Legend

Slasha didn't understand what Ray was saying.

No, you're right that I understand, but I'm surprised I can't turn my head that far.

Of course, the forest is eroding is watching when you run away.

However... it was completely unexpected that the forest was spreading so much overnight.

"A few minutes, is it?

Ray nods back to Sleisha, who wants me to be wrong and yet again asks, even though I think so.

"That's right. The trees in the woods were pretty big too... but if the place where you guys camped really stayed put, the speed at which the woods spread is pretty good."

"... no..."

What did you think of Ray's words, Slasha covers her mouth and stops moving...... eventually opens her mouth to Ray again in such a way as to be afraid.

"Well, what do my people look like..."

Didn't you see that?

Ray shakes his neck to the side to Sleisha, who is unable to speak and asks.

"From what I've seen, you didn't look like that anywhere. If I went to the middle of the woods or something, I might have had a clue... but my role was to check the woods."

"Right. I should have asked you to see if there was a forest... did you go down to the woods?"

A worker sighs as he looks at Ray.

But there's no color to blame there.... No, is it correct that there are few?

As a worker, I didn't want Ray to do anything dangerous if he could.

That's not to say that Ray is playing games, because he understood that Ray has the ability to be a trump card on this forest case.

Ray uses it, flaming tornado.

Because there should be no more means of attacking the existence of forests.

"Uh... I'm sorry. But I saw something shining over the woods."

With that said, Ray's gaze was directed at Sleisha's party luggage.

"... Really? But it would be helpful for me to be cautious if I could behave on my own."

If Ray hadn't gone into the woods, Sleisha's party luggage would have been swallowed by the woods as it were and never come back into Sleisha's hands.

I just know that, and the workers can't say it too strongly either.

"Oh, I'm sorry.... Oh, and I picked this up too"

That's what I told him, and the next thing Ray took was a single branch.

Normally, it's just a branch, but it was clear what this branch meant by putting it out in the present situation.

Still for once, the worker calls out to Ray with the branches in his hands.

"Maybe this branch...?

"Oh. It's that forest branch. I was just falling to the ground, so I brought it.... It'll help us find out about that forest, won't it?

"Yeah. Of course....... but did you bring the branches and nothing affected you?

A forest that eats people...... it's just such an unusual forest, it's not strange if something happens.

In that sense, the worker turned his gaze to Ray, but Ray nodded back saying he had no particular problem.

Having checked Ray's condition, the worker turns his gaze to the branches again.

Most importantly, workers work in guilds, but they don't have eyes to distinguish monster materials.

I stared at the branch in my hand, but I didn't know what it was.

Except for the story if the branches have an anomaly that you can see with your eyes, but the branches Ray brought are just plain branches to look at.

"Worker, can I borrow you for a second?

That's what I called the workers, Marina.

As a dark elf, I thought you might be interested in plants, and yet you could find something uncomfortable with this branch? and the worker passes the branch to the marina.

It was a marina that looked at the received branches in that way for a few decades, but eventually puts the branches on the table with a small sigh.

"No, you can't. From what I've seen, it's nothing special. It's just... compared to a normal tree, it seems to have a little bit of strong magic."

"No, doesn't that mean it's special?

Vihera penetrates the marina's words.

But against such a penetration, Marina shakes her neck to the side.

"No, it's not that uncommon for a tree to have magic. It's just that these branches are a little too many."

"... Really?

"Yeah. Besides elves and dark elves,... oh, if you say so"

In the middle of the conversation, Marina's gaze is pointed at Luno as if she noticed something.

I know what you're talking about is serious, but if you can still gaze at someone who's unconsciously emitting the luster of a woman like Marina, I'm really nervous.

"Ah, oh. Uh, give me a minute."

It was Luno, who was blinded by the very existence of Marina, but returned to me with that word, panicking and looking at the branches with demonic eyes.

But... I'll shake my head to the side right away.

"... no, it just looks like a normal tree to me"

"Oh, really?... Well, maybe you can't tell a normal person from a stronger magic than a normal tree"

Too bad when she squeals, Marina gives the branch to the worker.

(Neither 1mm nor 2mm looks the same if you just saw it...... does it feel like it?

Somehow, but Ray, who understood what Marina was trying to say, was surprised that Marina accidentally looked at herself and smiled.

I wondered what I was thinking and if I could spot that.

But the marina doesn't say anything more.

It wasn't like I was thinking anything guilty, Ray, but seeing such a marina trick kind of makes me feel like I was thinking something strange.

"So, what are we going to do? You can't keep doing this any longer than you know there's a forest like that, can you?

It was Ray asking like he was just a little panicked, but the word was also the unmistakable truth.

It's not like animals and monsters live there, but on the contrary, if you let them into the woods in a detour, they'll attack you.

Such a forest spreads ten meters at a time overnight… or it's moving.

Whatever you think, it's definitely dangerous for Gilm.

"Right.... I doubt I've ever found such a forest in the first place..."

"I guess that's because you're pretty far from the street. There wasn't anything like this around here in the first place, so I guess there wasn't anyone who wanted to travel off the streets."

In Ray's case, he barely felt the distance because he was on Ceto, but Sleisha and the others deliberately took off the street, then walked around and arrived at the side of the woods.

Also, when Sleisha escaped from the woods, she remained running from night to morning until she left for the streets.

Of course, when Slasha was in action with the Dougzas, it must have taken a while because she was traveling in search of the monsters, and when she escaped from the woods, she had escaped with half panic, not straight to the street.

Still, it is true that the distance from the streets to the woods is still considerable, and if an adventurer who knows there is nothing to go there, it would be no.

Most of all, some adventurers are freaks.

It doesn't mean that no one is ever going anywhere more than that.

"Right. Besides, until this time it was winter...... it will also affect. Anyone who goes out of their way in the winter... well, I'm not saying they're not here"

What the workers are saying will be those who were unable to save money over the winter.

The face of Red Lotus Wings, including Ray, had no financial difficulties at all, but some of them fail to save funds for various reasons, including lack of strength, bad luck, laziness habits, and others.

Such people naturally need to be asked to do so in winter if they run out of money.

And the work of adventurers involves requests such as sampling and crusading.

Crusade requests in particular can earn a lot of money for crusade proof sites, demon stones, materials, meat and other conditions.

And when it comes to making crusade requests, it's not uncommon to head off the streets.

But if such people had found the woods even in winter, they would undoubtedly be explaining it to the Alliance.

The worker thinks that maybe the forest could have been done after spring than it was without it.

"I'll ask you once, you didn't forget to let me know about this when you took over, did you?

"Yeah, the information wasn't in me at all with those woods."

"Really?"

Sleisha gives a strange look at the worker-marina exchange without knowing what it means.

You must have noticed that. Luno, sitting next to Sleisha, whispers small.

"The dark elf over there was the guild master until recently when he said marina. I gave the Alliance Master status to the workers to return to the Adventurer."

"Nah..."

If you take it to Sleisha, the Alliance Master is on the cloud in a different way than an adventurer with an alias like Ray.

Nonetheless, I didn't know why I would go back from being myself to being an adventurer...... I didn't know why.

Most of all, I expected to get involved in something extra if I spoke up, and I never said anything more.

"Anyway, Mr. Ray. You can also start tomorrow once a day, so can you find out how much forest is spreading every day... or moving around? Earlier rewards include that."

"... isn't it a little cowardly to put it out later?

"Perhaps so. But that's all the rewards are worth, I suppose?

Worker's words were an unmistakable fact.

Given the price of flame ore, it would be commensurate given the price of just the quantity that goes into the barrel, even if it is smaller.

"... another barrel. So I promise to go check on the woods every day for a month. I would prefer an extra reward in the future."

"Yeah, that'll do."

To Ray's words, the worker snorts lightly.

I think Ray's gone to such a worker's condition.

From the tone of the current worker, perhaps with a little more push, the reward would have increased.

As for Ray, who is not so good at negotiating this hand, he misread the area.

(Should I have left this one to the marina? No, but...)

It was thanks to the marina that I was originally able to get the flame ore as a reward.

However, there was little negotiation there.

Naturally. I was an Alliance Master Marina until the other day, so I know more than enough to know how much I'll get paid.

That's why the worker also gave Ray the flame ore he would want from the information he had collected in advance.

In the end Ray takes on the request in two barrels of flame ore.

"So, that forest..."

"You're Trent. At least the monster that attacked us was Trent."

"... but Trent didn't show up when me and Seto got close, did he?

"Pseudomorphic... No, Ray, anyway, you can't delude Seto's senses"

Vihera pinches words for Ray and Sleisha's conversation, but this doesn't mean she's taking Ray lightly.

In the first place, Ray's five senses are far sharper than normal humans.

But Griffon's ceto is sharper than that ray.

Regardless if that's as powerful a monster as it is, there's no way Trent can mislead Seto's senses... no, there's certainty in Vihera.

That wasn't just Vihera, but Marina and Buune and, most importantly, Seto's partner Ray knew best.

"Right. Even if it's a pseudo, Seto should be able to spot it. Seto in particular has encountered Trent once before. There's no better way to miss it than to be. But that ceto didn't respond to anything in the woods.... Why?

"Like the monster Slasha saw wasn't Trent?... Hey, Sleisha. Have you ever fought Trent before this?

"Yes. There was a Trent out in the woods near where we were working.... but there were times when they were alone, and we had a hard time, but we were able to defeat them safely."

To that word, Ray will twist his neck even more.

"Not all the trees that form the forest are Trent...?

"But it wouldn't be that easy if it wasn't Trent, would it?

"... well, if you say so"

So many things are wrong at the point that it's so unnatural forest in the first place, doesn't it have to be Trent for the forest to be? Though I think in the wind.

"Anyway... whether it's Trent or not, I'm pretty sure it's a pain in the ass"

Everyone on the spot nodded back at Ray's whining words.