About ten kilometers south of White Tree City, within the Lizardman Forest, lay a camp stretching for several kilometers. Its inhabitants were the Beastmen bandits who had plagued White Tree City's many slave owners for months.
Moonlight flickered through the forest. On a small hill outside the camp gate stood a towering figure, with a comparatively shorter man in a cloak beside her.
"High Priest Imola, you needn't doubt my intentions. As a member of White Tree City, my sole purpose is to wipe out the slave camps of the White Tree Family and the Blue Lion Family, and restore justice and peace to this city." The cloaked man looked at the Minotaur beside him, trying to persuade her.
"The two families are our common enemies. As long as they remain, the entire city can only be one enormous slave camp. Every other family, every Mana-Wielder, can only be their vassals."
The cloaked man spoke earnestly. "What I want is to save White Tree City from their hands!"
"And you have already attacked three of their slave-catching parties and freed the slaves from at least two of their camps. They will not let you go!"
The five-meter-tall Minotaur showed no outward reaction. Yet beyond the cloaked man's sight, beneath her long horns, a pair of bovine ears flicked impatiently. Behind Imola, her tail kept swishing in the cloaked man's direction.
Hearing that her opponents did not intend to spare her, Imola asked disdainfully, "Oh? Are they planning to send a Knight Order to wipe me out?"
"They have hired a Great Knight and an Archmage from the Blue Lion Family," the man in black robes said quietly. "Perhaps you can withstand their first wave, but what then? Once three or four High-Ranks arrive, how do you plan to deal with