The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 207: The Reason

"No..!!" Royce shouted, though barely anyone heard.

The two guards looked at all the captains, their faces shocked and confused. All the captains were staring past them, eyes wide. The guards turned around to see what had caused the commotion, only to find their captain's head falling to the ground.

As if broken from a spell, everyone started talking at once:

"A first-ranker kid… killed a second-ranker…?"

"What strength… what speed…"

"A second-ranker in just one attack…?"

"What the hel…"

"Is this for real…!?"

Damian swung his sword through the air, wiping off the blood, before sheathing it at his waist. Turning around, he walked past the two frozen guards, who stepped back as he approached, lowering their heads in submission. Damian ignored them, taking his seat near Sam and Yovan. Both of them wore expressions of disbelief—though Sam had a slight, proud smile.

Yovan, on the other hand, was witnessing for the first time what Damian was truly capable of.

It was a simple calculation. The Beastmen had more powerful allies they could trust to fight alongside them, whereas the lord was just dead weight. To avoid future problems and distractions for one of his best fighters - Einar, Damian had made the logical decision to eliminate him. He had already sensed that none of the lord's 400 or so followers were powerful enough to be a threat.

"You two," Damian said, looking at the two guards, who instantly snapped their attention to him, eager to prove their obedience. "Take him back to your side of the camp. Tell your fellow soldiers: If you want to leave and fend for yourselves in the forest, go ahead, but all your supplies stay with us. Those who remain will obey all orders from these twelve captains—or they can join your lord's fate."

The two soldiers nodded excessively, hurriedly picking up the body and making their way out, glad to be leaving.

"Now, where were we…? Ah, unconditional support…" Damian muttered, glancing at the Beastmen leader and his trusted mage. The other captains regained a semblance of composure, taking their seats, though they still eyed the Beastmen with tension, their upcoming fate was still an issue here.

Royce and Mira stared at Damian for a while but followed everyone else and took their seats. Damian knew they had countless things to tell him—some of them might even be true and important—but this was his decision. He would bear the consequences, and he was prepared for that.

While he would have preferred to spend his days in a lab doing research all day, he had chosen to settle with the Eldorians for a time and needed to do this job. But he wouldn't tolerate insufferable fools. He would do the work, but on his terms. If Vidalia had a problem with that, he was in the wrong place, and Damian would simply move on.

"As we said, we'll fight together if more of those bastards come for the valley or bring monsters with them," Kazak said, his eyes locked on Damian with an intense focus, "but we won't let you into our valley without confirmation from our scouts."

"How long until the scouts return?" Royce asked, shifting the focus back to the larger issue.

"The mountain range is vast—maybe five or six days," the old fox mage replied.

"We don't have that much time," one of the captains said.

"We need to prepare quickly. They might have already spotted us with such a large force. I'm sure they're planning an attack even right now," another captain added.

"But wouldn't they also take three or four days to get here? More, if the monsters are hard to control?" Captain Loydel, the older one with a mimicry spell, mused aloud.

"The bigger question is, why haven't they already taken the valley with those monsters?" Yovan, standing beside Damian, asked. Everyone turned to him, struggling to come up with an answer.

The enemy had been throwing soldiers at the valley in increasing numbers, as the Beastmen had said, but why? Why waste manpower when they could send monsters instead? Was there something stopping them?

"Let's assume they can't mobilize all the monsters at once, or they're waiting for something. What other ways could they use them?" Mira asked, trying to figure out their enemy's strategy.

"The river," Yovan said, reaching a conclusion. "They want control of the valley so they can use the river to send monsters across the mountain range."

"The river…" the old fox muttered, pondering this new information.

"Do you know something about it?" Damian asked.

"The river passes under the mountains. Monsters occasionally get swept along with the current, but lately their numbers have been increasing—even species that aren't usually seen in these woods," Kazak explained.

"They're testing the waters?" another captain suggested.

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"Could be. For now, it's the only theory we have, and everything points to it. Unless we find evidence to the contrary, let's assume that's their goal," Royce concluded.

"Still, five or six days is a lot of time. What's stopping them right now? If they could send monsters through the river at any time, maybe they haven't done it yet because of the Beastmen killing many of them before they can overwhelm them, culling their numbers. But now that they know we're here too, they might not care about losses.

They could head toward Pyron or, in one final attempt, send all their monsters through the river, wiping us out without losing a single soldier. Then, they could send their main army to the valley's entrance to kill any survivors and block escape routes," Mira said, looking worried.

"We need to seal that river," Captain Loydel said firmly, looking at Kazak and the old fox mage. "We have to get into the valley now."

Kazak and the fox mage exchanged glances before coming to a decision.

"We still won't allow you in. It's all just speculation with no proof," Kazak said. "But there is a way we can get eyes on the monsters earlier—if he's willing to help with his spell." He pointed at Damian. For a moment, Damian was confused, then he remembered the one spell he had shown the Beastmen: the wormhole spell.