Chapter 2 - The Forest Welcomes with Open Arms

Author's Note: I'm trying to do this story slow. Introducing the characters and how the world works and stuff like that, before I start the main plot. Please bear with me yea?

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"We ran over the queen."

That's what she said. I asked the party's leader what happened, and that's her answer. The swordswoman, the leader of the party laughed while she was talking to me. The mage girl was slapping the warrior and pushing his head to the ground, apologizing to the merchant in the background. The old man is quite troubled; he wasn't expecting an apology this intense.

The merchant's escort party arrived after around 20 minutes after we started waiting. The three of them are fine. They're healthy, from what I can see. Though their armors are somewhat damaged.

As to the events that led to this? Apparently, one of their members, the warrior, was driving the carriage through the forest's shortcut and somehow ran over the queen of the ant's colony. That enraged the rest of the workers and soldiers, which chased them out to the main road.

Those ants don't just randomly go out of their nest. Not to mention going out with their queen. They only ever did that when they have to change nest. Which is quite rare.

"That's just how it is. We often met with situations that's just stupid. Our previous quest was also like that. We were caught up in a landslide because the boar we were chasing head-butted a Cliffside. That's dumb! We are going to die because of those dumb events one of these days! Hahaha!"

Out of nowhere, she just started talking about her adventures. Hey. I wasn't asking.

Her words were quite harsh. But I can tell that she held immense pride. Why wouldn't she? To survive and thrive off situations where the odds are against you is the dream for many budding Adventurers. A dream that are often crushed when met with the ruthlessness of reality. Despite that, here they are, living the dream.

"─and then there's this one time we escaped from a Frost Dragon… IN A VOLCANO! I truly thought that I was gonna die the─"

"Sorry to cut you off there."

It's been 20 minutes. She talked about her adventures for 20 minutes straight. She was just bragging the whole time!

I'll be honest, their stories are pretty interesting to hear. I might be able to learn a thing or two from them. But I also have my own quests that I have to take care of, so…

"Since you guys have arrived, I don't have to guard pak merchant anymore.I still have other things that I have to take care off, so what about we continue this chat later?"

"Ooh! I heard that! Continue?! You want to hear more?! That's great! It's rare that someone wants to continue listening to my stories, but I'm not complaining!"

The girl's eyes lit up. Like, seriously bright. I can already tell that usually people would just brush her off. That, or she doesn't have many friends that she can brag to. Heh. I can relate to that.

"Sure, sure. You guys are heading to the capital city right? Beindera? Where can I contact you?"

"Just leave a message for the Flames of Corruption at the guild! We can set up a meeting time after that!"

A named party? That's quite rare for C-ranked adventurers. That means the guild trusts them enough to allow them to name themselves. That makes sense I guess. If their stories are true, then they did survive many situations that would normally cripple other similarly ranked adventurers.

"Got it. I'm headed to the Shrouded Forest. So expect some wait time before I contact you."

We exchanged a little information after that and parted ways. The warrior was waving at me the whole time until we cannot see each other. I didn't talk all that much with him. So I'm a bit confused. Maybe he's just that friendly.

Regardless, she said that recently a sizeable party had done a sweep across the forest. The amount of high-ranking monsters should be low at this time.

That's reassuring. I don't have to worry about dying anytime soon in there.

While putting the rations I just bought inside my Storage Device, I continued my walk to the forest.

───

"…is this the right place?"

Right now, I am standing in the middle of a forest. From top to bottom, all that I can see are trees. I can't see the sun at all because the trees are up there, covering the sky.

Ordinarily, you would expect a place like this to be dark and gloomy. I sure did. That's why I brought a lantern. Turns out I don't need to bring a lantern, because this place is very bright. I can see everything with no problem.

I am quite angry at the moment. I wasted half of my budget on buying this new lantern model since I thought that I will definitely need it if I have to camp in a forest. You know, to see stuff.

Goddamnit. I know that this is my fault for not checking how the destination is like beforehand… But… Hah…

"I really need to stop being stupid like this… How many times does this make now?"

I put the lantern back in my Storage Device and rubbed my temple. This isn't the first time that I wasted my money like this. I should have known better, but I seriously forgot to check.

"Somebody take away my C-ranked qualification please… Seriously."

I don't want to waste any more time than I have to, so I just suck it up and let out a huge sigh.

"Let's do this."

First order of business, activating the necessary Sign to increase my chance of survival. I closed my eyes and concentrate.

"[Sense Entity]."

Motion executed. I felt much of my mana being consumed. All of a sudden, my vision started to cloud and my body felt heavy.

"Guh…"

I couldn't hold myself and fell to my knees. I used too much magic power. Shit. I made a mistake again. I misjudged my conditions and used too much.

The good thing is I'm only dealing with mana deficiency; and [Sense Entity] is already active. I don't have to worry about monsters for a while.

"…let's go."

I walked through the forest slowly. Trudging along the dirt road.

To make sure that no monsters would discover me while I'm still helpless, I made sure to cover myself with dirt and mud (I brought portable mud) to mask my scent. Of course, when I sense monsters coming, I immediately hid myself in the shadows.

Since this forest is relatively close to the capital, and because it was swept recently, I believe that it is well explored already. I expect that there are places that people often used to rest. I'm counting on those.

Sure enough, after a while of walking following the makeshift road and signs that were left behind by past adventurers, I found my way into a cave. It's deep enough, with several hiding spots in case monsters wander into nearby vicinity. I see that at least three of those spots are man-made.

Nice timing. It's getting dark and I don't sense anything from the inside, so it should be safe.

As expected, there are signs of activities recently in here. Maybe five or seven days ago? Maybe this was from the sweeping party.

I picked a spot deep in the cave, near one of those man-made hiding spots. I laid down on the mat I brought.

"Hah…"

Mana deficiency is such an annoying thing. Use a little bit more mana than your body have, then you practically become one immobile pile of heavy meat. Why is this even a thing? Humans' body do not need mana to function, unlike the other races. I can understand it if they become immobile, since they need magic power for literally anything they do. But humans? Why? This is so stupid.

I grumbled like that for quite a while. Thinking about my life choices or what a mistake my existence was. Negative things like that. In the end, I fell asleep.

When my magic power has recovered to an acceptable extent, I woke up and the negative thoughts that were filling my mind instantly vanished. Like smoke, like they were never there to begin with.

It's always like this for mana deficiency. It's annoying. It's even more annoying if it happens during combat.

Since I just woke up, I did some light stretching to warm up. I went outside for a little bit to check. It's still dark. Not here though, the forest is still bright as day. I brought out a watch from my Storage Device. Yep, still really early. The sun must be not out yet. I stretched my body again, while yawning this time. I'm still sleepy, but I have to check my magic power reserves. I shouldn't sleep.

I spread some monsters deterrent on the entrance of the cave. It's handmade. The materials are quite the hassle to collect, but it works wonders.

I went in and sat down. I put my leg on top of the other, and my hands on each of my legs. Closing my eyes, I try to relax.

Breathe in.

Do not think of anything else.

Breathe out.

Strike down any unnecessary thoughts that pop ups. Relax. Focus. Focus on the movement of the chest as it exhale and inhale.

"Hu…"

As I feel my mind becoming focused, I feel my thoughts pooling into one. Like a machine, whenever unnecessary thoughts pop up, my mind struck them down. Each time, faster, more efficient. Leaving the trails of the thoughts behind.

Soon enough, I can feel my sensation sharpens. Each sensation becoming even brighter. Even louder. The cold wind that tickled my skin, the hot air that comes out of my nose, the drops of water that fell into the ground and splashed my skin. I felt them clearly.

Then, I feel heat. From my stomach, the heat spread slowly and surely throughout my whole body. Then, from within the heat… I feel the cold. The cold slowly envelopes my body, spreading following the heat.

When the heat wholly enveloped my body, the cold stopped spreading.

There. That took a while.

I stopped concentrating and released the meditating pose. I took out my watch. It's already morning. The sun must be out and about at this time.

"Fuuuh…"

The cold stopped around the upper arms and thighs. So that's about 50, 60 percent? Not bad. That's quite fast. Still not quite enough for me to use Signs and Crafts safely, unfortunately.

Well, then. Now that I know my current mana reserve state, here is the question.

To hunt or not to hunt?

───

"UOOOOOOGH!!!"

The answer is to hunt! Of course!

Giant Rabbits are great group fighters. To hunt Giant Rabbits, the hunter must first break their formation by scaring them with loud noises or something similar. So they cannot fight back.

The giant rabbits were surprised and immediately ran away in different directions.

I threw my sword in front of the giant rabbit that was running away from me. The sword struck the ground and stopped the rabbit in its track.

Immediately I pulled out another sword from my storage device and pushed the rabbit down with my whole body weight.

With my hand on its neck, I raised my sword and aimed to behead it cleanly.

I will never get used to this feeling.

I looked away from its eyes, and slashed.

There. One giant rabbit's fur and meat.

Fuuuh…

"I'll leave the dissection to the professionals at the guild."

I sighed and threw the corpse inside my storage device.

"I have to hunt more."

───

"Hah…"

I'm done. I've hunted enough rabbits for the quests.

I threw the last Giant Rabbit corpse into the Storage Device and sighed.

I don't like this. I enjoy the feeling of the hunt, but when it's time to kill them. To take their lives… It's uncomfortable. But this is my job. At least I have to try and get used to it.

I looked at the pool of blood under me and sighed again.

"No. Don't think about it."

I shook my head and I walked away.

What should I do next? I've already collected enough materials for the quests… There is no sense in over hunting the rabbits, so… Should I explore? I'm sure I'm going to have to come here a lot in the future. Knowing the terrain will be helpful for sure. Yeah. Exploring will definitely be helpful.

I decided to explore. That is, after I rest a little bit in the cave.

"Good afternoon kak! I'm sorry for bothering your camp kak!"

When I arrived back at the cave, there are two adventurers resting on my mat. Not literally.

The male adventurer slowly approached me with his hand raised. Behind him, resting on the wall is a female adventurer. She looks pained.

"I saw the bonfire remnant, but we really need a place to rest and regroup kak. I'm sorry for being rude."

The young male adventurer spoke politely and tried his best to not offend me as much as possible. He has the attitude right. That I can say.

Adventurers have plenty of unspoken rules between us. Do not steal others' kill. Do not disturb others' quest. Do not steal others' camp. Stuff like that. The young guy saw the remnant. He knew the rules, but he still decided to crash into my camp. There must be a reason.

"Introduce yourselves."

"Yes kak! Erm, my name is Alisa. Behind me is my friend, Salim. We are both E-ranked adventurers. Er, we are new."

"What happened to your friend there? Make it brief."

"Yes! Erm… We took on a quest for slaying a small goblin group near the forest and we succeed but we chased them too far into the forest and she got shot by an arrow!"

They over chase their target huh. A common mistake for beginner adventurers. When fighting against any monster, it is wise to not chase them too far. It is better to just try again later or flat out failing the quest. They should already been briefed about this back when they first started. I guess they got overeager and pushed their luck.

"You've bandaged her wound, did you do it properly?"

I glanced at the young boy, asking if I can get closer. Both of them agreed and I checked on the girl's condition.

"I- I think so. I did it following what I learned from the guidebook."

"Good. Have you checked for poison?"

"O-oh no! I haven't!"

They boy face immediately changed to shock. I felt the urge to scold him right then and there, but the girl is more important.

"Check your storage! Did you buy any first aid provisions?! Anti-poison potion?!"

I checked my storage. I only have some herb concoctions to alleviate poison. That's better than nothing.

"Drink this!"

I lifted the girl's head and fed her the drink slowly.

"I don't have any antidote or anti-poison potion!"

"I already gave her an herb potion, but that's probably not enough. We have to bring her back to the city."

Damn it. I guess I'l have to delay exploring the forest for later.

"K-kak!"

The boy suddenly shouted in distress.

"I sense monsters coming into the cave!"

"Right now?!"

What the hell is with the timing?!

"Get out your weapon! Guard her!"

I took out my sword and shield, and stood in front of the two newbies.

Good thing that my eyes are already used to the darkness. I can see them clearly now. Goblins. A lot of them.

"They're goblins."

I whispered to the boy.

"G-goblins?!"

"Did you REALLY succeed at your quest?"

"Y-yeah! We killed all the goblins, but one of them managed to escape…."

"!?"

This newbie…

"If one of them managed to escape… Then your quest is NOT a success you idiot! If one of them escape, then it could tell the other goblins about YOU and they can fortify their defenses! They teach this basic bit of knowledge to newbies when you apply for the quest! How did you not know?!"

While still whispering, I yelled at him as harsh as I could.

"How did they find us here?! We are far away from the last place we fight!"

"…it must be her. The poison. It must have some kind of scent that led them here to us."

"Ugh…"

This is why I don't like newbies. They are not ready to go out into the world yet. They need to know stuff first!

"Do you have two teleport orbs?"

"N-no… The forest wasn't too far from the city, so we didn't think about it."

Damn it!!! I have one for myself… FUCK! I can't just leave them here alone!

"Listen. Tell me what Crafts and Signs that you can use. No secrets!"

"R-right! I can use… [Flash Step], [Sense Entity], and [Solid Barrier]."

Only the basics huh… Tch!

"Cast [Solid Barrier]. Make it as thick and as wide as you can to protect you and your friend."

"Erm… What about you?"

I'll just have to do my best. Fuck you and the trouble you bring.

"I have a plan."