Chapter 210
The combined group of the Art Club and Instrumental Music Club set up a campsite about thirty minutes by carriage from Ruden Village.
After finishing a late meal, Tami and Sierra from the Art Club were scouting around the campsite to prepare for any possible surprise attacks.
Most of the other students were sound asleep at the campsite.
Claiming to be experienced seniors, they volunteered for night watch duty, but having lived aristocratic lives all their lives, they were still not accustomed to the wild nights.
Even as second-years, they were just timid girls who reacted sensitively to every wind and insect sound.
Sierra rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and said, "It's eerie."
"We're still within Eternia's territory. Magic creatures won't appear, so don't worry... Eek!"
Tami stepped on a branch by herself and jumped in fright.
Sierra also flinched in surprise.
"Ah. You startled me too."
"Damn, why is there a branch here..."
Just then, Sierra sensed something strange and put her hand to her ear.
"W-wait a moment. Shh! Don't you hear something?"
"W-what?"
As the two fell silent for a moment, a strange sound came from somewhere in the forest.
– Hic, h-hic hic.
"...!"
"...!"
Tami covered her mouth and silently gasped in shock. Sierra tried to calm her down.
"Listen carefully. It sounds like a woman crying, doesn't it?"
A woman's wailing coming out of nowhere in a dark place with no houses around. Tami grabbed Sierra's arm.
"L-let's go back. We should call the other members and go together..."
"No, we can't. What if we miss it by going back? What if it's a magic creature? It could suddenly attack our campsite at dawn."
"Ah, can't you go alone?"
"Shut up, you're coming with me too."
Sierra firmly grasped Tami's wrist and carefully started moving toward the source of the wailing.
The source of the sound was not far from where they were.
As they pushed through the bushes step by step, the sobbing became clearer in their ears.
Sierra saw a human figure in the faint moonlight, quickly ducked down, and then slowly raised her head.
What was in front of them was clearly a human figure. Long hair, thin body line, and skin so white it was visible even at night.
"Sob, sniff, how could you do this to me..."
"...?"
Sierra was momentarily confused when she heard the familiar voice.
"Sniff, after all I've done for you... after how much I cared for you... Candy, how could you..."
The owner of the sobbing voice was Cecil. She was sitting alone in the forest, hugging her knees and taking sips of wine.
Sierra and Tami exchanged glances for a moment. They silently pondered what to do. The conclusion came quickly. The forest was too dangerous to just leave a drunk girl alone.
Sierra carefully approached first.
"Sniff, Candy, how could you..."
"Um, Cecil?"
Cecil slowly turned her head with reddened eyes.
"..."
"It's dangerous to be alone in a place like this."
"I really thought you were a ghost. You scared me."
Cecil responded coldly, "Please leave me alone. Sniff."
"Don't tell me it's because of that, that man... The one Hubert was teasing about..."
"...That's right. Did I do something wrong?"
"Really? That insensitive guy kept scratching at..."
Cecil's eyes were half-glazed over. She was clearly on the verge of being completely drunk. Tami quietly approached and slowly took away the wine bottle.
Sierra crouched down and calmly tried to persuade her.
"If it's a man problem... we can listen together."
***
Sitting around a central campfire, Sierra summarized Cecil's words.
"So... you've been involved with him in various ways since the entrance ceremony, and you've liked him ever since?"
"..."
Tami, chewing on jerky, took a swig from the wine bottle and said, "No, why do you chase after ugly guys? Just find someone else to date."
Sierra chimed in, "Yeah, what charm does he have that makes you do this?"
"It's really strange... With your big chest and pretty face, I thought men would follow you in a line like sausages and you could pick and choose. But here you are, clinging to some ugly pervert and crying your eyes out. Life is really unpredictable."
"Yeah, just date someone else. You're wasting yourself. Look, our Damian is really a good person if you see him. I've seen many men who look good but are empty inside and childish? Damian is quite decent? Want me to introduce him to you? There are many good men in the world."
"That's right, you'll feel self-loathing as time passes? When your feelings cool down, you'll wonder why you clung to a guy like that."
"I want to find another man too..."
"...But?"
"But really, I can't find anyone as cute as him..."
After hearing her lament, Sierra shook her head as if disgusted.
***
Even late into the moonlit night, Louis didn't sleep and focused on training. Icarus, who had woken up from the sound of sword strikes echoing all night, quietly came out and watched him.
"Senior Louis, do you want to crush the Art Club that badly?"
Louis ignored him and continued swinging his sword in the air, practicing sword techniques, when he suddenly rushed forward and swung his sword at a thick tree.
Swish.
With one sword strike, the trunk of a young oak tree slid off as if cut smoothly. Louis caught his breath and sheathed his sword.
"You need to beat the Art Club executives to really crush them. Our opponent is just one lowly first-year bastard."
In this ambush, a total of three Drama Club members, including Louis and Icarus, would face Damian alone.
It was a foregone conclusion that that arrogant first-year would be crushed. The question was how cruelly they would trample him.
"I heard Damian is from the bottom of society. He seems to have some tenacity, so he probably won't surrender easily."
Louis chuckled and took off his sweat-soaked shirt, revealing his bare upper body.
A sleek yet solid upper body, honed by long periods of training, was revealed.
"He's not the only one who came up from the bottom."
Icarus admired his body.
"Wow, your body is quite... manly."
Louis stroked his abdomen with his hand and said, "Yeah, guys like you who only use their heads especially envy this kind of body."
"People tend to disregard strength that isn't visible. Skinny and weak-looking mages especially receive terrible treatment."
"Is Luna sleeping? She thought of me as some preciously raised young master. She wouldn't think that if she saw this body."
"Judging by the lack of sound from the tent, it seems so."
Louis slightly turned his body and pointed to the left side of his abdomen with his hand.
"Can you see this?"
There was a scar like a crack about a handspan long. It was the only flaw visible on his perfect, proportioned body with no excess.
"What is it?"
"It's a scar I got while subjugating Karax with the knights of the domain. When I got this injury, I lost a basketful of blood. If it had been a little deeper, my organs would have been damaged."
"..."
"I like this scar. It's like a medal proving my rough life. It's a big mistake to think I haven't experienced the bottom just because I've lived as a high-ranking noble wearing precious clothes."
"..."
"He's not the only one with tenacity."
Icarus slowly nodded.
"I didn't know Senior Louis was preparing this much. That's good. I also plan to put Damian in his place this time."
"Hmm, in what way?"
Icarus brought his fist to his mouth and blew on it as if cooling something hot.
"With this. During the confusion of tomorrow's ambush, I'll really break his nose with my fist. If we mess up his face a bit, he won't be able to approach the Drama Club anymore."
"What a vicious plan."
Louis smirked. Icarus also grinned in agreement.
***
"Luna."
"Luna."
"Luna, are you asleep?"
Louis, who had finished bathing in the stream and changed into neat clothes, called Luna's name several times in front of the tent.
But she didn't respond or even make a rustling sound. After a few minutes of internal conflict, he finally succumbed to temptation.
"...I'm coming in for a moment."
He held a candle in one hand and slowly opened Luna's tent. He knew he shouldn't do this, but he rationalized to himself that sometimes new relationships were formed through boldness.
Luna's faint breathing could be heard in the dark interior.
Louis approached Luna slowly, muffling his footsteps.
He felt somewhat guilty about entering without permission, but that worry was wiped away when he saw Luna's beautiful face. Even with her hair slightly disheveled and without her usual neat posture, Luna was always beautiful like a pure gem.
Louis muttered while admiring her appearance like a work of art, "...I can understand why she was chosen by the Spirit King."
He unconsciously reached out towards her face. But he lowered his arm without touching her skin.
Then Louis's gaze shifted downward.
Luna was sleeping with a piece of parchment clutched in her hand.
Luna's daily life was always veiled in mystery, and because of that, a strong curiosity suddenly arose. He reached out and slowly pulled out the note. Then he checked its contents.
"..."
[-Damian eats oatmeal well but doesn't like it. He's very interested in apple pie.
-Damian has never mentioned his family. And based on what the spirits have told me, there's a high possibility he has none.
-Damian doesn't like being compared to other men.
-He's very cold to people who aren't on his side.
*Art Club 10 AM class. Act like accidentally meeting in the student plaza.]
It was all notes about Damian's peculiarities. Among them were seduction tips that seemed to be excerpted from books.
"What is this..."
Louis bit his lip, feeling a strange sense of betrayal. Was it the opposite of Damian chasing after her? He was greatly perplexed when his belief was denied.
As he was stewing in his emotions, biting his lip hard, he suddenly felt a presence behind him.
Heavy footsteps.
"Grrrrrr"
A low vibration that seemed to shake the ground. Louis immediately got up and checked behind him.
At the entrance of the tent was a wolf spirit as big as a bull, baring its fangs and drooling.
Terrifying killing intent. When he had encountered it before, it had seemed like a large dog, but now it looked like a predator starving for slaughter. The spirit was regarding Louis as an intruder.
"W-wait...!"
As Louis opened his mouth, the wolf didn't give him a chance and lunged with its fangs.
***
Cecil was throwing stones at a tree from early morning with a hangover-ridden body.
"Damn... why won't it fall. I'm starving to death."
With the Instrumental Music Club joining, the number of mouths to feed had doubled, so some of the food needed to be procured locally.
No matter how hard she threw stones at the abundantly ripe fruit, only innocent leaves fell, with no results.
Unable to bear it any longer, she took out a dagger and started stabbing it into the fruit tree trunk. Then she used the knife handle as a foothold and started climbing the tree.
After climbing to a dizzying height, Cecil started knocking down fruits with her knife sheath.
Just then, some spectators approached and shouted, "Hey! What are you doing up there? It's dangerous!"
"Has the alcohol not worn off yet?"
It was Sierra and Tami, who had been talking with her all night the previous night. Tami shouted playfully at Cecil, "You're not trying to die because of a man, are you?"
"No! I'm just picking fruit!"
"Hehe, more importantly, you're climbing up there in a skirt? We can see your underwear!"
"What does it matter between women!"
"But how do you wear such tiny underwear? Aren't you cold?"
"No, just don't look!"
As they were muttering to each other while watching the tree, Cecil urgently asked for help, "C-can you help me?"
She had tried to come down after picking a decent amount of fruit, but couldn't find a good foothold and was precariously hanging from a branch.
"Not there, stretch your foot more to the right."
"H-here?"
"A little more to the right, no! More!"
Sierra and Tami, who had been watching casually, realized the seriousness and shouted urgently, "Wait, just hold on tight. We'll bring someone!"
But the situation progressed critically in the blink of an eye. Cecil slipped badly on a branch wet with morning dew.
"Kyaah!"
In an instant, she lost support from one hand and dangled by her remaining hand.
It was about the height of a normal house roof. If she fell, she could be seriously injured.
"Help me!"
Before Sierra and Tami could react, she lost strength and fell.
Just before she hit the ground headfirst, in a split second, something suddenly sprang out and caught Cecil.
Then it tumbled over the bushes with a busy sound.
Sierra and Tami, startled, ran to that spot.
There, Cecil and another man were lying entangled in the bushes.
Sierra shouted when she recognized the man, "Damian!"
"If it wasn't really Damian, what would have happened? Oh my god, Cecil, you idiot. I'm aging because of you."
Damian was lying there with a dry expression, showing no particular emotional change despite having done something great.
Cecil blinked with a dazed face and said, "Um... what just happened?"
"You're heavy. Get off."
Cecil still couldn't control her body, lying on top of Damian. She seemed unable to grasp what had just happened.
"...What?"
Cecil turned her head and blinked blankly at Damian, whom she was sitting on.
"Why are you here?"
"..."
"Did you catch me?"
"If you understand, get off quickly."
Cecil, finally coming to her senses, half-raised her body with a disgruntled face. Then she suddenly sensed something strange and said, "Thanks for saving me, but... wait, what's this smell?"
Then she pushed Damian back down as he tried to get up and buried her nose in his shirt, grabbing it.
In response, Damian indifferently pushed Cecil to the side and immediately moved away as if he had OCD.
Meanwhile, Sierra and Tami scurried over and greeted him.
"First-year! What have you been doing to show up now!"
"Where's Fabella?"
Damian responded by looking in one direction instead of answering. There, Fabella was walking over, holding her bulging belly. "Oh, Fabella! Are you still playing pregnant?"
Fabella chuckled and pulled out what she had stuffed inside her belly. It was a large rye bread wrapped in cloth.
"I just realized that living as a pregnant woman gets you a lot of things. I might just live like this from now on."
***
[Old man Philip, I don't think I can repay the three sacks of wheat I borrowed last time. You must have heard by now, but five days ago, a madman wandering around our village with a sword kidnapped my son Ian. That damn bastard. You must have heard that the council of elders has banned outsiders from entering. My wife left for Rigved to seek help, and I called for mercenaries...]
The back of the parchment was left blank as if the writing had been abandoned midway.
Sierra asked while chewing on bread roughly cut with a dagger, "Where did you get this?"
"I found it by rummaging through the trash can of an empty house. Judging by the messy handwriting, it seems they discarded it and wrote a new one because the ink kept smearing."
"Hmm, maybe they rewrote it because their plans changed. What did Fabella find out?"
"I asked the villagers directly. When I said I wanted to know if it was an environment where I could settle down and raise a child, they talked without suspicion."
"What is it?"
"That thug stopped by Ruden Village to order a new sword. But it seems that wasn't his real purpose."
"What on earth was his purpose for kidnapping? Is it a wealthy family? Did they have mining rights or something?"
"Looking at the house, it didn't seem so. One side of the roof was tilted, and there was mold on the floor. It was far from wealthy."
"Hmm, does he have some extraordinary talent? Like a magic prodigy?"
This time Fabella answered, "This Ian who was kidnapped is just a seventeen-year-old apprentice blacksmith. He hadn't shown any particular excellence."
Sierra bit her lip and fell into thought.
"He's almost the same age as us. Poor thing."
As the meeting reached a lull, Cecil reminded them of their purpose.
"It might sound heartless, but our mission isn't to solve the problem. We don't need to save this poor village boy or capture the thug. What we need to do is understand the full story of the incident and retrieve evidence."
Hubert also added, quickly swallowing bread as if afraid it might be taken away, "...Right. Let's leave the righteous work to the great Sir Gale. Seeing how confidently he took the lead, it seems like he'll accomplish something big."
***
Without further delay, we boarded the carriage and headed for our second destination, Poron Village.
After a few hours, the surrounding scenery changed, and the members all exclaimed in admiration at the magnificent mountain range unfolding before their eyes. Seeing their innocent appearance, Cecil said amusedly, "You know what? To get to Poron Village, we have to climb that mountain range."
Hubert frowned hard and said, "You're joking, right? It was drawn like just a small mountain range on the map."
"I didn't expect it to be this treacherous either. Moreover, if we go a little further, we'll be leaving Eternia's seasonal magic circle area."
Everyone held their breath for a moment at Cecil's words.
That meant going outside Eternia's territory and making it difficult to receive protection from Plantera scouts.
Even though they had more experience than their peers and were students of Eternia, the continent's top academy, they were still just greenhouse flowers. The wilderness was still overwhelming for these civilized people who had lived comfortable lives.
Tami asked anxiously, "Will there be Planteras around here too?"
"Yes, but because the area is so vast, it's hard to clean the entire region."
Of course, Planteras did patrol outside their territory, but because they were slower than monsters, they couldn't block all the magic creatures flowing in from all directions.
In other words, if they were really unlucky, they might encounter magic creatures.
Cecil calmly looked at the map intently and added, "I'm trying to find an easier path, but there's no particular breakthrough."
Sierra, sitting next to her, joined in interpreting the map, "Hmm, that's right. No matter which route we take, with the mountain terrain so steep, it's impossible to enter with a carriage."
Cecil asked, "Senior, why are the villages in this Sintagma region built in a way that makes it difficult for people to come and go? Is it a conflict zone or something?"
"It's probably not because of people. Since they don't have the protection of a country, they must have had to hide to survive somehow."
"..."
Cecil seemed to run out of things to say and kept her mouth shut for a while, then turned her head towards me.
"Damian, you're the leader. They say carriages can't enter Poron Village. We have to climb up and down a mountain, so the schedule might be delayed more than expected. What are you going to do?"
Although she didn't express it directly, Cecil was demanding that the group be split.
Was there anything more to consider? The investigation mission didn’t require that many people. Moreover, we only had three days left. We couldn't achieve our goal by moving leisurely like wanderers.
"Let's split the group. We'll divide to investigate Poron Village and Marbas Village, then regroup."
Everyone nodded as if agreeing moderately.
"How are you going to divide the groups?"
"Is there anyone who wants to go to Poron Village?"
They just looked at each other without raising their hands readily. It was an expected result. Who would want to climb a steep mountain range reluctantly?
Tami sighed deeply and said, "Everyone knows it's hard."
"Then I'll go alone."
Suddenly, Lilith raised her hand.
"I'll go too!"
Cecil looked suspiciously back and forth between me and Lilith. Cecil's gaze seemed a bit unusual today. She had been looking at me with strange eyes occasionally since I saved her from falling from the tree, and it didn't feel good.
I cut off Lilith's request, "To move quickly, it's better if I go alone. Moreover, since Gale's group is said to be staying in Marbas Village, it would be better for as many people as possible to move with the carriage."
It wasn’t just Gale's group. There were plenty of enemies targeting us. Weak and small animals needed to move in groups to survive.
"O-okay..."
Lilith lowered her arm with a dejected expression.
Fabella carefully asked me, "Will you be okay? Aside from the treacherous path to Poron Village, other members might be lying in ambush. I think it would be good if either I or Lilith joined you."
I had a moment of conflict but soon gathered my resolve and rejected the proposal.
Going alone would actually be much more advantageous in responding to unexpected situations.
***
At the end of the steep ridge, a plateau finally unfolded. The place where the knife-like wind deeply sweeps the ridge. Due to the eerie atmosphere created by clouds caught on rocks, it was nicknamed "Breath of Evil Spirits."
The bizarre rock formations spread out on the plateau, looking like standing loaves of rye bread, appeared like giants standing when seen in the fog.
Right at the entrance to Poron Village, the Drama Club trio had set up camp and were waiting.
Icarus asked, "Can you see anything?"
Crude, a first-year student who was observing the lower ridge with binoculars from a tall rock, expressed his dissatisfaction.
"Why is there fog when the sky is bright blue and the sun is shining brightly?"
Every time a knife-like wind swept along the ridge, damp dew formed on their hair.
Louis, who was next to Icarus, said, "It's not fog, it's clouds passing by. This must be why it's called the breath of souls."
"Have we really climbed that high?"
"Stop chattering and observe the entrance. Do you see anything?"
Just then, Crude shouted loudly, "Oh, I see something! A black carriage is passing through the southern plains!"
Louis slowly stood up from his seat. Then, while admiring the scenery below the mountain, he said,
"If it's a black carriage, it must be the Art Club's. Hurry with setting up the magic circle."
"It's almost done. Just need to distribute the mana and set up the stabilization circle."
"If our predictions are right, Damian will come here. Of course, it's not certain, so we need to prepare thoroughly."
"Don't worry about that. The other entrance routes are excessively treacherous, so he'll end up coming this way."
"...Alright. I'll lure Damian."
Louis raised one corner of his mouth slightly as he looked at his companions. Everyone seemed to feel anticipation rather than fear before the battle. The male students of the Drama Club harbored implicit antipathy and hostility towards Damian.
"But... is your arm okay? It was fine until last night... Did a magic creature appear in the middle of the night?"
Icarus expressed anxiety as he looked at Louis' arm. He had bandages wrapped around his left arm as if he had suffered a major injury. His appearance had changed overnight, making his companions wonder.
Louis stroked that arm slowly and smiled faintly.
"This is nothing."