The rotten leaves lay thick on the ground.
The days of rain and snow had left the earth covered in a soft, icy carpet of fallen leaves, and underfoot, there was not a sound.
The young scout glanced back at his companions, hiding behind low bushes, and slowly peered out.
What he saw stunned him.
A vast riverbank clearing, surrounded by a wall, and a huge, barrel-shaped gray building stood by the river. The structure was peculiar, with no visible stone seams, and he couldn't tell what materials it was built from. It had numerous windows scattered across its surface.
Near the gray building, hundreds of small, squat workers were busy. Some were building houses, others worked in groups, hammering the ground, some stirred a pile of gray mud, while others carried rectangular stones, heading in another direction.
On closer inspection, these small figures appeared to be cave dwellers.
Could it be that the missing cave people had been captured and forced into labor here?
However, these small workers seemed unusually cheerful, not at all like slaves.
A large head bobbed at the edge of the wall.
The young scout rubbed his eyes and looked carefully again. Inside the wall, several giant figures stood up, all clad in armor, wielding axes and large shields.
Despite the distance, he could almost hear the sharp scrape of their hard leather armor. The leader of the group led his team towards the riverbank, while another team of barbarian warriors came from the opposite direction. As the two groups passed each other, he made another startling discovery.
The Tiger Tribe!
A perfectly flat road extended towards the center of the river, where several wooden rafts were docked. Empty carts rumbled towards the boats, and a group of burly soldiers was unloading cargo from the boats. Despite the distance, the scout could immediately recognize these soldiers as members of the Tiger Tribe.
He shuddered, either from the cold or fear, and motioned for his companions to approach, signaling them to come forward and observe the situation.
But there was no response from behind.
A chill ran down his spine. He turned around quickly.
Two dark figures leapt forward, enveloping him in darkness.
...
The scout captain of the Torrent Tribe crouched on a low hill, his gaze fixed on the strange building across the Red River.
Two months ago, a territory of the Bloodstone family was mysteriously attacked, and over a hundred foreign slaves disappeared, along with all the resources and supplies from the area. This news caused a huge uproar among the four major families of the tribe.
In the wake of the attack on the Bloodhammer Camp, the Bloodstone family sent out numerous scouts, casting a wide net over the area, while other families also dispatched scouts, trying to find any clues.
Strangely, despite two months passing, no reports had come in about large-scale slave trading in the region. Hundreds of barbarian and half-orc slaves had simply vanished.
In their investigation, they discovered that the Cave Tribe, which was only a day or two's journey from the Bloodhammer Camp, also seemed to have suffered some kind of disaster, with the entire tribe of several thousand people disappearing.
Though the lowly Cave Tribe had little interaction with humans, the disappearance of both foreign slaves and an entire tribe raised some eerie connections.
Some suspected that a powerful force was conducting a massacre targeting foreign races. This theory was chilling, especially since the thousands of missing foreign people were neither seen alive nor dead, leaving every guess up for grabs.
There were also rumors that the Bloodstone family had been secretly dealing with the Tiger Tribe and had been betrayed. A Tiger Tribe elite force had reportedly wiped out the Bloodhammer Camp, and along with it, captured the foreign slaves and the Cave Tribe.
This rumor was vehemently denied by the Bloodstone family, but rumors don't arise out of nowhere, and this scout team, which had left the Torrent Tribe to head towards the Blackwood Forest border two weeks ago, was hoping to find some clues.
Though still a distance from the Red River, the scout team had already spotted the strange building rising above the dense forest. Two of the team had stealthily approached to investigate.
The captain silently hoped they would find something soon.
"Captain, you're being overly cautious. Why don't we just go over and check it out?" One of his subordinates scoffed, "Even if it's the border, it's still the Highland Alliance's border. The Forest Alliance wouldn't dare make a move."
The scout captain clenched his fists in frustration. As a veteran scout who had served in the military, caution was his creed. Even though he now worked as a hired scout in the Torrent Tribe, his cautiousness hadn't changed.
That caution had saved his life many times. But his companions, raised in the tribal lifestyle, did not understand this. They had never been in a real fight or understood the true meaning of being a scout.
Sighing inwardly, he pressed on. Now that there was no war between the alliances, many mercenaries and hired scouts had joined the tribe, including many who lacked the necessary experience.
As dusk approached, the scout captain's unease grew. The dense tree canopy seemed to close in around the strange building, which stood out even more in the darkening light. His team had already begun to murmur and complain, though none dared to act out of turn.
"Look! What's that?" one of the complaining scouts pointed towards the forest.
A small figure, partially hidden in a sea of swordgrass, appeared. It looked like a child, or perhaps a very small creature.
"Go! Catch it!" another shouted.
Before the captain could stop them, the impatience of his comrades flared, and they rushed forward, swords drawn.
The small figure, startled by their shouting, noticed the approaching figures and immediately turned to flee.
"It's a trap!" the captain's scalp tingled. He leaped to his feet, drawing his sword, "Watch for an ambush!"