Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Forest of No Return (3)
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The end of the greenery was nowhere in sight.
At some point, the underbrush had grown from dense to impenetrably thick. Saplings, weeds, vines, nameless flowers, and buzzing insects tangled together in a chaotic mess, casting deep, humid shadows amid the wild foliage. It felt like stepping into a landscape painted by an obsessive artist who had slathered the canvas without restraint.
Even hacking through the vines with axe and blade made it hard to find solid footing. Every step forward scratched their skin with thorns and thistles. Goblin grass and sticky seeds clung to their clothes in clumps. Both men's garments were long since soaked with sap.
Last night, they had barely found a small clearing to camp in. Up until then, Kadim hadn't said a word. They had come this far, so turning back wasn't an option anyway, and he trusted the merchant to know the way.
But even as the sun set on the second day, no exit from the forest appeared.
At this point, he couldn't help but ask.
"Hey, merchant."
"Y-Yes... sir."
"Did you really bring us the right way? We're still in this damn forest—something's off."
"Y-Yes, well, uh, that is..."
Duncan, already hunching his shoulders dejectedly, shrank even smaller. His lost eyes darted through the unbroken wall of foliage.
Duncan had agonized all day. It felt like they'd taken a wrong turn, but how was he supposed to bring it up? Yesterday's events made it even harder...
'Agh, I should've just kept quiet... Be grateful my head's still on my shoulders and not poke at it...'
Regret had come too late, and speaking up now was even later. But he couldn't drag it out forever, so Duncan hesitantly opened his mouth.
"...I'm sorry, sir. It seemed like the right path, but I guess not. By now, we should've reached the border plains..."
"..."
In this world, borders weren't lines but points. Border posts stood at intervals to watch the surroundings, leaving the rest inevitably empty.
Naturally, less important areas had wider gaps between posts. Their plan had been to cross a brief stretch of woods into the loosest gap in the plains.
But they had stumbled into this bizarrely vast forest instead, throwing everything off. Kadim narrowed his eyes and nodded at the map.
"Spread out the map, merchant. Is there a forest this big around where we entered?"
"...N-No, sir. There isn't."
"..."
"The closest one's Twin Winds Forest up here—small enough to cross in a day... The only place that takes two days and still no end is the Great Primeval Forest in the south, where the elves are said to hide..."
The Great Primeval Forest was nearly a full handspan away from their starting point on the map. Accounting for scale, that meant hundreds of kilometers at least. Even a giant lost for days wouldn't veer that far off.
That left only a few possibilities.
They were lost, circling the same spot.
"We're not looping the same area, sir. Your axe marks are everywhere we've been..."
Or the merchant's map was faulty.
"Ugh, it's not some cheap rag—this cost two thousand luden in a major city, sir! Even imperial trade caravans use it!"
Or a new forest had sprouted up.
"This map's only three years old, sir. No way a forest this size popped up since then."
Or, if not that...
"..."
...whatever the case, they needed to escape this forest fast.
They had to scout before it got darker. Kadim ordered the merchant to climb a tree and look for any signs. Feeling guilty, Duncan obeyed without complaint, wriggling up the trunk and branches.
"Oh? Smoke, sir! Someone's got a fire going over there!"
"Good. Let's head that way, then..."
-Shreek!
Suddenly, something shot up from the ground with an enraged hiss.
Kadim snatched it reflexively. Then tore it apart without hesitation.
Tssshk!
Shedding scales, sagging hide and flesh. The arm-thick snake split in two like a sausage. To avoid any death throes biting his arm, Kadim flung the head half to the ground.
That's when something bizarre happened.
"...!"
A tail sprouted wriggling from the severed stump. The snake that should have been dead shrank but grew more agile. Shaking its forked tail, it vanished into the underbrush in an instant.
"..."
Duncan, who had just climbed down, gave a puzzled look.
"What is it, sir? Something happen...? Eek, what's that?!"
Kadim watched the stump intently for a moment.
No head regenerated from the remaining tail. Satisfied, he tossed it aside.
"Let's go toward the smoke for now. If you spot another snake on the way, tell me, merchant."
"W-Wait, that was a snake?!"
"..."
Kadim clamped his mouth shut and led the way in the direction Duncan had indicated. Terrified of stepping on a tail alone, the merchant stuck close behind the barbarian.
They had lit campfires every night so far, but lighting a fire in the forest at night was extremely dangerous.
Not just because of the risk of wildfire. In the pitch-black forest without a single star, flames shone too brightly. Light that vivid drew in things travelers didn't want: from moths to the flame, up to starving monsters and bandits.
Of course, Kadim hadn't lit them carelessly. The warmth helped in many ways, and monsters or thieves posed no real threat to him.
But whether the same held for this man was questionable. Kadim frowned at the figure by the campfire.
A hunched, protruding back and skeletal limbs, twisted features. He wore a ragged, hole-ridden cloth like a cloak, with tattered bandages wrapped tightly around his hands and feet. His only weapons were a bundle of rusty metal rods—shovels? Staves?
His eyes, lit by the fire, were cloudy like dead fish. Turning his gaze, he revealed teeth missing in patches like worm-eaten corn.
"Nazran."
"...What?"
"My name. Nazran. And yours?"
An introduction that skipped formalities. As Kadim stared blankly, Duncan stepped forward.
"Th-This gentleman's Kadim, and I'm Duncan. He's a sellsword, I'm a merchant. What are you doing here, Mr. Nazran...?"
Nazran erupted in a raspy, wheezing laugh. He raised his cloth-wrapped limbs and continued.
"Can't you tell? Where's a fingerless, toeless hunchbacked leper supposed to go? I've wandered to lonely places without a destination and ended up here."
"..."
"Nice forest. No one to throw stones, curse, or spit... Ah, no one sprinkling salt is a shame. Hard to scavenge otherwise, heh heh heh..."
Hearing "leper," Duncan edged back warily. But Kadim stood firm, gaze dry and impassive.
Nazran met Kadim's eyes with interest.
"You not scared of lepers? Or is it 'cause you're a barbarian? Heard the steppe shamans know spells good against disease."
"Used to be. Not sure now."
"Heh heh, figures. It's been ages since barbarians left the steppes to settle here..."
Duncan tilted his head. He'd assumed this barbarian came from beyond the mountains, ignorant of the world. But not knowing about steppe shamans?
Ignoring the merchant's doubt, Kadim spoke to Nazran.
"I want to hear what you know about this forest. It wasn't on the map."
"Lost, eh? Why come to this backwater? Nothing here but monsters and shady folk..."
"..."
"Ah, aha! You two aren't exactly upstanding either? Fugitives? Heh, stop running like scared rabbits and settle here like me?"
A speck of irritation flickered in Kadim's eyes. Nazran flinched briefly but soon laughed it off.
"Heh heh, kidding... Staring at a poor leper with those ghost eyes—you're one scary bastard. Fine, fine. Before you warn me off, I'll tell what I want. Forest talk..."
"..."
"Hmm, but you expecting it for free?"
Duncan sensed the leper would end up torn apart by the barbarian. He jumped in again.
"Wh-What do you want? We can share some coin or food—not much, but..."
"Got plenty to eat, and what use is coin to me? Pay bugs to fetch honey water? Heh heh..."
"..."
"Heh, I just want... stories. A story for a story seems fair. Got one I've wanted to ask a barbarian..."
His unfocused eyes locked on Kadim. Kadim stared back unflinchingly. Duncan glanced anxiously between them.
Then Nazran's question caught them completely off guard.
"They say barbarian women are great in bed... That true?"
"..."
"Never held a woman—body's too wrecked. But if I got the chance, I'd love a fresh barbarian girl. Bet they'd spread for a leper with enough coin, heh heh..."
A thick vein bulged on Kadim's forehead.
He'd once been a modern man, so his sense of kinship with Atalans was faint. But after countless discriminations in his first playthrough, hatred for such scum had rooted deep inside him. And those words insulted Atala's shamans—his old comrades...
He didn't cleave the man's skull with his axe because he was diseased. Patient or not, Kadim could smash any head spouting such filth equally.
He spared him only because something else piqued his interest.
"...You said your fingers and toes all fell off. So why are those rags so lumpy?"
Nazran smirked without panic.
"Stuffed 'em with straw. Feels empty without 'em—gotta bear it."
"..."
Kadim didn't buy it. He strode forward silently and grabbed the man's raised, rough-skinned wrist.
As he tugged at the wrappings, Nazran twisted his lips grotesquely.
"Heh heh... Gonna check yourself?"
"..."
"...You'll regret it."
Kadim ignored him and unwrapped it.
What emerged was a bouquet of flesh.
Dozens of fingers rooted into the palm, sprouting densely like shade-loving mushrooms.
"Gasp!"
Whoosh—boom!
Duncan's horrified intake of breath and Kadim drawing his axe happened almost simultaneously. The fire-glinted blade arced viciously in a semicircle.
Swoosh—crack!
Thud. The severed forearm hit the ground, freakish hand and all.
But Nazran didn't panic. If anything, he grinned as if it was perfect, standing still.
Tssshk, tzub-vub—
Slowly, two new forearms began regenerating from the stump.
"Told you you'd regret it."
Malice thickened in his once-hazy eyes.
Nazran shed his rags. Behind them, not a hunched back but two extra pairs of arms and one leg hid.
They weren't normal. The tailbone leg was pillar-thick, sturdy support. The arms had extra joints, far longer than human.
Like a mad experimenter's grafted abomination.
Despite the grotesque form, Nazran moved with shocking agility. His six arms snatched the metal rods and swung them ferociously at Kadim.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Kadim dodged back swiftly. A rod grazed his cheek, drawing blood. As Nazran raised for another strike, he sneered raspily.
"No learning curve, barbarian? Toys like that can't touch me, heh heh..."
"..."
"Curiosity beyond your station demands a price. Abandon hope of escape. I'm the hunter—you're just helpless prey..."
Nazran trailed off, stunned.
The barbarian was thrusting axe and blade into the campfire, heating them red-hot.
His perpetual smirk slowly faded. Kadim cracked his neck and murmured dryly.
"Overgrown weeds untouched by man... time to prune the branches."
"..."
"Cauterized in fire, they won't grow back."
The barbarian hefted the glowing weapons, eyes cool as steel.
Flames and iron would trim that twisted mass of flesh.