"You know how difficult it is to move yourself," asked Rian as he had already begun planning Herman's trip to the Sonnenbergs. They were the only people he knew who fit Herman's description of the kind of person who might have access to Gaia or, at the very least, someone who could point them toward people who did. The problem was that getting Herman there was considerably more complicated than simply arranging a trip. Moving one of the highest-ranking military officers in Europe outside his normal security arrangements was never something Rian could treat casually.
"Yes, I know, but it is needed," Herman replied. "These things can no longer be said over the phone, and if I have the chance to meet her, then I would like to." He had pretty much confirmed Gaia's existence already, but Herman preferred to confirm important things with his own eyes whenever possible. More importantly, Gaia had not granted the rest of the world the same privileges she had apparently given the Chinese government, so he wanted to speak to people who had actually interacted with her and learn more about her personality and whether there was anything they needed to watch out for.
Even Herman admitted that the last part sounded somewhat ridiculous. He was effectively asking whether they needed to worry about the personality of a planetary entity, which was not exactly a normal diplomatic concern. Still, if Gaia truly existed, then understanding how she thought was important. Herman would much rather hear about her behavior from someone who had actually met her than make assumptions based on incomplete information and rumors.
If Gaia knew what Herman thought of the so-called Chinese privileges, she would probably only laugh. From her perspective, it was not really a privilege in the first place. Chinese culture was simply more accepting of the possibility of her existence because religion did not have the same level of influence over the country's political structure as it did in many other parts of the world. That made China a much easier place for her to reveal certain things without immediately having to deal with religious groups claiming that she was their god.
Gaia also wanted to know how humanity would react to her existence. The Chinese government had therefore been useful because its media generally listened to government instructions when it came to sensitive matters. If Gaia wanted her existence kept secret, the information could be kept secret. Even if other governments had their suspicions, there was still no confirmation that Gaia actually existed, and speculation was very different from having undeniable proof.
That was why Herman was going to the only people he knew who might have genuine access to her. Otherwise, they would never have had access to the magic-circle book that had already provided them with so much information. The Sonnenbergs clearly knew things that most governments did not, and that made them the most logical people to approach. Herman was not particularly interested in guessing when he could simply ask someone who might actually know.
"Your bodyguards are ready, I take it you want to travel to the nearest river and then sail downstream until you are in their city?" asked Rian, even though he already knew the answer. He had started putting the arrangements together before Herman had even finished explaining his intentions. There was no point pretending that Herman's security requirements would be simple, especially when he was planning to visit an ancient Trade Family whose ancestral territory was surrounded by forests.
The problem was that safely bringing the highest military officer in the European Union outside his normal travel plans was considerably more troublesome than it had once been. Before mana, thirty highly trained soldiers could potentially hold off a much larger group for long enough for reinforcements to arrive, especially if they had enough ammunition and a secure escape route. That assumption no longer worked in a world where practically every individual could possess a weapon on the same level as Herman's security detail.
Now, Rian needed at least a thousand men to properly guard someone as important as Herman. It was not because he expected those thousand soldiers to defeat every possible enemy who might attack them. Instead, their presence was primarily about deterrence and buying enough time. If something went wrong, they needed to hold off the enemy long enough to protect Herman and get him away from the danger.
The sheer number of soldiers also created another problem. Rian had to consider how the Sonnenbergs would react when a thousand highly trained bodyguards suddenly arrived at their territory. He had met Karl before, and he had fought alongside the man, but even then Karl had been scary enough that Rian had no desire to deal with him in the Age of Mana. The thought of bringing a thousand armed soldiers into Sonnenberg territory did not exactly make that prospect more appealing.
As one of the highest-ranking officers in the military, Rian also had access to the files concerning the ancient Trade Families. There was one thing those families all had in common: you did not mess with their ancestral lands. The Sonnenbergs were not the only family whose territory attracted people hoping to obtain valuable land or resources, but the people pursuing the other families generally knew when to back off. The people pursuing Sonnenberg territory had historically been considerably more aggressive.
And the consequences for going too far had not been pleasant. Rian had read enough reports to understand that people who ignored the warnings surrounding the Sonnenberg lands did not generally walk away from the experience happy. That meant arriving with a thousand highly trained bodyguards who were all expecting to protect Herman could easily be interpreted as a threat. The fact that those soldiers would want to follow Herman into the forest would make the situation even worse.
The bodyguards, or rather the special forces that made up Herman's security detail, were unlikely to be happy when they were told to remain outside the forest. They would be even less pleased when they were told that the people they were visiting could protect Herman better than they could. From their perspective, their entire purpose was to protect Herman, and suddenly being informed that they were not needed was probably going to cause some friction.
Rian could already feel the headache forming. There were too many variables, too many people involved, and too many ways for a simple diplomatic visit to turn into a security incident. He had no doubt that Herman would be perfectly happy to walk into the forest without worrying about any of that. Unfortunately, Rian was the one who had to worry about it.
Meanwhile, Herman was overjoyed that he finally had a valid excuse to leave the bunker. He had spent far too much time inside the military headquarters, surrounded by paperwork, maps, reports, and people constantly asking him to make decisions. The opportunity to leave all of that behind and visit an old friend was more than welcome. As far as Herman was concerned, his safety was not something he needed to worry about because Rian would handle it.
While the military prepared for Herman's journey, the atmosphere inside the Crimson Forest was becoming increasingly tense. The Sonnenbergs had increased their vigilance because there was no longer a single person within the forest who could fail to notice the changes taking place. The secret realm was beginning to stir, and the forest itself seemed to react to it. Every animal, plant, and person connected to the forest could feel that something was approaching.
"Any day now," thought Arin as he sat in a tree and stared at the portal. He could barely look at it without feeling something unpleasant twist inside him. The sensation was not entirely unfamiliar, because he had felt something similar the last time corrupted creatures had emerged from the portal. Even now, he still could not wrap his head around the fact that there were people who would willingly choose to become something like that.
Then again, Arin knew he could not completely understand the desperation that drove some people to make such decisions. He had to admit that he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, even if that was not particularly obvious during the first eighteen years of his life. His family had never lived like ordinary wealthy people, and their lifestyle had been strange even before mana changed the world. Still, the way his family looked at problems had given him an advantage that many other people simply did not possess.
That did not mean Arin was going to stop looking down on those people. Whatever their reasons might have been, the energy coming from the portals was simply not suited for life. He could feel that something was fundamentally wrong with it, and the environment surrounding the portal made that painfully obvious. The hill near the secret realm was completely dead, reduced to little more than a massive pile of dirt that stubbornly refused to be washed away despite the enormous amounts of rain that fell over the area.
Humanity had already attempted several methods to make defending these portals easier. One idea had been to dig a massive pit underneath the portal so that every creature emerging from it would immediately fall to its death. On paper, it was an extremely simple solution that could have made defending the secret realm considerably easier. Unfortunately, there was one enormous problem with that plan.
Nobody could dig into the ground within a fifty-meter radius of a secret realm. The restriction applied regardless of how much manpower or equipment they used, making the idea of digging a massive pit directly beneath the portal completely impossible. It was an incredibly frustrating limitation because, if they had been able to do it, defending the portal would have been so much easier.