Three Rats Sneak into the Forest Palace!
Alabasta, Forest City, Forest Palace.
The daytime here, especially now after noon, is still unbearably hot; the air seems distorted where the sun shines.
"Mr. Yixiao, thank you so much for these past two days. I never imagined there would be so many malicious people!" Brian, dressed in an elegant tuxedo, bowed deeply to Yixiao in front of him.
"But we don't know which factions these people belong to, and I don't think they'll give up so easily," Yi Xiao replied in a deep voice.
His gaze swept across the open space in front of the wooden building, where three children, drenched in sweat under the scorching sun, were repeatedly swinging their Bokken. These were Camille, Talon, and Zed, whom Vidal had personally named. A burly Swordsman walked back and forth in front of them, patiently correcting their movements.
Meanwhile, if someone possessed the ability to see through things and looked down into the entire interior of the Forest Palace, they would see that all sorts of men and women already lived there.
Maids dressed in white skirts with green trim were wiping various parts of the building in twos and threes, or sweeping sand and gravel outside. There were also some workers in green shirts and black trousers, wearing sun Straw Hats, who were tending to the herbs left behind by Vidal under the direction of an old man with gray hair.
On the other side of the Forest Palace, in the woods overlooking Apis Divine Lake, workers were also following a retainer dressed in a tailcoat as he picked various fruits from the trees.
Meanwhile, Peashooter with anthropomorphic features stood silently around them, while others formed small squads and patrolled back and forth.
All of this was the result of Brian's meticulous management over the two weeks following Vidal's departure, as he was appointed as the butler. At this moment, Forest Palace was finally back on track.
However, one crucial element is still missing, a view that Brian himself has always held.
That's the master!
This vast Forest Palace is missing a master named Forrest!
In recent days, Brian has met with many people in order to recruit these maids and servants, as well as teachers for various courses. After all, given that he is not short of money, the treatment he offers is extremely generous in Alabasta, but a ten-year contract is required, during which time he is basically not allowed to leave the Forest Palace.
However, among these job seekers, there were indeed some with malicious intent, greed, and other negative emotions. This made Brian, the butler, extremely grateful, as they were the ones who could have picked out these people.
But as Yixiao said, will these people really give up so easily?
"Infiltrate or launch a direct assault?" Brian naturally understood that this was a likely possibility. "But this Forest Palace is guarded by those magical plants; even a hundred-strong army would be more than enough to hold it off!"
"Furthermore, I think a direct assault is too unlikely, after all, this is Alabasta. But infiltration is a different story. Although those magical plants are stronger than ordinary soldiers, their intelligence is too low, and they won't be very effective against experienced infiltrators."
"Furthermore, there's nothing in the Forest Palace that's worth a major offensive right now. The forces that sent people here are probably just trying to find out what's going on here, or testing the effects of those magical plants."
Upon hearing Brian's analysis, Yi Xiao sighed inwardly. Vidal's choice of butler was indeed quite good; although not exceptionally talented, he was certainly capable.
"I told Vidal I'd be leaving in a few days, so you should be prepared."
Brian already knew this, but it also troubled him. "The manpower we needed has been recruited, so we don't need to worry about infiltrators anymore. The main problem is those who force their way in."
"None of us Awakening Observation Haki. If the opponent possesses superior infiltration skills, it will be difficult for them to detect us in time."
"Or the other party is very strong, and even if they discover it, they can't stop it. I feel that this situation is the most troublesome."
Although Brian knew the probability of this happening was small, as the butler who managed the entire Forest Palace, he felt he should still consider these things, and he was actually saying this to Ichisho.
If Yixiao can change his mind after hearing this and stay here to oversee things, then the problems he mentioned will no longer be problems.
However, he underestimated the strength of the strong. Since Yixiao had already decided to travel the world, he could not be influenced by his words. Even Vidal could not do that.
So Vidal had only asked him to stay for a few days to ensure that the newly recruited people were clean.
The blazing sun in the sky was pushed into the sea by the passage of time, while the bright moon that had been waiting for so long was pulled up by time.
The nights in the desert are extremely hot compared to the days; as hot as the daytime, the nights are just as cold. But in the vast Forest Palace, Peashooter, led by their Boxing Cabbage, patrol the dark woods and along the walls.
The sunlight emitted by the Sunflowers on the main road rarely reaches these peripheral areas, so they need to rely on moonlight and the rustling of grass to observe their surroundings.
The forest across Apis Divine Lake, in particular, was a place that needed to be closely guarded, so Brian arranged for most of the magical plants to be planted there.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I really didn't expect that none of us would be recruited. Is this just a coincidence, or is there some other reason?"
Deep within the dark, lusterless soil, three enormous rodents of different colors chatted in hushed tones as they diligently dug a tunnel. Above them stood trees and magical, moving plants.
"It's just a coincidence, maybe the three of us are just too ugly," one of the white-haired mice said sarcastically, making a human-like smirk.
"Hey, I'm not ugly. At least my features are much better than yours!" the black-haired rat sneered from the side.
"Yes, yes, but you're short, less than 1.6 meters tall. Do you think they'll hire you? I've observed that the people recruited by the Forest Palace are all normal people over 1.8 meters tall," the white-haired rat sneered.
The third Nezumi was the largest, with yellowish fur, but it had a long, pointed beak like a bird. It didn't seem to be very sociable, and it kept to itself and worked quietly without saying a word. The other two mice didn't dare to provoke it.
"Let's hurry up. I thought it was just a simple investigation mission, but I didn't expect we'd have to do a stealth in the middle of the night. Ugh!" The white-haired rat said, while its paws kept digging the soil in front of it behind it.
"What else can we do? Go back and report that we weren't recruited, so we didn't find anything?" The black-haired rat snorted. "But this place truly lives up to its reputation as 'Ryokugyu's' territory; it's full of troublesome strange plants. Besides those peas and cabbages, I can smell three or four other kinds of other plants."
"To have developed the Woods-Woods Fruit to this extent, I feel they are no less capable than the Homies of the Totto Land!" the white-haired rat exclaimed.
"Oh my, you've been to the Totto Land and are still alive?"
"There's no way around it. It's an order from the superior. Would you dare disobey?"
"We're here!" Just then, the third mouse, who had been silent all along, spoke up, which immediately silenced the other two mice. They listened intently to the sounds on the ground, then sniffed around, as if they were doing their work diligently.
"There shouldn't be anything up there. White Rat, you're in charge of scouting the terrain and making a map when you get back. Black Rat, you're in charge of the layout and function of each building. I'll go catch a couple of plants and, while I'm at it, convert this place into a basement."
"I understand Lord Shishe Eater!"
[Clatter--]
But when they gently parted the ground, the white mouse at the front looked up and saw a burly man with a knife flying through the air on a thick wooden plank, with a somewhat dazzling full moon behind him.
"I have been waiting here for quite some time!"
Not only that, but a sword-wielding undead skeleton was also standing nearby, instantly making the whole atmosphere eerie.