The spring rain fell in a gentle drizzle, slowly soaking the earth. As precious as oil, spring rains were especially valuable when farmers were preparing their fields for planting.

Unfortunately, this rain came at an inopportune time for Richard. A continuous downpour inevitably slowed the pace of a military march.

It wasn’t too much of an issue while the army traversed the territory of Hunter’s Dominion; well-maintained roads could be used even in light rain. But once they exited Hunter’s Dominion, the roads became narrow and strewn with small puddles.

Richard rode atop a handsome brown warhorse, his armor removed of all its gold trim. Though the scales were thicker than usual and the craftsmanship more exquisite, it looked no different from the armor worn by his soldiers—both were blue with white trim.

Night was falling, but Richard showed no sign of stopping, as if he intended to march through the night in a downpour.

“Pato, we won’t stop for the night. We’ll make a beeline straight to Barend’s territory. Are you up for it?”

“No problem.”

Pato, as an ambassador of the Bander family, was a quasi-knight, and a single night of forced march was no big deal for him. However, he was surprised by the quality of Richard’s troops.

In a force of merely two hundred soldiers, Richard and Ronen included, twenty-five were knights.

Furthermore, the entire team maintained a high speed even in the rain, and not a single member complained, much less dropped out.

Marching through the rain and overnight were both things a commander tried to avoid at all costs, but Richard seemed unconcerned. Clearly, he had great faith in his team.

Of course Richard had great faith in his troops; if he were leading the Flying Bear Army, he wouldn’t dare do this. But the team he had now was entirely composed of heroes from the Human Race, who were already highly qualified and enjoyed the bonus of Divine Treads, so it wasn’t surprising that they could march at such speed for so long.

At the military assembly, Richard decided he would lead the vanguard personally, while Kui To and Cress would arrive with three thousand Flying Bear Army soldiers the next day. Viscount Soutte would continue to lead the remaining troops to guard Hunter’s Dominion.

Given Richard’s cautious nature, he dared not leave Tie Mu City completely empty, even if the chances of enemies appearing in the vicinity were extremely low.

Night fell, and as if a mute button had been pressed, Richard, Pato, and the others ceased conversation. The only sounds heard from the troop were footsteps and clinking metal armor.

“Sir, we’re almost at Barend. You should be careful.”

Pato, acting as Richard’s guide, still couldn’t believe that their reinforcements had returned almost as quickly as he had rushed off alone to seek help.

“Mm-hmm.”

There was no need for Pato to remind Richard to be cautious; he had already strengthened his vigilance. Over thirty griffins circled above, monitoring the area within a radius of nearly ten kilometers.

The royal griffins also possessed excellent night vision, allowing them to clearly see everything below them even in the depths of night. Through the eyes of these griffins, Richard observed a scene entirely different from that of Hunter’s Dominion: barren fields and dilapidated villages, faintly visible corpses by the roadside, and cannibals resting within the villages.

“Prepare to engage!”

“Clang, clang…”

Behind him, the sound of swords being drawn filled the air. Richard had already discovered through the griffins that there were cannibals lurking in the villages up ahead. These beasts likely intended to stay the night after a day of pillaging.

Though Pato drew his sword at Richard’s command, his expression betrayed his confusion.

After all, their party was still a ways from the village, and no one had dispatched any riders to scout the area, so Pato had found no trace of the enemy.

Richard didn’t bother explaining, but instead dismounted and led his horse forward. Pato and Ronen followed suit, leaving their steeds behind and approaching on foot.

The entire party moved cautiously, suppressing any noise, as they approached the village.

After getting within about a kilometer of the village, Pato finally noticed that something was off. The village’s outer wall was damaged, and not a single bark emanated from within. It looked like the village had suffered a raid, and by the looks of it, the perpetrator was a band of marauding cannibals.

However, Richard had a much clearer picture through the eyes of the royal griffon. Some of the village’s houses had been half-demolished and rebuilt into larger huts, clearly because the houses were too small for the cannibals’ liking. After occupying the village, the cannibals had thusly rebuilt these huts to suit their needs.

By counting the number of huts, Richard estimated that there were two to three hundred individuals in this tribe, making it a classic small-scale group. He was confident that he could handle them with the forces at hand.

Leading the spearman and crusaders, Richard stepped forward, his men readying their crossbows. The grim reaper raised his scythe toward the cannibals…

Bruce was the leader of a small tribe of cannibal demons, and a warrior among them. In the past, he had always roamed the Wilderness with his tribe, which, despite their strength, was not without enemies. Even some larger tribes of cannibal demons would sometimes bully them. At times, when they raided human settlements, they would be driven away by large numbers of human soldiers. In those days, other tribes wouldn’t come to their aid, and some might even take advantage of the situation to steal the livestock they’d raised. Life in the Wilderness was extremely difficult for Bruce’s tribe.

Later, a large tribe that often exploited them commanded him to go pay respects to a certain individual. In the great tent of the larger tribe, he met the legendary priest for the first time.

Rumor had it that this Grugesh, with his two heads, was the proxy of an elder god.

Who could say? Bruce actually didn’t care; no one in his tribe had told him about this legend since he was born. Since the larger tribe wanted him to follow Grugesh, he would follow. He didn’t have the guts to refuse.

Now, however, it seemed like the wisest decision he could have made. The overlord tribe no longer demanded tributes, but only expected them to obey orders and fight. When they charged into the human territories to plunder, no human lords ever brought large forces to besiege them. Since joining Grugesh’s campaign against the humans, they lost only a few of their own at the first battle, and encountered no other serious enemies.

They seized more food than they could ever eat in a year, moved into sturdy stone houses, and were equipped with iron weapons and tools. All of it was thanks to the great Grugesh…

Bruce suddenly felt the urge to urinate. He got up and walked to the side of the house, intending to relieve himself there.

No, he couldn’t; he wasn’t allowed to pee inside the house, an order directly from Grugesh. Bruce turned around and walked out into the yard.

This yard once belonged to a human family, now either fled or stewed in some pot, though Bruce couldn’t quite recall which. Standing before the wall, Bruce squinted at the moonlight.

Wait! It was raining, so where was this moonlight coming from?!