"Hey Emil, you seem much knowledgeable about the territory." Erika asked. It was in the backyard and the new recruits were having a lunch break. Bauer was in charge of distributing the lunch. Both Emil and Bauer had received some weird titles from Erika which they themselves couldn't understand. Bauer was named the 'Uberquartiermeister I' for the Wehrmacht while Emil was 'Kommandant fur Heerespersonalamt'. They were responsible for controlling and maintaining the Wehrmacht's supply chain and logistics. They didn't really know what it means but they went on with it. "Yes, milady. I grew up in the streets so I do know a thing or two about the territory." "Okay, I am glad and this is why I give you the rank of the chief of Heerespersonalamt. Anyways, what I want to talk about is that, I have to start expanding the Wehrmacht fast and for that I need more money." "Yes I understand milady. With how the prince acted yesterday, you really need to start expanding your .... whatever you call it." This was Erika's biggest obstacle until now. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't come up with a perfect way for earning money fast enough to enlarge her Wehrmacht. She was in a pinch. "Um... milady do you know any type of business? Maybe something from your Godly knowledge?" Bauer joined in after serving the recruits. They were all eating their share of military rations, something Erika has prepared as cheap but highly nutritious lunch for them. "Ah not really" Erika said with a dejected look. "In my previous life I was so infatuated with the Wehrmacht and animes that I forgot to learn how anything else works." She thought to herself. Emil said out loud as if he remembered something, "Milady do you know about the treasure of the dark forest?" Bauer was excited to hear this. She thought that this treasure may help ease their financial strain. But Erika was more skeptical. She didn't hear about this treasure in the game. It was a new addition in this world which also surprised her. "I didn't hear about any such thing in the game. Is this world different from the actual game? Things do seem like it." Erika thought but brushed it out of her head. "You know, if the treasure was so easy to get, people would have taken it for themselves a long ago right." Erika said to Emil. Bauer also lost her excitement. "But milady, maybe with the military equipments we currently have at our disposal, we can fight of the wild beasts easily and enter the dark forest." "But the troops are not well trained in weapons yet. So sending them is suicide. Also, with only you, me and Bauer, we cannot bring back the treasures there." Emil was not disheartened. He encouraged Erika to be patient, "Milady you still have two more years before getting an educator to teach you noble courtesy and basic teaching plus three more years before joining the Royal magic academy. Meanwhile your troops will require only six months training. In six months you will have the force necessary to send to the dark forest." "Yes milady, we cannot hasten things like building up a force from scratch. But the training and equipments you are using for your troops have already shortened down the time period required to make men battle ready. So please don't be disheartened." Bauer also tried to cheer Erika up. Erika hearing their words of comfort Erika cheered up a bit. "They are right" She thought to herself "I cannot hasten things up. Even if I have the money, I don't have enough manpower to train the soldiers I will recruit. So I might as well wait."
"Hey Emil, Bauer do tell me more about this dark forest." "Yes milady as you wish." Replied Emil. "You know milady, in the past this Raubenbraum territory was a desolate land and people endured many hardships. Do you know why?" Erika didn't knew about these facts that were not part of the game. "It seems I was so busy with my doom avoidance that I almost forgot to read about the history of this world. The game I played mostly focuses on romance between the heroine and the capture targets. It doesn't say anything about the kingdom history. So I must learn more about it." Erika was curious how this world differed from the original game but was also very similar in prospect. Emil's words disturbed her thoughts. "The dark forest is a forest crawling with various monsters. They used to attack the territory very frequently causing deaths and damage to crops. Death was part of everyday life here. Until the king appointed your ancestors a few decades ago to bring peace to this land." Erika was amazed at such information which she never heard before and even felt a little proud of being part of a family that protected the land and its people. Emil continued, "The Raubenbraums were femous for their magic power which was second to none in the whole kingdom, maybe even the world. They used their magic to fight off the monsters and placed a barrier on the dark forest as a result the people were able to live freely in this land. Still today the barrier holds without the slightest sign of decay." Erika was very astonished at this news. "Really!?" She asked without being able to hold her excitement. "Yes milady, it is true." Bauer replied. She was smiling at Erika for her excitement. "But it is also said that the dark forest also holds a great treasure that never runs out." Emil continued. "This treasure is slowly accumulating for hundreds or maybe thousands of years inside the forest." Emil continued after a slight pause and licking his dry lips, "Many have claimed to have seen it. But no one came back because the monsters don't let anyone inside the forest. So it has been left there." "Wow, its just simply amazing!" Erika said. "Maybe in six months my army will be powerful enough to go check this forest out for treasure." "However milady I highly doubt that the bolt rifles will be enough to deal with these monsters in the forest." Bauer said with slight worry. "I have heard that there are beasts that are armoured and can't be killed with any weapons." This made even Emil worried. They didn't know whether the bolt rifles will be useful against these monsters or not. But Erika's worries laid in whether the story was true or not. Because if it was not then she would have wasted six months. "Are you guys 100% sure about the treasure?" Erika asked. "Yes, milady Emil replied. Because often adventurer groups would go into the forest to look for valuables and most that make it back say that they did find treasures but the monsters were to strong to bring back any. But the forest itself is full of other valuable items like irons, bronze and limestones. So Even if there aren't any treasure it still would be a good deal." Emil stopped to catch his breath and continued, "But the highest difficulty would be to clear the monsters milady. They are very strong." Erika was pleased. She didn't have any problems with strong monsters. She reassured them, "Don't worry, in six months I will make weapons that can obliterate the forest from miles away." She grinned and thought, "time to rearrange the squad."