“Nn… It’s so peaceful.”

The wind gently brushing against my face, the rustling of the leaves and the cries of the birds in the background, the merry mercenaries buzzing around doing their work right in front of me. And all the while I could rest on Karen’s lap while she stroked my hair. What was this if not peaceful? Or rather, wasn’t this already paradise?

“Nn…”
“Ah, don’t move, Yumi. That tickles.”
“Sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, then why are you smiling…”

Even though Karen lightly scolded me as I was readjusting my position, she still kept stroking my head. Pure bliss.

“Aren’t you smiling, too, Sis?”
“Wa— That’s! Ah, stop laughing!”
“Hehehe! Wait, Sis, I’m sorry! Ahh! Don’t pull my cheek!”

Even if it didn’t hurt, it was weirdly uncomfortable.

“...I wonder how far it could stretch. Hey, Yumi…”
“No, we’re not going to try that. I already said I’m sorry.”
“Ehhh…”

My cheek wasn’t a plaything. And it was a really weird feeling when she pulled on my cheek.

“Too bad. Maybe next time.”
“Please spare me, Sis.”

I rubbed my newly released cheek. Yeah, it didn’t hurt, but it still felt like the cold air was going into my mouth.

“By the way, how did you even know, Yumi? You can’t even see my face from that position, can you?”
“Nn, I just had a feeling…”
“You’re not growing some eyes in the back of your head, are you?”
“I’m not.”

That’d be scary. Could be useful but I preferred staying as close to a human as possible. Most of the time, at least.

“I’m glad. That’d be scary.”
“Nn, agreed.”
“Though it wouldn’t surprise me if you did one day.”
“... Me neither.”

Well, if I really did I probably couldn’t change it anyway. As long as I could stay in this form as long as I wanted to, that was good enough. I really had grown numb to it, hadn’t I? But this was probably for the better. There wasn’t anything I could change about it, after all.

“Still, I’d rather not grow eyes on the back of my head.”
“Maybe they’ll grow elsewhere then?”
“... That sounds just as terrifying. Let’s not talk about me growing eyes, okay?”

I didn’t want to imagine myself as some kind of eye-covered monster. That was something that belonged in nightmares, not in reality. Then again, I probably was something that was better situated in a nightmare… not that I wanted to be in one.

“You’re right. You’re good as you are.”
“... Glad to hear that.”

Though I’d like to know why she was poking my stomach now. I contemplated for several seconds whether I should ask but in the end, I decided not to bother and instead relax again in her lap. Maybe Karen noticed that and stopped poking my stomach.

If only things could always be so peaceful.

There probably wasn’t going to be another incident anytime soon. If things went as planned, we’d likely stay here at the fort and in Auria for quite a while. Repairing and tidying up the fort, clearing the road through the forest and settling into the place. Each of them would likely take a long time on their own, not to mention all three together.

“Speaking of which… The supplies that were brought over were mostly things that aren’t of use right now, aren’t they?”
“I think so, why?”
“... I saw a lot of Earth Cucus and some other stuff like flour.”

Earth Cucus didn’t strike me as something that wasn’t of use in the near future. If anything, I’d like to eat some…

“... Ahh, I think that’s because those things can be stored for a long time? I am not quite sure but I saw someone telling the mercenaries which food was okay to carry over and which wasn’t. Something about emergencies or so, I didn’t quite catch it at the time.”
“Huh… Maybe they’re emergency rations.”

But then again, I had my doubts whether the food that we travelled with would be enough to serve as emergency rations for all the mercenaries.

“Hey, Sis.”
“Yes?”
“Talking about food made me hungry…”
“Yumi…”
“I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t stop my stomach from making its presence known. And its complaint about being empty.

“It’s still some time until dinner, though. I think at most we could get some rations.”
“Those, huh…”

They were better than nothing but… I couldn’t say I’d be thrilled about them, either.

“Other than that, I don’t know… You could stuff yourself with mana crystals if you really wanted to.”
“That doesn’t… Actually, maybe that’d work?”

I could eat them, in a way. At least, I could digest them without dying… Or whatever the hell my body was actually doing with those mana crystals.

“Yumi, you’re not going to try that, are you?”
“Well… We have a lot of them? Nobody’s going to miss one or two?”
“That’s not the point…”

Karen poked my cheek as if it would help drive in said point.

“But, maybe it actually helps? I mean, it’d be good to know if I can use them as food, right? There might be a time when we need to save on food, after all.”
“That’s… not wrong, I suppose.”
“Nn.”
“But you do realise you have to swallow a crystal, right? They’re basically stones.”
“...”

Yes, they were basically stones…

“You’re right, they don’t sound very delicious… And now that I think about it, I’m not a rainbow hoggy… My teeth wouldn’t survive that.”

I wasn’t going to risk the sole solid part inside my body because I was feeling hungry…

“I do think it’d be good to try and see if they stave off your hunger, though.”
“I guess it would be… But they’re stones… I’d like to eat something proper.”
“Mm… Yumi. Maybe they do have a taste?”
“Nn?”

How did she get that idea? They were just crystals. Stones, as she said. Did stones have flavour? That was an interesting question but not one I’d ever want to find out. I could only imagine that as an attempt at torture.

“Remember the time we went fishing and you ate the fish with mana crystals?”
“Nn, they were delicious.”
“Maybe that delicious flavour is from the mana crystals?”
“...”

Good point. Maybe mana crystals, or probably more like the mana itself had a flavour? Monster meat was considered a delicacy, after all.

“Let’s see… I think I had some here…”
“Nn?”

I heard Karen rummaging, so I turned around on her lap and found her digging through a pouch.

“Ah, there. Yumi, I have a few of the small crystals here. Want to try?”
“... Are we really going to do this?”
“You don’t have to. But you were the one who brought it up.”
“I guess I was.”

If I thought of them as candy, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad… Maybe?

“Uhhh… Nothing ventured, nothing gained… Okay, let’s do this.”
“Then, say ‘Ahhh!’”
“Ahhh…”

A small crystal, not even half as large as the nail of my thumb, dropped into my mouth. In fact, it was barely larger than the ones from the fish back then.

“... And?”
“... Tastes like nothing.”
“I see…”

In a way, I was astonished at how utterly flavourless it was. Suppressing a sigh, I swallowed the crystal, keeping track of its mana, just in case. I wasn’t really worried, considering how small it was. To add, I felt a surprising lack of aversion to swallowing it. Just like back then, when I did it the first time.

“Nn?”
“Something wrong?”
“No, it’s just… I lost track of it already.”

I hadn’t consciously absorbed the crystal, yet it was already gone. Was my stomach that powerful?

“You absorbed it?”
“Nn, I think so.”
“Huh… Feeling any fuller?”
“... Honestly? I don’t know. I think I might?”
“Then, want to try another one?”
“Nn… You know what? Yes.”

If asked whether I wanted to or not, then I honestly wasn’t sure how to answer that. The lack of aversion and the weird desire coupled with hesitation and a crumbling common sense was… a difficult combination. But, in the end, I still said yes…

“Then, here we go.”
“Ahhh.”

Another small pebble-sized mana crystal was fed to me.

“Still tasteless.”
“I’m not sure what you expected.”
“Me neither.”

I swallowed it, watching as it was slowly absorbed once again.

Yeah, no matter how you think about it, this is weird, isn’t it? It’s seriously weird. Even if we forget about how they are basically stones, they’re poisonous to people, too.

Good thing nobody was watching. Nobody was, right? Yeah, everyone was busy with their work and it wasn’t like they could see what Karen had fed me anyway.

“So, how is it?”
“I do feel a little less hungry… Not sure if it’s just me believing that, though. Then again, it wouldn’t be surprising either.”
“It really wouldn’t.”
“I think I prefer actual food, though. By far.”

Who wouldn’t prefer something that had an actual taste, right? Even if there was a feeling of satisfaction about absorbing a mana crystal.

“So, you’re saying that you still want something to eat?”
“... Nn. But I think I can wait until dinner now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I don’t think we can take a break forever, after all.”
“Ahhh… That’s true.”

In the distance, I could see Korwen and Merim talking… together with Ria, who was clutching the book we had found earlier.

“Want to take a look?”
“I do but I don’t want to get up.”
“Yumi…”
“If only they could come over.”
“Now you’re just being lazy.”

Yes, I was. And it was this lap I was resting on that made me so lazy. In other words, this clearly was Karen's fault. Without a single doubt.

“Oh, they are really coming over.”
“...”

Karen fell silent. Probably astonished that my random wish actually came true. We watched as they came closer… and passed by us, disappearing into the tent with the portal. 

“So much for that, Yumi.”
“... One can hope.”
“Your hope just passed by us.”

I wasn’t even worth hope’s attention, was I? What a sad existence I was.

Okay, let’s stop being melodramatic like an idiot. I do want to know what is going on, after all.

Reluctant as I was, I got up from Karen’s lap, stretching my limbs.

“This was a nice break.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Then, let’s go and take a look.”

Judging from their behaviour, Ria had found something interesting, after all.

Karen and I went into the tent and through the portal, where we again found korwen, this time with two mercenaries I didn’t know. He instructed them and they rushed out of the hall, probably to go to Fenna, Taddick or someone else.

“Captain.”
“Mr Captain.”
“Yumi, Karen. Enjoyed your break?”

Korwen seemed slightly surprised seeing us, but he quickly returned to his usual expression.

“Nn, we did.”
“You could’ve taken a longer one if you wanted to.”
“Nn… Well…”

Now he was making me regret it a little…

“We were curious about what happened,” explained Karen to me.
“Ahh… You saw us, I guess. Well, let’s have Ria ex— No, I’ll explain. It’ll take forever if Ria has to again.”

That was quite rude… Sure, Ria was pretty slow when it came to talking but it wasn’t like she was that slow.

“Simply put, there might be something beneath the fort.”
“... Aren’t we standing there?”
“Well, yes. Okay, let me rephrase it. There’s something beneath the forest.”
“The forest?”

That probably didn’t mean this underground area we were standing in.

“Yes. Ria found some notes tucked away in the book. They mentioned briefly that they were intending to use whatever is below the forest. Likely as a source to power their ritual.”
“Huh… But they already performed their ritual, didn't they? With questionable results, I guess, but…”
“More like fatal results. But whatever they used might still be here.”
“Huh… So, we’re going on another search?”

Was there even a point to that?

“In a way. But there’s probably no point in looking around without a guess. Ria went back to that room where they conducted their ritual. She hopes to find something that could help there.”
“Ahh…”

That’d be great if she could find something.

“But didn’t the others already search that place?”
“Yes, but in the end, it’s only a quick search whether there is anything out of place. There’s always a good chance we missed something that’s hidden better. It’s not like we had the time to knock on every spot on the wall, right?”
“I guess not.”
“If it’s not there, it might be in that room with their… work tools. Or somewhere else nearby. Whatever it is, I doubt it’ll be far from there.”
“I see.”

Still, that’d mean we’d have to search that place. Again.

“Do we at least know what we are looking for?”
“No.”
“...”
“Don’t look at me like that, it can’t be helped. The notes she found weren’t exactly explaining it.”

It’d still be nice to know… Seriously, we only knew that we were searching for… something. That could be literally anywhere. In the worst case, it might not even be below the fort but elsewhere in the forest, right? He knew that, didn’t he?

Maybe we should go back and continue our break… Too late for that, probably…

Now that we were here, Korwen wouldn’t let us go so quickly again. But no point complaining about it, since I was the one who wanted to know what was going on, knowing full well this might happen.

“Ah, one moment.”
“Nn?”

Before I could ask him what we were going to do now, he turned his back to us. A group of people was entering the hall, among them Fenna, Taddick, and—to my surprise—the Elder as well as the current elder of the elves, Meela. Korwen raised an eyebrow at the sight of them but he addressed Fenna and Taddick first.

“Captain, you called?”
“I did. First, Fenna, how are things going up there?”
“Everything’s going well, Captain. The search is progressing, though we have encountered several areas that are rather severely damaged, hindering our progress.”
“Mm… I recall a report saying that some of the buildings are inaccessible?”
“Yes. The residential building most of all. While it doesn’t seem to be in any danger of a total collapse, there are many places where the walls or the ceiling have collapsed.”

Korwen’s eyes narrowed as he listened to Fenna.

“That’s odd… That building should be the one built the firmest of all…”
“If I may add, captain, I am not an expert in buildings but it looked to me like only certain spots in the walls turned brittle.”
“Certain spots? Explain.”
“Yes. It seemed to me like someone poking a small hole into leaves. The surrounding parts are entirely undamaged.”

That certainly sounded odd.

“Mm… Stop the search in the residential building for now.”
“Yes, captain.”
“Anything else?”
“No, not in particular.”
“Good. Next, Taddick.”

Korwen turned around, addressing the next person.

“What did you find?”
“Lots of old traps, captain. Hunting traps. Thanks to Miss Elder here, we found a whole ton of them. Some of them were seriously old, while others seemed rather recent. Strange thing was that not even one of them had any game in it. But that’s also all we found. There’s just nothing but trees here. Nothing at all.”

At least he didn’t get caught in yet another… He didn’t, right?

“Traps, you say… That many?”
“Yes. Captain, if I may make a suggestion.”
“You may.”
“The elves, like the elder, are apparently quite good at searching for these traps. With all of those old traps all over the place, there’s no way we can walk through the forest. I’d like to enlist their help and remove every trap we can find.”
“Mmm… That sounds like a good idea. You have my permission.”

Taddick grinned, clutching his fist. No more getting caught for him, huh?

“Now then, what do Miss Elder and Miss Meela need?”
“Ah, err, that’s…”

Suddenly being addressed, Meela began to stutter awkwardly. Seeing that there wasn’t anything to get out of her, Korwen directed his gaze towards the Elder.

“Mm… For me, I wanted to discuss the forest.”
“The forest… is it?”
“Yes, about its… strangeness.”
“Keep going.”

The Elder nodded and started to explain what she told me earlier.

“The forest is beyond odd… Few animals, barely a sign of life. Yet, there are so many spirits here. And most strange of all, no fairykin lived here. Not even the oldest of the trees could remember them.”
“I… see? I agree that it is strange, but we don’t really have a way of figuring out the reason. And it shouldn’t be an issue, should it? The fort was here, meaning people lived here before.”
“I don’t believe there is any issue living here, either, as long as you ignore the inability to hunt game here. But the forest… It is uncanny. Though, Meela here might have a little more insight than me.”

Oh, she did? Ah, she was clamping up again as everyone’s attention turned to her. Tears were already forming in her eyes.

“That is, err… Uhh… I mean…”
“Calm down, Miss Meela. Take a deep breath. We have all the time you need.”
“Ahh… Y— Yes!”

Meela clasped her hands and took a deep breath, then another and a third one. Then she mumbled something quietly to herself, which curiously caused the Elder to roll her eyes.

“Better?”
“Y— yes… I think so…”
“Good. Can you explain what the Elder meant?”
“Yes… That is… We were going around the forest, looking for suitable places to rest at, or to, err, live? We followed the trees’ words, where good places might be. Then… We found a lot of spirits.”
“Spirits?”

Meela nodded enthusiastically to Korwen’s question.

“Many spirits. Never before seen that many. The further we followed the trees’ words, the more spirits we saw. The mana was very dense. My sisters felt bad… err, ill? So we returned.”
“The mana was so dense that the elves felt ill?”
“That is the case, Mister.”

Meela nodded again, her head rapidly going up and down. I feared for a moment her head might fly off with how much enthusiasm she nodded.

“Just how dense would mana need to be for something like that to happen?”
“Unbelievably dense, Mr Korwen,” added the Elder.
“Would it be dangerous to us?”
“No, it would not. In fact, it’s not dangerous to us either, as long as your presence is not prolonged. But it does make us feel sick. Mm… I imagine it would be similar to having a hangover? Just, the entire time you walk there.”
“That sounds horrifying.”

Absolutely horrifying.

“It is not natural for mana of such density to form anywhere. There must be a source of it.”
“It wouldn’t happen to be underground, would it?”
“Maybe. We cannot exactly get closer, after all.”
“That’s troublesome on its own. Who can get close, though…”

Korwen froze, then turned around to look at me. He wasn’t going to ask me…

“While that may be an option, I should probably rephrase my words a little. It’s not that we cannot get closer, but it would be very unpleasant for us. However, I believe your magician—Miss Ria was her name, I believe—might have something to help us.”
“You mean, like a spell?”
“Yes. After all, the difficulty is the density of mana. She might know a spell that keeps the density surrounding us low enough to pass through. At the very least, I have seen magicks of a similar effect before.”

That was… interesting? Where would you even need a spell like that? Except for… very specific circumstances like this one?

“I see, so it’s not impossible. That’s good news. But… Miss Elder, there’s something else we’ll have to deal with first. It might actually be related to whatever you found, though.”

Korwen gave them a quick rundown of Ria’s findings, making them all gasp in surprise or widen their eyes.

“A source of mana for their rituals? That is… I believe we should be glad of their failings…”
“Probably. Either way, we’re trying to ascertain whatever this source is. It might be the same thing you were worried about, after all.”
“Yes. Considering the circumstances, it would surprise me if not. Very well, we shall help, if you allow us to, Mr Korwen.”
“I appreciate the help but…”

Korwen turned his attention back to the other elf in the room.

“Miss Meela, too?”
“Ehh?!”
“I do not believe that would be a problem? I think she had something to talk with you of her own as well.”
“Oh? Right, I completely forgot, but you did come here for something. Go on, we’re not that much in a hurry that I can’t listen t you.”
“Ah, that…”

Once again, Meela was overly flustered. Just why was she so nervous now? She was talking with me perfectly fine before. Or is it because Korwen was a man? Was that the problem?

“I mean… That’s… The elves, err… we had a… a request…”
“A request? What is it?”
“We, er…”

Meela again took a deep breath, then another.

“We! We would like to ask! If my sisters and I could live here!”
“... You mean, in the fort?”
“Ye— Yeeeessss….”

Meela seemingly used up all her strength for those words, as she slurred the last reply while breathing heavily.

“That is… I’m sorry, that’s a difficult request. I cannot answer that immediately.”
“I… I see… I understand… We, we will wait. However long.”
“... I’ll try to make it quick.”

Yeah, as expected, even Korwen was a little taken aback by the sudden request. That was probably the best answer he could give right now, too.

“Is there anything else you needed to discuss with me?”
“No, no… That is all.”
“Good. Would you be willing to help us then?”
“That, of course! Of course, I would!”
“O— okay?”

Next to Meela, the Elder was shaking her head. I really wanted to know what the heck was going on here… Meela acted rather weird. Even disregarding her nervousness that suddenly seemed to have been replaced by a huge amount of enthusiasm.

“Very well then… Let’s join Ria and the others then. Fenna, you can return to your work. Merim, you too.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Sure, Captain.”
“Taddick, you… Ahh, but if Miss Meela joins us… Miss Meela, can the elves help Taddick out with the search for traps?”
“Of course, Mister. He only needs to ask. They will surely be willing to help.”
“That’s great.”

Korwen then turned to Karen and me.

“You two will join us. We might need Karen's help.”
“Mine?”
“Yes, yours.”

Korwen smiled wryly before he explained what he meant.

“If whatever we’re looking for is behind a wall, we might need to bust through it. Basically, it’s a brute force job.”
“Ohhh…”

And with Karen’s strength, no wall would be safe…

“And Yumi might notice something that Ria missed. Who knows.”
“I’ll try my best.”
“Good. Let’s be off then.”

Our group of five then made our way through the underground corridors, past the questionable rooms that had been used by the Worshippers and into the hall where the supposedly failed ritual had taken place in.

“It still stinks…”
“Deal with it, Yumi. Can’t exactly air the place.”

What greeted us was the same scene from before… Yellow-streaked walls, weird drawings on the ground… At least, the remains had been removed already. It didn’t make the place look any better, though. The whole room was just too… strange for that. And in the middle of all this strangeness was Ria, staring at the drawings on the ground.

“Ria. Have you found anything?”
“Mm… Ahh… Captain… Mmm… I haven’t…”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing…”
“Guess it can’t be that easy.”

Would have been nice, right?

“Okay, we’ll split up and check everything. If you find anything even remotely strange, call for Ria. Got it?”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Yes, Mr Captain.”
“Yes, Mr Korwen.”
“Eh? Ah? Err, Yes, mister?”

Three regular responses and one that was surprised and unsure...

“Miss Meela, you don’t need to force yourself… You’re helping us out, if anything I should thank you.”
“Uhhh…”
“... Well, let’s get to it, okay?”
“””Yes.”””