Late Evening - Late Spring : Kingdom of Zan

- Lawton Keen ~

The huge snake looked at me briefly before looking at the other two cobras still flailing around.

Taking my chance to back away while it looked away, I started retreating at full speed.

Once at the edge of the clearing again, I looked back and saw the huge snake glance at me before setting its head back down.

-Its.. ignoring me?-

I was sweating profusely and my heart was beating out of my chest. My breathing was rough and I felt drained of energy even though after I killed the two cobras, I was still full of vigor.

Being a safe distance away, I stabbed my sword into the ground and sat down to catch my breath.

-Well.. I guess we're going around..-

My original plan was to run out here and clear the monsters out so we wouldn't need to take a long detour, but now we didn't have much of a choice anymore.

I looked back up towards the middle of the clearing. There was an ominous orange glow from the middle.

-How long has in been since I was so scared that I actually ran..-

That snake, although definitely not what made the clearing, was the strongest monster I'd ever seen, and something I definitely couldn't handle.

-A Nation Rank monster..-

A class of monsters forgotten by common folk.

They were creatures so rare, only a few would be seen every hundred years on the entire continent. They were creatures capable of destroying kingdoms on a whim and slaughtering nation rank adventurers like a force of nature.

It was something I had never seen or experienced before. I believed they were just myths and legends...

*Crunch*

Hearing the distant noise of bones being crushed, I looked up and saw the huge orange snake biting down on one of the cobras.

It bit through the scales and bones of the cobra as if they weren't even there, whereas my sword.. took some effort.

-Well I guess I should thank my lucky stars that I'm alive..- The only reason I made it out alive was simply because it ignored me.

"Are you alright Sir?!" The scout that brought me here came running out of the forest and up to me.

"I'm fine, just.. had a close call." I slowly stood up realizing I should probably let the convoy know of the plan going forward. "Lets head back to camp, I've got some.. not great news.."

Hearing things didn't go well, the scouts face shifted to concern. "R..right away sir.."

Following him through the forest, we started heading back to camp. -The camp should be far enough away.. Hopefully we shouldn't have to move it..-

Once I got there, I saw various lights set up with tons of empty tents.

Everyone was socializing or eating over where they were fixing the soup.

Not being able to see any of the other scouts or captains, I walked up to the chef.

"Chef, do you know where the other scouts and captains are?

With me startling him, he quickly yet politely bowed. "Welcome back Sir Keen. The scouts went to the intelligence tent to eat and talk with the captains. They said they were old adventuring buddies."

"Oh, I didn't know they knew each other. Well, do you mind if I get a bowl?"

"O..Of course Sir!" He hastily picked up a bowl and carefully poured a few spoonfuls of soup into it.

"Thank you." Giving a light nod as courtesy, I started walking over to the intelligence tent.

Just before I walked in, I heard someone running up behind me.

"Hm?" I turned around and saw a young, blond hair, blue eyed human woman running up to me.

She was incredibly good looking and her beaming smile as she ran up just added to it. "Sir Keen!" She finally made it to me and gave a deep bow. "I'm sorry to interrupt your business, but.. would it be possible for me to help you by cleaning your armor for you?"

"..." I looked down at my armor and just now realized I was covered in blood. -I guess it does need to be cleaned..-

Although I was slightly worried about something happening to it, the armor I was currently wearing wasn't my armor in the first place. It was actually just armor I was told to wear because it signified rank, it was a shiny silver metal with a golden royal crest on it, but the royal crest was currently covered in blood.

Figuring it'd be best if I at least cleaned the chestpiece to show off Kaelallan's crest, I stabbed my sword into the ground and took off my chest armor.

Once I finally got it off I looked over at the female knight and noticed her face was fully flushed red. "Are you alright?"

"Y..yes sir!" She gave an awkward bow.

Figuring it'd be best not to question it, I handed her my chestplate. "Here, I will be in the intelligence tent for a bit so you can take your time with it."

"Right away sir! Please enjoy your meal!"

Picking up my soup bowl I had balanced on my sword hilt and pulling out my sword, I pushed aside the cloth to the tent and walked in. -Ill never understand women..-

Inside the tent, everyone was staring at me in silence.

"Well let's get to business quickly, what did all of you scouts find?" I walked to the edge of the table and sat down.

"Well.. nothing actually, a concerning amount of nothing."

"Yeah, we didn't see so much as a rodent or insect for nearly 10km in any direction ahead of us."

"Haah.." -Great.. just what we needed..- "Well a short way in front of us there is a huge clearing. In the clearing were two pretty huge Cobras which I promptly took care of, but I couldn't take care of the other monster there."

Everyone was too nervous to say anything in case it seemed like they were questioning a superior's strength, something extremely taboo in knighthood.

The only one to break the silence was Captain Coleman. "So what's our plan moving forward then?"

I thought for a moment before thinking it'd be better to hear some other ideas. "We will need to take a detour around it. Any suggestions?"

I looked around as no one wanted to speak up.

"Scouts? You were the ones to check the surrounding area, what do you think we should do?"

One of the scouts with a younger and smaller build spoke up nervously. "S..sir.. If I may?"

"Go ahead." I leaned back and ate some of my soup.

"I..If the monster was something even Sir Keen couldn't handle.." He nervously glanced at me. "Then I think we should take a long detour to be careful.. I think it'd be smarter to delay our arrival plans by a few hours rather than risking the safety of the whole convoy."

The other captains and scouts were stunned and in awe that the boy mentioned the monster being stronger than me as it could be seen as ‘questioning my strength’.

A smile crept on to my face as I looked him in the eyes. "I like the way you think. Well, we will go with that plan for now. We will leave before sunrise so everyone go and get some rest! Ah and before you go, be sure to make the necessary preparations with your battalions. We won't be making any more stops before Zan's capital."

"Right away sir!" Coleman gave a bow and left me alone in the tent.

I leaned back in my chair and sipped on my soup. -I should think of a name for that monster..-