Chapter 19. Woodman Habitat IV
Episode 19.
Woodman Habitat IV
"You read an old text about the calamity?"
"Yeah."
Like any game, <FoS> scatters crucial pieces of lore that underpin its world throughout the setting.
It might be ancient script carved into old ruins, or it might take the form of a sign jutting up all alone in a danger zone.
Or, as I'd told Kazen, it might be lying dormant in an antiquarian bookstore or a corner of a general store in the Royal Capital.
'That was true in reality, too.'
The warning about <Wood Revenge>.
It had been located in a root cave formed beneath a special tree that existed in this field.
'How did it start again?'
It definitely began with something about the <Ash Moon> and the <Frost Sun>, but I decided to skip that part.
It was lore known only to people who'd dug deep into <FoS>, so these guys probably didn't know it either. The following mention of the <Sun Worshipper> was the same.
I organized my thoughts, then began speaking from the next point.
"......'From the heart of the forest a black tree shall rise, and their master shall lick the blue branches in the form of a tiny creature.'"
Actually, there had been a mention of a <sacrifice> in the section between, but I cut that part out.
In a calm tone, I recited the rest of the prophecy.
"'Until the forest's fury subsides, there shall be no door out, and no road back.'"
⁝
"'Those who seek to flee shall be cursed, and though they live they shall not be alive, and though they die they shall not be dead.'"
The wording might have changed a bit.
Even I couldn't memorize every single line written in the old text. It didn't matter much, since I only needed to get the general meaning across.
"Is that the end?"
"Yeah."
Like most warnings written in old texts, it was mostly vague nonsense, but unexpectedly, people of this world were probably used to this kind of phrasing.
"The master of the forest shall lick the blue branches in the form of a tiny creature."
As expected, the White Knight had zeroed in on exactly the part I wanted him to focus on.
I nodded and said.
"That part bothered me too. It's just a guess, but maybe the black tree growing in the center is only a shape, and the main body is somewhere else. Since it said 'tiny creature,' maybe it's hiding in the form of an insect."
"So to escape this calamity, we must find and eliminate that tiny creature or insect."
The White Knight murmured as if summarizing the situation, then looked at me.
His eyes were cold, as if trying to verify the truth, but I had nothing to be cowed about. Everything I'd just said was true.
"......."
My face was burning like hell.
This guy didn't have some kind of skill that could tell truth from lies, did he?
Just as I was starting to get a little uneasy, Laurent shifted his gaze and this time took in the black tree.
'What's he doing?'
After about ten seconds of puzzlement, Laurent spoke.
"I don't see anything that looks like an insect."
"......Did you just examine the tree?"
"Yes."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
'It's hundreds of meters away.'
And the undergrowth was thick, too. What the hell kind of eyesight did he have?
"......It probably can't be seen with the naked eye alone. It's just a guess, but it could be hiding with some kind of camouflage."
I had no choice but to release one more piece of information.
It was information I'd deliberately hidden because I thought revealing it might draw suspicion.
"Then the search itself will require time as well."
"Right."
"And the search itself won't be easy, either."
Quick comprehension was a good thing, but my spine kept prickling.
It was because he was someone I couldn't fully trust even in this situation.
"As you said, there will definitely be interference. Even for you, the red Woodmen won't be easy to deal with."
I didn't know Laurent's level, but even if his level was 60 or higher, he couldn't hold off a group of <Woodman Avenger>s by himself.
"Red Woodmen....... You mean the Woodmen that look like unpleasant dolls?"
"You saw them?"
"Yes. They didn't seem hostile at the moment, so I didn't fight them. They took note of us, then passed by."
He had experience, all right. He knew that encountering a monster in the forest didn't necessarily mean a battle would break out.
Of course, from my perspective, it was a disappointing development.
'If that noble had been the sacrifice, it would've been a bit better.'
The White Knight was definitely a person of interest.
But as someone who had sworn a knight's oath, it would be difficult for him to pull anything reckless at the expense of his charge.
At that moment, the young lady, whose eyes met mine, frowned.
"I've been listening and listening, and hey. You, commoner. Who do you think you are, telling Sir Laurent what to do?"
"......."
Her name was Seigrena, wasn't it?
Her family name seemed longer, but I let it go in one ear and out the other.
Seeing as it was a family I didn't know, it was probably a barony at best. Though her attitude was practically on the level of a duke's only daughter.
"And what was that? 'Even for you, it won't be easy to deal with'? Ha. Do the lowly ears of a commoner not even hear the rumors about the White Knight Laurent?"
Without any particular reply, I ignored the human wallpaper's words.
"Hmph......!"
At that, her face went red, then purple with anger, but so what.
Entering the forest meant that her status was also that of a Delver. And among Delvers, there was no hierarchy of status.
'It's a law enacted by the kingdom itself, so even nobles can't say anything about it.'
There were several reasons this law had come about, but I didn't have the leisure to reflect on them now.
Ordinary nobles have no reason to come to the <Eternal Forest> in the first place, so Delvers rarely have any occasion to raise their voices at them.
"You insolent bastard......! Sir Laurent! Let's just throw away this cooperation with the likes of them! I don't know if it's a calamity or what, but we'd be fine moving on our own!"
"That won't do."
"Ah. I-is that so? Then shall we do that......?"
The young lady, who had been shouting boldly, instantly shrank at Laurent's firm reply.
'So she's not exactly a prominent noble.'
If she had been, she wouldn't have had any reason to come to the forest in the first place.
Maybe she was the third or fourth daughter in her family.
Already pushed out of the succession competition, with no support base and no influence, and all she had was a well-maintained appearance.
'Hoo. Well, that's fortunate, at least.'
Anyone could see that the White Knight was a better conversation partner than a noble daughter who was clearly a stranger to logic. Even if he was a time bomb.
Laurent looked at me.
"How much time is left?"
"I don't know for certain, but probably not much. The scattered Woodmen will come swarming back soon."
"Are they currently pursuing another party?"
"Probably. And after they find them, they'll kill them."
At this, Laurent fell into thought.
"Those red Woodmen...... they passed by without attacking us. There must be some condition for attacking."
"Right. The party being chased now probably killed far more Woodmen than either of us."
This was a little unexpected even to me.
Actually, I'd thought the White Knight's side was the party that had killed the most Woodmen.
'Then again, maybe it wasn't that strange.'
Woodmen are weak Magical Beasts.
Compared to other Magical Beasts of the same level, they clearly are.
Even a relatively weak party can hunt them in large numbers as long as they know the strategy.
"I'd like to make a proposal."
I said the most important part.
"Could you leave the search for the tiny creature to us?"
"To you?"
"Yeah."
"Ha!"
The snort was from that brat, so I didn't care.
The problem was that this time, he wasn't the only one who reacted uncomfortably.
"Why should we trust you? You might be planning to use us as bait and run."
The Spiritist, who had been listening quietly, asked in a hostile voice.
I nodded and said.
"'Until the forest's fury subsides, there shall be no door out, and no road back.......' That's the passage from the old text I just recited. Have you forgotten already?"
"How are we supposed to believe that? You might have altered the contents however you pleased."
He'd suddenly hit the nail on the head. It wasn't as if I'd actually altered this part, but I couldn't exactly say that.
Instead, I nodded readily.
"That's a reasonable guess."
"Any rebuttal?"
"Not particularly. There's nothing I can prove."
"......."
"But if you only keep doubting like that, cooperation itself can't happen in the first place."
"......I don't know what makes you so confident. Surely you don't think our combat strength is equal to yours?"
The Spiritist said in a dumbfounded voice.
Of course he wouldn't.
He wouldn't understand why a party of obvious beginners, carrying around lowest-grade crystals, was acting so bold.
It didn't matter.
He wasn't the one I needed to persuade anyway.
"......."
The final decision-maker remained silent through our argument.
Then, as the surroundings gradually quieted and attention naturally turned to him, he declared.
"I'll accept."
"Excuse me?"
"S-Sir Laurent?!"
Murmurs rippled through the group.
Seigrena in particular looked as though her eyes might pop out from sheer outrage.
"However, there is a condition."
"What is it?"
"Let's mix our parties."
"......."
I was puzzled, wondering what he meant, and Laurent continued.
"There is some validity in what Alon said. So wouldn't mixing our parties solve the problem, so that neither side can try anything reckless?"
Alon was the Spiritist's name. And what Laurent was saying meant.......
'He wants us to put shackles on each other.'
If each side had a member of the other party, neither could easily run away.
It was a little unsettling, but in this situation, there didn't seem to be a better solution.
"Fine. So how do we mix?"
"Each side chooses one person."
He was going to go that far?
I'd thought that since I'd made the suggestion, he would take the lead in the selection himself. I was inwardly flustered, but Laurent's expression was calm.
I took my eyes off Laurent and looked over the other party as a whole.
'Their total number is five.'
The party composition was a knight, a warrior, a rogue, a Spiritist, and finally the human wallpaper, Seigrena. Excluding the wallpaper, they were effectively four people.
"......."
Honestly, no matter who came, it wouldn't help much. Finding the 'insect' depended more on persistence and luck than on sharp eyes, after all.
In that case.
"Is that person okay too?"
Without much expectation, I pointed at Seigrena.
As the Spiritist had said, we could abandon the White Knight's party and run at any time.
But to put it another way, the same went for the other side.
In other words, if combat ability wasn't the standard anyway, the person with the highest value as a shackle was best.
"How dare this insolent commoner......!"
"Very well."
"Sir Laurent?!"
Seigrena had already called Laurent's name for the third time.
This time, for some reason, she seemed a little tearful. Laurent's face, on the other hand, was still calm.
"B-but Father said so, didn't he? That you must stay by my side and protect me......! Are you planning to abandon your duty as a knight now?"
"According to what Kaindel said, the most dangerous place in this operation is where I am."
"We're still at the beginning! And if it's you, Sir, you can protect me in any situation......."
"My lady."
Seigrena flinched at the White Knight's calm voice.
"That wasn't all Lord Walter said."
"Huh......?"
"I believe he also said to follow my instructions in the Eternal Forest."
"U-uh....... But."
"I'll rejoin you soon, so don't worry."
"......."
Seigrena's face had gone pale, but even with a face full of complaints, she eventually nodded.
Laurent looked at me again.
"How long do you think it will take?"
"It's hard to say for certain."
"At the most conservative estimate."
"......About ten minutes?"
In the game, the 'insect's' spawn locations were fixed.
Of course, there were dozens of possible spots, but it could be found in two or three minutes.
'It won't be that easy now.'
We'd have to climb the trees ourselves and examine the branches, so it would take at least several times longer than that.
"Ten minutes. Understood."
Laurent nodded again without any particular comment.
"......Tch."
"It can't be helped."
The others looked dissatisfied too, but they largely seemed to accept the decision of Laurent, their party's leader.
"Then what about someone from our side?"
"Hm."
It was the moment Laurent's gaze moved between Kazen and Kria.
"If it's all right with you, may I join?"
Laurent looked at the crossbow strapped to Kazen's wrist and asked.
"Do you know how to use a crossbow?"
"I do."
"Good. Let's do that."
Ranged damage dealers are valued wherever you go.
Laurent's party was clearly lacking in rear support compared to their vanguard, so he must have had his eye on Kazen with his crossbow from the start.
'If the enemy is a Woodman Avenger, even pulling his own weight will be tough.'
Still, he'd be better than Kria.
Since the situation seemed roughly settled, I shifted the conversation to the next topic.
"The moment we run over there, Woodmen will come swarming. Their numbers will gradually grow. So......."
"You said ten minutes."
Laurent said.
"I'll hold out with everything I have."
Laurent could probably hold out without much trouble, as long as nothing unexpected happened.
"Hoo."
I let out a breath without thinking, then looked at the black tree.
"Then, shall we begin?"