Is This Extermination or Logging?
Serack! Serack! Thud!
As the knights charged in, the monster trees toppled backward like limp scarecrows. Every time the Northern Duke's golden slashes cleaved through the forest, the Treants—infamous for their tough hides—transformed into smooth building materials.
Wintervalt's First Knight Order Captain Cedric gazed at his lord Kailan, who was pioneering the forest at monstrous speed, with eyes full of awe.
Since when... have you been able to wear such a warm expression?
The Kailan Wintervalt that Cedric remembered was a solitary ghost on the battlefield. No ferocious monster could stand before his sword, yet the invincible monster duke always seemed lonely. Even as he silently guarded the wall against the north's flesh-cutting winds, he never opened his heart to his knights. He hadn't once greeted the territory's people or the castle servants with any warmth.
But.
Now that Princess Eleanor is by your side, how things have changed.
Cedric's gaze turned to his lord's noble profile. Kailan's face as he felled the trees radiated affection for the territory and fierce determination to feed its people. Every bold policy he'd introduced stemmed from a love for the common folk that no one else could have conceived.
"Don't let a single one escape!"
Cedric followed behind his lord, sweeping away monsters with sword strikes infused with solar mana.
Serack!!
The Treant's body, which required finely honed aura to even cut, parted powerlessly before the golden blade.
Princess Eleanor is no discarded imperial bloodline or bastard of uncertain parentage. She is the true sun of the north, the one who melted this frozen land and brought spring to my lord's heart—a benevolent lady of the house!
Overcome with emotion, Cedric's eyes reddened as he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Become the foundation for Her Highness the Princess's city plan, you monster scum!"
"For Princess Eleanor!"
The knights' thunderous cheers shook the forest, and the adventurers followed suit, raising their axes and swords.
"For the Princess!!"
"Ooooh! Long live the Princess!! Long live the hot meat stew!!"
Rough adventurers from across the continent charged at the trees, shouting Eleanor's name. They hadn't forgotten the grace of the meat stew that had filled their starving bellies. For residency rights in the new city and the princess's special meals, these fanatic legions were willing to risk their lives right behind the knights.
The logging—no, the extermination—proceeded smoothly. The northern men's advance, buffed by the princess, was nothing short of a natural disaster.
The humidity's rising steadily.
As they pushed deeper into the heart of the Wailing Flood, the air grew sticky against their skin—an impossibility in the north. It meant the culprit behind the humidity was just ahead.
That was when it started. The ragtag Treants that had been charging mindlessly began slinking silently into formations.
Crack! Crunch!
"Kraaak!"
Sez, an Expert-level knight who rushed to the new city construction site every vacation to punch the clock for Kailan, couldn't withstand the concentrated assault and flew through the air, shield and all.
"Sez!"
The knights hurriedly reformed their lines. Massive Treants surrounded them from all sides, tightening the encirclement. Dense vines began blanketing the forest sky. In an instant, darkness engulfed them.
"Regroup the formation!! Cedric! Get out the prepared item!"
At Kailan's command, Cedric pulled a scroll from his bosom. It was a prototype flare spell crafted in collaboration with the north's sole tiny magic workshop, courtesy of Eleanor. This one was a powerful monster-hunting variant.
"Receive the light of Her Highness the Princess!"
Riiip!
Cedric tore the scroll without hesitation, and solar mana burst forth, launching a searing orb skyward.
Whoosh!
The miniature sun pierced the vines and rose, bathing the forest in blinding light.
"Yeehaw!! Success! My calculations are perfect, I tell you!"
From among the protected knights, a woman threw her arms up in triumph. Wearing cracked glasses and with her frizzy hair haphazardly tied back, she was Lumiela, owner of the north's only magic workshop. Her combat mage skills were average at best, but she had a knack for magical research and development. A weirdo who only invented seemingly useless spells, she'd failed to secure funding from the north multiple times. Recently, she'd been deeply moved by Eleanor's magic at the new city site and had grown close to her.
"Kee, keekeekit!!"
"Kieeeek!!"
As Lumiela cheered, the Treant ranks descended into chaos. Exposed to the intense sunlight, the encroaching horde twisted in agony and fled. Amid the scattering trees, several massive Treants clustered together and retreated deeper into the forest.
"Pursue them! Their leader's hiding in there!"
The mini-sun followed Cedric's unit, leaving the Treants helpless. As they pressed to the end, the boss hiding among colossal trees revealed itself.
"...My lord, what is that?"
Cedric muttered in bewilderment. Amid Treants towering ten meters tall, a child-sized sapling was being protected. Yet from that tiny tree's roots emanated mana vast enough to command hundreds.
The little Treant glared at them with glowing red eyes.
"That small one's the leader of this flood!"
Kailan thrust his sword forward and shouted.
"Cut it down, and the skies over the Wailing Flood will clear. No more Treants will raid the wall!"
At the duke's words, the knights gripped their weapons and surged with aura. The extermination reached its climax.
"Kigigigik!"
The boss Treant stamped the ground with its stubby legs, red eyes blazing.
Rumble!
In that instant, dozens of thick, thorny vines erupted from the earth, lashing like whips at the vanguard knights.
"Defend! Don't fall back!"
Bang! Boom! Clang!
Aura-clad shields crumpled with deafening roars. It wasn't to be underestimated just because of its size. Weak on its own, the boss empowered the surrounding giant Treants with its mana, multiplying their strength several times over. Worse, they desperately lashed tentacles at the mini-sun. Over twenty massive Treants screamed and fell, but the sun finally shattered, its power spent.
As the sunlight vanished, the area grew chillingly dim. Treants swarmed in.
Dangerous...!
Casualties could mount any second. Frontline knights began collapsing under the deadly vine whips, and adventurers recoiled in fear.
"Lumiela! Was that all the illumination scrolls Cedric brought?"
"Yes! We're out!!"
"Tch! No choice! I'll clear a path—prepare to retreat..."
"But I brought something even more fun! It's a prototype, though!"
Lumiela's cheerful cry made veins bulge on Kailan's forehead. With lines breaking and knights flying, fun prototype?
"Does this look like a time for games...!"
"The Princess said so! Even Treant corpses need time to dry, which delays construction!"
Lumiela pulled out a scroll—her hair sloppily tied, but the scroll neatly bound.
"So we made a special spell that only affects plants! Behold—[Tree Dryer!!]"
As knights retreated one by one, Lumiela unfurled the scroll with gusto. A fierce heatwave blasted toward the Treants, searing like a flame barrage yet sparing the humans, striking only the monsters.
"Kigigik!!"
"Krrgegegek!"
After the heatwave swept the forest, an eerie silence fell despite the spell's end. The Treants, once whipping roots like lashes, stood frozen. A knight cautiously prodded a withered one; it toppled limply, ringing with a clear tone. Killed by the heat, the Treants retained lightweight, sturdy bodies perfect for construction lumber even in death.
"Kee, kick...! Kk...!"
Ironically, the sole survivor amid the disaster was the tiny boss Treant. It scurried desperately on its roots.
"I'll finish it!"
As Cedric charged with sword raised, Kailan remembered something crucial and roared.
"Cedric!! Sheathe your sword!!"
Cedric turned with a face screaming Did I hear that wrong?
Idiot. You heard right—sheathe it!
The mana controlling the entire forest was compressed into that one's magic stone. This was only his second boss kill since possession. The first slime had to be damaged during extermination. But this quick little guy was different.
If we preserve that stone in S-grade condition, the magic tower lords of every kingdom will come north with sacks of tens of thousands of gold.
A chance to secure fiscal stability and ties with the tower lords at once!
"Everyone, hands off your weapons!"
The Northern Duke's urgent shout made the adventurers turn, weapons in hand, puzzled.
"Your Highness? Its defenses are so tough we need focused aura, yet you say drop weapons?"
"What have I always said!?"
Kailan rolled his eyes and bellowed.
"Every magic stone we break means one territory citizen starves! A stone like that changes market price with a single scratch—tens of thousands of gold!"
Silence blanketed the forest for a beat.
Oh no. Got too heated.
Crack in my ducal dignity...
But contrary to Kailan's worry, the northern knights and adventurers had fully adapted to his principles. In short, everyone here was half-mad for money.
"Tens of thousands just for a graze!?"
"Insane... How much is that tiny tree worth then!?"
The damp forest boiled with greed. The northern knights' eyes shifted from "monster slayers" to "treasure hunters."
"Protect the Princess's city funds!"
"Capture it alive!! Don't scratch a single leaf!!"
The adventurers threw themselves in with glee.
"You'll share if we catch it, right!?"
"Of course! After all that meat stew, you doubt a duke who cares for adventurers!?"
From then on, things got downright bizarre. Burly men tossed weapons aside, dodging the boss's thorny vines barehanded to tackle it.
"Kigik?!"
Expecting to be sliced, the boss panicked at the grotesque humans charging empty-handed and sped up.
"Gotcha! You ten-grand twig! Gah! My nose!"
"Move! If needed, I'll use my underwear as a net...!"
The madmen's ugly scrum ended anticlimactically when Lumiela lightly raised a finger. The tiny boss rolled on the ground, bound in steel wire.
"It's a mouse-tracking capture spell..."
Lumiela grinned awkwardly, and the beastly men—who'd been about to use their undies as rope—coughed sheepishly.
Gazing at the cute, trembling tree trussed on the ground, Kailan smiled in satisfaction. That one alone was tens of thousands of gold.
"Lumiela. Stay close with my wife from now on!"
"Hehe! Um, workshop budget maybe...?"
Who asks that? Kailan laughed heartily and declared victory to all.
"From now on, the Wailing Flood is the north's logging ground!"
The clear northern sky welcomed the extermination party's return, laden with magic stones and timber.