TERNLF Vol. 2 Chapter 2 Part 1

◆Chapter 2◆

Rustle.

“Eek.”

“Hey, Nikka. Don’t cling to me. I can’t walk.”

“But I heard something.”

“Of course you heard something. You’re such a scaredy-cat.”

The next morning, before the villagers were up, we entered the forest.

We waited near the edge until the sky grew bright enough, then started deeper in.

At first, the sunlight kept the woods bright, but the farther we went and the denser the trees became, the darker it got.

Even so, there was still enough light to see our footing, far better than traveling at night.

“The mana density is still low around here. There are hardly any monsters, so you can relax.”

“‘Hardly’ means there might be some, right?”

Ever since we stepped under the trees, Nikka jumped at every sound and would not let go of Grassa.

I already knew the reason.

Since childhood she had been told, to the point of trauma, that if she went into the forest, beastkin would attack her and do terrible things.

She thought she had overcome it, but the moment we actually entered the woods, the old fear returned.

“Kyaa!”

“Ugh, what now?”

“I-I felt like something was staring at us from that thicket.”

“Where… oh, that’s a forest rabbit. Toa, catch it and let’s have it for lunch.”

By feel, it had been two hours since we entered the forest, but it was probably about half that.

Thanks to using body reinforcement while walking, I did not feel much fatigue, but we could not make steady progress because Nikka stopped at every little thing.

Caution was not a bad trait for an adventurer, since a single mistake could cost your life, but even Grassa and I were growing tired of checking every time she got spooked and calming her down.

“Give it up. Hunting here would only waste time processing the kill.”

Since we had stopped anyway, I knelt and placed my hand on the ground to cast 【Echo Vibration】.

We needed to find the transfer station for the Mole Tunnel in the forest where the Dwarves likely headed.

“Eeh, but forest rabbit is tasty. If you skin it cleanly, the pelt sells for a decent price.”

“Grassa, the grass over there just moved!”

“It’s probably a snake or something.”

I ignored their back-and-forth, which had continued ever since we entered the woods, and focused on the returning echo.

Unlike in a city, searching underground in a forest was difficult.

Deep-rooted trees, burrowing beasts, and monsters everywhere, the rising mana density the farther you went, and the dungeons that formed because of it; all of that got in the way.

I had probed once with 【Echo Vibration】 before we left the village and made a rough guess at the location, but it was too far to pinpoint.

So we had been advancing while scanning every so often with 【Echo Vibration】, and—

“…Maybe I overdid it.”

Rustle.

Leaves often brushed together in the wind here, but now a distinctly different sound had mixed in.

“Eeeek, there’s something there!”

“Again? It’s just a monkey or—”

I slowly lifted my hand from the ground and looked up at the tree Nikka was pointing at.

“So I did call them over.”

I stood and called out to the man poised on a branch, staring at us with wary eyes.

“Sorry for the disturbance. We—”

I raised one hand and tried to wear my most harmless smile, but just then, with a soft whoosh, several sharp things flew at the three of us from a direction other than the man’s perch.

I had anticipated that much.

“…【Blessing Wind】!”

With the Powerful Words, a vortex of wind rose and wrapped around us.

The incoming projectiles were caught in the swirl and flung upward with the gust.

I guided one of them with wind and let it settle gently onto my palm.

“What—!”

“Kh!”

“Impossible.”

Three people had encircled us at some point, and astonished voices slipped out.

Without taking my attention off those three, nor the man who seemed their leader up in the tree, I examined what had landed on my hand.

“A poisoned needle… no, more like a needle made from processed animal hair?”

The silver thing was about ten centimeters long. It seemed crafted from some kind of hair.

Yet even when I pressed with my fingers, it did not bend. I could not help wondering how they made it.

“We have no intention of fighting you, and we are not here to raid your home or steal anything.”

I said it anyway, but their wariness did not change.

If anything, seeing me casually deflect their attack and toy with the hair-needles must have marked me as a threat; I could feel their killing intent pricking my skin.

“Toa… these people…”

“They’re beastkin, right? You don’t see them much outside the forest… This feels bad.”

Their voices trembled with fear from the sudden attack.

I told them, “Stay where you are for a bit. It’s easier to protect you that way,” then called up to the man I took for their leader once more.

“I’ll say it again—we are not your enemies. Will you hear us out?”

“…”

In answer, he silently threw one arm out to the side.

“So no talking, huh. I knew plenty of beastfolk were muscle-heads, but you could at least listen.”

Arrows flew at us again from three directions the moment I grumbled.

Three shafts in all, each one aimed cleanly at one of us.

But the truer the aim, the easier it was for me to block.

“【Blessing Earth Wall】!”

On instinct, I raised a dome of packed earth around the two behind me.

Unlike the hair-needles from before, these shots were clearly meant to kill Nikka and Grassa; two arrows clanged off the earthen wall and fell to the ground.

If their attacks centered on bows, this would hold.

“Yo.”

I slid a step aside and caught the last arrow—the one meant for the middle of my chest—with my bare hand.

“What!?”

The shout likely came from the archer himself.

It was only natural to be shocked by someone snatching a speeding arrow out of the air.

“Looks like this batch is coated with poison.”

A viscous, dark liquid smeared the arrowhead.

The front half of the hair-needles earlier had also been wet, but I had not felt killing intent in that volley; they had probably been laced with a sedative or paralytic to stop our movements.

This time, though, the malice was unmistakable; there was no way it was anything so mild.

That said, I could use 【Cure】, and my mentors had trained me to build some resistance to common toxins, though Nikka and Grassa could not rely on that.

“Taking you down would be easy…”

Keeping wary of the beastkin’s movements, I considered my next move.

If I meant to kill them all, it would be simple: scour the area with a wide-area spell or freeze everything solid.

But that would be a mistake.

We had not come to fight beastkin, and we were the ones who had stepped into their territory.

If even one person died here, self-defense or not, we would make enemies of them all.

Then the entire tribe would hound us.

I might manage alone, but protecting Nikka and Grassa while searching for the Mole Tunnel would become impossible.

“Let’s try this first.”

Without letting them notice, I cast silently.

If I could immobilize all of them, I could end this without bloodshed, so I triggered 【Blessing Freeze】 beneath their feet—

“As I thought, at this range they’ll notice.”

The instant the ice blossomed under all four, they sprang back to their original cover and vanished behind the trunks.

“As if such magic would work on us,” the leader’s voice boomed through the woods.

Whether by design or luck, the sound bounced from the thick growth and kept his position hidden.

“I was only testing—whoa.”

I muttered under my breath as I just barely slipped another arrow, this time from a different angle.

I had been mid-cast, so I could not shoot it down.

“A sneak attack? Cowards.”

I grumbled even more quietly, so softly only I could hear.

Granted, I had struck first from hiding; the thought left a sour taste of self-reproach even as I said it.

“Cowards!? The likes of you, who snatch people in the shadows, don’t get to call us cowards!”

At that, arrows roared in from four directions, raw killing intent riding their flight; nothing like the earlier, cool precision.

It seemed my mutter had poured oil on their rage.

So they thought we were kidnappers.

“What kidnapper shows up with two girls in tow?”

Even as I groused, I slipped through the rain of arrows by the slimmest margins—

“Still, thanks for the inspiration.”

I began preparing the spell for my next move.

What set beastkin apart?

Their diversity, far richer and more varied than humans.

Humans, Dwarves, Elves: differences existed, but their traits were broadly similar.

Beastkin, shaped by the animals they supposedly evolved from, differed in looks and abilities: truly a melting pot.

Some boasted great strength, others prodigious leaping, others blinding agility.

These here were likely a recon team patrolling the forest, drawn by the fine vibrations of my 【Echo Vibration】.

Were their defining traits that hair-trigger agility that let them dodge the instant a spell flared? Their archery that could thread a needle?

—No.

“The ones hiding and pot-shotting from cover are the real cowards, aren’t they?”

I whispered it again, so low even I could barely hear it.

“…”

“No use. Would’ve helped if you rose to the bait.”

I murmured something contrary to my true intent, even softer.

And just as I expected, the killing intent around us swelled.

Which meant my words were reaching every beastkin encircling us.

That last jab had been scarcely audible even to me, yet they had heard it so these beastkin had ears keen enough to catch it.

When mana runs through the earth in 【Echo Vibration】, it gives off minute tremors; they must have sensed that and come.

Now they were straining to catch my every move, all the more cautious after I cast without chanting.

I drew a slow breath, reined my mana for the next spell, and waited for the moment.

Even that tiny motion shifted the presences ringed around us, each one thinning out to keep me from pinning them down.

I had lost track of their exact positions, but it didn’t matter.

My next spell was not aimed at them individually.

【Round Speak】.

I triggered the spell silently.

They would have felt the ripple of magic and pricked their ears, focusing every nerve to learn what it was.

Please work.

I filled my lungs and, from the pit of my stomach, emptied every last breath—

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

I let out a scream that would reverberate throughout the forest.

—

“…What did you even do to cause this?”

“When I heard that scream, I thought you’d been taken out, Toa.”

Hearing Nikka and Grassa say that with exasperation, I reflected on my choices.

“I overdid it…”

I’d drawn the beastkin’s keen hearing to my every move and then hit them with a sudden, ear-splitting shout.

The plan worked a little too well.

Right after, there were half-formed cries and the sounds of bodies snapping branches as they fell from all directions.

And now, before me lay four unconscious beastkin who seemed to have crashed to the ground.

Their eardrums were likely ruptured; blood trickled from every ear, and two of them had broken arms or legs. The leader bled not only from his ears but from his eyes as well.

At a glance, I hastily dispelled 【Blessing Earth Wall】 from around Nikka and Grassa.

With the two—who had been crouched together inside—helping, we set about giving the beastkin emergency aid.

The leader looked critical; ordinary 【Heal】 or recovery potions did not seem sufficient, so I left him to Nikka’s 【Resurrection】, while Grassa and I handled the other three.

“Should we tie their hands and feet first?”

“No, they won’t wake up right away. Let’s give them recovery potions as they are.”

“Got it.”

I pulled two of the higher-grade recovery potions from storage and handed one to Grassa.

Eardrums should heal naturally, so a potion that boosts the beastkin’s self-recovery ought to be enough.

“Toa, conjure some water and wet this cloth.”

Grassa tore strips from a beastkin’s clothing to make cloths and held one out to me.

“【Blessing Water】—this much?”

“It’s enough.”

She wrung out the damp cloth and gently wiped the blood from their ears.

Personally, I would have given them potions and left it at that… but—