The area of Ardenweald is indeed huge, but most of the population is concentrated near the heart of the forest and the fairy forests protected by the fairy wood spirits. In the remote suburbs, there will inevitably be wild areas that even the fairy wood spirits cannot reach.
Val Fairy Forest is located in the northeastern part of Ardenweald, adjacent to Flashfall Basin to the west, to the north is the famous and inaccessible viewing point - Star Glory Lookout, and to the east is the wilderness.
Vaal Fairyland can be said to be one of the boundaries of civilization in Ardenweald.
Compared with the tree-lined Valxian Forest, the scenery in the Heartwood Forest is relatively bleak, with nearly half of the grass on the ground turning yellow and the vegetation density has also dropped significantly.
After entering the Heartwood Forest with Moonberry, Sharlayan always had a strange feeling of being stared at from the dark.
Lotte's Moonberry didn't care about this. These outlier Drust had been isolated from the outside world for thousands of years. They had long since stopped caring about world affairs and were unwilling to get involved with any outsiders. They just wanted to live their own peaceful lives.
However, is it really that easy?
Due to the trouble caused by the forest spirits, many people have already known about the existence of Drust around the Val Fairy Forest, and it will spread to the outside world sooner or later.
Given the bad relationship between the local residents of Ardenweald and the Drust, someone might at some point encourage the guardians of Vaal Forest to come and wipe out their evil neighbors.
Ordinary people cannot tell the difference between the two groups of Drust. In their view, all Drust are equally ferocious and terrifying.
As Sharlayan and Moonberry gradually penetrated into the core area of the Heartwood Forest, they discovered an uninhabited settlement that clearly still retained the breath of life.
As for why there is no one...the answer is actually very simple.
"Are you hiding?" Sarlayan scratched his head helplessly: "You just don't want to have contact with the outside world?"
Perhaps because the iron fools led by the Gorak family continue to ruin the reputation of the Drust people, this group of Thornspeakers who have no intention of participating in the dispute are like frightened birds, and are not even willing to have any verbal communication with outsiders.
If they couldn't afford to offend them, they would avoid them. They were sure that Sarlayan and Moonberry could not stay in their village forever.
"Hey~"
Sighing softly, Sarlayan closed his eyes slightly and spread the balance power he learned from Orfa outwards, centered on himself.
Even though both use the power of life, the red dragon and the green dragon use power very differently.
In the same way, Thornspeakers' understanding of the power of death is completely different from that of ordinary necromancers. The core idea lies in the word balance.
Most of those who escaped from the rule of the Gorak family were orthodox Thornspeakers who were active in the early days.
There are also some people who come later, who are tired of the endless paintings and wars of the Gorak clan, and hope to live a more peaceful life.
After feeling Sarlayan's flawless balancing power, the surprised Thornspeakers finally couldn't help but peek out from their hiding places to check. They thought that another compatriot had come to seek refuge.
Sarlayan suddenly opened his eyes and looked up following the power that leaked out slightly, and happened to meet the eyes of a male Drust with frightened eyes.
"I have seen you. There is no need to hide anymore. Come out. I have no ill intentions towards you."
Although the person seen by Sarlayan quickly retracted his head, but now, there is no point in being secretive.
"Hey~ come out now, there's no need to hide anymore."
An elderly Drust with a stooped body took the lead and walked out of the sparse woods with a staff.
This person should be the leader of this settlement. His actions had an obvious leading effect, and the Drust people hiding in every corner emerged from their hiding places one after another.
Although the old Drust man was stooped, his eyes were still bright, looking at Sarlayan with scrutiny, temporarily ignoring the moonberry sitting on his shoulder.
"The very pure power of balance, elf, where did you learn it from?"
After finally stimulating these old people, Sarlayan did not rush to get straight to the point. He had to get rid of these people's wariness and resistance first.
"Old man, have you ever heard of the name Orfa?"
"Orfa?"
There was a look of surprise in the old man's eyes: "Did that old guy come to the Shadow Realm too? Where is he?"
Sarlayan waved his hands hurriedly and said: "No, no, no, I didn't say that."
"Orfa is my mentor. He is alive and well in Drustvar. In recent years, he has also selected many apprentice professors among the Kultiran people."
"Unfortunately, there are few people who can inherit the orthodox Thornspeaker way. Human beings always subconsciously reject the power of death."
"His apprentices are more like ordinary Druyin than Thornspeakers."
"Ha~"
The old man smiled mockingly to himself: "This is inevitable. Intelligent creatures will instinctively fear death."
"Most people who can delve into the power of life have a love for life and nature. How many people would touch death, which is completely opposite to the concept of life."
"but……"
The old man stroked his beard with joy: "Orfa actually survived the civil strife and continues to pass on the ways of the Thornspeakers. This is the only good news I have heard in the past few thousand years."
"Ahem~ I almost forgot to introduce myself."
The old man stepped forward slowly, tried to straighten his back and said, "My name is Drust, I am the former leader of the Drust clan and the legal ruler of Drustvar."
When Sarlayan heard this, a look of surprise appeared on his face: "Drus? This name... Old man, could it be that you are a descendant of the Drust royal family?"
A few years ago, Sarlayan had heard the history of Drust told by Orfa when he was learning the ways of the Thornspeakers.
The Gorak family is just a rising "show". Before they came to power, Drust had another family of royal chieftains in power.
This family is the Drus, an ancient family named after their race.
Sarlayan didn't know which generation of royal chieftain Drulus was in front of him, but judging from his acquaintance with Olfa, he should be an acquaintance of the same generation as Old Bear, at least over 2,000 years old.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The old man named Drust sighed softly: "Yes, it is rare for anyone to remember that Drust was once ruled by a royal chief."
"Ever since the royal chieftain clan failed in the civil strife, those damn traitor ancestors have tampered with our history, deceived our people, and led the Drust clan on a path of no return."
"correct."
Suddenly remembering something, the old man's eyes became sharp.
"Is that bastard Gorak Tull still alive? He seems to have never entered the Shadow Realm."
Sarlayan sneered and said: "Golak Tur has been hiding in the Blighted Realm of Zlos to survive. Under the orders of my mentor Orfa, I personally cut off his life."
"That guy did a lot of evil during his lifetime and was hopeless. After entering the Shadow Realm, he was directly thrown into the abyss by the Arbiter. Of course you can't see him."
"good!"
The originally wary Drusts cheered one after another, and the eyes they looked at Sarlayan became obviously much softer and closer.
Drews calmed down his excitement and said with some emotion: "That scum finally received the punishment he deserved. Unfortunately... it's still too late. Our people can no longer turn back."
This king, Drus, should have died unfortunately during the civil strife caused by the Gorak family.
After entering the Shadow Realm, he witnessed with his own eyes the endless battle between the two groups of Drust.
The orthodox Thornspeakers are no match for the Gorak family who are secretly providing help. They can only hide in the mountains and forests without contact with the outside world to avoid being found and killed by the enemy.
"Secretly providing help..." Sarlayan asked thoughtfully: "Is it assistance from Revendreth?"
Drews nodded and then shook his head: "Yes, but not entirely."
"Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the prison time of Gorak Zal and others is abnormal, but this is the judgment of Emperor Denathrius, and it is not appropriate for the Queen of Winter to question it on her behalf."
"In addition to Emperor Denathrius, Gorak Zaar also has other helpers in Ardenweald."
"It was this helper who provided them with a secret path that even the Winter Queen didn't know about...or didn't pay attention to, allowing them to rely on their mobility to fight guerrilla warfare against the powerful Wild Hunters."
Sarlayan's brows furrowed, and he felt that he was close to the core of the problem.
"What secret path? Who is secretly helping the Golaike family?"
Drews obviously hesitated for a while, opening his mouth several times to answer, but then closed his mouth again.
After repeated urging from Sarlayan and Yueberry, who didn't want to hear the story out of context, Drus finally smiled bitterly and leaned into Sarlayan's ear and whispered a name.