As my men arrive at the scene of the forest fire. Well, FORMER forest that caught on fire, I start making them comb the area for the demon king.
Come to think of it, I have no idea what these horns do. Yes, they are valuable and you can see that with how much money is put into this entire thing, but what do they even do?
Rosé said that the horns can benefit a family for a thousand or more years. If I believe her words, than it isn't a mere bed ornament or something you hand above your toilet.
This is either a magical item, or a consumable thing that is only consumable after some processing.
I'm currently thinking that the demon king's horns are a magical charm or magical item. This is the most likely. I mean, come on.
EATING a set of demon horns? Is that even smart? I'm sure that the demon horns are turned into some sort of magical octagon ornament to bring some buff to their bloodline.
Another thing that backs this up is that Rosé mentioned that this benefits a family, not just one person.
Meaning that either the horns improve a single member's abilities to bring them to new heights or it improves an entire bloodline.
However, this is again, based on my vastly incomplete knowledge of the horns. I would like to know, but the only people who know the real effects aren't sharing.
The only for me to know is to get them myself and test it out. I would try the magic octagon first since ingesting horns isn't something I'm willing to do just yet.
It reminds me of some sort of tribal medicine where they crush rhino horns and drink it.
As my men search the premises, I take about 10 of the strongest men with me to search the surrounding caves and possible burrows in where the king could be.
Soon, the day ends without anything new gained. We came in, searched the place and left without anything. Though, we did mark the searched areas, so that's a good thing for us.
Despite the fire's size, it didn't destroy the entre forest, it just shrunk it by a significant amount. The part that I burnt, the part nearest to the capital, was to cut off their escape.
Any outliers and standing trees that could be used as some sort of cover, no matter how small, were cut down. When my men were done, it was a real wasteland.
Think of mad max except the entire ground is covered in ash, the occasional bones and soot.
My men retreat back to base to sleep on the floor with their makeshift leaves pillow and leaves blanket, whilst I lay relatively comfortable in my cushioned sleeping bag and tent.
The next day, we started our search again.
All 600 to 700 something men were working their hardest for me while I sit back and smoke some cigarettes. In the middle of the day, most of them came back saying that they haven't found anything.
"Sir! Nothing was here!"
"Yeah yeah! What are we gonna do!?!? No smoke-smoke..."
""What?!?! No smoke-smoke?!?!""
'These guys...'
Seriously, all in unison, they were yelling out their discontent for their lack of "smoke-smokes". I toss about 50 rolls that I was keeping in a backpack to them.
The scene reminded me so much of mad max that I had to make the reference...
"Do not, my friends, become addicted to my cigarettes. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!"
My reference goes unanswered as I wryly smile for them to finish their little tussle. Soon, all 50 cigarettes were finished and it looks like about 150 something men were able to take a puff...
That's judging on how satisfied they look, of course. Not that I care. They can be sad, they can be angry and they can hate each other's guts.
I just give them rolls so they try their best. If you tell your equipment to "find X, Y or Z", they will find it, but it won't be too effective. Rewards run humans. Humans love rewards and prizes for work.
Even equipment needs rewards from time to time. You see countless times where equipment owners fall from grace because their equipment resented them. It's really stupid.
They all look to me, anticipating my next order and more so, my next reward. I smile in their direction and like a leader, I talk with a clear and loud voice.
"Men! 20 of you will follow me! The rest will split up into 4 groups composed of 50 men these groups with search the caverns and caves with me. The rest of the men, you may return to camp!"
All of them nod their heads and they rush to form groups of 50. The 20 men were people I selected myself so they aren't changeable.
Seriously, watching them shuffling around, asking if there is space in a group and looking around hopelessly, it reminds me so much of that "The Ship is Sinking!" game.
I randomly choose 4 groups and let the others leave dejectedly. Sorry, men.
So, we split up into different directions, going to the mapped caves around these parts.
Due to the forest being the center of tectonic plates shifts many, many years ago, the surface is incredibly bumpy and very irregular. Some of these bumps however, grow with time.
These bumps are the perfect shape of a cave entrance and with goblins, kobolds and other beasts lurking in forests, they start digging and digging and making a new home for themselves.
We enter the first cave and after fighting a coup,e of goblins along the way, we make it to the end. I'm not confident that the demon king is here, but I'll try.
It isn't smart to leave this area not fully checked, especially when it's so easy to do so.
As I expected, the demon king wasn't here and instead it was a massive goblin chieftain that grew tremendous sizes larger than usual due to mana mutation.
Basically, it's when a beast or a human consumes a high concentration of mana in a short amount of time, messing up your genes and causing something similar to radiation back on earth.
Only rarely do these beings survive.
"Ohoh? What a big boy~"
"!!!GREAAAAHHHH!!! ME HURT LITTLE HUMAN!"
"ahhhh, it speaks?"
'This is new. A talking goblin?'
Usually, they talk in grunts and groans, so talking is very uncommon. It must be why this goblin was in a room by its lonesome.
As I was thinking about random trivia facts about this goblin, he already ran over and slammed his fist down on my of my men, popping him like a balloon. Just as he was able to do the same to me, I blocked him with my immense magic power.
He gets repelled by the strong mana force coming from me and lets out a creepy grin.
"Ahhhh...me see. You. Like. Me. You strong mana. Me strong mana. This good fight!"
Pounding his chest like a gorila, I rushes forwards quicker than before when using his hands and feet to propel him forwards. I lunge at his face and aim for his soft spot, the eyes.
"Fyr ray!"
*KSSSHHHHHPEWWWWW*
"GRAAHHHHHHH!!! no see! Me no see!!!"
He stops his lunge forwards and starts rolling on the ground after I blinded him. All my men are looking at the spectacle with dumbfounded expressions.....as they should.
No normal human can hunt and kill a mana mutant. It's too hard.
I stand on top of his gross body and stomp on a wart by his neck. His breathing pushes me up and down like some sort of fire blower.
"Alright, strong green guy. You will answer my questions and if you don't, I, the winner of this duel, will kill you slowly. Answer properly and I'll give you an intact body for your honor"
Even though he can talk, he is still a goblin. These goblins have pride in their honor and usually, the winner would give honor to the loser by leaving their body intact.
For the attacker to lose to the defender, it's an insanely lucky case if the attacking goblin's body wasn't chopped up and eaten.
So, my proposal isn't too bad for his goblin brain.
"Me...answer you"
"Great. Now, have you seen someone who looks like human, but with horns?"
"Horn human?...hmmm, oh! Few day ago, horn human pass by cave. They seek shelter, we no give shelter and they move"
"They moved? To where?"
I know that this is a stretch but it isn't bad to try is it?
"...sorry, me no know"
"That is fine. The first question was important. Before you leave this world, mind telling your honorable warrior's name?"
"Ah! Human with brain. This warrior is-"
*KSSSUHHHH!*
I slice my mana blade down his throat and decapitate him. Fuck his honor. Fuck his name. I have places to be.
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(A.N) yo! Another chapter for you readers and I hope you enjoyed! Please consider supporting by voting with powerstones and commenting! Even commenting helps!
Thank you and peace ✌️! Love ya!