A Familiar Cry in the Moonlight Forest
“Grab as many magic stones as you can. Or… would you rather take the mask?”
“Hell no! Hey, Abo! Hurry up and grab them! With these we can finally replace that beat-up staff of yours!”
Kado scrambled up the wall in pure excitement, prying the magic stones free, and Abo, eyes wide as saucers, rushed to help him.
I watched them quietly and thought to myself,
Heh. A few pebbles worth of magic tools can’t even begin to compare to the value of this relic artifact.
A decent enough reward to quiet any grumbling from my teammates, while the real “hidden piece” stays with me.
Well, they were smiling, so it was a mutually satisfying deal, right?
I adjusted my backpack and glanced back at the siblings still frantically stuffing jewels into their pouches.
“Alright, wrap it up. Time to head for the real objective.”
My gaze turned toward the exit of the ruins and the pitch-black forest beyond.
“We’re going after the water of the Moonlight Spring.”
The moment we stepped outside the ruins, a deeper darkness had already settled over the forest. The cold night air brushed my cheeks, and the body that had been burning with tension finally began to complain of heavy fatigue.
“Hmm. We’ll camp here for tonight.”
I found a clearing not far from the ruins’ entrance—open on all sides, easy to keep watch—and claimed the spot.
Kado unpacked without a word of complaint, then sat by the campfire polishing the magic stones he’d collected like precious treasures, grinning to himself. The joy of loot clearly outweighed the exhaustion.
Abo, on the other hand, stared blankly into the flickering flames, brow faintly furrowed as if replaying the dangers of the day.
I turned my back on both of them, leaned against a tree, and took first watch.
The chirping of unknown insects in the dark sounded unusually clear.
And so the first night in the Moonlight Forest slipped by in silence.
Time passed. When the forest’s darkness began to thin and morning sunlight filtered through the leaves, I woke the two who were sleeping soundly.
Thanks to the night’s rest, a subtle confidence had replaced yesterday’s fatigue on their faces—the quiet bond forged by surviving a dangerous ruin together.
We carefully erased every trace of the campfire and adjusted our packs once more. The morning air, incomparably fresher than the night’s, sank deep into our lungs.
I rummaged through Kado’s dimensional pouch and pulled out a few pieces of hard jerky and dried fruit.
A simple breakfast.
“Haa… this again?”
Kado accepted the jerky with a deep sigh.
“I seriously miss the academy cafeteria’s hot soup.”
He grumbled while chewing the tough meat with determination. For all his complaining, he ate every last bit.
I swallowed a sigh of my own and bit into a hard strip of jerky.
This wasn’t the jerky I remembered.
Not the soft snack from a convenience store—
just a salty, tough, rock-hard lump of meat. Closer to preserved protein than food.
My jaw ached with every chew, but there was nothing else, so I mechanically finished my share.
After the quick meal I pointed deeper into the forest.
“Let’s move. We should reach the spring before sundown.”
Kado and Abo both nodded at once. They already looked like a proper team.
The Moonlight Forest under the morning sun wore a completely different face from the night before.
Last night the forest had been a sinister place thick with hostility. Twisted branches under the moonlight had looked like the arms of beasts ready to snatch us, and the damp leaves underfoot had felt like the skin of the dead.
But the forest bathed in morning light was pure mystery and radiance.
Sunbeams shattered through the leaves of the giant trees like golden curtains, and every blade of grass still holding last night’s dew sparkled like tiny jewels. The trees that had been terrifying in the dark now felt like wise elders who had watched over the forest for thousands of years.
“Whoa… I had no idea yesterday. This place is actually amazing.”
Kado let out an involuntary gasp of admiration. Abo, too, was busy drinking in the scenery with glittering eyes.
Even in that peaceful moment I instinctively noted open sightlines, trees good for cover, and useful terrain.
The forest was bright, but let the light lull you into dropping your guard and something could take your back in an instant.
Accidents always happen when you get careless.
Still, conditions were infinitely better than at night. As I scanned the surroundings, my eyes locked onto one spot.
“What’s wrong?”
Kado tensed the moment he sensed the change in me.
Instead of answering I jerked my chin toward the ground at my feet.
“Huh?”
There, stamped into the earth, was a footprint of the same giant magical beast we had seen last night. But this one was different.
A gouge as if a massive plow had scraped the ground.
The soil at the edges was still damp, the wet mud gleaming like exposed flesh.
A suffocating residual mana still hung in the air where it had passed.
This wasn’t last night’s trail. It was a fresh, vivid mark made only a few hours ago.
“…Th-this is… the same footprint from last night, right? That… that thing…”
Kado’s voice cracked with fear.
It’s prowling this area.
I forced down the chill running along my spine and spoke to them in a firm voice.
“Listen carefully.”
The unusual weight in my tone made both Kado and Abo snap their eyes to me.
“Once we get closer to the objective we’ll start seeing other students. When that happens… we avoid them no matter what. No petty fights, don’t even make eye contact.”
“What? Why? We’ve got nothing to be ashamed of!”
Just as expected, Kado bristled. I fixed him with a cold stare.
“There are plenty of other teams wandering this forest besides us. Some of them will be the type who stake their lives on being ‘Academy top rank’ or ‘pride of their house.’”
“…….”
“Imagine getting into a fight with one of those. The clash of swords, the boom of exploding magic. What do you think that racket will attract?”
Kado’s gaze flicked between the giant footprint and me.
I drove the final nail home.
“Making noise in this forest right now is the same as advertising ‘Please come eat me’ to the whole neighborhood. Got it?”
“Tch, fine.”
“From now on we move like shadows. Our only goal is the water of the Moonlight Spring. Don’t get involved with anything else.”
Having issued the new rules of engagement, I turned in the opposite direction from the giant beast’s trail.
Please let the other idiots not poke that thing’s temper.
We had only been walking a short while when a single scream tore through the forest’s silence from far away.
“……!”
Both Kado and Abo instinctively lifted their heads.
A sharp scream whose tail end trembled with desperation.
A sound mixed with despair, terror, and uncontrolled pain.
I pressed my lips tight and listened.
The sound rode the wind, but the direction was clear. Northeast—the path we had just come from.
The problem was the identity of that voice.
“Hey, isn’t that… another Echo Hunter?”
Kado whispered, glancing around.
Abo asked carefully,
“Is it… fishing for us again?”
I turned my gaze on both of them.
Short and firm.
“No. That thing’s nocturnal. It doesn’t move in daylight.”
“Then what we just heard…”
Kado’s voice cracked.
“Was a real person… but that voice…”
My heart began to pound with ominous force.
It was strange. Even amid the bone-chilling dread, something felt familiar.
It was definitely a scream I knew.
No—I didn’t want to think it was familiar.
“So are we… just going to leave?”
Tension colored Kado’s voice.
Abo silently watched my eyes.
I narrowed my gaze toward the source of the sound.
“Yeah, we’ll ignore—”
[…Stop… can’t you just stop!! Aaaagh!!]
Then, carried on the wind, a voice smaller than before yet far clearer stabbed into my ears.
Not a scream—an agonized plea.
“…Ricotta?”
The voice was short and faint, but unmistakable.
The name that flashed through my mind left no room for hesitation. I launched myself northeast toward the sound.
“Kado, Abo! Follow me!”
I smashed through branches and tore through underbrush. Blood-soaked students lay sprawled across the ground.
Familiar faces jumped out among them.
The Academy’s first villain, the one tangled up in the entrance ceremony incident.
Croffle, wearing a vicious grin, had a fistful of the fallen Ricotta’s hair.
“Kahaha, look at you now! Ricotta. I can still see that lofty expression you used to look at me with like I was a bug back at the Academy.”
The tip of Croffle’s blade dug into Ricotta’s pale throat, drawing a thin red line. Ricotta glared up at him with eyes full of terror and hatred, wounds exposed.
As if crushing even that gaze, Croffle let out a mad laugh and raised the sword high.
“Heheh, that face! I like it so much I can’t stand it. I need to ruin it more.”
“Hey.”
It wasn’t a thunderous shout.
Nor a sharp cry.
Just a low, cold call.
Croffle’s laughter stopped. His eyes slowly turned toward me.
I met his gaze straight on and murmured in a quiet voice,
“What the hell do you think you’re doing to my precious heroine.”
Only then did Ricotta turn her head and lock eyes with me.
I was reflected in her trembling pupils.
She’s an important heroine who’s supposed to end up with the protagonist Basil—
and you’re pulling this crap during a practical exam?