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A Few hours earlier, in the demon king’s castle.

Located on the ground floor of the north wing was a room that contained two long metal tables positioned in an L-shape, and standing within this room were three living creatures and what looked like a massive black armored skeleton with practically black shriveled-up skin.

One of the living beings in the room knelt on one knee and reported to another while the last, stood by the side and listened. Tyler received a report from the sentries stationed on the tower on a very concerning situation.

According to Jarret, the sentries had noticed an abnormally large movement in the forest a distance away from where they had just fought the masked girl and whatever it was, was now headed in this direction. They had originally thought it to be monsters attracted to the smell of blood but it was just too large to only be that.

The disturbance it caused was also not natural to these parts of the forest and it felt organized. It almost felt like, whatever that was, be it monsters or not, they were tracking something.

Tyler could sense the vague nervousness in Jarret’s voice when he had given the report. He was probably thinking the Great Five was tracking those scouts’ corpses back here, which made him feel responsible as he had been the only one without any scouting experience on that mission.

Naturally, the thought had also crossed Tyler’s mind. Based on the information he had gotten, he hadn’t predicted any such movements so soon. While they were safe in the barrier for most opponents, the Great Five could break through the first layer of the barrier protecting this castle, which was bad for them.

Still, there was nothing that could really be done without first identifying what was approaching the castle. If it was one of the Great Five armies, they needed to know how large a force it was and how powerful they were. Tyler ordered Jarret to immediately return and have the sentries confirm the enemy using a remote observation scroll and if they were headed here or not.

It was risky to use certain observation tools and scrolls on unknown opponents because most intelligent creatures Wound have some sort of protection against it and opponents like the Great Five would even give aggressive countermeasures set in place which would let them know when someone tries to spy on them and also attack.

Tyler thought about what to do for a while before turning to his new creation (the undead knight) and ordering it to follow him as he left the room and was trailed by Albert. There was a part of him that wanted to send his new knight out to fight so he would feel like a necromancer but that was unrealistic.

He only had one knight he could control and wouldn’t want his first actual undead creation to die pathetically against a large army. Until he gets more, he decided on the best way to utilize this creature at the moment.

He had the undead knight stand guard in front of the jail Albert had placed the two earlier undead in and relieved the scared ogre of his duty. Since his undead wouldn’t get tired and could stand forever, it was the best guard until he learns how to control those two.

The lich stood quietly at the far end of the cell but the black knight had to be restrained with so enchanted chains as it kept struggling. It quieted down in front of Tyler though, which was weird, but soon started throwing a tantrum again the moment Tyler was done and left.

Tyler then sent Albert to prepare the settlement to defend the castle and gather as much fighting force as possible. The castle still didn’t have any defense mechanism so they had to do everything themselves. Of course, due to the five-layer barrier around the castle, they would still hold an advantage even if it was the Great Five.

They would still be in trouble if that happened though. The ideal situation would be to avoid fighting anywhere near the castle but they would have to know the strengths and weaknesses of their enemy to have any chance of doing that.

If their enemy’s target was the castle, then there would be nothing more they could do but attack them from within the barrier. Tyler left the castle and met up with the girls who had heard the news from Albert and were wondering how they could help.

He shrugged as there wasn’t much to do right now, at least until Jarret returned with the information he wanted. Still, after privately browsing through the list that Albert had prepared for him, he had Erin use her spell to calm down everyone in the castle and improve their morale.

When she complied and was done, Tyler felt the nerves of everyone calming down which was a relief. He couldn’t think of what to do next so he went back up to his new office and awaited the report as he continued to browse through the list in the Overseen, hoping to find someone with an interesting ability. Of course, the girls had followed him up since they didn’t have anything to do either.

Tyler disappointedly leaned back into the couch as he sighed, he then brought out a few scrolls he was considering using to get the information himself. However, Albert soon knocked on the door and came in with Jarret in tow.

Jarret quickly took a knee and Tyler asked. “Were they able to confirm the enemy?”

“Yes sir, they had no protection against divination on them so it was fairly easy. We confirmed it to be a large group of the same trolls we encountered on our way here my Lord, they were also accompanied by some goblin riders.”

“Trolls again?” Tyler was confused and turned to face Albert hoping for confirmation, which Albert gave by a simple nod.

“Yes sir, it was a group of around thirty Gray trolls lead by what we believe to be two Gray-War trolls, as well as around sixty goblin riders compromising of different goblin tribes.”

Tyler let out a sound that seemed to be a cross between being dumbstruck and confused. He blinked his eyes a few times before finally asking.

“Where are they headed?”

“We are sure of it now my Lord, the group seemed to be headed here. Perhaps they came to rescue their captured comrades.”

“Can trolls sense each other?”

Jarret remained quiet for a while before Albert spoke up instead. “While I’m unaware of the full capabilities of this species of trolls. I don’t believe they should be able to do that.”

“So why would they be headed here?”

“I’m not completely sure of that my Lord, but I think they may have been searching for something, but were then attracted by the battle between the demon and the masked assailant you mentioned, and now, they may just be tracking their sent.”

Albert then brought up his left hand to stroke his chin before continuing. “There’s.also the possibility that there is something on the trolls that had surrendered to you. Something they are able to track and want badly enough to send such a large force out for it.”

Tyler thought seriously about it, either of what Albert guessed was most likely the reason for this and he was leaning towards the latter. After all, why would a bunch of trolls head in this exact direction in such numbers just to search for something?

However, what exactly was that valuable that they would want that badly. Aside from the one he had fought, the rest of the trolls had been so shabbily equipped that it was sad. His mind had immediately disregarded everything they had on and he hadn’t even paid attention to Albert when he had listed it to him.

The only thing that looked a bit descent was that piece of crap weapon he had given to the ogre chief. ‘Wait, that’s it.’ A light bulb went off in his head as he remembered that the weapon had been magic so it should have been quite valuable no matter how weak it was to him.

“Jarret”

“Yes my Lord.”

“Have Bungo use appraisal on that weapon I gave your chief, yeah him… Have the weapon appraised and bring me the details.”

Tyler knew the famed blacksmith Bungo could use an higher-tiered appraisal magic than him thanks to the list so he had Jarret run an errand. Although, it was a lucky break the enemy hadn’t been the Great Five as it was too early for that. They still couldn’t straight outfight the trolls in front of the castle. There were still a few issues they had to handle.

“Thirty trolls huh…” Tyler leaned back to his seat and thought about the issue for a moment. It was true that to him thirty trolls Gray trolls and two Gray-War trolls were weaklings, however, there were still too many of them for him to take out without creating some kind of scene. This was the problem with only knowing low-tier spells.

Not to mention, there was a high possibility that this was still the work of these so-called Great Five, in an attempt to test the Strength of whomever it was, that had intruded on what they believed should’ve been theirs for the taking.

He needed to handle this situation with the utmost care. Whether he could stop them from spying or not was a completely different topic. His main goal now was to seize control of the situation.

“I know.”

Tyler raised his head to see Rain with her hand up as she excitedly said. “Why don’t you just send us out there and we’ll take care of all those nasty ass trolls, right Liz.”

“Hmm, yeah, sure, we should be able to handle that many trolls no problem,” Liz added in a fluster and Erin gave a nod.

Tyler almost snapped and said sarcastically. Geez, why didn’t I think of that? But a sudden realization then dawned on him. Bait. His main problem was the possible prying eyes of the Great Five, however, a fisherman doesn’t dive into the river to hunt for fish by himself, no. One could catch a large fish simply by dangling a juicy bait in front of them.

That may not have been the best analogy but, they were right. However, Tyler also couldn’t send out two fugitives of one of the great five to fight as bait for him. That might even cause more trouble than the trolls.

Albert had been in the room when the girls had told their story so he immediately recognized what Tyler was concerned about and offered his suggestion. “Sir if I may offer a suggestion.”

“Go ahead.”

“How about I lead a few of the strongest ogres and beastmen with a couple of trolls and intercept the Gray trolls before they reach us.”

Tyler’s eyes sparkled when he heard that and he was immediately inspired by that plan. “There’s no need for you to go… Say, what’s the name of the one I gave the magic weapon I want to be appraised.”

“That would be the formal chief of the red ogre settlement sir, Azar igna.”

“I see, have him prepare a team of the fastest fighters he has and intercept the trolls, then have them lead them away from the castle. Mmm, towards the greyad plains would be fine. He’ll have his full force waiting there and they should be able to kill and capture every single troll without fail.”

“At once sir.”

“Remember, not a single one can escape.”

“Yes my Lord.”

“Arrrh what about us…” Rain expresses her disappointment in not being included in Tyler’s plan by letting out a strange sound.

Tyler turned his head to face her before he chuckled softly and spoke. “No need to pout, I have something very important for the both of you, oh and for Erin as well.”