52
Chapter 52
"Mr. Bravil, when did you enter this forest?"
His coat was frayed in several places, and his hair was matted with sweat and dirt.
At a glance, he looked like someone who had been roughing it for more than a few days.
"Well, I suppose it's been about ten days already."
"Ten whole days...."
He had been here much longer than I expected.
The fact that he had only seen a single Monster Tree despite investigating the forest for ten days meant he might have just been lucky.
If that was the case, assuming there were around two of them, we might be able to escape if we were careful.
"By any chance, is it close to Mondak from here?"
"Mondak... If you are talking about the city, you will reach it in about two days once you leave the forest."
We had traveled along the forest path in a carriage for about half a day.
If we came that far by carriage, it would take more than a day on foot.
Besides, there were monsters on the way back.
Why didn't we go around the outskirts like when we headed to Riverton, instead of passing through this kind of forest?
Looking back, it must have been the coachman's decision to make up for the time delayed in the village.
As is always the case with shortcuts, it ended up demanding a heavy price.
I carefully asked Mr. Bravil.
"Then Mr. Bravil... will you go back once you find the missing persons?"
He shook his head and said.
"No, I must solve the cause of the problem. That is the true nature of a pilgrimage."
"Aha..."
...I should probably start distancing myself from this.
We had entered this forest purely by chance and ended up here while running away from monsters.
We definitely ran blindly deeper into the forest out of fear, but considering the slow speed of the Monster Tree, we could have easily outrun it.
Therefore, it was a relatively clear situation where we just needed to slip away quietly when dawn broke.
However, this pilgrim priest seemed to be planning some grand undertaking all by himself.
It was obviously a dangerous task, and there was no reason for me to help.
Even if I was the type to take a loss, this was a level of recklessness that crossed the line.
Fortunately, Mr. Bravil didn't ask us for help.
He probably knew it was too much to ask as well.
"You plan to leave when dawn breaks, right?"
"Ah, yes. I think we will have to."
"I don't know which direction you came from, but it would be better for you to head north."
He pointed towards the north of the forest with his finger.
It was a kinder explanation than I expected.
"Is it safe that way?"
"It is hard to find a safe path in this forest. But the north is at least the shallowest section. The path is also relatively simple."
It wasn't a false hope, but it wasn't exactly comforting either.
It meant that the fact that this forest was dangerous in any direction remained unchanged.
"Then where are you... planning to go, Mr. Bravil?"
He trailed off for a moment.
"If it were up to me, I'd like to guide you all the way out, but I have a place to be tomorrow."
There was a subtle awkwardness in his tone.
A feeling like he was hiding something.
But prying into it would mean getting too deeply involved in his affairs.
I simply gave a short nod.
As long as we could leave this forest, we would be fine.
We chatted about trivial things while carefully dividing the watch, and then lay down on the cold stone floor of the temple with our robes laid out.
It was quiet all around, but it wasn't a silence that brought complete peace of mind.
The situation we were in was still uncertain.
'I hope we make it safely through tonight as well.'
Muttering briefly in my heart, I closed my eyes.
***
"Ugh."
It was the most unrefreshing morning of the journey.
The fatigue still lingered throughout my body, and my energy felt as heavy as my half-open eyelids.
We were still in the middle of a deep forest.
It was a place where anything could happen at any moment.
That alone made me anxious, but the person beside me now was a stranger, a priest I couldn't fully trust yet.
There was no way I could sleep comfortably in such a situation.
I slowly sat up.
The chill from the cold floor still seeped into my back.
In the silence, only the faint rustle of a leaf swaying in the wind could be heard from somewhere far away.
"Are you awake?"
Eileen rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up.
Her voice still held the grogginess of sleep, but her eyes were cautious, as if she recognized the situation.
"How much food do we have left?"
I asked, rubbing the back of my neck which still felt damp.
"Umm..."
Eileen took out a pouch from her waist and carefully rummaged through it.
Right.
We couldn't take everything with us because we hastily fled from the carriage.
We had no choice but to leave behind heavy or low-priority luggage in the carriage.
Luckily, we managed to grab our equipment and weapons.
But we lost most of the items crucial for travel, like the tent, thermal blankets, and rations.
"A few pieces of hardtack and four pieces of dried apple in the pouch are all we have."
Eileen's voice was calm, but the slight gasp at the end couldn't hide her anxiety.
I kept my mouth shut tightly.
If we walked through this forest for a few more days like this, starvation could become a bigger problem.
At this rate, we'd collapse from hunger before the bizarre monsters got to us.
"......Let's share them for now. If it gets really risky, we'll have to hunt."
"Okay."
Eileen gave a small nod.
Crunch.
I slowly exhaled and popped a piece of that dried-up hardtack into my mouth.
My mouth became dry and I desperately wanted a sip of water, but it was time to push through the forest now.
I couldn't hastily use water or mana when I didn't know what would happen or when in this forest.
While I was silently chewing the hardtack, someone's arm quietly entered my field of vision from the side.
"Here, have this."
It was Mr. Bravil.
He offered an old canteen and nodded silently.
"Oh... Water, thank you."
I gave a brief thanks and took the canteen.
The moment I opened the lid, a musty smell pierced my nose, but that wasn't a very important issue in this situation.
The only thing making me hesitate was whether it was safe to trust and drink this water.
Glug, glug.
Thirst was a desire that preceded judgment.
I tilted the canteen back in one breath.
"Phew...."
A sigh of relief that I had been holding back leaked out at the coolness of the water flowing down my throat.
"You must have been very thirsty."
Mr. Bravil sat next to me with a gentle smile.
His eyes gave off a somewhat familiar, yet hard-to-explain feeling.
"Yes. We fled in a hurry... Well, we left a lot of things behind."
"In this forest, a small inconvenience often threatens your life. Sometimes, a sip of water is more precious than gold."
He wasn't wrong.
I nodded quietly, and after letting Eileen drink as well, I carefully closed the canteen and returned it.
"Thank you. Really."
"It is fine. Helping each other is the virtue of a pilgrim."
"By any chance, is there a place nearby to get water?"
"The Black Forest is very humid. Even if you just collect the morning dew well, you will have enough water to drink for a day."
Saying so, he plopped down on the floor and took out a small pouch.
He took out things like tiny mushrooms and pieces of dried roots, and quietly popped them into his mouth.
...Is it okay to eat things like that? No matter how I looked at it, he seemed more like a wild man than a priest.
"Are you leaving right away?"
"Yes. Are you going too, Mr. Bravil?"
"...I should be leaving soon too."
He brushed the dust off his bottom and slowly stood up.
There was no particular hesitation or regret in the way he headed toward the entrance.
Just like someone going to do their next task.
Then, after walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped and turned his head.
"There are things in the world that cannot be judged by the eyes alone."
"Pardon?"
I stopped walking for a moment.
Doubt came first at his words, spoken as he suddenly changed the atmosphere.
He gave a short laugh and slowly opened his mouth again.
"I am talking about the Monster Tree."
"......Yes?"
"On the outside, they are just bizarre tree monsters, but why they were created and what keeps them around until now... depends on things that are invisible to the eye."
Only then did the context connect a little.
He must have wanted to say that it wasn't a problem that ended simply with subjugating the monster.
He was still looking at us as he added.
"Perhaps the two of you stepping foot in here is also due to that invisible fate."
"......For a coincidence, it is a rather uncomfortable fate."
As I said that without realizing it, Bravil chuckled.
Then he immediately turned his shoulders and started walking.
"Now, I will guide you. The north is also rougher than you think. There are tangled root Vines, and it is also the territory of Beasts."
I looked back toward Eileen.
She quietly nodded.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
And just like that, we entered the Forest Path again.
The heavily piled fog, the Dew-covered Leaves brushing past.
And the low breathing sounds of Beasts coming from somewhere.
'Things that are invisible to the eye.'
Those words strangely lingered in my mind.
Mr. Bravil guided us to the path leading to the North Forest.
Where he stopped, traces of human footsteps remained intact.
Rather than a path having been made, it looked more like time had pushed people away.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, we can get our bearings."
I offered a brief greeting. Mr. Bravil nodded and took a look around.
"This forest... is quiet, but do not let your guard down. No one knows what has settled in a forest where people do not go."
Those words sent a chill down the back of my neck for no reason.
He was a more diligent Guide until the end than I thought.
Even though he didn't need to take us any further, he was someone who went out of his way to come to the path and add a word of advice.
"Mr. Bravil... will you be okay?"
"Me? I am fine. My work is not over yet."
There was a strangely solid energy in his short answer.
As a Pilgrim, he truly seemed like someone walking his own path.
"Well then, we will take it from here."
"I hope you have a safe journey. Please be careful. And..."
He took something out from the inside of his Leather Belt.
It was a small, thin Piece of Leather.
Something like a drawing was engraved on the Leather.
"If you happen to go further inside, please remember this."
"What is this?"
"It is the Temple Pattern of the Kalzheim Order. If you see something similar on internal structures or the floor, you can use it as a temporary shelter."
The Pattern of the Kalzheim Order. It was the shape of a giant bird's Wing intertwined with a Staff.
"...Will there be a need for that?"
I asked carefully. He chuckled softly.
"It would be good if there isn't, but the ways of the world always have a way of dragging you in even when you don't want to."
Those words felt strangely eerie.
"I will be going now. May the steps of God reach your adventure."
He didn't say anything more and quietly walked toward the opposite side of the forest.
Soon, his silhouette disappeared, seemingly swallowed by the fog of the forest.
I stared beyond the forest with what I held in my hand for a while, then slowly looked back at Eileen.
"Shall we go."
"Yes."
Carefully, we began to move forward step by step, finding our way through the fallen leaves.
***
Why is the Black Forest called the Black Forest?
Honestly, I was puzzled when I first heard the name.
For a place called the Black Forest, it looked green and full of life.
Sunlight poured warmly through the leaves, and the wind flowed with a pleasant sound through the pine needles.
I thought that maybe the name was just wrong.
However, it didn't take long to find out the reason.
"It's too dark."
"Damn it...."
As we went deep into the forest along the faint path heading north, our surroundings became dark like a cave.
The densely covered trees above our heads completely blocked the sunlight, and before we knew it, a ceiling made of Leaves rather than the sky was covering us.
Even though it was broad daylight, our vision was blurry, and we couldn't even see the ground properly.
The ground under our feet was damp, and even the air was humid and heavy.
It felt like the moisture was clinging to the tip of my nose and digging into my clothes.
Fortunately, it was cool because there was no sunlight, but my body felt increasingly sluggish with every step.
"Should we take out a Torch?"
"No, if we light one here, we'll be targeted immediately."
Lighting a fire in this kind of darkness was no different from walking around with a target hung around our necks.
It's frustrating, but... we have no choice but to adapt.
"I think this is the right-"
"Shh."
Eileen absentmindedly reacted to my words as I walked in front, but I stopped her with a hand gesture to be quiet.
As I listened closely, a strange sound came from somewhere beyond the Leaves.
Crunch, crunch.
It wasn't just a simple footstep, nor was it the sound of a Branch breaking.
It was definitely the sound of something chewing.
We pressed our bodies close behind a Tree and very carefully peeked out.
Something was squirming in the middle of the deep shade between the vegetation.
At first, I wondered if it was a Deer.
The half-crouched figure, the horned head, and the faint shape made it look like one.
But I soon realized it. That was not a living Deer.
The Deer's neck was twisted strangely, and one side of its face was torn off, leaving not even skin behind.
One of its antlers was also tangled in a Tree, twisted, and its eyes were already gone.
It was just that something was attached to the back of the Deer's neck.
"...Bullshit."
I unconsciously let out a low curse.
The figure was crouched on all fours like a Beast, but looking closely, those weren't four legs.
Forelegs that looked like human arms, and bizarrely bent legs trailed limply behind it.
Its back was covered in bumpy protrusions, and small eyes clinging like parasites glinted above the lump-like things on its back.
The mouth - or the place that tore apart its prey - was long and abnormally wide open, as if only the jaw had been pulled from a human face.
The teeth were brutal rather than sharp, and they were covered in rotten blood and fur.
Ghoul. It was the word that popped into my head the moment I saw it.
It was an appearance you'd only see in a Zombie movie... but facing it in reality, its bizarre look made my brow furrow involuntarily.
'Why is something like that in the forest?'
This was definitely different from regular Monsters or wild Beasts.
It was as if... someone from somewhere had intentionally let it loose.
"......Eileen."
I whispered in the quietest voice possible.
"Back up, slowly. Don't think about running, just slowly."
As if she immediately read my eyes, she nodded wordlessly.
But at that moment, as if it noticed us, the Monster jerked its head up.
A green glint flashing from the shade of the forest.
But this time, it wasn't just a reflected pupil.
It was definitely looking our way.
"......Run!"
I immediately grabbed Eileen's wrist and started running.
Behind us, I heard the thud of something throwing its body forward.