115 Trees talks with him

The carriage was moving straight on the path under the moonlight. The blue-striped carriage looked silver, although it was a simple hay-colored carriage. The carriage was driven by a beauty with silver hair; her hair flowed in the air due to the speed of the carriage. It seemed that her presence was prompting the horses to work the best they could,

"After all, Rafa big sister is amazing," said Jue, and Aiena nodded,

"And mysterious" as she looked forward toward Rafa, who was driving the carriage with a serene expression and smile,

"Ryu, it is already very cold!!" Aiena complained as she got chills from the low temperature inside the carriage, and Ryu, who was silently cultivating mana by channeling it through the carriage cooling glyph, opened his eyes,

"Sorry, Aiena, I got lost in channeling, but this glyph sure is professional work. It would take a while, but I will be able to draw it too!!" using glyphs and spells from a young age Ryu had developed a keen interest in both, so much so as soon as they were in the carriage, Ryu began analyzing and channeling in a glyph which resulted in freezing temperature inside,

Aiena just yawned and did not speak further as she was getting sleepy.

"Big brother, are we really going to a dungeon without other adventurers?" Jue asked, his eyes sparkling with desire, and Ryu nodded.

"As long as the map Faltar gave us is correct," he shrugged, and Jue, who was also seemingly sleepy, said,

"I believe in Faltar, uncle,"

"That is good, but now sleep, Jue; otherwise, I will leave you behind at the next dungeon if you are sleeping!!" Ryu grinned, and Jue pouted as he quickly closed his eyes. Now both Aiena and Jue were sleeping, but Ryu could not sleep that easily at night. It is a mild side effect of constant use of [Power napping],

"Rafa big sister, do you want me to drive?" he asked as he wondered if she might be sleepy,

"No, Ryu, I am having fun with these two," Rafa replied, and the horses, too, neighed in happiness, and Ryu wondered again,

'Just who is she!?' although he had repeated this question thousands of times in his mind seeing her under the moonlit sky reminded him of the time he saw Light Goddess; both beauties looked as if stars in the sky if not for Ryu dealing with exceptionally beautiful females since childhood,

'I might have developed a crush on this site at last life….' Ryu gulped and pushed the thought out of his head as he remembered even if he did develop a crush in his last life, he was too broke or busy in anime and novels to confess or accept a confession, despite being above average popular.

"Rafa, big sister, did you remember anything from last life?" asked Ryu, not having anything else to talk about and with a sad look, Rafa replied,

"I saw flashes, but it is not me in them; it is that…. There are bad people with that deep, almost black-purple color that binds that being. I think it was a dream,"

Ryu thought,

'Considering that I have a unique type of darkness attribute, there could be one or two more people with such, and near them, I could get that bastard who loves to go after people based on titles…. Getting any information from current Rafa is harsh. I should go forward with the probing memory plan and look out for darkness, attribute people,'

"Rafa, big sister, if anything troubles you, make sure to tell me" Hearing such concern from Ryu, Rafa nodded happily.

And suddenly, a loud voice came from the side,

"Trent just listens to me!! You cannot remain moving forever!!" a girlish voice came from the deep side of the forest, and Rafa suddenly halted the horse, and suddenly a large wood chunk came shooting from the right. It would have hit them if not for Rafa stopping the carriage suddenly,

"What happened!?" Jue, who just woke up from the sudden stopping of the carriage, questioned, Jue is sensitive to stuff while sleeping. One can call him a restless sleeper,

"I don't know, Jue, we need to check" Ryu stepped out of the carriage saying this, and Jue did too,

Rafa, too, stepped down from the carriage, and Ryu looked towards Jue and spoke.

"Jue, look out for the carriage. We can't leave it alon…" before Ryu could finish, Jue cut in the middle,

"No, I will go, Rafa sister can look out for the carriage" Jue's eyes had a semblance of time when he used to be bratty with Ryu. It might be due to sleep, but he also removed big from big sister this time,

'What is wrong with this brat?' thought Ryu, but Jue was looking with so much want in his eyes that Ryu just nodded as he thought,

'Can't help it, I guess.'

"Rafa, big sister, please look out for the carriage,"

"But I need to protect Ryu. Ryu is my small brother," Rafa pouted, and suddenly another shout came from the forest, and Ryu spoke.

"I will call for you if in trouble. Come then… Jue let's go" before she could answer Ryu and Jue rushed toward the forest and. Jue, who was still sleepy turned and showed her tongue once it was very unlike Jue and Rafa felt confused,

*

As Ryu and Jue moved inside the forest, Ryu could feel a torrent of mana inside the forest.

"Jue, remain awake," Ryu said as Jue was looking sleepy still, and Jue nodded.

"Yes, big brother!!"

'I will show big brother I am dependable, thought Jue as they moved forward, and suddenly, they came face to face with a ten meters tall tree. Although it was smaller than the surrounding, the tree was full of mana,

"Trent, listen to me; I promise to pour fertilizer on the soil!!" a guy dressed in a brown robe. tea leaf-colored hair and having a flower halo on his head shouted. His voice seemed feminine though it was a very surety that he was a guy,

"Oii, what is happening here!? Our carriage nearly got slammed?" asked Ryu, irritated and noticing his and Jue's presence, which was hard to get at first due to the village chief's basic training Trent shot his branch towards them fast like an octopus arm,

"Who are you two?" the girl-voiced guy asked suspiciously of Ryu and Jue and Ryu blurted out as he dodged the branch,

"We asked first, and don't look at us like that. We are the normal ones. Here, we weren't talking with a giant moving tree in the middle of the jungle!!"

"Big brother, what do I do with it?" Jue asked casually, holding the branch in his hand, shocking both Trent and the other guy.

"Ahh, Jue, just crush it or bound it," Ryu casually replied, and the girl-voiced adventurer thought,

'How could he catch it so casually!?'

"Jue, you wouldn't be able to use this again if we reached the dungeon tomorrow," Ryu sighed. He knew that Jue was off a bit, but he did not expect that Jue would use his blessing,

Jue just nodded as he pushed the branch inside the ground and spoke.

"[Ground bound]"

Trent was looking more confused and started shaking violently.

"Please, Trent, life as a tree was not that bad!!" the guy said, and Trent moved the branch towards him and just moved its direction at the last minute as if it was physically incapable of attacking him,

"Man, are you an idiot!? Just answer me already!!" Ryu complained as he thought,

'I can't see his status either!! Just how many strange people will I come across' suddenly, Trent moved his branch straight and stabbed it toward Ryu and Jue. Ryu stepped right on a branch and rushed up toward the thick stalk,

"I am trying to calm Trent, don't disturb us!!"

Ryu felt irritated as their brand-new carriage was nearly destroyed due to this idiot talking with Trent, and he said do not disturb us,

"Just wait for a second, and I will give you all time in the world with you and woods" Jue kept holding the branches, shot at him, and [Ground binding] them decreasing Trent's mobility,

'Man, that just sounded like an adult joke….' Ryu thought as he realized what he had just shouted, but then he reminded himself,

'He is a guy, he is a guy.' the Trent stabbed its branches into other trees, somehow controlling them too,

"Trent, it is very selfish of you that you want to go against the nature of your birth!!" the guy said,

'Man, as if talking will help!?' thought Ryu, and finally parrying various branches from the tree, he had enough of it. Even though he could not use Twin Fang blades in front of a stranger, he could still use magic,

"The embers of flames, the spark of life, show us your presence light the world bright!! Ember's blast!!" Ryu chanted the highest level of apprentice mage-level fire magic he could properly cast, and a small but dense ember appeared in front of his dagger, shooting fast toward the stalk with a motion from the dagger,

'Even if my proficiency with fire is least but with this dry tree' Ryu smiled at the stalk of the tree as it first got hit by a heavy glowing ember he summoned and then ruptured in two with the blast of the ember,

"Big brother, I did well, right," Jue asked, his eyes still sleepy, and Ryu patted his head as he spoke.

"Good job Jue" he could see desperation he had not seen in Jue's eyes for years in this sleepy manner of his, and he finally turned to the guy and spoke,

"And this is how normal people deal with monster trees, not by talking with them for sure," he snickered, but the man was looking downward and suddenly began moving towards Ryu.

'Heck… I don't know how powerful he is. What is he up to?' the guy reached in front of Ryu, a bit smaller than Ryu, and his face looked dark. He stared right and Ryu's face and asked,

"Why?" Ryu felt confused, and before he could answer, a loud sound of slap resounded in the forest, awakening Jue too from his near-asleep state.

'Big brother!? Why did he!?' he turned to the guy,

Ryu stared, pointing black at the guy who, out of nowhere, slapped him, still staring at him with contempt.

-To be continued