❤❤❤
AND so, the party set off for the Nameless Forest alongside the White Knight and Queen.
“As you can see, I’m a little rusty,” White said as he effortlessly downed waves of monsters with his expert sword skills.
“Welp, I guess I’ll just sit this one out then,” Hatta said.
“Save your energy for the Nameless Forest; I’ll manage.”
“Yeah, I noticed. Also, who do you think’s stronger, you or Seb?”
“Seb, definitely,” White answered instantly.
“Huh, really?” Hatta didn’t sound convinced. “You seem pretty evenly matched to me.”
“That’s because he’s only using less than fifty percent of his power at any given time. If he went all out, he could give the Demon Lord a good run for his money.”
Seb’s claim of being able to take on the Demon Lord one-on-one appeared true after all. Now, however, he was comparing spellbooks with the White Queen.
“Egg-differentiation magic? That’s just…mind-boggling,” the Queen said.
“Is it?”
“Of all the Poems of Jabberwocky I’ve seen over the years, this one is easily the most head-scratching. When would you ever use it?”
“Well, I did use it in a fight fairly recently.”
“Interesting. It seems even the most useless spell in existence has its moments.”
While the spell didn’t actually do anything in the “fight” with Humpty, for some reason, an observer wouldn’t get that impression from looking at Seb’s reassured expression.
“See for yourself. It uses almost no energy, and I’ve got an egg ready to be differentiated right here.”
“How kind of you, Seb. Don’t mind if I do.” The Queen cast the spell. “It’s…raw!”
“Indeed, it is.”
“Hurray, I got it on my first try!”
What a cute girl, Alice and Haigha thought as they observed from a distance.
“We’re here. Everybody off!” White instructed, hopping off the coach.
Before long, they’d reached the Nameless Forest, rested and ready to go.
“We meet at last, Nameless Forest.”
“Hold your horses, Alice. I’ll cast the spell first,” said the White Queen, “then you may proceed.”
“Fine. But before you do, there’s something I’ve been dying to test out.”
“Test out?”
Alice borrowed some rope from Hatta and tied it around Haigha’s waist.
“Wh-What’re you—”
“See you later!” she said, shoving Haigha into the forest.
“You think this is funny, Ali—” The light in Haigha’s eyes suddenly faded. “Who am I? Where am I?” Her memory had, in fact, been wiped clean within mere seconds.
“You’re Haigha.”
“Who? I’m not a Haigha, I’m a bunny!” she exclaimed, making bunny ears with her hands. “Look at me! Look at me! Bouncy, bouncy, bounce.”
She kept hopping around, making those silly noises after each and every single jump.
The cringe had already gotten too strong for Hatta, so he pulled her back to safety. Haigha, red as a beet, immediately ran inside the coach and locked herself in.
“Why would you do something like that to your very own sister, Hatta?” Alice cried. “Go apologize right now!”
“This was your idea!”
Haigha holed up inside the coach for a full half-hour, screaming “I wanna go home!” at the top of her lungs.
“Why is it always me? Now, no one’s going to marry me…” she sobbed.
Actually, I can think of quite a few people who’d be into that sort of thing, Hatta thought, but decided to keep mum.
“She does have a point,” Alice remarked. “Hatta, you’re up next.”
“Fat chance.”
“How about you then, Seb?”
“As you wish.”
“Anyone but him!” everyone present—aside from Alice—screamed in perfect chorus.
But who could blame them? Just thinking about someone as powerful as the Demon Lord losing themselves was enough to make anyone a bit jumpy.
“If you say so,” Alice said as she casually tied the rope around White’s waist.
“Hey, wait, don’t—”
Alice shoved him inside the forest before he could finish. Hatta and the White Queen’s curiosity got the better of them, so they joined in on the fun, too.
They all thought White’d do something silly like Haigha. But instead, he curled up in a ball and started mumbling to himself.
“I didn’t steal your treats! I didn’t break your prized vase! It wasn’t me, I promise. No, not the dungeon! Anything but the dungeon! It’s so dark and lonely in here! Is anyone out there? Please…help.”
White’s mental breakdown was hard to watch, even more so than Haigha’s cringy antics.
They reeled him back to safety, but he just sat there, motionless. Two of their party members had met their untimely demise, and it wasn’t even the fault of a monster.
“I think we’ve had enough fun for today, Alice. Let’s get going already.”
“The Demon Lord won’t smack some sense into himself, now, will he?”
Hatta and the White Queen went on the offensive, fearing for their lives.
“What’s gotten into you two?” asked Alice.
“What’re you talking about? We’re just really excited for the Nameless Forest, right, Your Highness?”
“O-Of course. Now, please stand a little closer together.” The White Queen cast an ancient spell, enveloping the four in a thin veil of pinkish light. “As I’ve mentioned earlier, I can only keep this spell up for thirty minutes. If you don’t leave the forest in time, you could get stuck in there forever, so be careful.”
“Duly noted. Seb, let us make haste.”
They said their goodbyes to the White Knight and Queen and ventured forth into the Nameless Forest.