Back in the village, Blanc is going through his own ordeal. Today, he couldn't train as usual.
Their informants from various kingdoms and fiefdoms recently reported that their town is currently a hot topic among the ordinary citizens of other kingdoms.
Due to this, the higher-ups of those kingdoms became aware of their existence and they were curious about this "town" from the gloomy plains.
As per their informants, one kingdom and one fiefdom are currently preparing to send envoys.
Fortunately for Blanc, the Kairuku Kingdom is naturally arrogant and refuses to pay any attention to his town.
Apparently, as of now, only the Terravalle Kingdom and Dumont Dukedom were interested in them.
Blanc wasn't that worried about the Terravalle Kingdom since he had a strong friendly connection with the Petaldream Chamber of commerce.
The Petaldream Chamber of commerce isn't just a random chamber of commerce there, it was an official partner of the Terravalle Royal Chamber of Commerce.
He believes that the envoy from the Terravalle Kingdom wouldn't make any trouble for him.
On the contrary, his current problem is the envoy from the Dumont Dukedom.
As per his informant in the Dumont Dukedom, the Duke is a greedy bastard who loves to extort his citizens and collect all the money, properties, and treasures that he can collect.
He was sure that this envoy would try to threaten them and demand whatever the guy could find in their town.
Blanc is currently contemplating what is the correct course of action to take when dealing with this pesky envoy from the Dumont Dukedom.
He would like to avoid war if he can but if this envoy pushes them too hard, he will show them what Resonance Town is made of.
Blanc's forces couldn't be underestimated anymore and they could probably stand up and protect themselves against the Dumont Dukedom.
What Blanc is concerned about is the damage that the war will inflict on his town. He's not a fan of a pyrrhic victory.
If he would engage in a war against the Dumont Dukedom, he had to make preparations and he had to start now.
They have at least three more months before the envoy from the Dumont Dukedom arrives so he must make a decision soon.
– Inside the Forest of Echoes –
"Ughhh shit…My back hurts…"
"General! How are you feeling?"
"General! What happened? You suddenly collapsed!"
Helena finally woke up after a few hours of being unconscious.
"I forgot that the prime meat needs to be processed first before I could consume it. It looked so tasty so I couldn't help but to…"
She was truly embarrassed about her mistake this time. The appearance of the minotaur prime meat is way different than the yeti prime meat.
The marbling of the meat is comparable to the marbling of an A5 Miyazaki Wagyu. She got tempted by the smell of the perfectly roasted minotaur prime meat.
This is all the fault of that stupid Salamandr! If only it didn't roast the meat to perfection…
"..."
The battalion commanders couldn't believe the reason why she suffered this time.
She didn't finish her sentence but the battalion commanders weren't stupid and based on Helena's words, they knew what happened next.
"Erghm! Never mind that! How's the treasure chest?"
Helena cleared her throat and forcefully changed the topic.
The battalion commanders didn't dare pursue the issue any longer or they might receive a punch or two from this general of theirs.
"Reporting to the General! There were a total of three hundred gemstones inside the large treasure chest. Should we carry this as we continue on our expedition?"
Alexander replied and asked.
"No, it would be annoying to keep carrying this huge box. Just distribute this among the elites for safekeeping. Let them keep one piece each and leave the treasure chest here."
Alexander and the other battalion commanders complied and distributed the gemstones to the elites for safekeeping.
After making sure that there was nothing else that was valuable inside the labyrinth, they proceeded with their journey.
They continued marching for two days and they noticed that there were fewer and fewer mutated animals attacking them.
What they kept on encountering though is mutated goblins and kobolds. This was the first time they encountered a mutated version of goblins and kobolds so they were a bit shocked.
Fortunately for them, the settlements they encountered were only small because the mutated goblins and kobolds were way stronger than their regular counterparts.
Due to this, Helena couldn't help but wonder about the source of the mutation.
They continued marching for a few more weeks as they continued to protect themselves from hungry mutated creatures.
Helena and her men even encountered a lone mutated forest troll and it was quite strong. Helena struggled a little when fighting against it purely because of the stronger regeneration abilities.
Still, it was weaker than the minotaur so in the end it still lost to Helena and they retrieved the troll's heart.
It was as stinky as always!
Moving on, they kept on marching until the color of the ground finally changed again. This time, the color change didn't make them feel uneasy.
There were tall trees, green grass, and colorful flowers.
There were even little animals like rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels who were living in this area as if it were a sanctuary.
However, as they looked at the animals closer, they were a bit creeped out.
All the little animals were mutated!
A little while later, the first unsettling thing happened.
The raccoon crept closer and closer to the squirrel before it suddenly attacked the squirrel and ate it whole!
This made Helena and her men increase their vigilance. It seems that this place isn't as peaceful as it seemed.
After a few more hours of marching deeper into this "sanctuary", they spotted a lake from the distance.
Helena and the battalion commanders walked closer to the lake and they started to feel uneasy.
They felt that it was the lake that was making them feel uneasy.
What they didn't know was, that the reason for their uneasiness was a large flying creature that was observing them from the skies, it was looking down at them as if they were a bunch of prey who dared trespass into its territory.