Fantasy Lord: I Have a Moving Castle

Chapter 64: Chapter 17 The Strange Place, Floral Blue Leopard

Chapter 64: Chapter 17 The Strange Place, Floral Blue Leopard

The autumn sun filtered through the forest, casting fantastical, mottled shadows from the trees onto the soft, leaf-littered forest floor that was layered with who knows how many seasons of fallen leaves.

Char moved swiftly through the woods, gradually illuminating parts of the map still shrouded in darkness.

So far, however, he had found no trace of human activity.

The Green Rose Village that Betty had mentioned was nowhere to be seen.

In fact, this was quite strange.

According to Betty, after somehow losing her way, she wandered for more than ten days before encountering him. Given the flying ability of a Flower Fairy, ten days would neither be considered a short nor a particularly long distance to travel.

In other words, Green Rose Village should not be far from here.

However, despite the close proximity, there was a vast Land of Death right beside them, with the imminent threat of an Undead crisis looming nearby. Yet the elves of Green Rose Village seemed completely unaware, which was clearly unreasonable.

Considering the mobility of elves, even if they had just moved near this area, they would have discovered the Land of Death within a few days, let alone the fact that Green Rose Village had existed for many years.

Over the years, it was impossible for the elves not to have noticed something amiss here, nor could they ignore the presence of Undead.

He had only been here for a short while, alone, and had quickly noticed the anomaly. How could the many elves in Green Rose Village fail to notice?

Yet Betty was certain that in all the years she spent in Green Rose Village, she had never heard of any Undead near the village, nor had she seen her elf friends battle against any Undead.

This didn’t make sense.

Not only had Green Rose Village seemed unaware, but in his extensive exploration, Char had not encountered a single human or elf, dwarf, half-elf, or even half-orc.

This was unlikely, as according to the books left by the Winged Elf Mage, he was now nearing the edge of Florence Forest, with a province of Florence Kingdom just beyond that. Surely the Florentines should have detected the emergence of a Land of Undead and fortified their defenses?

But Char had seen nothing of the sort.

It was downright bizarre.

He planned to visit Florence Kingdom when he got the chance to find out what was really going on, as he would need to start dealing with Otherworldly People anyway.

Above him, the reconnaissance Clover Mantis on a branch suddenly erected its wings in an alarm stance, transforming into a blur of emerald as it flew down towards the thicket ahead.

Char and Star Worm, who were already well-acquainted with the Clover Mantis and understood what its various postures meant, were immediately alert.

The erected wings indicated that the Clover Mantis had encountered something it deemed a threat. Its current stance signified that there was indeed a presence ahead that could threaten it.

And a being capable of threatening the Clover Mantis could very likely be fatal to Char, Betty, Auson, and Star Worm.

The Lantern Firefly immediately assumed its guard position, flying in front of Char.

Char, Betty, and Star Worm didn’t make any hasty moves. Instead, they stepped back slightly, ready to run at the first sign of trouble.

Auson was slower to react and not as in sync with Char, Betty, and Star Worm, but after two seconds, he too was prepared to make a run for it if necessary.

In the distance, the intimidating growl of a feline animal rolled through the air like subdued thunder.

‘Is it some kind of large cat?’ Char wondered.

A combination of sound, color, scent, airflow, and temperature constructed an image in Char’s mind:

A large feline creature crouched low, letting out a continuous growl towards something in front of it, signaling to the Clover Mantis to stay away. The Clover Mantis in front of the big cat had closed its threatening, erect wings, retracting its menacing stance.

Judging by the silhouette of the large feline, it didn’t resemble a lion nor a tiger—it was probably a leopard?

This was the first time he had encountered a large feline in all these days.

At first, he had thought he might encounter wolves, tigers, and leopards relatively easily since Demon Beasts were rare and seldom seen; surely, ordinary animals couldn’t be that hard to find, right?

But as he expanded his exploration area and encountered more and more Demon Beasts and non-Demon Beasts, he gradually realized things weren’t as he had thought.

It seemed, in this world, there simply were no large or medium-sized carnivorous animals that were just ordinary animals.

So far, he had only encountered two types of large and medium-sized carnivorous animals (the lynx he had caught before didn’t count, as it was hardly bigger than a house cat and didn’t qualify as a large or medium-sized carnivore).

Both were wolves, and both were Demon Beasts.

The Challenge Level wasn’t low either, with the former reaching Level 2 and the latter Level 3.

What’s more, these two types of wolf Demon Beasts didn’t appear alone; they were in groups, each forming a small pack.

Fortunately, wolves are smart and cautious creatures. After realizing they had no chance against the Clover Mantises, they didn’t attack and simply watched from a distance for a moment before wisely leaving.

Char didn’t chase after them.

The wolf packs weren’t confident they could hunt down his group, and he wasn’t sure he could kill those two packs either.

Both sides tacitly chose to avoid each other’s waters.

Later on, he realized that in this world, all large and medium-sized carnivores were probably Demon Beasts, and even large and medium-sized herbivores were mostly Demon Beasts.

Animals like the brown-tailed roe deer were already among the largest of the ordinary animals; anything larger than them was, without exception, a Demon Beast.

It made sense, large carnivores like tigers and lions, if they were just ordinary animals, simply couldn’t survive: even an Insect-type Demon Beast like the Clover Mantis could kill them.

For animals to proliferate generation after generation, they had to either be numerous and win by quantity or have a high survival rate and win by quality.

In an otherworldly realm with Demon Beasts, creatures like lions and tigers, which only bear one or two cubs per litter and are carnivores, and yet are ordinary animals?

Such a niche simply couldn’t exist!

The call of the Clover Mantis came from ahead, and at the same time, the picture formed by his five senses also dissolved at this moment.

“Star Treasure, Auson, let’s go, but be careful.”

As they got closer, more information was conveyed through the wind: the scent of blood, was this leopard-type Demon Beast injured? Hmm? It seems this Demon Beast is protecting something?

Sensing the approach of Char and the others, the leopard’s threatening growls grew louder, as if it might pounce at any moment.

‘What a beautiful leopard!’

When Char finally got close and saw the leopard’s appearance clearly, he couldn’t help but sigh with heartfelt admiration.

Its slender build, athletic figure, moss and distant-mountains green fur, mountain-flower-like crimson clouds markings, and the green flames wafting from the four paws and mouth, everything combined to make a beautiful Floral Blue Leopard.

[Floral Blue Leopard (Subadult)]

[Skills]: Mountain Ghost Green Flame (3rd Circle), Flame Trampling Flying Charge (3rd Circle), Green Vine Grass (1st Circle)

[Challenge Level]: 4

[Introduction]: The Floral Blue Leopard is an elegant hunter in the jungle, with a beautiful appearance, agile movements, and a certain healing ability. Their numbers are rare and they move like specters, akin to the ghosts of the mountains. Flower Fairies hold the Floral Blue Leopard in high esteem as an animal companion, but only a very few manage to gain the favor of one.