LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 26
The investigation team arrived at Antler Forest around the time when the first early snowfall of late autumn was finally coming to a halt.
To be precise, they were at Drywood Village, the place closest to Antler Forest where numerous recent missing person incidents had occurred.
Coldon was in a frenzy due to the unexpected snow, and Drywood was just as noisy with its sudden snow removal efforts.
When a large group of armed individuals descended upon such a village, the residents trembled with anxiety, but they felt relieved upon seeing the emblem on the banners. Even the barbarians from Iceland recognized the roaring dragon emblem of the Felwinter Family.
Previously, Alfred had dispatched people for an investigation, who then disappeared into Antler Forest without a trace. It was no surprise that those who followed the investigation team for guidance ended up vanishing as well.
There were more people this time than in the previous investigation team, so surely the problem would be resolved. While the elderly village chief and the residents of Drywood were being interrogated, Catherine led a group of soldiers, guided by the villagers, towards the outskirts of the forest.
They were there to find evidence left behind by whatever had caused the disappearances.
“But Sir Atanitas, with so much snow, wouldn’t they have been buried?”
“Don’t worry, it’s a forest.”
That was indeed the case. Strange in appearance, but raising their heads along the thick, scaly trunks of the Antler Trees, they noticed that relatively little snow lay on the forest floor, thanks to the blue leaves that grew on branches resembling deer antlers.
But it had been an extraordinary snowfall, hadn’t it?
One of the village residents, who was said to be the chief’s son, spoke reassuringly as he guided the group.
“Don’t worry, my lady.”
“My lady? Hmm.”
“Did I say something rude…?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
It wasn’t a big deal at all. Karem just found the honorific term “my lady” that the chief’s son used to be awkward.
If he had roamed Winterhome often, he might have gotten used to hearing it from others, but Karem had only gone out to request groceries when he left the Wizard’s Tower.
Sensing the awkwardness, Karem waved his hand dismissively.
“Please, continue what you were saying.”
“Um, yes. As soon as the signs of snow appeared, we covered the pit with blankets and leather.”
“A pit, you say?”
“Yes. In fact, um, why don’t you check for yourself, my lady?”
The place the chief’s son and the villagers led them to was not far from the village, at the very edge of the forest, which was not densely overgrown.
As the residents rummaged through the snowy ground, the chief’s son seemed to grab hold of a blanket. Carefully moving the blankets aside to prevent any more snow from falling, they indeed uncovered what appeared to be a pit.
“A pit. Wasn’t it a hole that was there from the beginning?”
“No, my lady. This pit formed after the people who came here before disappeared.”
“Those previous people…were they sporting the emblem of Felwinter?”
“Yes, but there weren’t as many as the ones who have come this time.”
“Hmm.”
Catherine spoke in a low voice as she closely examined the pit.
No signs of digging were visible anywhere from the outer edge to the center.
Could a creature have dug the pit to store food? If that were the case, there should be clear signs left behind.
Moreover, most of Iceland had begun freezing up since autumn. However, the pit they currently uncovered bore no such signs.
No, it wasn’t dug from the outside in.
Irregular, serrated markings were engraved from the inside out.
“It looks like it was dug from below and pulled up from the inside…”
“Perhaps the underground water drained away?”
Karem thought of a sinkhole.
While various reasons could lead to this, it usually occurs when underground water drains away beneath a deep area, causing the ceiling to collapse under its own weight and create a depression.
But Catherine shook her head.
“That might happen in other regions of the Kingdom of Seophone, but not in Iceland. Typically, the ground freezes before the underground water can drain, or if it does, it fills back up quickly.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
On hearing that, Karem examined the pit once more.
It certainly didn’t seem like a sinkhole.
The pit was too shallow to be one, and unlike the mostly vertical nature of sinkholes, this one had the shape of an inverted cone.
It seemed a bit bumpy and layered. And in between the uneven layers, there were smooth rocks—smooth rocks?
As Karem tilted his head, the chief’s son asked.
“My lady?”
“Is there something in the middle of the pit?”
“What do you mean?”
“Over there, that way.”
Karem pointed with his finger. To others, it simply appeared to be rocks and stones revealed due to the pit’s formation.
But the house fairy, the Brownie, couldn’t be deceived.
“Though it’s covered in dirt, it seems to be metal. And, bones? No, could it be teeth?”
“Metal?”
“Yes.”
If only one person mentioned it, it could be dismissed as a misconception, but if two people had seen something? Catherine, moving the villagers behind her, gestured for the soldiers waiting at the back to proceed into the pit.
Though there was a diagonal slope, perhaps due to the ground being frozen, the soldiers went down without any trouble and began to dig at the spot pointed out by Karem.
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The metallic helmet covered everything from the forehead to the back of the head.
It had a design that came down from the temples and covered the nose.
The fur lining inside was meant for protection against the cold.
Though it was covered in dirt and scratched all over, and the leather had numerous holes pierced through it, it was indeed a helmet issued to all soldiers of Felwinter Ridge.
“The condition is awful, though.”
While they were taking a break with the seed, Joric was startled when people unexpectedly barged in. After all, they hadn’t even notified the guards waiting outside.
But upon inspecting the state of the helmet that Catherine had placed on the table, Joric examined it seriously.
And he was convinced.
“This must belong to the soldiers dispatched to the village earlier.”
“It was half buried in the pit at the edge of the forest.”
“A pit? Monsters, then?”
“I’ve detailed everything there, so you can check it out. And here are the teeth as well.”
Catherine handed over the scroll where she had thoroughly documented the situation she observed at the forest’s edge, along with the evidence they had found with the helmet. Joric naturally passed the scroll to the seed.
That’s because he couldn’t read.
The seed began to recite the contents of the scroll as if he was familiar with it. Listening to the investigation results, Joric recalled his experiences and memories while examining the jagged teeth.
The white teeth widened from the blunt tip towards the root, before narrowing at the base.
These teeth were not meant to injure prey but to grab and pull it in. As evidence, when Joric tried to rub the teeth in the opposite direction, his hand remained still as if it were well fixed.
Joric was a local adventurer from Iceland, originally a commoner who specialized in monster hunting.
He had earned his knighthood through notable achievements in large-scale hunts, but that didn’t change the nature of Joric’s work.
“First, that excludes all monsters that operate on the surface.”
“Then it’s a thief?”
“No, people aren’t moles, and they wouldn’t leave such a peculiar pit. Unless it was intentionally set up as a trap.”
Joric shook his head in denial.
“I can’t be certain without seeing the scene directly, but it’s definitely a monster that primarily operates underground.”
“Then it could be a kobold or something like that? No, that doesn’t fit.”
Catherine casually mentioned a monster that came to mind but quickly dismissed it.
“There shouldn’t be mountains or ore veins around here. It wouldn’t be a kobold unless a den appeared out of nowhere.”
“I think it could be a Death Worm.”
“A Death Worm?”
“Yes. The chief mentioned that some people had felt strange vibrations. Apparently, other villagers felt it too.”
It was a monster that moved through the ground like a worm or snake, hunting prey both above and below the surface.
Though not a common sight, they weren’t rare enough to be ignored.
Above all, the biggest feature of the Death Worm was something else entirely.
“If it’s a Death Worm in Iceland, could it be an Ice Worm?”
“While there’s only one pit at the edge of the forest, there might be more if we go deeper inside. Most importantly, this tooth is evidence.”
“Hmm, Ice Worms…”
Catherine had participated in Death Worm hunts before, though it wasn’t something she had done frequently.
While they were relatively few in number, the Death Worm variants could be found across the entirety of the Europa continent.
Thanks to that, Catherine’s experience in hunting Death Worms mostly consisted of hunting Sand Worms a dozen times.
However, this would be her first experience with an Ice Worm.
“I’ve hunted Sand Worms several times,” she said.
“They aren’t so different. They’re just more aggressive, harder, and have a stronger sense of territory than other Death Worms.”
In order to survive in the harsh and barren environment, humans, animals, plants, and even monsters become stronger. Unlike the more common Death Worms that claim a territory and hunt for food only when they’re hungry, the Ice Worm had different habits.
In Iceland, the food supply was naturally more limited than in other regions.
This led to Ice Worms expanding their territories for efficient hunting, making them monsters that would attack immediately upon sensing prey, even if not hungry.
Preparing for potential periods of prolonged food scarcity.
“For example, during winter.”
“Exactly. And considering that winter has come a little earlier this year, they probably haven’t been able to stockpile enough food.”
“You mean they sensed the change in weather and began to attack people?”
“Naturally, monsters are generally more responsive to changes than humans.”
“What do you plan to do about it?”
In response to Catherine’s question, Joric lightly tapped the helmet.
“First, if we assume that forest has already become the territory of Ice Worms, it would be foolish to go looking for them directly.”
“What then?”
“We’ll have to lure them out. We need to set a bait.”
Before that, though, Joric stood up to personally check the pit that Catherine had seen.
“I’ll take care of things from here.”
“Call me anytime if you need assistance. That’s why your lord dispatched me.”
“Yes. In fact, I have a favor to ask regarding the bait.”
“I mean, I did say it, but you’re awfully quick to accept.”
Is honor taking a backseat to practicality? There was much to prepare. If he were in his usual condition, it wouldn’t be an issue, but in his current state, he’d likely make a mistake, so he needed to prepare well.
As if the work wasn’t piling up enough already!
Huffing, Catherine sighed as the workload multiplied even further.
But there was no time to lose.
Before the owner of the tent could say anything, Catherine dashed out, and as she did, Joric gave orders to the waiting seed by his side and also got up.
There was a lot of work to do.