

The sight made him jump.

Indeed, more fish-man heads were now rising from the sea along the shore.

The sheer density of them sent a chill down the spine.

"Wooaaah! Wooaaah!"

"Waaah! Waaah!"

As more fish-men climbed onto land, their chaotic cries gradually reached the cliff.

"How could this happen? In previous encounters, there were never more than two hundred fish-men—why are there over two thousand now?"

"Could they have gotten so addicted to my Storm Domain they're planning to nest here… cough cough!" Gervas muttered, then suddenly realized others were nearby.

"Cough cough—um, Lord Brandon, this is just an unexpected situation; actually… actually this cliffside is quite a fine location!"

"These fish-men have only appeared for the first time—perhaps they won't come again next time. Besides, the Church has Holy Knights; these fish-men pose no real threat…"

Brandon and the others twitched their lips.

Their gazes toward Gervas were utterly peculiar.

Did he think they were deaf?

Or that they were fools?

Never mind whether this was the first time fish-men had appeared.

Just the fact that over two thousand had surfaced at once meant there was certainly one or more fish-man tribes beyond the Storm Domain's coastline.

This meant they would appear frequently in the future, posing a serious threat to anyone near the shore.

Though the Holy Church did have powerful Holy Knights for protection,

the problem was the Church couldn't station too many knights just for a single temple.

And two thousand fish-men would require at least two or three hundred, maybe even five hundred Holy Knights to guard against them.

But under normal circumstances, a remote border temple like this had at most fifty knights stationed.

Perhaps embarrassed by their stares—and noticing the fish-men below had spotted them and were now howling as they charged forward—

Gervas finally changed his tune: "Alright! Lord Brandon, perhaps the shore does carry some risk."

"How about I take you all inland? My Storm Domain has many more beautiful places!"

"Then we're in your debt, Lord Gervas," Brandon's lips twitched faintly as he forced a smile and followed Gervas away.

About an hour later, Gervas led them to a picturesque lakeside.

"Lord Brandon, this is called Swan Lake—its waters are crystal clear, the scenery is like a painting, and on the other side of the lake lives a flock of rare Color-Winged Swans!"

"Oh? Color-Winged Swans?"

Everyone looked startled—Color-Winged Swans were a valuable asset.

For them to appear in Gervas's domain was sheer luck.

"More importantly, no fish-men ever come here!"

Everyone rolled their eyes—this place was over an hour from the shore, and fish-men didn't feed on land-based food; they'd never come here.

Brandon scanned the surroundings and saw the environment truly was beautiful.

"Well, Lord Brandon, how's this location? Building the temple here is guaranteed to be perfect!"

"Actually, I'd also considered building a manor here—but if the Holy Church plans to build a temple here, I'm happy to give up the land!" Gervas spoke with sincere earnestness.

Another place he'd planned to build a manor?

Brandon felt something odd, but decided this nobleman named Gervas was genuinely decent.

He was about to say something—

Roar!

But at that moment, a distant, muffled roar echoed.

"Huh? What was that?" Marshall and Brandon turned toward the southern woods.

Gervas's expression shifted slightly: "Probably just some wild beast. Though this area is near the Death Mountains… cough cough, it's usually very safe—no beasts of darkness ever appear!"

"Besides, why don't we return to the castle? This location is perfect!"

"The scenery here is beautiful, and I can even donate one or two Color-Winged Swan eggs to the temple each month—as my personal sponsorship!"

Everyone stared at Gervas's transparent attempt to cover up, their eyes filled with suspicion.

And that roar earlier hadn't sounded like any ordinary beast…

Roar! Roar! Roar!

"My lord, it's a beast! A huge beast—bigger than the wolf that killed three serfs last week!"

"Yes, my lord! It looks like a giant lizard beast—bigger than any beast that's ever invaded before!"

As they pondered, another roar came from the southern woods.

This time, it was accompanied by the panicked shouts of Storm Domain's guards.

When they looked up, they could already see three red figures sprinting from the trees.

It appeared to be a female lizard with two hatchlings.

"Shut up!" Gervas snapped at the guards, then turned to Brandon's group: "Lord Brandon, I swear—these beasts have never appeared here before!"

Brandon's lips twitched. Marshall's lips twitched. The priests and Holy Knights' lips all twitched!

"Bad news, Lord! The lizard's charging toward us!"

"It's third-rank… no, holy heavens—this size… it's a fourth-rank Iron-Scaled Fire Lizard!"

"Definitely a fourth-rank Iron-Scaled Fire Lizard—this situation, even three or four Silver Knights couldn't handle it!"

"No, this is a mother with her young—five or six Silver Knights still wouldn't be enough…"

"Lord, we should leave now! A fourth-rank Iron-Scaled Fire Lizard with hatchlings is extremely dangerous!"

"Then let's go," Brandon nodded, as Gervas watched with disappointed eyes.

Immediately, the group withdrew.

Fortunately, they were still seven or eight hundred meters away, so the mother lizard couldn't catch them.

Still, even at that distance, the lizard chased them for over two miles.

The heavy thudding of her footsteps echoed like drums pounding against their hearts.

"Phew! Finally lost her! Damn it—why are fourth-rank beasts appearing now? I could handle one or second-rank beasts before, but fourth-rank ones… I don't have enough Silver Knights…"

Watching the mother lizard retreat, Gervas's face flickered with unease as he muttered complaints under his breath.

But he quickly realized his mistake and fell silent.

"Cough cough, Lord Brandon, that was truly just an accident—Swan Lake is actually very safe…"

"Yes, Lord Gervas, I believe you. No need to explain," Brandon said, too drained to argue—had Gervas's demeanor not been so genuinely cordial,

he'd have asked outright whether the man thought he was an idiot.