Chapter 8

When the baron read the letter he frowned. The content of the letter is not good. It is as he feared, there is an imminent threat to the town.

He quickly took out a paper and started to fill in the details addressing the marshal about what his scouts had found out.

The beasts aren't converging because of some natural phenomena. They were being controlled. The scouts couldn't identify who it is without risking death but they are sure it looked humanoid.

The person seemed to be immersed in some kind of ritual which appeared foul. There are dead bodies of other humanoids around the place.

After righting the report, he called out his butler. An old man came inside the room and bowed.

The baron spoke hastily, "James, take this letter and copy the same, addressing the other ten barons. Send those letters to them as quickly as you can. The Marshal and the barons should know what is happening and before that tell Captain Ripley that I wanted to see him."

The old butler who served the baron for a long time understood the gravity of the situation. He quickly disappeared to do what he was assigned to do.

---

Meanwhile inside Dalton's Inn...

"Did you know that the baron suddenly increased the security of the town? Are we in danger?"

"Yeah, I observed that."

"It's just not the security was upped, I saw Captain Ripley leave the town with few knights and mages."

"There is nothing new news about it at the guild. Are they dispatched to deal with the threat?"

"If they dispatched them instead of adventurers then there might be a threat."

"Indeed, they only move like that if there is a threat that the adventurers can't handle or a quick mobilization is required."

"I think we should be prepared too, just in case."

"Yes, you are right."

With the movement of Captain Ripley and his troops, the chaos started in the town.

Everyone started to buy weapons and armor. There are so many orders for the craftsman, either to make new or repair old gear.

This is especially for weapons. Everyone bought extra weapons supplies just in case their weapons get damaged.

---

A day later...

Alex woke up yawning in his room. He previously paid for a week for a room. After all, he went through, he decided he needed a well-needed rest. After he fell on the bed, he slept for thirty-six hours straight.

He didn't know how long he slept but he felt good. Though he slept at night, he had to be semi-conscious as there are always something dangerous outside in the forest. So he couldn't fully rest his body.

Now that his body has finally rested, he felt better.

He felt hungry after not eating for more than a day. He took a quick bath and went downstairs for a bite.

"Uncle, a roasted chicken please."

His hunger is great. After increasing his stats, his hunger too rose. With so many body changes that happened to him in the past three months, his appetite has also increased.

Before he couldn't even eat a roasted rabbit in the forest properly but now his hunger can't sate with a full-grown poultry chicken.

Yes, the people here grow poultry farms, fisheries, and animal husbandry for tame creatures. They can't depend on the beasts that can be hunted as any riot or problem that occurs in the forest will lead to a lack of food supplies.

It's not that they did this on their own. They experienced a lack of food supplies like that several times. After that, the lifestyle slowly changed with the inclusion of this way, of producing food instead of just depending on acquiring food.

"You sure sleep like you are dead, boy. I thought you may be dead. If you have not been down today, I would have been up to your room to check," the owner told him while laughing.

Alex felt kind of embarrassed when the old owner spoke with him.

Unless some were in seclusion, one would at least eat and drink. Alex went without anything for over a day.

Cough! Cough!

"Uncle I am hungry," Alex tried to steer away from the conversation.

The old man chuckled as he know what the boy is trying to do but didn't say anything about it, only said, "Don't worry, your order would be here in a few minutes."

As promised a few minutes later, the food was delivered.

When Alex looked around, he was perplexed. So he asked the old man, "Uncle, where is everyone? When I came in yesterday, the Inn was filled but it seems to be empty all of sudden."

"Oh, you slept through it, I forgot. The town is currently in chaos. It started when Captain Ripley and his team got deployed into the forest."

Alex scratched his head in confusion. From the novels he read, the ruler of a town or city deploys troops regularly to cull the number of beasts around the settlement. If the baron deployed them, why did it cause chaos? or is there another cause behind it, he couldn't grasp?

The old man noticed the boy's confusion, "Kid, though the beasts here are considered dangerous for commoners, the baron doesn't need to deploy troops. Mostly they would be outsourced to adventurers or newbies in the troops for the experience."

"Wait if they aren't used to culling monsters in the forest why is there such military presence here?"

The old man at first didn't think but now he was sure Alex isn't from around here. He didn't feel any malice from the boy and only thought that he might be either sheltered and perhaps ran away from his family or come here from some faraway land, either way looking for an adventure in this land.

Regardless he replied, "Indeed the adventurers are enough, and troops only take part during beast tides which are common around these regions. This time however adventurers may not be enough. The baron fears something foul. This morning they even declared to get ready for an attack in three to four days."

'SHIT. SHIT. SHIT.'

'One day of rest and the world is trying to kill me again.'