Those who received Wendigo’s invitation set out on a journey towards the forest located at the northern edge, each with their own purpose in their hearts.

Those relatively close to the forest could reach it in about a week, but most couldn’t.

Investors were delayed as they packed plenty of gifts to make a good impression on the Forest King.

Warriors were delayed as they searched for decent prey to show off their skills to the Forest King.

Intellectuals were delayed as they gathered books and works related to their respective fields of expertise…

“Find out everything you can about the spirit!”

“Grab and question anyone coming down from the north, regardless of who they are! I’ll give silver coins, no, gold coins to anyone who brings even one piece of good information!”

“Does the spirit like to eat? What is this…”

Dario was invited as an intellectual but didn’t have much prepared, yet his steps were extremely heavy.

After all, one needs to grasp the other party to some extent to say what they want to hear and show what they want to see, right?

Dario pestered his subordinates and collected information. However, the more he continued to collect, the more his expression twisted grimly.

Can such a being… be called a spirit?

“He’s not obsessed with gold and silver, rules fairly and receives praise, and doesn’t regularly receive rituals or sacrifices?”

“Yes. Based on the information we’ve gathered so far, um… he’s clean.”

Dario’s subordinates expressed difficulty. Whether person, spirit, or even god, those with some flaws had gaps.

For those who liked gold and silver, one could tell them ways to squeeze people dry.

For tyrants ruling the land as they pleased, one could say everything they did was right and block their eyes and ears.

Whether they coveted women or men, for those obsessed with their lower parts, one just had to cater to their tastes.

The problem was that the more information they collected about this spirit called the Forest King, the more impeccably clean he seemed.

Dario couldn’t contain his anger and kicked his subordinate’s shin. The subordinate barely suppressed the scream trying to escape and tightly shut his mouth.

Given Dario’s personality, it was obvious that the moment he screamed, he would make an even bigger scream burst out.

“You stupid fools. Do you think I hired you to hear such reports! Find out what he likes!”

“B-But according to the rumors we collected and merchants’ testimonies…”

The subordinate who stepped forward to calm Dario was slapped and fell.

He didn’t stop there but swung the sword at his waist, scabbard and all, to beat the subordinate.

At the terrifyingly fierce aura, the subordinates couldn’t even raise their eyes and watched their colleague turn into a bloody mess.

Dario, who had turned an innocent subordinate into a half-cripple, swept back his sweat-soaked hair and exhaled roughly.

In fact, he was aware that it wasn’t the subordinate’s fault. It was his job to meet chieftains or merchants that his subordinates couldn’t meet and ask questions.

Naturally, the information from such people was somewhat more reliable than from mediocre ones, and they also spewed information not much different from what the subordinates had investigated.

Yet he beat his subordinate simply because he needed someone to vent his anger on in this frustratingly incomprehensible situation.

‘Rumors can’t be trusted, but such consistent rumors are absolutely not created by chance.’

Dario acknowledged that Wendigo was the most unique being among those he had encountered so far.

He thought it was strange when they said he made the land abundant by wasting his mystery like his own blood, but he was clearly crazier than expected.

“… Go bring a mirror. And let me know if you spot any procession heading towards the forest.”

Though curious about the reason for this sudden instruction, the subordinates just nodded without asking.

They refused to end up like their colleague writhing on the ground.

---

In this era, who among those setting out on a journey wouldn’t have ambitions, but at least among those coming from near the forest, there were none with excessive greed.

How could they have such guts when the chieftain of a neighboring tribe they had lived with until just yesterday was replaced, and respected and feared shamans had their heads cut off?

Most chose to accept Wendigo’s order and enjoy the abundance he distributed…

“Southern bumpkins might say strange things and the king might withdraw his grace.”

“Since when did they care about this land, we must stop them from causing trouble!”

To such people, guests coming from the south were irritating and unsettling like thorns in their eyes.

If they hadn’t tasted it, it might have been different, but to those who had tasted abundance, potential troublemakers who might provoke Wendigo were not at all welcome.

However, they couldn’t interfere with those responding to the king’s call without any justification.

Instead, when they met travelers, they found any reason to talk and warn them.

Fortunately, those invited by Wendigo were rarely very foolish.

At first, they might think they were being intimidated out of jealousy, but when every northern chieftain they met started warning them, even the dullest person would naturally notice.

However…

“Hmph, I can’t give up this good opportunity just because of that.”

“If a man is born and can’t harbor great dreams, it’s better to die!”

While those aiming for just a good position or slightly more profit than others easily gave up, those with their own ambitions found it not so easy.

Not because they were stupid, but because those with ambitions were generally more adventurous.

Bluntly put, how can one succeed by living like others?

Their ambitions didn’t bend at all despite the chieftains’ warnings. This didn’t change much even when they reached the forest palace.

The forest palace they arrived at, guided by wolf riders, was located deep in the sparsely populated forest, exuding a dreamlike atmosphere.

“To think there’s really a palace in this deep forest…”

“How on earth did they build such a palace in the forest? Moving materials must have been incredibly difficult.”

“Didn’t you see the house-sized cattle in the villages we passed? With such cattle, they could have moved materials quickly.”

Building in rough terrain was no ordinary feat.

Especially building a huge structure like a palace in the middle of a forest with almost no human presence was an absurd task that not only chieftains but even imperial nobles couldn’t easily attempt.

At most, they thought only elves living in the Western Great Forest could do such an outrageous thing…

As the palace doors opened, they entered inside, extremely tense.

Inside the palace, servants dressed in neat clothes were busily moving and working.

Such a clamorous reception when guests arrived was a discourteous treatment against etiquette, but no one could express dissatisfaction.

More than such trivial issues, their attention was captured by the aura of warriors wearing bone helmets standing like statues here and there.

A warrior who had been waiting for visitors approached them. He was in charge of guiding visitors as instructed from above.

“I will guide you to the audience hall, please follow.”

As the bone-helmeted warrior with a large build spoke, the visitors quietly observed the warriors and followed.

Those skilled in magic were surprised that the bone helmets were enchanted artifacts.

Warriors expressed respect by gauging their level through their extremely trained bodies and the scars engraved on them.

Those with power imagined these fellows attacking their domains and grimaced.

Of course, the chieftains who already knew of their existence weren’t greatly surprised. Noticing their calm demeanor, one chieftain approached and asked them:

“Do you know the identity of those fellows?”

“How could we not know? They’re as infamous as the wolf riders.”

While the Forest King’s direct vassals strictly managed the routes leading to the forest, they couldn’t control everyone.

Usually, it was those who committed crimes to avoid paying tolls or thieves who sneaked in targeting livestock raised by forest people, and they typically met their end encountering one of two fates.

The first was being caught by patrolling wolf riders and becoming wolf food, and the second was being slaughtered by bone-helmeted warriors chosen from each village.

“No. Why are those fellows exposing their upper bodies? From what I’ve heard, they could easily obtain armor if they wanted.”

One man expressed doubt. Others seemed not much different, nodding and agreeing with the man’s words.

At this, the one explaining about the bone-helmeted warriors burst into laughter, and those who knew the truth also chuckled together.

This is why southerners are bumpkins!

“That’s a kind of tradition showing their pride. Wearing a bone helmet is a sort of self-confidence that they can slaughter enemies even with bare bodies.”

In reality, the bone-helmeted warriors proved that their pride wasn’t just bluster by slaughtering criminals hiding in the forest with bare hands.

For a very brief moment, greed flickered in the eyes of those listening to the story.

If the story was true, the bone helmets they wore were clearly powerful artifacts.

Then doesn’t that mean one could gain great power by wearing those bone helmets? Or perhaps recruiting them…

“Out of concern, I’m telling you not to try any foolish tricks. There have been quite a few who died with their heads exploding for doing so.”

“Ahem, I had no such thoughts at all.”

As some of the warriors glared fiercely at the visitors, they hurriedly averted their gazes and abandoned their vain thoughts.

Shortly after, they arrived at the audience hall. As the huge doors opened, they faced those who had arrived first and were waiting in the audience hall.

The direct vassals who first bowed their heads to the Forest King, and the chieftains led by Milosi and Anton, were staring at them from near the throne in the audience hall.

The visitors noticed that they were the king’s close aides.

It was always the job of close aides to guard the ruler’s position.

Dario looked at them with eyes tinged with jealousy.

‘The spirit cleaned up the mess their fathers made, what’s so great about them?’

In Dario’s eyes, they just looked like disgustingly lucky bastards.

While his father was disgraced and lost his chieftain position for challenging without knowing his place, these fellows were living comfortably after being granted those positions by the spirit.

He felt his lips trembling with envy and blood vessels rising in his eyes.

Milosi gestured towards them with a friendly smile.

“It’s good to see familiar faces! How about coming this way to have an audience with the king?”

“Hohoho! It would be an honor for us if we could see the Forest King up close.”

Having fulfilled their duty to fellow northerners by warning how dangerous the Forest King was, the chieftains who accepted Wendigo’s order approached them with smiles as Milosi treated them warmly.

The two naturally divided groups began a battle of nerves, glaring at each other.

The faint-hearted swallowed dry saliva and trembled with anxiety at that fierce aura. In the tension that felt eternal, a loud-voiced servant shouted:

“The Forest King is entering! Everyone, show your respect!!!”

“!”

The visitors waited nervously for the Forest King to enter.

Their hearts pounded with excitement at finally facing the being they had only heard rumors about.

‘Get a grip. This is not the time to be dazed.’

Dario hurriedly changed his expression and corrected his posture.

He acted out the manly face he had prepared by looking in the mirror every day and straightened his posture like a well-forged sword.

Dario’s appearance, which had a strong impression of vileness, suddenly disappeared, and in its place stood a solid young man.

It was the human image that a spirit would like most, based on all the information gathered so far.

Whoosh!

“Wh-What!?”

“Doesn’t it seem… colder around here?”

The braziers warming the audience hall flickered in the cold wind, and an inexplicable chill settled in the audience hall.

The visitors muttered at the incomprehensible phenomenon, but the chieftains in front were calm.

One naturally becomes accustomed after experiencing such things several times.

The visitors stared ahead, extremely tense. Someone slowly began to reveal themselves.

A beauty with white hair and red eyes exuding an alien charm, and a middle-aged man with a stern face entered.

“Is that woman the Forest Witch we’ve heard rumors about?”

“There were also stories about a great shaman… isn’t she too young?”

“If the woman is the Forest Witch, then the man next to her must be Geron. Merchants said that the moment you get on his bad side, you can’t do anything in the forest…”

“You can feel the experience from his face. He’s clearly not someone to be underestimated.”

The two who instantly captured the visitors’ attention headed to either side of the throne. And the moment they took their positions, some of the visitors startled and screamed.

“Aaaagh!?”

“Guh!?”

“?”

At the extremely frivolous screams, the visitors were startled and glared at those responsible for the screams.

What kind of rudeness was this at such an important moment?

However, seeing their pale faces stretching their fingers forward, they reflexively followed behind the fingers.

There was the throne, and a black figure boasting a huge build…?

“Huh?”

The visitors felt their blood run cold.

The throne, which had been empty just moments ago, now had a huge being wrapped in pitch-black and ominous skin glaring at them.

As the deer skull with no hint of life opened its mouth, people bit their lips to suppress the screams trying to burst out.

“I express gratitude to the visitors who have come from afar. Welcome to my palace.”

A voice filled with great power resonated like thunder in the visitors’ ears. They found a hint to the monster’s identity in the voice.

My palace.

The visitors who realized the monster’s identity quickly sorted out their thoughts of persuading the other party for more profit.

And those burning with twisted ambitions like Dario all had the same thought:

‘It’s over.’

The hotly burning ambitions were extinguished.

Someone raised the corners of their mouth with a messy expression and burst into hollow laughter.

Did they really boast that they would persuade such a monster?

If they could turn back time, they felt like giving up an arm to go back.

---

As the visitors looked at him with expressions like they might stop breathing at any moment, Wendigo thought:

‘I got tense and power was imbued in my voice.’

As the atmosphere instantly turned chilly, Wendigo blamed himself for his mistake.

He thought it wasn’t polite to speak with mystery to people he had invited.

It wasn’t entirely wrong, but…

There was one fact that Wendigo, who hadn’t met anyone afraid of him recently, had forgotten:

He had forgotten that he was scary in his very existence, apart from his voice.

If he really didn’t want the visitors to be scared, he should have brought a huge cloth to cover his appearance.