Chapter 33: West Forest We travelled for a day and reached the West Forest. I heard that it took a day to get here but we rested half way through so it actually took a day and a half.
It"s probably my fault.
I didn"t mind going to the Royal Capital by carriage but riding on a long journey took a toll on my body.
If the Head Magician didn"t suggest that I use『HEAL』on the way here then it would have probably took more time, right?
It was physically draining but not mentally.
No, of course, sometimes physically draining showed up mentally as well.
I thought the Head Magician"s presence was quite big.
There were the thing where he suggested that I cast『HEAL』but he also talked with me, so I was relieved.
The magic lecture we had on the way to the West Forest was related to subjugation. Rather than saying that it was a lecture about magic, it was probably more accurate to say that it was a lecture about combat. He mostly taught me about my role in the group battle and how I should conduct myself.
I grew up in peaceful j.a.pan and I didn"t have any battle experience at all so I thought that the lecture was very helpful.
That lecture ended after a few hours.
This was because of what I told the nonchalant Head Magician at the 2nd break.
I told him about strengthened medicinal herbs.
I could produce that medicinal herbs because of the Head Magician"s advice so I thanked him.
Then, of course, we talked about how to reproduce it.
We inevitably talked about that mysterious magic……
The Head Magician"s eye colour changed when I casually told him, "I activated some kind of magic".
It was already too late by the time I thought, d.a.m.n it!
If the Captain hadn"t stopped him during the break, we probably wouldn"t have moved for a while.
We shouldn"t stay here long, continue inside the carriage, I was really relieved when he said that.
Then we talked about that mysterious magic the whole way.
It was probably better to say that he interrogated me rather than we talked. The Head Magician didn"t know about that magic either and he persistently asked various questions about it. He also said that he wanted me to show him it, but I haven"t been able to cast it since that time and I could see that he was downhearted.
Yup, I won"t be shaken.
He forgave me when I told him that I was practicing so that I could reproduce the effects and that I would show him when I succeed.
We stopped for the night and arrived at the West Forest a little after noon the next day.
After lunch, the knights will scout out the area first.
I could finally enter the West Forest on the third day.
The trees grew thickly in the West Forest so it was gloomy even though it was daytime.
The East and South Forests were probably well maintained because the students from the Academy go there.
The West Forest might have felt extra gloomy because it was bright there.
We broke into multiple groups to move within this forest.
The knights from the 3rd Knight Order were in my group as well as the Captain and Head Magician.
And the number of mages a.s.signed to my group was half the amount of the other groups.
The cause: The Head Magician.
The Head Magician wasn"t supposed to be in my group, but he used his power of authority.
I can"t let anything happen to you, he said.
Well, the Captain was here too. If the Head Magician also joined my group then we"ll have too much power here. But the Head Magician was stubborn.
He wanted to be in the same group as me because he wanted to study me.
There"s no mistake about it.
I was surprised by the Captain. The Captain also refused to move into a different group. He looked like he would normally make decisions calmly and move to a different group himself.
But we decided on the group members after some shuffling around.
Yup, we"ve got too much power here.
I saw a demon for the first time in here, but the Head Magician defeated it before I"d even had the chance to get scared. He did it while humming. The Captain also smiled wryly at that.
I thought that the Captain who was smiling wryly while slashing down the demon that had come flying out, was also extreme.
The Head Magician said that it had been a long time since he"s been on a subjugation. His eyes were twinkling and I didn"t felt like he was rusty.
The magic he was evoking was also stronger than the ones I saw him using at the training grounds, probably because they were used for subjugation.
I heard he was strong but I didn"t think he would be this strong!
If you want to be the top of a unit then it won"t do if you"re not this strong?
Which meant that the Captain was also this strong?
There were two such people.
As I thought, this group is too overpowered.
"Woah."
"Are you alright?"
"Th-thank you."
I was being careful while walking but I still tripped over a tree root on the ground.
I would have fell if the Captain, who was walking next to me, didn"t immediately catch my arm to support me.
There were fallen leaves piling on top of each other, making the roads slippery, in addition to it being dim and difficult to see.
There weren"t many small trees and they probably maintained this before, but it was hard to walk through.
Having said that, I couldn"t walk while looking down so it was difficult to walk through here.
I corrected my posture and looked at the Head Magician. He placed his hands onto his chin and pondered.
I wonder what"s wrong.
"Is something wrong, Head Magician?"
"Oh, no. I was just thinking that the demons have decreased compared to before."
The demons have decreased?
This was my first time coming here so it didn"t feel real to me yet but when I looked at the Captain, he was nodding so the amount of demons had really decreased.
"Is this the result of your previous subjugation?"
I asked the Captain and he said that the demons had decreased more than when they had subjugated.
"That could be it, but I feel like it"s decreased more than that."
The Captain and the Head Magician looked pensive. The Head Magician asked the Captain various questions, probably because he couldn"t come up with an answer alone.
"I felt like there were a lot more when I came here before."
"That"s right. There"s less here now than there was when I was on my previous subjugation mission."
"Come to think of it, I haven"t seen many weak demons. I feel like the ones we"ve defeated have all been middle cla.s.s demons."
"Now that you mentioned it, that"s true."
They talked until that point and the Head Magician stared at me. The Captained also looked at me when he noticed the Head Magician"s gaze.
Huh? What?
I fl.u.s.tered, wondering what was up.
The Head Magician nodded his head as if he came to an understanding.
"Shall we keep going?"
"Okay."
Don"t just move on when you two are the only ones who understood.
I thought about asking for an explanation but a demon with bad timing appeared and I missed my chance to ask.
Translator: Blushy