Chapter 520: There Are Bird Druids in This World Too?

When Leech’s troops arrived near Burning City, they found a contingent of soldiers guarding the city gates.

As expected, his troops were stopped at the entrance. The tension between the two sides was palpable.

“My lord, your troops must submit to an inspection!” a Soldier from Burning City said, blocking Leech’s path with a firm attitude. He then looked at the Soldiers behind Leech. “Please have them surrender their weapons. After our search, they will be returned to you.”

Leech’s brow furrowed slightly. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to cooperate with a search, but no one could ask a Soldier to give up his weapon. Even when Leech himself had an audience with the King, he wasn’t required to remove his own sword.

Especially in a foreign territory like this, surrendering their weapons was tantamount to handing themselves over to be captured.

Besides, the news that he possessed firearms was already known to many noble lords. It would be easy to hand the weapons over now, but getting them back would be difficult.

“I’m afraid you don’t have the authority to make me surrender my weapons, Soldier,” Leech said from horseback, looking down at the man standing before him. “Go find someone who can speak to me on equal terms.”

The Soldier’s expression soured, but considering he was facing a lord, he turned and went back.

A moment later, a familiar face approached.

“Please forgive me, my lord!” The voice arrived before the man did.

Vito, who had originally formed the Round Table Council, hurried over with heavy, clumsy steps, an apologetic look on his face. “Something terrible has happened in the Giant’s Foot region. That’s why we’ve set up martial law on the roads to search everyone passing through. You are my friend, so of course, you don’t have to surrender your weapons.”

“Old friend, it’s good to see you again.” Leech dismounted and quickly stepped forward to shake Vito’s hand, forcing the large, dark, heavyset man—who had been about to embrace him—to lower his thick, bear-like arms.

“What’s the trouble?” he asked. It was impossible to know whether the other party had genuinely intended to confiscate his weapons by force or was truly unaware of the situation.

“Some noble ladies have gone missing! Taken by those bastard tribals!” Vito gritted his teeth, his voice seething with malice as if squeezed through the gaps.

This wasn’t the first time Leech had heard of these tribal people.

“Forgive my bluntness, but in all my time in the Giant’s Foot region, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any tribal people.”

“That’s because those vile bastards have hidden themselves away like bristly rats, holing up in stinking sewers,” Vito said, taking a deep breath. “We’ve always wanted to exterminate them, but they hide too well. Most of the time it’s a wasted effort. I never thought they’d show their faces again. Murder, arson, robbery, rape, spreading panic… there’s nothing they won’t do!”

‘I get it!’

Leech nodded. So these so-called tribal people were essentially terrorists. No wonder he’d never seen them; they must have been lying low the whole time.

“If there’s anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to ask,” Leech said with great sincerity.

“Of course.” But after saying this, Vito had nothing more to add.

‘Back when he wanted grain, he called me his little sweetie. Now that he doesn’t, I’m suddenly Mrs. Bull.’

Leech complained inwardly.

Because Vito was very busy, Leech had no intention of troubling him further. The Soldiers cooperated by removing their helmets, going through the motions of an inspection before entering Burning City. Surrendering their weapons was, of course, out of the question.

They settled in at the same residence that once had the crypt, planning to rest for the night and leave the next day.

「Night fell.」

Leech held a wooden stick. In his hand, the stick suddenly transformed into a snake. It tried to break free, but with a sharp flick of his wrist, he turned it into a mouse.

He held the squeaking mouse by its tail. With another tap and a flip of his wrist, the mouse went from dangling between his fingers to sitting in his palm, where it promptly transformed into an owl.

The owl twisted its neck all the way around to look back at Leech.

‘Not bad. My progress is getting better and better,’ Leech thought, quite satisfied. He hadn’t expected the owl to suddenly flap its wings and fly toward the roof.

“Oh no! Come back!”

The owl flapped its wings and flew into the Night, shrinking against the backdrop of the enormous moon. Once it was beyond a certain range and cut off from Leech’s power supply, the owl suddenly froze and turned back into a wooden stick, plummeting straight down.

“WOOF WOOF!”

A chain reaction of barking erupted as the falling stick woke up the dogs in half the district.

After last night’s practice, Leech could clearly feel that his Magic had deepened to another level. It was definitely related to the contract he’d signed with the black dragon. His aptitude had been enhanced once again, and his learning ability had advanced by leaps and bounds. It made him wonder if he could master a spell just by watching it a few times.

Before falling asleep, Leech briefly observed the underground construction in the Rift Cave, then withdrew his attention.

His forces were expanding rapidly. The Scorpion-tailed Lions and Burrowing Dwarves had been successfully recruited into his ranks. The Scorpion-tailed Lions were the fewest in number, with only 12 of them.

They were Magical Creatures with the wings of a bat, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion.

Their combat power was at the standard Extraordinary level. However, when faced with a group of ogres and Giants boosted by a blood-rage aura, the Scorpion-tailed Lions ran into a major problem. They couldn’t bite or chew through them. Add to that a flick to the head from the Palace Level Corpse Ghost Kaqi, and the reasonably intelligent Scorpion-tailed Lions quickly chose to surrender.

Then there were the Burrowing Dwarves. These little guys were agile and chose to surrender the moment they saw the main army swarming toward them.

And so, 50 Burrowing Dwarves were successfully brought into the fold.

KABOOM—!

A flash of lightning lit up the sky. Leech’s eyes shot open, and he immediately squinted, shielding them with his hand.

‘Is that thunder?’

The flash of light that burst through the window illuminated the entire room, casting his shadow against the wall.

It was a dry night, with no sign of rain.

「By dawn the next morning.」

As Leech was getting up for breakfast, the Soldier sent out to gather information returned with the reason for last night’s lightning.

“Last night, Prince Hoffman captured a group of Cultists who worship Giantism. There were four core members in total, and all of them were struck by lightning and burned to a crisp.”

This news was terrifying because the battle had taken place in a mountain forest north of the Koso Mountain Range, a journey of several days and nights from Burning City.

‘She casts a lightning bolt from hundreds of miles away, and the flash is bright enough to be seen in Burning City? Her combat power is a little too absurd… And this news traveled way too fast.’

There were no distorted reports, no fabricated numbers, and the information was incredibly timely. This indicated it was an official announcement.

Leech felt it was best to hurry back to his own territory. He should meddle less in the affairs of other domains.

The Giant’s Foot region was a minefield. Anyone who danced on it was doomed to die.

…

A Corpse Bird soared through the air, carrying messages processed by Isis and delivered right to Leech.

Not long after he and his troops left Burning City, they encountered a group of people behaving strangely.

The strange thing about them was their simple clothing. They were clearly dressed as natives, eschewing cloth shirts in favor of “close to nature” attire like animal hides and leaves.

Previously, Leech would have assumed this was a sign of poverty, but he later learned they did it to pursue their faith.

However, this group of natives was escorting a luxurious two-horse carriage, making for an ostentatious and conspicuous sight.

‘What is Vito’s group even doing? The people they’re looking for have already left the Giant’s Foot region, yet they’ve closed the gates to search internally?’ He quickly grasped the crux of the problem.

‘There’s a mole. The political factions in the Giant’s Foot are at odds, allowing someone to be smuggled out right under their noses.’

The two groups passed each other without incident, one following the other.

They completely left the vicinity of Burning City and arrived near Waterfall Land.

The Eagle-headed Bear tribesmen grew a little nervous.

“Chief, there’s a group behind us, not far away.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the chief said nonchalantly, chewing on a stalk of grass. “If they wanted to make a move, they would have done it already.”

*SOB SOB SOB* The sound of a woman crying came from the carriage again.

The chief slapped the side of the carriage impatiently, and the crying immediately stopped.

“Sir, the ferry crossing is up ahead. I’ll go find a boat.”

“Go on, and be quick about it,” the chief said with a wave of his hand. “If the Pin Kus don’t want them, sell them in Iron Stone City. They’re sure to fetch a good price.”

“Let me have some fun with them before we sell!” a tribesman said, urging his horse forward a couple of steps. Then, man and horse alike suddenly went berserk and charged into the river.

Then, silence.

The chief shot to his feet.

He watched as his men, as if possessed, excitedly charged toward the banks of the Shuijian River.

SPLASH! SPLASH! They leaped into the water, man and horse, but not a single one resurfaced.

The ferry crossing was silent. He couldn’t see a thing, and his heart pounded in his chest.

“Who’s there!” the chief yelled, craning his neck.

He suddenly heard an exquisitely beautiful singing voice by his ear. Somehow, his body began to move on its own, and his heart filled with an overwhelming sense of joy.

‘Happy… want to dance… want to be free… want… to die!’

He leaped down from the carriage and, with light steps and a blissful, contented smile, jumped into the water.

BLUB! BLUB! BLUB! The chief’s body sank continuously, but his mind was clear. He saw a woman at the bottom of the river, draped in gold and encrusted with jewels, dancing and singing.

She was so beautiful that one would want to use every lovely word in existence to describe her.

But the corpses of his tribesmen floated beside her, their faces frozen in smiles as they drowned. The sight of those terrifying smiles made the chief’s scalp crawl.

The corpses’ hair swayed back and forth like seaweed.

“ROAR!”

The chief struggled violently, transforming into an Eagle-headed Bear at the bottom of the river. His enormous size gave him no chance to turn the tables; his movement in the water was restricted. He could only watch as more and more bubbles escaped his mouth before finally losing consciousness.

“This world has boomkins, too?” Leech mused as he and his troops leisurely arrived at the Shuijian River crossing.

The two-horse carriage was parked by the riverbank.

But the group of tribesmen had all jumped into the river to their deaths.

‘I didn’t want to get involved, but why did you have to come to my territory? It’s hard to look the other way now.’

It only took the Water Nymph a single song to kill them. Leech didn’t mind finishing off these illegal entrants and, in doing so, doing Prince Hoffman a favor.

Besides, there was an unexpected bonus: someone who could transform into an owlbear. He’d have to see if he could extract anything from that.

Leech sent a thought to the Water Nymph, and soon, the corpses floated to the surface one by one.

‘Thank you,’ he said silently in his mind. Although he couldn’t see her, he was sure she was hiding in some corner, watching him with only her eyes and the top of her head above the water.

She replied in the same manner, ‘You’re welcome.’