The Echanting Duchess

Chapter 25: The Duke in Distress

Because of its unpredictability, both fortuitous and tragic encounters awaited the courageous seekers. It mostly depended on one's luck whether what kind of encounter one could have upon entering the forest.

And now, it looked like another courageous soul was in for it.

A figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere after the flashing of white rays.

And it was none other than His Grace The Duke of Kargaz, Calex Hexon Tygart.

Looking around once his feet landed on the forest ground, Duke Calex could not help but scold himself.

His teleportation failed. The coordinates were set to be at his estate, but he was sent instead at the dreaded Greya Forest.

Worst, the teleportation stone could not be used anymore for in the first place, it was already not in its good condition to be used for a very long distance instant travel after it had just been used previously to instantly teleport a group of people from outside the far western border of the Kingdom of Hartize to the very heart of the kingdom which was the Royal City.

The distance between these two places was immense, and thus it exhausted the magical energy that was infused in it.

And unfortunately, Sebas, who was supposed to fill it in with magical energy was sent out for a mission by the order of His Majesty The King even before he was able to fully fill up the stone for the duke to use.

Thus, only possible thing that the duke could do with the situation was to use the not fully filled stone by teleporting alone instead of with a group of people. This could increase the success rate of the stone for a long distance instant teleportation.

However, in the end, it was apparent that Sebas and the duke was wrong at this juncture.

Now, the worst of the worst was yet to come.

The duke who was casually yet gallantly standing in the middle of the dark and uncanny forest decided to move into a better clearing when suddenly froze in his track.

The midnight finally came.

Duke Calex expression slightly shifted as he gritted his teeth. It was not known whether it was from anger or something else.

Looking forward, the duke only stopped for a mere few seconds before he continued moving around.

As Duke Calex continued pacing in the midst of the vast forest, he realized that the part of the forest where he was currently at was the red zone. It was evident that this zone which was coded with the color red - the color of blood - was just next to the most dangerous part of the forest which was the black zone.

It was evident that Duke Calex has knowledge of the topography of the Greya Forest. It was only because of two reasons - first, it was because Greya Forest was still within his jurisdiction, therefore the duke has the map and the other information about the forest itself, and second was because he also ventured in this forest for a few times. But the duke was never interested to set his foot inside the red and black zone. He merely ventured towards the yellow and orange zone because he was bored and had nothing to do. But now, who would have thought that he would one day end up inside the red zone.

Duke Calex's dark orbs glinted dangerously in the middle of the dim and gloomy forest. He could not even light a fire in here without thinking of the possible consequences that might come. That was why the duke could only walk carefully under the guidance of the moon as it shone its light from above.

After walking for more than two hours, Duke Calex made it far from the border of the red zone and the black zone. He was finally also able to find a clearing behind a huge boulder.