Chapter 104: Puppeteer Forest

And although there was no clear evidence, the mention of the leading man by Savor, with his gray long hair and mask, along with the green giant snake with some special bloodline that the Little Dragon Daughter thought would greatly benefit the Snow Wing, made it hard for Vilyric not to make some targeted associations.

Sylvester Burwell, the summoning alchemist.

This guy has a snake pattern tattooed on the back of his hand, and according to Miss Edith, the Guardian of the Kingdom, he is likely a worshipper of the World-devouring Serpent Ymir.

Moreover, based on Oliver’s testimony, he is the real mastermind behind the Ghost Thieves incident. If nothing goes wrong, the previous magical beast riot outside Clovis Town, and even the God’s Gem (fragment) that Vilyric has been carrying for a long time, might be related to him.

Although Vilyric had already unintentionally thwarted this summoning alchemist’s several plans, to be honest, she still wasn’t clear about what this guy actually wanted or sought.

He had the ability to create artifacts of such a high level as spirit tools, yet he remained unknown, hiding in the shadows, avoiding engagement with public powers. The dark god worshipper that Philena was chasing might have been Sylvester, but the latter just chose to retreat, eventually making his way to the northern territory of the kingdom.

He commanded the Ghost Thieves to steal Noviya Moonshadow, known as the Source of Magic, from the magical beasts, yet it seemed he simply locked her up in the Sealing Box without caring about her. When the Ghost Thieves were decimated and Noviya was rescued, this guy didn’t even show his face.

Now, even suspicion of Sylvester’s activities is surfacing within the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, making it difficult not to be concerned and curious.

Wait… Including that notebook from Aileen…

Could it have come from this guy? Is Sylvester Burwell a traveler from another world?!

If that’s the case, then it’s reasonable for him to easily craft equipment above the spirit tool standard and possess such mysterious means, after all, Vilyric herself is a typical example.

But… it still doesn’t quite add up; there are some parts that can’t be explained.

Vilyric turned her head to look at the blue-gray giant wolf who was running nearby beside a pack of mountain wolves.

“Aiste, are there any stronger but not overly conspicuous races nearby?”

“Huh?!”

Taken aback by this oddly specific search range, the not-so-smart Mage Wolf ran while pondering, finally shouting out against the rushing wind.

“Lady Vilyric, I don’t quite understand what you mean!”

“…”

Well, conversing like this is indeed a bit cumbersome. The Priestess gave a pat to the back of the mountain wolf underneath her and gestured for everyone to pause, then jumped down to sit beside Aiste, who was crouching in her magical wolf form.

“I mean, like this mountain wolf pack, a type with few members but quite a few strong individuals. Is there anything like that along this route?”

Fearing that this might still be hard to understand, Vilyric even voluntarily opened the map she had in hand, displaying the route she had marked ahead with a charcoal pencil to Aiste.

“Oh… now I get it, but why is Lady Vilyric looking for such a group? Shouldn’t our main priority be to hurry to the clan’s territory and settle the young prince?”

“Just something I’m curious about; besides, it’s on the way, so is there or isn’t there?”

“Hmm…”

The Mage Wolf shook her furry head, stared at the map for a bit, then pointed a wolf paw at a certain spot.

“Here, this valley forest is said to be the territory of the Puppeteer Clan. That said, due to the small number of the Puppeteer Clan, calling it a territory is merely saying they just happen to live in that area, and since they love peace, even if outsiders intrude, as long as they don’t disturb their lives, it’s generally safe.”

Puppeteers, huh… I remember the third demon general I acted with alongside Aiste, Iwen, seems to belong to the Puppeteer Clan. On the surface, she didn’t give off any doll-like vibe, her expressions were very lively, just like a real human.

However, Vilyric had relatively little contact with Iwen, and thus didn’t understand much about the Puppeteer Clan either.

“Sounds rather interesting. How many of them are there?”

“Very few. According to Iwen, it should be no more than 50, as the Puppeteer Clan hasn’t been around long, and their origin remains a mystery. This entire Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons only has this one gathering place. Although their numbers are small, their average strength is truly remarkable; you can understand it as each individual of the Puppeteer Clan being at least at the demon general level, and they rarely interact with outsiders. If Lady Vilyric really wants to see them, we need to adjust our route now.”

“Hmm…”

This was definitely quite rare; even the white-feathered clan among the winged people, known to be the most scarce, has thousands; this entire race’s total is actually even less than that of a small pack of mountain wolves…

Given Aiste’s mysterious description, since we’re passing by, it would be a shame not to take a look.

Moreover, the area Aiste referred to was also precisely the direction that Savor recalled his father and those outsiders last headed towards. Perhaps they had indeed set their sights on the low-profile yet mysterious Puppeteer Clan.

“Let’s change our path; no need to adjust too much, our final destination will still be the Moonshadow Clan’s residence. A slight shift in direction should allow us to pass by there.”

“Alright then, since Lady Vilyric has said so…”

The blue-gray giant wolf nodded, raised its head, and let out a few melodious howls!

The mountain wolves resting in place also instinctively turned to look over here. Although Leila and the others might not understand, Vilyric, equipped with the Translation Tool, recognized that this was Aiste informing her fellow wolves about the changes in their next course of action.

As the Moonshadow Magical Wolf, a noble and powerful demon general, these mountain wolves naturally would follow Aiste, allowing her to make the most of her guiding role.

After explaining the situation to a few other gathered girls, of course, they had no objections to the Priestess’s decision. In fact, they were originally a traveling group aiming to see the world, so getting to see various races and scenes is naturally excellent.

Thus, after a short break and adjusting their scheduled route, everyone set off again.

The Puppeteer Clan’s territory was not far from where they were located, about a third of the way to the Moonshadow Clan’s residence. With the mountain wolves speeding along, Vilyric and her group arrived at their destination in about an hour.

What came into view was indeed a forest.

The Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons is a hilly area, with towering mountain ranges and few flat paths. But nothing is absolute; just as there are peaks soaring into the sky in the United Kingdom, here lies a deep woodland hidden among the mountains.

The residence of the Puppeteer Clan—Puppeteer Forest.

That said, with the small number of that race, combined with their reportedly peaceful nature, it’s likely they rarely come out to manage affairs, making it a challenge to quickly find them.

Although it was still possible to use sp for large-scale scanning, the previous situation with the mountain wolf clan was special. Generally speaking, doing such a thing right off the bat towards local races, especially intelligent beings and strong individuals, is a very sharp provocation.

Iwen left a good impression on Vilyric, and the Priestess didn’t want to set a negative tone with the Puppeteer Clan from the get-go. After all, they were friendly travelers.

   

---