Shaneport Forest (2)
The next day.
Lumine and I headed for the entrance, ready to step into Shaneport Forest.
From what we'd heard at the Adventurers' Guild, the place was supposed to be crawling with powerful adventurers chasing easy fortunes, so I'd braced myself for a headache. Yet when we actually arrived, there was hardly anyone around.
I even double-checked to make sure it wasn't some kind of holiday, but no—that wasn't it either.
"There are only about twelve people waiting, at most."
Lumine counted the figures standing ahead of us one by one with her finger, then tilted her head in puzzlement.
She seemed baffled that so few people were trying to enter the only habitat in the world where griffins still lived. I felt the same way. I'd been told four hundred people came and went every single day.
"Maybe some other high-paying request popped up?"
"If that were the case, wouldn't the Adventurers' Guild have told us too?"
"This is the Empire. They might've deliberately kept it from us."
"Mm... that does make sense."
Whether it was because they were afraid of me or not, the people of the Empire clearly didn't hold warm feelings toward me. The soldiers from the legion I'd erased completely had been someone's sons, husbands, fathers. Not that I felt any guilt over it.
While Lumine and I bantered about various conspiracy theories, the iron gate finally shifted. We'd already signed that strange waiver promising we wouldn't hold the Empire responsible for anything that happened inside, so we were allowed straight through.
What could possibly go wrong in there besides griffin-related accidents? Or maybe adventurers beating each other to death?
"Unnie, which way should we go first?"
I stopped in place the moment Lumine did. Looking ahead, I saw two wooden signposts standing before her.
Shaneport Lake (Left)
Shaneport Canyon (Right)
Lake and canyon, huh...
According to the intel we'd bought from the Adventurers' Guild, the canyon wasn't griffin territory at all—it was a natural habitat for wyverns. I had zero interest in anything that was merely dragon-adjacent rather than an actual dragon. Better to stick to the plan and hunt griffins.
"I heard the lakeshore is one of the places griffins show up."
"Then shall we head to the lake first? It'd be nice if a griffin eyeball just happened to be lying around~ ♬"
If something like that was just sitting there out of nowhere, wouldn't it be a trap? The proper reaction would be to run, not casually pick it up.
Anyway, for Lumine—whose only goal was griffins—the canyon might as well have been invisible. I was a little curious myself, but we could always come back after bagging a griffin. No rush.
That said, with so few people inside the forest, the monsters outnumbered the humans by a huge margin. Maybe that was why the monsters didn't seem particularly sensitive to human presence.
"The forest is so quiet..."
"Quiet? It sounds pretty noisy to me."
It definitely wasn't quiet. Between the wind, the animals racing through the undergrowth, and the low growls of monsters, the interior of the forest was actually quite loud.
Lumine, reacting the opposite of me, spun her head this way and that, then tilted it again. Her expression said she had no idea how I could call this noisy.
Could it be because she was a half-elf? Full elves could hear the sounds of living animals, plants, and monsters with extreme sensitivity. Half-elves, mixing the strengths and weaknesses of elves and humans, might have that ability dulled or missing entirely.
"I really can't tell."
"Well, it's not like it's inconvenient or anything, so don't worry about it too much."
I smiled and gently stroked her hair, hoping she wouldn't dwell on how different she was from pure elves. No matter what anyone said, Lumine was still an elf.
On the way to the lake we didn't run into a single person—or even a single monster. I couldn't say for sure it was because of the griffins, but I got the distinct feeling that every animal in the forest was afraid of something.
"Maybe they're scared of the griffins?"
"I don't know... Would the animals that live in this forest really refuse to come out just because they're scared of griffins?"
"Now that you mention it... yeah..."
Living in this forest meant living alongside griffins. If they hid every time they were scared of one, they'd be hiding twenty-four hours a day. Even rabbits—famously timid—don't spend that much time in their burrows. They still hop around outside looking for food. If rabbits can manage that, how could every other animal and monster simply vanish?
This had to mean something even scarier than griffins had appeared.
What on earth could it be?
Wait... could that something be... expensive!?
I really hoped it was something pricey. Though even then, it probably wouldn't outvalue a serpent dragon.
Just then, Lumine pressed herself tightly against my side. I thought she was frightened—until I saw the sly little smile on her face and the look in her eyes that said she already knew the answer.
"Esilly-nim! I figured it out! The thing the animals and monsters are afraid of!"
"W-what is it? I honestly have no idea."
"It's................"
I swallowed hard. Just how dangerous was this presence? Could the Empire have set a trap to kill me? Had Lumine noticed something that important when I hadn't?
I was dying of curiosity...
After I gulped, Lumine's lips parted softly. And the answer she gave was something I never would have guessed—yet it made perfect sense.
"It's.... you, Esilly-nim!"
Just like a little detective in a mystery anime pointing out the culprit, she thrust her index finger straight at me.
".........Me?"
"Yes! The monsters are hiding because of your overwhelming mana! It was the same in the labyrinth before, remember?"
She was right. Monsters instinctively tried to avoid me. There was that saying about sharks avoiding batteries, wasn't there? In the same way, the vast mana I carried probably made me feel like an immensely powerful predator to them.
"So should I try to stop my mana from leaking out?"
"That would probably be better. Even the griffins seem completely terrified."
"Then....... hup.........!"
I clenched my butt cheeks and held my breath. Controlling mana itself was easy enough, but sealing off the mana that leaked out unconsciously was extremely difficult. Mental imagery was key. Close your eyes, focus your consciousness until you can just barely see the flow of mana, then imagine physically plugging every place it tries to escape.
....Phew... finally sealed it.
"Huh? Esilly-nim, Esilly-nim."
"Hm?"
"Look over there. That."
I was still basking in the sense of accomplishment from completely sealing my mana when Lumine pointed somewhere with her finger. I looked—and found myself staring at a situation my brain simply refused to process.
What... is that?
No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't make sense of it.
"Lumine. Is that something that should even be possible under normal circumstances?"
"Umm... I've never heard of griffins following anyone... I mean, they're monsters that eat their own young..."
The scene unfolding before us was this:
A blue-haired woman stood surrounded by griffins in what should have been a desperate situation. Yet the woman at the center of it all looked anything but desperate. Instead, she was leisurely butchering a griffin that lay collapsed on the ground with the sword in her hand—while casually stroking the heads of the griffins surrounding her.
What in the world was going on?
"She's killing and butchering a griffin while petting the other griffins' heads?"
"Is she insane?"
She jumped straight to calling the woman crazy. Then again, anyone watching that would probably think the same thing.
"I think it's more like the griffins are the crazy ones..... uh-oh...."
One of the griffins that had been docilely accepting head pats seemed to sense our gazes and turned toward us. The same creature that had been acting affectionate just a second ago suddenly twisted its face into something utterly vicious the moment it spotted us.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAK!!"
"Hm? What's wrong all of a sudden?"
Even the madwoman who had been petting the griffin like a house pet looked a little startled. She glanced around, met our eyes, and gave a small nod.
"Hey now. I told you to stay quiet until the person who gave permission to bite them to death arrives, didn't I? Be good."
"Kyaaaah...."
"There, there. Good boy. Good boy."
She soothed the griffin—which looked anything but good—by stroking its head, all while using the sword in her other hand to finish cutting the throat of the griffin she was butchering. The whole scene was pure horror.
"Hellooo~ Did you come here to hunt griffins?"
"W-well...."
When was the last time I had felt fear toward another living being? I hadn't even felt it facing a serpent dragon or a hydra, yet just looking at that crazy woman over there sent a little chill through me.
Was she planning to hurt us for seeing that? Killing me would be impossible, but Lumine might be in some danger.
I clenched my teeth hard and balled my hands into fists. Just in case, I started gathering mana into a sphere—
"Would you like one? These kids never disobey me, you know~"
Thud! Thud!
Instead of pointing her sword at us, she drove it straight into the neck of a perfectly healthy griffin standing right beside her.
Green blood, thick as vegetable juice, sprayed everywhere as the griffin collapsed lifelessly.
.....Terrifying.