Once Ophelia entered the forest, she was wrapped in a comfortable silence. Aside from her own breathing, her footsteps, and the creaking of tree branches in the wind. Ophelia could not hear the sounds of the Imperial army camp any longer. She took a deep breath and the smell of tree sap tingled her nose. 

Finally, peace and quiet, it felt like ages since she had gotten the chance to just breathe. It had been a while since she had been in a forest this dense. Outside of Flat Trench where Ophelia had cultivated and tended to the forests for at least a decade. It was rare to see a forest like this as Ophelia had found in her travels through the Spade Dukedom. Any wooded areas near settlements tended to get over-harvested or completely wiped out for expansion. 

It was almost nostalgic for Ophelia, after all, she had spent most of her life in the woods. It was the closest thing to home she had, while no one in Flat Trench was outwardly hateful to her. Ophelia wasn't blind to the discrimination she had faced. Any time she'd even start to get close to anyone, others would pull them away from her.

Ophelia shrugged those thoughts off as quickly as they came. Regardless, she had a job to do. Ophelia reached out patting a nearby tree, she marveled at the solid and healthy feeling she got from it. "You're all very healthy here." She chuckled pleased, her eyes scanning the area. It was mostly pine and spruce in the forest, which was to be expected being this far north.

What she was looking for was an old dead tree, while ideally anywhere else she'd look for a hickory being that was the best for campfires and she liked the smell of the smoke. The next best thing was dead wood. It was lighter and the lack of sap meant that it caught fire easier and burn hotter. 

As she scanned the area, Ophelia's eyes landed on an old creaking tree. It was obviously dead and looked like it was about to fall over at any moment. "I see... Thank you." Ophelia mumbled mostly to herself as she walked towards the tree. As she spun her axe in her hand, there was a rush of wind and the trees creaked audibly. "This needs to be cleared for something else can grow." Ophelia reasoned as if the forest was arguing with her. While Ophelia didn't believe that was happening, this was just a habit she picked up when tending to the woods back in Flat Trench.

After all, the villagers didn't prove to be good conversationalists, so Ophelia chatted daily with the plants deep within the forests. The health of the forests of Flat Trench was Ophelia's pride when she was there. Under her watch, the trees grew taller and lusher each ear. It felt comforting to Ophelia to do this again. Despite being gone just a few months, being a woodsman, was the only thing Ophelia had known.

Stopping in front of the tree Ophelia then began to chop at it. Thuds filled the silence and Ophelia felt herself relax for just a moment. Then her ears perked up, and instantly she pulled her axe out of the tree and froze listening—distant sounds of voices getting closer with each passing moment.  

"I'm telling you guys, there's no way there's anyone from the Imperial Army here! They'd be crazy to come this far north!" One young male voice spoke, "You mean like us? It's freezing here!" Another male voice complained, "Yeah well, it's better than being back in Snowfel!" The first responded, "Definitely, all those stupid nobles keep getting rid of farms to grow mulberry trees!" Yet another replied.

Hearing what they were talking about, Ophelia's eyes widened, Snowfel was one of the many enemies of the imperial army. It was a kingdom just west of the Spade Dukedom, known for its warm climate and fertile land. But despite that, Ophelia knew from first-hand experience that the kingdom and its nobles weren't interested in using their lands. During her time in Saint Gypsum more than once, Ophelia witnessed Snowfel nobles showing up at the church to beg for food for their people.

Many times, food was taken from the mouth of the young girls at the church only to be handed over to those nobles. Ophelia being quiet saw many things, things like priests' hands becoming greased by these nobles. Somehow, whenever they were caught in Ophelia's sight, the priests managed to always come up with some sort of Godly excuse. Though Ophelia wondered if it was because they were afraid she'd tell or if they felt some sort of shame.

Hearing the footsteps come closer, Ophelia slipped behind a large old tree that easily hid her figure. She thought about her situation carefully, Snowfel was one of the many enemies of the Imperial army. She could very easily slip away now and report the situation to a superior officer.

But that would risk them noticing her, Ophelia wasn't exactly the easiest to hide. She closed her eyes listening carefully, counting how many footsteps. She was sure there were three based on the footsteps she heard and the voices from earlier, it was obvious they were a scouting unit just based on the size and how they were wandering about. Ophelia opened her eyes and looked down at her axe.

She wasn't afraid to fight, that wasn't the issue, the issue was the whether the risk of running or fighting gave a good reward. Ophelia facing towards the camp distantly saw smoke from between the trees. If they saw the campfire smoke, they'd report it faster than she could. There were more of them than her, the other two could easily try to slow her down.

While she'd receive pay for partaking in a battle... Ophelia's eyes narrowed; the army chef promised to cook up extra servings for dinner due to the good hunt. If these guys see the camp, they'd signal Snowfel and cause a battle. Her grip tightened on her axe.

The thought dawned on her then, her day was about to be ruined if these bastards signaled their army... Ophelia sneered feeling angry. That was something, that was unacceptable.