Chapter 320: Mysterious Forest
"Here is fine, Spot. Let"s stop here."
We were on our flight to Arturo, when I asked Spot to stop and descend right before we entered a dark forest. Although it"s still bright, the forest is too dark for average people. Not me though.
"Why are we stopping here?" Victoria asked right in front of the forest.
"I heard from old man that this is one of the most mysterious location in the entire continent. Even though it"s sunny, the forest is too dark. Not many people have explored this forest. Although it seems as if cutting through the forest to go from Varadis to Arturo is faster, people would choose to travel through sea route since it"s safer that way. If I have to guess, this place is perfect for hiding spot. Maybe while we"re on travel, we could find the cult"s base or former base in this forest." I explained.
That"s also why I asked Spot to fly this way instead of crossing the sea.
The life of the king might be in danger if he"s still alive, but after realizing how close Varadis was to be under their control, I need to be more thorough in cleaning up the problem. Though after this mission is over, I will leave everything to the kings and have a good rest.
"So, how is the forest to you two monsters?" I asked Spot and Victoria who were both monsters.
It was because I heard that this place is where the Dragon Dung Flower originated from. That is why there"s no monsters coming in or out of this forest. Unless there"s a real dragon dung there.
"The forest is dark, but it"s not difficult for me to see." Spot said.
"And there"s nothing that prevent us from entering. I think we"re fine." Victoria said.
I guess the Dragon Dung story was fake. But there might be some truth in it. because I didn"t see any monsters inside the forest, or outside it. At least from within my Divine Vision"s range.
"So, are we going in?" Victoria asked.
"No. Let"s rest for today. We"ll enter the forest tomorrow." I said.
After that, we prepared to camp right outside the forest. I don"t think anyone will come here. And if anyone indeed coming, they are suspicious.
The next day, we prepared to enter the forest after breakfast.
"This is supposedly one of the most dangerous location in this continent. Let"s be careful. We will ride on Spot"s back like before, but he will be smaller and slower. Is that okay, Spot?"
"Sure! This forest seems interesting!" Spot said excitedly.
Well, if he"s happy, I don"t think he will swallow anyone anytime soon.
Inside the forest… there"s nothing other than very tall trees that covers the sun. the leaves are mostly green, but there are trees with purple leaves, pink, and other color. I don"t get why this place is labeled as dangerous. Maybe because there"s some kind of effect if you breathe in the surrounding air directly. If that"s the case, it"s good that I protected everyone with my Air Barrier before we enter this forest.
"Roy, do you see anything?" Celestine asked.
"Nope. Not at all. Do you sense anything?"
"When we reached expert level mages, our senses increased so we can sense magic close to us. That"s how we detect people. When we entered this forest, I didn"t feel anything. But now, I feel like I"m being surrounded by… everything here. These trees must be dangerous." Celestine said.
If she says so, I guess that"s correct. I should be careful and maintain the Air Barrier around us at all time.
"Does that mean you always sense me just from… breathing? Since I mostly breathe thanks to air magic." I asked.
"Not really. But if I concentrate on how people breathe, I might be able to differentiate between you and other people." Celestine replied.
"That remind me of boys in my world. They can differentiate their parents" footsteps just by hearing. That"s how much they want to keep their secrets."
Victoria suddenly spoke. She must be feeling nostalgic after hearing something similar. But I thought there"s no magic in her world? And what kind of secrets do boys want to keep from their parents?
I will never know. It"s because I"m not from that world, and I have no parents. But whatever Victoria said always piqued my interest. But let"s just stay curious and never ask her for the truth. I don"t think I can handle it.
"Then how about I breathe the magic? You might find out what makes this place dangerous." Victoria asked. But there"s one flaw I can see in her plan.
"…you don"t even have lungs. How will we know that the trees are dangerous If it doesn"t affect you?"
"We won"t know if we don"t try."
After saying that, Victoria jumped off of my shoulder and landed on the ground, so I asked Spot to stop.
Because I don"t know if the air will affect our body even if we don"t breathe it in, I put a large Barrier enough to cover Spot"s body which is already smaller than his real body. And Victoria is already outside the range of my barrier.
Since it has come to this, we can only watch.
"Hmm… there"s nothing wrong with me." Victoria said.
The trees around us have pink leaves. It"s dark since the sun is covered by the trees, but I can see the color. If this place is not dangerous, this will be a beautiful scene. Though we still don"t know what makes this place dangerous. Maybe the danger label will be lifted if there"s really nothing dangerous?
"I guess it doesn"t affect me. Then… OH MY GAWD!"
Suddenly, Victoria shouted. What is it? I looked around, but there"s n.o.body around us.
"What is it, Victoria?"
"Roy! What are you doing with Hill! No, don"t do that! Actually, do more!"
"WHAT THE h.e.l.l!? STOP THAT!"
I punched Victoria as hard as I could to make her returns to her sense. And maybe the trees here have an effect that gives the people who breathe their scent to fall into hallucination. In any case, whatever Victoria is seeing must be stopped. So, I tried to surround Victoria with Oxygen. I don"t know if this will work, but I hope if her lung is filled with it (If she has any), she will return back to normal.
"Huh? What? Where"s Hill?"
Victoria looks confused after I used my air magic. I guess it works. But maybe I need to upgrade my ability to cure the condition faster.
"That was hallucination, I guess. Maybe this place is good for me to improve my air magic. Then I can use hallucination gas to my opponents." I said.
"Call it Hallucinogen gas. I like that one better. Anyway, it"s a shame that that was just hallucination." Victoria said.
"It"s not a shame! You"re the shameful one to think of something like that! Anyway, if no one has any problem, I"d like to have Victoria test every tree I can see. At least let"s stay in this forest and leave before it"s dark. We"ll continue to go to Arturo tomorrow." I said.
"Then I"ll go back to the Empire. I want to tell Lynn about everything that happened directly. Call me back tomorrow before you leave." Celestine said.
"Sure. Spot, sorry but you don"t have anything to do."
"It"s fine. What Victoria did look funny anyway." Spot said as he turned small and wrapped himself around my waist.
Then I opened a portal to the Empire and let Celestine go there.
Today, let"s have a lot of experiment.
"Victoria, I want to test if the different color of the tree leaves gave you different hallucination. Around here, the color of the leaves is pink. Let"s go to the red one nearby next." I said.
"…I shouldn"t have volunteered before. Sigh… let"s do this quickly."
Then, I run quickly to where the leaves are red. I throw Victoria outside my Air Barrier, and waited for her reaction.
"YOU F***ING SWINE! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?"
After waiting for a while, Victoria shouted in anger. I guess the effect of the trees around here is anger. As for before… it was most likely l.u.s.t. Though I want it to be wrong.
"Okay, Victoria. That"s enough." I said as I grabbed her and return her back to my Barrier.
"Uuu… I don"t want to do this…" Victoria said.
Sorry, but there"s no way out for you. As long as you don"t transform, you won"t be any danger whatever hallucination you see. That"s why you"re the only one I can ask. Though I won"t tell her that.
I think Victoria knows that as well. And she thinks that this will improve my air magic as well. So, she agrees to follow through this plan.
"That was interesting. Let"s get to the next one." I said.
"Can"t you just go back here alone later? I"m too embarra.s.sed to think of what"s going to happen to me later." Victoria said.
"No. I want to see everything today first. Of course I will return here later after the mission. But while you"re willing to be experimented, I will have you breathe in most of the trees here."
And so, we spend the day experimenting on the effect of each color of the trees until it"s dark outside. After it"s dark, stopped and take a rest outside of the forest. Though Victoria needed to be hugged the whole night after that because of embarra.s.sment. So cute.