Isn't This Forest Too Strange? (1)

"You've been looking better lately," Amy inspected Sebastian from head to toe before commenting.

"Eh? I do?"

All Sebastian had noticed were the additional things he could do with his body. He could lift heavier weights, run faster, and he also had increased stamina.

"Yep. You're taller and I can feel more muscle in your arms. I started to feel the muscles around three months ago but they've only become apparent now," Amy replied while feeling up his body here and there.

'I don't recall being touched by her so closely before... When...?'

Putting aside that matter for later, Sebastian put his hand atop Amy's head, "now that you mention it, you have become shorter."

"Wha-? I'm not getting shorter, you've just become taller!" Amy pouted and lightly punched Sebastian.

If she really shrunk more than this, then Sebastian would eclipse her. That wasn't something she could allow.

"I'll drink a lot of milk later..." Amy muttered. Sebastian couldn't quite catch what she said but judging by her expression, he had an inkling of what it was.

For this week's date, they had just decided to hang out in Sebastian's room. Rumors were already floating around that the two of them had dates every week. It was completely true but it would be bad if some weird rumors started and they decided to hold the venue for this week's date here.

Sebastian sat on the floor while leaning on the bed—Amy sat down in front of him.

For a couple of hours, the two of them just talked about silly things. Past memories, stupid ideas for the future. It was a very harmonious talk. Sometimes, one side teased the other while other times, they coaxed each other.

All of a sudden, Amy stopped in the middle of her laugh and nestled herself in his arms. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on his chest.

"Hey... are you going to leave?"

Sebastian flinched and held his breath.

"You've been saving up money while training. I thought that maybe you'd want to buy something but then I realized that the money you're saving up is too much for just any item. I remember the time you muttered something about saving up two million and connected it together... The only thing I can think of that you could buy with that money is a ticket to the airship.

"You want to go abroad, don't you?"

He really couldn't fool her.

"Please answer me truthfully," there wasn't any hint of anger or pain in her voice as she continued to plead, "can't you?"

Somehow, that hurt his heart even more. He wrapped his arms around her body and whispered in her ear, "I need to go to Tidas. I've been saving up money to buy the ticket to the airship, as you've said."

He could go by land but it would take him a year to get there and back.

He couldn't keep lying to her but he couldn't tell her the whole truth either. It was a difficult position to be in.

Amy responded with silence and nested herself even deeper in his arms as if she was afraid that the warmth he provided would disappear.

Sebastian continued, "I'd take a month at the least. I planned to tell you when I had the money..."

Amy raised her head abruptly and sealed Sebastian's lips with hers. It was only a brief kiss but because the last one they had was quite a while ago, it felt enchanting to him. Her lips tasted sweet, like the tart she had eaten earlier.

Enraptured by the kiss, Sebastian stared at her dumbly as she stared into his eyes, "can I not come with you?"

To that question, Sebastian blinked once. Then twice.

"Huh? You can... Wait, what have I been worrying about? Couldn't I have just brought you with me? No wait, there's also the matter of the cost..." His words trailed off.

Amy held his head and forced him to look at her, "don't worry about the cost. You don't have to worry about your portion as well."

Sebastian furrowed his brows, "I can't have you pay for me."

In response, she chuckled and spoke in a tone filled with mischief, "who said I was the one paying? Just tell me when you want to leave and we'll be able to go at any time."

The sudden change in her personality reminded him of another matter he had forgotten to address.

"Amy, I've been meaning to ask you, who's the one teaching you? Just a few months ago, you were so pure that even the thought of a kiss would leave you as red as a tomato..."

She flashed him a big toothy grin, "that's a secret~"

...

Even though Amy had told him not to worry about the cost, he still couldn't help himself from trying to earn more money.

In regards to time, he had practically given up on being a valedictorian. He used the time he could've gone to classes for training and selling. Because of his academic record, he could afford to skip most of his classes but he hadn't. Now, he was using it to the fullest.

Today, his destination wasn't any of the villages but the forest that the hawk had appeared in.

"...!"

Two rodents leaped at Sebastian but with his spear, he managed to kill them in a few movements before they reached the ground. Then, he coated his body in more energy and shot towards another rodent that was preparing to ambush him and killed it in one hit.

He swung his spear and the blood flew off the spearhead. "There's a lot of them today," he muttered while looking at all of the beast carcasses surrounding him.

Although it was true that the hawk was still roaming around the forest, he had confidence in being able to escape now that his energy was only a cusp away from reaching Apprentice. Just the tiniest push was enough for him to be regarded as one.

During the past month of training his body, he hadn't forgotten to train his stigma. Just because he did not use the stigma's energy to enhance his body did not mean that he had no other ways to drain it. He expended the energy while training his body.

Although it was less efficient than focusing on the energy alone, it allowed him to train both without neglecting the other.

Sebastian equipped his bow and loaded three arrows. He fired them towards the sky and a few seconds after, three small figures fell down.

He walked over to their landing spot and inspected the winged creatures. "Bats. Why are they out here in the sun?"

They weren't the harmless bats that were normally found. They were beasts that could kill humans and large animals. Still, it was weird for them to be out in the open because though they had become monsters, they were still nocturnal.

"Is there another predator?"

It would explain why the rodents and bats would be out here. Maybe a predator holed itself up in a cave and forced the rats and bats to flee.

Sebastian raised his energy. Balanos wasn't here to tell him where the enemies were so he had to rely on himself.

Using the stigma, he expanded his awareness.

"..."

Surrounding him were several Apprentice beasts and even more numerous Novice beasts. They weren't particularly any trouble as he had confidence in being able to defeat them or escape but... where had they come from?

He was only two to three hours away from the nearest road. Beasts should seldom appear here but what was he looking at?

There was no time to ponder as the beasts started to advance. Sebastian took a handful of arrows in his draw hand and aimed with his bow using the other and shot down any beast he could.

Arrows and blood flew in the air. There were beasts of all kinds surrounding him but only about half of them were left by the time that they had reached the range where his bows wouldn't be as effective.

Sebastian let the bow hang loose on his body and gripped his spear. He had to take the initiative.

SHIK SPLATTER

He cut apart the nearby beasts without stopping. The blood that was covering his body and the ground that he was stepping on didn't bother him in the least. He continued to fight and kill the beasts.

"Ugh..."

One of them had managed to land a hit on his back but it was quickly dealt with.

There weren't any particularly large beasts but that just meant that his enemies were more agile. Luckily, compared to Gilbert, their speed wasn't even worth mentioning in his eyes. Whenever Sebastian was about to get hit, he used more of the stigma's energy and boosted himself to strike back.

Sure, he had suffered a few wounds here and there but overall, the beasts couldn't do much to him.

"Sheesh, what is wrong with this forest?"

First, there was the hawk. Then, there was the fox. Now, there were hordes of beasts that weren't in their natural environment walking around.

Although he wanted to go back, he couldn't help but want to inspect a bit more either. Sebastian gritted his teeth and followed the direction of the beasts. Surely, one of them would eventually lead him back to the source.