The Record of Unusual Creatures

As he heard what Vivian said, Graeme the Knight of the Broken Blade blinked in surprise before giving a suspicious gaze as he asked, “You’re… heading north as well?”

The suspicion in his eyes was totally understandable.

At this point, the Dragon Empire was in chaos as the clash between the imperial army and the Ebon Blades and the Broken Blades with the Army of the North brought the entire continent into grave danger, and in this circumstances, most normal people would stay as far away from this hellish vortex as possible, more so for a group of Izzoeans that was recently pursued by the Ebon Blades?

What was there in the north beyond the Black Forest? First, it will be the imperial heartlands under the control of the Knights of the Ebon Blade, and further up will be the imperial capital – the Izzoeans who were just pursued by the Ebon Blades would surely not head there, and they could only head further north – that was not considering how these group of people was even planning to get past an area so teeming with Ebon Blades – and if they head further north, it will be where the Princess’ army is.

“If you go westwards towards the Lion’s Peak, and beyond that is a stable area, and farther west you can probably find a skyship towards Izzo – while you may find it difficult to get on a ship at this juncture, it is still a safer option.” Graeme looked at Charlemagne and Awenna. “If you head north it will be either the Ebon Blades or the Her highness’ army. I suppose you are not actually looking for the lot who had tried to murder you earlier right?”

Charlemagne demurred for a moment before nodding, “Since we have already reached this juncture, there’s no point in hiding this anymore – we are indeed looking for Princess Constance, and we know what she is up to, and what it means to try to get through the blockades of the imperial armies.”

Graeme’s expression turned serious, “Please understand my caution, but at this moment, a group of Izzoeans and four members of a hidden organization wishing to meet the princess, this requires a proper reason. I think… you are no simple travelers right?”

Charlemagne pondered for a bit and decided to tell the truth. He had hidden his true identity when Graeme had just woken up, and for a knight to be found unconscious in the middle of the Black Forest raised a lot of suspicions, and he had to be cautious. But now after ascertaining Graeme’s reasons for being here, and the details he gave matched the ones they had, plus now that they knew there were Gorgonian Demons in the Black Forest, if they were to advance, they would need to cooperate, and he realized the need to be truthful now.

He still remembered who was in charge of this team, and he immediately threw Hao Ren a glance, asking: Can we trust this knight?

Hao Ren noticed Charlemagne’s gaze and smiled dumbly in return. Bloody hell he had no idea why that handsome prince, almost 0.93 of Nangong Sanba’s good-looking scale, was throwing him a glance! Is it because the prince was going to do something bold?

A glance worth a few hundred words, that could only happen within Hao Ren’s team, and at least for Hao Ren himself.

But thankfully, the wise Rheia realized Charlemagne’s intentions and shrugged, “If you want to tell him, go ahead. We don’t mind.”

Charlemagne then made the decision, he knew the young lady had a significant influence in Hao Ren’s team, and turned towards Graeme, “Please pardon us for not being totally truthful, in truth, my sister and I are…”

“Secret emissaries from the ancient kingdom of Izzo?” Graeme frowned as he listened to what Charlemagne had to say, “I can understand your need for caution, but on what basis do I trust you?”

“We are indeed in disguise, but we have something else to prove our identities,” Charlemagne said as he pulled out a magical amulet that he carried around with him. He activated the amulet and place it on his forehead. The next moment, a series of complex and mysterious tattoo-like circuits appeared on his arm and face.

Awenna, too, had performed the same action, with the same magical circuit appearing on her body.

“The blood emblem of the Izzoean royalty,” Any suspicion Graeme had disappeared the moment he saw the markings, and immediately gave the two a knightly bow, hand on chest, “It is really Your Royal Highness, please pardon my insolence earlier.”

“Please don’t mind that,” Charlemagne quickly dismissed that with a wave of his hand, “It is important that we reach Princess Constance as soon as possible. We are carrying upon us an important mission, and must not be delayed.”

Graeme’s expression turned serious again, he did not inquire what the ‘mission’ was, but immediately dove into the heart of the matter, “You may go up north, but we need to figure out how to deal or avoid that Gorgonian Demon. I need to remind you, that is a Lord class bastard and a Hive Mother type. It will release countless splits to monitor its territory, so it is indeed controlling a large area, and it will be difficult to bypass it, and there is a high chance of us being discovered. As for its capabilities… even a few Broken Blades are no match against a Lord class monster. If this is the only men you have, heading north now is pretty much a joke.”

As he said, the knight threw his glance towards the fully armed and armored guards. He could tell that these were all veterans of many battles, and were far more skilled than your normal footsloggers, and the best of them were probably a match for an Ebon Blade, but to challenge a Lord class Devil, this level strength is not enough.

Obviously no soldiers worth his salt would like to be taken lightly, but for the personal guards chosen for this secret mission, they were not chosen only based on their combat abilities, their personalities and temperament too were specifically chosen, and would not lose their cool under such circumstances. They too understand that the knight meant no slight, and was simply telling the truth, so they only kept quiet, however unwillingly.

But Hao Ren did not consider this a problem. “Ahem, have you forgotten about us? If you are worried about combat strength, we are totally fine here.”

“You lot?” Graeme was befuddled as he measured Hao Ren suspiciously, he had actually taken the four for non-combatants earlier.

“Yeap, we are the main strike force,” Hao Ren nodded in certainty, as he pointed to him and his teammates. “We were toying with the Ebon Blades earlier, and this one could nuke everything from range, while this one is peerless in melee, and the strongest is her, she is the most capable fighter among us…”

Rheia crossed her arms over her chest as Hao Ren pointed at her, with a smug look on her face.

“…”

“This is true,” Charlemagne spoke, “Please don’t judge them by their looks. In fact, it was they who had neutralized all threats along the way. Regrettably, me and my guards were mainly… cheering them on.”

The personal guards all turned away.

Seeing how Graeme was not convinced, Lily said, “If you don’t believe that, you can spar with me. Actions speak louder than words right?”

And while the knight had all sorts of questions, the situation before him did not afford him much choice, and after being thrashed by Lily, he decided to trust Hao Ren and Charlemagne.

After resting a while in the ruins of the lost kingdom, the team returned to the caravans and bypassed the area where the vehicles could not travel, they headed to the north of the Black Forest.

But this peaceful journey did not last too long, as after a short distance northwards, the forest path was broken.

While within the Black Forest, travelers could always depend on the forest path to any of the exit, but now that the fog of falsehood had faded away, and only the true face of the Black Forest remaining, the forest path was not an all-encompassing road, especially when Hao Ren and the rest chose the shortest path to the north, and they would have to start chopping off brambles and vines in the latter part of the journey.

But for this elite team, where the weakest were still veterans skilled with both blade and magic, this was not a problem, and aside from the missing comfort of being in the vehicle, going through the forest itself would not slow them down too much.

During the entire process, Hao Ren looked for Graeme, who had not been talking much since the journey started, “I have a question to ask…”

“Go ahead,” Graeme replied.

“You had mentioned that the Ebon Blades had lost all reasoning earlier? What’s that about?”

“Quite literally,” After Charlemagne had revealed his identity, Hao Ren and the rest had also let known their intention to meet Princess Constance in the north, Graeme were much more open than before, “Those once-glorious warriors had been twisted. An evil and powerful energy had turned their bravery and loyalty into something more fanatical and dangerous, but this distortion is very subtle and dangerous as at this level, not many would realize that their minds are no longer human.”

“That’s true, we had close encounters with the Ebon Blades, but their presence was no different than an ordinary person. Oh aside from their face.”

“So you have seen the face of a corrupted Ebon Blade?” Graeme was surprised, before realizing something, “Ah right, with your powers, even if the Ebon Blades were pursuing you you’d take a few out along the way. Just like you said, the Ebon Blades’ madness is currently still hidden, they would hide their true nature by acting normal, but in truth, they had already descended into madness, and that twisted face is proof of that.”

“Based on what you say… it won’t take long for the normal folks to realize the problem with the Ebon Blades right?” Hao Ren frowned, “and by then, most of the empire would probably stand with the princess no?”

“But before that even happens, the corrupted Ebon Blades can drive this world into annihilation.” Graeme responded with a grim tone, “And we… are acting to prevent that disaster from ever happening.”

“Ah, this is indeed a just cause,” Hao Ren nodded, “But what I don’t understand is… what caused the Ebon Blades’ corruption? Don’t tell me… it really is that dragon soul…”

“The one that can only affect the Knights of the Ebon Blade, is His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Berentine.” Graeme’s response reaffirmed Hao Ren’s guess.

At the same time, Hao Ren caught a scorching smell in the air.

Graeme raised his hand, “Be careful. We are close to the Devil’s domain.