Chapter 42: The Shadow of Death

The Verdant March, on the Third Layer’s green western fringe.

Seline Ashgrove’s territory. Inside the lord’s castle.

"Lady Shar, please take the apprentices to Field Seventeen and bring rain down on the new crops there."

Seated behind a long table, Seline smiled as she laid out her plans to the champion she had called.

"After the rain, please rest for one hour. Then go to Forest Four and kill the beast that keeps harassing the miners."

"My hunters and foot soldiers have already found its den, but unfortunately, they’ll need your help to kill it."

"And then..."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Lady Shar, a young arcanist, held up a hand and cut off Seline’s "chanting," rubbing her temple.

"My dear lord, I’m a person, not some contraption the gnomes built."

"Isn’t this a bit much?"

"And how do you even know I’ll have my mana back an hour after casting?"

Seline kept trading soul stones for supplies as she answered, barely looking up.

"Simple. Once I knew how strong your mind is, and about your Mana Furnace gift, working out how fast your mana comes back wasn’t hard."

"I’m sorry for keeping you so busy, but there’s no other way."

"I’m still in the earliest days of building this territory. As my first champion, of course you have to work a little harder."

"But I promise you, once we’re through this stage, I’ll grant every wish you have as soon as I can, including building a mage tower just for you!"

"Oh~"

Hearing that, Lady Shar’s eyes lit up at once.

Even her mage’s robes couldn’t hide her figure. She sauntered over to Seline’s side, rested her hands on her lord’s shoulders, and spoke slowly, one word at a time.

"Are you sure you’ll grant every wish I have? If that’s true, I wouldn’t mind being a little busier. Just not here, my. dear. lord~"

Seline turned her head, and her smile vanished.

With a face almost perfectly blank, she spoke coldly.

"To be precise, I said every reasonable wish. That definitely doesn’t include your perverted, idiotic, filthy little ideas."

"Uh..."

Lady Shar froze awkwardly.

"Now, Lady Shar, please go take the apprentices and bring the rain."

With that, Seline snapped her fingers and forced the arcanist, who still wanted to linger by her side, out of the room.

"Sigh..."

Having finally finished everything in front of her, Seline raised her head and looked out the window.

Her territory was spreading outward at an almost insane pace.

In just a few days, she had already grown it four times and raised her first castle, both a fortress and the heart of her land.

On top of that, she had put large fields and mines to work, and her hunting lodges and craftsmen’s workshops had grown into something real.

She had even called a champion. It was fair to say she was already strong enough to protect herself.

Building that efficiently put her firmly in the lead among this year’s new lords.

But she was still worried.

Not about herself, though.

"I wonder how Dorian’s doing. How far has he gotten with his territory?"

The sky outside was clear, but a shadow had fallen over her heart.

---

And how was the lord of the deep’s territory coming along?

The answer was that it wasn’t!

Koda was a warmonger. Since planting his Seed, the only building he had done was raise a second pool, so he had two places to churn out soldiers instead of one.

Other than that, his land in the Third Layer had barely changed at all.

Every soul stone he had, except what went into growing his territory and calling his champion, he had poured into endless war!

By now, his army numbered a full two thousand.

He had already scouted nearly a tenth of the Tithe Lands.

And everywhere he had scouted, every native creature worth anything had been all but wiped out. Only the riches were left behind.

He had slaughtered three whole tribes of centaurs like Ursok Windstride’s alone.

As for the weaker creatures, the goblins, the slimes, the sprites, their tale of blood and tears was too miserable to describe.

But all of this was only the beginning.

Because Koda had sunk every soul stone he had into building his demon army for one reason: to grab bigger prizes as fast as possible.

Prizes like a neutral town where nearly a thousand dwarves lived!

The town was valuable in its own right. But Koda had his eye on it for another reason too.

Where it sat.

Most of his soldiers were in a region called the Dawnwood.

To the Dawnwood’s left and rear lay a vast, endless swamp, and grasslands full of small beasts and centaurs.

To its right and front lay a long stretch of rolling hills, and a wide floodplain cut by river valleys.

The hills were full of rich ore.

The floodplain was dotted with small villages of every race, all trading with each other and bustling with life.

And this nameless little neutral town sat right in the middle of those two important regions!

It was the hub of the whole area, and the only place to trade for miles around.

If Koda took that town, he would control who came and went from both regions in one stroke.

Once it was his, he could even turn it into a fortress, block other lords from marching through, and keep them from reaching the riches beyond.

So no lord who wanted his armies to move freely in this region, Koda included, would ever willingly give up the fight for a town this important.

"March!"

At Koda’s command, from deep in the forest, from the edge of the swamp, from the shadows of the hills, an endless demon army began its march of death.

The dwarves in that poor town knew nothing about it.

They had no idea that the shadow of death had already crept up beside them...

All they could do was pray.

But the one they should have been praying to wasn’t any god.

It was the deep.