The Strongest in the World Doesn’t Want To Do Anything

22 – The One Trying to Spread

Tendrial, greatly disappointed that he couldn’t raid Casey’s box first, gathered his subordinates and discussed the next plan.

“Ha… guys. Honestly, I’ll tell you. It looks like Casey jumped the gun. She probably thinks she’s still going to be the commander of the new army. But once the bribery is exposed, her way out will be blocked.”

Laughter erupted here and there at his words.

“Yeah… really bold. She seems to think the queen will continue to hold power in the future. But…”

Tendrial scratched his chin and paused between his words.

“In fact, we should have raided that money. To get our organization back to normal.”

Forest members began to murmur in confusion at his words.

What? Isn’t he talking about robbing us?

Let’s raid the village!

What the hell? Should we grow mushrooms or something?

Anticipating their reactions to some extent, Tendrial calmed them down with a more serious tone.

“I’ll be honest with you. There’s no money. All the food is what we brought from Tessa. It’ll run out in a few days. Will you guys manage with that?”

The silent members began to rumble once again.

An orc raised his hand to ask, “Shouldn’t we just plunder?”

“Well, of course, plundering would work. It’s barely been a week since the war ended. Do you really think households are left intact as they were?”

“Then… what about Tesar? Can’t we raid that?”

“Yes, exactly! Raid Tesar! Why didn’t I think of that? The only capital of the only country capable of operating a large-scale army. Just raid it. Haha, damn, maybe it’s time for me to step down as the leader. Hey, you wanna take over? It seems like the right thing for you to do.”

“Sorry…”

“No more plundering for a while. It might mean going hungry for a bit. If anyone wants to leave now, speak up. I’ll understand.”

Several members among those who had been murmuring raised their hands.

About six or so individuals raised their hands.

“Okay, come forward for your final farewells.”

Members expressing their intent to leave the organization lined up in front of Tendrial.

Each one uncomfortably fidgeted under Tendrial’s gaze.

Tendrial’s expression didn’t seem angry or disappointed. Instead, it exuded an odd sense of tranquility.

A centaur, sensing something amiss among them, spoke in a trembling voice, “Leader… are we… uh… guh…”

Before he could finish, Tendrial gripped his throat.

“Oh! Lea…”

The throats of the remaining five beside him were also simultaneously gripped.

Their bodies convulsed, blood spurting as they collapsed to the ground.

To be precise, one tree spirit collapsed, oozing sap.

Tendrial, calmly watching them dying, shouted at the members, “If you’re going to whine about a little difficulty, there’s no need for you to be here with us, right?”

The members seemed to agree, shouting their assent.

“These whining ones lying here can be used as emergency rations…”

Tendrial swept back his hair, revealing a face splattered with blood.

“Our forest’s ultimate goal.”

Extermination of humans!

“Extermination of humans!

Extermination of humans!

Extermination of humans!

Extermination of humans!”

At Tendrial’s command, the members rolled their feet and shouted their goal.

“Yeah. The plan might have slightly derailed, but our ultimate objective remains unchanged. For now, let’s restart with the drug operation.”

***

Casey aimed a gun at the dwarf’s back and followed the direction he was guided.

“We need to act before it gets exposed.”

Although the urgency regarding Wolfgang’s report was high, knowing that Tendrial was in this forest, Casey decided to deal with this matter first.

As the dwarf’s pace slowed, Casey prodded him with the rifle on his back, urging, “Walk faster.”

“…Yes.”

Feeling the cold touch on his back, the dwarf snapped back to attention and resumed walking.

“I need to stay sharp! Where were those guys positioned?”

Tendrial had instructed the forest unit to retrieve the cyanide he had hidden during his covert operations, detailing the contingency plans for emergencies.

“If you encounter Terosa’s soldiers, comply with their orders obediently. Tell them about my instructions and that I am currently in this forest. Then, lead the assault team to where they are hiding. It shouldn’t be difficult, right? The location is…”

“Where is it, again?”

Having forgotten the most crucial part, the frustrated dwarf, hiding his irritation, aimlessly guided Casey without a destination.

“Friend, are we on the right track?”

“…Oh! Yes… Yes! Absolutely! But, you see, I’m terrible with directions… Haha, sorry! I’m a bit lost!”

“It’s okay. It’s typical for a dwarf.”

“Damn it…”

The dwarf struggled to recall the location Tendrial had mentioned.

“Where… where…”

“The location is… over… there…”

“Ah, damn it!”

“Where was that?”

Frustrated, the dwarf unintentionally muttered thoughts aloud, and catching himself, he glanced at Casey, surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

The dwarf unfolded the smoke of his spirit.

“Oh, damn it! It’s so hot! Damn, I stepped on a trap in the night!”

The dwarf grabbed his foot and began rolling on the ground.

Casey looked at him disdainfully, pointing the gun.

Finally, she pulled the charging handle, and her finger rested on the trigger.

Bang!

With the detonation, a magical bullet pierced the ground, and smoke rose from the hole it created.

“Eek!”

If the finger had moved just a bit more to the side, there would have been a hole in the dwarf’s side.

The dwarf quickly got up and stared at Casey in a defensive posture.

“No time for nonsense. If you act suspicious again, I’ll drown you in that pond.”

“Yes! Yes… Sorry…?”

[The location is a pond. It’ll be surrounded by tall pine trees.]

“Oh, a pond!”

The dwarf turned his head to look where Casey pointed.

There was a fairly large pond.

The dwarf looked around again at the tall trees surrounding the area.

They were all tall pine trees.

The dwarf quickly lay on the ground and shouted.

“An orc gave birth to a human baby!!!”

Casey was confused by the sudden strange behavior.

“An orc gave birth to a human? What’s that…”

Unheard strange noises reached Casey’s ears as she sensed the oddity.

The sound of shaking trees, the snapping of branches… and the sound of arrows cutting through the air.

“Oh, damn it!”

An arrow from somewhere embedded itself in Casey’s left shoulder.

Due to the intense pain, she almost dropped the rifle, but Casey quickly recovered and aimed at the bearded dwarf.

“Pl-please spare…”

Bang!

Once again, with the detonation, a magical bullet fired, this time penetrating the dwarf’s head.

“So this is why these inhuman bastards…”

A goblin, with his hood flipped over, charged from behind Casey.

Casey immediately lowered her head, avoiding the blade of the assailant.

“Huh?”

Bang!

She shot the goblin flying towards her and turned the barrel towards an orc rushing from the left.

Bang! Bang!

The orc, charging forcefully, crumpled to the ground as if sliding.

“Do you think you can do something to me?”

Casey, breathing heavily, prepared for arrows that might come at any moment.

Tatatatata.

Similar to the sound of logs burning in a fire, vines wrapped around Casey’s ankles.

“Really irritating…”

With swift hand movements, Casey took out magical bullets from her rifle, loaded them with red magical stones from her pocket, and aimed below her.

Whoosh!

Just as she was about to pull the trigger, another arrow flew.

As if not allowing it to happen twice, Casey, anticipating the sound, raised her buckler and deflected the arrow.

At that moment, vines entwined around her ankles pulled her down to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Distracted by deflecting the arrow, Casey, with her posture disrupted, fell to the ground with her face smashed against it.

Other vines emerged from the dirt, beginning to wrap around her body.

Casey, with the gun tightly embraced, found herself completely entangled by the vines, unable to move.

“Damn…”

Slowly sinking beneath the ground as if stuck in a swamp.

It was a battle tactic frequently used by tree spirits.

Snatching opponents from the ground and pulling them into the underground.

In other words, a form of live burial.

Casey concentrated on her right foot, which was bound.

Little by little, she scratched the boot clinging to her right foot against the ground.

“Please…”

Just as the blood stopped flowing in her ankles, with a small ‘click,’ something akin to a gun barrel emerged from the front of her right boot.

“That’s it!”

Before she knew it, her body was halfway buried in the dirt.

“Search! You monster spawn!”

Flames started spewing from the tiny barrel protruding from her boot.

As the fire clung to the vines, the tendrils restraining Casey’s body loosened with strange noises.

Casey picked up the gun and stood, brushing off her body from the ground.

Swiftly shouldering the rifle, she prepared for the next attack.

Swoosh—

The sound of an arrow flying once again echoed.

This time, she pinpointed the source.

“Dodge first, then counter-snipe.”

She turned her body in the direction predicted by the sound and lowered her head to evade the arrow.

But this time, no arrow came from any direction.

“What’s going on?”

Without lowering her guard, a dark shadow loomed behind Casey, who slowly rose without dropping her defenses.

Thunk—

Struck on the back of the head, Casey collapsed powerless to the ground.

Even in that state, the rifle remained in her hands.