Not long after the mysterious pagan murder of the Imperial Envoy half a year ago, a logging team from Aile's lumberyard discovered a strange forest while searching for good timber.

  This is an ancient forest, where the trees are all giant trees that require dozens of people to hug together. The most experienced old lumberjack in the logging team immediately went to cut a few axes and checked it out, only to find that the material of these ancient trees was surprisingly good, which he had never seen before in his decades of experience dissecting countless trees. It is said that he once praised that wood as being like human flesh, so delicate and spiritual. Such wood can definitely be sold at a high price, and this forest, which cannot be seen at a glance, is absolutely worth no less than a large gold mine.

  But the forest was indeed strange, with almost no birds or beasts, and an eerie atmosphere that made everyone's heart palpitate. They only dared to wander around the edges, not daring to explore the depths of the silence. However, due to the excitement of discovering such a treasure trove, they left a few people to camp at the edge of the forest, while the others returned to report.

  The owner of the lumberyard became excited after examining the wood chips brought back and decided to go see for himself. They didn't find any workers left behind at the edge of the forest, nor could they even find the tree with the marks of their logging. The dark woods remained silent no matter how loudly they shouted until someone smelled the bloody smell coming from underfoot, took out a torch and shone it carefully, only then were the traces of these colleagues discovered. They had been crushed by something into flat fragments, their deformed corpses compressed tightly like soybean dregs under some enormous pressure, so that when people stepped on them they felt the solid ground beneath without noticing anything.

  This terrifying scene immediately caused a commotion. However, after the commotion had died down, it seemed that nothing could be found out about what had happened, and no one was willing to venture into the depths of the forest.

  Someone rode a horse around the forest and found it to be enormous. People began to feel incredulous: how could such a massive forest have gone unnoticed before? The workers' corpses seemed eerie, and the atmosphere in the silent forest was palpable to everyone. However, the countless trees that could be exchanged for gold coins were undeniable. Putting aside their fear, the lumber mill owners became excited about this huge timber production area. The vague sense of mysterious danger immediately seemed insignificant compared to the tangible benefits within reach. Moreover, they didn't need to work here themselves, so under the command of the lumber mill owner, a large number of workers arrived at the edge of this new virgin land and began working.

  In the beginning, a number of ancient trees on the outskirts were cut down, and such high-quality timber was immediately in great demand on the trading floor, selling for an unexpectedly high price. The strong driving force of the high price led the site owners to order workers to set up camps and tools directly in the forest, preparing to fell trees day and night without rest. However, one day, people outside the forest heard strange noises and shouts coming from inside, and when they gathered enough courage and numbers to go back in, they found that everyone inside had become flat corpses like mice crushed by car wheels on the street many times, just like the workers who stayed behind a few days ago.

  After the news came out, it attracted local old men who said that this previously undiscovered forest was indeed there. According to ancient legend, there is a god of the forest in this forest, and those who offend the divine power can only die in this way. The strange rumors from the mouths of the elderly are even more intimidating, coupled with the hundreds of lives lost, no matter how much the wood yard owner urged and ordered, no workers dared to enter this forest again.

  However, the divine power that can intimidate ordinary people is hard to deter those who have a strong desire for gold coins. The temptation of gold coins is something that few legendary illusions can resist. The lumber bosses firmly believe that there are some strange beasts lurking in this forest, so they gathered a team with many magicians and entered the depths of the forest, ready to dispel these vulgar superstitions with practical exploration spirit. However, this extraordinary courage did not achieve the expected effect, and no one who entered the depths of the forest returned, being quietly swallowed by this mysterious forest.

  This eerie place caught the attention of some disillusioned churchgoers seeking new faiths, and this forest's awe-inspiring quality suited these mystics just fine. They formed a pagan cult called 'Gods of Nature', emulating the ancient druids, to worship nature and become one with it, transcending worldly mundane life. Leveraging the mystical charm of this woodland, the cult's membership skyrocketed over time. Even smaller pagan groups came to pay homage, abandoning their own doctrines to submit to the awe-inspiring majesty of this forest.

  This behavior was naturally not allowed by the church, and more than half of Aili's lumber yards were under the name of the Erni family, so the pressure on local officials was not small. So the conflict between 'God of Nature' and official army continued.

  The turning point was several months ago, when the local army and church gathered a force of nearly a thousand people to disperse those pagans after they encamped on the grass outside that forest, preparing to thoroughly eliminate this pagan-rooted forest as well, driving out all the wild beasts. However, the next day, the 'Nature God' cultists who came back to scout found that the army was left with only a few scattered corpses, while dozens of giant stone statues stood upright on the grass outside the forest, which had never been seen before. These stone statues were erected every tens of meters, all in a half-kneeling posture forming a semicircular fan shape facing that forest.

  This strange phenomenon was considered by the 'Gods of Nature' to be a matter of course, and those giant stone statues were undoubtedly created by their gods using divine power to guard the forest. They used this as a reason to explain that the god they believed in really existed and was more powerful than the church's god. Living facts are always more convincing than any profound theological theory or philosophical principle. Since then, the number and strength of the 'Gods of Nature' have begun to surge, and now there are almost 40,000 to 50,000 people. It has become the most serious pagan disaster in the empire.

  "Four or five hundred thousand?" Asa's eyes widened in shock after hearing the local official's words, and Rodhart was also taken aback. Although they had discovered that something was amiss in the city when they arrived, they hadn't expected it to be this bad. To think that even the entire population of the Aili region was only around 700,000 or 800,000, and now almost the entire region had become the domain of the "God of Nature".

  The local official frowned and lamented, "What can we do? When I sent an urgent report to the capital a month ago, there weren't this many. In just one month, those heretics have increased faster than cockroaches. It's not just the local villagers, it seems like many outsiders have come to join in too."

  The thin official who succeeded the murdered governor was an exception among officials, his thin face already wrinkled with worry lines like a bitter melon. "Two nobles, I really have done my best. You also saw that this is a grand cathedral built at great expense, but those stubborn people just don't show faith in our Lord. At first, I could still crack down on the people who leaned towards heresy, but later the number of heretics was dozens of times more than the city's military strength, and they even threatened me to release those people. In the end, I had no choice but to use all my troops for defense, fortunately, those heretics were only obsessed with their own ghostly temples and didn't think of attacking the city. But they first destroyed the lumber yard, occupied many villages, and when threatening me to release people, they also destroyed the town hall. Now almost all production and work in Aili have come to a standstill." Thinking that his official career would probably end here due to these misfortunes, his bitter melon face turned green, looking even more worried. "Two nobles, please think of a way, I really have done my best."

  The situation was far more severe than they had imagined, and the two walked out of the grand cathedral with gloomy faces. The troops were stationed outside the city, for convenience of action, and also because some things could not be known to others, they did not bring any followers.

  This church was built by the previous unfortunate governor, Feto Dato, who was turned into a mummy by Vidna, using taxes extorted from the people. Asa had seen it half-built when he came last time, and the rest of the work was completed under this current Cucumber's rule. It is a grand and magnificent church that rivals the Great Cathedral of Magic Academy in scale, with an atmosphere of solemnity and majesty, but it is clear that it has no practical effect, and now serves as the office of the Cucumber governor who lost the city hall.

  Asa shook his head and sighed, "Rather than spending so much money to fix something useless like this, it's better to save the money and give everyone a few silver coins to lift their spirits. I believe that follower of the Nature God won't make a big deal out of it."

  Rodhart asked: "Bishop Ronis said that you should be familiar with the situation in that forest, so why did so many pagans gather there?"

  "I don't know what's going on either." Asa shook his head. From the local official's words, it seemed that the workers who died in the Whispering Woods were under the control of the Dryad Guardians. But he could only see this much. As for how the shocking power of the originally awe-inspiring Sun Well Boundary had weakened and disappeared, and what those mysterious stone statues were all about, these things he couldn't understand either. After thinking for a moment, Asa decided: "I'll go find someone who saw it with their own eyes to ask them."

  The lumber yard outside the city had been torn to pieces by the pagans of 'Nature's God', and the two came to the lumber yard's office in the city. Several lumber yard owners, having heard that the imperial envoy had arrived, hastily welcomed them, and Rodhart asked the lumber yard owners to call in the workers who had witnessed these events at the time.

  The owner of the timber yard naturally did as he was told, and said that their behind-the-scenes big boss had just arrived from Wangdu, and wanted to invite him out to meet with the two imperial envoys.

  "Are these guys the bosses?" Asa asked Rodhart quietly.

  Rothbart replied: "These are just minor underlings, nearly all of Aire's timber industry is in the name of the Erni family."

  Under the escort of the lumberyard owner, this behind-the-scenes figure walked out. Asa and Rodhart were both startled at once, looking at each other in unison.

  This man behind the scenes did not have any of the wealth and kindness that merchants typically possess. His cold and handsome face seemed to carry a hint of murderous intent due to its seriousness, and his tall and upright posture gave off an air of superiority that made even the lumberyard owners next to him feel uneasy. He looked at the two imperial envoys with a cold gaze, without showing any respect or surprise.

  "Captain Klauvius, I didn't expect to run into you here." Rodhart smiled and nodded at him. "I wonder what brings you here."

  Klauss sat down on the chair opposite, coldly replying: "This is my family's estate, I came to take a look and don't need you two to worry about it. Do what you want."

  "Yes." Rodhart smiled kindly and made a gentle calming gesture towards Asa.

  No matter how big the industry is, it absolutely doesn't need a vice-captain of the Holy Knights to take care of it. Needless to say, Klaus has another purpose for coming here. As for what that purpose is, although unclear, one thing's for sure - he didn't come to help those two.

  The timber yard owners had brought all the workers who were still in the city and had experienced those strange things at that time, only a dozen or so people. They stood in a row, listening to a timber yard owner say: "You listen carefully, these two imperial envoys want to know about your situation in that damned forest on those days, you have to tell every detail without leaving out a single word."

  Among the "yes" and "got it" responses, one voice stood out with a loud "huh". The speaker was undoubtedly very surprised.

  Everyone looked at the person who had let out a shout. He was a lean, small-headed man with no visible fat on his body, yet he seemed to be able to squeeze out iron juice; his skin was pitch black, and his hair was tied up in a strange way with a cloth strip, leaving a small goat beard. He didn't care about the eyes of the crowd, but stared straight at the two imperial envoys, as if they were the most bizarre animals in the world.

  Asa took a closer look and only felt that this person was very familiar. After thinking for a while, he finally remembered that he was the leader of the remaining villagers of Rodhart, hunter Leven. He just didn't expect him to return to Aili again and work as a laborer in the El'ni family's lumberyard.

  Rodhart's expression on his face was still surprised, but when Asa turned back to look at him, he had already stood up and walked over to shake hands with this long-lost fellow countryman, saying: "This worker brother looks so familiar... oh, right, we're from the same hometown."

  "How can you...". Huntsman Leven was still staring with his eyes wide open, he couldn't believe that they would meet them here, and the two of them had actually become imperial envoys.

  "We have many things we'd like to ask you, and would appreciate it if you could tell us." Rodhart gripped Hunter Leven's hand tightly, his smile not changing in the slightest.

  "Ah... Ah... Oh. Alright, alright." The hunter seemed to have finally understood Rodhart's hint.

  Klauss still had a cold face with no expression, but his eyes seemed to flash a ray of light. Asa saw it.

  After listening to the workers' account, Rodhart nodded to Asa to prepare to leave. He suddenly seemed to remember something and said to Hunter Wen: "Please ask this old fellow to come back with us too. I have a lot of things I want to ask you alone."

  "No way." Klauvis, who had been standing there like a statue without making a sound, suddenly spoke up. His voice was even colder than his expression. "During the term of the labor contract, he is one of our lumberyard's people."

  "I just wanted to..." Rodhart still smiled, his voice was also very gentle.

  "You think you can do whatever you want, but I say no and it's no." Klaus' attitude remained as cold and hard as a rock.

  Asa suddenly said in a low voice: "We are now imperial envoys, and we can make decisions on all matters in Eli."

  "I am the captain of the Knights Templar. In emergency situations, I have absolute command over the local troops." Klauvius stood up, his voice and expression becoming stern.

  Asa snorted: "What kind of emergency is this..." Roderick held up his hand to stop Asa, and gave Klaus a faint smile, saying: "In that case, there's no way. Let's do it another day."

  As soon as they left the lumberyard, Asa immediately asked Roddick: "Why didn't you forcefully take him away? That guy absolutely doesn't have good intentions."

  "He's certainly not here with good intentions. He must have been sent by the Duke to spy on or deal with us." Rodhart's expression immediately turned gloomy as soon as he left the lumberyard. "And he also discovered that there is some secret relationship between Hunter Clement and the two of us. I was really too careless, actually making such an obvious hint."

  "Then why did you stop me from taking him away by force?" Asa asked again.

  "It's not about stopping you from taking him away, but about stopping you from revealing that we have to take him away. Levin will never come back alone, and even if we forcibly take him away by ourselves, Clavis knows there must be something big going on and will definitely go find others related to him." Rodhart quickly walked towards the city gate. "We'll immediately bring soldiers to take everyone away. Now all we can do is hope that my senior brother doesn't ask anything during this time."

  Rothbart and Assa had barely left when Klauwes immediately took the hunter Leven to a separate room.

  "Now I'm going to ask some questions, about that fellow countryman of yours and his friends. What did he mean by hinting at you just now? And why are they so eager to take you away?" Klauss ordered the lowly plebeian in front of him forcefully. "Answer quickly."