Deep within the northern forest that was 7 km away from the Saxonwold barony, a lone old man sat atop of what looked to be a log, infront of him  was a crackling camp fire, in his hand he held a thin stick of wood that had pierced through a bird like creature that resembled a chicken.

The stick went through its mouth and out the other end, the old man slowly rotated the Stick as he slowly cooked the meat while simultaneously trying to resist  the fatigue he felt. 

This elderly man originally was going to the Saxonwold barony however due to a "faulty" teleportation crystal  he was teleported in the forest near  the Barony and having known that the terroritory he was looking for was north he decided to head north  unfortunately he mistook the forest he was in as the small forest that was in between the Saxonwold Territory  and various other territories.

The Saxonwold barony is farthest away from the capital  and to get to it one has to past through a couple of Territories then a small and relatively safe forest before arriving. However for this elderly man it seems his efforts to skip the journey with teleportation made him skip past his original destination and is now lost.

A yawn came from his mouth and taking that as cue that he needs sleep  he pulled  back his meat from the fire  and took a bite out of it, he chewed and swallowed. The meat was decently cooked but had no taste due to lack of seasoning.

A sensible man would have decided to turn back and go home however this old man is determined, it's been 5 years since he saw that precious gem stone, she should be old enough to learn magic and her parents must be scrambling looking for magic teacher it's the perfect opportunity, plus those other old men at the magic Institute will make fun of him for coming back empty handed, he didn't exactly leave peacefully.

As the old man chewed  his food, there was a sudden gust of wind followed by an audible Thud.

*sqwuak*

He turned his head towards the sound of a bird, once he laid his eyes  on the thing that caused the noise.

"SHIT"

The man started sweating and uttered the only word that  could come out of his mouth as his body, responded to the threat of the monster that had landed  a couple of meters away from him.

In but a split second  he got up from his sit and ran like his life depended on it because it did.

When he saw the bird like creature, he knew exactly what it was, a  herbivore bird monster that even S class adventurers would run from. A docile yet terrifying creature that made his stomach sink to the very bottom, He was fucked.

The creature was a Cockatriche not to be confused with its cousin the Cockatrice, while the Cockatrice is dangerous because of it's petrifying scream, The Cockatriche is far more dangerous  not because of its strength but because it's a monster that  triggers Monster stampedes with a similar scream as the Cockatrice. 

The Cockatriche calls other monsters to its side when threatened, or when one has cooked and was  eating its young that look very similar to a chicken.

*squeeeeeeeee*

The monster screamed and its scream resounded throughout the forest.

"Fuuuuck, [Wind canon] [fire canon]"

The elderly screamed as well, he quickly cast wind magic to boost his speed  and then casted fire magic for an even greater boost. He maneuvered carefully around the trees, if he were to trip and fall that would be the end  of it.

The forest began to rumble as Hordes of monster began stampede.

..............

The Baroness stood in front of the hole in the wall of Adam's office and looked outside, She had what looked to be a blanket covering her entire body.

Going back a couple of minutes, her husband suddenly dropped to the floor like a dead animal after swallowing those pills Adam gave him, She tried her best  to wake him up but to no avail, nothing worked he was out cold, luckily he was still breathing  So he wasn't dead, it was while in the process of putting him on the bed when the house suddenly shook, She  properly put her husband to bed and looked for something to wear  however while doing this the house shook once more,  nor caring what she wore she quickly grabbed the nearest blanket and covered herself and went to check what was going on, Adam's office was located on the same floor as her bedroom, so it was fairly close.

As she made her way to Adam's office  the house shook again, this caused her to hasten her steps with growing concern on her face.

by the time she made it to Adam's office and opened the door, the first thing she saw caused her to panic, her facial expression changed from one of slight concern to one of genuine worry. Her heart beat faster  as she recalled her daughter was supposed to visit Adam's office.

Her stomach sank when she saw that there was a small amount if blood on the floor  and some wooden spikes that seemed to have sprouted from the ground up, she looked past the spikes and saw the hole in the wall.

She quickly maneuvered around the spikes as she kept a silent prayer in her heart that her child did not jump through the hole in the wall and fall to her death.

She made her way to the hole in the wall and she  placed her trembling hand on the wall and peaked her head in but was quickly blinded by  a sudden bright yellow flash of fire, she closed her eyes and looked away. once she had judged the light was gone she looked once more and saw Adam who looked quite ragged, he was on his knees as he looked to be  defeated, more wooden spikes, some burnt grass and a Strange woman that had white hair and white skin, she resembled Elia but she was taller, feeling confused she shouted.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE " 

"Mother"

A voice came from above her  she strained  her neck and looked above, and her eyes bulged from the sight, she placed her hand on her mouth and indication of her shock.

"OH MY GOD ELIA GET DOWN FROM THERE"

"Don't worry mother it's Okay"

Elia Reassured her mother as she slowly floated down towards her mother once again surprising her.

"Y-You can fly?"

She backed away and let Her daughter land before she hugged her, she has no idea what's going on but atleast her daughter is safe.

"MADAAAAAM!!!GET AWAY FROm THAT MONSTER!!!"

Adam who had now stood up screamed, as a last desperate attempt to have the Baroness turn on her daughter. Emilia turn her attention to Adam, Her brows furrowed.

"You!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HUSBAND, WHAT WERE THOSE PILLS" 

The amount of anger in  her voice caused Adam to step back, he thought back and realized that she's not supposed to be awake. She was supposed to have eaten those pills along with everyone else.

"Milady please listen, that thing isn't your daughter, it's a mons..."

Before Adam could finish his sentence, wooden roots and Vines sprouted from the  ground and coiled around his body,  arms  and legs keeping him in place and gagged his mouth making him unable to speak, at the same time the clone of Elia disappeared as well.

"That's enough out you traitor"

Elia spoke as she bound Adam making sure he doesn't escape.

"Anyway mother I'll explain what happened"

Elia then recounted the events of the past couple of minutes to her mother, she also explained to her mother that she has been training in secret ever since she was three and that's why she's able to such things now, a flimsy excuse but one that works.

Emilia listened to her daughter and also tried to calm herself down as she listened, as Elia told her what had happened Emilia  quickly put a two and two together and realized that those pills her husband ate were  some sort of sleeping pills and the fact that non of her guards  were present would mean they also  took those pills.

"I see so that was his plan all along"

She muttered as she figured, Adam must have been after Elia all this time.

"But why, why would he do such a thing?"

Elia's emotions of betrayal returned, prompting her to ask the question, why would someone she considered to be a family member do that, what was so valuable that he would betray her trust for.

Her face became crest fallen, her eyes started watering as they slowly filled with tears, she could feel the lump in her throat, she tried her best not to blink because if she did the tears would fall.

Emilia once again embraced her child, She let her head rest upon her bosom  and caressed her Hair as Elia cried silent tears. 

Emilia on the other hand stared  daggers at Adam who was below, her beautiful crystal like eyes seem to be sharp jaggered icicles, threatening to pierce through Adam's flesh and severely wound him.

Bastard was going to pay with his life that much was certain.

After a couple of minutes of crying Elia calm down and wiped her tears and separated from her mother.

"Are you alright now?"

She answered with a nod.

"Good now let's go get dressed"

"Huh?!"

A dumbfounded look was on her face when her mother spoke, 

'what does she mean let's go get dressed'

She looked down on herself and realized that she was in her underwear, she then recalled the moment Adam ripped her dress off.

"OH right"

'How come I didn't feel cold tho?' 

Just as Emilia and Elia were to go and get dressed there was a sudden noise

*Doooong*

*Dooong*

*Dooong*

A loud sound of a bell resounded throughout the terroritory, this cause Emilia to stand up and look ahead towards the horizon  as she saw a cloud of dust  and she knew what was coming.

"A monster stampede? Now, what terrible timing" 

............

A/N: hope you enjoyed the chapter 

Honestly wanted to have the monsters stampede be dealt with in this chapter  but I got tired