Episode 30.

Lucien Bistro

Kazen walked through the dark forest with a grim expression.

His staggering, swaying gait looked precarious, as if he might collapse at any moment.

"Even a grub would be faster than that."

"......."

"I understand how you feel, but could you hurry it up? At this rate, your comrades' sacrifice will have been for nothing."

Kazen couldn't let that slide.

"Sacrifice? You mean abandonment, don't you?"

"Why so touchy? The meaning's roughly the same."

"No. It's completely different. What we did was betrayal. The most despicable act there is—offering up other people as sacrifices to save our own skins."

The Spiritist Alon let out a scoffing laugh.

"It was better than all of us dying there, so we had no choice. In that situation, it was the best option."

"The best option?"

"Yeah. The best option. And you're not the only one who lost companions. We did too."

Alon let out a pointed sigh as he spoke.

"What are we supposed to do when we get back to the kingdom? Go to House Montrier and get on our knees? Ha. The road ahead looks bleak."

"......."

Kazen trembled with rage.

How could they abandon their companions right before their eyes and still talk like that? Kazen simply couldn't understand it.

Instead of Alon, who was beyond reasoning with, Kazen looked at their leader and spoke.

"Sir Laurent. Let's go back, even now."

"......."

"Those people are definitely still alive. They might be holding on, desperately waiting for us to come back."

Snickers came from those around him.

Unlike the others, Laurent didn't sneer, but he spoke in a tone that was even more resolute.

"<Wood Revenge> is the calamity you must be most wary of at the forest's edge. The probability that they're still alive is extremely low."

"......You knew about the calamity?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you share that information in advance—"

"Because I wasn't certain. And I also needed to verify whether you people actually possessed accurate information."

Kazen glared at Laurent as he spoke.

"......You. You planned this from the very beginning."

"Strictly speaking, not from the very beginning. However, I won't deny that I judged this to be the response with the highest survival rate."

"......Survival rate."

The word snagged in Kazen's mind.

"You sound a lot like Kaindel."

"Do I."

"Yes. But Kaindel would never have made that choice."

Laurent's gaze turned toward Kazen.

"Why not?"

"Because that man may seem like he blindly trusts in probability alone, but in truth, he doesn't."

Kazen wasn't the quick-witted type, but that didn't mean he was stupid.

If Kaindel had been solely concerned with his own survival, he never would have entered the forest dragging along dead weight like himself and Kria in the first place.

'He didn't.'

In fact, Kaindel had already saved their lives at their very first meeting.

That was why Kazen could trust Kaindel.

The forest was an incredibly dangerous place, but he'd thought that with Kaindel, they could make it through.

But.......

"......Are you really all right with this, Sir Laurent? When I return to the kingdom, I intend to reveal everything I saw here today."

"What? This bastard's insane."

Alon spoke with a furious expression.

"You owe your life to Sir Laurent, and you spout that garbage? You clearly don't grasp the situation. It wouldn't be strange at all if one more person went missing out here—"

"There's no need for that. Once we return to the kingdom, I intend to personally report everything that happened in the forest."

"......!"

Startled, Kazen opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

The strange tightness in his chest came from dimly realizing that everything Laurent had said was true.

'He's not a hypocrite.'

Laurent really would report everything he had done, without omission or embellishment, and then willingly accept the punishment that followed.

But for some reason, that fact made Kazen feel even worse.

"......I don't know about your relationship with House Montrier. What I'm talking about isn't the punishment you'll have to endure after due process."

"Then what?"

"Seigrena seemed to trust and rely on you. Are you truly unaffected by betraying that trust?"

"Of course I don't feel good about it. I feel guilty. I believe I did something that should never be done."

Kazen felt hollow.

At the same time, he realized why he had kept feeling so uneasy facing this man.

"That's a lie."

"......."

"You don't harbor even a speck of regret. If the same thing happened again, you would act exactly as you did today. Because you're convinced it was the most correct judgment. So even if you're punished, even if you're condemned, it won't affect you mentally in the slightest. Because in reality, you don't think you did anything wrong at all. Like a child who feels no remorse and simply bows his head because the mood demands it......."

Kazen looked Laurent straight in the eye and spoke.

"......You're mentally ill."

It wasn't meant as an insult.

In the literal, dictionary ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sense of the word, Laurent's mental state was not normal.

"This little shit, really......!"

"Alon."

When Laurent shook his head, Alon closed his mouth again.

He looked at Laurent with frustrated eyes.

'......Damn it.'

Alon wasn't the only one who was frustrated.

Kazen had said everything he wanted to say, but his heart was still uneasy.

He was worried about his younger sibling and Kaindel, but the overall atmosphere of this party was suffocating him.

'My magic level finally went up, too.'

Hunting Magical Beasts in the forest rapidly raises one's level of mastery.

At some point, you gain enlightenment and acquire techniques you've never seen before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in your life, and you instinctively understand how to use them.

This is one of the forest's mysteries that has never been explained scientifically or academically.

'Now I can use three more spells, including <Fire>.'

He still couldn't pull his full weight, but he could at least manage half of it.

Kaindel would have been happy about it.

And after thinking about how to make use of him, he would have laid out a course of action close to the right answer.

These people didn't do that.

On the contrary, whenever he tried to do something, they openly scolded him and told him not to do anything unnecessary.

'......So that was the difference, too.'

Between Laurent and Kaindel.

Unlike Kaindel, who tried to make use of everything that could be used, Laurent handled most things alone.

Kazen realized it.

That behavior, that policy of taking on all the unpleasant work himself, wasn't because Laurent was the self-sacrificing type.

He simply couldn't trust other people. Almost to the point of compulsion.

'Should I try running away one more time?'

After coming to his senses, the very first thing Kazen had done was try to return to where his companions were.

He hadn't succeeded. Because Laurent had stopped him.

Even so, Kazen hadn't given up easily, and he'd tried three more times after that.

During battle, saying he was going to the bathroom, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or while everyone was asleep. Naturally, all of them had failed.

"You must not die."

Only now did Kazen realize that those words, too, hadn't come from goodwill.

There must have been some kind of calculation running through Laurent's head.

If Kazen ran away here, and if he went back to where the Black Tree was and ended up dying.......

Then Laurent's judgment would be proven wrong.

The judgment to abandon three people in order to save everyone else.

'......And now I don't even know where we are.'

Kazen looked around.

It still looked like the forest, but somehow the atmosphere had changed from before. It felt darker and damper.

Had they already left the habitat? Hoping to glean even a little information, Kazen listened to the idle chatter of those walking ahead.

"......Come to think of it, how much is left before the Return Magic can activate?"

"Isn't there still a long way to go? It's a highest-grade crystal."

"Look at this country bumpkin."

Alon shook his head.

"With a highest-grade crystal, you can use Return Magic without filling its Exploration Progress completely. Its capacity is dozens of times greater than a low-grade crystal's, after all. Using it before it's full drains the crystal much faster, though, so it's best avoided if possible."

"Aha."

"We call that the <Minimum Exploration Threshold>. It's jargon used only among Delvers, though."

Laurent took out his crystal, checked it, and said,

"We're not far from the Minimum Exploration Threshold. If we register just a few more discoveries, we should be able ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to activate Return Magic."

"That's a relief. Then let's set up camp at the <Return Point> just up ahead, and use that as our base of operations......."

Kazen grew anxious.

There really wasn't much time left now. At this rate, it seemed like he really would abandon his younger sibling and return to the kingdom alone.

'What do I do?'

It was while Kazen was racking his brain desperately.

"Hm? I smell something delicious."

One of the party members, a warrior, sniffed the air and said that.

"A delicious smell?"

"Yeah. It's similar to the red wine steak I had at a restaurant a while back......."

"This bastard's talking nonsense. Has your nose gone crooked?"

"No, I'm serious."

The moment the warrior spoke in an aggrieved voice, Laurent pointed ahead.

"There's something over there."

"Uh......."

In a somewhat spacious clearing, there was a food cart.

"......."

Everyone was struck speechless by the sudden sight.

Even looking again, it really was a food cart.

It looked like a wheeled stall converted from a wagon, with tables and chairs that seemed carved from wood arranged around it.

So, the overall appearance was like.......

"......A restaurant?"

"Seems that way, doesn't it?"

The party stared at the sight in disbelief, while Kazen felt a strange sense of unease.

The tables that looked carved from wood,

and the chairs. Their coloring was reddish overall, and somehow it looked familiar.

That was the moment.

"Ah. We have customers."

A man appeared from behind the food cart.

He was a handsome man with a neat appearance and elegant features.

He was dressed in a crisp suit that didn't fit the jungle-like forest at all, and like a waiter, he even had a white handkerchief draped over his hand.

Overall, he gave a likable impression. Except for his snake-like narrow eyes.

"You customers are quite fortunate. We just opened, as it happens."

"Opened?"

"Yes. I sincerely welcome you to <Lucien Bistro>."

The man spoke with a beaming smile.

"What would you like to eat?"