"Princess, maybe it'd be better if we tell the lord the truth?" said Parzival.
"No." The princess shook her head. "Didn't Uncle Carlos tell us what would happen if the state of the king's health is revealed to the public?"
General Carlos, the retired general and close friend of His Majesty, strictly told them to keep this secret under wraps. He was afraid that the moment the power?hungry nobles learned of this, there would be civil war.
Although the curse running through the blood of the royal family was an open secret among nobilities, the exact state King Alvis' current health hadn't been disclosed to most nobles.
To the anti?royal faction, a king on his deathbed was nothing but an unmoving target. They would definitely plot schemes to worsen the disease and stop any attempts at finding the cure. The princess wanted to avoid this from happening at all costs.
"But maybe if it's Lord Lark—the hero who valiantly fought for the Kingdom against the Empire," Parzival said carefully. "Maybe he'll understand? There's a limit on what we can accomplish with just our number."
A princess. Her five knights.
With just the six of them, it'd be near impossible to thoroughly comb even a portion of the forest. This was why they requested the Lord of Blackstone Town to let them accompany the expedition. If they were with the soldiers and the Blackstone Knights, then they wouldn't need to worry about the princess' safety at the very least. They could also discreetly task the soldiers to report to them if they saw a certain flower in the forest, although this carried the risk of being found out by the Lord of Blackstone Town later on.
"I can't trust him," she said. "For now, we'll proceed with the search with just the six of us."
Parzival had heard stories regarding Lark Marcus from his former instructor, Mikael. Unlike the princess, he knew that the bad rumors surrounding the noble were groundless. He knew that Lark was a virtuous ruler despite his notorious reputation. Even Instructor Mikael doubted the reason why Lark was thrown away to this town by his own father.
But he couldn't go against the princess' wish. As the leader of her personal knights, Parzival decided to obey.
"Yes, Princess." Parzival bowed his head. "I'll make preparations right away."
Parzival and the knights spent an entire day gathering the necessary supplies for their search of the flower in the Endless Forest. At least two weeks' worth of rations, a portable camp, potions, armors and weapons.
They also managed to rent a mule from one of the visiting merchants.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, their group gathered at the Eastern District, near the entrance of the Endless Forest. The mule carried their supplies and the princess, while the knights—armed to the teeth—stood beside it.
"We're being watched," said Parzival.
He noticed that the moment they entered the Eastern District, a few soldiers started following them from a distance. An official from Blackstone Town definitely tasked the soldiers to monitor them.
How nosy.
The princess clicked her tongue. "Tomas."
Tomas, the most proficient in magic among the knights, nodded his head. "Yes, Princess."
"Erase our presence," she said.
Tomas channeled mana into his bracer. The gem embedded in the magic tool glowed and mist started enveloping the area. Like a mirage, the images of the princess and her knights distorted then vanished. The soldiers watching them from a safe distance were dumbfounded at this. They immediately reported to the captain that they'd lost track of the group.
*** Lark received the reports of his men. The princess still went inside the forest despite his refusal to let her take part in the expedition.
Although she was accompanied by the knights, he couldn't help but worry. She was a royal, after all. And she was entrusted to him by His Majesty in the pretext of learning the culture of this part of the Kingdom.
Should anything happen to her, it would cause an uproar.
"Young Lord?" Captain Qarat got down on one knee. "I should have personally monitored the princess. This is clearly my blunder? Please allow me to enter the forest with the soldiers and bring her back?"
For a moment, the image of Captain Qarat's overlapped with Anandra's.
This guy—he was starting to sound like his first disciple as time went by. Lark glanced at Anandra, who stood silently next to his table, then at the captain.
The knights seemed to have used some unusual magic to shake off the tail. Even if the captain was there personally, Lark doubted if he could trace the princess' footsteps. The captain was decent in leading his men, but he was no magician like Lark, nor was he a natural?born fighter like Anandra.
"Lord," Anandra spoke. "Just give the order and I'll immediately bring the princess back to Blackstone Town."
Lark shook his head. "No. It's fine. Captain Qarat, the training of the recruits is going to start soon. You should go back to the arena."
There were over a hundred new soldiers in Blackstone Town. Just like the veterans, they would undergo daily stamina training, mastery of the basic movements of the spear, and actual combat practice with the humanoids in the arena. Even now, only Anandra was capable of defeating the humanoid basilisks at their full strength. But he'd heard that Captain Qarat and several soldiers were now capable of landing a few hits on them.
This clearly showed that his soldiers were growing stronger by each passing day. There would come a time when they would finally be worthy of wielding the magic spears Lark was secretly creating in the basement of the mansion. Giving them those weapons now would hinder their growth, and Lark wanted to avoid this from happening at all costs.
"Yes, Young Lord." The captain stood up and lowered his head.
"And forget the princess' disappearance," said Lark. "Maybe it's better this way. She's a princess of this Kingdom. We can't really stop her from entering the forest if she's that determined."
After dismissing the captain and Anandra, Lark immediately activated the surveillance crystal. He gave an order to the familiars gathered throughout the entire region. More than a dozen birds immediately flew toward the mansion and entered Lark's office through the window. Lark tied communication crystals on several of them, before ordering them to fly toward the Endless Forest. He ordered them to search for the princess and her men.
They disappeared not long ago, so they should still be nearby. Lark expected to find them in just a few hours, but to his surprise, he could not find even a trace of them after several hours. It was already night when Lark finally found them through the light coming from the campfire. The group had set up camp near the Rile River.
The raven controlled by Lark flew down and landed on the branch of a nearby tree. He watched and listened to the group below using the communication crystal tied around the raven's body.
"Princess, dinner's ready," said one of the knights.
The princess accepted the bowl filled with hot soup. Large portions of meat floated on top of it.
"Thank you," she said. Her entire body was clad in a thick cloak.
"Tomas, the defensive spells?" said Parzival.
"They're working just fine. We'll be safe from projectiles and sudden attacks as long as we're inside this camp."
After looking carefully, Lark saw an inconspicuous circle surrounding the entire camp. It was probably the demarcation point of the protection spell Tomas had cast.
"We'll be taking turns guarding the camp," said Parzival. "We'll take shifts every four hours. Noctus and I will be in charge of guarding the camp until an hour past midnight."
The rest of the knights nodded. "Understood?"
Lark noticed that the knights removed all of their traces. Unless one was nearby, it'd be hard to even notice the glowing campfire. This definitely meant that the knights were well?trained and competent, but it also meant that it would be hard for Lark to send help in times of peril. Just locating them in the middle of this forest would be a pain.
"Parzival."
"Yes, Princess?"
"Thank you," she said softly. "And the other knights too. I'm really grateful that all of you came here with me today."
The knights froze upon hearing this. Slowly, smiles formed on their faces. They had been watching over the princess since she was young. She was one of the kindest souls they'd known throughout their lives.
"This much is natural, Princess," said Parzival. "We are your knights.
We'll help you find that flower, no matter what."
"The leader is right, Your Highness."
Lark finally found a lead to what the princess was looking for.
A flower? She entered the forest to find a certain flower?
The princess nodded. Her eyes glistened, she bit her lower lip, and nodded with determination. "We'll immediately resume our search tomorrow at dawn. We'll cover each as area as planned. We'll come back to the town only once we've consumed our rations, then start with the search once again. We're not giving up until we find it?"
"Yes, Princess?" Her knights responded resolutely.
Lark continued observing the group even after the princess entered the portable tent and fell asleep. Unfortunately, no conversations regarding the flower occurred after that. Lark did not have any idea what kind of flower they were looking for in the Endless Forest. He also did not know why they were desperately looking for it in the first place.
Before going to sleep, Lark ordered a few of his familiars to follow the group from a safe distance. He left the channel connecting the familiars to the vision crystal open. He decided to watch over them again once they started moving out first thing in the morning.
*** The next several days were uneventful.
The princess and her knights had gone deep into the forest but were still unable to find what they were looking for.
Fortunately, there had been no monster attacks to their group. Aside from the recent incident of a snake hidden in the shrubberies almost biting the princess, their search for the flower had gone without hitch or strife.
On the third day of observing the princess' group, Lark finally found out the name of the flower they were looking for.
The Tears of Ubroxia.
To think that he would hear that name from the knight's mouth.
It was one of the healing methods he revealed to Silver Claw back then, when he was desperate for someone to heal his daughter.
Unfortunately, Lark doubted they would find the flower even if they searched the entire forest for it. The Tears of Ubroxia grew only in mana?
dense areas: the lower floors of great labyrinths, underneath mana wells, lairs of dragons, and any other areas connected to the Dragon ?ein below.
Even if they searched for a year, they might not find the flower in this forest. After all, the amount of ambient mana in this region was mediocre. It was simply unsuitable for the Tears of Ubroxia's to grow.
"A waste of time."
Lark arrived at this conclusion. He heard that a dragon was guarding the borders of the Dwarven Kingdom. They would probably have a higher chance of finding the flower near that dragon's lair, since those prideful creatures frequently resided in mana?dense areas.
They could also dive to the lower floors of a great labyrinth and try their luck, but they would surely suffer numerous casualties in the process, and there was no guarantee that the strong monsters residing on the lower floors hadn't already eaten the flower.
The last and safest option was to find a place connected to the Dragon ?ein below. Or, if the Goddess of Luck smiled upon them, a mana well. It had the highest chance for an Ubroxia to grow and bloom into a flower.
There was also the question of whether or not the Tears of Ubroxia was enough to heal His Majesty.
"The king is ill, huh?" Lark mumbled as he continued watching the group through the vision crystal.
He still hadn't learned what kind of illness struck the king of this country. But based on the conversation of the knights and the princess, His Majesty only had a few years to live, hence his issuance of the decree for the competition for the throne.
Lark remembered the king who appointed him as the Commander of the Third Army. Despite the opposition from the other nobles, the king did not waver in his beliefs and appointed Lark to lead the Kingdom's soldiers in a battle which would determine the fate of the entire country.
Although the king was no genius tactician, nor was he a great magician, he was a benevolent ruler who truly loved the Kingdom. Lark found it a waste for such a kind monarch to succumb to his death due to an illness.
Unfortunately, Lark was unable to glean any further information regarding the king's illness from the conversations of the princess and her men.