The Dark Forest

Year 2850 | Month 12 | Day 15

Adalwolf’s flaming eyes dim as he focuses his senses on the distant edge of the Inner Ring, where he senses multiple forces moving about. Each setting up their own things.

One force belonging to the Baron Adalwolf saw as the one with the most potential out of the nobles besides the destruction magician, one belonging to the metal affinity magician, and lastly, one belonging to his own son. Nathan Fox.

He can’t help but feel amused as he watches the three skirt around each other, two of them just barely not making the third aware of their presence. As Baron Crimson’s forces slowly go about setting bombs scattered through the valleys marking the border of the inner ring. And while the forces belonging to Nathan place small black devices in the ground that makes Adalwolf’s amusement grow all the more.

This is going to be fun to watch.

Adalwolf taps his bony finger on the throne he’s sitting on within his dark treant. Then he focuses on the forces belonging to Baron Cavendish, who are simply setting up defenses on the border of the inner ring. Likely preparing to place the war there instead of within either the inner or outer rings.

Which doesn’t surprise Adalwolf in the least. Because them picking a spot for the war to occur is to their benefit rather than directly attacking Nathan head on.

But at the same time, it also makes it so that the nobles’ forces can’t take Nathan’s people hostage against him.

Not that Adalwolf would let them. His successor needs people to rule after all. And he can’t have all of them being slaughtered.

This way it also means that Adalwolf won’t have to interfere.

Although if his successor is captured in the end, he will likely have to free Nathan’s parents from the cranky doctor. Otherwise he’ll never be able to see them again before they pass away from old age.

And he doesn’t want a broken successor.

Adalwolf continues tapping his throne for a bit before looking at the kingdom as a whole.

From what he can sense, Baron Cavendish isn’t the only noble making their own preparations right now. There’s also Baroness Nightshade, who is currently preparing a mass summoning spell. Seemingly attempting to set it up right beneath where the battlefield should be.

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Adalwolf studies the spell for a few moments and soon figures out that it’s meant to turn the dead fallen there into undead.

Then there’s Baroness Helmuth, who is also setting up a large spell around the valleys. An illusion that hasn’t been activated just yet. A dormant one.

The King of the Dead feels a little surprised when he sees Baron Cavendish arriving personally though. Since the man arrives and quickly begins to build entire fortresses straight out of the ground and foundations laid by his forces using his spells. Pure metal fortresses with nothing else within them.

But the last of the five barons doesn’t appear to be doing anything. Baron Vorsh, the poison affinity magician.

A basic affinity that the king has little interest in due to its lack of any sort of effect on the dead. Like his successor.

Adalwolf continues watching, soon resting his face on his bony fist, feeling a little excited about watching this war go down. Because either side could win.

But Adalwolf still feels confident in his son to win this war.

There are only two ways he currently sees that could lead to his son’s defeat.

One being that the destruction affinity magician or one of the other nobles decides to join the fray.

The other being that the spell the barons concocted so quickly actually manages to trap his son. Which he doubts, but could theoretically be possible.

He continues watching as all of the players in this war make their own preparations, some making preparations for betrayal and others even meeting with others behind the others backs.

And to make the situation even more interesting to the king, all of the other nobles are paying attention to this. Not a single one isn’t focusing on it.

Some are jumping in themselves to turn the tide one way or another, meddling in some way. Others are just watching in silence to see what happens.

Some want to see what the fuss is about and to see if the immortal truly is immortal or not.

And a few even want to use this to get rid of the barons.

Adalwolf wishes he could grin, but he doesn’t have a face to grin with. Even so, he knows he won’t be taking his attention off of this war until the moment it ends.

For now though, it’s only just beginning.

So he takes his attention away from the last minute preparations everyone is making to focus on the events going on in the outside world. Away from the Kingdom of the Fallen, on the mainland.

Where the war over there has reached a critical point. One shifting from a battle of attrition using the soldiers of the two forces to focusing solely on Class B and higher magicians.

The magicians who didn’t flat out refuse to work with the leaders, that is.

To no one’s surprise, much less Adalwolf’s, the people started revolting against the leaders at some point. With the magicians joining the sides of the Class S magicians who had already left the conflict. Using them as their protection against the leaders of the conflict.

But despite all of this, the war over there doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon. Since both Artorius and Leodmir are still using their hit and run tactics, each trying to catch the other off guard instead of doing full frontal assaults.

Adalwolf genuinely wonders if Artorius is right in the head. Since the man completely ruined any chance he had of raising the Republic to further power.

Instead he’s ruined the nation, bringing it down nearly to the levels of the other nations on the continent.

The king continues tapping his fingers on his throne for a few minutes before deciding to wait for the right moment to free Nathan’s parents from the doctor.

But he won’t tell Nathan that.