“Out of my way, commoner!”
Huh? I am confused for a moment, but I move a step to the side. Even if the person is rude, he seems to be a noble, judging from his clothes. And he wouldn’t have called me commoner, otherwise. So it should be the best to just do as he says to avoid trouble. And at the moment, there is no other receptionist than Aya.
“Is there any new information about my family’s request?” The noble asks Aya.
“I am terribly sorry, but there is still no party that accepted that request. It is one of our highest priorities, but as soon as we mention the Cursed Forest, the people get scared and take another request.” Aya answers apologetically. So it seems Mr. Noble’s family put out a request that requires adventurers to enter that forest. From what I heard, I can understand that the people don’t enter that forest. Even I didn’t enter that forest, after I heard about it. Well… but not because I got scared. I just want to avoid being suspected of weird stuff, when people hear, that I enter that forest regularly.
“But we only have about a month left. Can’t you do something?” He retorts angrily, but Aya answered that they already forwarded the quest to other Guild Branches, but there is still no party that wants to take that request. They continue to talk for a few minutes until he clicked his tongue and left the Guild.
Aya let out a sigh and says “I’m sorry Benji.”
“Don’t worry about it, but what was that about, if I may ask?” I definitely was curious, but I don’t want her to know, so I just asked casually. And luckily she tells me more about it. Mr. Noble is actually the son of the city’s lord and his little brother caught a rare disease. She doesn’t know the details, but it seems to have something to do with his magic power. The only way to cure it is a medicine made of a Crystal Flower. But that flower is incredibly rare and to only place to find it in this area is the Cursed Forest.
“I see. In that case, I can understand that he gets impatient. But I never heard of this Crystal Flower. What does it look like?”
“I heard it is a really beautiful flower, with bluish transparent petals, and the center part of it looks like a crystal,” she answers. Alright, I think that’s all I need to know, so I divert to topic back to my hunting spoils and we finished the transaction.
After that I go back to my inn and told the receptionist that I would leave for a while from tomorrow morning and that I would like to cancel my room. After that, I leave the inn again to stock up on salt and pepper and other stuff that comes in useful for camping in a forest. I also bought some metal skewers and other stuff to make my camping experience more comfortable. It’s annoying to decrease my savings again, but I can’t help it.
The next morning I left Gilicia through the north gate again and after a while I turned east to the Cursed Forest. Maybe I am too careful that I don’t want people to know I plan to enter that forest, but I don’t want the people to ask too many questions.
I thought of two ways of looking for the Crystal Flower. The first one would be just wandering through the forest. Obviously, I was not very fond of the idea. That’s why I go with my second idea, which means I walk around the forest alongside the mountain range. That way I should arrive at the tower ruin at some point, where I can explore the other side of the river I followed, to escape the forest. That area should be the deepest part of the forest.
When I enter the forest, I slowed down. I can’t hurry through the forest while looking for a small flower. I also focus on my eyes and nose, to not miss anything. I focus on every little detail, which I realize now is harder than I thought. But if want to find this flower I don’t have another choice, so I slow down even more.
After a few hours, my nose actually picked up an unfamiliar scent that doesn’t seem to belong to a monster, so I follow it to check it out. After a while a arrived at a small pond. I check it out for a bit until I realize that the smell actually came from said pond and there is still no Crystal Flower in sight. I leave the pond and return to my original route.
Other than that, nothing happened on the first day. The second day, I continued my search. I encountered a few goblins, but I dealt with them fast and just took their monster cores. I don’t want to waste my time fighting monsters. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to completely avoid encounters. I also checked out a few new unknown scents and some of them even led to medicinal herbs that could be used for potion brewing according to my Analyze ability.
Until that point, I didn’t even think of gathering herbs, but I could also sell them to the Guild, so I took them with me. But it is actually hard to notice them, even with my improved sense of smell. Their smell is so faint that I wouldn’t notice them without focusing on it.
The third day goes almost the same as the second day, just that I encounter a few more monsters. And at early afternoon of the fourth day I arrive back at the tower ruin where I started my journey. I think for a moment, but then decide to set up my camp for the night and investigate the area around the ruin. But I find nothing.
Then in the early morning I woke up, because I picked up a new presence. I would have preferred to sleep for longer, but still prepare myself while muttering a few curses under my breath. It didn’t even take five minutes until I heard a roar and a gigantic bear with completely black fur stepped out of the forest. According to Analyze, it is called a Terror Bear, and it is level 22.
That doesn’t look good for me. If I remember right, the Terror Bear is considered D-Rank, which makes it even stronger than the Wild Panther. But the Terror Bear doesn’t give me enough time to think of a plan. It immediately charges at me and attacks me with its paws, but I dive below it and evade to its right. I use that chance to slash at it with my katana, but its fur is so hard that I can’t cut deep. I only made it even angrier.
I jump back to evade its next attack and increase the distance between us. In that fight, I can’t really hold anything back, so I decide to shoot a Blood Needle and aim for its head. The Terror Bear realizes that this attack poses an actual threat and blocks the attack with its left paw. And this time I dealt considerable damage to it. But I still can’t relax, because it charges at me again. This time I made a mistake with the timing while evading and the Terror Bears paws leave deep cut on my left arm and its attack throws me on the ground. Now the Terror Bear towers over me.
I don’t hesitate anymore and launch a barrage of 5 Blood Needles aimed at its head again. At this close distance, it is impossible for it to block my attack. I completely pulverize its head and the dead Terror Bear falls down, burying me under its body and I can feel how some of my bones break under its weight.
