Chapter 256 - 114: "Arrogant and Domineering" Lynch Blackwood

Chapter 256: Chapter 114: "Arrogant and Domineering" Lynch Blackwood

"Is your teacher reliable?" Lynch asked.

"As far as I can tell, he is." Aus said, choosing his words carefully. "He’s old-fashioned and devoted to historical research and the arts, so he’s never been entangled with the major noble families. Most importantly, out of all the princes and princesses, I am his only student."

"Alright, go ahead and contact him with a Magic Letter," Lynch said with a light chuckle. "Lakefront Town is not what it used to be. If your identity as a prince in distress is exposed, so be it. We can even use your position as a warzone supervisor to directly interfere in the North Wind Legion’s affairs and secure more benefits for ourselves."

"Of course, it would be better if we can delay the exposure for a while. By then, Lakefront Town will be stronger, and we’ll be able to handle the situation more calmly."

Seeing Lynch agree to him contacting his teacher, Aus grew slightly excited. "Although my teacher is retired, he’s incredibly knowledgeable. He’s taught many students outside the palace, and some of them should be scholars who specialize in the history of the Ancient Elves."

"Okay, you can handle it as you see fit." Lynch had long been used to being a hands-off manager in these matters, but he added a reminder, "You need to come up with a complete plan to keep those experts and scholars here. Once they arrive, they’re not leaving anytime soon."

"Don’t worry about that," Aus said with a knowing smile. "I’ll sort all this material, then periodically toss them a few pieces to study. I guarantee they’ll be so absorbed they’ll forget to eat or sleep. You won’t be able to chase them away even if you tried."

Clearly, after a year of working with Lynch, the once naive and sweet Seventh Prince had become much more clever.

***

After this wave of exploration, Lynch’s Teleportation Gate project was temporarily put on hold.

With that unknown, terrifying existence looming over it, he had no plans to initiate another exploration anytime soon.

At the very least, he would wait until the experts and scholars arrived and had produced some research findings on the Ancient Elf ruins.

Following this, his days returned to their normal rhythm.

Every day was spent in Meditation and training, strengthening his troops, and honing his skills. In short, he seized every moment and opportunity to develop his own power as much as possible!

Meanwhile, Lynch’s attention shifted to his second major project: crossing the Mist Forest to reach the Angelo Mountains and find the treasure left behind by his fellow Transmigrator, Lester.

However, to Lynch’s complete surprise, before he even had a chance to go looking for trouble with the Gnolls in the Mist Forest, they started digging their own graves.

One day, Lynch was by the lake, happily practicing a few new skills like Soul Lash on the wild Fishmen.

He had only been training for a short while when a clerk sent by Aus summoned him to the garrison’s council hall.

"What’s going on?"

Walking into the council hall and seeing the solemn atmosphere inside, Lynch immediately realized the situation might be troublesome.

He looked at Aus and asked in a serious tone.

Aus, holding a stack of reports, said with a furrowed brow, "My lord, over the past half-month, the Gnolls of the Mist Forest have become increasingly active. They’ve attacked several outlying villages, stolen a large amount of grain, killed seventeen villagers, and abducted a total of eight people."

"The Western Ridge mining area was also attacked twice. Over twenty Kobold miners were killed, a transport team was intercepted, losing a batch of iron ore, and several militiamen died!"

Lynch took the reports, his expression growing darker as he read.

In fact, he had been keeping an eye on this Jackal Wolfman Tribe, guessing it was the parent tribe of Hog’s small clan.

They had originally been entrenched in the Mist Forest, only occasionally coming out to raid.

But because their raids were small in scale, they were always driven back by Lakefront Town. For some unknown reason, they had now suddenly begun to frequently harass Lakefront Town’s territories.

The tricky part was that these Gnolls were very powerful individually.

A single adult Gnoll often possessed the strength of a human Tier One Warrior. If a group of ten or twenty attacked together, the garrisoned militia and patrol teams were completely unable to cope.

And whenever Lynch’s main battalion rushed over, the enemy would use their superior mobility to quickly flee into the Mist Forest.

The Mist Forest was the Gnolls’ main base. They were extremely familiar with the terrain, and combined with their speed, they could come and go without a trace within the perennially fog-shrouded forest.

Even Lynch’s main forces, including the Skeleton Corps, would gain no advantage fighting them inside the forest.

Lynch rubbed his temples, feeling a slight headache coming on.

’These Gnolls really are a handful.’ In this situation, even gathering a team of elite experts to fight them wouldn’t work.

In a massive tribe with several hundred Gnolls, how could there not be powerful individuals?

According to the intelligence gathered, the Chieftain of this Gnoll tribe was a Tier Five Gnoll named Spine Breaker Grom.

The tribe also had a Tier Four Peak Shaman known as the Blood Claw Priest.

Besides them, the tribe had at least four or five other Tier Four, Centurion-level Gnolls.

Against such strength, even if Lynch deployed all his elite forces, the fight would undoubtedly be incredibly difficult.

Launching an all-out sweep with his entire army would be equally problematic.

The Gnolls could fully exploit the terrain, breaking their forces into smaller units to conduct guerilla-style harassment. Meanwhile, his own troops, with their obstructed vision and inferior speed, could easily be divided and ambushed.

But no matter how difficult it was, Lynch felt the time had come to deal with these Gnolls.

’They not only dared to block my path, but they also dared to raid my villages. These Gnolls are courting death!’

Lynch picked up a cup of Ghost Moss Tea, took a sip, and let the cool sensation spread through his body.