"Damn it, the man-eating trees got away again!"
Emily slashed the Red Blood Sword through the air, her face full of unwillingness. She had tracked the colony of man-eating trees for a long time, even delaying construction on Firewood River Road for the task, yet she had still failed to complete it.
Just moments ago, they had clearly found a group of man-eating trees. But the horses' hoofbeats had startled them, and the trees had burrowed underground and fled, leaving not a single one behind.
"Viscountess, what should we do?" asked one of the knight captains assisting Emily in the search.
Emily drew a deep breath and soothed her somewhat agitated emotions. "Continue tracking them. This is an urgent task assigned by His Highness. No matter what, we must capture these man-eating trees. But next time, we must move more quietly. Send word: wrap every horse's hooves in burlap."
"Yes, Viscountess."
The knight captain went off to make the arrangements, while Emily crouched where the man-eating trees had burrowed away. Her bright eyes flickered, as though she were pondering something.
Though only fourteen, the girl's mind was already nearly as mature as an adult's.
Among serfs, many girls of fourteen or fifteen were already married. But as a viscountess, Emily had no need to worry about such troubles. Her heart already belonged to someone; everything she had would be devoted to her lord. Other than His Highness the dragonriding knight soaring through the heavens, there was no one else in her eyes.
"They escaped by burrowing underground. His Highness said a Dragon Elf controls the man-eating trees. It now seems that the Dragon Elf's ability is related to burrowing... then can it burrow through water as well?"
She recalled their previous tracking and realized that the man-eating trees had deliberately