Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

Elios’ Great Forest spread on the foot of Elios Mountain, the tallest mountain in the world.

The sea of forest’s size was around 1/3 of Vandohl plain, which we lived in.

And the Elven country was somewhere inside such a huge forest.

The four of us arrived at the outskirts of the village.

One day had yet to pass since Kouki got kidnapped to the Elven country.

The reason why we could arrive this fast was because we set a teleportation circle at the country closest to Elios beforehand.

Thanks to that teleportation circle, we managed to arrive at the sea forest in less than one hour.

But, the same goes for those elves.

Shirone spoke from my side.

「Yeah, I feel it. The elves passed this place.」

Thanks to my magic of past vision, I could see that the elves had gone through this path.

They left Eld immediately.

They didn't even use magic that blocked past vision.

They either underestimated us, didn't really care about it, or simply had no idea about it.

Either way, we could use this magic to track their trace.

「Let's go after them, shall we? Nao-san, can you follow after the track of the Ceryneia?」

I asked Nao who stood in front of us.

「No problem. The smell of the deers is still around. I'll track the smell immediately.」

Nao replied with a smile.

The current Nao had a tail and ears growing from her head.

Nao, who transformed into a beastman, had her senses enhanced. She remembered the smell of the Ceryneia she smelled before. Thus we could use it to track the elves.

「But where in the world is that elven country in such a huge forest? I hope it's not too far.」

Rino frowned as she saw the forest.

I agree with Rino. The forest was so freaking vast, we might not even be able to arrive within one day.

We might have no choice but to sleep outdoors if we plan it poorly.

I was thinking about flying over the forest but then, it turned out there was some sort of barrier installed in the skies, preventing the use of flight magic.

Thus, we had no choice but to traverse the forest from the land route.

Let's be prepared to move.

「Well onward I guess. Not that we can back down after arriving this far.」

We were welcomed by giant trees as soon as we entered the forest. The green ceiling filtered the sunlight.

I murmured as we were led by Nao into the forest.

If possible, I wanted to avoid outdoor camping.

The road ahead was opened up a bit by the Ceryneia who passed this path before us.

At the very least, we didn't have to worry about getting lost in this forest.

「Amazing. I feel that the wind and earth spirit power are getting stronger.」

Rino looked around as she said those words.

Spirits were part of this world, they existed in every place in this world.

Only people with certain talents or abilities could feel their existence.

And Rino's ability as a spirit user was among the best in this world. If even Rino was surprised, then it must be really amazing.

By the way, I was really surprised when I heard that the spirit of darkness could be found everywhere in Nargol.

It seems the majority of the type of spirit was varied depending on the region.

Even the creatures who live in the region might vary depending on the type of spirit residing in that region.

I wonder what kind of creatures live in this forest aside from the elves?

Nao stopped while I was pondering about such things.

There was an alert look on her face. It seems we got a situation.

「Is something the matter, Nao-san?」

「It seems we are being watched, Chiyuki-san.」

「Watched? You mean, someone is spying on us?」

「Maybe… The problem is I don't know from where are they watching us.」

「I see… So they are watching us from afar.」

Nao's detection range was vast.

So that person might be spying on us outside Nao's detection range.

Are they by chance using some sort of clairvoyance magic?

In that case, I could trace them using my magic.

「No, they're not from outside of my range… It feels as if they're nearby. Right beside us to be exact…」

「EH!? WHERE ARE THEY!? CAN YOU FIND THEM, NAO-SAN?!」

「I… Don't know where they are.」

「「「WHA!!!!?」」」

All of us couldn't hide our shock upon hearing Nao's remark.

Nao's forte was her sense. No spy within the range of her detection ability could hide from her.

And since Nao said the other party was nearby yet she had no idea where they were, it means that the other party was really dangerous.

Those kinds of opponents might ambush us at any given moment.

「What about you, Shirone-san? Do you feel something?」

Shirone's detection ability was the second highest after Nao.

She even triumphs over Nao in terms of detecting enemies.

「I don't feel anything though… But they might be pretty strong since not even Nao-chan knows where they are.」

Said Shirone while looking around anxiously.

That moment, I noticed that the trees around us were rustling even more than before.

When I looked around, I realized that the branches of the trees were moving on their own, and the foliages were falling around. It was as if there was really someone, or something nearby.

「I give up… I don't know where they're hiding at.」

Nao stretched the claws from her hands.

Nao's special ability was to turn into a beast, Beast Transformation.

She could fight more easily in close combat by using claws.

The claws were of short sword size and just as sharp, they could easily slice and dice any average monster.

Shirone touched the handle of her sword, ready to unsheath it at any given moment.

「HOLD ON EVERYONE! CALM DOWN! LOWER YOUR WEAPONS!」

Suddenly, Rino shouted at us.

The three of us then looked at Rino.

Rino shut her eyes, placing her hands on her ears as if trying to hear something.

「I just can see now, that every tree is raising their vigilance since we drew our weapons first.」

I cocked my head upon hearing Rino's remark.

What did she mean by that?

Well, I guess Rino found the one who was spying on us.

Well, though her range of detection was smaller than Nao, she was more perceptive than Nao in terms of emotion and mind.

It seems she found out the identity of the spy with that ability.

「Hey, why are you looking at us? Why are you looking so anxious? We have no intention to hurt you. Come out and talk to us.」

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