I Try To Enjoy My Life But This Woman Keep Calling Me Villain-Chapter 97: Revelation

It has been two weeks since we marched from the Dawn Fortress, the official name of the fortress that once got taken over by the Gokuya Kingdom, and it was a tough march. Too many monsters on our way, and we have been delayed by quite a lot.

We were supposed to have already arrived at Bakuran City by now, but because of the monster on our way hindered us to the point that we started losing men from a constant attack by the monster.

We even need to ensure that one unit of men stays alert because the monster keeps attacking us at night. To ensure the rest of the soldiers get some sleep, one unit must stay all night and fight the monster alone.

Lucky for them, I can summon low-level creatures that help heal them at night, and when the monsters are too much for them to handle, they will wake me up to help them. Because of this situation, I did not have a good night’s sleep for the past two weeks and only had a full sleep when we were marching, and even then, sometimes, my men woke me up when the monsters were too much for them to handle.

Usually, it was because monsters surrounded them from the front and the back.

Marching with a large number of soldiers through a dense forest surrounded by mountains is not easy, and combining it with the monsters... is a miracle for us to get this far. Fighting monsters in a narrow path with this large number of soldiers... is not great. Moving and creating a formation is a nightmare, and when there are more than two waves of monsters attacking us, we need to move to create a formation to receive them.

My father, Lord Verqur, and I thought that there were monster-summoning devices around us, but I had already searched in two kilometers radius for any monster-summoning device and came out with nothing.

There is not a single monster-summoning device in the two-meter radius of my scouting range. However, a trace of Void Crack appeared in the area recently. That leaves us with only one theory.

The Gokuya Kingdom put many monster-summoning devices in the south, and when they are done, they take the device away to maybe, use it again in the only path to the Bakuran City. All of the soldiers and lords, even the arrogant ones, were horrified at that theory.

That means the Gokuya Kingdom is playing with fire, and if they are not careful, they will have the biggest monster outbreak in the history of the Southern Continent. I did not think that they would only use the monster to fight us, and I have a feeling that their king would use this tactic against the Southern Kingdom.

If that happens, we must defend the southern border to ensure no monsters enter our territory and wreak havoc.

I look at the night sky and release a sigh as I lay on the ground. Tonight is my unit duty as the watchman. However, instead of hundreds of people watching over the makeshift fortress we make, I summon alarm trees and creatures that will alert me if there is a large movement.

So it is only me who watches over the entire fortress. I will wake my men if there is a monster wave, but I will let them sleep if there is none.

I just hope that we are quickly done with this war. It has been what? More than three months? From defending, marching, and counter-attacking, it has been more than three months. I know that it was a short time because, in my previous life, I once read how a medieval war could take up to three decades or so.

I really hope that it will not be the case.

~A week later~

We finally arrived. We finally arrive in front of the massive city in the distance. However, there is something that makes us stop before we get closer to Bakuran City.

In front of us is a group of people. By the look of it, they are adventurers.

"Tell us the reason why you decided to stop us."

My father asks with an authoritative voice. The leader of the group bow and says.

"We are sent here by Lady Veronica Yorn to investigate the city and inform you if there is something we can inform you."

"Oh? Is there any proof?"

She nods and gives my father a piece of paper. He opens the paper, and I can see a certain wax on the paper. My father gives the paper to Lord Verqur, who looks at the wax on the paper. He looked at it for a few seconds before nodding his head.

Seeing the confirmation, my father looks at the leader of the group in front of him and says.

"What do you find? And should you not get inside the city?"

"That is the problem, my lord. The city has a massive barrier that only lets someone enter while ensuring no one gets out."

"Why? Do you know the reason?"

"Because of this."

She takes out a drawing of a giant crystal with a pile of corpses around it.

"Lady Veronica and Lady Catharina say you will know about this."

I know that device. That is the giant version of the monster-summoning device the Gokuya Kingdom uses.

"This is..."

Lord Verqur and my father look at the drawing in shock.

"Tell me everything you know."

"My comrade will be the one telling you."

She looks back and lets a middle-aged man walk forward. The man bows a little and says.

"My name is Jack, and I have a talent called [Astral Clone]. It lets me summon five invisible clones that can share their senses with me."

My father nods and says. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Continue."

"After one of my comrades noticed there was a reserve barrier around the city, Josephine, our leader, knew that it was a trap set by the people from the Gokuya Kingdom. She asks me to send one of my clones inside the city, and I notice a large pile of corpses inside the city. Among those corpses are the fellow adventurers that come before us by the order of Lady Veronica. Seeing the situation, I decided to investigate further and found this massive crystal floating in front of the Lord’s Castle. The crystal is about seven meters tall and four meters wide. It releases an unbearable stench not from the corpse that, for some reason, did not turn into a skeleton as the corpse still looks fresh, as if the corpse just died not too long ago, but rather from the crystal itself. I did not count how many corpses there are, but there should be at least a thousand of them. At worst, all of the people inside the city are dead."

I can only grit my teeth at that news before I snap from my thoughts when Josephine, the leader of the adventurer, says something.

"Can I ask what kind of crystal it was? This is the first time we see something like this."

"It was a monster-summoning device that required people’s souls and suffering to fuel the device."

Josephine looked at me with a confused expression before it changed into realization.

"Wait... Don’t tell me..."

"Yes. The reason why their corpses look fresh is because they just recently died."

I take a deep breath and continue.

"The crystal will absorb the suffering of the people. That is why the crystal did not kill them immediately. To get this suffering, the crystal will release dark magic that causes unbearable pain to its target and make sure the target cannot get used to it by healing them. This cycle continues until it reaches the final stage and finally consumes their souls."

I know this because I study it with the power of [Solomon’s Wisdom], which is why I manage to create something to help me and my people detect the summoning device. That is why I detest the Gokuya Kingdom. They are willing to sacrifice innocent people to summon monsters, the enemy of humanity.

"T-That is detestable! What kind of people are willing to sacrifice thousands of living beings to summon a Void Crack!"

"What makes matters worse, this will be the biggest Void Crack in history. We have faced many Void Cracks throughout this campaign, which will pale in comparison with what will soon happen if what you said is correct. By the look of the city, there should be at least five thousand people in this city, and if they become the fuel for the summoning device... it will be a Void Crack that summons at least three hundred thousand monsters and a high chance of summoning super powerful monsters."

The entire army stays silent at my word, and I can see Lord Verqur sweating bullets and his face as pale as a corpse. My father’s frown became the deepest frown I have ever seen. After almost a minute of silence, Lord Verqur looks at Josephine and says.

"How sure are you with this information? I’m not calling you a liar, but if what you said is correct, then I will make a decision that can brand me as a traitor to the crown."

"We are a hundred percent sure about our information. We did not know the exact number of the corpses, but it was at least a thousand because we can see hundreds of them outside the barrier."

Lord Verqur nod and says.

"Very well."

He takes a deep breath and south.

"We will retreat! We will be back home and tell the king what we found!"