Chương 220: Feral Noble Against My Civilised Knight Self

I am not aware of any deep history about the Northern Wildlands, but I would presume that it wasn't always the way it is today. Something must have happened for an entire region to become so profoundly flooded with negativity–The weirdest part wasn't the negative energy, but the negative emotions. From what I had learned, negative emotions weren't supposed to just be all over the place like this, and they certainly shouldn't behave like proper negative energy, yet… They were doing exactly that here.

Both of the yummy snacks were hanging thickly in the air and seemingly rising out of the soil itself. Speaking of the soil, it was charged with dire amounts of negativity as well. Just standing upon it was nourishing me greatly–It made me wonder what would happen if I actually focused on inhaling all of it. Right now, I was only absorbing all this stuff because I just so happened to be drowning in it. I wasn't actually trying to drain anything.

However, I felt like if I started actively absorbing all of this good stuff, that it would cause something akin to an air displacement, or perhaps something like unclogging the drain of a bathtub filled with water. My current companions would probably feel it by sheer force of the fact that the energy was simply that thick in the air. I was going to wait a little before doing something like this… For now, I was seeking to play matchmaker with Nara.

My little sister clearly had an affinity for such activities, considering that she was constantly trying to push me toward getting in a relationship with either Mari or Leou–Actually, Nara had straight-up switched over to trying to get me with both at the same time. … She wasn't very subtle about it, but I don't think she was trying to be.

"Alright, according to the map, there is a nest of Red Dire Wolves this way–It isn't the greatest, but their fangs and hide are quite valuable" The bunny was gloriously unaware that his four usual companions were absolutely seething due to the fact that I was standing a bit too close to him for their liking. Apparently, they just looked very focused to him.

Usually, I would definitely find such cluelessness to be quite irritating coming from a man, but I guess the rabbitfolk somehow managed to strike an odd balance that makes his denseness look endearing instead of annoying. It was like he genuinely couldn't fathom the concept of his fellows having affection for him. It only made trying to shove them all together more entertaining… For now, I merely followed the motions of the group as we all headed to what looked like a large boulder protruding from the ground.

The rocky structure was several times taller than I was, but it was actually mostly hollow and served as a home to the beasts the bunny had mentioned. Unfortunately, none of the creatures was anywhere to be seen. Only the remains of dry patches of blood with fur stuck in them were to be found. The Red Dire Wolves had been eliminated by something else some time ago.

It was certainly a bit worrisome for these rookie adventurers, but from what I had heard, it wasn't actually that weird for common hunting grounds to sometimes be empty due to predators having swept through the place beforehand. The Wildlands were a dangerous place, and it was far from uncommon for certain areas to become momentarily uninhabited as creatures moved from place to place or certain predators went overkill with their hunting…

Now that I knew how much this place sweated negativity, it made sense that creatures here would tend to be more aggressive and needlessly violent. Their unrefined minds could be swiftly thrown asunder by uncontrollable mood swings in such an environment. It didn't seem to affect sapients all that much, as even when the group went through areas with high concentrations of specific kinds of negative emotions, they didn't act or behave out of character.

I suppose the negative energy and such are closely associated with the 'curse' of the feral mind. From what I could tell, there was no actual curse involved, just some sort of nebulous influence that I had no clue what it could be about… … Do you detect any other kind of energy, Nara?

None whatsoever, I can't tell exactly what the source of this feral infection thing is, but it certainly had something to do with the abnormal quantity and concentration of negative energy and negative emotions in everything It's a bit weird that I didn't hear about this beforehand. Negative energy is an uncommon kind of energy that not all mages would be able to recognise, but any energy manipulator would be able to tell that there was something present in great quantity, right?

Or was I only noticing because of my affinity? It is true that I could only sense it after I stepped into the Northern Wildlands, so perhaps this odd concealment is even stronger for others, and they can't tell at all that something is off? Anyway… Nara, which one of those girls should we get started with? I say that the catfolk seem like the simplest of the bunch. As Nara and I were plotting, the rabbitfolk spoke up again.

"Well… The next best thing is the Human-Eyed Eagle. There should be a few nests nearby" He was more focused on making this first trip worth the hassle–I didn't know much about him or his team beyond what was obvious, but the bunny probably hoped to make some money out of this. If it were just a first look to get comfortable with the area, he wouldn't be so quick to try to find something to kill. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. As for his girl friends…

They weren't big talkers at all. I didn't know if this was just how they normally were, or if my presence had made them go silent, but since the rabbitfolk weren't saying anything about this, I guessed that they weren't the sort to talk a lot. Four women in one team, and they barely talked at all? Just how laser-focused were they on Mister Bunny?

We reached a wooded area with trees riddled with bird nests, but once again, there was no sign of life, only traces of a bloody confrontation, this time including deep claw marks left in the trunks of trees.

"Damn… Maybe we should leave early, it looks like something nasty was around not too long ago, it might still be patrolling the area" The rabbitfolk felt something was off. He began exchanging with his soon-to-be lovers as I walked closer to the trees–My instincts for food were telling me that there was something of interest hidden behind one of the trees, and surely enough, there was indeed something.

Lying with his back against a tree, the corpse of what seemed to have been a fully fur-covered foxfolk was to be found. It looked like he had been killed by being struck by something blunt and launched straight into the tree. I grabbed his snout to get a better look, and… Yep, looks like broken ribs punctured his lungs, and he suffocated right in the same spot he had landed in. More importantly, though… His body heat had not yet completely vanished.

I grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged the corpse as I rejoined the group, dropping it to the ground.

"By the gods…" The crowfolk narrowed her eyes, kneeling to get a better look at the cadaver's face.

"Crap, isn't this the scout of Junpern's team?"

"Ssssshit, it isss…"

"We need to get the hell out of here. If Junpern's team ran into some problems, we are in deep trouble!" The coyotefolk stepped close to the bunny like she was going to guard him with her body. Meanwhile, the catfolk didn't say anything, but she looked around frantically. I have no clue who Junpern is, but the foxfolk did not seem all that durable.

Whatever killed him wasn't absurdly powerful, but I suppose that if Junpern and his team were skilled adventurers, it meant that the thing had still managed to claim a victim from them, which was perhaps a bit worrisome.

"Let's stay focused, alright? We need to stay calm and conserve our energy in case of an encounter. Until then, we'll simply walk back toward the border" He instructed the coyotefolk to focus on using their noses to smell anything that might try to approach, the catfolk to stay close to her canine fellow, since she would be more focused on detecting than defending. The crowfolk was to use her mana senses to do the same thing, but with the snakefolk guarding her.

Turns out he was actually quite good at being the team leader. He just didn't know what to tell me. I just gave him a thumbs up. Don't worry, buddy, I won't let any of you die until I get to see your girl friends turned into girlfriends. We began heading back, slowly but carefully, basically sneaking to the best of our capabilities in what was essentially a wide-open plain with only a few trees and rocks breaking the view. We were still on the outskirts of the Northern Wildlands, after all.

The landscape only diversified deeper in. Mmh… I made a sudden movement, stretching out my arm to grab something out of the air. The speed and momentum made me take a step back, but the bone spear in my grasp stopped completely. Had I reacted a few moments later, the crowfolk would have had a hole in her lower back.

Guttural howls pierced through the air as humanoid creatures popped out from their hiding spots, some had been buried in the soil, and others had merely been hiding behind objects large enough to completely conceal their form. We were surrounded.

"Damn it! Wildfolks aren't supposed to be so close to the border…" The rabbit grasped his sword firmly as a collection of feral humanoids circled us. They weren't all of the same species. Some were beastfolks, some were demons, and some were humans. This definitely wasn't a typical occurrence. They should be at each other's throats normally. They were wearing roughly-made clothes that only covered the essentials, and even then, it wasn't always the case. Their teeth were a warped mixture of human-like and bestial.

Their eyes wide-open with intense killing intent… The one who had launched the bone spear pushed through some of his fellows, throwing them to the ground. He easily stood taller than me, and actually wore some pants, which he had probably stolen somewhere else. His hair and beard were a mess. In general, he was disgustingly hairy, but he wasn't different only in height and attire. He carried himself with less of a feral disposition, though he still snarled and growled.

"Miss Knight… I think we were extremely unlucky. I think this thing is a Lord…" The bunny spoke up, and I understood. I didn't think I would actually meet one of those things, but I did hear of them during my education. This ugly thing wasn't a 'Lord' in the sense of the nobility title or of a position it had earned. It was born with greater potential and an innate authority over other creatures, and especially members of its own kind.

It made sense why Wildfolks would be so close to the border in this case, Lords were usually smarter, so it probably realised that it was safer here, or it has delusions of grandeur and wants to fight the adventurers and kingdom of Heldinot over this territory. It definitely doesn't know anything beyond the few adventurers it might have met, so it wouldn't be too weird if it truly believed that it could wrench control here. Welp… Today is a bad day to be an unkempt, unwashed bastard.

Here I was thinking that my next noble victim would be Lunovis. I spun the bone spear in my grasp as I took a casual step forward, clenching the makeshift weapon in my grasp as I forcefully manifested steel inside of it. … The idiots behind me better not get themselves killed, I want my matchmaking to be complete!