“The blood stone!”

  One of the three Tier Five Goblins reacted to the blood stone in his position.

  Another one saw the reaction and quickly spoke up.

  “The Future King is near?!”

  And finally the third one chimed in…

  “…Hide it quickly! We are deep in Demi-Human territory!”

  The first Hobgoblin quickly tucked the stone into a bag he had on his person, and did his best to reduce the glow it gave off.

  But the glow wasn’t the main problem here. It was the movement of mana generated by the stone. The level of mana that moved as part of the intricate enchantment required to not only have the stone passively detect the presence of a specific type of individual but also react to the presence of said individual.

  That wasn’t a small or simple feat. Not by a longshot.

  And in a place where any unexpected large spike of concentrated mana would not only be detected, but also investigated this was a precarious moment for the blood stone to react.

  And the Goblins knew it.

  “The Future King is likely south! Spread out and move south!”

  There was no need for further discussion and the Goblins quickly dispersed and once at a sufficient distance immediately began rerouting towards the south.

  They were definitely stronger together, but definitely not strong enough to fight off an array of opponents should they arrive. Tier Five is a respectable level of strength in any country but it was only impressive until higher Tiers were your enemy.

  Something that would be quickly heading the direction of the Goblins should their presence and level of strength be found out. In that situation, it would be far better if one of them survived then all of them dying.

  And it was a good thing that they did so because it only took a few minutes for a small squad to begin approaching the area.

  Something that was honestly a bit abnormal.

  If the situation was a regular one, perhaps only one person would have been sent to investigate, and furthermore, it likely would have taken them a bit to get there.

  But how were the Goblin supposed to know that tension were currently high all across the lands of the Demi-Humans?

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  How were they to know that for the past few months war has been a rampant topic of discussion with all of the different leaders in the area?

  How were they to know…that this is all started because of the actions Rogu and the Royal Retrieval Team took some months ago.

  One would have to think back to that dark night on that raging river.

  There was a full camp of what appeared to be human soldiers.

  A camp that that was practically located in Demi-Human lands.

  A camp…that was slaughtered to the last man.

  Nothing was looted, no one important was missing, and there was message left or no clue as to who or what committed the act.

  Of course, something like that wouldn’t stay hidden forever.

  It was eventually found out by the human nation that the soldiers came from, and it also found out by the closest Demi-Human nation.

  Tension immediately soared to unseen heights. While the humans immediately began demanding answers and threatening war, the Demi-Humans came to together as their alliance would dictate and denied all claims of the attack.

  But after denial…then came questioning.

  Why were the humans there in the first place?

  And it wasn’t like the humans were simply passing through the area.

  An entire military camp was set up.

  That brought far more questions to the humans than they bargained for.

  And so both sides reached somewhat of an impasse. One side still wanted to know who killed their soldiers while also keeping other plans close to their vest.

  Then there was the other side who also would like to know who killed those soldiers since they denied it wasn’t them. But at the same time, they would like to know why those soldiers were there in the first place.

  So the Demi-Humans did what they thought was best. Raised the alert level in their lands and began making silent or small moves to be ready in case war struck.

  It has been decades. Decades since the last war with human kind, but the Demi-Humans hadn’t forgotten for a second, especially not since the greed of humans were known far and wide.

  They were caught unaware the last time and was almost defeated until they became united under one alliance level banner. Well at least the ones on this continent did, and because of that they would be ready and capable.

  All of that is to say, that a random spike of mana caused by the bloodstone wasn’t going to be something that they overlooked.

  The squad that showed up consisted of three men.

  All wood Elves.

  Tall, copper like skin, sharp pointed ears, slender yet muscular builds, brown hair as if kissed by the earth itself and narrow eyes.

  The Wood Elves of the Liasante Nation.

  All three of them were of the Tier Three level of strength. At the moment, there was no need to send anyone stronger just to investigate a strange occurrence, plus they were all equipped with communication devices should the situation be out of their control.

  One of the Elves stepped up.

  “Something is wrong here. This is where the increase in mana was felt. Yet there is nothing. No beasts going through evolution, no mana imbued plant, flower or tree blooming to life, there isn’t even any trace of battle.

  “That doesn’t make sense. Eldrin.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Send a status report back to the Warden of our findings thus far. She would want to know.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “In the meantime, spread out and look for clues Faelar.”

  The two Elves spread out and it only took a moment for Faelar to find something.

  “Sir, come look at this.”

  The other Elf walked over to see exactly what Faelar found.

  “…Tracks, and the beings they belonged to don’t appear to be animals. Humans, or at least something humanoid, and they left in a hurry. Eldrin! Tell the Warden we have a Sarith level threat!”

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