CH 16

༺ The First Letter (16) ༻

The forest was engulfed in silence. The dark road was covered with leaves, flowers, shrubs, and mushrooms were growing everywhere.

The demonic beasts tend to hide in the shadows of the forest near the end of the ‘Hunting Festival.’ There are rumors that students from the alchemy faculty would form groups to go there. That’s because the place where the demonic beasts are born has a high density of magic particles. That’s why a lot of high-quality materials grow there.

It was an unsullied place and even if it was not, the forest, which was not often visited by people, had a natural feel to it. It also meant that the road had yet to be carved.

Not only animals but also places are tamed by people as time passes. The more frequented by humans a place is, the more the roads are divided and the more friendly to people the place becomes.

No matter how remote it was, if there was a village nearby, there would always be at least one road. Forests are treasure troves for resources. There was no way that nobody in the village would not go in and out of it.

However, this forest, which was located south of the Academy, was an exception. Although the Academy itself did not explicitly control the access, there was no reason for a student to go in and out of the southern forest.

First of all, there wasn’t just one forest within the academy site. Located around the dormitory, there was another forest. There were no beasts and not many people frequented that place, so it was good for going for a walk or camping.

If you wanted to go to the forest, you didn’t have to walk a long way to the south.

And even if they wanted to gather materials, this was the Academy. It was a place where numerous aristocrats gathered, and although the number of commoners wasn’t small, most of them were still children of wealthy merchants.

That meant that to a lot of students, the game simply wasn’t worth the candle. Occasionally, commoners from poor families like Emma went in and out of the outskirts of the forest, but none of the students would travel to the depths of the forest without an escort.

In other words, there was not much traffic in this forest, so of course there would be no roads. Then there was only one possible ending for us.

Seeds of all kinds were covering my and Seria’s uniforms. From seeds that looked fluffy, to spiky one that might pierce if they were to sting you.

Some might call it ‘The Beauty of Nature,’ but as a person who was walking through it, it felt dreadful. If luck doesn’t favor me, I might get caught on a sharp branch and tear my uniform.

As I was walking with a sullen face,I remembered something that Emma said to me a while ago.

– While you may not seem like it, after all, you’re an aristocrat after all

Yeah, I guess she was right. It didn’t feel good to see seeds clinging to my uniform and damp soiling my pants. Emma, ​​a former herbalist, might have burst out laughing if she had seen it.

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A grown man was being a wimp, being afraid of Seria thinking so as well, I kept quiet about it.

Seria was walking without complaints. In hindsight, Seria was already a swordsman with a history of having participated several times in the subjugation of demonic beasts since her childhood. She probably was used to this kind of thing.

But as a senior, I couldn’t show my shameful side to her. I pretended nothing was wrong and called Seria.

“Seria.”

“Yes, Senior… Ian.”

Seria was a little nervous and almost bit her tongue again, but she managed to get over the crisis. At the shame of having stumbled on her own words, her face turned slightly red.

It was an unbelievable change for a girl who had just had a cold expression on her face. In fact, I now knew the reason why she was like this.

The reason she had a frozen look on her face was that she didn’t know what kind of expression she was supposed to make.

There was no need for her to be so nervous, but for now, it seemed that I had no choice but to hope that we would get to know each other a little more.

“Can you feel any signs of life around you?”

“……? Yes, for now I don’t feel them.”

Hmmm, I thought for a moment while emitting that sound.

We had already moved quite a bit towards the depths of the forest. If the demonic beasts were to attack the students, they at least had to be around this area.

Of course, the forest was big. No matter how sharp Seria’s senses were, there still was a possibility that the beasts would pass through that blind spot and attack other students.

But would the beast really do that?

At close range, there were two prey alone. If they want to attack students in the first place, then Seria and I would also be the targets.

The beasts were not very intelligent, with the exception of some who received the title of ‘Named’. They would not deliberately choose a detour for a tasty prey.

Of course, even though I knew all of this, I asked Seria in a serious voice.

“I apologize, but please stay vigilant, and let’s rest here for now.”

“Yes, it is not difficult, but…….”

Seria blurted out the end of her words as if she couldn’t understand why she had to stay vigilant, and why did we venture so deep in the forest just to rest now.

But she soon followed me faithfully. She hesitated and looked like she was going to ask a question, but in the end, she kept her mouth shut.

It seemed to be a choice stemming from the fact that she often stumbled on her own words in our conversations recently. She always tread the line between honesty and rudeness.

After all, she was a fearful woman. I just settled down roughly on a rock located nearby. When I opened my water bottle to quench my thirst, my face and neck got scratched by the leaves.

It was quite an unpleasant experience for me, who was used to living in a civilized world. But I had to get used to it.

From the moment I picked up the sword, I had to be prepared to take the lives of not only the demonic beasts but also of other people . This is because the sword ultimately is a tool born to harm someone.

It was a mindset that my teacher forcibly rammed into my brain while I was going through rigorous training as a child. It would be funny for a man who was going to live a life made up of bloodshed to be bothered by the forest.

At that time, a small sound escaped from Seria’s closed mouth. My eyes naturally turned to Seria.

“Ehm, senior?”

“Yes what is it?”

Seria’s body trembled involuntarily at my coarse reply. It was a subtle tremor that could only be captured by my acute senses. And this also meant that Seria has now earnestly began paying attention to me.  

She seemed to be building her common sense regarding human relationships through me recently. After all, there was no one besides me that she could call a friend, so it was a natural consequence.

So these days, she has been paying close attention to me. To be honest, it was a little uncomfortable.

Isn’t she overestimating how great of a person I am? However, Seria’s current state resembled that of a young child who had just come to the world.

An innocent girl full of curiosity and naivety. At least when it comes to human relationships, these days must have been full of events that she was experiencing for the first time in her life.

So, she is trying to act cautious. To be honest, she didn’t need to be so careful.

The only thing I can do as a senior is to be patient and wait.

After a while, Seria asked me carefully.

“Ehm, can I ask you one thing?”

“Of course it’s okay. It’s natural for a junior to ask something to a senior.”

It wasn’t even something special enough for her to ask permission, I added, and came back to moistening my dry throat with the water from my bottle.

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I shouldn’t drink too much. Because I had to be prepared for an emergency. I then gave up the idea of continuing to drink.

After I earn some money, I’ll have to replace this sack with a bag enchanted with space warping magic. However, since anything with a semi-permanent magic engraved was expensive, that day seemed far away.

Watching me drink water from the bottle without saying a word, Seria seemed to have decided that it was time for her to ask the question. Her charming lips carefully opened up again.

“Why did you team up with me?”

A direct and straightforward question. I closed the lid of the bottle and slowly turned my gaze to Seria.

Seria’s eyes seemed to have settled down, but they were shaking slightly. That subtle trembling was the only way to read Seria’s emotions.

After losing my memories, even I, whose senses have become sharper,  was able to notice her habit only after spending a few days with her.

Failing to read those signs, people gave her the nickname ‘Yurdina’s Loner.’

Now that I think about it, that was pretty rude. I didn’t even know whether she was concerned about it.

For some reason, I couldn’t leave it alone. At first I thought it was simply a senior’s cheap compassion towards his junior but at some point, I couldn’t treat her like a stranger.

But I couldn’t voice my thoughts out loud. It was embarrassing and there was no need for it.

“I just felt like it.”

Just those words were enough, and an embarrassed look crossed Seria’s face, who was waiting for my answer with a slightly nervous expression on her face.

“Uhmm, didn’t you and your friend have prior plans to team up?”

“At first we did.”

Seria’s eyes became even more confused at my contradictory answer. She asked again.

“But why… … .”

“I already told you, I just felt like it.”

As I said this, I smiled and met Seria’s gaze head-on. Seria’s body trembled.

“Celine is my friend, and you are my friend as well. Do you need a reason to form a group with your friend?”

To be honest, the main reason was Seria’s extremely lonely eyes at the time, but I didn’t say that on purpose not wanting to hurt her pride.

Seria seemed even more perplexed by my simple explanation. She paused for a moment, then hesitated, then bowed her head to avoid my gaze.

Her small mumble pierced my ear.

“Fri-Friend… … .”

It was a word full of unfamiliarity and confusion, as if she had heard it for the first time in her life. Now that I think about it, it might have been the case.

I looked at Seria like that and asked.

“Am I the only one who thought so? It’s okay to call each other ‘friends’, right?”

“Th-Th-That’s right… But, I…….”

Seria stuttered in embarrassment, then immediately turned red and lowered her head. When such a pretty girl did that, even that became something worthy of being immortalized into a painting.

It was a sight one should see alone. With that in mind, I waited for Seria’s next words.

But Seria’s next words were beyond imagination.

“…… What does one do with their friends?”

I had no choice but to harden on that question.

Seeing my absurd gaze, Seria hesitated, seemingly embarrassed, and then avoided my gaze. What does one do with their friends?

Hmm, you hang out together; you go out to play; you eat together. There was no standardized answer. But realizing that Seria didn’t really know, so I had to squeeze my brain for a while.

How do I answer? No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with an appropriate answer.

“Hey, it’s similar to what we’re doing now. The two of us talk, go for a walk together, and share secrets with each other… just spending time together makes it precious.”

“Spending, Spending time… Oh.”

Seria’s eyes widened as if something flashed through her mind. She asked me in a serious tone.

“Come to think of it, I heard that close friends also exchange gifts.”

“Well, sometimes they do.”

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It’s not, but it isn’t wrong to say that such exchanges do take place, so I nodded my head and agreed. Then Seria’s expression became more serious.

“That, then. In return for being friends with me, Senior Ian, do I have to give you something?”

“…… What?”

I was so shocked I couldn’t help but ask, but Seria seemed to have arrived at that conclusion with all her will. She muttered in bewilderment.

“I-I don’t have anything right now… When we go back to the dormitory, are the 200 gold I was trying to give you enough…….”

“No, you are missing the point here… Then it would become an employment relationship rather than a friendship,you know?”

Contrary to her appearance, she was a junior with a troublesome side to her. I then had to work my brain out and explain the meaning of ‘friend’ to her a couple more times.

Seria seemed to have somehow been convinced of the fact that she didn’t have to give me anything. While the concept remained unclear to her, at least she wouldn’t say that in front of me again.

I decided to just be satisfied with that. Anyway, if I get to know Seria more, Seria will one day understand that there are relationships in this world that cannot be evaluated on the basis of money.

However, it seemed that Seria still had a few doubts that needed to be cleared. So she took a deep breath and asked me with a cautious look.

“Ehm, sir?”

“Uh, what?”

Fatigue was evident in the tone I answered. This was because Seria’s loneliness, which exceeded my expectations, was starting to irk me a little.  

I wasn’t angry. And if I did get angry, Serena might be even more stressed.

However, I wished that she would ask a normal question.

Maybe God Arus heard my wish, and Seria raised a more normal question.

“Then, since we are friends, can I ask you a slightly rude question?”

It was a question for which the ignorant Seria said ‘Excuse me’, so to be honest, I was a little curious about this.

I replied as such without a second thought.

“Yes, ask away.”

As soon as I granted her permission, the last hesitation I sensed from Seria disappeared. she asked me right away.

A soft, clear voice.

“Is it because of your friend?”

So, as if I had been struck by an unexpected blow, My body had no choice but to freeze on the spot.

My gaze, which had been staring at the ground in despair, turned to Seria. Her dark blue eyes were deep and silent. As always.

“Your friend was attacked in this forest, so is that why you came all the way here?”

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That question pierced my head without hesitation, like an arrow shot by an elite archer.