Various people served Kuwol’s royal family, from priests to guards to gardeners. Naturally, these individuals came from diverse backgrounds. Some were minor nobles or distant relatives of the royal family, while others were commoners living in the capital. The people currently devouring roasted boar were commoners whose primary job was cleaning and maintaining the palace.
“Do you think he’ll remember our faces now?”
“Nah, there were other teams that came back late too. We’re gonna have to stand out even more if we want His Highness to remember us.”
Of the campfires dotting the campsite, this group was the farthest from the crown prince and the Demon Lord’s Vice-Commander.
One of the men looked up and said, “I signed up for this because I heard we’d get to travel with His Highness, but maybe this was a waste of time.”
“Yeah, I thought this’d get me a promotion, but it’s not looking promising.”
The men sitting here were of various ages, but they all felt dissatisfied with their current positions.
“It doesn’t matter how many decades you spend polishing the palace floor; they won’t give you a good pension unless you get a secure job. I wanna retire already.”
“I wish there’d be another war so I could rack up some achievements.”
“You only say that ’cause you don’t know what war is like. I’m tired of fighting.”
Everyone fell silent at that and stared at the crackling flames for a bit.
“So? Wanna come back late tomorrow too?”
“Meh, we’ll just get told to come back early like we did today. If we’re gonna come back late again, it’s gotta be because we actually put in some extra effort into something.”
One of the servants unfurled a map he’d borrowed from Veight. “I heard we’ll be surveying even farther out tomorrow. So how about we scout some of the spots we’re supposed to go to ahead of time?”
“You sure that’s a good idea? We’re beyond the Mejire’s protection here.”
They were superstitious enough that this worried them. The man who proposed the plan was just as superstitious, but he shook off his concerns and said, “We’re not doing anything too crazy; just checking out our assigned area ahead of time. ’Sides, the faster we get this over with, the sooner we can go home, right?”
The men exchanged uneasy glances.
“I guess so? That’ll make us stand out from the other teams too. I bet His Highness will be happy with us.”
None of them cared much for rules and regulations; they were far more interested in winning brownie points with the prince.
“All right, let’s get to sleep, then. We gotta get up bright and early tomorrow.”
“Man, if I could just get promoted to one of His Highness’s personal butlers, I’d be set for life.”
“Well, maybe we can make that happen.”
The men nodded to one another, downed the rum they’d been given, and went to bed.
The next morning, their group traveled beyond the edge of the forest.
“Damn, this place is barren.”
“I don’t see even a single blade of grass.”
After exiting the forest, they’d come out onto a large grassy plain, but after traveling for a while, the grass became more sparse until it vanished completely. Now, they found themselves in a rocky wasteland bereft of any life.
“Did you get the mana measurements?”
“Well, the thing’s still at zero. I think that means there’s no mana here at all.”
“You sure the manameter’s not broken?”
“No idea. But we should write this down just in case.”
Warily, the men took out their hatchets and crossbows before taking a few more steps forward.
“There are a lot of dead trees here. This place turned barren pretty recently.”
“Yeah, must’ve been a forest a few years ago. Bet His Highness will reward us if we report that too.”
“Hold on. I’m still writing down the measurements,” the youngest man said, but his comrades were too scared to stand still, so they kept on moving. The only person who stayed with him was the oldest member of the team.
“Good grief, how could they all leave you behind? Don’t they realize it’s dangerous to be alone out here?” the eldest said.
“Ah, sorry, I’ll be done soon.”
“No need to rush, son. I’m tired of walking anyway. We’ll let them scout ahead and join up later.” The old man knelt down and pointed to the manameter hanging from his waist. “By the way, son, is it just me, or is your mana-whatsit acting up?”
“Huh? Ah, you’re right! It’s saying there’s tons of mana here now!”
The manameter had displayed an ambient mana of zero earlier, but now it was maxed out.
“It’s even higher than what you see on Mount Kayankaka! What’s going— Whoa?!” The manameter suddenly shattered as the magesteel plate grew too large for the container. It was drawing off an inordinate amount of mana. “No way... There isn’t even any grass here. How come there’s so much mana?!”
“I don’t know, son, but something’s definitely wrong.”
The younger man looked up at the older one, worried. “Wh-What should we do?!”
The older man grabbed his pack and said, “My old soldier’s intuition is telling me we better scram. That’s how I survived the last war.”
“But everyone else went on ahead!”
“Yeah, we better call them back, quick.” The old man cupped his hands around his mouth, but just before he yelled out, he spotted something and dropped to the ground. “Hide! We’re under attack!”
“What?!” The younger man quickly scrambled behind a boulder and asked, “Are you telling me there are bandits all the way out here? What about the others?”
The older man quietly replied, “They all died just now...”