CH 80

Chapter 80 – Discovered!

And so we left the village and went alongside the river towards the north.

“I see… In other words, you do not really know.”

Monica nodded at my words.

“After leaving the village, I just kept running and running to the south… But because I needed water, I followed the river.”

“But wasn’t it at the river that you were attacked, Ms. Monica?”

Iria asked. ‘Yes,’ Monica answered and then continued.

“That’s why it’s possible that they moved away from the river and entered the forest. But they would still need to go to the river for water and to catch fish…”

Currently, their food source would be even more limited than the Kijins had been.

While they would be able to gather nuts and mountain vegetables safely, there would not be a lot of it. And they would always be hungry.

The best thing to satiate your hunger was meat. But they could not hunt without weapons.

In that case, the only thing left for them was fish.

Catching fish with hands would be incredibly difficult. But looking at Monica’s agile movements, perhaps she could scoop them out of the water, just like a bear. She could even use a sharpened tree branch like a spear.

All living creatures needed to eat in order to survive.

And if it was their survival, then they would surely risk a little danger.

The wolf that was listening…Melk the werewolf, began to sniff the air as she said,

“Leave it to Melk. I can smell something similar to Monica carried with the north wind. It must be your friends, so do not worry.”

Melk said this calmly and clearly. Monica bowered her head when she heard this.

“Ms. Melk… Thank you. I hope…I do hope we find someone.”

According to Monica, there had been around one thousand elves.

However, she also said that nearly three hundred lost their lives during the attack.

The remaining seven hundred were scattered but then somehow managed to reunite… If there are seven hundred of them, surely we should be able to find some trace of them.

We had now been walking for five hours after leaving the village.

On the way, we were attacked several times by Armor Boars and Hell Alligators, but Iria cut all of them down. I saved the meat in my magic workshop. I wanted to share it with the elves later on.

Aside from that, there was nothing unusual about the river or riverside. We saw no corpses or flowing blood.

That’s when it happened.

Melk, who moved ahead of us, suddenly stopped.

Her eyes met Asuha’s, who was in the sky, and then she began to use her paws to search the area.

Asuha nodded in that direction, and then she descended towards us.

“Sir Joshua. There is a sandbank up ahead. And I can see moving bushes there.”

And then Melk added,

“It has the same smell as Monica. They must be elves.”

Upon hearing this, Monica’s face lit up and she asked, ‘Truly?’

“Still, a sandbank, huh… Perhaps they are trapped there and cannot return to the land.”

And so I ran north down the river.

And then, just as they said, I saw a sandbank in the river where grass was growing.

Asuha said,

“Should I carry them?”

“No, Asuha. It’s fine… Build…Bridge.”

I used boulders within Magic Workshop to build a stone bridge that extended to the sandbank.

As I stacked the stone materials, a simple arch bridge appeared.

“All right, it’s finished. Let’s go… Monica?”

Monica stared at the bridge. Her mouth was open and her eyes blinked uncomprehendingly.

“Wh-what is this? Why is this thing in front of me all of a sudden?”

“Ah, uh… You’ve never seen this before… It’s my magic. I told you that I can make tools, didn’t I? Well, maybe a bridge is not a tool, but…”

“I-I see… And you can make tools as easily as this?”

Monica assked. And then Iria, Melk and Asuha all shook their heads silently.

Monica was confused, but there was no time to stop and explain.

“No, anyone can do that kind of magic with some practice… In any case, let’s meet your friends now.”

I said, and Monica returned to herself and nodded.

“Th-that’s right. Let us go!”

And so we quickly crossed the bridge.

Though, Monica seemed to be hesitant as she crossed.

She still couldn’t believe that a bridge had suddenly appeared.

When we were on the other side, Melk led the way.

“Over here. Right… Huh?”

Melk tilted her head to the side.

“What is it, Melk?”

“I can smell some other creature here as well…”

As Melk stopped, Monica raised her voice.

“It is me! Monica! If you are out there, please come out now!”

“Is that…sister!?”

A high-pitched voice rang from the bushes.

“Is that you, Fletta!? It is you! I’m coming right now!”

Monica replied happily.

Apparently, this child called Fletta, who was in the bushes, was Monica’s younger sister.

However…

“…Don’t come!”

Was the surprising answer from the bushes.