That night, Sir Berrin was wiping the blood off his sword.
Over the past few days, he had followed the knight regiment in hunting a large number of magical beasts.
Berrin was very satisfied with his performance — even compared to the battle-hardened knights, he felt he was not much inferior.
This is what a true noble should be like, Berrin thought proudly.
When he thought of those nobles who had joined the knight regiment just to gain military merits, he felt they were a disgrace to nobility.
"It's a pity that the quick little Shinx managed to escape."
"If I had caught it and trained it with the sheriff's methods, my combat strength would have increased a lot."
Calculating the military merits he had gained today, Sir Berrin still felt a sense of regret.
The final evolution of a Shinx was Luxray, a magical beast highly sought after both by knights and sheriffs — but they were extremely rare.
It had been a rare opportunity to encounter one, yet it had escaped. This was the only thing Berrin felt regretful about these past few days.
Next time I encounter a Shinx, I must capture it, Berrin thought to himself.
This expedition was not just for hunting magical beasts and earning merits; it was also a good chance to capture desirable magical beasts. Each noble carried special equipment for capturing beasts.
However, when he thought about the injuries the Shinx had sustained, he frowned slightly.
Several of the strikes had been dealt by his own sword, cutting down to the bone.
He was a little worried that the Shinx might have died from its injuries.
The next day, the knight regiment continued their march — coincidentally heading in the same direction the Shinx had fled.
Shinx had fled toward the southeastern corner of Aspiration City, while the Abyssal Cave was to the northeast — the two locations were on opposite corners to the east.
That direction... it should be toward Fruitvale Village, Berrin thought, narrowing his eyes as he followed the regiment.
He suddenly thought of a certain apothecary.
"I wonder if Fruitvale Village has been overrun yet."
"Hopefully it has. A mere commoner dared to offend a noble."
Berrin sneered inwardly. In his mind, commoners would always be commoners, and nobles would always be nobles — the gap between the two was like heaven and earth.
Meanwhile, the regiment's scouting knights had already ridden ahead to reconnoiter the area.
Normally, a scouting knight was accompanied by a Rhyhorn, a Mightyena, and a Starly.
Not long into their scouting, the Mightyena suddenly froze, its gaze turning sharp as it stared ahead.
"What's wrong, Mightyena?" the scout knight asked in a low voice, watching his old partner carefully.
"Woof woof!"
Mightyena quickly communicated with its master.
"You're saying... there's a Mightyena pack up ahead?" the scout knight's expression grew serious.
One of the main reasons for the regiment's mission was to hunt down a group of Mightyenas that had appeared within the territory.
Mightyena nodded firmly in confirmation.
The scout knight halted immediately.
Mightyenas had an extremely sharp sense of smell — if they got too close, they risked alerting the pack.
At the same time, the Starly flying overhead returned, bringing back its own report.
Further ahead, it had spotted a human village — but the village was now inhabited by a large number of Gloom.
Judging from the scene, the Gloom had completely taken over the place.
After relaying the information, Starly exhaled heavily.
The smell given off by so many Glooms gathered together was truly unbearable — especially in the air where the stench hovered thickly. Starly didn't want to linger there for even a moment.
"A village taken over by Gloom…"
The scout knight frowned deeply.
He vividly remembered the disgusting mixture of rotten egg and other bizarre odors that Glooms emitted.
After some hesitation, he decided he had to at least go take a look.
The closer they approached the village, the more agitated the Mightyena became, clearly reluctant to continue toward that place.
Though the scout knight hadn't yet smelled anything, Mightyena — whose nose was far more sensitive — had already picked up the stench.
It could easily imagine how unbearable it would be once they actually reached the village.
Soon enough, even the scout knight caught a whiff of the foul odor.
He covered his nose with one hand, but still pressed forward.
It was early morning now, with the winter sun still not risen, but under the faint light, the scout knight could already make out large numbers of Gloom gathered on the grass outside the village — at a rough glance, there were dozens.
After a moment of silence, he stopped moving and circled the village once, discovering that it was completely surrounded by Gloom.
There was no telling how many more lurked within.
It was a berry village — if the Glooms hid inside the orchards, even Starly's aerial view wouldn't be able to accurately judge their numbers.
Still, the scout knight decided:
The Glooms aren't our priority — hunting down the Mightyena pack is.
With that in mind, he quickly retreated, bringing the reluctant Starly and Mightyena with him.
Once they had withdrawn beyond the reach of the foul odor, the scout knight and his Pokémon all let out a deep breath of relief, then hurried back to rejoin the main force.
Vice-captain Todd of the knight order listened carefully as the scout knight reported.
Upon hearing that they had located the Mightyena pack, Todd's expression grew more serious.
If this was indeed the group the lord had mentioned, it would consist of around twenty Mightyenas and more than forty Poochyenas.
Although this number wasn't enough to truly threaten the knight regiment, Mightyenas were extremely mobile — even Rhyhorns had difficulty matching their speed.
What Todd needed to figure out now was how to completely eliminate them without letting any escape — otherwise, hunting them down later would be even more troublesome.
As for the Glooms occupying the village, Todd wasn't particularly concerned.
But thinking about it, he suddenly came up with a clever idea.
Originally, the plan had been to surround the Mightyena pack from four directions, with fifty knights assigned to each side — a necessary precaution given the sixty or so magical beasts they were facing.
But now, they could alter the strategy:
Split into three teams instead of four, leaving the side occupied by the Glooms open.
This way, when the Mightyenas tried to escape, they would be forced to flee straight into the Gloom-infested village.
(End of Chapter)