82 Phase 71: Forest issues

White light.

"Ugh." Colin groaned, feeling sick.

"Colin?" Lynn's voice sounded startled. "What are you doing here?"

"Katrin killed me." Colin told her. "Kicked me off the cliff."

"Oh my." Lynn gaped. "What did you say to her?"

"I just…" Colin groaned. [Here!] he sent her the memories.

Lynn received them, then exploded into laughter.

"Yip…?!" Shiro and Colin's other Comrades were looking around in surprise. The bunch of them had been sitting on the beach enjoying the sun peacefully and the next thing they knew they were smack dab in the Heart of the Forest for no reason they could fathom.

{But their Dreamer just died. That means any surviving Comrades outside the Home Base gets warped back with their Dreamer. Wait… weren't they supposed to go back to my starting location…? Wasn't I supposed to…?}

Dreamworlds itself clued him in. It was some sort of setting, it seemed. Once he unlocked Home Base functions by reaching Green Badge, he could pick and choose as he liked, and save his settings in his Traveler's Watch. Colin left it alone for now.

"Au?" Sonia came over and sniffed him. She snorted.

"Yip." Shiro sighed. The general idea that came across was 'I should have known.'

"Mew…" Ardent grumbled, taking off his sunglasses.

{Where'd he get sunglasses from anyway?!}

Kirin got up and rolled up a beach towel.

{And where did SHE get a beach towel?!}

Lynn was still laughing.

"Very funny." Colin groaned, feeling like his stomach was turning upside down.

"Here." Lynn held out a leaf. "Sniff it."

He sniffed. "It's bitter. But sort of… minty."

She touched him on the forehead, and Colin felt something change. Like a surge, or the hearing of a single sweet high musical note. Like the shade of the Forest had suddenly become cooler, deeper. Like the scent of its trees had become familiar to him. Like the scent of the leaf he now sniffed was able to penetrate right through the sickness and touch his heart.

"Feel better?" Lynn asked.

Colin's eyes widened. "A bit, actually."

"Keep sniffing." Lynn advised. "It's one of the secrets of this Forest. Only I and my people know where to find it. We sometimes sell it to friends, but at a high price."

"What do you mean by 'your people'?" Colin asked.

"Foresters and Rangers." Lynn said. "Have you met the Forester of Sunshine Forest?"

"No. I've been to his hut, but he was out."

"Well the Forester is in charge of the overall care of a local forest. The Rangers are my personal agents." Lynn explained. "Their Home Bases are right here. They usually report back to me on how the Forests and Foresters are doing, and let me know of any news. They also do the more dangerous work that Foresters can't handle."

"Oh. So a 'Forester' is a manager."

"Exactly." Lynn agreed. "Some forests don't have Foresters. Like the West Lamico Forest. For those cases, I'll either keep an eye on things myself, or send a Ranger over. But my Rangers are busy elsewhere."

"Just how many Rangers do you have anyway?" he asked.

"Two." Lynn answered.

"Oh. No wonder you're running around." Colin coughed.

"Don't sniff too fast." Lynn cautioned him. "Take it easy."

"Right…" Colin slowed down. "Hey, Lynn… is that why you're always helping me out? You want me to be a Ranger?"

Lynn paused. "I'm not sure yet. You haven't even done the quest I asked of you."

"But it's going to be dangerous, right?" Colin pointed out. "What if my Comrades die too often and go Frenzied?"

"You'll have to be careful, that's all." Lynn said simply.

"You said I'd have to roam the Forest of Legends." Colin went on. "But you also said the Forest was safe for me."

"You'll have to go a bit farther than that." Lynn said then. "You'll need to roam the Forest of Legends, but depending on your own answers, you might have to look farther."

"Depending on my answers…?" Colin blinked.

"Three Keys, Colin." Lynn said. "Three questions must be answered. The first one is this; What is the most precious flower?"

Colin stared. "How am {I} supposed to know?"

"Think it over and give me your answer."

Colin paused. "When you say 'give', do you mean I need to bring the flower here, or just tell you my answer?"

"Think it over." Lynn said again, giving him no farther clues.

{Well… she said there would probably be danger involved. That flower's probably someplace deadly. But she said to roam the Forest of Legends… which means it's probably somewhere in here.}

{Oh wait. She also said depending on my answer, I might have to go farther…}

{In other words, I'll have to bring her the flower… but WHICH flower is the question.}

{The 'most precious'…? Does that mean the 'rarest', or the 'prettiest', or the 'most expensive'? Is it the flower of the plant I'm sniffing right now, some sort of healing herb? Is it actually a jewel in the shape of a flower?}

"There's so many answers!" Colin protested. "What if I get it wrong?"

"Think it over." Lynn said again, saying no more.

Colin hesitated. "Am I allowed to ask help from others?"

"Sure." Lynn said.

{Great! I can ask everyone!}

"So… what are you going to do?" Lynn asked next.

"We're due back at the Lamico Continent, aren't we?" Colin pointed out. "We should probably leave soon."

"And what of your quest?" Lynn prompted.

"I'll ask people for help." Colin said. "And try to figure it out from there."

"You really do intend to stick it out with your friends on Lamico, don't you?" Lynn said, frowning.

"Yeah. I'm probably going to be used as bait, but… well…"

"Loyalty." Lynn summarized.

"Sorry." Colin said.

Lynn looked over his Comrades and mused. "Sonia."

"Huh?" Colin blinked.

"I want you to leave Sonia with Fenrix for a while." Lynn said. "A night or two."

"Why?" Colin wanted to know.

"It's to help her grow." Lynn explained. "She hasn't been around other wolves much, has she? She seems… lonely."

Colin stared. Sonia was trying very much to imitate Shiro's bark, something Shiro had been trying to teach her since the first night they met. Foxie, too, was trying it.

"Yip!" Shiro demonstrated.

"Yirf!" Sonia struggled.

"Yarf!" Foxie laughed.

Colin blinked. "Hey, does Foxie fit in the forest?"

"Of course." Lynn said. "We've got a clan of her kind in the Dark Forest."

"Really?" Colin asked.

"Yeah. I'll introduce you to Kyubia later. She's the Lord of the Streak Foxes. Or Lady of the Streak Foxes, I should say."

"Are you sure I can stay in the Forester's Hut?" Colin asked. "I mean, I haven't done your quest or anything…"

"You're doing it now." Lynn said. "And you'll be doing a bit of Forester work while you're there, after all. That place has been vacant for months. Nobody's going to complain about having you set it as your Starting Location or Outpost Base."

"Outpost Base…?" Colin blinked.

"You know how your J-Knights have a HQ and branch offices?" Lynn pointed out. "It's the same for your Home Base and Outpost Bases. Most people don't bother, but it is possible."

"Why don't most people bother?" Colin wanted to know.

"Those who travel far and want their bases near usually have some sort of transport as their Home Base. A ship, for example, or even a trailer. Others just stick to one place and don't ever need outpost bases. It's people like you who have a Home Base and need to stay somewhere for a while that use Outpost Bases, usually Comrade Homes or hotels."

"That sounds expensive." Colin said.

"It usually is." Lynn agreed. "But I'm not going to charge you for the use of the Forester's Hut. I'll even throw in some payment for your services in caring for the Dark Forest."

"That's very generous of you." Colin noted.

Lynn inspected the rest of his Comrades, and gave a nod. "The Leafy Cougar is a true forest creature. The Forktail Swallow isn't, but she seems comfortable enough."

Colin frowned. "Lynn, if Katrin does come over and set her home base here, she'll be bringing a Desert Wolf and a Desert Lynxmouse with her. They're not quite forest creatures, are they?"

"No." Lynn said slowly. "They're not."

"Are you going to ask Katrin to give them away too?"

Lynn thought about that. She really did. "No."

Colin felt a bit miffed about that. {Lynn made ME give up the Desert Wolf, but she'd let Katrin base here without that same sacrifice. She's not being fair.}

But Lynn was a princess, not a Justice Knight. Fairness wasn't her priority.

"Let's go." Lynn said.

Colin offered her the herb leaf she'd passed him to deal with the respawn sickness, but Lynn waved it away. "Keep that. You die a lot more than I do."

Colin grimaced. That much was true. "Are you sure it's okay for you to keep giving me lifts like this? I thought the J-Knights were still clearing up Frenzieds."

"They are." Lynn nodded. "But I have to see to my own duties. This includes the Dark Forest. Setting you in as Forester is my priority for now."

"Oh."

***

Lynn flew him back to Lamico, directly to a fair-sized cabin with two rooms, each as big as the one he used to have at Edward's Farm. "These are really for the Comrades with unique preferences. Most of the time, Foresters' Comrades use the forests around their Huts for habitats. Also, there's a small pool at the back that Kirin would appreciate."

Colin set the hut as his Outpost Base, and Lynn approved the registration. "What do I do now?" he asked.

"I'll introduce you to the Lords of the Wilds here. The local clans have gone a long time without a Forester." Lynn said. "Some of them were somewhat irritated the last time I checked on them. They should be glad to have you."

"Uh…" Colin paused. "How many Lords, exactly, are we talking about?"

"There are eight clans in these forests, Colin." Lynn told him then. "Representing the eight major types of Wilds found here. Streak Foxes are just one of them."

"Eight…?!" Colin groaned. {How am I supposed to remember them all?!}

"Let me show you." Lynn brought out a map.

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Image link:

https://imgur.com/XilCy6i

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"See that little cabin picture? The one marked 'Forester'? That's where we are. See those spots marked for Wilds Clans? Those are the eight major clans. The closest to this place are the Wood Owl and Tree Cougar clans. The Streak Foxes are south of the Dark Forest."

"That's odd. I thought they'd all be in the Dark Forest itself." Colin mentioned.

"There's too many people going to that dungeon. They avoid people as much as possible. Notice that none of them are in between Dark Forest and either Floras or Lakeside?"

"Yeah." Colin took a moment to look over the map. "Okay, so that's the eight clans of the West Lamico Forest. Basically my job is to fix their problems, right?"

"More or less." Lynn agreed. "But there's one more thing I want you to solve."

"What's that?" Colin asked.

"The fourth logging camp around Floras Town. The one on this side of the river isn't supposed to be there." Lynn said. "Either get rid of it, or make sure Floras pays us some dues."

"How much payment?" Colin asked.

"Floras agreed long ago to keep their logging to their side of the river. For logging without permission, and breaking the old agreement, I want 50k in compensation. If it's small and uses simple tools, make it 2000cr a week. If it's big and uses heavy machines, kick them out."

"And if they won't pay or move?" Colin questioned.

Lynn answered grimly. "Destroy them."