Black Sword and Fragments [Vol. 1: Unforeseen Conspiracy]

Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Legendary Forest

Another day has passed just right after the incident happens in the town where Allastor grew up. In some of the places in the kingdom, the news about the crimes is continuously spreading. 

“Oy, oy! You already heard the news about the murder case that happens in the Irongrass town?” A man who is approximately between the age of twenty and twenty-five spoke. His puckering lips are also close to his two companions. It was as if he really wanted them to hear his words. This man is named Eric.

“Yeah, dude. They also mentioned that the children from the orphanage has been abducted. Their guardians have been killed along with the other destined Royal Soldiers there.” A trace of empathy could be seen in his sympathetic voice, and this man is named Peter.

On the other side, the old man who was still not talking to the group is about to share his opinion as well. He nodded as he earnestly spoke. “Hmmm. But even so, it was suspicious that the palace's officials weren't sharing their testimony about this incident yet. Is it possible that the criminals are inside the Kingdom? What do you think?”

Eric shook his head. “I couldn't tell, Mr. Zax. It might be possible that those criminals are our arch-enemy from the past.” Eric paused for a moment. His expression became pale when he continued. “I know that I and Peter were not born on the day when the war inside the kingdom is happening, still, I think it is the Dark Alone Bandits that did this and so the Palace's officials are afraid to tell us the truth. I just thought of this one because they were not still saying anything, let alone has the knowledge about the identity of the criminals.”

“Hmm... Possible. But didn't we won already on the war before? Elders from the Kingdom witness our winning from the Dark Alone Bandits. In addition, I'm one of the witnesses as well.” Responded Zax as he shook his head.

“Touche. I don't even know what is happening anymore in this kingdom.” Eric sighed. His voice became weaker as he earnestly spoke. “I hope that I am really wrong.”

*   *   *   *

“My Lord, as one of your Generals and as your Head Announcer, may I know your suggestions?” Respectfully asked the lady in her regalia. She was kneeling on one knee as she admire the king on his throne.

Even though this lady's age is already forty-five, she couldn't be compared to the others of the same age. Because she is one of the Platinum-Ranker, his aging process is much slower by a realm compared to the other human. That is also why she still looks so young just like a maiden on his nineteenth. She is Kethra Beck, one of the Generals and the Head-Announcer of the Kingdom. 

“We still couldn't tell the public about what really happened. It could cause Panic and Commotion.” Leonardo Dracus shook his head. He sighed. “For now, just announce that we are still searching for the criminals behind that murder case from the Irongrass town. Approximately a week to a month, I will think of something we could fit inside this hole of misunderstanding.”

King Leonardo earnestly stared at the eyes of the lady. “Just please, I hope that this announcement will be delivered appropriately to the citizens. We are so close to our goal. We don't want to lose our plans and preparations regarding those bandits.”

General Kethra Beck nodded as she agreed with the king. “I understand, my Lord. You can be assured that this announcement will be good to the ears. I will be good at my job.”

Leonardo slightly nodded as well as slightly smiled. “Thank you. I will count on you.”

Honestly, Leonardo Dracus wasn't expecting that the news about this crime will easily spread to the whole kingdom. If this doesn't spread that much, he still could do something about this.

For now, now that the citizens are waiting for the King's answer and clarification regarding the crime that happens in Irongrass town, he could only resort to the lies he made up. He can't just casually announce that it was the Dark Alone Bandits that did that crime. Because if he will do that, it will surely cause panic and extreme commotion among the citizens. They will just have more difficulty fighting the unforeseen attacks from these Bandits.

Leonardo, after saying his last words, the kneeling Kethra Beck stood and respectfully bowed before leaving. Leonardo Dracus earnestly gazed at the shrinking figure of the lady. And when it finally shrank in dot, the King let out another sigh again. He looked at his side and he saw the figure of a man. Leonardo stared at the man's electric-blue eyes before speaking again.

“Teacher, until now is that I don't really understand your reason. You want to maintain the peace inside the kingdom, but why aren't you making a move regarding those bandits?” Calmly asked Leonardo. As long as possible, he won't want to be wrong on the ear of his teacher.

Ayanno Nightangel didn't immediately respond to the question of Leonardo Dracus. Ayanno was used to calling Leonardo his Lord or Majesty, for he was always exposed in the public's eyes. But now, he wasn't in the right situation to call him his Lord Majesty. Again, his authority as a strict teacher appeared. 

The young man's expression is earnestly serious when he said. “I know it is hard. Even with my own powers, I am not confident that what we see is exactly the way it is...”

Leonardo jolts in his seat as his eyebrows simultaneously jumped. “Teacher, what do you mean? You are strong enough, what could possibly go wrong?”

The surroundings became silent and it gives an eerie vibe to the King. General Ayanno didn't respond well. He started walking out of the large door. Nothing could be heard in the surroundings but the footsteps of the general. He only stops on his track when he is already at the chamber's door. He looked back at Leonardo as he spoke.

“As your teacher and you as my student, just think about completely terminating the Dark Alone Bandits as your final training. I will always be here to share my thoughts and opinion on how to deal with the Kingdom's problems. After all, I'm still one of your generals. Still, I won't interfere with those bandits. It's not that I am just lazy to exterminate them.” He paused for a moment, and his expression became serious. “It is just that my guts are telling me that I will regret it if the bandits have known about my existence. And even with my power, I still couldn't locate their exact location until now...”

Ayanno's eyes let out gloomy vibes as he strides his way out of the King's chamber.

“They shouldn't be able to avoid my senses. I couldn't be wrong. This power is related to that Darkhorses...” In Ayanno's mind.

*   *   *   *

On the other side, after another day, inside the Forest of Kurnell is Allastor Frauzz surging fearlessly at the Magicule beast. The majority of these magicule beasts are just Devil rats that he can easily kill.

“Ha!”

With a slash of his sword, a reverberating blood gushing flesh and a thud sounded in the surroundings. 

It was the fifteenth devil rat that he had killed. Allastor is currently on the Kurnell Forest and striding his way to the deeper part of the Forest. He needed to reach the end of this forest from its west side—in that is the location of the Legendary Forest, Uzuri's Forest.

To be honest, any of the three endpoints of the Kurnell Forest are other dangerous Forests. However, if they will be matched with the danger of Uzuri's Forest, the other two forests weren't even worth mentioning. No, even if all the known dangerous Forest from the kingdom will be combined, they are still not worth comparing to the Uzuri's Forest. 

Just a moment ago, Allastor drank beer again. He brought that alcohol on his way inside the Kurnell Forest. He didn't really like the taste of that beer to be honest, but he wanted to drink it because it ease his pain for a bit. After consuming two bottles of alcohol, he continues his track deeper inside the Kurnell Forest.

It was already five hours that he was walking his way to reach the western endpoint of this Forest, and the effect of the beer is already dissipated. But, even if the effect of the alcohol has gone, even a bit of fear or nervousness couldn't feel by him. His mind was only focused on his desire for revenge. His emotion is full of extreme hatred and enmity, and he releases that hatred in the way he draws his sword.

For now, for as long as his strength is still not enough, Allastor Frauzz wouldn't know what really happened behind that incident in the small town of Irongrass.  And if ever that he immediately know who are those or those criminals, his strength wasn't enough to take revenge for his family. However, despite that, he was sure that once he got the power that resides in Uzuri's Mana-Tree, these goals will never be that impossible to achieve.

Allaastor lifelessly approached the corpse of the giant rat. He sliced its body and got its life core. When he grabbed it firmly, he crushed it with his explosive strengths. And then, he absorbed its energy.

This is the fifteenth devil rat that Allastor has killed after five hours of striding inside the Kurnell forest. He wasn't using his Black Requiem this time. It was inside his Space bag. 

Just to be honest, Allastor has not used his Black Requiem for a few weeks now, but the magicules stored from the sword are enough to make a deadly attack again. But, even though his Black Requiem is now full of magicule energies, Allastor still doesn't want to use it. 

When the Black Requiem absorbed its required energy to be considered full, it stops stealing energy from its user. Now, it doesn't want to absorb any more energy from Allastor unlike before when it is still empty. Allastor can now absorb the magicules from the Life cores he collected solo.

When he finished absorbing the energy, Allastor shook his sword—causing the blood from its blade to transport into the grassy field. After that, Allastor continues on his way. He left the corpse of the Devil rat and didn't dare to waste his time storing its body inside his space bag. He does not care anymore about the corpses of magicules he killed, all his attention is focused on strengthening his body—especially, finding the way to touch the magical Mana-Tree.

 Based on the Legend and also based on the theory of the elder rankers, the Uzuri's Mana-Tree has sprouted in the body of the Goddess named Uzuri when she died. They say that her body has been absorbed by soil and became its fertilizer.  However, that time after the death of the Goddess, an unusual plant slowly grows on the soil where her body is buried. And as the magical plant grows, that plant then became a giant tree.

From the day when the magical plant became a giant tree, many magicule beasts have been attracted by the profound power surging out of that tree. The magicule beasts that touch the part of the magical tree became strong. The majority of them also settle down near the magical tree. 

From there forward, the hordes of unusually strong magicule beasts grew in numbers. And in that place, healthy trees and plants started to grow in number simultaneously to the beasts. And because of that, the wide and dangerous place full of trees was now called the legendary Uzuri's Forest. 

*   *   *   *

After thirty minutes of walking, Allastor finally arrived at the western endpoint of the Kurnell Forest. A wide space appeared before his eyes. There is no grass in this space, but only soil. But, in the distance, Allastor can now see another unusual forest. There is unusual glittering light on its giant trees and tall grasses. It gives Allastor a unique feeling, causing him to halt on his track.

His bright red eyes are full of different emotions as he gazes at the magical forest that emits a unique feeling. His gray hair has been rippled by winds and after it stops waving he silently speaks. “Holy mother of our god system. So this is the Uzuri's Forest...”

His emotion is full of uncertainty, hesitation, and nervousness. He breathed in a lot of air, and when he sighed, he slowly approached the magical forest. Be that as it may, he jolts in shock when a figure wearing a black cloak passed on his side. He didn't properly feel its presence because of the mixed emotion he felt for the Uzuri's Forest.

The Cloaked figure didn't dare to waste its time giving its attention to Allastor Frauzz. It continues striding towards the dangerous forest of Uzuri.

Even though he didn't see the face of the cloaked figure neither did he hear its voice, howbeit, he remembered the person who saved him from the hands of Ballion Ibzaar.

Allastor's eyebrows jumped. He wants to try something.

“Could it be—!” In his mind. He sighed and stepped forward for a bit.

“W-wait!” Allastor shouted at the figure in the black cloak. And because of his shout, the figure stops on its track.

“What do you need?”

Allastor didn't expect that instead of a man's voice, he heard a soft and very feminine voice from the cloaked figure. He was thinking to say thank you because he expected the girl to be his savior from back then, but now that he now knows that she was a girl, he felt disappointed for a bit. 

Allastor didn't know what to respond. And because of the sudden silence, the maiden faced Allastor Frauzz. She looked at the figure of the young man and noticed his eyes that has no emotion.

“You shouldn't come closer to this Forest. Uzuri's Forest is too dangerous for a Level 4 Bronze rank.” Responded by the maiden. 

Allastor approached the girl. Because of her soft voice, Allastor becomes comfortable in an instant with the girl. He looked at her bright yellow eyes. Even though he feels a bit uneasy when looking at her bright eyes, still, his uneasiness has faded when heavy emotion started surging into his broken heart again.

Allastor pointed towards the Uzuri's Forest near them before he asked. “What will you do there?” 

“I couldn't tell you...” Immediately responded by the maiden.

Allastor lifelessly smiles. He can remember from this girl his reckless friend Selena. “Touche. Let's go together, then.”

The maiden raised her eyebrows in shock. “Ea-what? Are you lost? You are only a Level four Bronze rank. That forest isn't your mere playground!”

Allastor grabbed the maiden's left hand and pointed toward the number Twelve written on her pulse. Allastor was sure that it is her Magicule-Mark. “And you are a mere Level twelve Silver ranker. What could you possibly do there, huh?”

“That...”

When Allastor release her hand, he again started walking his way towards the dangerous forest. “Come on, Sel—whatever.”

The maiden didn't immediately respond. She was dazed for a moment before finally following Allastor Frauz.

The maiden stared at Allastor's serious eyes. “Would you mind if I ask what will you do inside the forest of Uzuri?”

In this question, Allastor remembered the answer that the maiden have answered to the same question he made earlier. He didn't hesitate to tell, “Yeah, and I couldn't tell you.” while shaking his head.

The maiden's eyebrows raised when he realized that the young man just told back what she answered to the young man earlier. 

To be continued

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