Forest Again

Our journey thus far really was ironic.

With C and Kai, I came all the way from the deep Harko Forest to the capital of Triccius, where the Emperor ruled. Afterwards, I made almost the same way but in reverse with Mana and Tarisha.

Sometimes I felt like Fate was laughing at me. This was definitely one of those times.

Luckily, we faced no issues whatsoever getting out of town. We were given less conspicuous clothes, so while we kept hiding our hair, not too many people gave us glances as we passed.

There were no signs of pursuit by Three and his goons, either, so our course back toward Harko Forest went smoothly.

That horrible forest infested with beasts and monsters, the likes of which we hadn’t seen anywhere else in Avallux.

We’d discussed this with Jarred, but following One’s defeat more and more people started making their way toward the liberated Harko area. Before, they would simply leave the forest alone and faced no harassment by One in turn, but now this meant a vast land that remained mostly unexplored for nearly a century.

It was possible that villages like Diane’s tribe thought the same, too, and started moving toward the outside world.

As for the beasts themselves…

“I actually think One was put in place to prevent any further unwanted heroes from being summoned,” Mana had said. She’d then lowered her gaze. “I guess I should have suspected something was wrong when I managed to get all the way to the Crossroads so easily and then taken away again…”

Well, there was no use getting stuck on the past. Especially not a past that included a hundred years of deception.

“Here we are again,” mumbled Mana as we set foot inside the actual Forest again. We stopped on the way to acquire some new provisions, but other than that we walked pretty much in a straight line without any detours, though in places far from the public eye.

Clearly this was incredibly taxing for Mana, who was still weak from her long imprisonment, but she was also looking better and better by the day.

I glanced toward her.

“W-what?” she said, averting her gaze somewhat embarrassedly.

“I was just wondering,” I said, “how close we were to the Crossroads.”

The Crossroads of Avallux—allegedly where this world “connected” to other worlds.

I had discussed this with Mana a little, but even she wasn’t sure how it was exactly that Three’s VR game connected into this world in the first place.

“That’s a difficult question,” said Mana, answering my question. “It’s not like it’s an exact location, more like a certain area. It also constantly shifts, though it shouldn’t have changed too much in the weeks that passed.”

“…Will you be able to tell where it is?”

Mana nodded. “When I’m close enough, yes. That also means we can’t just teleport directly there, though… but would you like me to try?”

I briefly considered this, but shook my head. “Preserve your powers,” I said.

No need to risk things at this point—and besides, we might need her powers if we encounter Three again.

My heart was pounding as we walked through the woods. Not just because it meant we were heading into clear danger again, but because I was reminded of our first time here.

It was my first time getting engaged in an actual life-or-death struggle. It felt like at least two lifetimes passed since our first battle against that strange wolf.

My strange bond with Tarisha meant that I could wield her instinctually, but actual experience was something I lacked until recently.

These last weeks, I’d been through many life-risking battles. That only increased my conviction I was created for them.

The perfect girl? More like the perfect warrior.

As if to affirm my thinking, at that very moment a wolf emerged from between the trees, growling. Mana shrieked and immediately took her spot behind me.

I already knew everything there was to know about fighting these. I sidestepped its attack, swung Tarisha and landed a killing blow almost immediately.

Mana still looked pale-faced and shaking a little.

For all that she was a witch more than a century old, it seemed like she never was a fighter. Had she not witnessed similar scenes while travelling with Three’s party? Perhaps not.

I didn’t want to pry and ask her too much.

“Let’s keep going,” I said, stepping over the wolf’s corpse. Mana hurried up after me, looking pale.

To be honest, I expected the entire Forest to be in complete chaos. I somewhat assumed that upon losing their master—One—the many beasts would just spread and go on a rampage… but maybe he hadn’t exerted that much control over them in the first place.

I still had no idea how he controlled them, come to think about it. I should ask Mana sometime.

Anyway, I obviously wasn’t tracing the exact path I took during our first journey, but the Forest still felt somehow familiar as we traversed through it.

There were no signs of any flying robots, either. I took that to be a good sign.

The journey also felt much shorter, this time around, compared to when it had been just the three of us stumbling with a half-assed map.

As evidence, we soon ended up somewhere unexpected. Or rather, meeting someone unexpected.

I heard a sound from nearby and was just about to warn Mana of a possible battle when there were further voices.

“Who’s there!”

Human voices—meaning, the natives of this Forest. At the very least, they didn’t sound like either Two or Three.

“Um, we’re just passing through,” said Mana, her voice slightly shaking. “We’re just, uh…”

Maybe we should have worked on some cover story or something. Regardless, it ended up not really mattering.

“Wait, I know that girl! She’s one of the three summoned warriors!” The owner of this voice stepped forward—a tan girl who looked about my age, equipped with a spear.

It had been a while, but I still recognized her. “Long time no see,” said Diane, the very first human we met in this world.