There were a few areas around Esma known as hazardous zones due to their high mana levels and the dangerous monsters that lurked there. One example of this was Galachera Woods, the place where the hydra I had slain lived and where I had met Leen. Another was Esartella Gorge, a vast forested ravine located behind Esartella Church, where Sharney was due to be married. Tiesel had bumped into the carbuncle here on a material-collecting quest.
“We’d formed a party just for the job, so we hadn’t gone too deep,” Tiesel had explained.
We took a carriage and arrived there in a few hours. There were specialized services that took adventurers to specific destinations, so we saved time instead of having to walk.
“All right, I’ll be back in six hours, so try and wrap things up by then,” the carriage driver had said before disappearing.
We took our first steps into the trees at the edge of Esartella Gorge. The canopy was thick with branches so it was dark despite it being the middle of the day. Even the light that did filter through was weak.
“I didn’t think we’d be back here again so soon,” I muttered.
“Hm? You’ve come before?” Tiesel replied.
“Yeah, three days ago.”
We had been to this very same ravine for the gryphon egg fetch quest on the day I pissed Leen off. Leen had led the way, but we’d gone quite deep into the woods.
Gryphons were carnivorous monsters with the head and wings of an eagle and a lion’s body. They had sharp eyesight and often attacked from the skies. They were probably the most dangerous thing in the ravine. Any careless adventurer would be gobbled up in no time. Even I wouldn’t fight one without ample preparation. It went without saying that stealing an egg and taking it home was tantamount to suicide. It had been a super high difficulty quest, but Leen had gone into the nest as if it had been no problem at all, talked to the parent, and received the egg without issue.
I’d merely been watching from a distance, but was still on edge through it all. The gryphon’s chicks were nearby and eyeing me as if I were a delicious meal waiting to happen. They made chirping sounds as if asking their parent if I really was off the menu.
“Miiyoo... Myumyu...”
The carbuncle seemed upset for a different reason to me as we neared its home. It wasn’t on board with this at all and was flapping its limbs in Tiesel’s arms, evidently upset.
“What’s it saying?” I asked.
“‘I don’t wanna go home! The elder’s gonna shout at me!’ Or something to that effect,” Leen replied.
“They have an elder...?”
“Carbuncles live in groups. If any appear in front of humans, then they’re usually loners or made some sort of mistake.”
“And this one...?”
“Made a mistake because of its greedy nature.”
“Right...”
So this was completely the carbuncle’s fault, huh.
As we made our way along, Leen bushwhacked the trees out of the way and we made easy progress.
The thing about hazardous zones like these was that I wouldn’t hesitate to head there if I had a clear goal and destination, but if there was no reason for me to come, then I wouldn’t even step foot here. Different monster territories were next to one another and any trails that someone else had previously made grew over in a month. You didn’t know what was a monster den and what wasn’t, and there were so many natural traps. Heading into places like these meant you always had to be on guard, which was utterly draining. There was no real path and what might seem to be the easiest route through the trees was actually where a large monster often traversed.
All the same, Leen only stopped for small moments at a time and made quick decisions before changing her direction with ease.
“You’re walking at quite the clip. Do you know the way?” Tiesel said, intrigued by what was going on.
Leen liked answering questions, so as usual, she held up a pointer finger and waved it as she explained.
“Places thick with mana like here have a master,” Leen said.
“A master?” Tiesel replied.
“Basically the strongest monster in the area. They often monopolize the spot that’s thickest with mana. And doing this allows them to get even stronger. By the way, the ‘master’ of Esartella Gorge is the gryphon Hakura and I met the other day.”
“Wait, so we stole an egg from this area’s master?!” I said.
“We were given it after some peaceful negotiations, thank you.”
I didn’t realize peaceful negotiations could lead to you giving up an egg, but anyway...
“Strong mana can affect the local environment and create traps or warps in the trails, basically rendering the area advantageous for the master and difficult for their prey. Hazardous zones are easy to get lost in, especially the deeper you go,” Leen explained further without stopping her footsteps at all.
Leen continued to clear the undergrowth as she advanced in a straight direction. Before long, we came to a large clearing.
“I can work out the route through a labyrinth created by monsters. It’s part of understanding a monster’s lifestyle,” Leen said.
The trees here were thinner than the rest of the forest, and there were more spots where sunlight reached the forest floor. It seemed like the perfect place to take a break.
“Is this the carbuncle’s nest?” I asked.
“No, carbuncles don’t have a fixed nest as they constantly move around. However, I know that it’s somewhere around here. So I’m going to need some help finding it.”
“Help from who?” Tiesel and I said in unison.
Leen chuckled knowingly. She went around and started tapping on nearby trees with her staff. Soon enough, there was a cacophony of strange noises that didn’t sound like language to me but reverberated in my head. From behind the trees, a bunch of small monsters toddled out to her.
“Are those...dryads?” Tiesel asked.
They were thirty to forty centimeters tall and covered in bark. Their heads were made of leaves and branches from which came a faint glow of mana. As he said, they were dryads.
Dryads were a type of spirit that lived among the trees. They were cute monsters and wouldn’t harm you if you weren’t hostile to them. From an adventurer’s perspective, they posed no danger at all.
“Wait a second... Ahem...” Leen said, tapping on her throat. In the next moment, she started to make the same strange sounds as the dryads. Odd noises that I couldn’t even tell were words. It was strange to hear this language I had no way of understanding. She later told me how the conversation went.
“Can I ask you something, children of the forest? I’m looking for his friends,” Leen said (apparently) while holding up the carbuncle. The dryads exchanged glances and began to whisper before turning back.
They made some strange squeaky sounds in return, but Leen summarized their comments for me: “Want stone.” “Something shiny.” “So bright.”
“Do you have a Carbuncle Stone?” Leen asked Tiesel.
“Sure do,” he said. A bit confused as to what was happening, he pulled out a Carbuncle Stone from a small pouch and handed it to Leen.
“Thank you,” she said before passing it along to the dryads while speaking that strange language again. They gathered around her and held up the stone with joy.
“Yay!” “So shiny!” “Do best!” was apparently what they were cheering as they threw the stone, rubbed it on their faces, and licked it... I didn’t know what exact value it had for them, but it had been a fair enough trade, apparently. They bustled off into the woods once more.
“What language even was that?” I asked.
“The language of spirits. It’s quite difficult to pronounce. I’m pretty amazing, huh?” Leen said.
It was more than amazing—I didn’t know how a human’s vocal cords could make those sounds.
“Let’s wait a little while until they find the nest,” Leen said, clearing away some leaves at the base of a tree before sitting down.
If she told me to wait, then that was all I could do. I leaned next to a tree near me.
“Hakura?” Leen said.
“What?” I replied.
“Not that tree. It’s a treant.”
“Whoa?!”
The tree I’d been leaning on rustled. I slowly turned around and saw the tree turning around to look at me too. It shook its roots that had been deep in the ground and rustled its branches. It fixed two holes that looked like eyes at me as if saying “What’re you doin’?!”
Treants were monsters that looked like trees. There were individual differences, but as they were tree monsters, they were often big and strong. If I bumped into one, I’d have trouble fighting it. They often lured in prey who were resting against them (like I’d done). I’d let my guard down today, most likely because my focus was a bit off due to Leen being here today and the weird scene I’d just seen.
“I’m sorry, he didn’t mean it. May we rest here?” Leen said in the common tongue. The treant seemed to tut as it shook its big body before disappearing into the forest.
Tiesel and I stood agog as we watched the monster leave.
“Ha ha ha! Hakura, your face! Gah ha ha ha!” Leen burst out in laughter as she clutched her stomach. The carbuncle joined in with its own squeaky “myu myu” laughter.
“Ugh,” I muttered.