Extra 38: Manga SS – Anomaly in the forest
TLN: Hey guys, Reigokai here!
Just a short notice that I will be slowing my releases a bit to find a new novel. With the end of the extras drawing closer, it would be better if we were to get that new story before that after all.
The adventurers that are affiliated with the Adventurer Guild are in essence always under the risk of dying.
But when they leave a settlement to do their job, it is not as if they are always in a battle with their life at the edge all the time. Lowering their guards and being arrogant are not options, and the requests have their own rank with their respective difficulties.
Of course, they won’t always continuously take jobs that are close to their abilities.
In other words, even the adventurers in Tsige that require the best of abilities have jobs that fall into the category of ‘you can get money’ and ‘are easy’. Even in the wasteland that is bounds and leaps different in level from other places, it was no exception.
One of those is the forest that one can see as soon as they leave Tsige and enter the wasteland.
Some level of security has been secured in the path towards the forest, and the distance is not that big of a deal.
As of now, there hasn’t been any reports of specially dangerous monsters in the way to the forest. Because the wasteland is incredibly vast, no one has reached the deepest parts of it yet, but just with this, you could even call that place an oasis in the wasteland. But it doesn’t stop to only that. That forest even has a number of valuable plants and trees.
You can train there, serves as a gauge of your strength, on top of that, you can get income from it.
Many adventurers head to this forest, and it goes without saying that they endeavour in their job and training.
Of course, it is now a famous place where wasteland beginners and intermediate ones gather.
And so, the forest is named Tinarack Forest coming from the most popular material gathered there, the Tinarack gra.s.s.
There’s currently a situation happening at that place.
The adventurers heading to the Tinarack Forest are not returning.
There’s not really any problem if a beginner party were to be wiped out on their way to the forest.
People would only brush it off as ‘they overestimated themselves’ and there wouldn’t be a shred of pity for them.
That they didn’t have the required ability yet to enter the wasteland.
But when even an intermediate cla.s.s party that had the objective of getting money there had all not returned, the story changes.
Even the Adventurer Guild went ‘huh?’.
On top of that, if seven days continue without any Tinarack Forest requests being completed, there’s already a clear abnormal situation.
The guild formed an investigation team with scholars and skilled fighters that wouldn’t mess up even by mistake and they had them head to the forest. They are divided in bodyguards and investigation team, but there’s three specialized mages and alchemists in total, and three adventurers specially good in battle
It is true that it was hurriedly formed, but even with that, the three combat specialized ones are all within the top 10 of Tsige, and the scholars have also been acknowledged in battle and research.
In the guild’s eyes, they thought they had sent out a completely foolproof team.
“Weaklingthieves got so arrogant they lowered their guards, what a joke~. Are they sane by acting separately?”
“Weakling-thieves?”
“It is the word I came up with with my high naming sense. It is unexpectedly nice, you know. To shorten it, it would be weakling. Or thieves?”
“Eris, the combination is gone…”
“…Ah, right.” (Eris)
A small shadow was having a tensionless conversation as she stepped on a fallen adventurer.
The person she was talking to is tall compared to her and she was also kicking the fallen scholar without mercy.
His body was sent flying in a manner unbelievable of a hyuman body, and he stops after hitting a specially big tree.
Looking properly, there were two others there who had lost consciousness.
It is the deed of these two demi-humans.
“Hmph, looks like the last two have noticed us. They seem to be a cut above the rest of these thieves.” (Eris)
“There’s apparently a hyuman town called Tsige not far from here. It is the base of the adventurers. That must mean they have noticed the strange situation in this forest they have been doing whatever they want in.”
‘That’s why strong adventurers have come’, is what the tall one deduced.
“It really gets me, you know~. Doing whatever they want to the forest we prepared. Do they know how much trouble it was to make it grow this much? Do they think this big of a forest appeared miraculously?” (Eris)
“Hmph, hyumans just know about stealing. They are the favorite children of the G.o.ddess after all.”
“Ahaha~. In that case, we are the farmers? Like, growing the trees and plants for the sake of the hyuman-samas? Are their brains made of flowers and cherries or something?” (Eris)
“…It is because our ancestors didn’t like that that they ended up isolating themselves in such a remote place. I don’t know what the elves are thinking by coexisting with them, but I think we are far apart.”
“Umu umu. Akua’s straightlaced self is the same as always. Hm?” (Eris)
“What’s the matter, Eris?” (Akua)
Letting out a fake-looking ‘hoh~’, the demi-human Eris looks at a certain direction of the forest.
“The remaining two have a decent decision-making ability.” (Eris)
“?”
“They are planning on prioritizing the report of the situation rather than saving their comrades.” (Eris)
“…How troublesome.” (Akua)
“No no, I think that’s actually a great decision….. If their opponents weren’t us, and if this wasn’t our forest, that is.” (Eris)
“Hmph, that’s right. I will be dealing with the one that moves well. Eris, you go for…” (Akua)
“The mage or scholar-looking one, right? Understood.” (Eris)
With a bold smile, Akua holds her bow in hand and runs through the forest without looking back at Eris.
Eris, on the other hand, began chanting the aria of a spell like a song, and with her short staff, she twirls it around as if playing with it and returns it to her waist, and then, links both of her hands at the back of her head and began to walk.
By the time the baton twirling moves of hers were over, her aria had already finished.
“Good grief. It had been a while since we returned to harvest the things, and what do we find? Adventurers are truly the type that pop out from wherever. What a real pain.” (Eris)
Eris walks for a while in the forest while mumbling.
That’s right. The forest Tsige calls as Tinarack Forest is actually a forest that the race of theirs had cultivated for a long time. Its vegetation was something that had been planned beforehand.
Looking at it from Akua and Eris’ perspective, hyumans are simply noxious insects that have stepped into their fields and are stealing their crops as they wish.
When the comparison of them being the farmers and the hyumans being the noxious insects was established, the relationship between them was decided.
A relationship where elimination is the ideal solution.
That’s all there is to it.
“Most of them were weaklings, but they were sly, and there were some that were actually pretty strong. Once you see one, there’s more crawling around. It is a real pain. Do you understand that? Wait, there’s no way you would.” (Eris)
Eris stops her feet and looks up.
There was a single man there caught on the branches of a tree that were extending in a strange manner.
A hyuman man.
The spell that she had done while twirling her staff and chanting an aria had already caught him.
There were no other presences in the area, and it looks like the companion that was with him had prioritized escaping the forest.
The caught man was pathetically resisting.
“So you guys…you guys are the abnormalities that have been lurking in the Tinarack Forest!”
“Tinarack Forest? …Hah…it really saps my strength. Truly a pain~.” (Eris)
“?”
“In the first place, there’s no abnormality here. You guys are the noxious insects here. This place is a medicinal plant garden that we Forest Onis have been managing since forever. It is one of our gardens.” (Eris)
“What?…A child? Forest Oni?”
Maybe because he is in a situation where it is despairingly low that he can be released from his bindings, the hyuman scholar questioned the demi-human.
But her appearance and her answer to his question were all unexpected, so the man had fallen into slight confusion.
“…I have lived several times longer than you. Oh well, who cares. You must be an alchemist, scholar, or a brewer. There’s something I want to ask.” (Eris)
“U-Uh? I am a scholar that specializes in the plants for magic drugs. Name’s Ab Turner.”
“I didn’t ask for your name. And so, the Tsige adventurers are calling this place Tinarack Forest?” (Eris)
“That’s…right.”
“In other words, it is connected to the tinarack flax -no, the tinarack gra.s.s that grows lushly right in this forest?” (Eris)
“Yeah, well, this Tinarack Forest is not limited to that, it also has other valuable plants, so there must be even more valuable plants deeper inside, but…”
The answer of the man made Eris sigh heavily.
She was clearly showing disappointment.
“Meaning that, for you guys, this place is a miraculous forest that conveniently has a big amount of valuable plants sleeping in it? Plant scholar, Turner-kun?” (Eris)
Eris shows a half-smile with droopy eyes as she looked at the scholar that was still caught in the plants.
“We thought it was the miracle of the G.o.ddess. We saw it as one of the treasures sleeping in the wasteland.”
“And this is supposed to be a scholar. Truly irreparable.” (Eris)
Eris mutters and shrugs her shoulders with a ‘good grief’.
“Hey, you seem to be someone we can communicate with, so can you please release me? There might be a misunderstanding here. But once we talk it out, we could reach an understanding and find a point of compromise.”
“Chi chi chi, even if you tell me that while secretly forming an aria in ancient language, it doesn’t have any sort of persuasion.” (Eris)
“?!”
“By the way, the very fact that a forest exists inside the messed up climate of the wasteland is already a miracle. Leaving aside the fact that it is in a spot where the climate is stable.” (Eris)
“Wa?”
“Do you think there’s such a convenient situation where a forest this grown with so much vegetation and variety of plants are coexisting and many of them are valuable medicinal plants and fruits can exist?” (Eris)
“T-That’s…”
“No way in h.e.l.l. Our ancestors poured their hearts and souls to cultivate this forest, and yet, you enter as if you own the place, and stole as you pleased.” (Eris)
For a moment, the eyes of Eris showed a cold and sharp anger as it pierced through the man.
It was truly only an instant. Soon after, it returned to the droopy and listless eyes, but the man felt shivers that he hadn’t tasted before.
“I-It is a misunderstanding. In the first place, we didn’t know this forest was owned by someone!”
“Must be~. Because you guys don’t even know at all for what this forest is being a garden for.” (Eris)
“?”
“…Deep in here, we are cultivating crimson flowers. This is a garden that has everything prepared to protect it. Well, there’s no one within us Forest Onis that go by ‘ignorance means innocence’. I will have you pay for your sin.” (Eris)
“Crimson flower? No, wait. Wait, please! Pay for my sin?! Don’t tell me, you plan on killing me?!”
Ab Turner had reacted sensitively to the ‘pay for your sins’ that Eris has spoken a little after he had sent shivers down his spine.
Rather than the plant that he has no recollection of but was definitely a valuable plant, he was more worried of his own fate.
90% of the missing people are dead. This reaction was a natural one.
“Kill? No way. If you had touched the crimson flowers, then I would have killed a number of you guys, but…I wouldn’t mindlessly kill the Hyuman-samas.” (Eris)
“You are not going to kill me? But I did hear that a lot of people have gone missing…”
“Fortunately, you haven’t touched the important things, and also, you did what you did without knowing. Yeah yeah, there’s room for mercy. Most of the intruders until now have not ‘died’, you know?” (Eris)
“What?! Is that true?!”
Eris speaks with clear hidden meanings, but the man had no leeway to calmly notice that.
“I am not a hyuman, so I don’t lie unless it is necessary. I am simply having everyone help in the work of us Forest Onis.” (Eris)
“So, manual labor huh. You guys are more intelligent than I thought.”
“…Yeah, you will be a part of the forest for a while. And so, I will have you sleep for a bit. By the time you wake up, you will be at the location.” (Eris)
“? N, this is a…sleeping…”
Turner fell asleep, and his bindings came undone.
But Eris didn’t catch his falling body and simply watched as his body fell on the ground and made a dull sound.
“The Forest Oni children know more about the forest than you do, self-proclaimed scholar. This is a nice chance, so learn about the forest with that body of yours.” (Eris)
The small Forest Oni twirls her small staff.
When she did that, the gra.s.s stretched like vines and wrapped the body of the man.
“Ooh, you were already done too, Eris.” (Akua)
Eris reacts to the voice coming from her right, and there was Akua there.
She had no injuries as she carried the adventurer on her right shoulder.
“…Akua, how barbaric. You turned him into a complete beehive. Is he even alive?” (Eris)
“He is. There would be no point if he weren’t after all.” (Akua)
Akua shook the man that had received heavy piercing damage, and he groaned slightly.
It was close to a reflexive reaction. His consciousness hasn’t returned.
But it was clear that he had been defeated in a harsh manner.
Just in what way was he pierced with so many arrows.
“Right. It is fine as long as they are alive. Then, let’s return. There was a high number this time around, so let’s have the standby team help out.” (Eris)
“Yeah, Shishou will be incredibly happy. We gotta have them work for the amount that the adventurers have devastated after all.” (Akua)
“Exactly~.” (Eris)
The two brown skinned girls that called themselves Forest Onis disappear inside the forest as if melting with it.
The disappearance incident of the Tinarack Forest continued.
The guild’s investigation team had fallen victim as well, and it continued to silently devour the adventurers.