Chapter of Heart Resonance: What the Forest Hides

"Yumi! Uncle!"

"Woa—

A small ball of energy dashed towards me and jumped into my arms, nearly catapulting me back out of the wagon. Lily, who was right behind me, reacted quickly and caught us both in her arms.

"Be careful, Emily. That's dangerous," Lily chastised her.

"Ah! Sorry, Big Sis Lily! Sorry, Yumi!"

"Nn... It's fine, just be careful next time."

"I will!"

Most likely, she wasn't going to be careful next time either. Fairly sure she had said those very same words several times already. But that wasn't important right now. Emily, together with Maya and Sele, had taken refuge in our wagon. According to Korwen, they should stay inside, lest the elves would figure out where she was. Assuming they really wanted to kidnap her, hiding her was the best option.

Korwen, who was right behind us, only shook his head in exasperation.

"Haa... Let's just sit down. Mm? Oh, hello, Maya, Sele."

"Mh... Good... Morning?"

"Zzz..."

Maya and Sele were huddled up in the corner with a blanket. Maya was dozing off, probably more asleep than awake, while Sele was sleeping peacefully already.

"I'm envious how she can sleep through all of this..."

"Nn..."

Well, as long as they weren't going to strip Sele naked just to wake her up now, she really would sleep through... Although, best case she'd just sleep through everything and wake up happy and full of energy tomorrow.

Korwen pulled a few chairs from the corner and urged us to sit down.  Once everyone was seated he turned to Emily.

"So, why did you call for me?"

"Call? Ah! Right! Uncle! Uncle! The forest, uhm... The forest!"

"Calm down, Emily, calm down. What's with the forest?"

His eyes narrowed, waiting for Emily's explanation.

"The forest, uhm... It went... silent?"

"... Silent?"

"Silent... Really, really silent..."

Emily's voice grew weak and she stared at the ground.

"What do you mean, silent?"

"The forest, there's always noise. The animals, the trees, the flowers, they all talk. But now they are silent. Everyone is silent... Even when I ask, there's no reply."

"And what does that mean?"

"I don't know... I don't know but... it's scary..."

"..."

Korwen closed his eyes and leaned back, lost in thought.

"The forest is silent? I wonder what that means..."

"Nn..."

Lily had no idea either, apparently. Obviously, neither did I...

"Mh. I'll have to talk with Ria about this..."

"Captain, do you have an idea?"

"No way. I'm no magician, much less a fairykin. But the ones most likely to know what this means are the magicians."

He nodded to himself.

Asking another fairykin would probably have been even better, but there were none outside of Emily here. Actually...

"Nn, might Wormaz know something maybe? He's a dark elf mixed-blood, right?"

"Wormaz? That name rings a bell... From the Black Guards, right?"

"Nn, he's their smith."

"Ah, I remember him. He was a mixed-blood?"

Korwen's eyes went wide with surprise.

"True... Wormaz might know what Emily means. I mean, his mother told me sometimes about the forest and I remember that she was also talking about the forest 'talking' with her," Lily added.

"Nn? His mother?"

"Yes, she was with the Black Guards until a few years ago, before Wormaz' father died from old age. She was a rather quiet person but when I was small, she often told me stories about the forests and high elves and other fairykin."

Oh, was Wormaz' mother maybe the reason that Lily liked those stories?

"Mh, I didn't know there had been a dark elf among the Black Guards. Greyward never mentioned that."

"They did keep quiet about her, mostly. A fairykin among a mercenary group would've only drawn attention. Like Emily."

"That's true. Mh, that decides it then."

"Nn?"

Korwen nodded once more to himself and stood up from his chair.

"I'll go and talk with the Black Guards' smith first. Yumi, you come with me."

"Nn, understood, Captain."

This time I didn't get it wrong.

"Lily, stay with the girls for a while. If anything seems out of place, call me, Merim or Fenna immediately."

"Understood, Captain!"

"Emily, stay put and... don't worry. I don't know why the forest has gone silent but we'll deal with it."

"... Mm."

Emily nodded weakly, gripping her shirt tightly.

"Emily."

"Mm?"

"Thank you for telling me. It's a big help."

"...."

Emily just stared at Korwen for a few seconds, then...

"... Mm! You're welcome, Uncle!"

"If you notice anything else, tell Lily and she'll call me."

"Will do!"

Her big smile was back.

Satisfied with her response, Korwen nodded to her and then left.

"Until later, Emily, Lily."

"Until later, Yumi!"

"Good luck, Yumi."

I threw a quick glance to the corner but Maya was already dozing off again.

Then I left as well and followed Korwen.

"Yumi."

"Nn?"

"Those girls, they want to help us, right?"

"Nn. They do."

"Is that so..."

"Nn?"

Korwen walked along the road, passing the wagons. And he was walking quite quickly. A bit too quickly, since I had to walk twice as fast...

He scratched the back of his head and stared into the sky, not even looking where he was walking... He'd bump into someone at this rate, wasn't he?

"... I'll have to think of something, I guess. Haa, I'll worry about that later."

"Think of something? Captain, do you mean, how they can help?"

"I do."

"Nn, Merim said they'd learn at the Academy for a while, right? Also, Wendl tested whether they had any magical capacity for a mage."

"... Wait, Yumi."

Korwen stood still, causing me to nearly bump into his back.

"Wendl did what?"

"He tested their magic capacity."

"... And what were the results."

"Uhh... If I recall correctly, Emily filled out all of those testing spheres, Sele half and Maya one."

"... I assume you mean those capacity sticks that they use?"

"I think so."

Korwen furrowed his brows.

"Is something wrong?"

"... Mh, no, I was just surprised. Even lighting a single sphere means you have enough talent to justify learning magic. So, those three could all learn magic..."

He slowly resumed walking.

"I hoped that I could put them into secretarial work, but if they learn magic... Well, I guess hoping for it was futile anyway, considering Emily already knows some magic and Sele as a demonkin would surely be able to learn it as well... But that even Maya shows some talent."

"Is it that surprising?"

"Maya is a beastkin from a cat tribe, so yes. I knew her parents and they didn't have a shred of magic in them. Probably."

"Probably?"

"Most people never get the chance to even test out their magic capacity. There's no way to know."

Oh, right. If you needed that weird stick to measure your capacity, then most people's lives would probably go by without ever seeing it...

"Nn, doesn't that mean that there could be a lot more magicians around?"

"... That's right. Many with even small talent go by unnoticed. You need quite some luck or a lot of money to get the chance. The Academy in Lafria offers a free test but not many actually go there. Every year it's barely over a hundred, or so I heard. And the ones who pass are even fewer."

"A free test?"

"Yes."

Korwen nodded, a smile forming on his face.

"The current King of Lafria wants to have as many magicians as possible. That's why they support the Academy financially, in the hopes of raising every talent they could possibly find. The results are... lacking, to say the least."

"... Because nobody goes to take the test?"

"Yes. Having a magician in the family would be a financial boon, but before it comes to that, training a magician is just an expensive expenditure. Not to mention that not all families have the leeway to send away a child for training in the capital in the first place. Which isn't even guaranteed since they need to get tested first."

"I see..."

Korwen peered into the forest next to us.

"With that said, some success is still better than none. There are a few children that would never have gotten the chance otherwise. And I hear they hold quite the expectations for some of them. For now, though. We got other things to do. You'll see when we're in the capital what I mean."

"Nn."

He was right, first, we had to figure out what Emily had meant.

A little curious, I glanced into the dark forest. It didn't seem much different from earlier. There were still animal cries and the rustling of the leaves. It was very far from silent or even quiet.

Just what could 'silent' actually mean here?

Before I could figure it out, though, we arrived at Wormaz' wagon. The owner of the said wagon was currently standing next to it, directing another man to move that wagon.

"Is it the small man?"

"Nn. That's him."

"Mm."

Korwen walked up to Wormaz, not hesitating in the least.

"Are you Wormaz? The Black Guards smith?"

"Mh? What is it, I'm busy!"

Wormaz turned around, complaining. Alas, his eyes went wide when he saw us, or rather, Korwen.

"You're... the Dragon Knights' Captain?"

"That's right. I'm Korwen, the Captain of the Lomerian Dragon Knights."

"I see. Then, how can I help Mr Dragon Captain?"

"... Dragon Captain?"

"Well, the Dragon Knights' Captain, short Dragon Captain. I already got a Captain, so you're the Dragon Captain."

"..."

Wormaz said so with quite the smug on his face. He must've been proud of this nickname... Unfortunately for him, Korwen decided to just ignore it...

"Whatever. I heard you're a mixed-blood, right?"

"... And what business does that have to do with you?"

His smug instantly turned into a glare. Although, Korwen wasn't intimidated in the least, from the looks of it.

"One of our girls said the 'forest went silent'. Unfortunately, I have no idea what this means. She's a young fairykin child, so she doesn't really know what it means either."

"... A fairykin child? Mh... I see. If that's the case... She said the forest went silent? Went silent?"

After murmuring to himself, Wormaz took a look around himself.

"Sounds pretty damn noisy out here, to me."

"She talks frequently about animals and trees talking to her. I think she means those when she said that."

"Talking trees? The fuck? I'm sorry, but I have no idea either."

"I see."

Korwen looked a little disappointed, but there wasn't much we could do. If he didn't know anything, that was it.

"Ah, unless..."

"Unless?"

"No, this is just something I heard from my mother before. She used to tell me that forests, especially fairy forests, are teeming with the spirits of trees and animals, and everything alive in there."

Spirits? Then, was Emily hearing those spirits talk? At least, that sounded like a more reasonable explanation than a tree talking by itself.

"Spirits... I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Mr Wormaz."

"No problem, Mr Dragon Captain. Ah, right. The banner for the girl, I'd like a flag from the Dragon Knights but I have no idea who to ask."

"A flag? Mh, I'll send someone to you later with one."

"That's fine too by me."

A flag? For the banner? Right... The banner. But, was it going to have two flags then?

"Yumi, remember that."

"Nn?"

"That I have to send someone to him."

"... Why me?"

"Because that's your job. If you don't want to do it, show me you can win against Merim."

... I'm totally going to need a notepad or so for the future, won't I?

Korwen turned back to Wormaz and thanked him once more. Then we left.

We walked back the direction we came from, walking silently for a few minutes. Korwen seemed to think about something, occasionally murmuring to himself.

"Spirits, spirits... Mm... Yumi."

"Nn?"

"Can you see spirits?"

"I don't think so, no."

At least, I hadn't seen anything that could qualify as a spirit so far.

"Mh, if the spirits have gone silent, what do you think could that mean?"

"Eh? Uhm..."

I was a little stumped at the question. I had no idea about spirits, after all. The only thing I knew was, that they were somehow related to magic. If they had gone silent, that meant they either fled or... were gone. Dead. Assuming, a spirit could die in the first place. But why would they flee or... die? Either something scared them away or...  their environment changed? What did they need from their environment? Probably mana? Maybe they needed a lot of mana?

I hadn't really paid attention to the amount of mana in the forest, so I couldn't say whether it had become less or more, though...

"Nn, this is just an assumption but... Do the spirits maybe need mana? Then, maybe there's not enough mana around for them?"

"Not enough mana. Of all things, that's what you thought of? Yumi, do you know, what that would imply?"

"... No?"

"Mana doesn't just disappear. If the mana in the forest is gone, where is it?"

"..."

Korwen stopped in his tracks, then made a U-turn and walked back the way we came from. Or more like, he jogged back.

"Eh? Captain?"

"We're going to find Greyward. We're going to leave this place as fast as we can."

"Ehh?"

I ran after him. I had already gotten used to the weight of the armour but running full throttle was... a completely different matter altogether. Barely a minute latter I was wheezing for breath. At least we found our quarry just as quickly.

"Greyward!"

"Korwen? What's going on?"

"Change of plans. We're getting out of here."

"That's... A surprisingly sudden change."

Greyward stood on the side of the road, directing the wagons in a similar manner to Wormaz.

"May I ask how you intend to do that?"

"There are ways, my good friend. Though we might get into trouble for it later."

"... Korwen, you aren't thinking of using magic."

Greyward's eyes narrowed when he asked that question. Only to get a savage smile in response.

"I am. Get everyone ready to leave on a moment's notice."

"I won't take responsibility for that, you hear?"

"That's fine by me."

I watched Greyward nodding and then turning to his men, shouting his new orders. Within but a moment, they were scrambling about, jumping into the wagons, bringing the things they unloaded back in and other stuff.

Korwen watched for a few seconds before walking away again.

"Let's find Ria and the other magicians."

"Nn... Uhm... Captain is... is this fine? I mean, uhm... It was just a guess?"

"And?"

"No, I mean... You said it might get you in trouble..."

Korwen, still walking ahead of me, fell silent for a few seconds, before answering me.

"Listen, Yumi. I don't care if it's just a guess or not. I found it a reasonable theory. And I got no fucking time to verify whether this is fine or not. Because if you are correct we are in some deep shit."

Suddenly, he slowed down a bit and his large hand pressed down on my head, ruffling my hair.

"You don't have to think whether this is okay or not, clear? That's my decision. You're only here to give me your opinion. Understood?"

"Nn..."

"I asked if you understood? Answer clearly!"

"Ah, uhm.... U— Understood, Captain."

He flashed me a grin.

"Have a bit more confidence in yourself. Think critically about what you say and do, but also have confidence once you have reached a decision. Whether you are correct or not is something you can worry about later."

"..."

"With that said, you should put that as a goal for yourself. It might sound simple, but actually adhering to it is probably one of the most difficult things."

"Difficult, huh... Captain, you really know a lot about these things..."

"... Ah... Ahahaha!"

Korwen broke out in loud laughter suddenly.

"Ahaha! Knowing a lot, haha, you're a good one... Haa..."

"Eh? Uhm..."

"Yumi. Those words, they're words everyone here once had to hear."

Everyone had to hear them? But...

"Eh?"

"Even I had to. And I still am unable to put them into practise myself. They're a goal, an ideal. All those were things my old man used to tell me. Think critical! Be more self-confident! Don't stop thinking! Think about your surroundings! And a ton more."

"That's... surprising."

"Surprising, huh. Well, I'm just a human as well. A simple person."

"I don't think the captain of a mercenary band could be described as simple..."

At the very least, this man in front of me was anything but simple...

"Ha! If my wife heard that, she'd probably give you a list of stupid things I've done in the past. I've had my share fair of mistakes too, mostly because I was an idiot... And some of them didn't end well in the least."

"..."

He stared off into the night sky.

"Either way. Just keep those words in mind. They might be an unreachable ideal, but nothing prevents us from aiming for the ideal, right?"

"... Nn."

I nodded, not that he could see it. This man bore responsibility for the lives of hundreds. That... That couldn't be an easy burden. Every mistake he made...

"For now, we just have to get out of here. Whatever happens, happens. If nothing happens and we get in trouble for it later, we can still laugh about it later."

"Nn."

Shortly after, we found ourselves back at the front of the caravan. Ria, Wendl as well as Wenners and Krutz were all caught up in a heated discussion about the mysterious hardness of the wood. All the while dozens of mercenaries swung their axes, singing with gusto. Much to my surprise, they had actually made decent progress. A few trees were apart in the middle and dragged to the side. There were still plenty trees left in the way, though...

"Ria."

"Mmh.... Ohh? Captain..."

"We're going to do this the hard way."

"Mhh... As expected..."

"Expected?"

Korwen raised his eyebrows. Apparently, he didn't expect Ria to say that.

"Captain, uhm... When you were called to Little Emily, we already thought it might come to this."

"Hoo, that's some good thinking, Wenners."

Wenners smiled awkwardly at the praise.

"Yumi, explain to Ria what we heard from Emily and Wormaz. I'll go get those idiots out of the way."

"Nn..."

Korwen promptly left me alone with the four magicians, all of which stared at me now, waiting for me to tell them.

"..."

It made me nervous, really really nervous. But, I got to do this, I had no time for faltering. Taking a deep breath, I explained everything to them. The things we had heard from Emily, the things we had heard from Wormaz and what I had assumed to be a... theory? Idea? Whatever...

Once I finished it all, they all kept silent, lost in thought. After some time, Wendl was the one to spoke.

"Miss Ria, assuming the hardened wood really stems from the deprivation of mana..."

"Mh... It's bad..."

"Deprivation of mana?"

I tilted my head at those words. Why would the wood harden because of mana deprivation.

"It's a longer story, brat. To cut it short, one of our ideas was that the wood partly or completely petrified because the mana was taken away. It would be in line with your idea that the mana is gone from the forest."

"I see..."

"The question is, where did all the mana disappear to?"

"... A... ritual..."

Wendl nodded in response.

"It's the most likely case."

"Ritual? You mean as in, ritual magic? But, what are they even trying to cast then?"

"If we could answer that, we wouldn't be making theories, brat. With that said, I already told you that ritual magic can be pretty much anything. The options are countless."

Wendl sighed, shaking his head.

"The... disappearances... And the... villages... Then... Arkesta's slums... They are probably... the same..."

"But they haven't succeeded, even with the use of life sacrifices, have they?"

"Mh..."

"Well, whatever it is, we should get out of here. If those incidents are connected, it's at least unlikely to be magic targeting the capital. Still, even if the ritual fails again, we don't want to get caught in the aftermath."

"Agreed..."

Wendl and Ria looked quite composed, while they talked about rather terrifying possibilities. Wenners and Krutz though... I wouldn't be surprised if they were to pee their pants any second now... They were pale and shaking... How did these two even end up with the mercenaries...

Still... Ritual magic... Sounds scary... Wendl told me about what Ritual Magic actually meant but... I hope everything will be fine...

But just like Wendl said, we didn't even know what kind of magic it was in the first place. And that was all under the assumption that it really was the same group of people. For all we knew, it could be the elves messing around, or someone completely unrelated.

"Ria, Wendl, did you hear everything from her?"

While I was lost in my thoughts, Korwen returned, together with Karen.

Much to my surprise, Karen was now clad in a black-coloured, simple armour as well. It kind of suited her, though it was maybe a little too big...

"We did... Captain."

"So, what is your opinion?"

"It's a reasonable guess. I am not too familiar with spirits to this detail either, so I have no idea whether it really is as the brat says or if it might be something else. At the very least, I'd suggest the chance is high that it's right."

Wendl stroked his chin, his eyebrows furrowed. Korwen closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened then again, staring at something right behind us.

"I see... And, what about your opinion? The annoying miss hiding over there?"

"My, my, calling me 'miss'. This old lady is flattered."

"I don't care whether you are flattered or not."

We all turned around, looking at the source of the new voice. Not like we didn't already know who it wa—

"... Eh?"

"It's... not Yumias?"

"..."

The person standing there was apparently not Yumias. Albeit they looked similar to an astonishing degree, the young girl here was clearly in her midteens and not a little midget child. And an astonishingly cute girl, too.

Karen, as well as Ria and her two colleagues, were clearly confused as well, staring at the unknown person. Only Wendl and Korwen weren't surprised. Especially Wendl, who was just sighing and shaking his head.

"Don't make a mistake, Karen. That is Yumias."

"What? But..."

"Yes, yes, my child. I'm the very same Yumias. My, you've gotten quite big since I last saw you, haven't you?"

Except we saw you a few hours ago. And... What the heck?

Her way of speaking at least was the same. So... Really? She could change her own age? Or, well, appearance.

"Mm, seems you all are a little confused? Is this so weird? Do you prefer me small? Are your preferences like that? Is that so? My, then so be it."

And with those words, she pulled down her large witch hat, hiding her entire face. Barely a second later, her whole body shrunk, down to the size of the normal Yumias. Which was like a head smaller than me. But... She very clearly used magic, just now. But there was nothing, the mana didn't stir, didn't move, nothing. I still couldn't feel any mana inside her, so I couldn't be entirely sure, though... Maybe it was hidden, or something.

"Is it better like this? My, my, still confused? How odd. I even demonstrated it right in front of you?"

Ria, who stood right in front of me, turned to Wendl and whispered to him.

"Mr Wendl... I was... not aware that... such a thing is possible... with magic."

"It's not, Miss Ria. Well, theoretically it would be but... That's not something a single person should ever be able to do. Or any number of people, really. To my annoyance, that's not the only ridiculous thing she can do..."

Wendl could only whisper back in exasperation.

"My, it's not that hard, really."

Whispering was useless, apparently... She had heard it all.

"Could we stop with the skit now? I'm a little busy..."

"Sorry... Captain..."

"Ahaha, Mr Captain is in a hurry, aren't we? My, my, always these youngsters, so impatient!"

"I don't think someone closing in on his seventies could be considered a youngster anymore."

"You still are, for me."

Yeah right, with close to seventy you were closer to... a... Wait... Seventy?

"Now, let's get to the point, please."

"Haa, really, so impatient. There's nothing for me to say, my dear Captain."

"... Nothing, you say."

"Nothing."

"... I see."

Korwen nodded, then turned to Ria.

"Ria, prepare to blast those trees away."

"Mmm..."

"Are you listening?"

"I am... Will... do."

He walked past us, a good distance away. Ria slowly wobbled towards the blocked road, Wenners and Krutz following behind her.

All the while, I couldn't wrap my head around what I had heard just now...

"Yumi, is everything okay?"

"Nn? Ah, Sis. Uhm. Sis. How... No, wait... Ehh... What... age do humans typically reach?"

"What age? Typically around hundred-twenty? Although, there are some reaching hundred-fifty, from what I heard."

"..."

A human could reach 120 years? Excuse me, what? That was... lot older than... it should be possible? Not to mention a year was slightly longer here so in reality, it was even more...

"Demonkin are pretty much ageless, you know? And beastkin usually live until around... three hundred? I think?"

"That's... long..."

"Is it?"

Karen stared at me wide-eyed. Not like she knew about how old people usually grew in my old world.

"Nn..."

I would've liked to talk with her about it, but we weren't alone here. I should put it off until we had some time for ourselves.

"Brat, if you think that's long already, you should think about the ageless races or manakin. Long ago I met a human manakin who was already well over seven-hundred. Still looked like he was in his early twenties too."

"Seven... hundred..."

"Yes, seven-hundred. The guy was already becoming more than a bit forgetful, though. The body might be able to take it, but the mind simply can't. Even among the ageless races, you very rarely meet someone older than five-hundred."

"Not? Huh? Why that?"

Being able to grow that old was astonishing for me. Beyond astonishing, really. And yet, there weren't many making use of it? What the heck did that mean? Or were they simply victims of accidents and crimes?

"People past the first two-hundred years generally become... rather detached from the world. Their mind, their spirit simply cannot handle it. Some wither away, some go crazy, and some others might even kill themselves. In various ways, many of them seek death after a certain point."

"... I see."

"My, my, it's not that bad, you know? There are many tricks to living a long life."

"Wah—

Some spoke right next to my ear, causing me to yelp out in surprise.

"Hehehe. Should you talk about such a depressing topic now, though, my dear children? If you keep standing here you might get caught up in that, you know?"

Walking past me, she stood in front of us and pointed at Ria, Wenners and Krutz.

Karen and Wendl didn't seem to understand what Yumias meant. Neither did I.

"My, I see, you really want to get caught up in that? Well, don't come complaining to me later. Have fun!"

With a big smile, from one ear to the other, she waved and... disappeared. Literally. It took us a few seconds to process what we just saw, though we didn't have time to wonder about it.

"You girls... Mr... Wendl... Run..."

"Eh? Huh?"

"Nn?"

Ria dashed past us, unlike her usual slow self. Same for Wenners and Krutz, who were in a bit of a panic.

"Yumi, I don't know what's happening but we're running."

"Eh? Wah— Sis?"

Suddenly I found myself hoisted up on Karen's shoulders, carried in a rather undignified state, like a sack. But, having a chance to look towards the blockade...

"Sis... Run... Fast..."

A bunch of... stones... was piled up there, glowing very very suspiciously. I didn't recognise them, they didn't seem to be fire stones, but they clearly didn't look good. Especially the mana surrounding them. They kept drawing in the surrounding mana, becoming a literal clump of condensed mana. If something like that were to explode... I didn't want to know what would happen.

Hearing my slightly scared words, Karen ran even faster, leaving Wendl behind. A moment later we were behind a wagon... Same as a good dozen or two of other people, who also all hid. She put me down and breathed a sigh of relief.

Barely ten seconds later, Wendl joined us, appearing from behind a corner. Once he caught his breath, he glared at Ria.

"I'd like such info beforehand, Miss Ria..."

"Mh... Sorry... Forgot to tell... you all..."

"Haa... Seriously, even as magicians they never change. At least, it seems we had enough time to get into co—

Boom!

A loud explosion reverberated through the air, followed by an incredibly strong gust of wind, throwing me into Karen's arms.

"Woah!"

"What the—!"

Boom! Boom!

A few seconds later a second and then a third explosion followed, the shockwaves enough to throw everyone off their feet, even the wagon itself shook and slid backwards. Wooden splinters and hubris rained down onto the wagons and us.

Unfortunately for Karen, I was thrown onto her... At least nobody else fell on us. That would've hurt...

"That... Miss Ria... What the heck did you do?!"

"Mm... It should've... exploded only once..."

"I don't think that's the issue here!"

Wendl, his head covered in dirt and dust, shouted furiously at Ria, who was more bothered by the additional explosions.

"Calm down, you two."

"Captain..."

"Seems the trees are out of the way, get to your wagons and let's leave. You can complain later. Are we clear on that, Mr Wendl?"

"... Yes. I apologise."

Wendl wasn't all too pleased with it, from what I could tell, but at least he didn't continue making a ruckus.

"Yumi, Karen, you two go to Lily. The girls are probably confused about what is happening."

"Nn, understood, Captain."

"Yes, Captain."

They probably really were. A loud, sudden explosion would probably alert Lily quite a bit.

"Now, and for you idiots you can—

"Captain! Captain!"

"What I'm... busy..."

A mercenary called out to Korwen, pointing into the distance. Everyone followed his gaze, into the dark night.

"Well, fuck me sideways. Guess luck wasn't on our side."

"Captain, I don't think we got time for that."

"Oh, come the fuck... Everyone! Forget leaving, get behind the wagons, arm yourselves! NOW!"

A gigantic tree rose up in the distance. Literally, rose up. It was moving. It was clearly moving. A second tree joined and then a third.

"At least, it's only three. We can deal with that."

"Captain! Captain, the other side!"

"Oh, fucking..."

On the opposite side, in the distance, another tree rose up.

"FENNA! MERIM! Get a squad to stall that bastard, everyone else, we'll deal with those three. Move your asses!"

All hell broke loose, the mercenaries ran around wildly, collecting their weapons, pulling the wagons to the side of the rode, bringing away the waroxen where they weren't in the way.

"Yumi, go and get Lily. Also, if you know any magic that helps against those things, I would mighty appreciate it."

"Nn, I'm sorry but... What the fuck even is that? And how do you intend to stop that?"

"That, my dear Yumi, is a possessed fairy tree. A piece of shit monster that we just woke up. Stopping it is easy, killing it is not."

"..."

"Get your ass out there and bring Lily over."

"Understood, Captain."

There was no time, Korwen's expression made that clear. I nodded to Karen and then hurried away, to the direction of our wagon, where Lily and the girls were.

Rinne

Only a little more until Christmas. Since there won't be any chapter before then anymore, I wish all of you who celebrate a good time!

Merry Christmas!