The guests appeared bewildered after hearing they were to go to the Forbidden Forest. In fact, some even started to leave but when the next word from Luna entered their ears, they stopped from taking a step further and came back.
"Anyone who will join my escort party shall receive a hundred coins," said Luna as the door from the side opened again, and a person entered pushing a cart with lots of bags sitting on top, which jiggled with the sound of coins.
Luna's assistant grabbed one of the pouches and proceeded to hand one of the guests a bag of coins. And just with that gesture, not one of the guests moved away from their places. They stood by waiting for their turn to receive the coins.
Emery couldn't help but notice how this woman seemed to have deep coffers of coins. He did a quick calculation of the coins spent and the results astounded him. There were about twenty of them, so this meant she had just spent two thousand coins!
Emery, being a former noble himself, knew that two thousand coins was a huge amount. Such an amount would certainly raise some eyebrow or would need the approval from the head of the family. However, there was no one here other than the guards; the head guard, Kastan, and the guests. If his guess were to be correct, this Luna must be the head of the household Quintin or the acting authority.
Emery was the last person to be given the bag of coins, and Luna took the last bag herself and personally handed it to Emery. She went over to him, with Kastan beside her, and said, "Mr. Merlin, I hope you are joining today's quest. I will feel much safer with a strong person such as you joining the party."
He considered the option for a moment. If the forest's threats would be even half as dangerous than it was rumored to be, it would be better if he came with other people joining him. So, in the end, he nodded and accepted the bag.
Luna smiled gracefully and said, "Thank you, I hope you will stay close and protect me."
Emery feigned ignorance as he tried to understand the meaning behind her words. Why did she say that specifically to him? He didn't notice he had been staring at her for quite a while when Luna let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Oh please, don't give me that stare. You've won the competition yesterday, so it only makes sense for the strongest man to protect me, right?"
The moment the word 'strongest man' exited her lips, Emery heard the faint grumblings from some of his soon-to-be comrades.
After that, Luna exited the hall and left Kastan in charge of the forming of groups for the upcoming expedition. The vanguard group consisted of the nine guards, dressed in white and gray uniforms, including Gregory the Giant, while the nineteen guests, excluding Emery, were divided into three groups. Five people each on the right and left flank and another five as the rear guard, one of them being another guard. Kastan assigned Emery to be with him, along with two more guards to protect their expedition leader, Luna in the center of the formation. In total, there were thirty-five people, including Luna.
Once everything was set from preferred weapon of choice, leather armors, etc. The expedition group headed out while the sun was at its peak in accordance to the formation Kastan had arranged earlier.
They exited through the north gate, which was heavily guarded with many patrol guards. Within a few hours of march, they arrived at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest where there was a person with a dark skin standing and waving to them.
"What's the situation? Have you found any leads?" asked Kastan on horseback.
"Yes, I've seen a day's old foot tracks only going in but there's nothing that implies they went back," said the dark-skinned man in black and gray uniform.
"Very well, Asur." Kastan descended from the horse, as well as Emery and the other two guards, except for Luna. They left the horses to be watched over by another guard. Kastan then said to Asur, "Lead us the way."
Emery stretched his neck to try and see how tall the trees were. But from where he was standing, they appeared to be trying to reach for the heavens. And as far as his eyes could see, only lush and wild vegetation, leaving the rest to the imagination because the entrance to the forest did give an ominous aura. It looked like they were about to enter a monster's mouth because not even the light from the sun above penetrated its deep inside. It was just like the stories he had heard from Lanzo.
Before they went inside, Kastan asked the vanguard to light a torch. They all went inside the Forbidden Forest's mouth and the only light of the torch gave some sense of security as they traveled through the rough terrain. Looking back, the sun's light appeared as if it was being swallowed by darkness the further they traveled.
They couldn't really tell how many hours had passed since they had been walking, but they were pretty sure the sun was about to go down. Because earlier, they had been able to see each other with just one torch, however, now, the lit torches made them appear as silhouettes; human shadows made out of the darkness breathing down their necks.
A wind blew past them; it spooked the horse Luna was riding on, almost throwing her off on the ground. Hence, Kastan forced her to walk on foot in fear of breaking her neck if she fell from the horse.
"Miss Luna, the sun is about to set. We'll set up camp here. Please return, it's getting too dangerous," pleaded Kastan for the nth time.
Luna sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you, I have to be here."
"But—"
"Hush!" Asur said. Everyone stopped talking. They started hearing the beating of their own hearts due to the deafening silence. Soon enough though, faint whispering and wailing, entered their ears. From the distance, Emery could see a small glow, flickering randomly.
"Over there," Emery said in a whisper.
The group cautiously neared the thing Emery had pointed out. And as they neared, stronger wailing entered their ears but after that, metals clanking and roaring of beasts. They drew closer and the glow Emery had seen was actually fire, and its flickering was caused by the movement of people running around the fire.
When they were able to see more clearly, they saw humanoid shaped silhouettes with beasts' heads fighting with a group of silhouettes holding swords, axes and spears.
"Mo-mo-monsters!" shouted one of the paid fighters as he tried to run away, making some of them also flee for their lives.
Luna Quintin, however, appeared unfazed. She drew her sword and commanded, "That's my brother's group! Charge!"
Gregory the Giant roared as he led the charge along with the nine other vanguard.
"Silas! Silas!" Luna raised her voice.
"Lu…a? We… o… here!"