Forbidden Region

by Michael Sisa

  “Nothing is free,” said Lark. “What we will be offering are job opportunities. Your survival, the food for your children, everything will still depend on how hard you are willing to work. You must have heard by now. The starting salary is six silvers for most of the jobs offered in this town.”

  The migrants looked at each other in glee. The salary being offered by the lord for even the most mundane jobs was on par or a bit higher than those in major cities. Although they’d heard of the details from the messenger sent by the royal family, hearing it directly from the lord’s mouth was an entirely different matter.

  “L-Lord, is it possible for us to apply to the military?” said one of the men. “We heard that it’s possible to receive twice the pay if we become soldiers.”

  “As long as you pass the test, yes.”

  “T-Test?”

  “Clarkson, the leader of the police, will give you the details later,” said Lark. Clarkson, who’d been standing quietly next to Lark the entire time, nodded his head.

  Seeing everyone’s anxious faces, Lark added, “It’s not a test of intelligence, or anything of the sort, if that’s what is worrying you.”

  The man sighed in relief. “T-Thank you, My Lord!”

  After handing the migrants over to Clarkson, Lark said to Silverclaw, “How many available houses do we have left in the Eastern District?”

  “Only a few dozen are left,” said the head mason. “I’m afraid it’ll be impossible to provide homes for all of these people.”

  Although the speed of building houses had increased a lot, it still wasn’t enough to accommodate everyone due to the large number of migrants coming to Blackstone Town.

  “For now, even a simple shack should do. Just make sure they have a roof over their heads within the next few days. We’ll speed up the construction projects once we’ve secured men for the job.”

  “Understood.”

  Lark handed Silverclaw several parchments. The head mason looked at their contents and slightly creased his brow. It was a blueprint for a magic tower.

  “You understand, right?” said Lark. “I’ve already gathered the necessary materials to build that thing. I’ve also briefed Gaston beforehand regarding this. For the materials, please coordinate with him.”

  “Magic towers,” said Silverclaw. “I heard that the Young Master is the one who built the towers in Lion City, but seeing this blueprint… still amazes me.”

  The head mason noticed something peculiar in the blueprint. He stared at it for a moment, making sure that what he was seeing was right. “The tip of the magic tower will be made out of adamantite? And the magic formation at the base—”

  “Will be made using a mixture of high-grade mana stones and powdered Tears of Ubroxia,” said Lark.

  The head mason looked at Lark in bewilderment. What the Young Master was suggesting was preposterous. Even Silverclaw knew that the price of a high-grade mana stone was exorbitant. Moreover, it was impossible to acquire adamantite.

  As though Lark could read the head mason’s mind, he took out a small cube the size of a fist from his bag. He tossed it to Silverclaw and the head mason caught it nimbly with one hand.

  “There’s more where that came from,” said Lark. “Our goal is five towers this year. We won’t be making cheap imitations like the ones seen in Wizzert and Lion City. We’ll be making the real deal. Towers capable of taking down demons and dragons.”

  Silverclaw shivered. For some reason, it sounded as though the Young Master was anticipating monsters attacking the kingdom in the near future.

  Silverclaw stared at the fist-sized cube he held in his hand. It was surprisingly light, and its black luster occasionally glowed in golden light. The textbook definition of adamantite.

  The hand holding the cube trembled. He could probably live comfortably for the rest of his life if he sold this item in the capital. As far as he knew, it was extremely rare, even in the Dwarven Kingdom.

  “Adamantite?” breathed the head mason. “Is this really adamantite? W-Where did you get this from, Young Master?”

  It had been a long time since Lark had seen the head mason become this flustered. The last time he was this agitated was when his daughter was on her deathbed.

  “The source doesn’t matter,” said Lark. “Start building the first tower in the Eastern District, near the Town Hall. Understood?”

  “Y-Yes!”

  After meeting with the head mason, Lark met with the merchants from Lion City. These merchants were crucial for the growth of the territory. Lark made sure to give them preferential treatment—they were given free lodgings in the best inn in the town and were charged with minimal tariffs. Sometimes, he would even go out of his way to meet them personally, just like today.

  “Ah, Lord Lark!” one of the merchants greeted him merrily. Although it was still early morning, the three merchants were already drinking ale in the tavern. “Over here! Please join us!”

  Lark smiled and joined their table. He called the waitress and ordered a tankard of mead.

  “We’ve heard that you plan on establishing a merchants guild in Blackstone Town?” said one of the merchants. “The boss told us to assist you in every way possible.”

  “Yes. Thank you. I’ve promised to compensate Big Mona for this favor.”

  The merchants chuckled. “The boss will piss himself in excitement if he hears that. He’s been very busy trying to breach the market of the capital lately. He has some grudge with the merchants of the capital, you see.”

  This was new information. No wonder the fat merchant was so ecstatic after acquiring the recipe for the low-grade potion.

  The waitress placed the tankard in front of Lark, bowed her head politely, and left.

  As Lark started drinking his mead, the merchant added, “Big Mona’s in a festive mood these days. The news that the middle-grade potion he’s been selling greatly contributed to the king’s recovery is the talk of the capital recently.”

  “If this trend continues, won’t our guild become large enough to compete with the one in the capital?”

  “The guild owned by the Vont Family, eh? Although the boss is raking in gold recently, it must be chump change compared to the wealth of the Vont Family. I can’t see our guild overtaking them in the next few years.”

  Lark remembered that Chryselle belonged to this powerful family. For a moment, he remembered the letter she wrote to him.

  “Those weasels.” The merchant shook his head and slammed his tankard on the table. Judging by his red cheeks, he was already drunk. “If I owned a port city and held power over the mercenaries, I’d be filthy rich too!”

  The merchant next to him snorted. “Keep dreaming. As if it’s that easy.” He looked at Lark and said, “Anyway, we’re here to discuss the establishment of a merchants guild in Blackstone Town.”

  Lark nodded. He took a small map from his pocket and spread it on the table. He pointed at a particular spot on the map. “I plan on building it here, next to the Central Market. What do you think?”

  “It’s a nice location. Accessible to the main road. There should be no problem building it there.”

  “But, Lord Lark, you will need at least four affiliated merchants to establish a merchants guild in your territory. Anyone come to mind?”

  “About that,” said Lark, “Big Mona has already spoken with his associates in the other cities. It seems that two people have already agreed to found a guild in Blackstone Town.”

  “Then we’re left with just one more person.” The merchant rubbed his chin. “If by some chance you’re unable to find another one, I could introduce you to a friend of mine.”

  “I’d be grateful if you could do that,” said Lark.

  “But the problem is…” The merchant spoke slowly, as though he was conflicted. “That friend of mine wouldn’t move unless there’s profit to be had. Say, how about this? I heard that umami salts are getting quite popular in the capital these days.”

  “Of course, I�
��ll make sure that you and your friend will be given the largest bulk of its trade,” said Lark. He understood that these men only moved for profit.

  The merchant grinned. “I’ll take your word for it.” He raised his tankard and clinked it with Lark’s.

  ***

  After meeting with the merchants, Lark decided to visit the golden statue in the Endless Forest. He needed more funds for the various projects in the town. He’d used up almost all of the gold he’d brought back.

  Using flight magic, he flew over the sea of trees at a tremendous speed. Unlike before, mana was no longer an issue.

  After flying for almost an hour, he finally saw slight undulations of mana in the air—signifying that he was near the radius of the illusion spell the Scylla had cast.

  Had Lark not known beforehand that an illusion spell had been cast on this part of the forest, even he would have had a hard time locating the statue. The Earth Scylla was really proficient in magic.

  When Lark was only a few hundred meters away, a path in the illusion opened, and a familiar creature appeared in front of Lark.

  “God Evander!” the Scylla shrieked in excitement. “You’ve finally visited us!” The Scylla’s loud voice reverberated through the forest. To those who did not know draconian language, it must have sounded like a roar from a ferocious monster. “Please come inside!”

  Under the excited gaze of the Scylla, Lark flew inside the illusion and finally arrived where the statue was located. He hovered down slowly and landed on the ground.

  The Scylla immediately bowed all of its seven heads and said in unison, “Welcome back, God Evander.”

  Lark looked at the structure in front of him and frowned. The shrine had become a large stone castle. It was probably even larger than the king’s castle in the capital. Lark was not sure.

  “It’s become… quite big,” mumbled Lark.

  “It’s our masterpiece,” the first head said with pride.

  “We’ve worked on it day and night since you left for Blackstone Town!” said the sixth head.

  Lark smiled wryly. He wanted to tell the Scylla that there was no real need to make a castle this big, but after seeing those overly eager eyes, he decided against it.

  “It looks great.” Lark decided to give it praise.

  Although the Scylla’s physique vastly differed from humans, Lark was sure that all seven heads were smiling proudly right now. Its tail was wagging, sending small clouds of dust after striking the ground.

  “What brings you here today, God Evander?” said the third head.

  “I need more gold and adamantite,” said Lark. He started walking toward the intricately made entrance. “I’ll be entering the treasure room for a while.”

  “I see,” the third head slowly nodded. “So it isn’t about those spirits, huh? Please take your time inside the treasure room, My God.”

  Lark halted in his tracks. “Spirits?”

  The third head replied, “Yes.”

  “Several spirits have been trying to break through our illusion spell these past several days,” said the first head. “Normally, we would have immediately annihilated those fools, but since they weren’t capable of breaking through the illusion spell, we decided to leave them be for now.”

  Lark was glad that the Scylla had heeded his words and didn’t resort to drastic measures. “What kind of spirits are they? And why are they trying to break through the illusion spell?”

  “Wind spirits, God Evander,” said the third head. “And high-ranking ones at that. As for the reason… I apologize, but we still do not know why.”

  “There were three sylphids among them,” said the seventh head.

  “Three sylphids?” said Lark. “And they still couldn’t break through a mere illusion spell?”

  He felt that something was wrong. Three sylphids should be more than enough to destroy the illusion spell protecting this part of the forest.

  “They’re sylphids but they’re much weaker than the ones living in Marut,” said the third head. “I could probably kill them all on my own, even if there are five of them.”

  The other heads nodded at the third head’s statement.

  “If they’re as weak as you say, then they’re probably contracted spirits,” said Lark.

  “We believe so, God Evander,” said the third head.

  Unlike free spirits, those who formed a contract with a mortal were incapable of unleashing their true potential. If they used more power than what was allowed, their contractors could die.

  This probably explained why they couldn’t break through the illusion barrier of the Earth Scylla.

  Who sent those spirits?

  And how did they know that an illusion barrier had been cast on this part of the forest?

  Several questions started popping up one after another.

  “God Evander,” said the first head. “This forest isn’t as peaceful as it appears to be.”

  “If you will just give us the order,” said the fourth head, “we’ll do our best to investigate what is happening in the Endless Forest.”

  VOLUME 6: CHAPTER 16

  Lark started considering the Scylla’s offer of investigating the Endless Forest. After pondering over it, he said, “Alright. But don’t overdo it. Blackie, I’ll leave the investigation of the Endless Forest in your hands.”

  The Scylla shuddered.

  “T-To call us by name!”

  “Yes! We’ll do our best! We won’t disappoint you, God Evander!”

  “We’ll make sure those spirits won’t be able to snoop in this sacred place any longer!”

  Lark found the Scylla’s overeager response amusing, but for some reason, he had a bad feeling about this.

  The Scylla was among the most intelligent monsters in this land. Surely, it wouldn’t do anything detrimental to its master, right? Lark shook off his uneasiness. After asking the Scylla where the statue was located, he entered the uselessly large castle.

  Entering the castle, he was immediately greeted by an intricate stone statue of a young man. It was pointing a familiar sword up to the sky.

  A glorified statue of Lark.

  Upon seeing this, he smiled wryly. Although his current body was quite decent in appearance, Lark was sure that he wasn’t as handsome as the statue before his eyes. The way the statue’s face was grinning reminded Lark of the narcissistic nobles in the Magic Empire.

  Although Lark didn’t like how the Scylla had portrayed him in this statue, he had to admit that the seven-headed creature was really dexterous in controlling magic. Everything, from the strands of his hair down to the lace of his boots were detailed.

  For a moment, he wondered if he should let the Scylla build stone houses in Blackstone Town but immediately decided against it. It would render the workers useless. Such jobs were fundamental in propelling his territory forward. Lark deemed that it would be damaging to his territory in the long run if he took care of everything using magic.

  As Lark continued walking through the castle, he noticed that it even had several rooms inside, their doors made of wood. Lark opened one of the rooms out of curiosity. It was empty.

  “This place is surprisingly habitable,” he mumbled.

  After adding some fixtures and a little bit of cleaning, people could actually live in this castle. Lark continued walking through the castle, admiring the structures made by the Scylla every now and then. Eventually, he arrived at the large stone door the Scylla had mentioned. Lark amplified his strength using magic and pushed the stone door open, revealing the foot of the golden statue.

  Lark climbed the winding flight of stairs and entered the mouth of the statue. He momentarily deactivated the traps he’d placed inside and went into the treasure room. He filled his bag with gold and several adamantites, before leaving the statue and the castle.

  The moment Lark left the castle, the Scylla immediately noticed that the large bag Lark brought with him was filled to the brim with gold. The Scylla dropped its head. Judging by
the amount of gold Lark had taken, the Scylla thought that it would probably be some time before he visited again.

  “I’ll come back a week from now,” said Lark. The Scylla should have investigated a large portion of the forest by then.

  The Scylla immediately raised its heads as its eyes glimmered in excitement.

  “O-One week?” exclaimed the first head.

  “What, you don’t like it?” said Lark.

  The fifth head vigorously shook its head. “Of course not!”

  “We just thought that it would be some time before God Evander comes back! But to think that it’ll only be a week!” said the fourth head.

  The seventh head excitedly added, “We can easily sleep through that time!”

  “That’s right!” The sixth head nodded. “A week is nothing compared to the number of years we slept in the labyrinth!”

  Lark chuckled. Its tail was wagging again. Despite its terrifying appearance, this seven-headed monster was quite amusing.

  “Snap out of it,” the third head spat. “What are you saying to God Evander? Did you forget that he entrusted us with the mission of investigating this forest?”

  The other heads immediately shut their mouths.

  “God Evander, I apologize.” The third head lowered its head. The rest of the heads immediately followed its lead and also lowered their heads in apology.

  “No, it’s fine.” Lark smiled. “Just remember. Like I said before, should anything happen, contact me with the communication crystal.”

  “Yes, God Evander.”

  After Lark left the forest, the Scylla immediately started preparing for the investigation of the Endless Forest. It cast several high-tier spells around the castle to prevent any intruders from stepping foot inside. It also strengthened the illusion spell shrouding the surrounding areas.

  After all preparations were complete, the Scylla cast a concealment spell on its body and flew toward the sky. It carefully observed the sea of trees below. After several minutes of flying in the sky, it finally saw one of the spirits who’d been trying to break through the illusion barrier it had set up to protect the sacred ground.