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#219. The Last Forest (1)
“Stay here and defend Rael Lowe and the World Tree. There is a chance that enemies, including homunculi, may appear after I leave.”
“Okay, I understand, kid.”
Curios answered Ray’s request without much hesitation.
The gaze was always directed towards the World Tree and Rael Lowe.
Curiosities are beings who feel curiosity hundreds of times stronger than others due to their habit of staying overnight.
A gigantic castle and tree whose true nature cannot be grasped even after several days of persistent observation.
It was bound to be a subject of inquiry that would grab all of one’s nerves and make daily life impossible.
“If the enemy appears, cooperate with Falun and the elders. It will be a great help. I heard that the defense facilities have been strengthened since the last attack.
“okay.”
“It won’t take long to get to the last forest.”
“I get it.”
“And if possible, I’ll stop by other ruins along the way to look for space stones.”
“I understand─.”
Curiossa, who was about to answer absentmindedly, got goosebumps for a moment.
“─Why the space stone?”
“That’s because I’m thinking of building more space routes. Like connecting the mansion with the current World Tree and Rael Law. It’ll be easy to expand our destinations in the future. We’ll also be able to respond quickly to enemy attacks.”
“Who builds that space?”
Ray tilted his head and answered.
“you.”
“Kuaaaah!”
Ray felt so blessed to see Curiosa writhing in joy.
After packing up and getting ready to leave, the bus left the distortion field and raced through the wilderness, with the dwarves seeing it off.
Jang returned to the mansion through the space corridor, and Ray took the wheel again.
Rattling. Rattling.
Beyond the shaking window, the endlessly repeating wilderness scenery quickly passed by.
The towering World Tree was seen receding into the distance through the rearview mirror.
“But Ray, is it okay? The World Tree, I mean. I was worried that people might notice it. It’s going to be a settlement for elves and dwarves, so if it draws attention…”
“That’ll be okay.”
Ray answered Veronica’s worried voice as he swerved the bus to avoid the rocks.
“It’s a long way from the human sector. If anyone catches sight of it, it’ll be discovered by the animals of the wilderness. And if the elves move in, it could help expand the distortion field. They say the elves are well-versed in fantasy magic.”
“That’s right. That’s also why the Last Forest has never been discovered by any other species.”
Greene nodded in agreement with Ray’s words.
Later, while they were talking about distortion fields, Ray suddenly remembered something and asked.
“But if you were originally planning to return to the last forest alone, were you planning to go back to the sector and get a car?”
“No? I was thinking of leaving straight from Lael Low. I don’t know how to drive.”
“You were planning to leave right away?”
“Yes. On foot.”
Ray thought he had misheard, but judging by Veronica’s puzzled face, it seemed he had heard correctly.
“Your Majesty, is the last forest close enough to walk to?”
“Well, when I came out of the last forest, I came out through a teleportation magic circle. I can’t really tell how far it is to get here… but if I walk diligently, I think I’ll get there in less than a year.”
Ray nodded.
I decided to boldly give up my understanding of the elves’ sense of time.
After that, the bus quickly moved through the wilderness according to Greene’s instructions.
“At the next fork, turn right. The kids standing over there are telling you.”
The children pointed to the withered and twisted trees and grasses all over the wilderness.
“The elves don’t have to worry about getting lost on their way back to the forest, because the children will show them the way no matter where they are.”
“How do you explain it?”
“Look closely. These are plants. They’re leaning in and pointing in a certain direction.”
“I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you know this?”
“… … .”
“I don’t understand, tsk tsk.”
The smell of beef jerky wafted from nearby.
Ray seriously considered whether a sudden slam on the brakes would be enough to knock the elf over with his quick reflexes.
“Oh, I already ate everything. Anyway, the race isn’t important. What matters is how well you can communicate with plants.”
“…consensus.”
It was a word that was still vaguely understood.
When I ran like that for two days.
“I think we’re almost there.”
A huge curtain of colorful mana appeared at the end of the horizon.
Greene asked with a look of surprise at Ray’s words.
“How did you know? I haven’t told you yet.”
“Because the distortion field is visible.”
“Ah…! That’s right. You said that mana is visible. So that’s how it works.”
Grinne let out an exclamation, thought for a moment, and then said.
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“I see mana with my eyes. That means no fantasy magic can fool Ray’s eyes… Well, I think it would be best not to tell this fact to the other elves I’ll be meeting soon.”
“For what reason?”
“The elves take great pride in their distortion field that guards the Last Forest. They won’t be happy to know that someone has seen through it so quickly.”
“I understand.”
While we were talking, the bus arrived at its destination.
Greene said as he approached the desolate wilderness where there was nothing.
“There are dozens of layers of distortion magic and perception-obstructing magic on top of the pillar-shaped defenses. Even for the most skilled magician with a keen sense of mana, it would be nearly impossible to detect the existence of this distortion field.”
Veronica nods vigorously.
This was because no matter how much I concentrated, I could not detect any magical phenomena in the air before my eyes.
Of course, the distortion field was clearly visible to Ray’s eyes.
Ray asked, looking at the distortion field surface from a distance.
“What are the chances that someone passing by will accidentally discover the distortion field and sneak in?”
“There’s no chance of that happening. Unless you approach it knowing from the beginning that there’s a distortion field. And if you don’t know the entry and exit pattern─”
Grinne stretched out his palm and placed it on the surface of the distortion field.
Woohoo──!
The injected mana drew complex and elaborate lines on the distortion field.
Soon, the magic was partially lifted and the inner landscape appeared in the shape of a small door.
“─You will never be able to open the door like this. Or try to forcefully break the pattern. Or try to attack. If you do that, the alarm magic will sound and the elves inside will come to the defense.”
It was a small door, large enough for one person to pass through while bending down.
The green light pouring out from within hinted at the scenery inside.
“I’ll have to leave the bus behind. My ability is limited in the size of the door I can open at one time. Others might also feel uncomfortable with artificial objects like cars entering the forest.”
Ray and Veronica took only the essentials with them from the bus.
And then I found Grinne, carrying a large box of a familiar design on both sides.
“Elfs.”
“yes?”
“You said you hated artificial things.”
“Yes.”
“Jerky is also an artificial food.”
Greene’s ears flapped in a very shameless manner.
“This is inevitable for a balanced diet. Once inside, you have to eat only grass, which ruins the nutritional balance of your body.”
“When did elves learn that they could survive nutritionally on a vegetarian diet?”
“Um, I don’t remember.”
“What the elves have lost from their former glory is the ability to tell the truth.”
“What are you saying now?”
“Oh my. Both of you, stop it, stop it.”
The childish bickering was interrupted by Veronica.
“Then I’ll go in first!”
Veronica bent down and stepped through the door.
Ray, who was following behind, suddenly looked at the other surface of the distortion field and asked.
“Yes, do the forest elves often visit the distortion field?”
“Not at all. Unless you have a specific mission like mine, you probably won’t go out into the forest. Elves are very insular.”
The boy nodded and disappeared inside the door, and the elf followed him.
The door, which had been slowly shrinking, closed completely and disappeared.
Woohoooooooo─ Dismissed!
Only silence remained in the empty wilderness.
Only the bus covered in sand marks stood there, staring blankly at the dim sunlight.
And the surface of the distortion field that the boy’s gaze reached.
There were traces of someone having recently opened and closed the door.
It’s obvious that they tried to erase it.
But it was a clear mark that could not escape the boy’s eyes.
*
Veronica was speechless at the forest she had experienced for the first time in her life.
“Wow…! Wow…! Wowaaaah…!”
Wherever I looked, there were many trees, flowers, and grasses whose names I didn’t know.
Bright view and fresh scent.
The ceaseless cries of animals and insects sounded like music.
The sunlight pouring down from high above looked like sparkling grains of sand.
“Ray! Look at that! Look at that!”
“I see it too. And Veronica, you don’t have to show your surprise by hitting me on the shoulder.”
“Hey! That’s an animal I’ve never seen before! I’ve never seen it in a book!”
“It looks like a rat. It has a hairy tail and carries an acorn in its beak.”
“Look! There are some really colorful mushrooms!”
“If you eat that, it might cause health problems.”
“That kid flies!”
“Because it’s a bird, it flies.”
The reaction of a very dry boy.
Normally, the girl would have expressed regret at the sight, but now she was so absorbed in admiring the scenery that she lost track of time.
While she was so excited that she kept tapping the boy’s shoulder.
“huh…?”
I felt a cold sensation on my palm.
Lakhria suddenly appeared on Ray’s shoulder.
“Ouch! Oh, my, I’m sorry! Did it hurt?”
Lacria flicked her tongue.
He came down to the ground, glanced at the girl’s instep as if to say that everything was okay, and disappeared into the forest.
“Is it okay for it to go like that…?”
“I’ll come back on my own.”
Ray, who was looking at Lacria’s back, turned his gaze around.
‘The forest, this kind of place really exists.’
Veronica was just as surprised as he was, though he didn’t show it.
The surprise was even greater for a boy who still had difficulty imagining such an unfamiliar image.
A vast expanse whose end cannot be measured.
Animals and plants I’ve never seen before.
But what was most surprising was the concentration of mana in the air.
The concentration of mana is much higher compared to the sector or wilderness, and… … .
Then, as if reading my thoughts, Grinne spoke to me.
“Mana, is it clean?”
“… a lot.”
“That’s one of the reasons I was so surprised when I came out of the forest. The mana in the air was so turbid compared to what I had known.”
Greene continued to describe the embarrassment he felt at the time.
“It was also much more difficult to use. If the mana of the forest felt like soft water, the mana of the outside world felt like cheese on the verge of hardening. I had a feeling. I thought that if I used magic with it, it would have negative effects.”
“Mana addiction.”
“Mana addiction?”
“It’s a disease that you get when you use too much mana in the air. It causes mental abnormalities. You become unable to control certain emotions.”
“… So you were actually exposed to the disease. As expected.”
Anyway, Greene said that he had to practice using the ring’s mana in the outside world.
“When you’re in the forest, you rarely have to use the mana from the rings. There’s plenty of good mana in the air. That’s why elves don’t put much effort into stacking rings.”
Ray listened to Greene’s words and tried to wrap his hands around the forest’s mana.
Of course, it was not possible to obtain the mana of the ring that had been purified several times.
But if there is this infinite amount of mana.
‘It might be enough to offset those shortcomings.’
And the fact that there are various types of mana spread out vastly.
In other words.
It also meant that the battlefield was one where a boy who could control all kinds of elements could demonstrate greater power than anyone else.
‘Mana is clean and of high quality. Is it because of the function of the forest?’
When you have such doubts.
Swish.
Grinega stretched his finger into the air.
A butterfly flew in, fluttering its wings, and landed gently.
He tilted his head and whispered.
“Will you tell him I’m back?”