"What's going on here?"
"Are there any giant bears in the world that can match the size of an adult dragon?"
"There is a large poisonous centipede here. Kill it and protect Her Royal Highness the Princess and General Gavin."
"Don't mess around. Didn't you see that Her Highness the Princess ignored it at all? It is protecting General Gavin."
"Could it be that the lord surrendered it as a prisoner? The lord did not have such a pet before."
"You call this a pet? This is obviously not an ordinary centipede, but an animal companion carefully cultivated by druids. It should be the kind called a sword centipede. If it is a sneak attack, it only needs one to kill you and me. Full attack."
"That's even more wrong. The lord is an arcane master. How can he have a druid's animal companion?"
"You ask me, who am I asking? He is our lord."
Whether it was Crown Princess Tynarasta's royal escort or Conqueror Gavin's general escort, they all couldn't hide their shock and confusion when they saw the scene in front of them. The astonishing traces of the battle here all showed A terrifying battle once broke out here, beyond their imagination.
After whispering for a long time, they still couldn't figure out the reason.
The Crown Princess was well versed in the art of controlling people. She did not explain a word more, but issued an order: "The troops are divided into two groups. The general's escort from the Conqueror's Army remains here to guard the safety of General Gavin. It is strictly prohibited. If anyone approaches, the Royal Guards will follow me. There are still Maura believers lurking in this forest. Find them all. During the search, be careful of all kinds of traps."
If something like this is explained clearly, everyone will be shocked and form a concrete concept. It is better to remain silent and let them guess based on the situation on the battlefield, which will make it appear more unfathomable.
In comparison, the gods are very sneaky in this regard. They never show off to others verbally how powerful their weapons are. They will only leave behind horrific traces of battles that ordinary people cannot imagine. The traces are for people to admire, allowing them to speculate on the power of the gods, thus creating awe and worship.
"Since traps are involved, it is better to let Master Susie assist you. She is a trap maker and a master of traps. Although her abilities are biased towards rocky areas, the principles are common and should be able to provide considerable help." Veranika suggested.
She is the captain of the general's escort and the deputy of Gavin Cormier's trip. This is a special war, and naturally the exclusive sacrifice of Ms. Strategy is indispensable. Although Gavin is now a voter of the Red Knight, he is a monk halfway and has no respect for Ms. Strategy. Originally, our knowledge of the church's operations was very limited, and if we wanted to borrow from it, we needed professionals like Veranika.
"Okay." Crown Princess did not refuse.
The previous traps of Maela believers did not cause them much trouble. Not only because this is the main battlefield of Ban Yueju and they can detect many natural traps, but also because the defensive power of the equipment on the two of them is too strong, let alone ordinary traps. Even most of the magic traps were unable to cause substantial harm to them, and many of them were directly broken through violence.
The same cannot be said for the Royal Guards. During the battle, these traps did not cause much harm to them. However, when they were chasing, there were casualties. That was a joke.
Before Crown Princess and the others could take action, the rumble of horse hooves sounded, and a tall figure rushed out of the jungle and roared: "Who dares to do anything in my territory? When I, Fairfa* Muyin, are Are you easy to bully... Your Highness, why are you here? What happened here?"
This man is over two and a half meters tall, with long arms and legs. Even if he is wearing heavy armor, you can clearly feel the terrifying muscle outline of his body. His big head is shaved green, and his black beard is very long, reaching to his chest. , thick and thick, you can't see the mouth at all, which makes him look fierce, coupled with his thick voice, it is enough to intimidate most people.
This person was none other than the Lord of Muyin who was famous for his brute strength and bravery, the Lord of the disappeared Luji Town.
"Before that, please tell me, what happened in Luji Town in the past few days? Have there been a large number of casualties?" Crown Princess had vaguely guessed what happened in Luji Town, but the guess was just a guess. , must be personally confirmed.
"We don't know what happened." Lord Muyin's fierce face was full of confusion, "Our town of Luji has been completely shrouded in heavy fog these days. At first we thought it was ordinary forest fog, but later all the spells The reporter found that he had lost the ability to cast spells, and then he felt that something was wrong. This kind of fog obviously had a strong misleading effect. We sent several groups of investigators, and without exception, they couldn't go far in circles, so we returned to the town. I personally led the team both times. In the end, we could only hold on and wait for the fog to dissipate on its own, or for the royal family to notice the situation on our side. Unexpectedly, we had to wait for two days and two nights. We heard that there was fighting here earlier. There was no movement, and as soon as the fog dissipated, I immediately led people to rush over."
What Lord Muyin said was basically not much different from what Crown Princess guessed.
From the beginning to the end, Luji Town was just a bait to lure them into taking the bait. The Maela believers of the Secret Hunting Cult just trapped them with the projection of the Kingdom of God, and did not create any extraneous problems. Instead, they focused their attention entirely on her and Gavin. When Maura's anchor point in the material plane, the Plunder Bear, was severely damaged and the projection of the Kingdom of God disappeared, Luji Town naturally got out of trouble.
Tynarasta explained concisely and concisely: "It was the evil organization called the Secret Hunting Cult who completely surrendered to the God of Hunting, Maura, and tried to launch the Supreme Hunt against me and General Gavin. You were only affected, and the culprit has been arrested. General Gavin has killed them, and the crisis here has been completely resolved."
"The Secret Hunting Cult? Joining forces with Maura, the God of Hunting? They are really crazy." Lord Muyin said angrily, "They just do things in the wilderness, how dare they do such outrageous things in our Cormyr We must not let them go so easily, we must find them out and eradicate them completely."
"Wait a minute, I will go back to the Purple Dragon Palace. Your Majesty will definitely not sit idly by and ignore this matter!" The Crown Princess did not mention that King Asan and the Palace Archmage were not in the Purple Dragon Palace. It will cause unnecessary disturbance.
The situation here has been broken. I wonder if they will get out of trouble like Luji Town.
"Your Highness, you don't need to go back to the Purple Dragon Palace. I have already brought your Majesty's royal order." Lord Siobo rode down from the sky on his griffon mount and respectfully handed a royal order scroll to the Crown Princess.
King Asan’s royal decree?
So King Yasang and the others have returned to the Purple Dragon Palace. No, they have even visited this place in person, but they just don't know it.
After Tainarasta received the royal order scroll, she knew it was true without any need to check it, because it not only had the magic king's seal belonging to King Asan, but also the mage's mark belonging to the palace mage. This kind of spiritual imprint is difficult to fake.
"According to the king's order, the True Silver family, the Urus family, and the Archer family secretly supported the Secret Hunting Cult and colluded with the evil god Maura in an attempt to attack and kill the kingdom's crown prince, Princess Tenarasta, and shake the country's foundation. This is considered treason. From today on, the Secret Hunting Cult will be completely expelled. Every citizen of Cormyr has the responsibility to report the Secret Hunting Cult members, take back the fiefdoms and properties of all Secret Hunting Cult members, and arrest all direct members of the three major families. Anyone who dares to resist will be arrested. Kill them on the spot and authorize the Crown Princess to mobilize military forces from all the towns in the King's Forest to launch a large-scale siege against all illegal forces in the King's Forest."
After reading out the newly signed royal decree, which was not even completely dry on the ink, Tainarasta knew that this matter was not just a conspiracy of the Secret Hunting Cult. King Asan and the Palace Archmage did not think of it themselves. It must be so clean that there must be some element of trickery in it, including the fact that they both disappeared. Were they lured away by Ma La through conspiracy? Or they deliberately avoided it and pushed themselves to Luji Town, then only they themselves know.
For a moment, the Crown Princess didn't know how to describe her feelings. From the perspective of the country's interests, there was nothing wrong with their approach. After all, it was for the sake of the overall interests of the entire Cormyr Kingdom and to uncover the worms within the kingdom.
But from a personal emotional point of view, being used as a chess piece is definitely not a good experience. Although they are probably fully prepared, if one day they are in their position, will they be harmful to their children and students? Do such a thing?
And this is what Tainarasta is least willing to think about, because she is afraid of getting a 'yes' result.
This is the helplessness of being in an imperial family. Family love often has to give in to the interests of the family and the country.
The Kingdom of Cormyr's thunderous counterattack against the Secret Hunting Cult has begun. Although the True Silver family, the Urus family, and the Archer family are not the oldest families in the Kingdom of Cormyr, they are also out-and-out powerful families, and they are all It is closely related to the King's Forest. In particular, the True Silver family is a hereditary earl family and has been in charge of planned logging and hunting in the King's Forest for generations. The other two families are hereditary baron families and their industries are also inseparable from the King's Forest.
They have been operating in the King's Forest for at least a hundred years, and their penetration here is not ordinary. In addition to those well-known industries, there are also some relatively private ones. If you are deep in the King's Forest, it is difficult for outsiders to discover them.
When the Kingdom of Cormyr announced that it would take back all the fiefdom properties of these three families, it meant that the entire power in the King's Forest was facing a major reshuffle.
The Kingdom of Cormyr showed terrifying efficiency in military operations. When the Crown Princess sat in the road market town and summoned the garrison of the towns along the way to launch a military operation.
The First Legion, which was guarding the royal city of Susar, went north overnight and blocked all the passages south of the King's Forest. The Royal Navy followed the Pterodactyl River into Pterodactyl Lake and blocked the east side of the King's Forest, not to mention the various checkpoints. Having said that, a wanted order must have been issued immediately.
However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is just an excuse for the Obaisqir royal family to take advantage of the opportunity to rectify the King's Forest. A blockade of this nature is only effective for ordinary people, but for those noble families with extraordinary spellcasters, it can It's useless, a teleportation spell can make them jump out of the blockade.
The royal family of Obeschier has wanted to clean up the King's Forest for a long time, but there has been no suitable excuse. Although this is the strategic depth of the Kingdom of Cormyr, the complex environment is also an excellent place for hiding evil and evil. Monsters in the forest , forest bandits, kingdom fugitives, etc. Even if the Kingdom of Cormyr maintains a large number of purple dragon patrols here, there is no way to completely ban them, and tragedies will occur from time to time.
The command headquarters of Crown Princess is in Luji Town.
At that time, Road Market Town was established as a frontline outpost to resist the evil in the King's Forest. As the Kingdom of Cormyr's national power grew, they had pushed this line of defense to the High Point Fort in the Stormhorn Mountains. However, as the main defense center of the King's Forest, Its role has not changed.
At the same time, it is also the most important transit center in the King's Forest. The reason why it is called Road Market Town does not refer to the market next to the road, but the gathering point of the road. If you walk along any road in the King's Forest, there will be a path leading here. There are as many as eight large and small roads connecting the King's Forest.
It is the largest glade in the King's Forest. Along these roads, there are as many as a dozen woodland horse farms. Most of the first mounts of the Purple Dragon Knights of the Kingdom of Cormyr came from here.
Half of these woodland racecourses are used by the royal family. When the horn of war is sounded, these royal racecourses will become the best gathering places for those racecourses.
Not only the purple dragon patrols patrolling the King's Forest came to assemble quickly, but also the militiamen and hunters from nearby villages and towns also heard the news and began to gather towards Luji Town. The people who gathered here one after another were not just from the King's Forest and the surrounding areas. The young people in the town, and even people from other towns in the Kingdom of Cormyr, came with their own equipment and food after hearing the news.
The slogan of the Kingdom of Cormyr is simple but serious, "The road town is calling."
This was no longer just a mobilization. Gavin also felt responsibility and honor among the young people who chanted such slogans.
"Your Highness, would it be convenient for you to reveal your true purpose?" Gavin noticed something was wrong the next day. This was neither preparing to encircle and suppress the Secret Hunting Cult nor preparing to completely clear out the King's Forest.
He had fought a jungle war with the drow in Mir Forest before, and he knew very well the special nature of jungle warfare. The human sea tactic was useless here, especially the Purple Dragon Knight, which had no use at all. They could only patrol along the trade routes and had no way of rushing into the forest to fight.
If you want to fight deep into the forest, there are two main points.
The first is a large amount of intelligence collection. You must first locate where the enemy is before you can send troops. You can't launch a blanket search for the enemy, right?
Even in the plains, this is an unrealistic thing, let alone in the vast virgin forest. Many times, even if the enemy is more than ten meters away, if you don't have the corresponding natural ability, you won't be able to detect it.
The second is to recruit professionals who can easily move in dense forests, such as druids, rangers, hunters, archers, etc. It would be better if there are those natural races to form an elite combat team and conduct special operations based on intelligence.
In this kind of primitive forest, the enemy's villages, associations, and strongholds will definitely not be too large, and there is no need to dispatch large armies at all.
But the Crown Princess has neither of these. What they do have is to conduct emergency training for the assembled recruits according to the standards of the Purple Dragon Knights.
The Crown Princess is not like someone without military knowledge who would make such a stupid mistake.
"Even if the general doesn't ask, I am still going to tell you about this matter." Tynarasta said seriously, "I believe that within a month, this news will spread throughout the entire Faerûn continent. I wonder if you will listen." Never heard of the Endless Wilderness?”
"Endless Wilderness?" Gavin was involuntarily startled when he heard the name. It was like a flash of lightning flashed through his mind, tearing open the fog. The Kingdom of Cormyr was acting abnormally and instantly found the perfect reason. They were not doing anything for the king. Forest preparation is just an excuse that coincides with the occasion.
Crown Princess misunderstood Gavin's reaction, and directly dragged Gavin to activate the teleportation technique, and appeared in a combat conference room with three huge military maps on it.
One is naturally from the Kingdom of Cormyr and surrounding countries.
The other map is for the entire continent of Faerûn. Gavin also has one in his hand, but the level of detail is impossible to compare with the other map. This map is obviously updated in real time, because it has the Road of the Conqueror, Blood Gap City, Marks such as the City of the Colossus and the City of Faith, the handwriting is beautiful but not lacking in strength. You can read the words as if you are seeing a person, and you can tell at a glance that they were written by the Crown Princess.
The last one is a world map of the entire Toril.
The Crown Princess pointed to the upper right corner of the map of Faerun and said: "The endless wilderness is here. This wilderness is so big that it is beyond most people's imagination. Only a small part of it is located in the continent of Faerun, and a large part is located in the continent of Karatu. , it is said that together they are larger than the entire continent of Faerûn. In this endless wilderness grassland, there lives a nomadic people named Tukan.
This famous tribe is known as the race on horseback, and it has the reputation of thousands of tribes. Legend has it that there are ten thousand Tukan tribes living in the entire endless wilderness.
When some of these tribes unite, it will be the beginning of disaster for their neighbors.
Fortunately, there are not many such situations. Unless there is a famine or a talented and strategic leader appears in their tribe, most of the time, they fight each other for more fertile pastures.
This situation ended ten years ago. A tribal leader named Yamen rose up with his tribe. After more than ten years of fighting in the north and south, he destroyed and annexed countless Tukan tribes. He established his own royal court in the endless wilderness, and was honored as Yamen Khan. He was known as the common master of all Tukan people, and all Tukan people would obey his orders.
Last year, when the gods came, although the main body was in Faerûn, the Endless Wilderness was also affected. Countless animals froze to death and starved to death, plunging this nomadic tribe into a collective famine.
Under the call of Yamen Khan, they gathered together this spring, went south on a large scale, crossed the Xianglong Great Wall of the Far Eastern Dynasty, and plundered, and they barely survived the crisis of collapse.
Although this year's Endless Wilderness has been good, and the supplies looted from the Far Eastern Dynasty at the beginning of the year have allowed them to recover part of their strength, it is still very difficult to survive the winter on their own, and there is likely to be a large number of Tukan people. Will freeze and starve to death.
They were now hungry wolves who had tasted human blood, and they would no longer sit back and wait for death. When autumn just entered, Yamen Khan once again issued a call for war.
It's just that they didn't go south this time, because the Far Eastern Dynasty gathered hundreds of thousands of troops at the Xianglong Great Wall to stand ready. Instead, they set their sights on the continent of Faerûn and us. Now hundreds of thousands of Tukan people are swarming towards us. Come. "
The Crown Princess finished educating Gavin about the ins and outs of the Tukan people in one breath. She seemed to be worried that he did not understand the world situation. She put the locations of Faerun, Karatu and the Endless Wilderness on the world map to help Gavin. Circled it.
(End of chapter)
