Even though it was a part of the Dark Forest that extended into the civilized world, the Bearman's Forest itself was not large. It would only take a day or half a day to traverse the forest where the four logging sites were located.
The sawmill in the west was called the Horseshoe Grass Sawmill, and the news of its loss spread through the entire forest within a few hours along with the Subterrane Dwellers' retreat.
The Subterrane Dwellers in the forest became restless and restless.
At the same time, the news also reached the ears of the Subterrane Dweller tribe's leader. Tagiv was born from one of the thirteen noble bloodlines of the Subterrane Dwellers. It was a natural choice for a witch doctor. Its skin was darker than the elite warriors of the Subterrane Dwellers, and its body was covered with long feathers. Those were the feathers of the Dinovuls, the spoils of war from the Underworld's Dark Elves.
However, it was currently sitting on its Bearskin Throne and did not have the mood to care about these beautiful feathers. It used its slender fingers to caress a skull with feathers on a wooden stick. It was a little irritated.
It became the leader of this tribe five years ago and became independent from its father's tribe. However, it ran into trouble when it was fighting for its own territory and had no choice but to migrate with its people. This was not a rare occurrence in the Underworld, but it was unexpected that it discovered a path that led to the surface.
Even though it was rumored that the surface world was far from a paradise, it still decided to take a risk. After it and its people got used to life on the surface, it began to realize that the humans here were not as scary as it thought. Therefore, it took over the four logging sites in the forest.
However, this action attracted the wrath of the local lord. Of course, it was Baron Graudin. The humans and the Subterrane Dwellers fought twice in the forest, but Tónigel's mixed army and the nobles' private soldiers were no match for the Subterrane Dwellers. The humans were chased out without gaining any advantage.
In the end, Graudin had no choice but to swallow his pride and come to negotiate with it personally. The Subterrane Dwellers did not need the wood produced in the forest, but Graudin could not. Tónigel was the main source of wood for Ampere Seale, and if there was a problem, the first person to blame would be his powerful father, Count Randner.
Graudin had to think of a way to ensure that Trentheim's timber exports would last for a year, even though he was running a deficit. The four lumber mills near Abies were among the best in Tónigel, and he did not dare to give them up easily. However, he could not take them back by force, and he could not let Count Randner know about this. Thus, the only way left was to rely on trade.
Even though it was unthinkable for a lord to spend money to buy his territory's produce, Graudin still had silver mines in his possession. Since silver was an important currency in the underworld, and Tagiv needed more money to strengthen his tribe, the two of them hit it off, and this secret deal was kept secret from the start.
Tagiv appreciated the deal. Even though the Subterrane Dwellers had won more than once against the humans and even forced Graudin to lower his pride, it did not hide the fact that his tribe had very few people. Thousands of Black Iron-ranked fighters sounded terrifying, but this was the entire population of his tribe.
Tagiv, on the other hand, was very smart. Through constant contact, it gradually understood the reality of the human world it was in. Even though it was impossible to find an army in Tónigel that could easily chase them away, they would not be able to escape unscathed if they appeared in human territory.
Baron Abies alone had a population of 70,000, let alone the whole of Tónigel. Moreover, if a foreign race like Tagiv rashly attacked a human settlement, it might lead to an even larger scale attack.
It knew that this place belonged to a kingdom, and the concept of a kingdom in Tagiv's mind was equivalent to the underground kingdom of Jorgendy Ridge, which made it fearful.
Even though it knew that Graudin had a silver mine, it did not dare to take it over. Tagiv was satisfied with its current situation. As long as it firmly controlled the three lumber mills, it would be able to obtain an endless supply of silver from the human lord. With the silver, it would be able to expand its tribe until the day it could return to the underworld.
In Tagiv's mind, returning to the underworld was its number one goal. Even though Tónigel was enviable, it was not the territory of the Subterrane Dwellers.
However, good things did not last long. One day, Tagiv felt that it had encountered a thorny problem.
After getting used to a peaceful life, it did not like to engage in war with the humans, especially when the tribe's development was just starting to look good. Since fighting with the humans would attract the attention of the surrounding forces, it did not want to expose its existence. However, the more it thought about it, the more trouble came knocking on its door. Just like this afternoon, it received news from the frontlines that humans had once again slaughtered their way into the forest.
This time, not only did the humans take over a lumber mill, they also killed more than a hundred of its tribesmen.
Tagiv was enraged when it heard the news. It ordered its tribesmen who could fight to gather together, but it also calmed down and began to gather information about the humans.
The failure at the front had made the wise and cautious Subterrane Dweller even more cautious. He had gathered all his trusted subordinates here to listen to their opinions.
The first to speak was an elderly Subterrane Dweller draped in bear skin. Of course, from a human's point of view, a Subterrane Dweller's age was nothing more than a hunchback, weak limbs, and a body full of white stripes.
This old Subterrane Dweller was called 'Horned Claw'. Of course, most Subterrane Dwellers did not have a name, but this name was given to it by Tagiv. Horned Claw was the name of a bipedal lizard that lived underground in Jorgendy Ridge. They were one of the most famous hunters in the Underworld.
They were cunning and cunning. Tagiv gave this name to the old Subterrane Dweller to praise its wisdom and experience. However, the old Subterrane Dweller was a traitor from an opposing tribe. The Subterrane Dwellers did not have the concept of two masters like the humans. Subterrane Dwellers respected the strong, and it was common for them to defect from one tribe to another.
Moreover, 'Horned Claw' was a seasoned veteran, and his words carried a lot of weight in Tagiv's tribe.
"I've heard from our former tribesmen that there are wizards among the humans," the old Subterrane Dweller said, "It's a Silence spell. The Dark Elves often use it against us in the Underworld. It's a pity that we don't have more witch doctors at the frontlines. Otherwise, we wouldn't have lost so many of our tribesmen. "
"How many of them do they have?" Tagiv asked.
"Two or three hundred."
"Only two or three hundred," the Subterrane Dweller said gloomily, "That human called Graudin must be tired of living. Does he think that I won't dare to touch him just because he sent mercenaries to us?" Tagiv spat, "Let's deal with these reckless mercenaries first, then we'll kill that bastard Lord. I don't intend to be polite with him. We'll take over the silver mine in the south."
"If we do that," Horned Claw replied, "the humans will retaliate."
"It's fine. They need time to mobilize. Once we get the silver mine, we'll retreat to the Underworld. Let's see if they dare to chase after us, "Tagiv replied disdainfully.
The few elders in the room exchanged opinions with each other using their unique sound waves. "Then how do we deal with the mercenaries?" Another Subterrane Dweller asked.
"I'll personally deal with them," Tagiv replied, "It's just magic."
Tagiv stood up and said: "Tonight, I'll make those humans pay the price for our tribesmen's blood!" Tagiv's sharp voice echoed in the room. The few Subterrane Dweller elders lowered their heads and didn't object to it.
In their eyes, the humans were indeed reckless.
Unlike what Tagiv had purposely spread, there were over 3000 Subterrane Dwellers living in the Bearman Forest. In front of such a huge force, even the entire Trentheim army wouldn't be enough to deal with them. Of course, Tónigel might have Count Randner and Erouine behind him.
However, Tagiv knew that Graudin would not be able to mobilize his troops in such a short time without leaking any information.
The only people in Abies right now were the mercenaries that had gathered together. This was the same as the information they received. It seemed that Graudin had indeed mobilized the mercenaries to deal with them.
However, if Graudin thought that he could shake their foundation, he would definitely pay the price.
However, Tagiv would never have guessed that Graudin had already paid the price for his actions. However, it was not for the Subterrane Dwellers. The enemy standing in front of them right now was Brando, who was as familiar with them as they were with him.
The direction of the battle had changed from the beginning.
… …
The battle at the Horseshoe Grass Sawmill had ended long ago. The Subterrane Dwellers left the camp in full force, leaving behind only the old and weak who were unable to resist.
Even so, the mercenaries still paid the heaviest price in the battle for the sawmill. More than thirty were injured, and ten were killed.
Jutta, Raban, and Cornelius heaved a sigh of relief after the battle was over. They were people who were used to seeing life and death, so this small number of casualties was already somewhat unexpected. No, it was more like a miracle. If it weren't for Brando's familiarity with the Underground residents, they wouldn't have been able to win, let alone pay such a small price.
However, this battle with the Subterrane Dwellers was not within their expectations.
Therefore, the three Great Commanders had mixed feelings at this moment. It could be said that they were not so willing to fight for the young lord. Baron Abies's territory shouldn't have anything to do with them, but for some inexplicable reason, they were tied together.
Jana, Raban, and Cornelius couldn't help but look at each other, but there was only bitter laughter in their eyes.
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