Same day. Outside Winterseed vige''s territory, beyond the southern border where the farnd sits, a group of more than one hundred young soldiers could be seen marching toward a vast forest several meters away from them.


    Each of the soldiers held a different cutting tool, from knives to axes, but the number of swords was higher since they didn''t have many cutting tools in the vige except for swords. In fact, most of the swords they held were the ones Rowan got from the mystery cards he openedst night.


    Rowan was riding a horse, leading them toward the forest that was almost a few minutes'' walk away. He observed the forest with a calm expression on his face.


    The forest was very big and seemed to cover more than 200 square kilometers, about ten times bigger than the whole of Winterseed vigebined. A lot of tall trees could be seen stretching toward the sky, and apart from the tall trees, there was other vast vegetation.


    Brandon, apanied by two captains, walked beside Rowan.


    Brandon had a pretty gloomy look on his face as he was very skeptical about the journey. After Rowan finished sharing the battle strategy with the soldiers, he was shocked to hear him suggest that they all venture into the dark forest to fell trees for timber.


    He tried talking Rowan and the group of young soldiers out of it, but they all ignored his words. Rowan was set on building the guardhouse as soon as he could, and the young soldiers were very curious to feel what it was like outside Winterseed, as they had been locked in the vige their whole lives.


    When neither Rowan nor the soldiers listened, he tried talking to the two captains, but the two captains were dead set on protecting their vige.


    When he told them it was risky, they responded with, "Would you rather we sit down and do nothing or build guardhouses to prevent the event ofst night from repeating itself?"


    Hearing their question, Brandon realized there was no way to talk them out of it, so he rxed. When they prepared to leave, he decided to apany them.


    "I heard pest monsters like Ratax are very active in the forest. Do you think we would encounter one?" Not too far away from Brandon, two young soldiers began discussing excitedly.


    "I hope we don''t, they are very powerful. My grandfather said they are bigger and fiercer inparison to goblins," the other replied.


    "Damn, while I hope we don''t face one, I wish to see what they look like."


    "Yeah, me too. Who knows, maybe we might face one. But there is no need to panic; our capable Lord Rowan and captains would be able to defend us."


    Hearing their discussions, Brandon could not help but shake his head in disappointment. The adventurous minds of youths are really dangerous and foolish, he thought.


    It was still thete hours of the afternoon, and the intensity of the sun''s heat had decreased by almost 60%, making the weather conditions more favorable to work.


    Rowan and his soldiers were now standing before the entrance of the forest, observing the vast vegetative species surrounding them. The calm sound of leaves dancing to the silent beat of the wind gently drifted across, and the singing of birds and other animals filled the forest with a sweet cacophony.


    ''So this is the south forest everyone in the vige is scared to visit. It doesn''t look anything special or different from forests on Earth; some of them on Earth look even scarier than this,'' Rowan thought.


    Looking at the forest, he realized there were more than enough trees to rebuild his vige, but hecked the equipment to take the trees down. Fortunately, they only needed to fell at least seven trees to build four guardhouses, one on each border, so they wouldn''t be needing much equipment.


    The number of soldiers avable and the few pieces of equipment they brought with them were already more than enough to take care of it, though it would take a very long time.


    ''I wish I had some sort of crafting knowledge; I would have manufactured my own version of a saw machine, and obtaining timber would be very easy and less time-consuming,'' Rowan sighed. His zeal to obtain the crafting profession grew bigger in his mind.


    However, as Rowan made lots of new decisions and calctions, beside him, Brandon gulped a mouthful of saliva nervously. It was evident on his face that he wasn''tfortable standing so close to the forest, as he appeared to recall some rather sad memories.


    "Alright, everyone, let''s get ready. Our work starts here. We''ll take down the big trees near the entrance first and only move deeper once we''re done with these. Which, of course, won''t be anytime soon," Rowan stated.


    The soldiers nodded and began preparing their tools, ready to work. They all looked very ready to start swinging their swords against these trees; it would be a great way to test out the progress of their sword training and the amount of strength they could exert with their swords.


    Brandon looked at their smiles and was still shocked at how they could be this calm and happy about something so dangerous. None of them looked scared or worried despite the numerous scary tales they''ve heard about the south forest and the monstrous cmities dwelling within it.


    As he was worrying, he failed to notice Rowan observing him.


    ''Brandon is still scared, but he has the right to be. If Ratax are said to be stronger than goblins, who even the captains couldn''t defeat easily, then it was really not advisable toe to the south forest, which is their permanent habitat,'' Rowan thought.


    He needed a way to safeguard his soldiers; thankfully, he had one.


    "Also, everyone, let me introduce you to the newest member of our vige — ze."


    Saying that, Rowan mentally called out ze from the divine beast in, where it was having the best time of its life jumping around, exploring the beautifulndscape.


    A portal quickly appeared, onlysting for a split second before disappearing and leaving ze in the arms of Rowan. ze rxed in Rowan''s arms and observed all the strange faces with a frown-like expression on its face, its adorable orange eyes scanning all the faces.


    Following ze''s appearance, the eyes of all the young soldiers widened, and their jaws dropped — What sort of power does their lord possess to make a beast appear out of thin air?


    -----


    AUTHOR NOTE: Sorry for the dy, everyone. I was very ill yesterday and couldn''t update. The condition is still rough, but it''s manageable now.