Emperor of Steel

Chapter 351: The Dark Forest 2

“Is that the Melvin Valley?”

Luke stared at the valley that was in front of him.

The mist-filled valley was dark and unpleasant.

If Luke hadn’t decided to wipe out the Fairy Representatives, he would have never found out about that place.

“Master, was this place of the promised meet?”

“Yeah, the sneaky bastards are stuck in place, which is perfect for my body.”

At the response to Hwang Bo-sung’s question, Luke answered.

Luke had brought in the assassins led by Henry and Hwang Bo-sung as his escorts.

As his meet was a secret, he couldn’t bring in his general escorts.

Philip and the two demons were made aware of the secret and the situation. However, they were busy at the manor, so they couldn’t be asked to accompany Luke.

And honestly, the current number of men with Luke was enough to bring down the fairies.

‘If I bring out my dark magic and demonic power, no number of fairies can beat me.’

Luke had brought the escorts, not for his protection, but to prevent the fairies from running away.

It wasn’t a problem if they ran away, but if they chose to hide and keep spreading the rumors about Luke, then it would turn into a problem.

“I have come, Lord.”

Henry appeared in front of Luke.

He had arrived ahead of Luke and gathered information about their surroundings.

“Have you learned anything about Melvin Valley and the fairies?”

“Yes, people say there is a Dark Forest in the valley. That the evil spirits are alive in there and not to look in that direction, but recently, hundreds of fairies had entered there.”

“A forest with evil spirits…”

“If someone goes in, they either die or go crazy. I wonder if there was a warlock or a demon curse placed on it?”

Henry said, looking at Luke’s face.

It was because Henry thought that Luke might know since he has a demon slave.

However, Luke didn’t respond.

It was because it wasn’t just two or three forests or valley on the continents that were rumored to be homes for evil spirits or ghosts.

There were so many of such rumors around.

For the nobles to hide their gold and treasures, they would chose a forest and hide their money and make up such rumors to stop people from going in and finding their money.

The humans were placed in there and asked to dress up as monsters such as trolls or bandits to scare away the humans.

“If there really was such a curse over there, all those fairies in there would have been dead or gone insane.”

“Yes, I know the story isn’t so reliable, but that is the only side of the story I could gather.”

“A story?” Asked Luke.

“The current Volga Republic president, Vladimir, was hiding in the Melvin Valley during the Republican revolution. The Volga knights were dispatched to find the man and catch him. However, the troops, which went into the Dark Forest, never came back.”

It wasn’t just that, the royal wizard and the strongest knights also disappeared.

“Kamarov and Kawin—the knight and the royal wizard of the royal family—were very skilled. It was after they had disappeared that the chart had leaned over for the revolution’s side,” said Henry.

“Hmm, I guess there was a trap placed at that time.”

The head of their troops was used as a bait and the troops had prepared a trap in advance.

“I looked around before lord came, and there are dark elves on every street.”

Henry had given up on trying to get inside the Dark Forest.

Normally, he was cautious, but the borders of the forest were guarded by dark elves who were known for their senses.

“Master, what are you going to do? Would you still go ahead?” Asked Hwang Bo-sung, who listened to the story.

Luke was feeling troubled.

He had ignored the rumors about the forest but was worried that the Volga guards had gone missing.

In addition, the dark and unpleasant energy he was sensing from the valley was annoying.

“We will enter for now. If there are any problems, we can get out of there.”

Luke handed out the scrolls he had prepared in advance in case of an emergency.

With utmost care, they all headed to Melvin Valley.

Soon after, Luke’s party had arrived at the entrance of Melvin Valley.

Luke walked into the forest that was filled with mist.

He sensed an insignificant energy ahead of them.

Hwang Bo-sung, who had realized the change, hurried to Luke’s side to protect him.

“Lord! Be careful. This one seems very skilled.”

“It is fine. It is someone I know.”

Luke, who assured Hwang Bo-sung, went ahead.

And the person who was lurking in the front began to emerge.

“What are you doing in this place, Arch Duke?”

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking you that. Why are you here?”

The person who appeared there was Arch Duke Gregory of the Holy Empire.

He was leading 11 knights. 2 of them were Sword Masters and the rest were top-level experts.

The power that could be sensed from them was like an iron wall with no holes. It was like a divine group.

“The fairy wizard called Nanas said that she would reveal the secrets of the others.”

“So you too received a letter?”

At the question from Luke, Arch Duke Gregory frowned.

“Did Nanas send an intimidating letter to you, too?” Asked Luke.

“She said that if you don’t come to this place, I will be revealing the true identity of the pope.”

According to Gregory, rumors surrounding Reina were circulating around Bless before the letter had reached them.

“There was a rumor saying that the pope was not an angel nor a princess of another nation. It was quite on point. The reality about her would be spread all over.”

Gregory knew that Reina wasn’t an angel and that she appeared in the Holy Empire as an unexpected accident.

However, since he believed that she was God’s servant, his loyalty had never faded.

The problem was that the rumor could be politically used by those who were dissatisfied with Reina.

“If the rumors intensify, people will ask for the pope to testify.”

‘Why wasn’t this reported to me?!’

Luke wanted to ask that, but Argos must have already known.

However, because of his keen interest in the Baroque Empire and his role in its current civil war, he was pushed to the background.

And there was a report that came in when Luke was about to leave for Melvin Valley, but he chose not to listen to it.

“Well, a letter came in in the midst of it all. It said that the concrete evidence would spread if I didn’t come here,” said Gregory, staring at Luke.

“You too got a letter from Nanas saying something about some concrete evidence about you. The Holy Pope’s actual fiancée.”

“An opposite rumor.”

“Right. Just before leaving the Holy Empire, I received another report. A strange rumor from the Baroque Empire.”

Gregory, who said that, stared at Henry and Hydra.

They were still overwhelmed with the presence of Arch Duke Gregory, who was like a life-sucking monster.

‘It can’t…!’

Luke, who was nervously thinking about the situation, sensed something again.

Another popular person had made an appearance that piqued the interest of Luke and Gregory.

Dark elf warriors made their appearance.

“You have come. Elder Nanas is waiting for you.”

The dark elf, who came out, was Hyrun.

He was acting stiffer than before and soon turned his back.

“Well, anyway, we’ll talk about the rumor later.”

“… Okay.”

Arch Duke Gregory followed Hyrun.

Luke, who followed the man, sighed.

He came all the way here to calm the rumors down, but it didn’t seem like he could end the fairy representatives anymore.

‘Did they see through everything and called us both?’

He had an ominous feeling that he would be fighting against Gregory.