Fate now began wandering through the forest, following the long trail of scattered, broken branches and twigs, while surveying the damaged area for his weapon. However, almost immediately, Fate began to lose hope that he would find it.

For one thing, there wasn’t any guarantee that the dagger had landed near the path, as, at the speed Fate had been sent flying at by the explosion, it could have been flung farther away, or into a point in a tree where he wouldn’t be able to see it. Another problem was that, even if it had landed near the path, it could have been dropped as early as when he had first been launched.

-Sh*t biscuits…

Fate cursed his rotten luck, despite the fact that it could be considered a miracle that he managed to survive the explosion, and his subsequent string of collisions at high speed. He ran his eyes over every trunk, bush, branch, and patch of ground he could see with the limited visibility the dim moonlight provided, but to no avail.

By, what he at least estimated to be, about ten minutes later, he was already becoming sick of looking for his weapon, and his somewhat improved mood was souring…

Fate: “So...any ideas on how to find the piece of metal on a leather grip that probably saved my life, and that don’t involve me wandering around this forest trail like a lost kid at the grocery store?”

He now turned to his counterpart, hoping to pass the time as he sifted through the debris and scanned his surroundings…

『I hope that whatever concussion you scored on your swan dive didn’t make you forget that just because I encouraged you to get off your ass, doesn’t mean that I give two sh*ts about you, beyond ensuring my own existence.

 Keep in mind that you hadn’t even met me till you got trapped in the mindscape, and you even thought I was dead until a few hours ago...then you tried to destroy my vessel with a rock. I could go on and on about other reasons I don’t like you, but I want you to focus on finding your insurance.』

Fate: “As in insurance that I don’t die?”

『No, as in, insurance so that I don’t die. If I wasn’t stuck in this ring and could go out on my own, I’d probably just stab you with the nearest branch and run off to go kill some hookers...or whatever sh*t I found first.』

Even as he continued to speak to the being in the ring, though it looked like he was talking to himself, Fate kept searching for his dagger, but continued to grow ever more doubtful that he would be able to find it.

He began considering plans for what he would do without his newly acquired protection, already imagining the safest way he could kill the boar if it was still alive. 

-Do I just blow it up? No, that’d probably just force me to use up the rest of that potion...assuming that I would even survive again...Come to think of it, how did I manage to survive that blast…?

Fate looked down towards his hand with a concerned and wistful expression…

-I’ve never generated an explosion like that before, or I never had to, at least. The fact that I’m still alive, after a barely regulated explosion at...what might have been almost max power, is...almost unreal. I wonder if the 『Luck』stat somehow helped me...?

He thought over this possibility, but quickly passed it off. After all, he had no idea what the stat itself was capable of, beyond his general understanding of being lucky, and couldn’t start putting stock into the idea that he could, potentially, survive everything thrown at him through sheer luck.

He continued to wander along the dimly lit trail, until, even though he almost didn’t see it, he caught a glimpse of a strange inconsistency in the background of the forest. Although it wasn’t much, Fate investigated, and to his surprise, found the short, leather grip of the blade buried in a bush!

Fate: “Oh, hell yes!!!~”

However, he was suddenly assailed by a strange sense that something was wrong about it, an almost chilling tingle that spread throughout his body. He now cautiously examined the hilt of the blade, looking for any signs of tampering.

『Dude, what are you doing? Just pull it out, go make sure and or kill the boar so that it’s dead, and get back to the manor because I have a lot of things to complain about!』

Although he was quite fond of the idea of having this task over and done with, Fate couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling that surrounded the blade in his vision. He quickly raised two fingers, pointing them at the bush like a gun, and began to gather two small orbs of mana, though he felt some resistance…

-I guess my mana didn’t fully recover from however long it is that I slept...but I just can’t shake this feeling, so I gotta make sure that there’s nothing in there.

He raised his face to the dimly-lit night sky, trying to find some sense of calm in the stillness of it, before lowering his head to face the bush with a sharp glare…

The two orbs of red and blue slowly merged together, until…!

[Bang!]

A small burst, similar to a firework, shot out from the spot where the two energies had mixed, sending out a blue projectile that set part of the bush on fire. However, even as he watched the small bush burn, Fate still couldn’t see any signs of movement, nor of traps being triggered…

『...See? Now, grab the stupid weapon and get us back the manor, pronto!』

Fate, although reluctant to ignore the sense of danger he felt, listened to the words of his impatient counterpart, reaching towards the bush and pulling out the hilt of the dagger quickly, keeping his eyes closed as he still expected something to happen. 

But, much to his relief, though it was lighter than he remembered, he felt the weapon slide out with no resistance, and with no signs of a possible misstep, he slowly began to open his eyes... 

『What the f***?!』

However, the sudden outburst from the being in the ring told Fate that something was wrong, and as his now fully opened eyes soon saw, there was a disturbing problem with that scene…

The blade of the weapon, which Fate had expected to see covered in dried boar’s blood, was completely gone, save for a jagged base that sat along the hilt! Needless to say, it was quite shocking!

-Oh...God...something removed the blade...Wait, what if...w-what if there was...s-s-something else in the f-forest...oh my God!!!

He felt his breath hasten and his eyes begin to water, as a sense of panic began to grip him. His fears began to crush him, transporting him back to his experience with the Witch, of facing something he couldn’t handle.

Suddenly, as if to exacerbate his fears, the thick clouds above covered the dimly glimmering moon, further limiting Fate’s visibility, while a sinister miasma began to emerge from the shadows of the trail ahead....

And as Fate reluctantly looked down the path, trembling with every second, the faint glow of two small eyes, which were tainted with an evil-looking red color, began to emerge from the shadows…

...