Episode 20.

Wood Revenge I

"Sir Laurent."

"What is it?"

"Do you truly trust that man?"

Laurent raised his head at his companion's words.

"A strange question, Alon."

"Is it? I can't bring myself to trust him. That man, Kaindel, is clearly hiding something."

"Is that intuition?"

"......Well, yes."

The Spiritist Alon shrugged.

"Intuition matters. In a place like this, at a moment like this, even more so."

"In that case......."

"But in a situation like this, something matters even more."

"What is that?"

"Sensing the other person's sincerity. Either way, I felt a desperate resolve from that man Kaindel. A will to survive, I mean."

Alon snorted.

"Isn't that a mindset every living creature has?"

"True. So what matters is how a cornered man acts. Kaindel seemed quite level-headed even in this situation. I didn't get the sense he was spouting lies out of fear. That's why I judged him trustworthy for now."

Laurent's gaze moved past Alon's shoulder.

"Isn't that right?"

Kazen swallowed dryly.

"......Yes. Kaindel is a remarkable person. He knows the forest well, and he always made quick, accurate decisions. If it weren't for his help, we would be—"

"Anyone listening would think he's some veteran Delver who comes and goes from the forest depths."

Alon cut Kazen off with a sneer.

"There's nothing more pathetic than a bunch of amateurs who barely loiter around the outskirts puffing each other up."

Kazen clenched his teeth.

"......I certainly am a novice as a Delver, but my eye for people isn't poor. Kaindel is special."

"Special? Hah. The longer you do this work, the less you use that word. You can only say that because you've never actually met a truly special person."

As he spoke, Alon's gaze turned toward the White Knight.

Laurent understood the meaning of that look, but he cautioned his companion in a calm tone.

"That's enough, Alon."

"Ah. Was I too much?"

"Just because it's the outskirts doesn't mean the forest should be dismissed. For one thing, this disaster itself is clearly a situation we've never experienced."

"That's true."

"First, I'd appreciate it if you respected my judgment in forming an alliance with these people."

Alon shook his head theatrically.

"If Sir Laurent says so. I'm sorry for making the atmosphere strange for no reason."

"No. It was necessary."

Laurent truly thought so.

He knew well how dangerous it was to let discontent quietly build.

At least Alon had given voice to the accumulated discontent once, so some of the unease among the others should have dissipated.

Whooosh—

At that moment, a wind blew in—a warm breeze that suited neither the forest's atmosphere nor, above all, the season.

"......."

Alon blinked, listening to the spirits' whispers.

"Sir Laurent."

"Right."

The White Knight drew his sword at his companion's signal.

"Everyone, prepare for battle."

* * *

After sending the signal, I sprinted immediately. Checking behind me, Kria and Seigrena were keeping up quite well.

She ran well for a noble...... The thought crossed my mind, but was I underestimating her too much?

Rrrrrrumble......!

The moment I had that idle thought, the whole ground shook, and numerous vines burst out from beneath the surface.

"Ah!"

At that moment, I heard a crash, and Seigrena fell. It looked like her leg had caught on a growing vine.

"Wh-what are you doing? Hurry up and help me up......!"

"......."

"Are you listening? If you're thinking of leaving me behind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠here......."

She was throwing one damn fit after another.

I grabbed Seigrena by the scruff of her neck and hauled her up as I spoke.

"Why are your clothes so big? And what's with that glove? Why are you only wearing one?"

"Sir Laurent gave me this...... No, wait, what business is it of yours what I wear or how I wear it?"

"Can't you see you're causing delays? If you're up, shut up and run!"

I ran, swinging my scythe.

The vines were tough, but not impossible to cut. That was because they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had just burst out of the ground and hadn't properly hardened yet.

"H-hey, commoner! Something's weird!"

Weird?

"Th-the vine stuck to my leg like it's alive! Ugh, uuugh. It feels disgusting......! Hurry up and pull it off!"

"For fuck's sake....... Deal with it yourself!"

We were being delayed far too long by a few vines.

Laurent's side might have already started fighting.......

'I should assume the timer has already started.'

Meaning ten minutes from now.

Ignoring Seigrena's whining, I kept sprinting, and we finally reached the Black Tree.

"The tree. Can you climb it?"

Different answers came back to my question.

"How could I do something so vulgar?"

"I can climb it."

That was fortunate, at least. I'd considered the possibility that neither of them could. If that had been the case, I'd planned to throw them up.

"Kria. Go to the spot I told you about and look for the 'Blue Branch.'"

"Blue Branch? I don't really see anything like that......."

"It'll be camouflaged. When someone gets close, its color will show. It's sensitive to body heat."

Since Laurent wasn't here, I gave more specific information.

Fortunately, Kria, who had seen me like this often, nodded without any particular suspicion.

"Got it."

"I'll tell you the location. You need to memorize it in one go. Can you do that?"

"Yeah."

"Good. And as for you......."

I looked at the dead weight as I spoke.

"You can check every branch within reach at the base of the tree."

"......."

Seigrena reluctantly gave a tiny nod with a sour expression.

Her eyes work well enough, so she should be able to manage this much.

Since there was no time to confirm, we climbed the tree right away.

"Sylph."

Whooosh.

Correction. I alone climbed the tree. Kria's body floated up lightly, hovering faintly.

Slightly dumbfounded, I asked.

"It could carry a person too?"

"Originally it couldn't....... But after coming to the forest, my bond with Sylph deepened."

Her skill level must have risen along with her level.

From the look of it, someone around Kria's weight seemed to be the limit.

"Then I'll leave the upper section to you. You remember the spots I mentioned earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Hurry."

At that moment, the faint roar of a Woodman echoed from far away.

'It's started.'

How long could Laurent really hold out?

There was no point thinking about it now.

Suppressing my impatience, I quickly checked the places where the 'Blue Branch' had been in the game.

'Not here.'

The hope that maybe, by some stroke of luck, I'd find it in one or two tries...... vanished in an instant.

I wasn't that lucky a guy to begin with, and even less so in a decisive situation like this.

'There are twenty-seven places where the Blue Branch can be found.'

Nine in the upper section Kria was handling.

Twelve in the middle section I was handling.

And finally, six in the lower section within Seigrena's reach.

'Damn.'

Not here either.

I'd already checked ten spots, and still no sign of the Blue Branch, the master of the forest.

How much time had passed?

It felt like five minutes had long gone by. My palms were damp with impatience.

"H-hey, commoner!"

Seigrena's voice snapped me back to my senses.

"What? Did you find it?"

"There's a fruit at the end over there! Isn't that the tiny creature?"

"......."

As if.

Irritation flared for a moment, but come to think of it, I hadn't explained about the fruit to them.

That was tied to the sacrifices.

"I said branch. Do those look like branches to you?"

"You never know...... Hey! Don't ignore me!"

I ignored Seigrena's shout and kept thinking.

Please don't tell me we're going to find it at the very, very end.......

That thought became an ominous certainty after I'd checked every spot in the middle section.

'Nothing.'

Nothing in the middle section. The lower area was small enough that she would have checked it all already, so now there was only one left.

"Kria! Did you find it?"

An answer came back from above right away.

"I don't think it's here......?"

"What? Did you check properly—"

Did you check properly....... The words rose to my lips, but I forced them back down.

Kria was thorough with her work. Kazen, maybe, but at least I'd never seen her be careless with a task she was given.

'Did I miss it?'

I couldn't say for sure that I hadn't. But there was no time to start over from the beginning now.

"Commoner!"

At that moment, the shrill voice pierced my ears again.

"What now?"

"What kind of attitude is that toward a noble? In the kingdom, you wouldn't even dare look at—"

"Enough. Get to the point. There's no time."

"......Hmph. There's another weird thing here."

That damn "weird thing."

"If you're planning to spout nonsense again—"

"The branch! I found it!"

"What?"

Seigrena reached toward the branch—

And at that moment, the branch squirmed and changed color.

"Look! It's right this time, isn't it? Not nonsense, right? The color's a little different, but it's a special branch!"

Seigrena, who had been gloating, deliberately tilted her head and asked.

"But it doesn't really look blue. What do I do with it?"

I let out a low groan as I looked at the branch's color.

"......An ashen branch?"

What now?

I racked my brain desperately, but nothing came to mind. That meant a situation even I didn't know about had occurred.

'Tch.......'

I felt a curse rising.

"What do we do? Just cut it? Or......."

"Hold on."

"What? Hey! Can't you see Sir Laurent is fighting right now? Is this the time to take it easy?!"

I could see perfectly well.

And I knew that even the White Knight wouldn't last long.

'Less than a minute left now.'

I didn't know. Maybe the situation was far more urgent than that.

But being pressed for time was no reason to rush a judgment. That would be the worst possible move.

"Hoo."

I let the heat in my head out in a sigh.

Blue Branch and ashen branch.......

What's the difference? Was there any other hint? Maybe there was something I was missing.

'Damn.'

I didn't know what it was right now. In FoS, there would definitely be a clue, but nothing came to mind.

"Hey! Should I just cut this?"

Then Seigrena spoke to me again.

Irritation surged at her still not grasping the situation.

"What would you do by cutting it recklessly? The color is different, for one thing."

"So what if the color's a little different? What, is the effect going to be the exact opposite if you cut it? And anyway, we're all going to die at this rate, so shouldn't we do something?!"

Those words jolted me slightly awake.

Of course, it wasn't that her logic-free jab had swayed me. One word had caught my attention.

"Exact opposite?"

Hearing that, something came to mind.

「At last the Ash Moon was driven out, and the Frost Sun rose.」

What flashed through my mind was the first line of the old text.

A part that was abrupt and so isolated that I hadn't particularly mentioned it to Laurent either.

And the old text had described the Woodmen as <Sun Worshippers>.

'The tree and the sun.......'

I knew this wasn't the time. But I kept reasoning frantically.

First, the tree.

To a tree, what is the sun?

Naturally, it is the mother of all things, an object of endless worship. No tree can exist without the sun.

'Then what about the moon?'

I didn't need to think about the moon's astronomical properties or its effects on the ecosystem. In these vague words from an old text, what I needed to focus on was symbolism.

"The opposite of the sun......."

Suddenly, the Woodmen's traits came to mind too.

They barely move at night, but that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠also means there are times when they do move. When I played the game, I'd considered it a random event determined by RNG, but what if that wasn't the case?

'If they could only move on days when dark clouds hid the moon.'

......At last the Ash Moon was driven out, and the Frost Sun rose.

It didn't mean that actually happened. It was probably a metaphor for a fight between worshippers.

In other words—

What the old text meant was that long ago, there had been beings who opposed the Woodmen.

'No way?'

A possibility flashed through my mind.

I wasn't certain of anything, but I had no more time to deliberate. Now was the time to trust the bare minimum of evidence and commit.

"Hey! Hurry up and say something! What are you going to do if Sir Laurent gets hurt because of this?! Let's just smash this stupid branch and see ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what—"

"It's the opposite."

"What?"

"We don't smash it. We protect it."

The branch was probably a friendly object.

I didn't know for sure, but wasn't it something like a parasite eating away at this giant tree?

'If so.......'

I revised my assessment.

From that point on, protecting this branch would be the top priority.

That would be the new strategy for <Woodman Revenge>.