Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

Quickly, Rein and his party were about to arrive at the area where Lagaray's team had encountered the aged ogre.

At that moment, Rudolph, the priest riding on horseback, suddenly looked up ahead, frowning ever so slightly.

Almost simultaneously, Rein also raised his right hand and made a halt sign, shouting, "Stop!"

Just then, Rein had felt a very distinct, malicious scrutiny coming from the dense forest about a few dozen meters to the left and in front of him.

He was certain that this surveilling gaze was not from an ordinary beast, but instead from some sort of intelligent creature.

Moreover, for Rein to feel an obvious malice meant that the strength of the other party was not to be underestimated.

Rudolph, however, did not focus on that surveilling gaze but instead turned his head in surprise towards Rein.

This young man, who at such a young age had become a Transcendent Knight, seemed to become more and more inscrutable to him.

Because that surveilling gaze, even he had only just noticed it himself.

But what he hadn't expected was that Rein, right by his side, could also detect it so quickly—a Knight with such sharp perception...

It should be noted that the reason he could detect it was because of his long tenure as a clergyman, which gave him an innate sensitivity to malice.

As Rudolph was pondering what kind of offer might sway the young man before him, whom he thought should embrace the arms of the Goddess, Rein took the initiative to ask:

"Rudolph, there seems to be something lurking in our direction, should we stop and check it out?"

"Yes, let everyone else take a break as well," Rudolph decided to rest for a while after pondering for a moment.

Traveling all the way from Flashgold Town to Nightingale Forest, while the Holy Temple Knights felt little impact, the county town's peacekeeping troops and the Night Watchmen from Flashgold Town were beginning to show signs of fatigue.

So, the entire team stopped rather quickly.

Firstly, to rest for a bit, allowing the horses to recover some of the strength they had expended on the journey, and secondly, to send people to check the surroundings.

Rein had Matteo deploy the Night Watchmen around the perimeter for vigilance while sending a few skilled individuals to scrutinize the area within a hundred-meter radius, especially where he had sensed that surveilling gaze, to see if they could find any valuable clues.

After making these arrangements, Rein then came to Lagaray's side and asked, "Lagaray, is this the place?"

As they delved deeper into Nightingale Forest, Rein noticed that Lagaray's mood seemed a bit downcast.

The reason?

Rein guessed that it was probably because the scenery was stirring up memories of the events of that day.

"Yes, it's right ahead. That's where we found the old ogre that day," she replied.

"The battle started soon after, and my brother defeated it. It fled in this direction," Lagaray said with a solemn expression, pointing ahead.

Rein looked up, barely discerning that in the dense forest ahead, there seemed to be many signs of broken and fallen trees.

In theory, in an environment like a primordial forest where vegetation grows very fast, traces of a normal battle would quickly be covered by the rapidly growing plants.

That battle that took place over half a month ago must have been very intense.

"Swoosh!"

One of the Night Watchmen on vigil suddenly fired an arrow deep into the forest.

"What's going on?" Matteo approached and asked.

"Captain, something suddenly moved over there. If I'm not mistaken, it should be a gnoll," the Night Watchman said with a serious tone.

Since the elite Night Watchmen were accustomed to practicing archery, their eyesight was generally excellent, which was why Rein had specifically assigned the Night Watchmen to act as sentries and scouts.

.....

Shortly after, Matteo came over to Rein and Rudolph and reported, "Sirs, a Night Watchman has just reported sightings of gnolls around our party. Judging from some tracks, there are quite a few of them."

Rein nodded and asked back, "Was there any trace of that old ogre found?"

Was the surveillance a moment ago from the gnolls?

That was highly likely.

However... the gnolls that he had once dreaded were a thing of the past.

Even if the ferocious gnoll that had given Rein a hard time were to come back to life, it was highly likely that it would not withstand his full force now.

Furthermore, given the current strength of the team, even if faced with an assault by several dozen gnolls mixed with a few ferocious ones, they would be able to handle it with ease.

But ogres were a different story.

Apart from their powerful strength posing a substantial threat to the team, according to Lagaray's previous account, these gnolls were likely the vassals of an old ogre.

A bunch of disorganized gnolls and a group under the unified command of an elder ogre would have vastly different combat prowess.

Rein understood this very clearly.

"We haven't found any traces of the aged ogre so far," Matteo shook his head.

"What do you think, Rudolph?" Rein turned his head to ask for an opinion.

Since the main force of the party came from the Church of Monsoon and Ocean Goddess, Rein behaved extremely courteously.

Whether to sweep these gnolls first or head directly to the barbarian squad's location where they had found the Evil Spirit Knight, it was up to Rudolph, the church leader of the team, to decide.

Hearing Rein's question, Rudolph smiled and said, "Let's continue directly to our target area. Gnolls are widespread and trying to eradicate them would waste a lot of time."