Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 294 Scarlet Queen
"I've really been tricked..."

Such sounds could be heard coming from the destroyed forest.

The burly man in the white turban had no idea how long he had been lying in the ruins of the camp. When he opened his eyes, he saw tree debris everywhere. His memory before he lost consciousness was of a wolf that had a sword in its mouth and was radiating golden light.

That's definitely not a monster you can see anywhere.

"It seems that guy only found us to use us to find the dragon's lair."

A sinister smile crept across the burly man in the white turban as he muttered to himself. Although he didn't know what had happened afterward, Ethan had indeed retrieved a dragon egg from the dragon's lair, and then, quite naturally, kicked them away.

As the leader of the poachers, he had never been so disheveled.

"Boss..."

The poachers who were wiped out gradually awoke.

"Go find him, he must have headed towards Tsukimori City."

The leader said in a deep voice, "No one can just use them and then walk away. He must be here to attend the Crimson Queen's tea party... Do you know? There are beings in this world that are rarer and more powerful than dragons. Each of them is unique and has no concept of race."

He heard about it from other poacher groups.

Legendary monsters, when they appear, often signify an impending catastrophe.

In the past, these were just topics of conversation when people were drunk, and their existence was more like folk tales scattered around the world. However, when the wolf with the sword in its mouth ran towards them, he realized that the legend had been reflected in reality, and they were all witnesses to the new legend.

The Crimson Queen's tea party, the summoners embarking on an adventure, and the legendary monster wielding the sword of justice—it's all no coincidence!
"Boss..."

"Forget about those dragon eggs. Aren't there things here that are more valuable than dragon eggs?"

He grinned excitedly, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. He heard the sound of the wheels of time turning forward and witnessed the moment when the brave embarked on their adventure. Even for a poacher, this was enough to make their heart race, wasn't it?
To follow in the footsteps of the hero, and even become his nemesis...

"Boss, but..."

More and more poachers gathered around, each of them with a livid face.

"what happened?"

The burly man in the white turban finally snapped out of his emotional turmoil.

"us……"

"Our monsters have been stolen!"

“It’s all gone!”

……

"This...this isn't quite right..."

On the other side, the upright Bi'an raised a question, "Wouldn't this really turn us into poachers?"

Just now, Ethan took advantage of the poachers' unconscious state to recruit their monsters. He used the characteristics of the wolf pack, having her lead all the monsters who supported her as the new wolf queen into the depths of the forest, and then gave them the order to disperse. Rowena was in charge of the bat monsters, and in the blink of an eye, more than a dozen monsters returned to nature.

In Ethan's words, this is called releasing animals back into the wild.

But what is the difference between releasing animals without their owner's permission and stealing?

To go a step further, Ethan's behavior was even worse than that of ordinary poaching gangs, who poach wild monsters, while Ethan directly stole other people's monsters.

"Other Shore, stop worrying about these trivial details."

Having completed her assigned task, Rowena flapped her wings excitedly. "I think Team Rocket is a great name. You can tell from the name that they're going to do something big!"

"Lovina is right, that's Team Rocket's mission—to liberate enslaved monsters and help them return to nature!"

Ethan has already established new guidelines for the team.

The cat remained gracefully perched on Ethan's shoulder, not participating in the argument between the two lovable creatures.

Every leader of the Rockets has a cat by his side, which fits the team's identity.

Moonforest City was now in sight. Ethan could already see the city guards patrolling the city's outskirts. Their monsters were all Moonblade Leopards, the most common type of monster on the kingdom's borders. After being bred by the border summoners, they had now become standard equipment for the kingdom's guards.

Ethan and his group... The small animals didn't attract much attention. The patrolling guards only glanced at him before letting him pass. After all, no one would make things difficult for a group of seemingly harmless cats and dogs. Some of the guards even looked at Ethan with a hint of sympathy.

In Moon Forest City, only young summoners from poor families need to leave the city to go into the forest to recruit companions, but they can usually only recruit some "cats and dogs" to keep as pets. These weak monsters are unlikely to participate in real battles.

Quantity is useless in the face of absolute bloodline differences.

But seeing that Ethan and his companions got along well, the guards of Moonforest City tacitly kept silent—they were all experienced men, and no one would easily trample on a young man's dream; Ethan reminded them of themselves when they were young.

Of course, they probably weren't as approachable and likable as Ethan when they were young.

This was probably the busiest time in Moonforest City. Ethan encountered many summoners dressed similarly to him along the way, accompanied by different kinds of monsters. Naturally, the city also had corresponding adventurer guilds, which would issue some monster-related quests.

Unlike the Adventurers' Guild in Ethan's memory, the Adventurers' Guild in Moonforest City is located on a giant tree. The stump has a spiral staircase that leads to the top of the tree. Above the Adventurers' Guild, other buildings can be vaguely seen. The vine suspension bridge is the main way to pass through the forest buildings. Looking up, you can see the intricate "streets" on the tree canopy.

Ethan learned the location of the inn from the residents of Moonwood City; it was also located in the treetops, which is where the advantage of flying monsters became apparent.

Miss Chloe flapped her wings and carried the group to a room dozens of meters above the ground. It was already late, but the city was still bustling.

They were lucky enough to book the last room, and Ethan exchanged some guild points for local currency.

As soon as they returned to the guest room, the little yellow potato popped its head out from under the floor and placed the dragon egg on the bed. According to Ethan's observation, this was a characteristic of the earth element—as long as the concept of the ground existed, she could pop out a head from it, and there would be no strange situation where you could see her from the neck downstairs.

He suspected it was some kind of spatial trick, that the earth elementals' lower body was not actually in the space they could see.

But the little yellow potato looked a bit listless. Since arriving in this world, the elements' spirits had been somewhat low. Ethan guessed that this was related to the special structure of the plane. Apart from the summoners, there were no other extraordinary beings on any other path here, and the locals had no idea that there were any other paths besides theirs.

Miss Chloe cooed twice, shook her body, and tried to make her feathers as fluffy as possible. Then she folded her wings and gently wrapped the white giant egg on the bed with the feathers on her abdomen.

Incubating eggs seems to be an innate ability of birds, and Miss Chloe, though not yet of age to lay or incubate eggs, had already mastered these skills without any instruction. She squinted, radiating maternal warmth.

Just then, a loud noise burst into the room, and a bat, no bigger than a palm, broke through the window without knocking.

"I've investigated thoroughly. The royal capital is recruiting the best summoners from all over the country to attend the Crimson Queen's tea party!"

Rowena took a deep breath. "The announcement also says that the most powerful summoner will have the chance to face the Crimson Queen directly!"

With a name in the same format as the King of Gold, his identity is self-evident.

Yoda said that the guild administrators rarely interacted with each other. Even as the earliest follower of the Golden King, he didn't know much about the identities of the other administrators, but he mentioned the name of the Crimson Queen.

The Crimson Queen seems to have a close personal relationship with the Gold King. She met with him before the Gold King went to conquer Merlin and before this operation. What they talked about is something that these "servants" could not know.

This strange "rule" of the plane is clearly also thanks to the Crimson Queen.

This is the authority of the administrators; they can change the plane they rule into whatever they want it to be—make everyone wear golden masks, or turn them into summoners to participate in a "World's Number One Summoner" competition.

However, from any perspective, a tea party is far better than war.

Perhaps he will be a reasonable person.

Ethan recalled the fleeting memories of Song Xian. There were two women in the pioneer team. One of them was a young girl who had spoken to him in his memory. She looked like a recent college graduate and even dared to slack off during the "leader's" meeting. The other was standing at the front of the team and never looked back at Song Xian once.

"If you win the Summoner's Tournament, you will be able to meet the legendary Crimson Queen."

Rowena said eagerly, "Let's sign up tomorrow! I asked about the rules, and a summoner can bring a maximum of six companions. If we include this little guy who hasn't even hatched yet, our team will be complete!"

She came on this trip with a tourist mindset, and naturally wanted to try out anything new she encountered.

Rowena is currently very satisfied with this world. The only drawback is that she can't ride an electric wheelchair in her current form. When traveling, she has to flap her wings and fly with Miss Chloe. However, this doesn't stop her from rubbing against Miss Chloe whenever she gets the chance, clinging to her back and refusing to get down.

Miss Chloe's feathers on her back are so soft and warm, it's hard to resist.

"Could it be that we have to collect badges from various places on the way to the capital, and we need to collect 8 badges to participate in the main competition?"

"Huh? How do you know?"

Rowena was taken aback. "Was this kind of rule common among you ancient people?"

"That's it."

Ethan's premonition was confirmed. This almost proved that the Crimson Queen was a Pokémon enthusiast. No wonder she experienced the "blackout" after her defeat. Humans in the Pokémon world are all superhumans. They can survive being hit by 100,000 volts and still be jumping around. The poacher gang leader who was thrown off the treetop by the single mother dragon was probably one of these "superhumans".

Meanwhile, somewhere in Tsukimori City.

"What do you mean by saying your monsters were stolen?"

The imposing building was located inside the tree trunk. The speaker was a girl who was just over 1.5 meters tall with a single golden ponytail. She held a riding whip in her hand, and the burly man with a white headscarf knelt in front of her tremblingly, not daring to even breathe loudly.

"His name is Ethan..."

Where did he come from?

"This...I don't know either."

"You do not know?"

The girl was somewhat surprised. Seeing that the man in the white headscarf was stammering and unable to give a coherent answer, she said, "So you actually planned to use him from the beginning and then kick him to the curb when it came time to divide the spoils? You just didn't expect him to turn around and use you instead."

"No, it's not that simple. It's hard to explain."

The man in the white headscarf lowered his head, feeling extremely uneasy, because he knew very well that what he had just said would make him sound like a fool.

But he never intended to kick Ethan out. If they could bring the dragon egg back and sell it for a good price, Ethan would naturally get a share.

However, when the camp was destroyed, he and the other members realized a terrible truth.

After much hesitation, he finally told the girl what he had discovered: "...he appeared out of nowhere."

No one knew where Ethan came from or when he was recruited into the group, but no one ever doubted Ethan's identity. Before his betrayal, everyone regarded him as a key member of the poaching gang, including Whitehide himself.

It was as if this person was born to be a manager in their group.

They didn't realize something was wrong until all their monsters had been stolen and everyone was sitting in the ruins of the camp.

"I suspect this was also caused by some kind of demon around him."

"Interesting, there are even monsters like this."

The girl lowered her head, lost in thought. "According to you, his goal was the dragon egg, and he parted ways with you after obtaining it."

What's even more interesting is that Ethan broke the rules that summoners have always followed.

He was even able to steal other people's monsters.

The relationship between monsters and humans is unbreakable. Once a contract is formed, unless the monster and its master voluntarily sever the contract, the bond is unbreakable. This is why, although poachers are rampant in Moonforest City, there have almost never been cases of stealing other summoners' monsters.

"Since you brought such interesting information, I'll let you off this time."

The girl whispered.

Since Ethan has come to Moon Forest City, he must be here to attend the Crimson Queen's tea party, so they will meet sooner or later.

As for these poachers...

The girl glanced at the white-turbaned man who had let out a long sigh of relief. "Go find out his background, or you'll spend the rest of your lives in prison."

(End of this chapter)