While the puppet was focused on interrogating and preparing itself for the possible upcoming war, the nobleman that had fled from Thauma clutches, managed to not escape to safety monsters and bandits as well, but managed to meet up with the part reinforcement group that was supposed to be sent to the nobleman side.

After regrouping with the new soldiers, Duke Ash immediately wrote the report, containing the whole incident, before sending the fastest possible messenger that was available at the moment, in order to warn the king about the incident.

"…"

"What the fuck is this?" – asked King Ash as he was reading the message.

"Is this true?"

"I don't know…. Duke Wondan handed me this letter while looking all shaken up." – said the messenger.

"He just told me to delivery this letter as soon as possible, while also saying something about 'danger to the kingdom'."

"…"

(Is this real?) – thought the King Ash as he was unsure if he should believe whatever is written on the letter to be true or false.

(This is definitely Wondan handwriting…. But the context of this report is way too bizarre.)

//Unknown monsters left the forest and attacked me.//

//A wolflike monsters that looked like they were made out of metal and wood.//

//Unknown people shooting at me and at my soldiers. By the looks of things, they were using crossbows.//

//It is still unknown if any of my soldiers survived.//

//Requesting a reinforcement as well as additional information about golems or any reports regarding incidents that involves the golem dungeon, a recent reports.//

(Somebody attacked Wondan forces? A weird beast that didn't looked like they were made out of flesh?)

(Is he talking about golems?)

(True, I did know that dungeon has evolved a bit…. But there is nothing about any form of incident or sudden problem occurring, according to the reports I've read.)

(Honestly, I was mostly worried about bandits and wild monsters…. But dungeon?)

(Shit. I'm already having a lot of fucking trouble here, but now there is something new popping up?)

"…"

(Honestly... No. Fuck.)

(I don't know if this letter is true or not, but I can't risk it.)

(If there is really something going on with THAT specific dungeon, I need to do something.)

(The dungeon isn't still ready to become one of our main sources of income that would empower the entire kingdom, but right now? Losing it or any of our main sources of kingdom could be possible fatal to us.)

(I need to find out what the hell is going on there.)

[Meanwhile: Dungeon]

"…"

(Hm…So, the entire Garmfon is pretty much destroyed after the war…. And now the new king is trying to restore the kingdom in order for the kingdom to not face a problem with money…. I think it was called "financial crisis"?)

(But can kingdom become poor? I mean, aren't usually people going "poor"?)

(…. Anyway…. It seems that they not only had an objective of trying to reclaim the dungeon control, but by the looks of things, the entire territory around me, it is apparently in ruins after the war.)

(Bandits and wild monsters are on the lose…. Hm… That does somewhat explain why there were some random wolve monsters appearing in the forest.)

"…"

(The kingdom is trying to restore itself, in order to not go "bankrupt", and so they are aiming to regain control over my dungeon and have it become their national level dungeon…. There is good chance that my dungeon had already became a "national" dungeon in their eyes.)

(If that is the case, then their attempts at "taming" me will be far more problematic.)

"…"

(There is also a matter of "how" the Noble faction won.)

(According to that mage, they didn't won on their own, they needed to call allies, some nation called "Mowiorano Kingdom".)

(According to the map that Ariava gave me, this kingdom is a neighbors with Garmfon kingdom, yes?)

(From what that soldier told me, the "New Garmfon" kingdom and that Mowiorano kingdom became allies…. But he also said that the King Ash wants to "repair the damage" before Mowiorano kingdom finds out... Why?)

(Is something going on?)

(Why keep it a secret?)

(Why the new king is trying to hide this from the people of the kingdom?)

(And especially from their own allies?)

(I just don't get it…. What could be a good reason for doing that?)

"…"

(I don't know…. But from what I DO understand, the only opponents I will have to deal with will be the "New Garmfon".)

(And this is perfect!)

(Apparently, the Noble faction didn't won the war because they were stronger, but because they outsmarted the Royal faction.)

(However, if they wish to beat me, they will have to enter the dungeon and use just brute power.)

(Not only that, but they don't have that bear beastman on their side according to the mage!)

(The enemy that was most frighten off is gone!)

(There is also the fact that the soldiers are also exhausted from the war they had!)

"…"

(Isn't this…. Way too good?)

(I mean, now there won't be "ifs" or "maybe" anymore. The war is really happening…. But considering current circumstances, aren't they far too favorable to me?)

(Or was I just too scared of the kingdom, straight up being scared for nothing?)

"…"

(No…. They did wrecked my golems and my dungeon before, so it isn't it….)

"…"

(Luck?)

(Is that really just an answer?)

(Just a plain luck?)

(…. No…. No…. I shouldn't think like this.)

(Just "luck" would not cut it.)

(Some of my golems were still taken down.)

(There is also a chance that they have stronger soldiers on reserve…. Or maybe possible somebody as strong as that bear beastman.)

(I can't stop my preparations.)

(There is good chance that this battle could be way harder than my current predicants.)

"…"

(Honestly, I don't know what I should do now.)

(I have obtained some means of "seeing" outside, but obviously very limited.)

(I have also the "alarm" that I've set up in some golems, meaning that even if I were not to "see the enemy", I would still know that that they are here, if one of the golems with the plate is destroyed.)

(But what if the enemy were to destroy my scout golems? They can be found and destroyed.)

(And I cannot really mass produce them, since I need to set up price link as well as set up the tools.)

"…"

(Tools, magic, golems, dungeon layout, dungeon boss, dungeon monsters, manifested monsters, items, materials, research, dungeon research, dungeon monster production.)

"…"

(Keep it simple.)

(This time focusing solei on research won't do.)

(Right now I need army.)

(I will continue pouring as much DP as possible on expanding the dungeon, as well as producing as many monsters as possible.)

(The research may take a while to complete and it may not end up giving me the best results.)

(So, instead it is for the best if I instead focus on myself.)

(My new dungeon, my new monsters, they all are strong.)

(But what if they fail? What if they get annihilated.)

(If that were to happened, then there will be the only thing standing between them and the dungeon core.)

(Me.)

(In the past, they tried to destroy the dungeon for some reason, but now they want it back?)

(How can I know they won't change their mind again and instead of taming, they will go for the total destruction?)

(I can't be sure….. So, I need to prepare.)

(This time, the research will be only about me.)

(I need to become as powerful as possible, before they get to me.)

And so, the days passed.

Thauma knew that the war with the world outside is coming.

No more delays or "ifs", the war between it and the kingdom will happened.

And so, its preparations had started.

But so did the kingdom, as the King Ash was determined to get to the bottom of the incident regarding the Golem Forest.

First, he made sure to contact Duke Wondan was the one who truly sent this letter.

Upon confirming that Duke Wondan was truly the person responsible for this report, a new investigation force was sent to the abandoned territory where monsters and bandits roamed free.

And the first results?

Nothing.

There were no traces left of the original army.

There was no confirmation whatsoever of any of the soldiers managing to leave the forest.

No bandits saw them or no monsters devoured their corpse.

There was not even a single hint…. Which led the investigation to believe only one possible explanation.

//The investigation force had been annihilated.//

This obviously ended up putting the new investigation on the high alert.

//A small army of soldiers suddenly going missing in a single day?//

This prompt the investigation squad to go into the forest, fully armed and wary of anything that could happened…. And this was the correct course of action, as the investigation squad was ambushed by the golems.

They found their enemies waiting for them…. But even so, they still ended up taking a heavy loss.

The investigation force squad that was sent into the forest had been annihilated…. And right after that, the golems ran out of the forest, trying to attack the soldiers outside.

However, these soldiers were also ready for the battle thanks to the nobleman experience, allowing the soldiers to not only repel the attacks, but also somewhat manage to get away from the forest.

Not only that, but they slew some of the attackers, which turned out to be one of the possible main suspects.

The golems.

The golem dungeon, which was targeted and declared as the national dungeon had turned out to be the culprit behind the incident.

And now the king of the Garmfon kingdom knew this truth.

Or more specifically, they now know the portion of the hidden truth behind the golem dungeon.

But the question is now this:

What will King Ash do with this new revelation?

Will he go and try the tame dungeon as planned?

Or will he wish to destroy it?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.