Chapter 548:
A Leisurely Trek to the Next Village
“LOOK AT US, walking on a maintained road. It’s been a long time… Wait, actually, it’s been never.”
My father laughed. “Yeah, travels with you always go through the forest, Ivy. Through the deep forest, at that.”
I giggled. “Yeah, we do always seem to tromp through the woods.”
We’d decided to go on a leisurely walk on the village road until we met up with Zinal. This was technically because he might not be able to find us if we went into the brush…but boy, what a smooth walk.
I loved walking through the forest. There were all sorts of interesting things to look at. Especially deep in the forest, you’d find rare flowers. The only issue was that all the rocks and tree roots on the ground made walking difficult.
But the walk out of Okanke had been smooth sailing so far! I said the road was maintained, but its care really was minimal… Wild to think it made such a difference.
“Zinal should catch up with us soon,” Fische said.
My father nodded. He’d said he would come join us as soon as he finished what he needed to do. And since the serpent was nodding beside us, he would probably arrive on Snakey-back.
“Wait a minute. If he’s riding on Snakey-back, maybe we should meet up in the forest after all…”
Fische shook his head at me. “There’s a big river between Okanke and Okanny. It’s hard to cut straight through the forest.”
A big river? That’s right, I remember there was one on the map. It was so big, I wondered if it was a misprint, but I guess it’s really there.
“I thought the river accidentally got drawn too big on the map,” I admitted.
“Yeah, that’s just how wide that river is. If you want to travel from Okanke to Okanny, you need to either take the village road or go through the forest along the village road.”
Fische’s explanation made me look at the map again, and he was right. The river cut off only along the village road and the forest next to it. But where was that huge amount of water even flowing to? Did it go underneath the village road?
“Are you wondering where all that water goes?” my father asked. I nodded. “The river connects to a giant underground cave, apparently. The current is fast and strong, so it can only be observed passively from nearby. They say nobody knows what the inside of the cave looks like.”
Wow, a river in a cave! It sounds interesting but dangerous, so we should probably stay away.
“Oh, right! I forgot to ask, what happened with the Okanke village landmark investigation?”
Fische’s question confused me. What did he mean by “village landmark investigation?” Oh, was he talking about the tree and big boulder by the two types of blossoms? That’s right, we were looking into that, since the map didn’t match Zinal’s and Fische’s memories.
My father sighed. “A big shot in the village paid to have it taken off the map.”
“It got taken off?”
“Yeah. Near the second marker, there’s a field where expensive medicinal herbs grow. He wanted to monopolize that spot, so he paid to have it erased from the map. You know how adventurers head toward landmarks so they won’t get lost? He probably didn’t want them going there. The late guild master found out and everyone involved was punished.”
“Okay, wow…” Fische sighed tiredly after my father finished the story. “Sorry for making you do such a pesky investigation.”
My father laughed. “It wasn’t pesky at all—I asked a villager about it and got the story right away. But I’m sorry I forgot to tell you. I went ahead and told a staff member at the adventurer guild that the map was confusing, so one of the tree markers is probably tied with some string by now.”
Apparently, whenever there were similar landmarks on both sides of a village road, one was tied with string so people could tell the difference between the two.
“Okay, thanks for letting me know.”
Wait a minute…what’s that sound? I thought…I just heard something…
“Oh! It’s the sound of water!”
The sound of running water was coming from the forest and echoing out, but I couldn’t see a river anywhere nearby. Did that mean there was a huge amount of water flowing?
“Pu! Pu, puuu.”
I turned when I heard the excitement in Sora’s voice to see the slime impatiently looking into the forest. We needed to pay attention—it might be dangerous.
“Sora, not today.”
“Pu?!” Sora made a strange sound.
“The river nearby is very, very big. It’s flowing very fast, too, so we can’t play in it like we usually do.”
If the river was as big as the map made it seem, we would be in big trouble.
“She’s right, Sora,” my father said. “If you try to swim in it like you usually do, you’ll get stuck in the current and Ciel won’t be able to rescue you. Better luck next time, okay?”
Sora looked at Ciel.
“Hey, don’t make Ciel come to your defense!”
“Puuu,” Sora whined. But I really had to put my foot down this time.
“Does Sora like the water?” Fische asked.
I pondered this. Was it the water Sora liked? No, I didn’t think it had been all that excited when we went to a lake. What’s the difference between rivers and lakes…?
“Maybe Sora likes running water?” my father suggested.
Oh, now that makes sense!
“Pu! Pu, puuu,” Sora confirmed. Then I remembered Sora did seem to enjoy tumbling in the current.
“It sure is fun letting the water carry you, huh?” Fische said.
“Pu! Pu, puuu.”
With a playful laugh, Fische picked Sora up. “But the river here is dangerous, you hear? There’s lots of water. If you let the current carry you, you’ll wind up in some strange place before you know it, and Ivy might not be able to find you.”
“…Pu!”
Wait a minute. Sora looks…
“Oh! Okay, we’ll help you find a river where it’s all right to let the current carry you,” Fische promised.
“Pu! Pu, puuu.” Sora happily jiggled in Fische’s arms.
“Can you deliver on that promise?” my father asked.
Fische shrugged. “I dunno. I just made Sora so sad I had to do something.”
He was right. When he suggested Sora might lose me…Sora’s reaction surprised me. It was like I could just see the word “Nooooo” sailing overhead?
“Yeah, I can see why Sora’s reaction startled you,” my father said, giving the slime some pats in Fische’s arms.
“Sora’s range of expressions are still on a whole other level from ordinary slimes, but that expression I just saw definitely was extraordinary,” Fische said.
My father smiled. “Yeah, Sora is really great at expressing emotions.”
“The first time I saw it, I was genuinely shocked,” Fische said. “I almost thought Sora wasn’t actually a slime.”
I gave him a curious look. “Are there monsters that look like slimes?”
Fische shook his head. “Uh, no, there aren’t, so I thought Sora might be a new breed.”
Oh, a new breed! Just like there was that rumor about us riding on Snakey-back being a new breed of monster.
“Oh—I wonder if the serpent caravan will turn into a rumor again this time?” I asked.
Fische averted his eyes. Why? That’s strange…
“There probably will be some serpent rumors, yeah. But none about them traveling,” he said.
Rumors not about them traveling? What else…could it be? I can’t think of anything.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s just a rumor,” my father said, gently patting my head.
Maybe I really don’t need to worry about it. I feel like I don’t want to hear whatever the rumor is anyway.
“Got it.”
“Your instincts scare me sometimes, Druid,” Fische said.
Huh? What did Fische say just now? What’s “rinstincts”?
“Did you say something?” I asked Fische, who shook his head back.
Mrrrow.
I looked toward Ciel and saw the adandara looking back the way we just came. Was something wrong?
“What’s up?” I asked, petting Ciel’s head and searching the forest for auras. “Is there a monster?”
“Seems like it,” Fische said. “And it’s headed right for us.” He unsheathed his sword and took up a battle stance. I looked at my father to find he was already pointing his sword at the trees.
“Ivy, hide behind a tree.”
“Okay.”
I called out to my creatures, and we all hid behind a big tree. The aura I was sensing from the monster was strange, though. It felt…scared?
“Something’s off. Is the monster scared? This thing I sense in the forest…this aura…is it a serpent?” Fische asked.
I widened my search for auras, and I definitely did sense the auras of some serpents between us and the monster.
“Yes, there are some serpents near us,” I said.
Is Zinal with them?
“They’re coming.”
My father’s voice made me look up to see a monster charging at the men with incredible force. However, it slipped right past them without even so much as a glance.
“I think it’s overwhelmed by the serpent auras.” Fische sheathed his sword.
“As overwhelmed as it is, that monster won’t attack us. As long as we don’t get in its way, we won’t even get hurt. But wow, it really was overwhelmed, wasn’t it?”
My father sheathed his sword and watched the monster run. I agreed with him. Were serpents really enough to overwhelm a monster that badly?