Moonlight Blue

“Now, next on the agenda is what happened in Waham,” says Prime Minister Friday.

“Waham? Something happened there?” asks Duke Randall. To answer him, Marquis Reed speaks.

“Yes. Are you familiar with the city?”

“Yes of course…” he is pinched between his legs by Count Caskcut, resulting in him changing his answer, “… n-no. Why would I know such a low-level city hehehe?” an awkward laugh.

James Caskcut clears his throat and speaks.

“The Law Enforcement was sent there to investigate the death of the Baron family in charge of that city. Not only them but the death of countless soldiers. The investigation led the lieutenant who oversaw the mission and some of the Law Enforcement members to be brutally murdered. It was chaos there.”

The Duke and even Marquis Bruno Cobb who are hearing of these news the first time are flabbergasted. Prime Minister and Marquis Reed, who have already heard about this from their many connections are not.

“That’s not all that happened,” Caskcut continues, “Two Slayers were sent to accompany the unit. Both of them were defeated by an unknown figure who is believed to be the one responsible for everything that happened in Waham. And the King Cobra Slayer, Garrin, was killed in the process.”

Shocked, Duke Randall slams the table with his hand splitting it into two.

“IMPOSSIBLE? How can two Slayers be defeated by one person?”

Silence falls in the room. The Prime Minister is the one to break it.

“What do you think about this matter, Treasurer?”

Marquis Reed pushes his glasses closer to his eyes and ponders.

I bet the Bandit Society has something to do with this. The report Barion sent me via the communication crystal was detailed and he also mentioned that a noble or nobles of the council might be involved with them. However, the Bandit Society isn’t strong enough to defeat two Slayers and I doubt these guys would want to cripple the strength of the kingdom by killing a Slayer.

“We should issue a bounty.”

““A bounty?”” everyone exclaims.

“We already have the perpetrator’s description. Blue eyes and white hair as well as a detailed portrait of him. However, we cannot issue it for the entire public eye to see. If they find out that a Slayer was killed within the kingdom, that will cause chaos. Not only that, but other kingdoms might also see us as weak and belittle our capabilities.”

Even though the Prime Minister didn’t like Marquis Reed. Even him had to admit the man’s smarts and reliability.

“Hmm, you make a good point. Then how will we issue the bounty?” asks Friday.

“The black market. We’ll issue the bounty to all available criminal organisations that specialize in reconnaissance and assassinations. We’ll also employ the services of the infamous Assassin’s Guild.”

Eyebrows raise to Marquis Reed’s suggestions which shocked them. After all, Reed despised everything illegal. They didn’t expect him of all people to come up with such a suggestion.

Everyone agreed and a bounty of 500 thousand gold was approved by everyone. This is the highest bounty the kingdom of Slavia has ever issued. Of course, details of the murdered Slayer were omitted.

“Then I believe that’s everything.” Says Marquis Reed.

“Pardon me Treasurer but there’s still one more matter to discuss. And that’s about the Silent Demon’s Forest.”

***

The royal castle of the Slavia Kingdom is divided into 6 palaces. The main palace is where the ruler of the nation, His Majesty king Errol Blackthorn, resides. The main palace is at least twice the size of the other palaces. The other palaces reside the crown prince Warron Blackthorn, the 2nd prince Rowan Blackthorn and as for the rest reside Errol’s 3 concubines respectively.

Within the second prince’s palace, prince Rowan is sitting in the garden. The table has trays filled with all kinds of delicacies and a tea pot, steam slowly rising from its mouth. In front of him is a chess board. The board is made from exquisite wood, the chess pieces carved from the most superb of gemstones.

He moves one of his pieces, taking the bishop of his opponent. His opponent responds by taking his knight resulting in a check.

His opponent is none other than himself of course. To sharpen his mind, Rowan would usually play chess by himself. He found other strategic game players weak and would win 9 out of 10 times. There is a line of maids 12 steps away from him waiting patiently for any order he might issue.

Standing right beside him is a guard wearing a black tailored military uniform. The patterns of the uniform, at a glance, resembled the scales of a snake. A snake emblem with bright red eyes is located in each of his shoulders.

A maid comes rushing in and bows next to Rowan.

“Your Highness, lord Reed wishes to meet your presence.”

“Uncle? Let him in.”

In a few minutes, Marquis Taylor Reed walks in.

“Greetings your Highness. I hope you’re well.” Says Reed bowing slightly.

“Oh please uncle. How many times have I told you not to act like that with me?”

“You know I can’t do that your Highness. Especially with prying eyes all around us.”

As if he only realises that fact now, he snaps his fingers resulting in every maid around bowing their heads and leaving thereafter. Even the guard himself left without question.

One of the rings within Marquis Reed’s fingers shines brilliantly before a transparent barrier envelopes them. Its radius is small, only covering the two and the table before them.

Reed sits down across Rowan.

“It seems I’m on the losing side,” says Reed as he moves a piece within the chess board.

“Not at all,” responds Rowan as he moves a piece himself. “It seems it’s only a matter of time before all of your fingers have a ring. I wonder what you’ll do after that, uncle?”

Each of Marquis Reed’s fingers has a ring on them except for two. Each ring is a magic item and has its own magical functions. One ring the Marquis likes to use is the ‘sound cancelling ring’ which is self-explanatory. With this ring, any noise made within the barrier will not reach the outside.

If people were to see them now, they would only see their mouths moving with no words coming out.

“What did I do to deserve an honour of your visit uncle?

*Tack*

The chess piece thuds the wooden chess board with Rowan’s move.

“As you may know, there was a council meeting today. One of the agendas brought up was about the Silent Demon’s Forest.”

Rowan’s hand freezes for a second as it hovers over the chess board. He moves his rook and attacks the knight in his way.

*Tack*

“One of the 4 forbidden regions on the continent. Why would a place like that come up?” asks Rowan.

“After sending a few investigation units, the Prime Minister received credible evidence from the few survivors that the demonic energy that has plagued that forest for 200 years has disappeared. They speculate that the Silent Demon is also dead.”

Rowan can’t hide his shocked expression. How is that even possible?

*Tack*

“Who killed it?” Rowan asks curiously.

“No one knows. The survivors reported that most of their members were killed by the monsters of the forest. One even said he saw what he thinks is the boss of the region they had entered in.”

*Tack*

“What kind of monster was it?”

“A golem. A powerful golem he said. Not only that, but the golem could also speak, telling them not to ever step foot in the forest.”

“An intelligent golem. Those are rare. If it’s that intelligent, would it be unwise to think that it’s actually the new boss of the entire forest?”

*Tack*

“It would be unwise to think that way your Highness,” says Reed as one of his ring’s glows, projecting the Silent Demon’s Forest’s map.

The map shows the entire forest, but most parts of the map are incomplete. Not only that, but there is also a section on the map where it is covered entirely by black.

“This is what has been recorded so far about the forest. Its scale is that of a kingdom. This forest is what separates the Great Empire that’s on the west and the eastern kingdoms, ours included. The corrupted part of the forest is what has prevented the empire from launching any attacks to the East for the past 200 years. Of the entire forest, only 20% has been explored and that’s the outer sections which are relatively safe, filled only with weak monsters. The further you enter, the stronger the monsters. It is even believed that the corrupted part is 70% of the entire forest. Of course, now it’s no longer corrupted.”

*Tack*

Rowan’s head is already throbbing from the information dumb so he decides to butt in.

“So what’s exactly your point then, uncle?”

“Why would a monster that is supposedly the strongest reside in the edges of the forest?”

That’s when, as if struck by lightning, Rowan finally understands.

*Tack*

“That’s only if a stronger monster chases it away from its territory, right?”

“That’s correct your Highness. Not only that, the monster or monsters that drove that golem away are probably sentient too. Maybe the golem could be a subordinate of an even stronger monster. Too much information is unknown.”

*Tack*

“I see. So, what does all that have to do with me?”

Sweat drips down Marquis Reed’s face as he delivers the news.

“It seems His Majesty has approved the Prime Minister’s plea of sending you there as the vanguard.”

*Tack*

“Huh?” says Rowan with his eyes wide open.

It is checkmate.