Chapter 93: Trouble I

Reiji was curious about the method that an Arcanist does in order to place a magic spell, or perhaps Arcane Magic, within the brass bell. The item was so small that there are no traces of possible beasts cores place within… 

'Is it from a very small beast core? Ahh! Maybe it's something similar to the arcane circle?' Reiji guessed after considering other possible ideas. He was not familiar with the Arcane Circle but it seems mysterious to him. Aside from that, the handle of the bell also has markings that he couldn't understand. 

However, it wasn't important right now as he looked at the wriggling bobu sassafras…

It has thin, round leaves, which are mostly bright green. It also has a small bronze flower at the center that was seemingly alive in Reiji's eyes. 

Stella then grabs her tools in her bag and cuts the flower from the stem before throwing it away. She then started harvesting the small plant leaving only its roots. 

Although the flower was the source of its ability to mimic other plants, it is useless once it was removed and will wither in a matter of seconds. Reiji and Stella were unaware whether it has been thoroughly studied by the professionals but the instructions given to them to harvest this plant was to remove the flower first.

They were not sure why it had to be so but they don't have any plans to experiments either so they just followed. 

"Finally, I got one…"

Stella muttered softly afraid that some other beasts would take notice of her. On the other hand, Reiji was observing the surroundings as after Stella placed the herb on her prepared bag, he noticed several eyes watching their movement. 

He didn't tell it to her yet, since they weren't those difficult wild beasts. 

'Hmm… They're quite different compared to the other side…'

Reiji commented after seeing unfamiliar wild beasts within this side of the forest. However, because he remembers the content of the book that Diether bought, he was able to identify the beasts near them. 

Stella stood up as she eyed her surroundings, she didn't notice anything amiss aside from a couple of birds perched at a nearby tree. She didn't count them as a threat due to their small size.

"Master… I won't be going further inside and will just walk along this way…" Stella said to her master hoping that he would tell her whether it was even more dangerous or not.

"Mhmm… Go ahead…" Reiji answered without much of a thought. The outer edge of the forest wasn't that dangerous and he only had to let her familiarize the surroundings of the forest. After all, this is her first time venturing alone within the Wailing Forest. 

"M-master…"

A couple more minutes have passed and a suspected bobu sassafras was found. Unfortunately, they were suddenly blocked by a couple of twin-horned rabbits. 

If Reiji would describe them, their size was indeed similar to a rabbit's with a brown fur, but their head almost looks like an ox. 

Unlike the adorable one-horned rabbit that would just run away once someone got near them, these two-horned rabbits in front of them were seemingly aggressive as their eyes glared at Stella.

Whoosh!

One of the rabbits tackled Stella but missed after she unconsciously used her footwork… 

"Umph!"

Stella wanted to counter-attack with the sword in hand but the other rabbit also tried to tackle her back.

It would be dangerous to get stabbed by those sharp horns so she focused on dodging first to familiarize herself with their speed. 

'They're a bit faster than the hanged logs but because they're keeping their distance, I have enough time to react…'

Stella nervously calculated her next actions. Her master didn't duplicate or brought out his other self, so she only has a single sword to battle against the two beasts. 

Whoosh! Whoosh!

It was the first time that the two beasts attacked at the same time. It was a frontal attack and another one from her right side…

Instead of dodging the two by moving away, she decided to just step back to avoid the one on her right and clash with the one at her front…

"Pah!"

Stella hit the rabbit on its head! 

'Yes! It would be something like Men Ari if Master Reiji would rate it…' She wasn't sure what that word means but she always hear her master say those words whenever she perfectly hits the head of a wooden human dummy while he was watching.

The rabbit whimpered after dropping on the ground. It was due to the force behind that strike that the beast could no longer stand!

It would be very fatal for her enemies if they didn't take the shinai's destructiveness seriously. Aside from that, her Energy was also calculated in that strike…

Now, there's only one remaining beast in front of her. 

However, instead of attacking her, the rabbit ran towards his injured partner and bit the other's horn before escaping!

'Ahh! What a waste! Should I chase them?'

Stella considers for a moment before shaking her head. Although they would slow down due to the injured rabbit, she was unfamiliar with the place and only follows a path that has signs or marks left behind by the Hunters in the area. 

'Nevermind then…' She still held her shinai closely as she approached the suspected herb that she was looking for. 

Cling! Cling! Cling!

The poisonous plant then wriggled wildly before showing its true form. 

'Great!' 

This harvesting journey continued for several hours. Although she failed a few times and wasted her Energy to use the brass bell, she was still happy with the overall results.

'It should be enough for now…'

"Grrr!" 

Stella suddenly glance at the source of the growling sound and realized that she was already surrounded by five angry wolves!

'Master! Why didn't you tell me?!' 

'Well, can you defeat them?' Reiji asked instead of answering Stella's panicked question.

'N-no way!' Stella knows her strength clearly and she was sure that she'll die a horrible death if she insisted on fighting these wolves.

One of the wolves was only staying behind the four and observing them with their blue eyes… The beast's aura was more savage and scary than the cult members that she, or her Master, fought with before. 

That wolf was two times larger than her and spells trouble for her. She felt that even escaping would be impossible at this rate. 

The other four were all young and probably had the same age. She also noticed that although they look angry, they only seemed to be trying to intimidate her.

'Ahh… Is that big wolf their parent? Then… Are they using me to practice their hunting skills?'

Stella guessed after seeing that the large wolf at the back doesn't seem to have plans of joining the fight.

If that was the case, she was probably seen as someone weaker and can be hunted by these four wolf cubs.

'Urgh… It doesn't matter whether they're wolf cubs or not… There's no way I can fight them all at the same time!' Stella cleared her thought as she let her master handle it for her. 

At the very least, this would be a great learning experience for her.

***

"I'm sorry… She hasn't returned yet. I'm sure that she'll be back before it gets dark…"

"I see… But just in case, do you know any other places she may be staying at?" 

One of the female squires of the Chaos Knights asked. Her name is Jillian and was tasked to bring the female warrior to the esteemed Knights. 

Because Stella is a female, they decided to give the task to her to put Stella at ease. 

"Mhmm… I only know that she's practicing her sword somewhere in the vicinity of the forest at the northern gate. You can try asking the guards there." 

Although Hemil said that it was a gate, their village was only partly surrounded by a fence. Apparently, they were still relying on some False Ivies for their protection against beast attacks. 

Aside from that, the northern gate that he was referring to was just the two watchtowers standing side by side and it seems to be nothing more than some decorations as far as he knows.

"Alright! Thanks for the information…" 

Jillian thanked Stella's uncle before leaving the smithy. She didn't think that her first mission in this village would be this difficult. She's unfamiliar with the place and she still has to find that woman. 

She can't return like this as she might be scolded for being useless and not trying hard to find the female warrior.

After their Knight Captain realized that the female warrior and the guard leader were not in a good relationship, he decided to take the task of finding Stella and passed it over to her…

Sigh~

She wished that she'll be a Knight very soon. However, learning the Knight's Combat Arts would still take some time. It wasn't enough that she has a common Arcana with her.

'Tsk… I thought that I'll be able to relax here….'

The weather was hot and her sweat was trickling down on her face so she had to move now. 

After deciding on what she has to do, she dragged her feet to ask the guards at the northern gate.