Chapter 27
Since Cedric moved after saying that, I just pouted once and followed him. As I glanced back at the corpse left behind us, one question came to mind.
“They said the monsters here have become fierce recently. What’s the reason? If it’s recent, that means they weren’t like this originally, right?”
“Well. I don’t know exactly either, but… usually when they become fierce only during certain periods, there are a few reasons for that.”
“Reasons?”
“Yeah. Like when it’s time for their new master to be born, or when there’s a spawning season happening among members of the same species within a certain area. Or they could be in the middle of territorial disputes.”
“Hmm.”
So in other words, they become fierce when they have something to protect or when it’s a situation related to survival.
I usually wasn’t very interested in monster studies and neglected it, so I didn’t know this fact.
How long did we walk?
We finally arrived at the spring.
I recommended that Cedric wash first, then leaned against a nearby tree to sit and take a short rest.
Actually, I wanted to go far enough away that I couldn’t hear the washing sounds, but Cedric had advised me not to get too far away, and I was also scared, so I stayed as close as possible.
Thanks to that, we were at a distance where conversation was possible if we raised our voices a little.
“I’ll have to wash the clothes and dry them by the campfire while wearing them.”
“We have no choice since we don’t have spare clothes.”
“Should I just go naked?”
“…Are you crazy? Stop joking and wear your clothes properly.”
Soon I felt someone approaching nearby and glanced back. Fortunately, it seemed to be a joke as he was wearing clothes, though they were wet.
“Your turn.”
“Okay.”
Taking my turn, I headed to the spring and quietly confirmed that Cedric was standing behind a tree before quickly taking off my clothes.
It’s embarrassing to be completely naked in broad daylight in a place like this. Still, washing off the dirty things in the cool water made me feel alive.
‘I should wash my clothes a bit too…’
As I put my clothes in the water, I looked behind me again. Cedric, who had been behind the tree, had disappeared at some point. It seemed like he was wandering around picking up something from the ground, but he was too far away to see clearly.
‘He told me not to go far away.’
It was still within sight distance so there probably wouldn’t be any trouble, but I felt restless for no reason and was about to quickly wash my clothes when—
Giggle…
I heard a small laughing sound nearby.
Drawn by it, I unconsciously looked up, and was so startled by what appeared right in front of me that I fell backward.
“Whoa!”
Something small that faintly emitted light was flying around, flapping two pairs of translucent wings.
I was so surprised that I didn’t have time to properly identify what it was and just screamed while crouching down. Soon I heard Cedric rushing over from behind me.
“Eddie! What’s wrong?”
Only then did I look up again.
Whatever had been in front of me was gone.
‘What, what was that?’
Did I see something that wasn’t there because I was tired? If it wasn’t a hallucination… I don’t really want to imagine beyond that.
Just as goosebumps were rising along my spine—
“Eddie?”
Cedric called my name again.
I belatedly covered my body with my wet clothes and turned my head. Behind the feelings of surprise and commotion, an awkward sense of reality came rushing in.
“Ah! I’m, I’m fine! Go back.”
“What happened?”
“It was nothing. I’ll tell you later.”
Crouching forward, I desperately signaled with my whole body for him to ‘get away from this spot.’ Cedric seemed to linger near me for a moment before turning back.
The surroundings became quiet. Only after feeling Cedric’s presence completely fade away could I let out a sigh of relief.
‘Let’s finish quickly and go back to the cabin…’
Being alone made me nervous that I might see something strange like before again, so I quickly put my clothes in the water and washed them.
Since servants usually do laundry for me and I’d never done it myself, my skills were quite clumsy.
‘I guess washing them roughly like this will do.’
Finally, I wrung out the water and put them back on. It felt unpleasant being damp, but I thought it would be fine if I dried them well somehow.
‘It’s fortunate that the weather isn’t too cold here.’
When I moved toward the tree, Cedric, who was sitting again, looked at me.
While I stood there awkwardly, he took the first step toward the cabin, and soon asked me as I followed behind:
“So what happened earlier?”
“Ah. Well, I saw something strange…”
“Something strange?”
“Yeah. A bug this big? An insect?”
I estimated the size roughly with my fingers.
“Something with wings suddenly appeared in front of me and startled me. I think its body faintly glowed. I also heard human laughter… though I might have misheard that.”
Does it sound like a ridiculous story?
I stopped explaining and sneakily checked Cedric’s reaction. But surprisingly, Cedric seriously stroked his chin and offered one hypothesis.
“Maybe… it could have been a spirit.”
“A spirit?”
“Yeah. A forest spirit.”
“Forest spirits aren’t normally visible to human eyes.”
“That’s true, but as I mentioned earlier, when it’s time for a new master to be born, the monsters in that territory become sensitive. If we entered this forest during the time when this forest’s spirit king is being born, it could mean that the forest spirits who need to drive out intruders have started becoming visible.”
In other words, it was a ‘threat’ or ‘warning.’
“Do spirit kings also become masters of monsters?”
“Yeah. Spirits are also classified as monsters taxonomically.”
I shrank back feeling scared for some reason.
“Cedy, have you actually seen spirits before too?”
“No. That’s why I’m only speculating.”
“I see. But that sounds quite reasonable. It did have wings, but it didn’t really feel like a bug or insect.”
We arrived at the cabin. We went to where we had lit the fire to warm our bodies and dry our wet clothes as much as possible.
Since both our shirts were white, it was a bit embarrassing that we could see each other’s skin showing through palely, but as they gradually dried, it became okay.
I was standing across from Cedric with the fire between us, drying my body, when I continued the conversation we had been having earlier.
“Then… if what I saw was really a spirit, are those spirits very hostile toward us? Did they really appear to harm us?”
“Hmm. How did it feel to you?”
“Well, I’m not really sure…”
Actually, I didn’t sense such signs. But this time Cedric came running quickly and they might have just retreated because of that, so it was hard to be certain either way.
“Don’t worry too much. I’m right here with you.”
“Mm-hm.”
“I should also make some temporary weapons to use for a while.”
“How?”
“There are plenty of trees, so I’ll carve them to make weapons.”
“Oh, good.”
Having weapons would definitely be good. We didn’t know when or how the spirits might attack aggressively, and even if not, this forest was teeming with sensitive monsters.
‘Until we leave this forest.’
When will we be able to leave this forest? We will be able to leave, right? I’m worried about Cedric’s condition too. Various anxieties crept up and made me feel urgent again.
“Cedy, should we go look for a way out?”
“Yeah. Our clothes are almost completely dry too.”
Cedric answered while checking the state of his clothes once. I soon left the cabin area with Cedric to wander around the forest, and also casually brought up the topic of his rut.
“You know.”
“Hm?”
“About your rut…”
I hesitated to speak readily and sent a glance toward Cedric. Then he received my gaze with a calm face as if it was fine. I also hesitantly opened my mouth.
“You can’t know in advance when it will hit, right?”
“Right.”
“It will subside on its own as time passes?”
“It will subside. However… when it’s not controlled with medicine, if the urges aren’t properly relieved, the symptoms might continue for quite a long time.”
“I see.”
At least it’s somewhat fortunate that it will subside.
“Then shouldn’t I know in advance what to do and how to handle it when that time comes? If we don’t know when it will hit, it could be today or tomorrow for all we know.”
We can’t even find a way out right now.
“…That’s true.”
He looked at me steadily with calm eyes, then drawled out his words mysteriously…
“What do you think I’ll ask you to do for me?”
After answering like that, he turned his gaze forward again.
“…Huh?”
I had been planning to put our heads together to devise countermeasures like giving a signal at the right time for me to go outside… I was flustered by the unexpected statement with subtle nuances.
After stammering, I missed the timing to continue the conversation and the silence grew long. That conversation ended ambiguously.
“The sun is setting. Let’s return to the cabin.”
“Ah, uh, okay.”
Cedric took the first step toward the cabin and I hurriedly followed behind him. In the end… another day was passing without us being able to establish any real countermeasures.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
