After I stored the Hydra with my magic, our carriage set off once more. We’d been traveling for about an hour when…
“Hm?”
“What is it, Kurt?” Lara asked, her eyes wide.
“I have another bad feeling…” Marise muttered, her expression grim.
“No, it’s good news this time,” I said. “I’m picking up an interesting reaction.”
“Interesting?”
“Yeah. There’s a strong magic signature a little further ahead.”
“Does that mean… an enemy!?” Lara’s expression tensed.
“No, there are no life signs coming from it. It’s probably an item saturated with magic power. I’ll know for sure when we get closer…”
“Kurt. How long will it take us to get there?”
“About two hours.”
“…As always, the range of your detection magic is just absurd,” Marise said, looking dumbfounded.
I’d actually extended my detection range even further after the Hydra incident. I figured Marise would panic again if something else like that caught us by surprise.
Two hours later, we arrived.
“The signature seems to be coming from inside this forest.” The road ended, replaced by a dense, overgrown forest stretching before us.
I turned to Diana. “So, I’d like to head into the forest. What do you think? Looking at the map, it seems like it could be a shortcut…”
“Indeed.” Diana spread out her map. “If we can cut straight through, we’ll likely reach the Neutral City a day early.”
“Sounds like a win-win, doesn’t it? In that case…”
“However…” Diana’s face grew serious. “This place is known as Ryobezar’s Forest. I’ve heard of it. They say it’s teeming with monsters, and that run-of-the-mill adventurers who go in never come back out.”
“Monsters, huh… But we have Kurt, who took out a ‘Disaster-class’ monster in an instant. We’ll be fine, right?”
“Lara, we can’t let our guard down. And we can’t keep relying on Kurt for everything,” Marise warned. Both she and Lara stared nervously at the forest ahead.
“If you’re worried, I can just go in alone and meet you all in the Neutral City,” I offered. “You can take the main route.”
“No—it’s more dangerous to be separated from you,” Diana said, waving her hand in mild exasperation. “I trust you, Kurt. Do as you see fit.”
Alright. With Diana convinced, it was time to head in. Our carriage entered the forest, moving at a slightly quicker pace.
“No monsters are showing up,” Lara chirped.
“You’re right… My detection magic is picking up a few weak signals, but…” Marise murmured.
“You two, don’t let your guard down,” I warned. “Monsters are following us. They could attack at any moment.”
“What!? Following us?”
“And a lot of them.”
Hmph. Cunning of them, trying to mask their presence. I guess it’s still too much for the girls’ detection magic to notice.
“You should have told us something that important sooner!”
“Oh? I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
“How many are there?”
“A hundred of them, to be exact.”
“A-A hundred!?” the two shouted in unison, grabbing onto each other.
I stopped the carriage and stepped outside. Monsters called ‘Evil Monkeys’ began to emerge from the gaps in the trees.
“Lara and Marise should be able to handle these. Think of it as a review of your training. We’ll call it a quest: ‘Defeat one hundred Evil Monkeys!'”
“That’s an impossible quest!” Lara yelped.
“Lara, we have no choice!” Marise said, deploying her magic circle.
As the Evil Monkeys sensed the attack, they swarmed us all at once.
“Whoa! There are so many!”
“But just like Kurt said, I think we can handle these!”
The two began firing off spells, taking down the Evil Monkeys one by one. While there were a lot of them, each individual monkey was barely stronger than a wolf. Lara and Marise were handling them calmly and methodically. I could see how much they’d grown.
“Hah… hah… Are we safe now?”
“No, the monsters are just observing us. The moment we let our guard down, they’ll attack again.”
They both stood back-to-back, breathing heavily. Good. Marise isn’t letting her guard down either.
“Both of you, that was excellent,” I said, finding a lull in the battle. “But you’re wasting a few too many shots. If you just add this to your spell formula, like so…”
“They’re coming!”
The Evil Monkeys scattered and charged again.
“Perfect timing. Let me give you a quick demonstration.”
I stepped in front of the monkeys. A simple spell will be easiest for them to understand. Fire Spear it is.
I matched the number of remaining monkeys, launching thirty Fire Spears at once.
As if they had minds of their own, the spears tracked and struck each Evil Monkey. Even the ones that tried to flee were pierced in the back by a lance of flame and collapsed.
“See? That’s how you grant magic a tracking function. It makes it easier to hit and prevents you from wasting magic on missed shots.”
“…”
“…”
Hm? Why are they frozen?
“Was that a little too difficult?”
“N-No… I mean, adding a tracking function might not be that hard, but…”
“But doing it with that many spells at once… while maintaining that level of precision… I don’t think we can do that…” Lara and Marise looked completely dejected.
Did I discourage them? Oh well.
“Don’t worry. With practice, you’ll both be able to handle thirty spears with no problem. A hundred at once might take you a month, though.”
“A-A hundred! That’s ridiculous!”
“That’s not humanly possible!”
What are they talking about? My record in my previous life was ten thousand. I could probably still manage that if I felt like it.
“Anyway, we’ve dealt with the monsters. Let’s move on. Our target item should be just ahead.”
We got back in the carriage and pushed deeper into the woods. A little later…
“Ah, this is it.”
I found a glowing medicinal herb growing from the base of a tree.
“Wow, it’s so pretty!”
“What is it?”
“This is… Izunnia Herb. I never thought I’d see it in this era.”
I picked a bundle. Izunnia Herb spends long years absorbing magic from the leylines. By my appraisal… this one looks to be about four hundred years old. You can make high-quality potions with this. This forest is supposedly dangerous, and this herb was growing just off the path. With detection magic being so uncommon in this age, it makes sense no one ever found it.
“Sorry for the detour. Now that I have what I came for, let’s keep moving.”
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