Chapter 66: One small step for a man, great leap for foxkind

Reaching the southern edge of the forest took us quite a while longer than I expected. But with how I only had Madam's hand-drawn map to get a sense of the size and directions in the forest, I only had myself to blame for expecting a shorter journey.

'At this rate, the portal will reopen by the late afternoon,' I thought, recalling the moment when I summoned the portal for a short moment to check the time. 'In other words, I only have a short window of time to check this place out!'

Jumping down Madam's fox-form's back, I dropped to the ground and took a deep breath, raising my eyes at the misty wonderland stretching out from the edge of the forest.

Just like the light of the stairs at the plain to the north, the mist kept away from the shadow cast by the trees. And as I looked up...

Well, the mist blocked my line of sight, making it impossible to see beyond a fewteen meters at best. Despite that, though, I could somehow tell that just like on the starlight plain, the deeper I would go, the greater burden would befall me.

Still, even when traveling on Madam's back, a wonder all in its own right, it took us nearly two hours to reach the southern edge of the forest. Adding up another two hours to return to Leinei's hut and then some more to reach Madam's lair...

'I better hurry up,' I thought, picking up the pace and fearlessly approaching the edge of the trees' shadow.

"Are you really sure you want to go out?" Leinei asked when she saw me approach the edge of the safe zone. Her tone was visibly shaken, just like when she realized it was the simple weeds I was after.

'Is she still struggling to believe I actually mean what I say?' I thought, not sure whether I should be baffled at the level of her distrust or amused by it.

"I need to grow just a tiny bit stronger," I answered the question in my own way. "And as easy as it might be, I have no plans to actively set out on a hunt for fellow humans," I added, an ugly grimace taking over my lips.

'Maybe that's true. But that's not how a modern world works,' I thought, rolling my eyes before turning away and facing the mist just ahead. 'And you can't expect a modern person to suddenly turn into a genocidal maniac, just because it suits their goals!'

Taking a deep breath again, I prepared myself to push forth... Only to have Fay reach out from behind me and grab my hand.

"Hon..." she muttered, her eyes lowered. Yet, rather than avoiding my sight as I turned, Fay actually moved her chin up and looked directly into my eyes. "I won't tell you not to go... But please, be careful and return safely."

The look in Fay's eyes was truly intense. And despite being a social newborn, I could read just how worried she was about me from those huge eyes of hers.

"Don't worry, dear," I smiled while reaching out and patting Fay's head. "I'm only going out for a tiny little bit, nothing like back at the plains," my smile grew even wider, "so I will be back in just a jiffy."

I winked at the girl before letting go of her hand and turning towards the mist again. Then, without any further hesitation, I took a step forward.

Now that my woman was watching me, how could I ever hesitate? With this thought in mind, I stepped into the mist, allowing the moist air to coat my entire body...

Only to freeze the moment I properly stepped out from the shadow of the forest.

My eyes moved to the extreme side before turning right back to the middle of my vision, tracking just a few lines of text of the notification that appeared. And as I read it, my eyebrows moved up my forehead.

'Interesting...'