Chapter 4 – Bewitching Forest

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The surroundings of the Coryn Forest were wrapped up by a dreary atmosphere underneath the azure sky with its blazing sun. Leitmeritz’s soldiers were busily moving around inside the camp they had set up a few alsin away from the tree line.

However, their faces were steeped in fatigues, even though it was still well before noon. The Black Dragon flag and Leitmeritz’s banner──a sword diagonally lying on a black ground──were listlessly hanging down from their poles.

“It seems like Elen and her part haven’t been found yet.”

Tigre assumed after seeing the state of the soldiers. They would have been a lot more cheerful, if their missing lord and her retainers had already been found. Likewise, the air in the camp would be much heavier, if the worst had happened──something he didn’t really want to consider, though.

Looking at the numbers scurrying around inside the fenced compound, Mila narrowed her eyes, “If I remember correctly, their numbers are supposed to be around a thousand. That’s way too much for a simple forest search…”

The soldiers of Leitmeritz wore leather armor and were armed with swords or bows. Tigre suspected they judged iron armor and spears to be unnecessary when considering the heat and the location.

As soon as a soldier on watch spotted Mila’s group, he obviously looked surprised. Judging that this guy apparently knew her, Mila steered her horse in front of him.

“Good day, kind sir of Leitmeritz, I’m Ludmila Lourie, the Vanadis of Olmutz. Could I have you lead me to the man called Rurick, who is commanding you people?”

The greeting was done with a broad smile, but her voice was that of someone accustomed to ordering people around. The soldiers answered loud and clearly before running off in a hurry. Soon after, a man showed up in front of Tigre’s little party. He had a good-looking face and his black hair reached down all the way to his shoulders. He too wore leather armor and while a sword hung at his waist, he was also carrying a bow on his back.

The man bowed politely towards Mila, “It is an honor, Lady Vanadis of Olmutz. My name is Rurick.”

Mila dismounted and as she extended her greetings, she passed the letter from Jaronov to Rurick.

“I have heard the general gist from Sir Jaronov. I would like to talk it over with you for a bit, if possible.”

“…I understand. Let us go over there.”

Rurick pointed at a place a bit away from the camp. Mila nodded.

“I see you set up a camp. Didn’t no one from the royal protectorate complain?”

“As of now, no. If someone were to show up from their side, I plan to sell it off as training. I’m sure they’ll quickly get lost if I also let an arrow or two loose while at it.”

Rurick casually looked at Tigre while walking. He seemed to be interested in the black bow on Tigre’s shoulder.

“Hey, how far can you shoot your arrow?”

“Umm…I’d say I can reach a reasonable range.”

After wavering for a bit, Tigre decided to go with a vague answer. Rurick interpreted the reply as Tigre dodging the issue out of embarrassment.

“Seeing how you are following a Vanadis at your young age, you must have quite a standing yourself. If you don’t mind, I can take a look at your archery. I might look like this, but I’m the best archer of Leitmeritz.”

“Thank you…”

Raphinaque had to stifle his laugh behind Tigre. He knew that Elen would have definitely mentioned Rurick, if he was able to shoot his arrow further than Tigre.

At a distance of around 200 alsin from the camp, Rurick stopped. He opened the letter and quickly skimmed through it. Then he looked at her with quite a bit of doubt.

“Does that mean you are willing to help us with the search for our Vanadis?”

“It’s something that aligns with our own interests. You don’t need to worry about it too much.”

Upon hearing Mila’s answer, Rurick’s face changed into a worrisome frown. After around five breaths, he sighed as if having finished to persuade himself.

“I understand. To be frank, I am of the mind that I will take any help I can get, so I will gladly welcome your assistance on this, Lady Vanadis. If there is anything you desire, please name it.”

Desperation was clearly passed on from Rurick’s expression. Mila nodded once and then questioned him about what they learned after setting up camp here.

Brushing up his hair, Rurick reported with a sigh, “If I were to keep it concise, you can say we only suffered casualties.”

The thousand soldiers led by Rurick had arrived here several days ago. After pitching their camp, they immediately entered the forest. But, Rurick was cautious. Jaronov had told him the stories of people entering but never coming back out of this forest. Even Elen and Lim didn’t return. He couldn’t help but believe that the forest possessed or was inhabited by something unknown to him.

First, Rurick had a hundred soldiers move into the forest. They were split into ten units of ten men. He had ordered them to hold colored ropes and tie a rope to the trunk of the trees they pass at fixed intervals. This method would allow them to find their way back to the camp, even if they were to get lost inside the forest.

But, one unit was unable to come back after half a day had passed. And even the soldiers, who did manage to return, reported all kinds of things to Rurick such as, 「It feels sickening to walk through this forest」, 「I’ve felt like we have been constantly going in circles」, 「As soon as I went a bit deeper into the forest, I stopped seeing my comrades altogether」, or 「The lack of wildlife is odd」.

There was absolutely no progress made on that day. While walking through the forest, they didn’t find Elen, Lim, or the knights of Leitmeritz, let alone a single corpse.

Rurick was torn by those reports, but he chose another group of hundred soldiers, split them up in the same way, and had them too carry colored ropes. But this time he had them enter the forest from a different location.

Yet, the result was the same. In the end, one unit didn’t come back and the returnees said the same as their predecessors.

At this rate, speculations would only give birth to new speculations. In a situation where some soldiers even got scared after letting their imaginations run wild and overlapping the happenings in the forest with the ghost stories they knew, Rurick came to a standstill, not knowing what to do next.

“I understand. Now I have the full picture.”

Mila looked back to the cluster of tents, nodding her understanding. They had lost twenty people while not getting a single clue on Elen’s whereabouts. It was only natural for the soldiers to become discouraged.

“Turning her face back to Rurick, she said, “We will enter the forest.”

“Do you have some sort of idea…?”

“I cannot explain it in full detail, but yes, it’s something like that. Galyinin, Sir Raphinaque, I will have you two wait out here…”

“――Please wait a moment, Lady Ludmila.” The one butting into the conversation at that point was Raphinaque, “Lord Galyinin and I shall accompany you as well.”

Tigre and Mila looked at their adjutants with surprise on their faces. Not only Raphinaque, but even Galyinin stared back at them while being incarnations of composure.

Mila sharply barked at the elderly knight, “No. You won’t come with us.”

“Raphinaque, going by what we’ve heard so far, our opponents must be quite dangerous,” Tigre said to persuade his adjutant, but Raphinaque didn’t pull back.

“Young Lord, and Lady Vanadis as well, you do not understand your own standing.”

Raphinaque’s voice and gaze was filled with emotions. He took one step forward and looked down at Tigre.

“If you’re going to challenge something dangerous, this is all the more of a reason to let us come with you. I think it’ll become a good opportunity to learn that you have to survive, even if you use your subordinates as shields.”

Tigre was speechless.

He started off with, “Something like that….!” But, he was interrupted by Raphinaque’s next words.

“Why do you believe I crossed those steep Vosges Mountains while enduring the pain of my butt? It was for the sake of me becoming your shield, when push came to shove. Milord, you must inherit Alsace from Lord Urs and protect it in the future.”

Each and every word was filled with conviction and resolve. Even Raphinaque protruding front teeth didn’t help in softening the sharpness of his words this time around.

As his almost-seething enthusiasm quickly faded away, Tigre tightly clenched his fists while casting his eyes down. Although he had unintentionally flared up, he understood the reason in Raphinaque’s words once he calmed down. Although it was something only they could do, he also was aware that they were asking something unreasonable here.

“Even if I die, it won’t have much of an impact on Alsace. Several people will probably cry over my grave. But, you are different, Milord. Lord Urs is still going strong and there is also Lord Dian, but, if you were to die, the possibility of Alsace falling into ruin would be high.As such, you mustn’t die, no matter what,” Raphinaque insisted with a gentle voice, as if a big brother was admonishing his little brother.

There wasn’t a shred of tragedy to be found in his attitude. Galyinin breathed out lightly and looked at Mila.

“Most of what I wanted to say has already been mentioned by Sir Raphinaque. Lady Ludmila, could you please consider the chaos in Olmutz that will likely follow your death? Even if a new Vanadis were to appear, a lot of the things, which had been passed on until now, would end up disappearing. You are no one who doesn’t not understand the heaviness of such as loss.”

“I know…as much…”

Mila tried to talk back, but her voice lacked its usual bite. Over here, the relation was similar to a granddaughter getting scolded by her grandfather. She pursed her lips in displeasure and looked up to Galyinin.”

“Since when have you been thinking about this?”

“Since the time we departed Olmutz. I talked it over with Sir Raphinaque on the way. After all, I wasn’t able to do anything in Muozinel.”

“No wonder,” Mila nodded. Both of the older men had held themselves back all the time until today. Given that they had decided to handle it like this, they likely saw no need to say anything.

“Even if you two were to become a burden?”

She knew that she was being mean, but Mila couldn’t help but to ask this question. However Raphinaque and Galyinin looked at each other and calmly smiled at each other.

“Oh, that would be perfectly fitting. Recently I had been thinking that it was about time for you to also experience how to make a clear cut when necessary and leave behind an unnecessary burden, Lady Ludmila. If the last service of these old bones helps you, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Probably owed to the difference in age, Tigre and Mila didn’t comment on this.

“――Have you concluded your council?”

Rurick had silently watched the group’s exchange and now chose an opportune time to timidly interrupt. Tigre sighed in resignation and looked at him.

“The four of us will enter the forest together. In line with this, there is something we’d like to request from you…”

Tigre asked Rurick to lend them spare weapons and tools. Moving in a group of four increased the amount of things they could take with them.

The black-haired knight willingly agreed, “Very well. I’m willing to spare no effort if it’s for the sake of rescuing our Vanadis.” At that point, Rurick cheerfully faced the two adjutants, “Besides, watching people being worked by their young lords, I cannot really feel like it’s someone else’s affair.”

Mila unhappily murmured, “I’d like you to not lump me together with Eleonora.”

Tigre lightly tapped her shoulders so as to soothe her a bit.

†

After finishing the preparations within around half a koku, Tigre’s party walked all the way up to the forest line together with Rurick. Sunlight shone through the foliage into the forest, making things bright enough to allow a fairly deep look beyond the wall of trees.

But, Tigre frowned unconsciously. He felt something similar to the intense, creepy stare coming from inside the Kuttner Forest on the day when Mila met the governor. Something was lurking deep inside the forest and that something was observing him.

Standing next to him, Mila strained her eyes as she looked into the forest. The tip of Lavias, which she was holding in her hand, was clad by a faint light. As if the spear was being wary of this forest.

“At a glance, it looks like an ordinary forest as you can find them anywhere,” Rurick put on a sullen face and continued, “But, it seems like you’ll feel worse and increasingly lose your way, the further inside you go. And that’s not meant as a threat. Please make sure to be very careful.”

Tigre put on his overcoat and shouldered the luggage bag. Checking the quiver at his waist, he saw that he had plenty of arrows. Moreover, a leather bag with oil and a flint for starting a fire when necessary were hanging at his waist too. In Tigre’s case, he was also able to apply the move of shooting a fire arrow, so he had decided to learn how to start a fire quickly in the past.

Mila’s bag was made so that she could hang it on her shoulder. It was also smaller than Tigre’s. But, thanks to that, she could immediately drop it on the ground when she had to wield her spear. Moreover, Lavias had shortened its handle so as to make it easier to brandish the spear inside the forest. Viralt possessed these sorts of powers, too.

Raphinaque and Galyinin wore leather padded undershirts and both had hatchets and handaxes. A hatchet had a shorter reach than a sword, but it could be handled better inside a forest with its dense vegetation. You could also use it to prune branches and thickets blocking the way. It was an effective weapon in this sort of environment. Furthermore, Raphinaque had a quiver hanging at his waist. It contained spare arrows for Tigre.

Their bags were filled with food, water, and torches. They had prepared torches because they thought it’d also be possible to burn trees, depending on the situation.

“Well then, let’s go,” Mila said listlessly.

The four stepped inside the forest. Tigre was walking next to Mila while Raphinaque and Galyinin followed them from behind. Placing Raphinaque and Galyinin in the back was a measure for them to cover the rear and flanks. Moreover, because both men were tall, they’d obstruct the visibility of Tigre and Mila if they walked in front.

The air current weaving its way through the trees felt cool and refreshing. The rays of sunlight breaking through the leaf canopy illuminated the ground. The chirping of birds could be heard in the distance and once Tigre looked around him, he found nuts on the ground. Colored ropes were tied to several trees. Tigre assumed those to be the ones Rurick had mentioned before.

“Mila, can you feel anything?” Tigre asked after they had walked for a while.

She nodded with a face strained by tension, “It feels like we’re being watched by someone. It’s a nasty stare. Just like――”

For a moment, she faltered to continue, but tightly clasping her spear, she mustered her courage and spat out a name, “――back then with Rusalka.”

“I feel the same.”

Tigre stopped. If Mila felt the same, he assumed that this couldn’t be an illusion.

“I don’t quite get the part with the nasty stare, but for some reason I feel very anxious,” Raphinaque grimaced while surveying the vicinity.

Galyinin agreed as well, “Indeed. It’s as if I’m being made to think that I might have mistaken the path…”

While listening to those two, Tigre drew the dagger which had been fastened to his waist at the back. He lightly cut the back of his hand. He scooped up the drops of blood pushing out through his skin and rubbed it onto his left palm. It was his preparation for using the black bow.

“Is that the ceremony necessary to use the power of that bow?” Galyinin looked very curious.

In contrast to that, Raphinaque scowled. Tigre had explained it to the two when they had selected what to take with them. Tigre shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly.

If he were to be brutally honest, facing, let alone fighting, monsters was terrifying. But, not being able to stand next to Mila and being of no help to her would be a lot harder for him to bear. Even if the black bow’s power was something dangerous, he didn’t intend to hesitate to use it, if it became necessary.

Mila looked at Tigre with a face that was a mix of anger, worry, and several other emotions, but she shook her head and then called out to him with a serious look.

“Lend me that hand for a moment.”

Tigre stared at her with confusion, but he held out his left hand as told, nonetheless. Mila grabbed it, brought her face close, and ran her tongue across the wound. Tigre’s face turned red due to the sensation of her tongue and the sight that felt somewhat coquettish. Immediately following, he felt something cold on the back of his hand, causing Tigre’s body to quiver in reflex.

“It’s enough.”

Mila let go of his hand. Once he looked at it, the back of his hand was covered by a thin layer of ice.

“I froze the wound’s surface. No need to worry about frostbite either.”

“Thanks…”

Because Mila started to immediately walk ahead, he couldn’t take a peek at her expression. He stared closely at the back of his own hand, but after pulling himself together by shaking his head, he tightly grasped his bow. Now wasn’t the time to feel giddy, he reaffirmed. Entering a light jog, he caught up to Mila and resumed walking next to her.

By the way, Raphinaque and Galyinin had pretended to not have seen anything by casually looking to the sides.

And then, when they had walked through the forest for around a thousand breaths, Tigre’s expression abruptly turned grim. He held out a hand in front of Mila and said with a nervous voice, “――We apparently have already been led astray.”

While drawing an arrow from his quiver, he pointed at a tree with a red rope.

“I saw that tree earlier.”

Holding Lavias with both hands, Mila scanned the vicinity. Raphinaque and Galyinin tightened their faces and readied their hatchets. The three were well aware of Tigre’s abilities as a hunter. It was impossible for him to mistake a tree.

“Besides, don’t you think it’s weird?”

“You mean the fact that not a single living creature has shown itself in front of us after walking up to this point?” Mila asked with a daring smile.

While bracing himself, Tigre nodded, “So you noticed, huh?”

Even though they could hear birds chirping, they hadn’t spotted a single one so far. Far from foxes or boars, even squirrels and wild rabbits were nowhere to be seen. This was unthinkable for a forest with this many fruits and nuts.

As soon as the four stopped, a black mist enshrouded the forest’s interior. The cool air seemed as if it had transformed into poisonous miasma. Tigre, Mila, Raphinaque, and Galyinin looked around them, standing with their backs facing each other.

Tigre picked up several sounds of something pushing its way through the grass. Several shadows appeared between the trees. The few rays of sunlight illuminated the swarm of figures. Raphinaque screamed.

The identity of those figures were old villagers, armed soldiers, and hunters who held hatchets. But, all of them had shriveled, dry faces. Several plant vines were growing out of their eyes, mouths, and ears. Those things were way too repulsive to call them corpses.

“W-W-Wh-What a-are t-t-th-these…?”

Raphinaque’s voice was trembling. They had put themselves on guard quite a bit, but Tigre’s party couldn’t help but feel paralyzed in shock. Those people had to be the ones who fell victim to something after entering the forest.

Those things, which used to be humans and were now swaying to the left and right, slowly closed in on the small group of four. The plant vines growing out of their bodies wriggled like living beings.

Tigre glared full of anger at a soldier who was the closest to him. He was pissed at the being which had transformed these poor souls into something like this. While gritting his teeth, he nocked an arrow on his black bow.

Lavias’s spearhead released while coldness and in response to that, the head of Tigre’s arrow shone blue while clad in 『Power』.

――Goddess Eris of Wind and Storm…

Tigre closed his eyes and prayed to the goddess. He didn’t pray for his arrow to hit its target, but for the souls of the captured people to rest in peace. Tigre didn’t know how they had lived their lives. But, he couldn’t consider it to be a good fate for them to have been turned into the puppets of an eerie plant after their death.

The arrow released by Tigre pierced through the soldier’s throat and sewed the body to the tree behind it. Exactly because it was boosted by 『Power』, its force was abnormal. The vines growing out of his body squirmed around, but soon lost all color as if withering away and powerlessly drooped.

“As expected, it’s the deed of a monster,” Mila spat out while exposing her fury once again.

Kicking off the ground, she attacked an approaching villager. The slash she unleashed with a yell tore through space and blew away the villager’s head. Several vines shot out of the neck, those were frozen in an instant, before breaking apart into small pieces. The villager’s body finally stopped moving and collapsed. The vines growing out of his neck withered and lost all strength.

“It’s my first time to encounter an enemy who makes me feel so disgusted.”

Raphinaque and Galyinin didn’t move from their spot. Not because they were scared, but because they were protecting Tigre and Mila’s backs. Even Raphinaque, who had been panicked by the monsters’ appearances, had recovered some of his calm. Villagers and soldiers were approaching those two as well.

Raphinaque raised his hatchet and struck it down on the head of a villager in front of him. In spite of the head being cleaved open, there was no change to the vines or the villager’s movements. Blood didn’t come out either. A vine extended towards Raphinaque who was petrified.

Galyinin brandished his hatchet, sending the head of the villagers, which tried to attack Raphinaque, flying. As soon as the head fell on the ground, the body collapsed. Raphinaque thanked the elderly knight while heaving hard.

“You saved me there, Lord Galyinin.”

“It had been correct for us to have accompanied Lady Ludmila and Lord Tigrevurmud, Sir Raphinaque.”

Galyinin attacked the next enemy without looking at Raphinaque.

“When I consider that those two also fought such monsters in Muozinel…,” Raphinaque was taken aback.

There probably didn’t exist any words more suited to rouse his fighting spirits than Galyinin’s. Looking around him, he found Tigre and Mila bravely fighting against the monster.

‘I cannot keep standing here and shake in my boots after always running my mouth towards the young master as I please.

A Leitmeritz soldier, controlled by vines, headed for him. Raphinaque clenched his teeth and struck the face of the soldier with his hatchet. And just as the soldier staggered, Galyinin finished him off with a brilliant slash. Both men nodded at each other.

Even though their comrades were taken down one after the other, the monsters didn’t show any hesitation, slowly surrounding Tigre’s group. Tigre fired two and then three arrows at once, slaying five enemies. Mila brandished her spear to the left and right, mowing the enemies as if they were all the same. Raphinaque and Galyinin steadily slew their enemies while protecting the backs of their young masters.

Although there was no wind going, the plants stirred and black miasma flickered beyond the trees like a heat haze. Dozens of new villagers appeared from there, shocking Tigre’s group anew. The villagers’ clothes were rags and torn at several places. Those tears were caused by plant vines protruding out of them. The nasty part was them having lost parts of their limbs, which now had been replaced by vines.

“There’s no end to these,” Tigre commented, trying to keep his tone calm.

Partially he was saying this to warn himself. After all, it seemed like his thinking would become paralyzed by the spectacle in front of his eyes, if he didn’t use his head.

“…You’re right,” Mila answered after a short moment.

Both exchanged looks with Galyinin and Raphinaque, and then stared to run along the path they came without paying any attention to the approaching villagers. They were fully aware that something was already directing their steps and because of that, they ran. They expected the enemy to take some sort of action.

“I think we should have limited our baggage a bit more,” Raphinaque wheezed out with his face drenched in sweat and his hair clinging to it.

Next to him, Galyinin looked totally fine, despite carrying the same sort of luggage.

“Do you want to try training yourself in the Olmutz way after this whole ordeal is over?”

“As long as it’s not harder than riding a horse.”

Although it served the purpose of not getting mentally worn down, the ability to crack jokes in such a dire situation might be part of elderly people’s dignity. Tigre and Mila were half admiring, and half appalled by those two.

A group of people, who were infested with plant vines, showed up in front. They held swords and axes while wearing shabby leather armor. It looked like bandits had entered the forest, just to be finished off.

“Tigre, how are things around us?” Mila asked while staring at the enemies without slowing down.

Tigre quickly let his eyes wander to the left and right, and then revealed a bitter expression.

“We’re probably being made to run in circles.”

Tigre had discovered a red rope which was tied to a tree. If they didn’t took some sort of measure, they would remain unable to leave this forest for eternity.

“I wonder if we will draw out some sort of reaction, if I hit the area with a veda.”

“It might show some effect, but wouldn’t it also be dangerous?”

Worry spread on Tigre’s face. He recalled how Mila had been dragged underwater during the first battle against Rusalka. The demon lurking in this forest might be even stronger than Rusalka. And although they might only get more exhausted at this rate, Tigre personally didn’t want to put Mila into too much of a danger.

Looking his way for just an instant, Mila giggled.

“You’re such a worrywart. But, as you wish. Let’s keep watching how things develop for a bit longer.”

Mila dropped her backpack on the ground after stopping to run. There was still quite a bit of distance between her and the bandits, but she still brandished her spear.

At that moment, Lavias’s handle extended more than twice its original size and struck down one of the bandits. Mila pulled her spear back, causing the handle to return to its former length in an instant. Tigre picked up her backpack and stopped running himself as well. Seeing her style of fighting for the first time in a while, he spent a short moment to admire it, before shifting his eyes to watch their vicinity.

The sharpness of Raphinaque and Galyinin’s hatched had grown dull, so they changed the way they were holding their weapons and backed off from the monsters. Tigre felt they also had to somehow overcome this situation for the sake of those two, who were struggling for their sake.

Suddenly Tigre spotted black, mist-like miasma lurking between the trees. The monsters had appeared after that mist had manifested within their visual field.

――Gauging the distance by eye is pointless.

Tigre drew an arrow, nocked it, and took a deep breath. He targeted a soldier who was heading his way from a different direction. He pulled the bowstring and charged the arrow head with 『Power』.

――More…I need more.

He drew back the bowstring even further. Thinking that the enemy might suspect something, he felt like he couldn’t use too much time. He appealed to the black bow in his mind.

――Back then you said it, didn’t you? Shoot. Just as desired.

At the time when he fought against the monster released by Rusalka in Muozinel, Tigre was able to use the power of his bow, which he hadn’t been aware of until then, because the now talked to him.

――I desire to take that thing down. Lend me your strength for that sake!

He shifted his aim and released his arrow immediately thereafter. The arrow flew while drawing a beautiful arc. It flew widely above the soldier’s head, headed straight for the area between the trees, and got sucked into the black mist.

In the next instant, a scream resembling the tearing of wood could be heard. The monsters stopped moving and the surrounding trees started to shake as if they were under the influence of a violent storm.

Tigre turned around and nodded at Mila and the others. They resumed running once more.

“You keep telling me that it’s dangerous, yet you hog all the good events to yourself.”

Her words sounded angry, but joy was twinkling in Mila’s eyes.

Tigre shook his head, “No, I couldn’t take it down. There was feedback, but…”

Even so, the hit seemed to have some sort of effect. The rows of trees were clearly different from before. And they could hear the faint noise of someone screaming and weapons clashing.

Tigre’s group looked at each other in surprise as it seemed like someone was still alive inside this forest. Or something had happened outside the forest, causing Rurick to make his soldiers surge into the forest.

“Let’s go and take a look.”

Mila nodded at Tigre’s suggestion.

The four readjusted their weapons and headed into the direction of the noise. The spectacle visible through the trees soon made Tigre and the other three open their eyes wide in shock.

Five knights had been surrounded by a group of vine-infested people. Their cloaks were tattered, their hair was a mess, and their faces were mud caked. They were desperately swinging their sword, taking down one monster after the other, but their movements were slow, probably because of the accumulated exhaustion. They were clearly getting cornered.

“That is…!” Mila raised her voice.

She had spotted Royal Governor Leszek among the people surrounding the knights. She assumed he had fallen prey to the demon after stepping into the forest to investigate it. Just like the other vine-corpses, his whole body was shriveled up and vines were growing out of his eyes and mouth. The head of the man known as Strawberry Head Kurbunikava had turned into something like a budding strawberry.

“Please take care of the surroundings!”

Mila held up her spear vertically, casting a look full of pity at Leszek and his subordinates. He had been someone she loathed, but even she didn’t wish him such a fate. Getting her breathing in order, she solemnly muttered,

“――Silent WorldEisberg!”

The ruby buried in the spearhead of Lavias shone and a huge amount of cold air was released. First, the atmosphere lost all warmth, and then the grasses, tree roots, etc. froze in no time. The coldness spread even further, reaching the monsters. Their feet were frozen alongside the ground. The chill rose from the monsters’s feet, soon covering their whole bodies. Just as they transformed into perfect blocks of ice, they soundlessly broke apart. The countless ice hards turned into a blizzard, before they fluttered down on the forest.

At that point, the knights finally noticed Tigre and Mila. They stared at them while looking dumbfounded, but they mustered their remaining strength and ran over to Tigre’s group.

The knight standing at their front said to Mila while panting heavily, “No way…Lady Ludmila…?”

It was the voice of a woman. Tigre and Mila looked at the face which was covered so thickly with blood and mud that it almost looked pitch-black, just to be assailed by surprise and confusion. She was Limalisha, Elen’s adjutant. She should have entered this forest together with Elen more than twenty days ago.

Lim genuflected in front of Mila and frantically appealed with tears in her eyes, “Please…I beg you… Please save…Lady Eleonora. Please…I humbly request your help…”

Mila was unsure how to decide and looked at Tigre. Tigre checked the tired faces of Lim and the knights. He didn’t understand what she meant by wanting them to save Elen. He asked himself whether Elen had been attacked by a swarm of monsters somewhere else.

At that moment, Raphinaque raised his voice in surprise.

“Young Lord, look at that!”

He pointed at a certain direction with his hatchet that was still covered by grime and plant filth. Around a hundred alsin away, the forest was interrupted and several tents surrounded by a simple fence could be seen beyond. It was the camp of Leitmeritz’s army.

“Are we…outside the forest?”

Tigre stared at the camp with a dumbstruck expression. Mila furrowed her eyebrows, appearing to be suspicious.

“What is the idea here? I can’t believe that they’re telling us that we’re free to go just like that.”

“You could also consider that camp as an illusion and expect a trap waiting over there for us,” Galyinin cautiously stated.

Tigre agreed with him, but he adjusted his thinking. A wild rabbit peeked its face out of the grass at the place where the forest was interrupted.

“…Maybe that place is connected to the real exit of the forest?”

This forest had nothing you could call a regular living being. As if the forest was rejecting all life. In that case, the thing he was currently seeing might be a wild rabbit which had run over from outside the forest, Tigre suspected.

Mila looked at Lavias in response to Tigre’s comment. Her viralt emitted a faint light at its head, causing Mila to widen her eyes. She clearly couldn’t believe it.

“Lavias is also saying that she doesn’t sense any danger from that place.”

Tigre’s group looked at each other. A viral likely wasn’t all-knowing and omnipotent, but there was nothing as reliable as a viralt in this situation.

Tigre wondered about the enemy’s aim. Although they had been taken by surprise, it was hard to imagine that the enemy would commit such a mistake.

“――No, thinking about this can wait,” Tigre shook his head.

Then he looked at the knights. Lim had sunken to the ground and was crying. The other four barely managed to keep standing. They had heard the conversation between Mila and Tigre. They could also see the scenery outside the forest, but their understanding was apparently unable to keep up with the series of events.

Tigre decided that leading them to a safe place came first.

“Let’s leave the forest for starters.”

Upon Tigre’s words, a faint glimmer of hope lit up in the eyes of the knights. But, Lim remained seated while covering her face with her hands and sobbing like a child.

“But, Lady Eleonora…Lady Eleonora has…”

Big tears trickled down through the gaps in her slender fingers. Not an ounce of the composure, which she had displayed at the governmental residence of Olmutz, was visible right now.

――Now that’s come to this, we’ll go, even if we have to drag her along…

Just when Tigre thought so, Mila moved. She extended her left hand and raised Lim’s chin, just to heartily slap the older woman’s cheek with her palm. Mila looked down at Lim, who was dumbfounded as she apparently didn’t understand what had happened, with a cold, angry glare.

“Do you plan to embarrass Eleonora in this way? What a great friend you are.”

Those were stabbing rather than forsaking words. It took a second for them to penetrate into Lim’s heart.

She roughly wiped away the tears welling up at her eyes once again and stood up while gritting her teeth.

“――Please…excuse me.”

Her voice was still shaky, but her expression showed a seriousness as it was typical for Lim.

Having the knights go ahead, Tigre’s group headed outside the forest while being cautious of their surroundings. And just when they reached a location several steps away from completely exiting, the previous question pushed out of a corner of Tigre’s mind, making him wonder about the enemy’s objective once more.

“Yep, just go back like that.”

Suddenly he heard what sounded like the voice of an old woman. Tigre reflexively stopped and looked to his sides. With a surprised look he stared at a leaf having fallen at his feet. The strange part about the green leaf was the mouth it possessed. That mouth used human language to speak.

“You’re tired, aren’t you? Hurry along and go home. Just abandon that girl.”

“You’re wounded, aren’t you? Take a good rest. You won’t be able to meet that girl anyway.”

It wasn’t just the leaf at his feet. All the leaves scattered on the ground now had mouths, urging Tigre’s group to leave.

“…I see. That’s how it is!”

Tigre firmly clasped his black bow.

Why are we suddenly able to reach the forest’s exit? That’s because the demon is toying with us. Elen must be meant with that girl. We might forever lose the chance to save her if we leave the forest. The demon is observing us from somewhere, making sure whether we leave.

“What a boring provocation.”

Mila rotated Lavias into a backhand-grip and stabbed one of the leaves on the ground.

“Let me make one thing clear: I won’t let you get away as ruler of Olmutz.”

“Me neither,” seconded Tigre resolutely.

The wish to save Elen of course played a part in this, but above all, they couldn’t leave this demon unchecked.

“You’re…ah, I guess there’s no point in asking.”

“Of course not.”

Raphinaque agreed, when Tigre looked at him with playfulness twinkling in his eyes.

Galyinin addressed Leitmeritz’s knights with a calm expression, “Once you leave the forest, inform Sir Rurick that we’re safe and that we’ll definitely bring back your Vanadis.”

The knights looked hesitant, but once Galyinin slowly shook his head, they apparently perceived that their role had ended at this point. They bowed at Tigre and the others before walking out of the forest. However, Lim didn’t move from the spot.

She pleaded to Mila with a subdued voice, “Please, would you allow me to accompany you?”

Tigre’s party exchanged looks, appearing baffled by the unexpected request. Mila became appalled on top of that.

“You must be exhausted. Leave Eleonora to us and get some rest.”

“Please,” Lim hung on tenaciously, bowing her head deeply.

Mila sighed lightly.

――I’ve heard that she’s an old friend of Eleonora.

Mila recalled the relationship between Elen and Lim, which Sofy had previously told her about. Before becoming a Vanadis, Elen had apparently hired with a mercenary band. Lim belonged to the same mercenary band. And after that band dissolved, the two wandered from place to place together.

If someone dear to her had been captured, Mila suspected that she would act in the same way. But, taking along someone who was wounded all over her body might even become a danger for their whole group. Mila cast a wavering look at Tigre.

He pondered about it for a moment and asked her, “Mila, do you think the matter of Elen attacking Sofy might be related to the demon in this forest?”

This seemed like a sudden question, but Mila immediately grasped his aim.

“I’m pretty sure that it is. Having the real person disappear makes it easier for the fake to cause damage,” answered Mila while showing Tigre a sweet smile. “I understand what you want to say. It would be better for someone, who knows Eleonora well, to be around in case the fake makes a move. That’s the gist of it, right?”

Tigre happily nodded at the blue-haired Vanadis’s words.

“Besides, I’d like to respect her will.”

Mila shrugged her shoulders. Seeing how this was Tigre, she had expected something like that from the very start. However, the youth had come up with a reasoning for her as well.

――Besides, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to persuade her, so it’s a waste of time to try any further.

Mila faced Lim and said with a curt tone, “As long as you can protect yourself, you’re free to come along.”

“Thank you so much…!”

Joy and determination gleamed in her blue eyes as she thanked Mila.

†

All of a sudden, the scenery outside the forest was overshadowed. Not even ten breaths had passed since Leitmeritz’s knights had left the forest.

While Tigre’s party was astonished, the fence, camp, and wild rabbits gradually faded away in front of their eyes, replaced by trees and thickets.

A few moments later, their surroundings were filled with nothing but forest, as if it hadn’t been any different from the start.

“So they want to tell us that we’re locked in, eh?” Raphinaque rummaged through his hair while saying so with a sigh.

Of course, more than half of his attitude was a bluff.

Tigre’s group surveyed the vicinity, but there was no sign of new monsters appearing. It might be because of the wound caused by Tigre or the veda used by Mila, but it seemed like the demon was waiting to see what action they’d choose next.

Tigre retrieved a waterskin out of his backpack and passed it to Lim while gently asking, “Could you tell us more details? You told us to rescue Elen, but what happened? How did you survive twenty days inside a forest like this…?”

While accepting his waterskin, Lim furrowed her eyebrows, apparently confused.

“Forgive me but, what do you mean with twenty days? A full day hasn’t yet passed since we entered the forest.”

Tigre wasn’t the only one startled by this reply. The other three were the same.

“Come to think of it, Sofy mentioned it too. People, who met a Leshy after entering a forest, would experience a hundred years having passed once they got out…” Mila sighed, but after shaking her head, she said to Lim, “Anyway, could you tell us more? Afterwards, we will also tell you about our circumstances.”

Lim finally realized that something was off due to those words. She asked herself why Mila, Tigre, Raphinaque, and Galyinin had come to this forest. But, rethinking that exchanging information took precedence at the moment, Lim started to explain while slowly taking little sips of water.

Four knights and her entered the forest this morning, accompanying Elen. Although Elen had her viralt at hand for emergencies, it was better to be safe than sorry. They would tie red strings to the trees. They had taken fifty strings with them and planned to pull back once they used up all of them.

And then, around the time when they had used around half of those strings, people with plant vines having invaded their bodies appeared, attacking Lim’s group. Some were villagers, others seemed to be bandits and mercenaries, going by their equipment.

“It was terrifying… Even worse than their appearance was the fact that they would keep heading our way without faltering, regardless of whether we cut them or they lost a limb. It seemed the main body of the plant, which was manipulating the corpses, was located at the head. Once we lopped off or stabbed their heads, they finally stopped moving.”

Lim’s voice was dyed with fear. Raphinaque nodded many times to show his consent while he watched the vicinity. Tigre, Mila, and Galyinin didn’t show it on their faces, but they shared the same sentiment.

Lim continued.

Although they now knew how to defeat the monsters, it didn’t change the situation of them being outnumbered. Elen decided to head back and taking the lead, she cut a path open. But, no matter how long they ran, they were unable to leave the forest. The enemy numbers kept growing, too.

And then a huge tree monster appeared in front of Lim’s party. Having an old woman’s face on its trunk, the monster brandished its countless branches and roots like whips, assaulting them. Judging that it’d be impossible to get away from the monster, Elen held it back by herself after telling the others to leave the forest to get help.

Lim wanted to stay by Elen’s side, but her sword’s blade was already chipped all over, making it unusable in battle. Above all, they had been tossed into an overly unrealistic situation, which caused Lim to feel how she was getting cold feet. Even if she had insisted on staying, she’d not only have been able to get any help, but on top of that she’d have become a burden.

While gritting her teeth in frustration, Lim and the knights ran through the forest. But, no matter how long they ran, the surroundings around them didn’t change at all.

After running out of strength, they stopped. It was then that Lim noticed something. Even though they should have been a fairly long time inside the forest, the sky as visible through the leaf canopy was still bright. Even though they felt horrified by this reality, she and the knights got their breathing in order and started to advance through the forest once more.

Around the time when they got tired from walking around for many koku, going by their bodily experience, monsters appeared once again. The royal governor Leszek was among them as well.

After listening to the story until the end, Tigre’s group looked at each other.

“I can’t really believe it’s true, but there’s no way for this person here to be a fake as well, is there?”

Raphinaque asked no one in particular.

Mila shook her head, answering, “I don’t think so. If she was fake, she wouldn’t talk about something so absurd.”

Tigre nodded. Because they had entered the forest and fought those monsters, he could believe Lim. The same also applied to Galyinin.

Next, Mila explained the reason for their presence here. However, what she told Lim was that twenty days had passed outside the forest, that a fake of Elen apparently existed, and that they had come here to search for the real Elen after hearing that she’d gone missing in this forest. Mila thought she could tell Lim the rest later on.

“I now understand after hearing your story that the eerie tree got to be the ringleader.”

While Mila said so, Raphinaque took a torch out of his backpack and lit it. In order to use it as a weapon.

“Those might not be normal vines, but going by the vegetation around us, fire should work here.”

Raphinaque’s ability as a warrior fell far behind Galyinin’s. He was trying to compensate by at least increasing his weapons and options to attack.Afterwards, he handed his hatchet to Lim as an apology for having doubted her. Seeing that, Galyinin also left his hatchet in her care.

“Please carry it as a spare weapon. I have an ax with me.”

“Thank you kindly, you two,” Lim accepted those weapons with a deep bow.

She affixed one to the back of her waist while holding the other one.

“――It looks like the other side is starting to get irritated as well.”

Noticing the approach of several presences, Tigre nocked an arrow into his black bow. Seeing that, Mila and the others readied their weapons as well.

Immediately following, figures suddenly appeared from all. They were all people who had turned into monsters after having their bodies invaded by vines. Tigre raised his bow, but feeling a powerful presence behind him, he quickly turned around.

There he spotted someone jumping towards them from atop a tree. That person had Elen’s appearance while brandishing a longsword. The swarm of monsters had been a decoy to draw their attention away. Raphinaque cried out in pain.

And just before the slash could reach her, Tigre thrust away Lim and dropped to the ground. An instant later, a sharp blade sound could be heard. Lim had repelled Elen’s sword, standing in the way so as to cover for Tigre.

“Thanks, you were a big help, Lady Limalisha!”

But, Lim couldn’t respond. It wasn’t just because the shock was too big either.

“Eleonora-sama…?”

Long silver hair, red eyes, and a good-looking face; she looked like a spitting image of Elen. The military outfit, combining white and violet colors, as well the hair ornaments were the same too. If one had to push it, her smile made you feel an eeriness as it seemed somewhat artificial, but very few would likely be able to notice that.

While still holding the hatchet at the ready, Lim stared at Elen, unable to conceal her confusion and agitation. The person she had sworn to save was currently standing in front of her. Moreover, that Elen was exuding a fighting spirit, pointing her sword at Lim. This made it very hard for Lim to cope with the situation.

“Leave this one to me,” Mila stepped forward while clasping Lavias with both hands. Staring at her foe, she added, “I told you before, didn’t I? This thing is an Eleonora fake!”

“A fake…,” Lim muttered in a daze.

After a short moment, comprehension and hostility crept into Lim’s eyes.

Elen kicked off the ground, closing the distance to Mila in a breath. Mila blocked the sword’s side sweep with Lavias’s handle. The impact was passed on to her hands through the viralt and a shrill sound hit Mila’s eardrums.

Mila widened her eyes in shock. She had heard the story from Sophy, but the blow of the monster imitating Elen was that of an extraordinarily powerful warrior.

“So it’s not just imitating her outward appearance, huh?”

Mila glared at Elen. In response to her fighting spirit, Lavias’s spearhead shone and a white chill started to coil itself around Mila’s body. Elen swiftly jumped back, gaining some distance from Mila.

Raising a battle cry, Mila charged. She didn’t extend the spear handle or anything like that since she’d likely eat a counterattack, if she allowed Elen to get too close to her.

As they tore through the atoms in the atmosphere, the longsword and spear repeatedly clashed. Mila stabbed, swept and slammed with the spear’s butt end, constantly assaulting the enemy. Elen slashed, thrust, pushed and bashed with the sword’s flat part.

The blades grazed each other’s bodies, carving many small wounds into the girls’ skins. But, unlike Mila who was bleeding on the arms and cheeks, not a single drop of blood trickled down from Elen’s body. In exchange, Elen’s sword had been chipped at several places during the clash with Mila’s viralt.

“As I thought, you’re a fake.”

Mila’s scary voice was seething with anger and hostility. Up until this point, she had feared and suspected in a corner of her heart that this Elen might be the real one. The level of the fake’s swordsmanship was just like Mila knew it from Elen.

But, it was unthinkable that the real Elen wouldn’t bleed when cut.

Away from the duel between the two girls, Tigre, Raphinaque, Galyinin, and Lim defeated and repelled the other monsters. In order to allow Mila to fully concentrate on her battle against the Elen fake. Then again, they also worried that they might become a nuisance for Mila, if they tried to assist her in some awkward way. It was a testament of just how intense the battle between the two was.

Mila repeatedly used fast, short thrusts, and as soon as she managed to force Elen to take some distance in retreat, she breathed in and unleashed her veda.

“――Silent WorldEisberg!”

A huge amount of cold air spread with Mila in the center, freezing the ground in the blink of an eye. The coldness also tried to reach Elen, but at that moment, the surrounding trees rustled, despite the lack of a wind. Countless leaves fell to the ground, preventing the icy encroachment.

“So you finally made a move, eh?”

It was just the leaves either. The tree roots wriggled like big snakes and several eyes appeared beyond the thicket, accompanied by ridiculing laughter filling the air. A number of monsters, which doubled the amount of those killed by Tigre’s group, appeared as reinforcements from within the forest. Vines were peeking out from rotten corpses which were exposing their bones, probably as they fell under the demon’s control after being eaten by wild animals.

“Tigre, how is it going on your end?”

Mila asked while pointing her back at him. Tigre answered her loudly without looking at her either.

“It’s fine! I’ve got plenty of arrows too!”

Raphinaque, Galyinin, and Lim were fighting while holding weapons and torches in their hands. The monsters seemed to be weak against fire, just as Raphinaque had expected. They made their opponents flinch away with the torches and exploited that opening to cut them down. Watching Raphinaque holding the upper hand in battle with this tactic, Galyinin and Lim had adopted the same by preparing torches for themselves as well.

Tigre fired his arrows from behind them, taking down one monster after the other. Because of a sense of security that he was being protected by the other three and a sense of duty for having to meet Mila’s expectations, he couldn’t focus much better than usual. So far, the four didn’t let even a single monster get close. And Tigre guessed that the new reinforcements wouldn’t be much of a problem either.

――But, it’s dangerous to draw this battle out.

While nocking a new arrow on the bowstring, Tigre was plagued by a sense of impending danger. If they were to continue like this, he’d eventually run out of arrows. Raphinaque, Galyinin, and Lim would likely become unable to fight on too. Just like Leitmeritz’s knights. If that happened, they’d immediately join the monsters as new friends.

They had dragged out the Elen fake created by the enemy and the enemy’s attention was focused on them as well. In that case, they had to pinpoint the enemy’s location next to search for the real Elen.

“Mila, is it okay to leave this to you?”

“No problem! Go!”

Mila answered right away. She too had the same thoughts as Tigre. He should act while Mila kept the Elen fake occupied.

“What are you planning this time, Young Master?”

Raphinaque looked at Tigre, spitting out a hot breath. His face clearly stated that he’d obey any order. After being delayed by a trace of hesitation, Tigre said, “I’ll go to look for the real Elen. You stay here.”

Doubt and criticism surfaced in Raphinaque’s eyes. His look was clearly asking why Tigre didn’t ask him to come along. Tigre shifted his eyes to the Elen fake who was fighting Mila. He could tell that she was a fearsome opponent from her still being able to keep up with Mila.

“Protect Mila in my stead. ――Please.”

Galyinin and Lim were present in this place as well. But, Tigre couldn’t rely on anyone but Raphinaque for being his substitute.

“…How sly of you.”

After a short and deep wrestle between the two, Raphinaque gave in and consented. If Tigre were to dart around the forest, Raphinaque would quickly become unable to keep up. Besides, if Mila were to be defeated, it’d not only become disadvantageous for them, but they’d actually be hacked apart one by one.

Raphinaque turned his back on Tigre, returning to the battle against the monsters. Tigre closed his eyes and concentrated on the black bow in his left hand.

――Back during the battle against Rusalka and now as well, you lent power from a viralt.

In other words, it meant the black bow was equipped with the ability to recognize a viralt.

――Where is Mila’s Lavias?

He could constantly hear the sound of battle as he focused. Also, Mila’s spirited battle cries. But, Tigre wasn’t looking for those. He was seeking the presence of a viralt. He drew himself much closer to the viralt. Just like he melted with nature when hunting.

His breathing slowed and became shallow. All voices and sounds became insignificant to him. Even the air as it caressed his skin and shook his hair was expelled from his consciousness.

Eventually, he was able to faintly feel the presence. He knew that it was Lavias. He perceived the spear, which was clad in cold air, pride, and loyalty towards its mistress, as a speck of light within darkness.

――I’m going to look for Arifar. It should be somewhere inside this forest.

Of course, Arifar wasn’t anywhere close. As such, Tigre expanded his range of recognition like a ripple propagating across a still water surface. He searched for the presence of a viralt together with his bow. Going further and further into the forest.

And then he could sense a faint light in the distance.

Tigre opened his eyes. At once, the reality, he had shut out, rushed back in on him. Dizziness was about to swoop down on him, but firmly stepping down with both feet, he supported himself. Nearby Raphinaque was fighting monsters with all he had. More than ten monsters already lay at his feet. Once he shifted his gaze, Mila was engaged in a fierce clash with the Elen fake.

After cutting apart one of the new monsters, Raphinaque looked back at Tigre.

“Young master…?”

“I mostly got it. ――I’m off now.”

――No matter how much the demon makes me wander around, I’ll definitely reach Arifar’s――――no, Elen’s location.

Tigre received a quiver from Raphinaque and affixed it to his waist. After thanking his adjutant, he looked at Lim.

“Please think of what you’re going to tell Elen.”

Lim nodded silently. Meanwhile Tigre turned around and started to run away from them. Of course, the enemy reacted to this action, sending monsters at him.

“You’re in the way.”

Drawing three arrows from his quiver, Tigre nocked them all on the bowstring. The 『power』 flowing to him from Mila’s viralt engulfed the three arrowheads. After perceiving that, he fired all three at once. The arrows all pierced one of the three monsters’s throat, taking them all down.

And using that opening, Tigre broke through the encirclement, before quickening his pace. At this distance he wouldn’t be able to depend on Lavias’s assistance anymore. He had no choice but to shoot open a path with the bow’s and his own power.

†

The trees furiously shook their branches, causing countless leaves to swirl through the air. Each and every single leaf carried an eye or a mouth. They didn’t possess the strength to hurt Tigre, but since there were so many of them, it was depressing. Moreover, they followed him around as they loosely flew through the air.

――You seem to be quite tired. How about taking a rest?
――Just what can you achieve with your strength? Aren’t you overestimating yourself a bit too much?
――I guess you can’t hear the voices. From over there. The voices calling for help. They might be looking for you.

As if to stir his sense of justice, blended with kindness and mockery, the leaves with the mouths ridiculed Tigre with all sorts of lies, trying to confuse him. The leaves with the eyes were silent, but being quietly observed by many dozens of eyes already felt eerie enough.

Tigre proceeded onwards while scattering the leaves by brandishing his bow left and right.

The roots of trees were wriggling, extending their tips. The former humans, now monsters, kept appearing as well. All of them chasing after Tigre.

At times, Tigre would nock an arrow on his bow and shoot. Since he was far away from Mila, his arrows carried no 『Power』. But, he was able to stop the monsters from moving by piercing their arms and heads, sewing them to the trunks of trees. At this point, Tigre had already repelled more than ten monsters in such a manner.

――But, it’s farther away than I expected.

He should have already run around 1000 alsin, but he felt like he didn’t even manage to close half of the distance. Or maybe the enemy was using some sort of trick.

All of a sudden, Tigre stopped. Blocking his mouth and nose with a hand, he started to cough. Once he looked around him, he spotted many red flowers, which he had never seen before, bloom between the tree roots and grasses.

――Don’t tell me…pollen?

He covered the area of his face below his nose with the cuff of his overcoat.

At that moment, something fell down from a tree. Tigre jumped aside in a hurry, dodging it.

It was a venomous, violet fruit with the size of a child’s head.The fruit hit the ground with a dull thud and broke apart, scattering its juice and flesh. And then something with a humanoid form crawled out of the smashed fruit.

It was as big as a four or five year old child. It was smeared in a violet liquid from the head down to the toes, but both its eyes were wide open. The eyes were white and released light. Fangs lined up inside its mouth and sharp claws were visible at the tips of its fingers. Tigre got goosebumps all over his body due to its repulsive appearance, but he gritted his teeth and stared at his foe.

“Isn’t it coming up with all sorts of clever plans?”

Being still able to trash talk gave him a peace of mind. It meant he was still calm.

――This change means I’m getting closer to the enemy.

The fruits dropped to the ground one after the other, cracking open on impact. Several monsters blocked Tigre’s path. One of the monsters screeched weirdly. It placed both feet and hands on the ground, assaulting Tigre like a beast.

While avoiding the charge by jumping to the side, Tigre nocked an arrow on his bow and shot. Without missing its aim, the arrow drilled through the monster’s temporal region, just for the arrowhead to quickly push out on the other side of the head. The monster collapsed to the ground with a loud scream. It spasmed for a short moment, but quickly stopped moving altogether.

The violet liquid, which had covered most of the monster’s body, streamed down. And what sluiced out alongside the liquid was a human child. Tigre felt terrified as he looked down on the child which was pierced by his own arrow. As he sensed vomit welling up from his stomach, he noticed a certain reality.

The ones attacking them were humans who had been infringed by plant vines. There were no children inside those puppets. Even though children, who got lost in a forest, could be found in any of the principalities.

“…Now you’ve done it,” Tigre spat out his rage, his body trembling furiously.

The monsters over here were all very likely children who got lost in the forest.

With a coldhearted expression, Tigre drew several arrows from his quiver and aimed them at the monsters which were steadily shortening the distance to him. The monsters apparently planned to face him with several at once this time.

――I won’t beg for forgiveness. I’ll shoot my arrows in order to advance.

The string of his bow vibrated audibly as he released his arrows in succession. One monster after the other fell over, opening a path. Once he had emptied out one of his quivers, he tossed it away and started to run.

Pulling away from the chasing monsters, he hurried while keeping an eye on the wriggling roots on his sides.

Suddenly he came out in an open spot. He instinctively shaded his eyes due to the sunlight powerfully streaming into the glade. As he surveyed his vicinity, his eyes came to a halt at a certain sight, widening. He couldn’t help but to stand there petrified, shocked by what he saw.

“This is…?”

A tree, so huge that twenty adults would barely be able to surround it, towered in the center of the glade. But, its size wasn’t the reason for Tigre’s shock.

The tree itself was twisted to the extent of being weird and its branches were warped and knotty, giving it the impression of being an ugly monster. Black miasma oozed out of small holes, which existed all over its surface. Something like the wrinkled face of an old lady was situated in the center of the trunk.

Just facing that thing caused his body to tremble in fear while his mouth became extremely dry. Sweat started to stream out of all his pores and it became difficult for him to breathe. The big tree in front of him had such an overwhelming presence that it made all the monsters, which he had encountered on the way here, seem like toys.

――It’s the same feeling as the one I had back when we encountered Rusalka… No, that thing might be even worse.

Tigre held his black bow under his arm while pulling an arrow out of his quiver. Clasping it tightly, he rammed the arrowhead into his left palm. Blood gushed out, accompanied by a sharp pain, resulting in the palm quickly dyeing red. He started to release a hot breath.

But, now that he had mustered his courage like this, Tigre got his breathing in order and walked up to the tree.

『――Aahh』

Tigre quickly put himself on guard in response to the sudden groaning. Nocking the bloodstained arrow on his bow, he let his eyes wander. But, he couldn’t spot any movement.

『Aah. For someone to come meet me so quickly after I woke up from my long slumber…』

Once again, he could hear a voice. It sounded hoarse, reminding him of an old grandmother. It was also the same voice which had called out to them when they had looked at the landscape outside the forest.

Believing that it couldn’t be true, Tigre looked up at the tree in front of him and asked with a tense voice, “Were you the one who spoke just now?”

『Indeed. I am Leshy』

It was the name of the forest fairy handed down in Zhcted’s folklore.

As expected, Tigre thought. Just as with Rusalka, these monsters appear to use the names of fairies.

“You were the one who turned the people, who entered the forest, into monsters, right?”

『The forest has always been like that since ancient times』, the tree shook its leaves, causing a somewhat sorrowful and lonely sound, 『In the forest those without power become food for others. Plants are food for animals. Weak animals are food for strong animals. The remnants of their corpses become food for the soil and plants. And thus it’s also correct for me to use humans as food』

Leshy replied in a dispassionate manner, as if explaining something very logical. This demon was preying on humans as means of survival. Just like some plants would lure bugs into their traps.

But, Tigre couldn’t forget the anger and repulsion he had felt when he saw the people dominated by vines. He judged that any further talk would be unnecessary.

“In that case, I have no choice but to defeat you.”

At that moment, the old woman’s face on the tree’s surface twisted into an eerie smile. Several of the holes pulsated, as if they were alive, all branches shook up and down, and the twisted trunk trembled in delight. Laughter matching the grinding of wood against wood shrill echoed throughout the forest.

『Give it your best shot. You may become food for me, just like the master of the Sword――that Vanadis』

The tree’s calm presence up until now disappeared, only leaving a brutal demon behind. Tigre swiftly jumped back, opening up some distance to Leshy.

At that moment Tigre noticed something hanging down for the tip of a branch very high up on the demon’s large frame. Straining his eyes, Tigre cried out as soon as he realized what it was.

“Elen…!”

Elen’s naked body was restrained by many vines. She was limply resting in the vine embrace, her eyes closed. Apparently unconscious. Arifar was clasped in her hand, but as the viralt couldn’t exhibit its power in this state, it was silent while having lost all its gleam.

“Elen! It’s me! Tigre!”

Tigre fervently called out to her, but she showed no signs of waking. He guess she had fainted due to Leshy.

Suddenly the vines restraining Elen shone in a suspicious violet. As if savoring her smooth skin, they crawled all over her body, stroking and softly pressing it. Elen’s face twisted in anguish and gasps escaped her mouth. The demon shook its big frame happily.

『The vitality of a virgin is truly delicious. And especially so, when it comes to a Vanadis』

Just as Leshy said so, a green fruit, which had been hanging down from a branch, suddenly expanded dramatically. Maybe unable to endure its own weight any longer, it fell down to the ground. Green liquid scattered alongside a loud splashing sound while it cracked open in two.

Thinking that a child monster would come out like earlier, Tigre put himself on guard. He intended to not be surprised by whatever came out from there.

However, seeing the thing appearing from within, Tigre stood stock still with a dumbfounded expression. A stark naked Elen was crouching over there while smeared all over with a green, sticky liquid.

Tigre looked back up, just to see that Elen with Arifar in her hand still hung from Leshy.

――Ah, now I get it…

Tigre groaned. This was the true identity of the Elen fake. This demon was able to create such fakes while sucking Elen’s vitality out. Probably because it had just been created, the Elen fake sat won with drowsy eyes, not moving fro her spot. Once Tigre looked around her, he could only spot two things that seemed to be the remains of green fruits.

『I guess I will catch you and make a fake of you in the same way. Just as I will do with the lost owner of the Spear』

Leshy roared in laughter. Using branches as thick as a human torso like a whip, Leshy assaulted Tigre with all of them at once.

Tigre jumped and avoided the onslaught by rolling across the ground. The branches buzzed as they cut through the air, and the ones striking the ground gouged out big chunks of soil and dirt. Tigre knew all bones in his body would shatter, if he was hit by one of those.

As he raised his body, his ears picked up an abnormal noise. Once he inclined his head by pure intuition, something grazed past his cheek. He perceived it to be a small nut.

‘Very likely, it fired nuts at me from the holes. At a speed so fat that I wouldn’t have been in time if I reacted after seeing them.

He drew his bowstring and released the arrow. The projectile flew straight ahead, but was quickly slapped down by a root that rose from the ground.

『Only this level of power? You are vastly inferior to the owner of the Sword as food』

Leshy swept big branches left and right. Many leaves turned into sharp blades, raining down on Tigre.

As for Tigre, he couldn’t do much more than evading by tumbling across the ground or jumping. And yet, he was unable to dodge all of it, suffering several wounds on his shoulders, arms, and legs.

Smeared with dirt and grasses, Tigre glared at Leshy.

――Only running won’t solve anything. I must counterattack. But, even though Mila isn’t here…

Thinking up to that point, Tigre suddenly stared at Leshy. Or to be precise, at Elen who was being held by Leshy.

――There’s still Arifar around.

Elen’s viral which was endowed with the power of wind.

Swallowing hard, he wondered whether his idea just now would be possible to implement.

――Now’s not the time to waver. I must rescue Elen from that demon.

Tigre took some distance from Leshy, lied down on his belly, and tightly clasped his bow. Closing his eyes, he called out to Elen’s viralt.

――Arifar, can you hear me? You and I probably only share a relationship of having seen each other once. There’s no reason for you to answer my calls. But, please. Please listen to what I have to say…to my plea.

――I want to save Elen. I consider her a precious friend. Lavias is Mila’s partner, Ezandis is Militsa’s partner, and you should be Elen’s partner. Your desire to rescue Elen should be equal, no, even stronger than mine. You might be unwilling to lend your power to an acquaintance like me. You might have your own style. Even so, please lend your power to me and this bow.

Tigre called out to Arifar as if begging.

Suddenly a wind gently stroked Tigre’s wind. Next, his dull red hair was ruffled up. Tigre opened his eyes in surprise.

Arifar’s blade glowed faintly in Elen’s hand. And Tigre felt how 『Power』 was being transferred into his bow.

He took an arrow out of his quiver and nocked it on the bowstring. While being enveloped in wind, a white light dwelt in the arrowhead.

『Aah――』, Leshy raised its voice in admiration, 『So you can use it? But, it’s still unskilled…』

“As if I give a damn about your evaluation.”

Tigre drew the bow to the limit. Meanwhile the wind swirling around Tigre in a vortex didn’t allow any of the pollen scattered by Leshy to reach Tigre.

“I will have you give Elen back to me.”

†

The battle between Mila and the Elen impostor was still continuing. Their spear and sword crossed many times over while both changed positions at a dizzying speed, exchanging a flurry of thrusts and slashes.

Mila’s spear grazed her enemy’s arm while her opponent’s longsword lightly cut into her shoulder.

Blue and silver hair fluttered chaotically as one metallic clank drowned out the other.

Looking from the sidelines, both might seem to be even. But, Mila was reading most of the fake Elen’s attacks at this point. If this had been the real Elen, she’d have varied her attack patterns a lot more, Mila knew.

――In the end it’s just an imitation.

Mila warded the blade, approaching her neck, off with Lavias’s handle. After snapping her wrist, she cut off the enemy’s lower arm――the part underneath the elbow――with the spearhead. What made her knit her brows, however, was the sensation transmitted to her through the spear. It didn’t feel like she was cutting through flesh, but more like chopping through hard wood.

Elen’s left arm whirled through the air while losing small fragments on the way. That, which fell to the ground ahead of Mila’s eyes, lost its color, changed its form, and transformed into a cracked wooden branch.

――No, that’s wrong. It didn’t change. It simply returned to its original form.

Mila perceived.

In spite of having lost an army, Elen’s expression didn’t change at all. She stood there calmly as if nothing had happened just now. But, the tree next to her suddenly started to wriggle and one of its branches extended right next to Elen. Elen cut off the tip of that branch and pressed it against her left arm. At once, the branch winded like a living being and coiled itself around the arm.

After expanding, contracting, and transforming, it took the shape of a lower arm.

“That means crushing an arm or two is meaningless, huh?”

Mila revealed a confident smile while her forehead was covered by a sheen of sweat.

“Next I will cut you apart into very small pieces.”

Elen pointed the tip of her longsword at Mila without answering. As if that was the signal, the surrounding trees stirred. Branches and roots attacked Mila like living tentacles.

Mila had no choice but to withdraw against her will. While falling back, she brandished her spear and smashed several of the branches. But, one of them slipped through and coiled itself around Mila’s left ankle.

She was lifted up with a terrifying force, resulting in her hanging upside down. Countless branches swarmed towards her who had her freedom robbed.

“――Ice Flower Riovet!”

A white chill was radially released from Lavias’s tip. The branches trying to attack Mila were frozen altogether and shattered silently. As the ice fragments hung in the air, Elen came attacking Mila. Mila barely managed to repel the approaching slash.

But, Elen leaped from branch to branch, landing on the one binding Mila’s leg. Her ruby eyes, which were oozing maliciousness, lorded over Mila.

Mila glared back at her, but it was quite difficult to do with her disadvantageous posture.

And just when Elen raised her sword overhead…

“Lady Ludmila!”

Lim threw the torch, which she had been holding in her right hand, from further away. The torch whirled around, before hitting Elen’s back. She didn’t go up in flames, but apparently surprised by this attack, Elen stopped moving for an instant. And Mila didn’t overlook that opening.

While holding the spear’s handle under her arm, Mila thrust her spear at Elen. Lavias answered its master’s will and extended the handle, making it twice as long. The spearhead, as sharp as a shaved ice block, drilled through Elen’s face.

Elen staggered while covering her face with a hand, but Mila gasped as well. Nothing like blood spurted out of Elen’s crooked, whittled face. Instead, something like bark became visible at the cross-section.

Mila swiftly pulled her spear back while cutting apart the branch holding her ankle. First she felt like floating, followed by gravity taking the reign of her body and pulling her towards the ground. Mila changed her posture mid flight, allowing her to somehow manage a safe landing. Lim, Raphinaque, and Galyinin rushed over to her.

“Are you safe, Milady?”

“Somewhat. Thanks to you, I was saved,” Mila answered Lim with a smile while getting her breathing in order.

When she looked back up, Elen was just about to disappear behind a tree while running on top of a branch. In her mind Mila cursed, ‘She’s just like a monkey.’

“It looks like the enemy is planning something.”

With a tense expression, Galyinin looked back. Masses of monsters, which they had earlier slain, were now laying there. And there was no sign of new enemies appearing from deeper inside the forest.

Mila silently looked in the direction Elen disappeared to. At that moment she saw something moving deeper inside the forest. She strained her eyes. But, as soon as she realized what was moving there, Mila reflexively widened her eyes.

It was a gigantic wolf formed out of hundreds of branches and vines bundling up. While having a size that didn’t lose out to the war elephants Mila had seen in Muozinel, this monster was weaving its way through the trees at a frightening pace, heading their way.

Its soundless, nimble movements were truly those of a wolf. Mila and the others couldn’t help but to shudder.

Its muzzle was big enough to swallow a human whole.

――It’s coming!

Sensing the danger, the four threw themselves on the ground. At the same time, the wolf accelerated with a terrifying force. The wind howled, the trees stirred, and countless leaves fell down. Then it passed the space where Mila and the others had stood just an instant ago and vanished inside the forest. All that was left was the sound of the wind making the leaves rustle.

“Did…you see that…?” Mila asked while getting back up and looking in the direction of the wolf’s disappearance.

“You mean Lady Vanadis’s impostor, right?”

Galyinin’s face was frozen from tension and slight fear. Just like his mistress, he hadn’t missed the fake Elen riding on the wolf’s back. If they tried to face the wolf without a plan, Elen would have assaulted them from above.

――What should we do?

Once again the wolf leaped at them from inside the forest. Mila planted herself in front of the other three and readied Lavias at once.

In the next instant, she was attacked by a violent impact, followed by her body dancing through the air. Her visual field went in circles and then her back impacted on the ground. Yet, without stopping the momentum from that, she rolled across the ground.

――For it to send me flying like that despite Lavias’s protection…!

Not only the two hands holding the spear, all of her body felt slightly numb. Mila immediately reconsidered things. Because she had Lavias, the blow remained limited to such an effect. But, if she had held an ordinary spear in her hands, the weapon would have been shattered and she herself would have likely ended up inside the wolf’s muzzle.

Borrowing Galyinin’s shoulder, Mila somehow managed to stand up. The four huddled up behind a tree.

“What about the monster?”

“I do not know. It immediately disappeared amidst the trees, so…,” answered the elderly knight while looking vexed.

Mila scanned the vicinity with an annoyed expression. It meant the wolf could attack them from anywhere while lurking behind the big trees.

“It doesn’t look like fire is going to work against that wolf either.”

Raphinaque cursed. The torch in his hand had been blown away when they suffered the wolf’s charging attack. You could say that it was a blessing that he still had his arm.

Mila brooded.

That wolf is different from the monsters so far. Not only its size and ferociousness pose a problem, but the part making it a pain above all is its abnormal speed. Since it’s been moving in straight lines so far, I could barely read its trajectory, but I won’t be able to dodge if it comes up with more complex movement patterns.

――I can’t capture it with my veda. Even if I make the ground freeze over with 『Silent WorldEisberg』, it probably won’t feel any pain. Going by its movements, I have no choice but to try to attack it while jumping from branch to branch.

But, not an ounce of fighting spirit had diminished from Mila’s blue eyes. Without even trying to wipe the mud out of her face, she sought for the presence lurking beyond the trees.

At that point, the wolf attacked a third time. Mila was blown away with Lavias set up due to the fierceness similar to a storm passing by in front of her. However, this time she had been more than wary and on her guard. After fixing her posture in midair, she landed safely.

“You three, come over here.”

With her hair a mess, Mila beckoned the other three over, a light gleaming in her eyes. When she whispered to them the tactic of how to defeat the monster, the three nodded, despite the nervousness written on their faces.

The three positioned themselves three steps away from Mila, readying their weapons and torches. Mila calmed her breathing and lifted Lavias vertically.

“――Silent WorldEisberg!”

Cold air gushed out of her viralt’s tip, freezing the ground around her. Of course, Galyinin, Raphinaque, and Lim were excluded from that.

Mila closed her eyes and focused her mind so as to not miss even the faintest rustling of grass.

The wolf monster walked as if sliding, moving without touching the trees. But, there was no way for it to hide the air flow. The faster it moved, the more violent the wind it was pulling along in its wake.

Mila’s ears picked up the howling of the wind, telling her that the wolf was coming at her from the front.

“Lavias!”

The ruby embedded in the spearhead of Lavias released a strong light. Freezing air surged forward from her feet like waves, forming a gigantic pillar of ice. That pillar was long and slender, as if emulating a sharp blade of ice. If the monster didn’t stop, it’d be cut in half by the glistening ice sword.

But, that didn’t happen.

Immediately before running into it, the wolf split apart into countless vines and branches, attacking Mila while cleverly evading the ice pillar. Moreover, using an abnormal speed.

Mila didn’t move a millimeter while staring at the approaching vines and branches. Her eyes were gleaming with cruelty.

“――Blizzard succeeding the CalmValumiterza!”

The ice pillar shattered into smithereens, scattering cold air. The ice fragments released a white glow as they swept over Mila’s surroundings. The swarm of vines and branches, which was about to attack her, had its movements sealed by the ice shards, froze over, and shattered apart.

Mila had created the pillar because she had even predicted how the monster would react.

Having been directly hit by a veda, the wolf’s big frame crumbled to the ground. The remaining branches and vines rapidly lost all colors and stopped moving. But, Mila also had to prop herself up with Lavias while panting hard. The fatigue from having used two veda in quick succession weighed on her.

Yet, the battle still wasn’t over. The fake Elen had jumped off the wolf’s back, brandished her sword, and slashed at Mila. It was a powerful attack, but it was blocked by Lim who had jumped between Mila and Elen.

“As I thought, the way she’s wielding her sword is the same as Lady Eleonora’s.”

Lim blocked or repelled the fierce onslaught three times. It was a feat she was capable of because she knew Elen’s swordplay quite well.

Then Galyinin and Raphinaque challenged Elen from behind. In response, something like a tree root grew out of Elen’s right flank. It instantly took the shape of an arm and parried Galyinin’s ax. Raphinaque’s slash, on the other hand, was brushed off by Elen’s left arm.

Lim’s blue eyes started to release a furious gleam due to that.

“Doing such things with Lady Eleonora’s appearance…!”

She had been holding her second hatchet with her left hand, lowered behind her hips. Now she raised it and stepped in boldly. Thanks to being covered by a blade of ice, her hatchet had basically transformed into a sword. Behind Lim, Mila had applied the frozen layer with Lavias.

Alongside a powerful yell, Lim slashed away at the fake Elen. She tried to block the attack, but Elen’s longsword shattered and the ice blade cut through her body from the right shoulder all the way to the left flank in one go. Moreover, the hatchet in Lim’s right hand smashed the fake Elen’s head.

The fake’s upper body part slid to the ground, followed by the lower body part crumbling as it had lost its balance.

In front of Mila and the others, what used to be Elen melted while foaming. All that was left in its wake was something like a nut with the size of a clenched fist.

“To give us so much trouble with something like this…,” Mila spat out unhappily.

She released cold air from Lavias, freezing and shattering the nut into small pieces for caution’s sake. Lim stomped down once on what had become frozen dust. It was the only thing she did to sooth her overflowing anger.

After breathing out lightly, Lim faced Mila, “――Lady Ludmilla, thank you very much.”

As soon as she finished saying that, her body powerlessly heeled over. Mila immediately caught her.

“Limalisha, what’s wrong?”

Mila’s breath was bated as she feared that the fake might have injured Lim fatally by some chance, but hearing a faint breathing from Lim’s mouth, Mila breathed out in deep relief. She assumed that the exhaustion had caught up with Lim, now that the fight in front of them had come to a close.

“Let us allow her to sleep a bit, at least until the next enemy shows up.”

Galyinin stepped forward and picked Lim up on his back. Raphinaque grabbed the elderly knight’s luggage in return.

And just as the three were about to set out like that, black miasma streamed out of the depth of the forest, starting to fill their surroundings. After making the other three stay close to her, Mila released cold air from Lavias. The chilly air formed a defensive layer, preventing the miasma from getting closer.

“Something troublesome is afoot once again, huh?”

“Good grief, it looks like I won’t have any nightmares for a while after this,” Raphinaque joked around.

However, his face was clearly dyed by worry. Guessing what was gnawing at his friend, Galyinin said with a calm face, “I’m sure Lord Tigrevurmud is doing just fine.”

“True. Tigre is quite capable of handling something of this level one way or another,” agreed Mila while smiling.

Her words also contained quite a bit of bluffing to ease her own anxiety, but her face and voice were brimming with trust and love towards Tigre.

Besides, the enemy trying to prevent us from taking action in such a way means Tigre hasn’t been defeated, right?

The miasma didn’t seem to have the power to penetrate through the wall of coldness, so the four started to carefully advance into the forest.

†

The duel to the death between Tigre and Leshy has been continuing deep inside the forest. Around the time when Mila’s party defeated the fake Elen, Tigre was nocking another arrow on his bow and firing it while running to the side.

The arrow with its tip clad in 『Power』 flew towards Leshy with a trail of white light and hit a knotty root swung by the demon. A dry crack filled the air, followed by the root’s tip exploding into smithereens.

But, Tigre’s arrow shattered, too.

――No matter how often I do this, it’s always the same…!

He had shot several arrows at Leshy after borrowing Arifar’s power. However, he never managed to make the demon falter or flinch.

Leshy brandished very long branches and roots, repelling Tigre’s arrows by shooting leaves and nuts like pebbles while simultaneously attacking without a break. Moreover, it scattered pollens filled with poison and manipulated flowers as well as plant vines, trying to hinder Tigre from moving. It was night impossible for him to get anywhere close.

No matter how many branches and roots he smashed, Leshy regenerated them right away. It also never ran out of leaves and nuts.

On the other hand, Tigre’s arrows were finite. Just like his stamina. Once he ran out of arrows and became unable to move, he’d obviously share the same fate as Elen.

――What should I do to rescue Elen?

He wracked his mind while dashing in-between the trees. If he didn’t stay on the move at all times, his leather boots would be entwined by the flowers and plant vines. Tigre was well aware that his breathing had become a mess. And although he knew it all too well, he expended quite a lot of stamina by firing arrows with 『Power』. In addition, the tension and fear of fighting a demon accelerated is exhaustion.

――The trees and plants are all under its control. Taking that demon by surprise under these circumstances…

He dodged a nut coming at him. And at that moment, his foot slipped. Just as he lost his balance, the root of a nearby towering tree attacked him.

Tigre’s body floated through the air alongside the feeling of an impact to his chest. Just when he felt like his visual field got filled with the azure sky, his back slammed on the ground. For an instant, he had problems breathing.

But, without even the time to groan in pain, he rolled across the ground while getting smeared with dirt. Roots and branches had ferociously slammed the place where he had fallen moments ago.

――I’ll stab at the unexpected.

While staring at the eerie tree with the old woman’s face, Tigre reached out for the quiver at his waist. Several of his arrows had been scattered on the ground when he fell down, but the quiver still contained several.

――Arifar, please lend me your strength for a bit longer.

He took off his overcoat, and drew three arrows from his quiver. Once he nocked them on his bow all at once, he charged their tips with 『Power』

『Do you believe your arrows will reach me by increasing their numbers?』

Under Leshy’s command, the trees’ branches and roots swooped down on Tigre. Tigre jumped towards a nearby tree, and kicking its trunk, he dodged the branches by jumping from tree to tree like an animal.

It was a movement he was able to pull off because he was clad in wind, in addition to his physical abilities which he had honed during his hunts.

Making his body rotate in the air, he lightly kicked a branch approaching from above, landed on another one, and dashed across it. He evaded the leaves and nuts by resolutely tilting his body. Even though he almost fell off the branch because of that, he avoided crashing down from having his feet tripped, kicked off the branch once again, and landed in a place further away.

During that short time, Tigre had almost halved the distance to Leshy. Of course, he hadn’t released a single arrow yet. The arrow tips were glowing white with the 『Power』.

――Not yet. It’s still not enough.

To put it in numbers, Tigre had closed in on the demon to a range of twenty alsin. He’d likely be able to accurately hit his target from here, even if he closed his eyes. But, Leshy would certainly avoid a direct hit by using its countless branches and roots.

Black miasma was blasted out of the many holes located on Leshy’s big frame. The miasma didn’t reach Tigre, but it hung over the area as smoke, blocking Tigre’s sight. Tigre stopped on the spot, as if uncertain how to proceed. It only lasted a moment, but it was more than enough time for Leshy to use it to its advantage.

Several branches and roots appeared from within the miasma. Tigre jumped to the side, barely managing to dodge Leshy’s attack, but he ended up firing his arrows into the air when he lost his balance. The three arrows flew off as if being towards the sky while leaving a trail of light in their wake.

However, Tigre immediately shifted to his next action. As if saying that he had no time to bemoan his fate. He swiftly drew out new arrows, nocked them on the bowstring, weaved his way through the branches and roots, and jumped over the miasma.

At that moment, Leshy swung down a conspicuously big branch. Its tip split into many smaller stands, moving like the hand of a giant. Leshy used that to grab Tigre’s body.

『As I thought, you’re still inexperienced. Did you think you’d be able to reach me?』

The elderly woman’s face distorted mysteriously. Even so, Tigre raised the corners of his mouth as if to respond to her scorn in kind. He dropped the arrow in his right hand and grabbed what was hanging at his waist.

Within the moment of a breath, Tigre’s body went ablaze. Or to be precise, Tigre’s coat was enveloped by flames. He had soaked it with oil and just now ignited it with a flint.

Even if it just lasted for a moment, Leshy was still surprised. It opened up the branch, allowing Tigre to land on the ground.

He swiftly picked up the arrow and nocked it on his bow. Then he drew the bowstring while his body continued to burn. As he poured 『Power』 into the arrow tip, it started to release a white light. The string trembled.

This time Tigre’s arrow seemed to have penetrated Leshy for sure. However, the demon had managed to barely react in time. It had used the fake Elen, which it had just recently produced, as a shield, and moreover expanded a defensive barrier consisting of root and branch layers.

Now wood splinters were scattering into the vicinity.

『That was dangerous…!』

Leshy revealed a triumphant smile. But, the same applied to Tigre too. He tore apart and tossed away the still burning tunic, and started to run towards the demon without even drawing another arrow. His eyes were fiercely gleaming.

It was only then that Leshy noticed the abnormality, but it was already too late. Three straight flashes came flying from above, smashing through the upper part of Leshy’s big frame.

The eerie tree groaned, its body faltering.

What had injured Leshy were the three 『Power』-infused arrows which Tigre had shot into the sky earlier. Those arrows, which were enveloped by Arifar’s power, had adjusted their angle by manipulating the wind high up in the sky where Leshy wouldn’t see them, and came back down while targeting the demon. All of Tigre’s actions after shooting them were aimed at drawing Leshy’s attention to himself.

Among the three arrows, two pulverized the branches which were restraining Elen. Arifar slipped out of Elen’s hand and the silver-haired Vanadis fell straight to the ground.

However, she never crashed onto the ground. Tigre had run up and caught her in both his arms. And using the momentum, he took a large distance from Leshy. Then he grinned at the demon while panting.

“I got you to give Elen back to me!”

That outcry apparently woke her sleeping consciousness as she started to stir within his arms. In the next moments she vacantly opened her eyes. Her ruby eyes trembled in confusion as her visual field was filled with the youth’s face. Her glossy lips moved before a hoarse voice escaped them.

“You’re…”

“You woke――”

He faced her with a smile, just to swallow the remainder of his sentence. Elen was currently stark naked, meaning her white, smooth skin, her two boobs which were somewhat bigger than Mila’s but still of a fine shape, the somewhat redder nipples which were pointed upwards, her gently-sloping abdomen, her crotch, her tight thighs, and everything else was clearly exposed in front of him.

Their eyes met, just for both to blush at once. However, this awkward curtain of silence between those two lasted at most two breaths. That’s because Leshy’s branches and roots attacked them fiercely.

“What is this? What’s going on here…?”

“I’ll tell you later!”

Tigre ran away to the best of his ability. But, in addition to him being fairly exhausted, his legs creaked under the strain of having to also carry Elen. His breathing immediately started to become painful, and he reluctantly stopped at the place where he had flung off his overcoat. He lowered Elen to the ground and pressed his coat into her hands.

Then he turned around, facing the pursuing roots and branches while drawing a new arrow. The arm holding his black bow was faintly trembling. And although he managed to nock the arrow, it took him longer than usual to find his aim. As he wondered whether he’d be in time, his nervousness turned into sweat, which ran down his face.

It was at this moment that Elen, who had quickly put over the overcoat, planted herself next to him. She raised her right hand while holding down the coat with her left hand.

“――Arifar!”

A fain, rainbow-colored light was born inside her right hand. That light immediately stretched vertically, taking the shape of a sword. As soon as the light disappeared, Elen was clasping the longsword, which was supposed to have fallen at the root of the demon. The viralt had leaped through space, answering the call of its mistress.

Elen brandished the longsword with a yell, chopping apart the roots and branches approaching the two. The Vanadis glared at the demon with a resolute expression. But, suddenly she staggered heavily.

At once Tigre supported her from the side.

“You shouldn’t push yourself so much! You’ve been unconscious just a little while ago.”

Elen looked up to Tigre and showed him a sweet smile, before putting her left arm around his waist.

“Hold on tightly.”

Faster than he could ask her anything, Elen raised her longsword.

“――Wind ShadowVelni!”

A wind in the shape of a globe started to whirl around Elen and Tigre. Their bodies rose slightly from the ground, and as if being birds who were soaring through the air, both plunged into the forest while skillfully weaving their way past the trees.

“I do understand that you’ve rescued me from that monster, but――” Elen said while looking straight at Tigre, “――I don’t get what happened at all. Give me a brief explanation.”

“I heard that you entered but didn’t leave this forest!”

Tigre frantically clung to Elen so as to not fall off. His voice ended up much louder than usual because he was surprised by his first experience of flying.

“Mila, I, and our friends entered the forest to save you! Lady Limalisha is with us as well!”

‘The other stuff can wait until we leave the forest. We don’t have any time right now.

“I see.”

A smile appeared on Elen’s face and fighting spirit raged within her ruby eyes.

“Tigre, I can count on you, right?”

Tigre’s eyes widened due to her powerful voice and her gleaming eyes. He was convinced that she wasn’t bluffing. She seriously intended to fight that demon.

A smile formed on his lips, “I had planned to somehow manage it by myself while letting you get some rest.”

“It’s sully my name as Vanadis to be pampered to such an extent. I also don’t like the idea that it’d allow Ludmilla to act all high and mighty with me. ――Let’s go.”

Upon her final sentence, Tigre shifted his eyes. His face was filled with surprise. He could see Leshy a few hundred meters ahead of them. Yet they had supposedly run away with the demon in their backs.

However, Tigre immediately regained his composure. If it was this demon, who would make anyone entering the forest getting completely lost, this much wasn’t anything worth of mention, he guessed.

Elen dropped her speed and the two safely landed on the ground.

“Thanks. I was able to alleviate some of my exhaustion because of you.”

Tigre reached for his quiver while thanking Elen. He still had five arrows left.

Elen shouldered her longsword while walking towards Leshy with a casual gait. With around a dozen steps left between them and the demon, Tigre and Elen squared off against the eerie tree.

†

“―――What are you?”

Elen asked while staring at Leshy. Violent fury was raging inside her ruby eyes.

“What is your goal? Why did you restrain me instead of killing me? There’s a lot more I want to hear from too.”

Wind whirled around her and Arifar’s blade shone bluish-white. The wind became stronger with each passing moment as it coiled itself around the longsword. Stirred by this strong gale, Elen’s silver hear was spread widely.

“Do you have any intention to talk?”

That question was proof of Elen still retaining some of her composure. If she had given her emotions free reign, she wouldn’t even try to converse with this demon.

『Let’s see. I guess I can spare telling you one thing』, Leshy released a laughter that resembled wood grating against wood while making its holes pulsate, 『The army of a certain country is attacking your territory. They’re freely and thoroughly devastating your homeland』

“What was that…?”

Surprise colored Elen’s eyes. She tried to continue with, ‘are you attempting to agitate me by saying some half-assed nonsense?’, but faster than she could, the eerie tree’s mumbled laughter could be heard.

『You don’t need to believe me if you don’t want to. You’re going to become my nourishment again either way. I’ll make you feel good right away so you don’t need preoccupy yourself with what is going on outside the forest』

The branches and roots extending from the demon’s big frame, and the leaves as well as nuts growing on those branches attacked Elen. But all of them were smashed, torn to shreds, and scattered before they could reach her. The wind blowing around Elen converged on Arifar, turning into a small storm that was releasing a bluish-white gleam.

Tigre stood right behind Elen, but he couldn’t even begin to hope aiming an arrow with the strong gusts of wind. He had no choice but to simply watch her.

“Tigre, I’m going to show you something nice.”

As soon as she finished saying this, Elen kicked off the ground. The longsword in her hand was clad by an extremely compressed storm and had transformed into a storm blade which possessed a thickness and size that was several times bigger than the sword’s usual blade.

“――Tear the atmosphere apartLey Adomos !”

Flashes of light, blasts, and thunderous roars were repeatedly discharged. As if a storm had been released. Pregnant with plenty of earth and wood fragments, the wind furiously raged across the ground, even dragging the surrounding trees into its madness and knocking them over. Tigre retreated while taken aback. All he could do was make sure to not fall over.

――This is Elen’s Veda…!?

Blinking his eyes in wonder, Tigre stared at Elen’s back. He couldn’t form any words out of pure shock.

Leshy’s huge frame was riddled with huge holes and its upper part had been mostly blown away, now rolling around a few alsin away. The surrounding ground was deeply gouged out, exposing the roots buried deep underground.

Even after the wind subsided, Leshy didn’t move. Its branches and roots showed no sign of life.

The demon has been vanquished.

That was the impression triggered by the current spectacle, but Tigre and Elen braced their expressions in tension. Elen didn’t look away from the remains of the huge tree for even a breath while taking a few steps backwards. Tigre also readied his black bow, scanning their flanks without showing any negligence.

“Elen, that thing is very likely still alive.”

“Yeah. It appears to be bad at playing dead.”

Tigre’s experience and Elen’s intuition told them that Leshy was still alive. And sure enough, Leshy’s body, which had become an ugly stump, started to tremble ever so slightly.

『It’s not like I’m pretending to be dead…』, its hoarse voice resounded.

Accompanied by dry cracking, the stump split in two. Several pitch-black roots appeared from there. Tigre and Elen’s faces froze due to the presence which was so sinister that it couldn’t even be compared to before.

『It’s been quite a while since I last took this form. It just took a bit of time』

The black roots formed a beast while entwining with each other in a complex way. Its four legs powerfully stepped down. A round torso was completed on top of those, and from the part seeming to be the face, two thick fangs extended.Grey fur could be seen in the gaps between the roots, covering most of its body. Just the fur around its head was long as if imitating hair.

It was a boar. A black boar, so huge that you could mistake it for an elephant, lorded over Tigre and Elen.

The two sockets, where its eyes were supposed to be, were both hollow and a darkness, which was even blacker than its body, peeked out from there. Its back was covered by green, almost black, vine and several branches grew out from in between the vines. It was as if fear had taken a form.

“What’s…this…?”

Elen muttered with her eyes wide open in shock. She was overwhelmed by Leshy’s appearance.

“That thing is our enemy,” Tigre spat out so as to encourage her and persuade himself. “An enemy we must take down.”

Tigre’s calm voice allowed Elen to regain her composure. She adjusted her hold on Arifar and nodded lightly.

Leshy roared madly while releasing black miasma. A sudden gust burst out, and the surrounding trees screamed. Tigre and Elen did hold their ground, but they had to muster their courage anew so as to not be crushed by the demon’s pressure.

Leshy kicked the ground. Or rather, it’d be more accurate to say it gouged out the surface. The demon fiercely charged towards Tigre and Elen.

Tigre pulled Elen’s hand, jumping to the side. Immediately following he was blown away by the storm, Leshy had unleashed towards the location were had fallen.

Sitting up, Tigre was speechless in light of the scenery in front of him. All the trees in the direction of Leshy’s charge were knocked over. Moreover, all other vegetation was gone. If they had taken it on directly, nothing but chunks of meat would have likely been left of Tigre and Elen.

“That thing sure does some crazy things to its own den…,” Elen muttered, looking appalled.

Then again, she didn’t have much leeway to be very expressive anyway.

With a rough nasal breathing, Leshy charged once again.

“――Wind ShadowVelni!”

This time Elen carried Tigre, using her veda to escape into the sky. Leshy stopped dashing and looked up to the two. A huge number of small, red objects appeared on its back.

Flowers.

As soon as the flowers, as crimson as blood, bloomed all at once, they detached from Lshy’s back and floated up towards the sky. Each of the flowers had a fang-laden maul. Their petals were flapping like wings, heading for the two.

Elen caused a wind by brandishing Arifar, scattering the swarm of flowers. But, their numbers were just too high. Moreover, whenever one of them got shredded apart, it fell to the ground while releasing pollen. Elen circled in the air while being hard-pressed to deal with all the red flowers.

“On your side, Elen!”

Tigre yelled while clinging to her waist. Elen swung her sword in the direction before even checking what was there. Something hard and small was shattered by Arifar’s blade.

It was a nut.

Leshy had drawn Elen’s attention with the flowers, using the opportunity to send many nuts her way. They tore through the atmosphere like a hail of pebbles.

“We won’t ever be able to get close to that thing at this rate…!”

Elen cursed while warding off or swiping away the nuts. Meanwhile, new flowers were constantly produced on the demon’s back. Those flowers flew up in succession just as several nuts flew around at high speed while drawing arcs.

Just dodging that was already all Elen could do.

“Elen, could you let me handle that thing?”

Tigre requested while looking down on the demon. He still had arrows left in his quiver. And although Elen looked doubtful, she quickly agreed to it.

This youth saved me after I was captured by that demon. He’s someone I should trust.

The two changed their postures midair while dodging the flowers and nuts. Elen clung to Tigre’s back, her left arm put around his neck. He felt a bit like being choked, but it allowed him to use his arms again.

Leaving the evasion to Elen, he nocked an arrow onto his black bow. The wind, clad with blue light, streamed from Arifar’s blade to Tigre’s arrowhead. Elen widened her eyes as she watched this.

“What’s…that…!?”

Tigre didn’t answer. He had to focus his mind in order to target properly. Naturally he had never experienced something like shooting an arrow while flying through the sky at such a high speed that it seemed as if he was being flung around. Since he had nothing to use as support for his body, he needed more concentration and time than usual as he couldn’t stabilize his posture well.

Any average archer would have likely lost their arrows and bow. But, thanks to Tigre’s trained eyes, he could calculate his body’s shaking into his aiming as he drew the string of his bow.

The arrow flew towards Leshy at an astonishing speed while drawing a curve of blue light in the sky. It seemed as if it would hit Leshy straight between its eyes.

But, the demon raised a thick, sharp fang, blocking Tigre’s arrow.

Leshy was still standing strong after the arrow dispersed in a dazzling flash of light and a thunderous roar. The fang was just slightly cracked.

Leshy shook its huge body while howling.

At that instant, the swarm of nuts and flowers, which were approaching Tigre and Elen, exploded as they got caught in the shockwave. Elen also lost her balance due to the sudden assault, and both quickly fell towards the ground. Both slid across the ground while glue to each other.

Although they avoided crashing into something, they were now smeared in soil and grasses from head to toes.

“Sorry, I was careless.”

When Elen apologized while getting her breathing in order, Tigre shook his head, glaring at Leshy, “Who could have anticipated something like that anyway? Rather than that――”

We won’t get away from its charges, Tigre was about to say, but swallowed the words down. Several vines had appeared from the ground, coiling themselves around their arms and legs. The vines were the same as the ones growing out of the eyes and mouths of this forest’s victims.

The vines, which possessed astonishing strength, tried to pull the two of them underground. Moreover, several of them approached their faces, apparently trying to enter the bodies of Tigre and Elen.

“――Arifar!” Elen yelled.

The blade of the longsword shone white and the space around them was engulfed by a wind. The wind cut the vines apart with its invisible blades. But, this didn’t even grant the two a moment to get a breath.

Leshy charged at them like a mad bull, whirling up dust and soil in its wake. Elen gritted her teeth while still lying on the ground and held up her longsword. Arifar grasped her will and formed a wind blade in the shape of a spiral, drawing the surrounding atmosphere to itself.

“――Tear through the AtmosphereLey Adomos!”

However, her deadly vida, which possessed an abnormally destructive power, wasn’t released in Leshy’s direction. Instead, it burst the ground in front of the demon open, creating a huge hole.

If Leshy were to keep rushing straight ahead, it would fall into that hole and fall down with quite a force. But, Leshy powerfully stepped down right in front of the hole and jumped. Just like a wild boar.

And Elen was looking for just this reaction. The silver-haired Vanadis grabbed Tigre’s hand and jumped up with the power of the wind while dragging him across the ground for the most part. In the next moment, she landed in the hole she had created herself.

Meanwhile Leshy landed on the other side of the hole.

Even so, Elen didn’t stop while being inside the hole either. She clad herself in wind thanks to Arifar’s power and leaped towards a nearby tree with Tigre in tow. And then she kept jumping from tree to tree, getting further and further away from Leshy.

“Are you okay, Tigre?”

“Yeah, I’m still hanging on somehow…,” Tigre responded with a face that was colored by deep exhaustion while clinging to Elen.

However, not a shred of despair or resignation dwelt inside his eyes. Elen, who had checked Tigre’s state by inclining her head slightly, smiled in relief.

“That’s all that matters. But, what should we do? I can’t find a way to get through this.”

Even if they tried to run away, they’d still end up in front of Leshy. As long as they were in the forest, it would sense their presence. And if they jumped into the air, they’d be attacked by flowers and nuts. They were cornered on all fronts.

“Elen, can you somehow draw that thing’s attention?”

Tigre asked when his breathing had finally calmed down.

Elen furrowed her eyebrows, “What do you plan to do?”

“I’ll hit it with an arrow for sure this time.”

Tigre briefly explained what had happened when he had saved Elen while she was constrained by Leshy.

“I can’t believe that my arrows don’t work on it. Earlier it blocked my arrow with its fangs, but if the arrow had hit it properly, it would have injured it.”

“I see…”

While continuing to jump from one tree to another, Elen’s face showed her pondering. She had seen the dreadfulness of Tigre’s arrows with her own eyes.

My own vida might be effective against demons, but there’s a clear difference in range.

“I don’t mind betting on you, but…,” Elen continued with a troubled expression, “it’s going to be difficult to draw that thing’s attention. Right now, it’s probably wary of the sky as well…no, wait.”

As if having realized something, Elen took a good look at Tigre’s face and then his body. She changed her posture a bit, brought her face close, and asked in a small voice, “You said you burned your clothes in order to take the demon by surprise, didn’t you? How did you do that?”

While bewildered by her sudden question, Tigre whispered that he had used a flint and oil. A bright gleam appeared in Elen’s ruby eyes.

“Where is the flint?”

“It’s around the area where Leshy had been while in its tree form. I left it lying on the ground over there.”

“Great, let’s go pick it up since that’s the solution.”

Elen changed her direction while smiling happily. She headed towards her destination while fleeing from Leshy.

Confused as he couldn’t fathom her aim, Tigre asked, “What do you plan to do?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to use fire,” Elen immediately answered with a crisp tone.

The smile on her face was full of mixed feelings, though.

“It’s something Sasha…my best friend taught me. She told me that my wind could strengthen and weaken flames.”

Thanks to that name, which was likely a pet name, Tigre had a clue who she might have meant. Alexandra Alshavin, the Vanadis governing the Legnicia Principality. Mila and Sofy were close to her as well, but he had heard from Sofy that she shared an especially close relationship with Elen. Almost as if they were vowed to each other.

Either way, hearing those words, Tigre finally understood Elen’s thinking.

“I’m going to burn down this whole, annoying place.”

†

Leshy stood stock still, dumbfounded by the whole forest burning.

As soon as Tigre and Elen succeeded in finding the flint, they set a nearby tree on fire. Starting with the easily-flammable leaves, the surrounding grasses were affected as well, before the flames spread to the trunk and branches.

Sensing this, Leshy tried to prevent the fire from propagating by manipulating branches and roots, but the fire was way too fast. Reluctantly the demon headed over to the tree, which was already burning, and knocked down all the trees around it, trying to stop the fire from spreading.

But, at that point, Elen and Tigre had already moved on to another tree and set that one on fire. No matter how many trees he mowed down to extinguish the fires afterwards, Tigre and Elen would simply set another tree ablaze. They didn’t care about the flames spreading. Especially given that the heat and black smoke didn’t reach them.

Because they were jumping from one tree to another, their path didn’t get blocked by flames either.

Meanwhile Leshy had completely fallen behind. Abandoning the idea of catching Tigre and Elen, Leshy reconsidered its options.

At any rate, I have to focus on manipulating the trees in order to prevent the fire from spreading. As long as those two don’t leave my domain, they’ll show up in front of me again, sooner or later. Or rather, they won’t have any choice but to appear again. After all, they won’t be able to defeat me with this little fire of theirs. Rather, I’ll be able to take down those two who will be exhausted from jumping around between the trees while suppressing the flames around them with wind.

A little while later, around the time when the flames started to affect the trees around Leshy, Tigre and Elen appeared in front of Leshy once more. Both were smeared with soil and mud, their hair was a mess, and they had wounds all over their bodies, but fighting spirit still blazed in their eyes.

『You sure took a drastic course of action』

“How about being honest and admitting that you’re vexed, if you’re frustrated?”

Elen wore a scornful smile while shouldering her longsword.

『No』, Leshy answered, 『I just changed my form temporarily. The fire will vanish eventually. The grasses and trees, which have been turned into ashes and charcoal, will blend with the soil, becoming nutrients for the surviving plants. The forest won’t die. It won’t perish for sure. And I will regain my proper form too』

“Even if this might apply to this forest, it doesn’t include you,” said Tigre

He drew his bow’s string with an arrow nocked into it.

“We will destroy you.”

Leshy made its body shake, roaring loudly. Countless flowers on its back released nuts. The nuts fiercely assaulted Tigre and Elen. Moreover, dozens of pant vines grew out of the ground.

“――Arifar.”

Almost at the same time, Elen hoisted her sword up in the air. A violent wind formed with her in the center. Arifar’s blade drew the surrounding atmosphere, alongside the flames, towards itself like the eye of a storm. Clad in flames which were swirling around the blade in a spiral, Arifar’s blade now had become more than twice as long as usual.

The following slash, which caused a fiery wind full of sparks, burned the flowers, nuts, and vines to cinders. Not a single one of them reached Elen.

Leshy got ready to charge again, and kicked off the ground with its hind feet. Elen gritted her teeth while forcing her exhausted body into motion, put power into both her legs, and turned over her wrist while gazing at the demon.

“――Tear through the AtmosphereLey Adomos!”

A blade of wind and fire, which possessed an abnormal thickness and size, tore through the ground. The flames engulfing the longsword turned into a fiery tsunami of hell fire, ferociously swooping down on Leshy.

The demon repelled the flames by spitting miasma out of its mouth, even while groaning in agony. But, in the end Leshy was overwhelmed by the flames. Its legs lost their strength and its body lost its balance, resulting in Leshy’s huge frame tilting and toppling over. A dense cloud of dirt and soil shot up in the air, accompanied by a tremor so loud that it seemed to split one’s eardrums.

The tip of Tigre’s arrow contained plenty of 『Power』 at this point as visible from its dazzling gleaming. The instant he was about to fire it, Leshy put up a desperate resistance. It manipulated one of the nuts, which had barely kept its shape after getting burned by Elen’s conflagration, and shot it towards Tigre from point-blank range.

The damaged nut didn’t do much damage to Tigre. At most it wounded his forehead. But, the blood coming out of that wound entered both his eyes.

Tigre stopped his shooting motion. If his target had been a beast, he likely wouldn’t have hesitated. After all, his prey was at a distance where his arrow wouldn’t miss. But, his current target was a forest demon with various abilities. This weak unrest caused Tigre to be unsure of himself.

“It’s fine.”

He could hear Elen’s warm, assuring voice from right next to him.

“I will guide you. You just need to release the arrow.”

Her words smoothly dripped into his heart like a charm. All his hesitation vanished like a fleeting dream.

The arrow left the bow string, drawing a shining trajectory in the air.

Leshy lifted its neck and raised its fangs, but the arrow drew an arc and embedded itself in the demon’s forehead. A flash of light burst forth and in the next instant the entire area was bathed by white light.

『Marvelous…absolutely marvelous…!』

Leshy’s empty eye sockets warped as the demon gave its praise. Its words were filled with the conviction of its own demise.

『Ah…ah…how delightful』

Words of joy gushed out of its dying body.

『Becoming nutrients…I will be come nutrients… Of a little sprout that will eventually grow into a huge tree. How pleasant…』

The huge frame of the demonic boar rapidly lost its color, decaying away. Just like an old tree which had gone through many years after its withering, its body’s surface came off and fell to the ground. The pointy ends of its fangs, the tip of its nose, its hooves and tail all soundlessly crumbled apart. The remaining head and round torso transformed into lumps of earth, before breaking into fragments which were carried away by the wind.

While roughly wiping the blood out of his eyes, Tigre silently watched the spectacle of the demon’s death.

――It’s the same as with Rusalka.

Rusalka had also disappeared after turning into earth at the end.

——— End of Part 10 ———

Around the time when ten breaths had passed, the sinister pressure dissipated as well, leaving nothing behind that would hint at the existence of Leshy. Only the hole gouged out by Elen’s veda could be seen on the ground.

“Is it over…?”

Tigre nodded and grunted a confirmation in response to Elen’s question. The feeling that it had finally ended heavily outweighed the joy of victory. At the same time he absentmindedly wondered whether Mila’s group was alright.

Elen turned around to him and asked with an expression full of worry, “Is your eye okay?”

“It was just cut a bit. But it’s not as bad as it looks,” answered Tigre with a smile.

He wasn’t acting strong either. It was something he had experienced several times during his hunts as well. Elen looked at him, appearing to be even more worried now, and demanded, “Show me the wound.”

Tigre bowed lightly, inclining his body forward. Elen placed her left hand on his hand while gently licking the injury. She thoroughly but gently licked up all the blood.

Tigre blinked his eyes, surprised by Elen’s unexpected behavior. His face became hot and blushed furiously.

“Mmh, that should do it, I suppose,” muttering so as if agreeing with herself, Elen separated from Tigre.

While placing his right hand on his face so as to hide his confusion, Tigre looked up to her.

“J-Just now you…?”

“Disinfection. It’s an injury you suffered because of my clumsiness, so I’d be troubled if it festered.”

Pressing her left hand against her hip, Elen laughed open-heartedly. Tigre wondered whether she couldn’t have simply applied her saliva in that case, but the blood on her lips appeared to be awfully seductive and thus he couldn’t form any words on the spot. Him being totally spent after the battle had ended also played into this.

“…Thanks.”

Pulling himself together, Tigre thanked Elen with a trace of a bitter smile. Elen responded to that with a sweet smile.

“Now then, We must hurry up and join Lim and the others…”

Elen’s words were interrupted. A presence so frightening that it caused a chill to run down their spines hit them from deep inside the woods without any prior warning. Both were totally exhausted, but their bodies moved naturally, following their instincts as warriors. Tigre readied his bow while Elen drew her longsword.

――It’s coming this way…!

Tigre’s body trembled. Footsteps approached and the figure of a person soon came into sight. That person was somewhat taller than Tigre and Elen. At a first glance, they seemed to be human, but Tigre couldn’t believe that to be true. The pressure emitted by that figure was far more oppressing than that of Rusalka and Leshy.

Stepping out between two trees, the figure showed itself. Tigre and Elen reflexively widened their eyes.

The true identity of that person was a woman who wore a black mask across her whole head. Her black hair was long enough to reach all the way down to her waist and her body was covered by tight, black clothes with an overcoat on top.

After that woman glanced at Tigre and Elen with lifeless eyes, she lightly cocked her head and stared at the place where the boar had existed until a few moments ago.

“…Leshy, you perished, huh?”

Her voice didn’t carry any grievance or scorn over the monster. It dispassionately stated a confirmation of the facts. This told Elen and Tigre that the masked woman was an acquaintance of Leshy. And knowing that was more than enough at the current stage.

“Fall back, Elen.”

The head of the arrow, which Tigre had nocked onto his bow, was gleaming as it gathered the wind flowing over to it from Arifar. Shooting an arrow from a distance was safer than going into close-combat. Seeing how they didn’t know the identity of their adversary, he didn’t want to let Elen approach recklessly.

Elen obeyed him with a fuss, but she positioned herself so that she’d be able to protect him while making sure to not hinder his arrow shooting. She believed she had to protect Tigre who would become defenseless after releasing the arrow.

The masked woman only moved her heck and looked at Tigre and Elen. The eyes peering at them through the mask were those of a child who was watching ants wander across the ground. All you could see in them was a faint trace of interest to kill some time.

“…Is your name…Zmiy?”

Tigre asked because he didn’t know any other demon name besides that. Zmiy was a dragon who appeared in Zhcted’s folklore and fairy-tales. When he had caused a lot of pain and suffering to the people, a renown hero knight slew him. But, Mila had been aware of the name Zmiy as one belonging to a devil.

“Hoh,” the woman lightly expressed her admiration through her mask. “Where did you hear that from? The spear war maiden?”

Tigre assumed that she was referring to Mila.

No doubt about it. This woman is Zmiy, Mila’s enemy.

“What is your…you people’s goal?”

Ignoring Zmiy’s comment, Tigre followed up with another question.

“To bring death.”

Tigre and Elen furrowed their eyebrows. Zmiy’s reply was way too simple and concise, making it impossible for them to understand it right away. Zmiy said once more, “To bring death―――a death you cannot escape no matter what.”

Elen and Tigre’s faces turned pale. Considering that Leshy had done in this forest, it was obvious what Zmiy’s answer implied. Tigre put more strength into the hand holding his black bow.

―――I will defeat her…right now and in this place…! I must finish her with my last remaining arrow.

He breathed in lightly and exhaled the air in his lungs. Then he let go of his arrow.

Clad by the 『Power』 of wind, the arrow headed straight for Zmiy. But, Zmiy raised her right hand a bit and casually crushed the arrow. As if destroying a toy.

Tigre widened his eyes, standing still while dumbfounded. Elen too was unable to move from the spot due to the intense shock.

Zmiy opened her right hand, just for the broken pieces of Tigre’s arrow to quietly fall to the ground.

“And here I was looking forward to the long-awaited greeting. Let me return the favor――”

No sooner than Zmiy had spoken up to that point, the surrounding scenery suddenly distorted. The grasses and trees winded like snakes. Even the sunlight, as it shone through the leaf canopy, was thrown into disarray and scattered as it was unnaturally overlapped by shadows.

“The forest is trying to go back, huh?”

Zmiy muttered while looking up. Her appearance seemed to suddenly pop up in front of Tigre, just to distance itself from him by dozens of alsin in the next moment or split into several copies. It wasn’t Zmiy alone either. The same also applied to Elen and the surrounding trees.

Zmiy turned her back on him, making her overcoat flutter. Then she turned her draconic, chiseled side profile at him.

“Let us meet again someday. King of …, King of Magic Archery.”

Probably because the surrounding space was warped, he couldn’t catch a part of what she was saying. While overwhelmed by despair, Tigre stared at the back of the demon. His hand, as it held his bow, quivered and he was about to fall to his knees at any moment. Not because he was exhausted, but because his arrow hadn’t worked due to his lacking strength. He understood he’d have been finished off without any way to resist, if Zmiy had come at them. As that scene crossed his mind, he felt dizzy.

All of a sudden, the surroundings were engulfed by darkness. Tigre looked around himself in surprise while coming to his senses. Elen was letting her eyes wander with her longsword at the ready, as if she couldn’t understand what had happened.

Gradually their eyes became accustomed to the darkness and they realized that they appeared to be inside the forest. But, not a trace of the trees, which had been knocked down by Elen’s veda, could be found anywhere. The trees were silently towering into the sky. As the wind blew past the trunks, the two reflexively shuddered due to its coldness.

“Tigre, just what happened there…?”

Being asked by Elen with confusion written on her face, Tigre groaned, but he quickly came up with a certain idea.

“Please hold this.”

Once he passed the black bow to Elen, Tigre nimbly jumped on a tree. Using his limbs, he climbed the trunk like a beast. In little to no time he reached the top. While being careful to not break the thin branches up here, he looked up to the sky.

The moon was dimly handing in the sky with a darkness of different shades as backdrop. Countless stars twinkled in the sky as if the firmament had silver sand sprinkled all over it.

“As I thought.”

“What is it?”

Tigre almost fell down from the tree when a voice suddenly asked him from right next to him. When he looked in the direction, he found Elen standing on a branch with her hair gently swaying in the wind.

After calming himself, Tigre explained while pointing a finger at the sky, “I didn’t mention it yet, but the time flows differently inside the forest, where Leshy had been, and outside the forest where Leshy’s power didn’t reach. While we were fighting, it became night outside the forest.”

He intended to explain it as simply as possible, but Elen tilted her head, apparently not having comprehended what he said. Looking at her, Tigre thought that this might be bad.

We must talk about what happened outside the forest while she was being held prisoner by Leshy.

Just when he was about to tell Elen that they should join up with Mila and the others quickly, a gust of wind blew past once more. Both sneezed at the same time. Tigre wasn’t wearing anything above his waist while Elen was stark naked underneath his overcoat. Even though it was summer, the wind became chilly once the sun went down. It was only natural for the body to cool down.

“I guess we should start a fire for the time being.”

Tigre suggested with his smile being cramped due to the coldness. Elen nodded while curling her body up.

†

Wood suited for becoming kindling was around in seemingly inexhaustible supply. Tigre set up a fire in a practiced manner, before both sat down with the flames campfire between them. At long last, they could relax due to the illumination and heat.

“I sure have caused a lot of trouble to you,” Elen opened up apologetically while warming her hands against the fire.

She had attempted to find Leitmeritz’s army by leaping into the air, but as soon as she reached the top of a tree, her strength left her and she crashed back down. Tigre had quickly caught her and since Arifar had additionally engulfed both of them in wind, nothing serious happened to her, but it keenly reminded Elen just how exhausted she was.

“No, no, I should be the one apologizing for not being very helpful,” responded Tigre with a shake of his head.

He thought he’d try to go hunting, using stones instead of arrows, but as soon as he stepped aways from the campfire, Elen warned him that his body would freeze out there and he gave up on that idea.

“That’s not true. You rescued me. Many times, at that.”

Tigre smiled in mockery at himself.

“The ones having rescued you were Arifar and my family’s bow. I didn’t do anything.”

Him saying something like that was caused by the shock over his arrows not having worked against Zmiy. He had pretended to be calm, but bitterness cast a deep shadow over his heart.

“Hmm?”

Tilting her head, Elen peered into Tigre’s face, but then she suddenly grabbed Arifar, which had been paying on the ground, and stood up, just to sit down next to the youth.

Grinning at Tigre, who was looking at her quizzically, Elen declared with a bright voice, “You’re tired, aren’t you?”

“That’s…”

“Not your body, but your heart and mind,” interrupted Elen and then continued with a calm expression, “If you’re tired, everything appears to be a chore and your thinking turns pessimistic. But, I’d like you to have more confidence as one who fought at my side. Of course, I’ll be proud of our accomplishments.”

Elen held up her longsword and looked in the direction of the campfire.

“I can’t claim that I know you well. But, I do know Arifar quite well. She wouldn’t have lent her strength to just anyone, even if it was for the sake of saving me. You were someone worthy of her assistance. That mysterious bow of yours is no different in this, is it?”

Tigre stared at the bow in his hands. In his mind he asked himself whether she was right. But, her request of him to be more confident was effective. It resonated deep in his heart. Tigre’s father taught him to become a lord who makes his people proud. Beginning with Raphinaque, the population of Alsace consisted of nothing but good-natured folks. For them he had been working very hard as the lord’s son. And in return, the soldiers had followed him through thick and thin in the previous war against Muozinel.

――She’s right. If I keep acting menial like this, I’ll put Elen and everyone else at shame. The fear and feeling of defeat in light of that demon probably won’t disappear. But, I didn’t die. Rather, I survived in perfect health. And next time I won’t lose.

He swore to train himself even further without ever forgetting that determination.

“Thanks, Elen,” he turned around to her and deeply bowed his head. “I too will feel proud of having been able to defeat that monster by fighting side-by-side with you.”

Elen grunted her approval with a broad smile. A warm atmosphere――with the warmth not coming from the campfire――enveloped the two. But, Elen soon enough put on a serious expression.

“Still, that was a terrifying opponent. I thought monsters like that only appeared in fairy-tales sung by minstrels at run-down bars in the outskirts… It feels like someone thrust their hand inside my head and completely turned my common sense or whatever upside down. Tigre, did you happen to encounter something like that before?”

Tigre nodded and carefully asked after considering for a moment, “I’d like to talk about various things, including that demon, but would that be okay with you?”

“Please go ahead,” answered Elen at once.

Not a trace of hesitation could be found in her ruby eyes.

First Tigre informed her that more than twenty days had passed since she entered the forest. He also added the fairy-tale mentioned by Sophy. After shaking her head many times over while frowning, Elen released a deep sigh.

“As for me, I cannot certainly say whether a full day has yet passed since I entered the forest… Then again, I had been sleeping all the time since being captured by that thing. Lim and the others are safe and sound, yes?”

“Yeah. The knights left the forest. Lady Limalisha has stayed with Mila, Raphinaque, and Sir Galyinin.”

Tigre continued to explain, but each time she learned a new reality, Elen held her head with a grave look. Her fake having attacked Sophy, the uproar at the governmental residence because of her having gone missing, soldiers of Leitmeritz having become victims of this forest, and the death of the governor Leszek were all news that almost made her faint.

“Mila and I will help you, so let’s resolve one thing after the other,” said Tigre and tapped Elen’s shoulder to comfort and encourage her.

Leaving aside Mila, he himself felt like he wouldn’t be that much help, but even so he thought there should be something he could do as well.

“You’re right. If I need your strength, I’ll take you up on that without any hesitation.”

Elen forced a smile and said this after around thirty deep breaths had passed since Tigre finished talking. Then she asked him about the monster. Once Tigre told her about Rusalka whom he had fought in Muozinel, Elen released a low growl, her face fuming with rage.

“That Ludmila didn’t mention a single thing about something like that having happened. As I thought, she doesn’t trust me at all.”

“She probably thought that you wouldn’t believe her. Even I would have found it hard to accept it just like that, if I hadn’t seen it with my very own eyes. It’s not like Mila doesn’t trust you.”

Tigre did his utmost to defend Mila. And although Elen puckered her lips in displeasure, she apparently decided to accept Tigre’s explanation for the time being.

“Got it. That said, it’s probably necessary to gather all Vanadis and talk about the demon at some point soon. I’ll have you attend that meeting as well.”

“If you could let me do that, it’d be a big help for me as well.”

Those were Tigre’s real feelings. Zmiy had mentioned that death was their ultimate objective. That, which was engendered by the power of the paranormal was hard to describe as anything but dreadful. Although he had destroyed Rusalka and Leshy, there were other demons around besides Zmiy. It’d be indispensable to gather as many allies as possible to fight against them.

“Even so, just who the heck are you…no, who the heck was your ancestor?”

Elen asked while curiously staring at Tigre’s black bow.

“Apparently he was a superb hunter. After obtaining several deeds of arms, he was granted the rank of earl and the land of Alsace. I haven’t heard anything beyond that. Oh right, my name was adopted from that ancestor.”

“Hmm, Tigrevurmud, right? I thought it’s a name that’s not very Brunish, but… Anyway, do you know anything about the origin of that bow?”

“About that…”

After a short moment of hesitation, Tigre asked Elen, “Elen, did you ever hear something about a person called King of Magic Archery? It seems to come up in a fairly old legend.”

“No, I hear this name for the first time,” answered Elen, shaking her head.

Tigre told her about the story he had previously heard from Militsa. A man was granted a bow that would hit every target by a goddess. He then went on to be called King of Magic Archery after shooting all sorts of enemies to death with his bow and taking the throne for himself.

“Militsa somehow recalled that legend after seeing my bow.”

And then Zmiy had called Tigre like that just as he left.

“If we take the demon’s words at face value, then the King of Magic Archery or whatever used to be their enemy, no? That’d mean you, as the current user of that bow, are the present King of Magic Archery.”

After saying all that, Elen shook her head, “Sorry, but it looks like I won’t be able to be much help with this.”

“No, it’s fine. Thanks,” replied Tigre and dropped his eyes on the black bow. “Up until this spring I didn’t even know that it possessed such a power. I always thought it’s a weird bow, but seeing how it’s an heirloom, you can’t say that it’s unusual for it to be strange. Besides, it’s quite easy to use.”

As soon as Tigre shifted to a joking manner towards the end, Elen shrugged her shoulders in resignation, “Good grief. You’re really bold…or maybe I should say you’re perfectly suited to use bows. Then again, Arifar also thinks it suits you. She went out of her way to help you because of that.”

Tigre thanked the longsword in Elen’s hand with a smile. In response, a gentle breeze caressed Tigre’s dull red hair.

“Arifar is thanking you as well. I mean, only the gods know what might have happened to me and her, if we had remained in the hands of that monster,” Elen said while stroking the guard of her longsword.

As he looked at her gentle expression, Tigre thought that it was really good that he managed to rescue her in time. While he absentmindedly stared at her face like that, she faced him and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Ah, no…”

Unable to say that he was fascinated by her, Tigre sought for a suitable new topic while scratching his cheek.

“I just wondered what sort of relationship Lady Limalisha and you share.”

That was yet another of the things weighing on his mind. The sight of Lim, who had conducted herself so composedly at the governmental residence of Olmutz, breaking into tears and imploring Mila had burned itself into Tigre’s mind.

“She came to us with the sole desire to rescue you. Despite being completely exhausted.”

“What relationship, you ask, huh…?”

Elen looked up at the night sky. She kept her silence for a short time as if to sort the words she wanted to say next.

“Since it’s you, I suppose it’s fine to tell. After all, I got plenty to hear about you as well,” Elen started off, looking back at Tigre. “I met Lim seven years ago, back when I was ten and she was thirteen years old. I had been picked up by a mercenary band as a very little girl and thus had been living and mingling with mercenaries for as long as I know.”

Tigre’s eyes widened. He had expected that there were all sorts of people among the vanadis, but he had never expected for one to have been a mercenary.

――Militsa mentioned that she used to be the doctor of a small village while Sofy talked about having grown up in a town. And Mila was born and raised in the governmental residence as daughter of Lana, the previous vanadis of Olmutz. I really wonder what standards the viralt use to choose their holders. As far as I can see from the four Vanadis I know, I don’t think their viralt made a mistake in their choice, though.

“One day our mercenary band stayed at a town called Vanberg. We had heard rumors that the town might soon become a battlefield and so we offered the town mayor that we’d protect the town. The negotiations went well and our mercenary band remained in the town for a while. I got to know Lim at that time.”

Elen’s position in the mercenary band was that of an errand girl, but as she was treated like the daughter of the band leader, she was doted on by the mercenaries and the people doing the odd jobs. And seeing this as a good opportunity the band leader tried to make Elen learn how to read, write, and calculate at the town’s temple.

Many of the town’s children likewise frequented that temple. Because Lim, being one of them, was a very good caretaker, compared to the other children, the band leader entrusted her with Elen. Or you could also say he pushed her on Lim.

“Lim and I talked about all sorts of things. That girl was yearning to leave the town, saying that she wanted to see the outside world with her own eyes. So I invited her to go together with me and the mercenary band.”

Elen ransacked her silver hair while looking embarrassed. Tigre was looking at her with an appalled look, as might be expected.

“Did Lady Limalisha’s parents agree to that?”

Some time passed until he got an answer to that question.

“So it seems. Just as we had suspected, a battle took place at that town. Lim’s father lost his life in the fight…and her mother approved of her departure, Lim told me.”

I see, muttered Tigre without voicing it out. She very likely thought that her mother would be able to embark into a new life, if she wasn’t there as a burden.

“After this, we were always together. Even when the mercenary band fell apart, we continued to journey together. Three years ago, when Arifar appeared in front of me, Lim was at my side as well.”

After having become a vanadis, Elen naturally assigned Lim as her adjutant. Not just because of their friendship, but also because she needed someone whom she could trust and who could read her intentions in the unknown world called governmental residence. Lim made all efforts to answer Elen’s trust.

“It’s all thanks to Lim that I can be here right now as I am.”

Elen wrapped up her story with those words which were brimming with a myriad of emotions.

“Thanks for telling me.”

Tigre thought it was good that he asked as he gave his thanks. Now he could fully understand why Lim had begged to rescue Elen while crying profusely. There existed a strong tie between those two which went beyond that of a vanadis and her adjutant. On top of that, it had also answered several questions in regards to Elen.

If she’s grown up under such circumstances, playing a reed pipe was probably one of her pastimes. And I can also understand why she can’t get along with Mila.

“Okay, I think it’s time to get some sleep. It’s been a long, tiresome day, so even I’m tired at this point.”

Saying that, Elen casually looked down at her own body. She was sitting with both her legs crossed, but the hem of the overcoat had been flipped up, allowing a peek halfway up her thighs. It was a fairly lascivious sight.

“You won’t do anything insolent while I’m sleeping, right?”

Tigre was at a loss for words while she grinned at him in tease. Up until a few moments ago, he didn’t have the mind for this since they had so many topics to talk about, but now that she pointed it out, he couldn’t help but get conscious of it right away. Elen’s stark naked body was hidden under the overcoat.

The scene of him rescuing her from Leshy and what he had seen at the bath in Olmutz’s governmental residence simultaneously crossed his mind. In spite of him being at the peak of exhaustion, a certain part of his body reacted strongly and his face became bright red.

If only he stood up and reached a hand for her, he’d be easily able to touch that white skin.

“No…”

Frantically purging his worldly desires, he directly stared at Elen with a sincere expression and declared, “I definitely won’t do anything that would put shame on you. I swear to the gods.”

“Swearing to the gods is overkill. Why can you make such a strong vow? Is it because you don’t like a woman like me?”

She apparently considered Tigre’s reaction funny. Narrowing her eyes and smiling thinly, Elen lightly leaned herself forward, making her charming collarbone visible through the lapel of the coat.

“That’s not it. You’re beautiful and very charming. But――

While focusing on solely keeping his attention to Elen’s face, Tigre answered in a deadly serious manner, “I have a girl I like. So I don’t have any intention to sleep with any women other than her.”

Silence fell upon the nightly forest. Elen blinked her eyes in surprise, staring at Tigre with a dumbfounded expression, but once she came back to her senses, she snorted lightly before breaking into a roaring, deep laughter as if unable to hold it back any longer.

“Pfft…haha! Ahahahahaha!”

“…I don’t think it’s anything that funny,” Tigre complained with a frown.

Elen waved a hand sideways, signaling that he was misunderstanding. Once her laughter died down after another five breaths, she looked at Tigre with warm and curious eyes.

“Sorry for making you feel bad. I wanted to clear the misunderstanding faster, but the laughter came very unexpectedly for me as well. I think your thinking is very laudable. I like it.”

After saying so, Elen continued with a slightly evil smile on her face, “But, you’re the son of a lord, aren’t you? In the future you might have to welcome concubines or take in a girl whom you have to accept as a wife due to some sort of circumstances.”

Tigre shrugged with a wry smile, “It is as you say, but that’s a matter of the future. I’ll think about it then.”

For now it’d be fine if he got her to understand that he wouldn’t do anything to her.

“Mmh, got it.”

Elene nodded in comprehension, moved close to Tigre, and suddenly opened the overcoat. Surprised, Tigre averted his face while Elen told him with a calm tone, holding out one end of the coat, “Even if it’s summer, the nights are still too cold for me to sleep in a dress like this.”

“No, but…”

Seeing Tigre hesitating while covering his eyes with a hand, Elen got somewhat angry and barked at him, “Do you intend to turn me into a shameless person who allowed her lifesaver to catch a cold?”

Tigre was quite troubled by this, but getting overpowered by Elen in the end, he slipped under the coat together with her. His heart rate went up significantly as Elen’s slender arm and delicate shoulder pressed against him. But, then Tigre regained his composure thanks to Elen’s nonchalant murmur.

“Yeah, just as I thought, your body is cold.”

“…And yours is warm,” Tigre answered while looking downwards.

“That’s because of your coat,” Elen responded with a gentle smile. “Let me just say in advance, but it’s not like I’m not embarrassed. However, you’re my lifesaver. And you also swore on the gods that you won’t do anything. So I’ll believe in you.”

“Thanks,” Tigre said and then added so as to hide his embarrassment, “It’s a big help. To be honest, I thought it might get somewhat cold if I stayed like this.”

Elen placed her head on Tigre’s shoulder without saying anything in reply. The warm weight was passed on to him through his right arm. Before long he could hear a light snoring.

――Sleep well, Elen.

Tigre soundlessly muttered in order to not wake her while his lips relaxed into a smile.

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