After procuring the essential information and tools, Keith and Stella embarked on their expedition towards Ravenwoods.
Although the Empire and the Kingdom were adjacent, the thick barrier of the Ravenwoods Forest separated the two territories.
Renowned for housing a multitude of diverse and dangerous monsters, Ravenwoods' terrain was notorious for its erratic nature, transforming from idyllic fields of vibrant flowers to foreboding, murky stretches that threatened to engulf unwary travellers, leaving behind an unsettling aura.
Their operational company consisted of two hundred-foot soldiers and five high-ranking officials, all under the command of two commander generals, Keith and Stella.
Despite the ease of their journey from the border, they maintained a strategic march, ensuring the safety and efficiency of their forces.
Clad in heavy silver armour with a distinctly feminine breastplate, Stella walked gracefully through the lush expanse of greenery, the vibrant hues of blooming flowers carpeting the land like an ocean of colors.Keith and Stella rode on white horses, their shining coats and flowing tails giving an otherworldly charm to the scene.
They made their way through the bed of colorful flowers with graceful ease, painting a serene picture against the vibrant backdrop.
"Beautiful," her eyes widened in surprise. Stella was bewitched by the colors of the lovely bed of flowers.
"Hahahah, beautiful, you say?"
Chuckling as if he had heard his first joke of the morning, Keith replied.
Keith was clad in a suit of golden armor that exuded a commanding presence, tailored to fit his muscular build.With his long hair and beard, his mid-thirties countenance bore an air of seasoned strength and wisdom, while the glint in his brown eyes reflected an otherworldly charm.
"Why are you laughing?" Pouting, Stella asked.
"Do you know what these flowers are called?"Reining in their beautiful white horses, they came to a halt on the trail, encircled by the benevolent embrace of nature's vibrant colors."--no idea," she said, squinting her eyes.
"These are Thanatos flowers," he said, gesturing towards the blossoms beneath their feet.
"They only grow on a special kind of soil---"
"Make it quick."
"---Basically, they consume whatever doesn't move for a certain period of time, living bodies included." The corners of Keith's mouth lifted in a diagonal, widening as he calmly spoke.
"What!" Horizontal wrinkles appeared on Stella's forehead.
"Now you get it, hahahahahahah, beautiful, aren't they?"
With a gentle prod, he guided his horse onward, navigating the treacherous path with practiced ease.
Falling into step behind him, Stella's eyes remained fixed on the ground, wary of the concealed threat lurking beneath the deceptively lovely surface.
"You know, what we see might not always reflect the actual reality of things. There are two sides to every coin," Keith continued, his voice steady and measured as they made their way through the verdant path.
Stella shadowed his steps, her eyes fixated on his form.
"Then what would be the truth behind your behavior towards His Majesty?" Stella inquired, her tone a subtle reproach, attempting to challenge the man in the golden armor before her.
Keith's demeanor might have suggested one thing, but whether he truly embodied that essence was another matter altogether.
The man who dared to be impolite with royal grace and even his Majesty himself—what else could one expect from someone like Keith but sheer foolishness?
"Do you know why we have this many people just for an investigation operation?" Turning his gaze towards the person behind him, Keith posed the question.
Certainly, someone in Stella's position would be able to discern the intent behind such a question, but she-
"Isn't it because Ravenwoods is a habitat for monsters, even the strange ones?"
"About two hundred of our soldiers are at the front, along with those high-ranking folks, nearly three hundred meters away from us. The rest are behind us, about a hundred meters back."
"Hmm---And?" Stella squinted her eyes in obvious mockery. For a commander general, just as Keith himself mentioned the strategy of their operation, it would be a call for ridicule.
"We are moving in a circular formation, scattered over a radius of a hundred meters. What would be the reason for this, Commander General Stella?"
The nature of this mission would be the same as that of a gamble, which would put more weight on loss than on victory.
In a normal setting, gamblers would put their money on the possibility of fifty percent chances of victory and loss, but this mission could be considered a chance of thirty percent victory to seventy percent loss.
A trade of human life with that of finding a place of treasure or weapon of great might, changing the destiny of not just an empire or kingdom but the whole world.
"Hha----- to sacrifice the weak ones so that we can avoid casualties among the strong ones." Stella's fingers covered her mouth as she yawned.
But Stella, after years of service to the nation, would be aware of such matters; it is in the nature of those in power to weigh the action with benefits rather than consequences.
"Excellent, you're not a brat anymore, so you understand we're on a suicide mission." A gentle smirk appeared on his brown-skinned countenance, exposing the white teeth behind his ill-mannered grin.
"Why are you dodging the answer to my question?" Annoyed, Stella tightened her grip on the horse's reins.
But this doesn't answer the illogical behaviour of ill-mannered Keith, who rode on the glamorous white horse.
If his Majesty were to escalate the matter of Keith's behaviour, an appropriate punishment would have been granted, but they did not possess such freedom to do so, nor was it appropriate for someone as esteemed as Keith to be subjected to King's judgement in a trivial matter such as that.
"The moment His Majesty ordered this quest, I kept my urge to assassinate that fat bastard immediately. He's dying either way." Knitting his brows, he said.
"Then why didn't you?" she asked nonchalantly.
"I remembered my wife.""For real?" Surprised Stella not expecting an emotional talk of this calibre from someone who never mentions his dear talks, even to Stella, whom he worked with for over three years.
"If I were to die on this mission, at the very least I talked down the king of the nation. They were desperate either way. Shouldn't people be more polite when they are in such a pitiful predicament?"Suddenly, his voice loaded with contempt.
"I have nothing to lose either way, except for that woman whom I was forced to marry due to political reasons."
"Do you have a child with her?" Stella urged the question.
"Yeah, but I barely remember her face after I got selected for their shoddy war games and all."
At an early age of seventeen after the examination process of finding hidden talented individuals Keith's unparalleled Magical potential was discovered by the government.
Even after his attempts to get away from the trail of wars, they were rendered useless.
"So if I get to live with her and see my child, then that would be the one damn thing that I want. You see, humans are creatures who go beyond their needs to fulfil what they want."
Ending his speech with his forced application of human policy, he then looks at Stella as if seeking her approval.
Then silence filled the air, and their conversations came to halt, but they moved deeper towards their destiny.
Taking out a device it's features similar to those of a compass but it's circular perimeters imbued magic circles, and its size would cover the entire hand of a man. Calling it a big compass would be more appropriate than a pocket compass, as it would fit not in pockets but in bags.
Keith and Stella have obtained this object from Cortee, the young ruler who explained the parts of Ravenswood in an extremely detailed fashion, so much so that it made Keith swallow his saliva because this young ruler never explored his own territory properly but knew about the territory of other countries, which would be called nothing but a paranormal phenomenon.
But Stella, whose eyes fixated on the silver-coated device, explores a deeper fascination for human capabilities, thinking something like this can solve a problem that has retained its difficulty for over centuries.
But the foundation of such an incredible feat comes from none other than the human mind.
The very thing that separates the difference from other powerful and Grotesque creatures.
There is something superior about humans in these terms, though it might be hard to tell whether it's the heart or the mind that makes humans superior, or it may be an overlapping of both of these special qualities they possess, or so she thought.
"Thinking really helps, doesn't it?" Stella said as Keith was surprised.Always eager to display what his heart contains,
"Thinking can really be a source of abundance for human growth." Then, with a smile, as if he were groping on another topic to display his superior understanding,
"Do you bother thinking about things, Stella?"
"I avoid meaningless thinking as much as possible. A person can't be useful if all he does is think."
Playing right into his plans, she replayed, though this wasn't the first time Keith would go on and on with a topic that might be boring for the one he engaged in conversation with, but Stella would use her ears to good use and patiently let his talk to complete; never would she interrupt or show distaste for Keith's inconsideration, but she couldn't wonder why.
A part of that would be that the topics or the manner of Keith's speech held an enigmatic charm to them.
He can converse about ridiculously odd topics to highly philosophical ones, or another part would be that she likes engaging in this kind of exchange at times with Keith.
"That's fair. Excess of anything is nothing but harmful."
"Thinking reminded me of something." Keith further added
"What might that be?" Stella inquired.
"Just a speculation I made about things. It's kind of a history topic that caught my attention."
"Hmm, say it. I'm getting bored either way."
"Do you know about the story of the world dragon and the hero who defeated it?"
"I don't."
"How? Did they not teach you about things like that in the Empire?"
"No, and I was a kid when I crossed the borders."Stella, not being a by-birth resident of the Kingdom, was somehow accepted as a commander general, whose figure could be looked up to as the hero of the current time.
"Thinking of it, this begs the question: Why did you run away from the Empire to cross the borders?"
"Were you being chased out by officials, or was your life being threatened by nobles there?"
"I never asked you about this, but I think you can share your stuff a little. Sharing can really be misunderstood as caring, you see."
Closing one eye, a gentle smile appeared on his face.
What he meant by that was nothing but his mischievous habit of contradicting his actions with words.
"I was running away from a monster."
"A monster? Oh, is that from the Monster Stampede?"
"No."
"Then?"
"It was a monster in a human mask. Even today, I can feel the chill from that thing. It still haunts me to this day. So I'd rather avoid this topic."
"To make Gale Princess cower in fear—that's quite a feat, not gonna lie."
"..."
"But a monster in a human mask reminds me of that monster warrior from the battlefield. What was his name? Yeah, it's Decimus."