“Captain Creman, I’ve brought you a bowl of meat soup.”

“How many times have I told you? In the army, you should address me by my rank.”

“Okay, Captain Cre… Captain.”

Under Creman’s gaze, the Nadeau family’s cavalryman finally got the title correct.

Creman wasn’t one to make unnecessary demands. He took the soup from the young soldier and began slurping it down alongside the rice, relishing every bite.

Objectively speaking, the meals Richard provided for the soldiers were quite good. Although meat wasn’t served at every meal, to maintain their strength during rigorous training, the Hunter family’s professional soldiers were guaranteed three hearty, oily meals a day.

Richard didn’t differentiate between the new recruits and the veterans, ensuring that all received the same amount of rations.

After wolfing down breakfast, Creman drank the meat soup, and even scooped up a small piece of fat from the bottom of the bowl to chew on.

“Burp.”

Creman let out a contented burp, and the young soldier tactfully took the empty bowl to be washed.

The Golden Dragon Kingdom’s nobles, or at least those of the northern lands, were not a finicky lot; there was no need for them to put on airs of refinement, and they were all voracious eaters. After all, martial training naturally increased one’s appetite, and this was even more so for a quasi-knight like Creman, who had been honing his body since childhood. He had no bad habits of being a picky eater.

Creman rested briefly after breakfast, giving the soldiers enough time to clean up the dishes. Judging by the time, he decided it was about time to begin the patrol for the day.

“Fall in!” Creman stood up and shouted, summoning the soldiers to action. The Hunter family’s cavalry certainly had good discipline; within minutes, they had assembled with their horses in full gear.

It was only a routine patrol, so Creman didn’t make a big deal out of it. After issuing the order to depart, he led the squadron onto their horses and set off for the day’s patrol.

The half-elves continued their desperate flight through the ironwood forest. After fleeing all night, they had managed to reduce their number by another ten or so. Perhaps some had gotten lost in the darkness, or perhaps the cannibals had overtaken them.

Either way, those missing half-elves would likely never appear in this world again.

“Young Leader Al, the cannibals are catching up again.”

“Damn it!” The half-elf named Al clenched his fist in frustration. The fact that the cannibals had once again overtaken them meant that the elders who had stayed behind to distract them were likely all dead now.

But he couldn’t afford to mourn at this time; he still had a responsibility to lead the remaining members of his tribe out of the ironwood forest alive.

These cannibals might not be fast runners within the forest, but they possessed incredible stamina. The half-elves were already beginning to tire after their extended flight, but the cannibals still ran with vigor. If they continued at this pace, the cannibals would catch them sooner or later.

Fortunately, they were now nearing the edge of the ironwood forest. Once they escaped into the human territories, the humans would naturally intervene against the cannibals terrorizing their lands.

It was a bit ironic: the half-elves had resided deep within the ironwood forest precisely to escape the oppressive taxes and tyranny of human nobles, yet now they found themselves placing their hopes for survival on these same humans.

“Speed up, we’re almost at the edge of the ironwood forest. We’ll be safe once we reach the human territories.”

Al didn’t have many other options; he could only urge his fellow tribe members to muster their energy and increase their speed.

Creman was leading his cavalry troops along the edge of the ironwood forest, which was a key patrol area for them. If the cannibals came from the Wilderness, they would be spotted by Richard’s griffins, but if they managed to infiltrate the forest, aerial reconnaissance would be powerless against them.

This was when the role of the cavalry patrols would come into play.

“Creman, sir, there’s a group of people up ahead.”

The soldier’s words instantly perked up the bored Creman, who turned to look in the direction the soldier pointed. A dozen or so people had emerged from the forest, with more seemingly still inside, and each carried what appeared to be primitive weapons in their hands. Their clothing was ragged and their movements frantic, as if they were fleeing from something.

“Draw your swords!” Creman shouted, drawing his own from its sheath at his waist.

“clang, clang, clang…”

The soldiers’ responses were swift; their weapons raised, they quickly assumed fighting stances, ready to charge at any moment.

The “humans” in the distance appeared to have spotted the riders as well, and they rushed toward Creman as if he were their savior, yelling at the top of their lungs.

“My lord, it’s, it’s a horde of orcs!”

The orcs also emerged from the ironwood forest, their towering forms much easier to distinguish than those of the half-elves. The trembling voice of the soldier next to him betrayed his fear.

Creman had noticed the orcs as well. At first, he assumed the pursuers were wild beasts such as giant bears or wolves, never expecting a horde of orcs.

Running into such a major threat on the first day of his patrol left Creman unsure whether he was fortunate or unfortunate. In fact, he initially believed it was impossible for orcs to find their way into this remote corner of the Wilderness.

“Send up a signal!”

Creman knew he couldn’t determine how many orcs remained in the forest, nor could he handle them with the small force he had at his disposal. Summoning reinforcements from nearby was his most important task.

A soldier next to him swiftly lit a cylindrical object, sending a shrill cry into the sky that would alert others in the area.

“Young Master Creman, what do we do now?”

Creman’s mind was also in a state of turmoil. Logically speaking, after discovering the enemy, scout cavalry should either observe from afar or return home immediately after relaying their intelligence. But it seemed clear that someone was currently being pursued by the man-eating demons, and if they turned their noses up at this, the victims would certainly meet a grim fate.

As if he had made some sort of decision, Creman viciously cracked his whip, turning to his personal guard beside him. “You, report this to Tie Mu City. The rest of you, follow me.”

Creman, a typical military noble of the northern lands, possessed a certain amount of pride and passion. He refused to allow the man-eating demons to harm his fellow citizens before his very eyes. At the very least, he had to lead some troops to charge in and buy time for the pursued to escape.

“Charge!”

“Charge!”

With Creman’s battle cry, the cavalry followed him forward. Though individual demons were formidable foes, their numbers were low, and the disparity in power between the two sides was not overwhelming. These cavalrymen had been well fed by the Nade family and retained some loyalty to their former employers; as such, none of them dared fall behind Creman in battle.

“Move aside and don’t block our way!”

Al, doing his best to rally his troops, shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping to coordinate with the charging cavalry.

“Bang!”

The two forces were relatively close to each other, so the charging cavalry soon slammed into the horde of a dozen or so man-eating demons.

“Kill!”

With the aid of his horse’s momentum, Creman’s sword slashed through the head of the leading demon.

“Ah!”

However, these man-eating demons, possessing the strength and skill of quasi-knight level, were not the sort that ordinary soldiers could easily handle.

After slaying a few demons at the start of their charge, several soldiers were thrown from their horses, crashing heavily to the ground with no sign of movement.

By the end of their initial charge, five or six man-eating demons lay dead on the ground, along with more than ten human corpses.

Creman didn’t have time to mourn the loss of these soldiers, and instead turned his horse around, preparing for a second round of charges. Since they had already made the first move, he figured they might as well go all out and wipe out these man-eating demons.

However, the demons weren’t dumb and quickly retreated into the ironwood forest after discovering they couldn’t gain much of an advantage on the open plains.

Watching the retreating demons, Creman sheathed his sword at his side and turned his gaze toward the “fellow humans” he had saved…