Conspiracy

In the vast plains of Asturias, thousands of soldiers marched into the iron forest leveling the ground for every step they took.

In the center of the soldier formation, a large carriage was escorted by more than a thousand cavalry, where the horses had silver armor on their bodies with the mark of a falcon in its design.

Under Commander Lian's orders, the soldiers were unafraid of the battle against the goblin lord and among them some made bets on how many enemies they would kill in the expedition.

—My lord, a group of explorers seeks an audience.

Beneath the carriage deck, Commander Lian held the hands of a woman with a noble aura around her, offering romantic words as he listened to her servant's message.

— Charlotte, we will have to postpone our appointment until we get to Eleine's town.

After putting a celestial cloak on his shoulders, Lian leaped through the door of the carriage and in a combined movement with his horse mounted on it and taking his reins advanced in the direction of the explorers in the iron forest.

In the carriage, hiding the blush from his face with one of his hands, the woman who dismissed the commander was completely silent inside. Her race, did not belong to the dark elves, her snow-white skin, with a young figure that gave off a noble aura, long black hair down to her waist and eyes like a pair of sapphires, were features of the women of the snows (yuki-onna from Japanese folklore).

As Commander Lian's silhouette disappeared into the distance, the woman's face turned deadly cold as she clenched her fists angrily.

Singing a spell in a low voice, the woman created a fine stream of ice that enveloped every corner of the carriage, removing the impurities left on the woman's soft hands by the commander's touch.

- "Just a little longer, I must hold on a little longer."

As one of the great rising merchants of the kingdom of Asturias, Charlotte, when she learned about the army's expedition to the iron forest, used her contacts with royalty and asked to be allowed to participate in the expedition by offering to help with the transport of supplies to the town.

— Shadow, has something happened in the capital during these days?

Among the icy currents running through the carriage, five crystals came out of Charlotte's clothes creating a portal of chaotic energy in the air. In the center of the portal, a female figure entirely covered by dark garments revealed a smile to her mistress.

Shadow was a kunoichi who was in Charlotte's service with her two sisters, they belonged to a ninja village in the kingdom of Era and in one of Charlotte's trips they decided to follow her to learn more about the world.

Charlotte kept her face calm, she did not want to reveal the envy that she had for Shadow when observing some great hills contained with difficulty on her breasts, and I hope that she will give him her information.

Not caring for her mistress's silence, Shadow lightly moved his velvety tail around her waist and revealed a scroll covered in a recognition spell.

Extending her arms, Charlotte received the scroll only to see Shadow's figure disappear beside the chaotic portal.

— I never got to think that the king would send his two daughters to the wolf's mouth, it seems that the king has other plans that I have not discovered. Still, it must be related to his advisor's journey to the Lions kingdom.

After carefully thinking about the information, Charlotte took a pen and wrote two messages on a new parchment casting a spell on it.

— Miss Charlotte, we are near the iron forest.

Hiding the parchment in her clothes, Charlotte opened one of the carriage windows and, covering her face with a veil, directed her gaze to the horizon.

In the distance, a sea of ​​gray trees rose hundreds of meters above the ground, and beneath their leaves, various curious shapes watched the approaching army.

Remembering the information she got from Shadow, Charlotte ordered the coachman to come over where Lian was chatting with his subordinates.

— Miss Charlotte, it is good that you are here, we have been informed that the town of Princess Eleine is half a day away.

One of the captains, under the command of Lian, upon noticing Charlotte's arrival, decided to gain her attention and explained what they would do when they reached the town.

Without the captain noticing the changes in Charlotte and Lian's faces upon hearing Princess Eleine's name, he continued to explain about the dangers they could encounter in the iron forest.

...

— Look, this one looks juicier than the previous ones.

— Save that baby for later, her parents ran off in that direction.

Among the trees, a pair of soldiers laid the carcass of a spirit fox baby on the branches and ran in the direction of the parents to catch them.

Whenever the soldiers found lairs near their path, a group of them broke away from the march and hunted the beasts for their meat.

Among the soldiers, a special group of one hundred warriors had white plaques on their shoulder pads representing their status as chief cooks. The latter received the corpses of the beasts, which together with their assistants cut them into pieces and left the meat ready for the evening meal.

When one of the young assistants finished loading the remains of skins onto his shoulders, he headed for the supply wagons, chewing a piece of dried meat in his mouth.

When depositing the skins in the trunks of the wagon, the young man found several small traces of blood on the floor behind some earthenware jars.

Although he was initially scared and raised his sword, remaining silent to hear any strange sounds, he decided to check every corner of the cart when not hearing anything strange.

Most of the tracks reached the wall of the wagon before disappearing between the wooden joints.

— It seems that there are pests among the wood.

Not taking it too seriously, the young man tied up the new supplies and decided to return to his position to report the strange case to his superiors. Without noticing it, after his departure, a group of larvae came out of his hiding place and began to devour the remains of meat on the skins and then disappear between the cracks.

...

At the southern exit of the town, hundreds of guards were posted on the wall awaiting the arrival of the army. Most of them hoped to fight for the kingdom, in order to get their name back and improve their status.

At the other end of town, Eleine kept her eyes firmly to the south, in her hands the report of the arrival of her sisters kept her worried.

From a very young age, the mothers of her sisters took it upon themselves to give a young Eleine trouble, forcing the king to send her away from the capital for several years.

After Eleine entered the army and managed to become a superior position only one step away from being a commander, Lilith's mother intervened and sent her daughter into the battle that Eleine led, taking away all the merits and sending her as the leader of a border town.

Burning her paper in her hands, Eleine didn't want her sisters to steal her merits a second time.

— Miss, the blacksmith Flare has asked me to visit her tonight.

— Thank you, you can leave.

After seeing one of her guards leave, Eleine removed the remaining ashes from the letter and with a strong resolve she headed for the south exit to receive her father's army.

...

— After you remove your belongings, you must report to Captain Aisha tonight.

Saying goodbye to the soldier in charge of the guards, Crow walked through the streets of the town in search of phyphorite crystals for his house.

As a reward for stopping the goblin's massive attack, Crow received five gold coins that brought him out of the poverty he was in.

Although he still had blurry memories of what happened to the goblin before he lost consciousness, he was sure that his body could see something that others could not.

— Oh, young man, I haven't seen you in several days, why don't you say hello to this old man.

Entering a street, Crow could see the silhouette of the clothesline that was kind to him giving him pieces of roast meat to satisfy his hunger, his side still had different types of meat on a smoking grill.

Moving closer, Crow noticed that the face on the clothesline looked older than before and some strange marks appeared on his arms.

— Thank you very much for the meat, I finally received a payment and I can pay for the kindness of him.

Grinning at the clothesline, he shook his hand and spread another piece of the meat on my grill.

— No need, take it as a parting gift from this old man. Better tell me, what do you think of your life as a soldier, is it different from what you thought?

After talking for a few minutes, Crow understood the problems that were approaching the village.

— You should not worry about the problems of this old man, it is just that with the rumors of the approaching war I cannot help but think about the lives that will be lost and I began to remember the past.

Finishing eating, Crow handed the clothesline a bag of medicinal herbs that he had among his belongings that gave off a very pleasant smell.

— If you feel very tired, prepare these herbs as tea and you may feel much better.

Without denying the gift of the young man, the clothesline when recognizing some of the exotic herbs that gave him sigh inside him and I keep them in his clothes.

After saying goodbye, the young man walked to the end of the street thinking about the town's problem and decided to do some research.

Before leaving the street, Crow felt a strong pressure around him and clutching his chest he tried to keep steady.

— "Sven ...

Hearing clearly the voice from the clothesline in his head, Crow did not recognize his name, but his heart did not settle and his entire being began to vibrate.

— "You must avoid the goblin lord by any means ...

Feeling the pressure inside him easing, Crow was sure that the one who was speaking to him in his head was the clothesline.

Turning his body around, Crow looked from him to the clothesline stand, but couldn't find any trace of him.

Thinking of the strange act of the clothesline, Crow felt that he was missing something important, but when he tried to remember the few encounters he had with him little by little the memories began to disappear with only one sentence remaining in his mind.

— "I must avoid the goblin lord ...

After buying two phyphorite gems for fifty silver pieces, Crow walked towards his house, but inadvertently, the sounds of the conversation of two soldiers reached his ears.

— Remember to store the supplies in the place ordered by the commander, you must do it without fail.

— I already prepared the assigned place, also the captain will return in an hour and she will not be able to see the preparations we have.

— Do not worry about the captain, the commander will catch her after the princess's departure, it is better not to leave any loose ends.

Without noticing that his words were heard by a third party, the soldiers took two bags filled with a strange substance and got lost in the streets of the town.

Although to most people, the voices of the soldiers were inaudible, thanks to the hearing improvement that Crow received from consuming the rodent's meat, he learned what was happening in the darkness of the village and felt that something great was about to come. happen tonight.