The Forest of Dread and an Unexpected Offer
My runaway mother once told me that parting ways is just the beginning of a new encounter. So I walked wherever my feet led me. I had no destination in mind. I simply wanted to get away from them. Because if I didn’t, I was afraid that one day I might snap, turn around, and charge at them all by myself. That would be a guaranteed dog’s death. I hated the idea of going out like that, so I retraced my steps and headed back the way I came. As far away from those bastards as possible.
Demonic beasts appeared here and there along the way. It was actually nice to have something to vent on. I pictured their faces and relentlessly targeted the heads. Why does smashing heads feel the most satisfying? Maybe because no matter how tenacious a demonic beast is, once you burst its skull it can’t say another word? I smashed the heads of every demonic beast I encountered. Head! Head! Head!
I wasn’t as strong as that guy, but I was still pretty capable. I could take down most demonic beasts on my own. Today I wiped out another group that had been terrorizing a village. Now it was time to leave again in search of a new target to vent on… or rather, time to find a place to rest.
“Hero, where will you head next?”
The village chief asked me.
“I’m not a hero.”
Hearing the title I once dreamed of made a bitter laugh slip out.
“To me, you are a hero. Does that title not please you?”
“…For now, I plan to follow this road south.”
I’d rest there for a while, then join a new party.
“South, you say… Then you’ll soon come across a large forest. I’d advise against entering it. Even if the journey grows a little longer, it would be wiser to go around.”
“Why?”
“That forest is filled with an ominous aura. No matter how strong a hero you may be…”
His words only sparked my curiosity.
“Don’t worry. I can handle it.”
I pointed at myself with my thumb.
“Aren’t I your village’s hero?”
He watched me in silence, clearly worried, then finally nodded.
“Please be careful.”
It was dawn. I set off south amid the villagers’ farewells. Soon the forest appeared. Just as the old man had said, it reeked of an ominous presence. It was a bizarre place where not only people but even other living creatures were nowhere to be seen. Not even the sound of insects could be heard.
Still, it was more bearable than I’d expected. It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t even set foot inside, like the other hero parties I’d met on the way had claimed. Those people really exaggerate. I’d thought they were a fairly strong party, but they were huge crybabies. Or maybe I was stronger than I realized? Ahaha.
But of course I wasn’t relaxed enough to let my guard down completely. The fact that such a powerful aura radiated from so far away meant the demonic beast here had to be incredibly strong. Cracking its skull was clearly going to take some serious effort.
It’s getting thicker.
I frowned. The sticky aura filled the surroundings. It felt completely different from a normal demonic beast’s presence. It wasn’t just stronger—it was as if the very nature of the energy was different. I kept my hand ready to draw my sword at any moment and advanced cautiously.
The aura grew even stronger. My nerves sharpened, certain that something was about to appear. What came into view was…
A perfectly ordinary cabin.
Why is there a cabin in a place like this?
This forest, swallowed by that dreadful aura, was no place for an ordinary person to live. Maybe it’s been abandoned for a long time?
I approached carefully.
“Excuse me, is anyone there?”
Up close, it looked quite old. When no answer came, I knocked on the door.
“Is anyone home?”
Still no response. Without thinking much of it, I turned the doorknob. With a creak, the door opened. I stepped inside cautiously.
There are signs that someone lives here.
And not just in the past—recently. It looked like someone was still living here. The blanket on the bed was neatly folded, and the tableware was well organized. No dust either. Someone actually lives in a place like this?
Why would anyone choose to live here? Are they out of their mind? Living in the middle of a forest steeped in such an ominous aura. Even if they offered me a hundred gold per month to endure it, I’d—
Wait, a hundred gold? I might actually consider it.
That was too much money to turn down.
“Who are you?”
The sudden voice made me whip my head around. A woman stood there. Her long hair was as black as the night sky, and her golden eyes gleamed like those of a wild beast. And then came the fear and revulsion that swallowed my entire body. It wasn’t hard to realize that the terrible aura permeating this forest was all leaking from her.
Moreover, while radiating such power, she had hidden her presence perfectly. It suggested she was an incredibly skilled expert. What confused me even more was that, in complete contrast to that sinister aura, she was breathtakingly beautiful. She also looked young—possibly even younger than me. How was any of this possible?
Her eyes stared at me quietly. I couldn’t move. The terror that even the slightest movement would tear me into countless pieces gripped my mind.
“How did you get in here?”
I was still dazed, but I barely managed to open my mouth.
“I walked.”
The moment I said it, my legs gave out and I collapsed on the spot.
The overwhelming dread that had been pressing down on me finally reached its limit. My body, pushed beyond its mental endurance, shut down on its own.
The ceiling showed the grain of the logs. I was lying on a bed. I sat up. Something felt strangely empty between my legs. When I looked down, my underwear had vanished and my pants had been replaced by an unfamiliar skirt.
“My clothes!”
“I washed them.”
The terrifying woman sitting on a nearby chair turned her head to look at me.
“Why?”
“You wet yourself.”
Well, in that case I couldn’t complain. Relieved, I stared at her with half-lidded eyes. She didn’t seem to have any intention of killing me right now. If she did, she wouldn’t have bothered washing my dirty underwear. She wouldn’t have laid me down on the bed either.
I barely opened my mouth to say what needed to be said.
“Thank you. I’m in your debt.”
She didn’t reply. I slowly studied her, trying to figure out what she was.
“Excuse me, but are you a demon?”
It was the easiest guess. If she could emit this much power, she had to be one of the highest-ranking demons—close to the Demon King.
But contrary to my expectation, she shook her head.
“Then what?”
“As you can see, I’m human.”
As I can see? Well, appearance-wise, yes, she looked human. But there was no way I could believe that when she was radiating such a sinister, repulsive aura. Besides, I knew there were demons who looked almost identical to humans.
“You’re lying, aren’t you?”
Even while crushed by fear, my mouth kept running. She stared at me for a long time without answering, then finally spoke.
“How did you get here?”
The same question as before. Answering like last time felt like it would really get me killed, so this time I decided to be honest.
“I heard from people that an ominous aura was pouring out of this place. I thought it was caused by a demonic beast, so I came to take care of it.”
She tilted her head.
“Are you a hero? No, you don’t seem like one. A member of a hero’s party, then?”
“I used to be.”
She crossed her arms and glared at me.
“It’s hard to believe you.”
“Why?”
“You’re far too weak to have reached this place by breaking through my aura for such a simple reason.”
She frowned.
“There must be a much more important reason. Something of tremendous value that makes it worth enduring this aura. Who sent you?”
Why doesn’t she believe me? She locked eyes with me. It felt like she was reading my memories. It was as if she were squeezing my heart. After several minutes passed like that, she let out a laugh.
“You’ve been lying to yourself.”
Maybe it had been a very long time since she last laughed, because her laughter was incredibly awkward.
“You were gripped by overwhelming fear the entire way here. You even wet your pants. Crushed by uncontrollable terror, you still managed to reach this place.”
“It wasn’t that bad…”
It had been tough, but that sounded a bit exaggerated. Yet she shook her head firmly.
“I said you lied to yourself. Your subconscious deceived you. When extreme fear threatened to take over your entire body, your brain chose the only option it had left. An ordinary person would have given up halfway and turned back without needing such a desperate measure.”
The corner of her mouth lifted.
“To think the reason you struggled all the way here was simply to hunt a demonic beast. Your nature is closer to that of a hero than anyone’s.”
She burst into loud laughter again. It was so loud I wondered if the entire forest would be swallowed by it.
“Please don’t laugh so much.”
She’d been laughing for too long. Even I, who had endured the fear, had to step in and stop her.
“Ahahaha. Sorry. So, what will you do now?”
“About what?”
Was she going to ask for money since she washed my clothes? She gave no answer.
“…You said you’re not a demon, right? Then I should be on my way.”
“Where is your path?”
“For now, I plan to head south, rest for a few months, and then…”
Once I’d calmed my anger a bit, I would join a new hero party and head north again. I had a decent record to put on my resume, so getting into a new hero party shouldn’t be too difficult. I told her all of this.
“Why?”
“Why what…”
“There’s no need for you to do that, is there? If you were part of a hero’s party, you must have accumulated quite a bit of wealth. There’s no reason to throw yourself into such dangerous work anymore. Haven’t you already done enough for the world?”
She had a point. In fact, I had never once considered it—me, without being part of a hero’s party. It wasn’t because I thought it was my mission, nor was I drunk on a sense of justice. I had simply never imagined myself doing anything else. Me, doing something other than standing on the front lines to slay demonic beasts.
She looked into my eyes with interest. The ominous aura still pressed down on me, but strangely it wasn’t as intense as before. Had I already gotten used to it?
“You’re a fool too.”
For some reason, it felt like she was reading my thoughts.
“I have a proposal.”
I had a feeling something big was coming.
“You. Become my disciple.”