CH 19

Chapter 19 - At a Forest Campsite

“Mia-kun, there seems to be smoke rising from the direction of the campsite.”

Souya pointed to the smoke shimmering in the moonlight.

“Oh …… You’re right. I wonder if it’s an adventurer?”

“It’s not a problem then. But there’s nothing wrong with being cautious. Don’t leave my side.”

Soya took the saber out of the dimension box and strapped it to his leather belt around his waist, and prepared for the situation. 

The two of them proceeded slowly for about a hundred meters, keeping their footsteps to a minimum. Then the trees on both sides of them gradually broke up and they came to a wide open area with a clear view.

“This must be the campsite we saw in the guide …… And it looks like there’s someone else here. Or perhaps I should say ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ there was.”

In the center of the open campsite, firewood was being burned inside a stone enclosure, and flames that seemed to be the source of the smoke we had just seen were flickering. Steam was rising from a pot suspended above it, giving off a sweet aroma. However, the person who seemed to have prepared it was nowhere to be seen.

“Souya-san, it looks like someone is camping out ……, but there’s no sign of anyone anywhere.”

Mia was staring at the flames burning in the center of the area, wondering what was going on. The firewood is still relatively new. I’m sure someone was camping here a while ago.

“Oh …… There’s a luggage over there.”

In the direction Souya’s pointing at, a large backpack was left beside a packed firewood. He can’t see what’s in it from this position, but it looks like it’s filled with all sorts of stuff.

“They may have gone nearby to get some supplies. Like Water, firewood…”

“Yeah, it’s possible, since the campground is near a river. But even if that’s the case, it would be imprudent to leave their belongings behind.”

Souya pushed up his black glasses with his fingers, looked around, and then stared.

“…… Well, from the looks of it, there’s only one owner of the luggage. And at least it’s not a thief. Since the fire is already there, we can wait for him there. You can also sit down, Mia-kun.”

Souya released his alert and took a breather, approaching the central bonfire, laying his cloak on the ground, and cross-legged.

“I know it’s wrong to warm ourselves without notice, but …… it’s not like he’s going to lose anything. Please excuse me.”

Mia sat down next to Souya, a little hesitantly, and stretched out her hands to the fire.

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The two of them were hungry, but they didn’t feel like eating before the Lord who prepared the fire return, so they just stayed there for a while, waiting for the Lord to return, but he never seemed to come back.

“…… The moon is beautiful, isn’t it, Souya-san?”

Mia, who had been looking up at the stars while waiting, casually muttered. When Souya turned his eyes to the sky, he saw that the twin moons had come together to form a beautiful round moon. In the almost cloudless starry sky, the twin moons were together forming a beautiful round moon. It must be a very good day for moon viewing.

“Haha, in my hometown, the phrase “the moon is beautiful” has a different meaning. I feel a little embarrassed when people use it so easily.”

“Well, what kind of ……”

Souya narrowed his eyes and whispered the other meaning of the word in Mia’s ear. When Souya saw Mia panicking and choking on her words, he held out his hands and closed one eye in amusement.

“…… U-Um. I don’t know anything about that …… Who in the world would have thought of such a rule?”

“Well, I wonder who? I think it was a famous made-up story. It was a joke of a bad nature. I’ll be careful after that …… But, yes, it is beautiful. It must be a full moon.”

Souya looked up at the two moons again. They have the exact same shape, but one of them is considered to be a fake, imitating the real one. The real moon is called the “true moon” and the fake moon is called the “false moon”, I remember hearing the reason for this from one of my friends 20 years ago, but I had completely forgotten the important details.

(I just can’t remember …… I wonder why. By the way, I have the parchment notebook that Mia-kun bought for me. I’ll write down the things I’ll easily forget.)

Souya took out the parchment notebook he had bought at the tool store, picked up an inked pen, and wrote in the blank space.

“.”

“..”

“…… What are you writing about, Souya-san?”

“A record of my adventures. Before I forget an event, a miscellany, a poem, a grudge, or any random thought that comes to mind.  I don’t usually write such things, nor do I feel like writing them, but …… I promise that on the day that Mia-kun is active, I will write down your activities in many lines.”

After finishing his sentence, Souya put away his parchment notebook and quill and stared into the empty sky, a short distance from the flickering flames of the fire.

“…… Well. Isn’t it about time you stop hiding and come out? I’m sure you’re having a hard time, and I think you need to adjust the heat of the pot.”

Souya smiled lightly and muttered to the sky. 

“…… You. Can you see me?”

A voice that sounds like a girl echoes from the void.

“What ……?”

Mia was startled by the sudden sound of the girl’s voice and looked around, but could not find anything.

“Yeah. I can …… but it’s not a very good way to see. It’s not that I’m hostile. Of course, she isn’t too.”

Before Souya sat down, when he touched the black glasses that Goddess Eris had prepared for him, Souya had activated one of its special abilities, the Weakness Detection [Weakpoint]. In his vision now, a human figure was floating in the void, with a coloration like thermography.

“…… You’re an adventurer?”

“Exactly. I’m Souya and she’s Mia. We’re from Ilstadt.”

“I see. Damn …… I did something useless.”

The transparent space in front of them shakes, and a human figure slowly emerges.

“…… Oh. Well, well, well.”

“What …… Is my appearance that unusual? Souya, you say …… How did you detect the Invisibility Spiritual Art?”

Short bow and arrowhead. A green, half-length skirt and a thin leather breastplate. She has green pigtails and sleepy eyes. She has a well-rounded appearance and long ears that stick out diagonally to the side.

“I didn’t think it was a forest fairy, a Wood Elf. Your homeland, the Great Forest of the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil Forest, is far beyond the horizon. Don’t you think It’s a little too far away to be lost?”

(T/N: I used “far beyond the horizon” here because I can’t just write far away here, then far away later in the same dialogue. But I don’t know if the location of the Yggdrasil Forest is really that far away.)