Everyone turned to look at Iron in surprise when he returned earlier than expected. After all, they thought that he would have to at least follow the Crown Prince until Command but he returned surprisingly quick.

“Are you alright?”

Lintel anxiously asked Iron after hearing how he had refused the Crown Prince.

“Yes.”

“But he’s still the Crown Prince. You’ll be in big trouble if he hates you and targets you.”

“Who knows… He wouldn’t even have the time to care about me.”

Iron grinned as he answered him. 

Just like he said, the Crown Prince truly did not have the time to care about him. He would be treated as a hero who pacified the complaints of the Northeast once he arrived at the capital. But once time passed by, and they heard that he did nothing for the Northeast, he would be scorned and called incompetent. If that happened, the Fourth Prince would definitely gather the nobles and revolt. Once that moment came, the real confusion in the capital would truly begin. 

‘I wonder how long the Second and the Third Prince can endure?’ 

Iron smiled at the thought that flashed through his head. 

Dealing with the Imperial Family in his past life was a terrible ordeal but it had now become sweet memories as he used them to deal with them in this life. 

The Second Prince, who did not hesitate to sell his country to ascend to the throne, and the Third Prince, who held unique secrets and had a tremendous hold on the forces under the dark. The moment these two people resurface would be the day the capital would plunge into hell. 

‘I think their situation will be worth watching. Should I add some monster waves to that too?’ 

Lintel, who saw Iron grinning like a fool, thought that he was crazy.

“Why are you grinning and giggling alone? Have you gone mad?” 

“Ahem, ahem… It’s nothing.” 

“You don’t have a dual personality, right?” 

Iron grimaced as Lintel immediately ran away from him. He immediately approached Lintel who was deliberately avoiding him while muttering It’s best to avoid crazy people. 

Just when the two of them were playing around like that…

One of the rangers on a reconnaissance mission tore off a dry jerky and spoke up.

“Hoo… I’m so tired! So sick of this!” 

He forcibly opened his eyes that kept on closing. Their situation was actually quite understandable. After all, they kept on sitting around the Black Forest while only doing reconnaissance. 

A large number of rangers had been deployed under the name of securing safe areas and searching for the dark elves that hid within the Northeast. They scouted the area near the Black Forest while pushing the monsters’ territory further away from the old academy. 

It was still all good when they were still busy pushing out the monsters. But once they reached the Black Forest they were only required to do reconnaissance. They felt like dying. They knew that they were doing this since it could be dangerous. After experiencing the dangers brought about by the dark elves in the Winter Mountains, they all knew that they should tread carefully. However, they still couldn’t stop the boredom that encroached upon them…

“Uwaaa~ I’m so bored!” 

“Keep quiet.” 

The man who hit the back of the ranger’s head that was complaining about the difficulty of their mission slowly approached Iron.

“Major Iron.” 

“Yes.” 

“Can you feel anything near the Black Forest?”

“I haven’t felt anything in particular yet.” 

Iron looked apologetically at the man.

Jim Rogers, the best ranger leading the other rangers, nodded his head as if it was alright. He was once a person who became a Lieutenant Colonel(Jin) in his 20s and was known as one of the superior talents together with Sky Renz. He was also well known in the Northeast for being one of the two geniuses produced from the 117 leading numbers in the academy. 

‘That person is disappointed too.’ 

Although Sky Renz topped the list by an extremely narrow margin and later took on the lead by becoming the Corps Commander in the Knights Division, Jim Rogers still stood there side by side with him and was considered as an outstanding talent that led the Northeast. 

‘If someone led him then he might grow faster…’

Iron glanced at Jim Rogers.

Jim Rogers had a talent that was comparable to Captain Ghost Carl Gustav. The only difference was that Sky Renz and Carl Gustav had someone who guided them. Jim Rogers did not have someone like that. This was because he was extremely stubborn. He firmly believed that he could do it on his own. However, Iron thought that he could grow further if his stubbornness could break just a tiny bit. 

‘Well, that’s also his destiny.’ 

Then, Iron turned to look at the Black Forest. He did not see nor feel anything like he did with the phoenix. However, he could feel that the surrounding mana was a bit strange. At first he was not sure whether it was really that strange but as they stayed in this place longer, the more he got convinced that it was really the case. 

“I think we need to look further inside.”

Carl Gustav pondered over Iron’s words.

“Hmm…”

“There’s no divine beast anyway so I think it would be alright to look further inside.” 

When Jim Rogers also agreed, Carl Gustav had no choice but to nod his head in agreement. 

“Let’s report to the two commanders just in case.” 

“Please do so.” 

Seeing Jim Rogers agreeing, Carl Gustav moved to report to the commander.

Not long after, a reconnaissance mission in the Black Forest was officially issued. The reconnaissance mission was carried out with the Ghosts and the rangers working together to enter the Black Forest while the support troops from the Mountain Corps waited on standby in case of emergency. Even the Fog Corps brought most of their troops in the vicinity so they could move at any time. 

The two corps and the elite soldiers in the Northeast surrounded the Black Forest and prepared to move. Command also hurriedly prepared to dispatch the knights, drake knights and magic corps in the area. 

The numerous troops gathered together were now moving seamlessly together. It seemed like their experience in the Winter Mountains were now bearing fruit.

As they slowly closed in on the Black Forest, the forest finally began to react.

―Kiyaaaaaaaaaa―

“Ugh!”

Iron covered his ears when a horrible shriek suddenly rang loudly in the vicinity.

However, it was not the ringing in his ears but the ringing deep in his heart that he noticed.

Then, as if nothing happened, the hostility of the Black Forest gradually disappeared. As time passed by, he felt that the Black Forest was showing amiability with him. It was as if the forest was his ally. Iron hurriedly raised his mana as he tried to control the emotions ringing in his head and resisted the continuous shriek. 

The others also resisted the mental attack by pinching their arms or biting their lips.

Jim Rogers stared at the Black Forest seriously.

“What in the world is that monster?” 

Iron frowned when he felt an attack that he had never experienced before. He had experienced countless attacks from monsters but he had never come across such an irritating attack. 

At first, he thought that they were being attacked through some sort of mana wave.

A mana wave was a technique that used the power of a wave to shake the body’s internal organs and was something that was often used by the monsters in his previous life. There was also a time when plenty of sirens flocked and screamed that it made the soldiers’ eardrums burst. The ones with weaker mana had their brain burst and ended up dead.

He thought that it was that kind of attack but it wasn’t. 

“It stimulates people’s emotions?” 

It was an attack that not only attacks the physical body with mana but even the mental aspect. The level of this attack was much higher than just any other basic mana attack.

He realized that this method of attack was somewhat similar to attacks that were mainly used in ancient times. The ancient techniques from before were destroyed as new techniques with higher physical destructive force using the same amount of mana were developed and created. 

“It’s not a monster.”

Looking closely, he could see that it was a magic that used specters and ghosts. He thought that this was one of the undead’s spells. However, he was not sure as to what exactly the spell was. But one thing was for sure, being able to cast such a high-leveled magic using specters meant that whoever casted the spell was at a level that was comparable to a Great Wizard.

“Is there such magic?”

It was a technique that he did not see in his previous life. After all, he had seen countless magical skills and techniques with the development of magical engineering after the monster wave had begun.

How can we make mana more efficient? How can we reduce the mana consumption in soldiers? How can the logistics unit efficiently supply the base with enough supplies?

These questions have accelerated the development of magical engineering. And when those who came from the modern times arrived, a synergy was created which further increased the development of the technology.

Although some might have been stuck in the hospital room like Iron in their original world, he was sure that some of those who had gathered might have a doctorate in engineering. In addition, there were also technicians and skilled craftsmen that could weld and create their theories so they were able to establish a system and create a push and pull effect.

And as a result of this, magic from the past was destroyed even further.

“This…”

“Did you think of something?”

Jim Rogers seemed to know something so Iron immediately approached him and asked. 

“Most of the magic that stimulates human emotions is ancient magic. Among them, something that can induce large-scale magic through ghosts and specters is…”

Jim Rogers glanced at the Black Forest. He recalled the shriek from the specter from earlier. 

“Witch’s  magic.”

“Witch?”

“Ah… This is witch’s magic.”

Iron tilted his head in confusion but Billie Brandt looked like he understood. 

“The power of a witch… from what I heard witch magic is extremely unique so it won’t be easy to adapt to.”

“You looked relaxed, Captain Ranger.” 

Iron asked Jim Rogers when he saw that he was relatively comfortable compared to Billie Brandt who was frowning at the unfamiliar mental attack. 

“I’m fortunate. I think it’s because there’s a witch among my ancestors.”

Jim Rogers smiled bitterly at Iron’s question. 

“Ah… There’s a witch’s lineage in the North.”

“There are a lot of cases where people had witch blood in them, especially if they’re from the North. It has faded over the centuries but there are still a few rare cases where the blood of witches and druids continued to be passed on.”

Iron nodded blankly at Lintel’s answer.

“Ah…”

“It’s the same for the Lion Family. I heard that they are related to divine beasts. The same is true for families like Temphet and Winstell who have the blood of spiritualists. At one point the North… It was because this was a land where those people had gathered before.”

Iron nodded heavily when he saw Lintel’s bitter look.

He thought about the various races and bloodlines with special abilities that were once a part of this Northern region. From beastmen, elves, spirits, divine beasts, witches to druids. This was a place where various beings stayed and respected each other. 

“That’s why Johnson…”

He recalled Johnson, a soldier under his command back at Winter Mountains. Although he did not awaken as a spiritualist before he moved away, he knew that it was only a matter of time. After learning about his talent, he would most likely sign a contract with a spirit sooner or later. And considering that he was a native of the North, one of his ancestors was most likely a spiritualist. 

‘Did the Crown Prince get it all wrong?’

Iron was a noble who signed a contract with a divine beast. Many talented people in the North also came from noble families and had high pedigree. But when he learnt about this, he realized that bloodline was more important than pedigree. Having a good pedigree just meant that they would have better weapons than the others. 

“But these witches… Do you know anything about them?”

“I don’t know any details.”

Jim Rogers shook his head. 

Even if there were many descendants that carried the bloodline of the witches, records about them had long been gone. Perhaps it was because they were beings that were only heard of a long time ago. And from what he could recall, there was also a time when the Empire went on a witch hunt. 

“Ha… I’m going nuts. Dark elves are already troublesome but there are even witches…”

Iron looked at the Black Forest in annoyance. 

Ancient magic that could affect one’s emotions. This is most likely not the end of this.

Records about witches that used ancient magic were already hard to find so they couldn’t be sure about the extent of their powers. And there were even dark elves. If these two beings were on the same side, the possibility of other forgotten beings appearing could not be ruled out at all. 

“I’m getting a headache.”