Chapter 74
Then,
“Rina.”
He reached out and took Rina’s hand.
“This way, I won’t lose you.”
When he repeated his own words back with a smile, Herace shook his head as if he had been caught off guard.
“You’re not thinking of going back, right?”
“Of course not. We’ve already come this far.”
At this point, I was determined—I had to find my father and get out of here.
“Let’s go.”
We walked into the thick fog.
Luckily, the lights lit by the priests were visible even from a distance.
Following the light, a large lake came into view.
‘Then this must be the center of the forest.’
It was a well-known story that red plum trees grew around the lake in the middle of Mendel’s Forest.
Thanks to its clear, pure water, this was the only habitat where red plum trees could thrive.
But the lake, which was said to be transparent and pristine, looked murky and dirty, as if black ink had been poured into it.
And worse than that,
“Ugh.”
There was a terrible stench that made me wrinkle my nose.
I frowned at the polluted lake.
I couldn’t believe that Mendel’s Lake, legendary for its divine purity, had become the source of contamination.
What on earth could have been done to destroy a lake that had remained pristine for centuries?
“Seems like they learned some black magic somewhere…”
Herace clicked his tongue.
“Don’t go anywhere near it. Touch it wrong, and your body will rot.”
“That bad? Then… can it at least be purified?”
“Well… I doubt it’ll be easy.”
As Herace said, it seemed nearly impossible.
Even after a long time since the purification began, the lake still gave off a foul odor. Rina muttered,
“No progress at all.”
“Yeah.”
I followed Ethan with my eyes.
At least, he was the only one making progress.
The edge of the lake where Ethan had positioned himself had started to clear.
‘As expected of the next deputy priest.’
The problem was that trying to handle it all alone required several times more effort and took much longer.
“Let’s leave that be and stick to our original plan of finding the duke.”
Herace suggested moving away from the lake. It was better to distance ourselves.
He was right.
My task wasn’t to purify the lake—it was to find my father.
“Alright, then let’s head into the forest.”
Since Noah was near the lake, I decided to search deeper into the forest.
After checking Noah’s location one last time, I stepped into the dense woods.
“Igus.”
“Yes?”
“Do you see that?”
Noah raised his hand and pointed somewhere into the forest.
Igus, who had been preparing the meal, looked up. There, separated from the priests, he could see a group moving into the woods.
“Doesn’t that woman look like Siena?”
“You mean the lady?”
Her face was too far to see clearly…
Igus squinted to focus.
“Captain. For a lady, the hair color doesn’t match, right?”
The face aside, the color was different. Her common brown hair was like mine, unlike Siena’s soft, cotton-like hue.
“Oh, that reminds me—the priests mentioned a new arrival. That must be her.”
“If she’s a priest, she should be purifying the lake. Why is she there?”
“Priests don’t just purify lakes. See? There are forest purifiers too.”
As Igus said, priests were scattered throughout the forest, yet Noah still looked suspicious.
“Captain, surely she couldn’t have followed us this far.”
We had stationed knights at every warp gate and warned them not to let her pass.
Even if Herace used magic to knock her out, she wouldn’t have known how to operate it to reach here.
Igus laughed heartily, telling him not to worry.
“If that’s the lady, then the woman next to her is Rina, and that man is the teacher?”
“……”
Ha, ha… Igus’ laughter faded.
“…Really?”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
If it was a misunderstanding, it was fine. But if it was true…
I let out a sigh.
Noah checked the sword at his waist and began walking.
“Captain? Where are you going? It’s time for lunch!”
“Eat first.”
Leaving Igus behind, Noah walked toward the forest where they had disappeared.
I stumbled on moss, losing my balance and flailing my arms.
“Careful.”
“Thanks.”
Thanks to Herace pulling my hand firmly, I avoided falling on my rear, but
“Ah!”
Rina, who had no one to catch her, fell squarely on her butt.
“Rina, grab my hand and get up.”
Ban extended his hand bravely, but it was of little help.
Grabbing Ban was like grabbing empty air.
“Rina, are you okay?”
“I’m used to it now.”
Rina chuckled and brushed the dirt off her robe.
‘I’ve lost count.’
The damp ground, stones, and moss-covered rocks made walking difficult, and I kept tripping.
I glanced around and sighed.
‘It’s going to be hard to find anything like this.’
Instead of finding the duke, we were just surveying dying land.
“Feels like this isn’t it either?”
I asked Ban. He perked his tail and focused.
“No. I can’t sense any life here either.”
“Then let’s move to the next area.”
At least Ban could sense life. That was a relief.
Thirty minutes had passed since I had been using Ban as a human tracker, moving around from place to place.
Rumble.
Ban’s stomach growled loudly.
“Siena… I can’t go on. I’m hungry…”
Ban slumped, declaring his limits.
I looked up at the sky. With no sun visible, I couldn’t tell the time.
But Ban’s stomach clock was reliable—it must be lunchtime.
“Let’s eat somewhere suitable.”
“How about that place earlier? The ground was less wet there.”
Rina led us to a spot she had scouted.
Soon, a clearing came into view.
“This is fine.”
Herace seemed pleased and immediately laid out a mat.
Rina pulled food from her bag and handed it out—sandwiches hastily bought from the dining hall before departure.
“Sandwich! Delicious sandwiches!”
Ban clapped and sang, opening the sandwich eagerly, only to slump when he saw cucumbers he disliked.
“I hate cucumbers… I want meat…”
“Ban, these are what we could buy quickly. There’s nothing I can do.”
Rina tried to calm him skillfully, but
“…Tastes bad. Not enough. Won’t fill me up.”
He continued complaining endlessly.
“Then don’t eat.”
A cold tone slipped out before I realized it.
Normally, I would have indulged Ban’s whining, but failing to find the duke had left me irritable.
“You should thank Rina for preparing a lunch no one expected. Still whining?”
I scolded him, and he pouted, duck-lipped, squeaking continuously.
“Hmph! I hate Siena!”
With that, Ban sprang up, spread his wings, and flew away.
While doing so, he stole a sausage from Rina’s bag. She reached frantically.
“Ban!”
“Leave him. You pamper him too much, so he acts like a spoiled brat.”
Herace blocked Rina coldly.
“But… isn’t it dangerous with all this fog?”
“You’re the only one worrying about that. He may look careless, but he’s not incompetent. No need to worry.”
I took a big bite of my sandwich, agreeing with Herace.
“Right. If it gets scary, he’ll come back anyway.”
“Siena, that was mean!”
Holding his empty stomach, Ban had been searching for the duke, and now he got such a cold response.
The flustered Ban sat down not far from the clearing, glancing back.
“…You really aren’t coming?”
He had secretly hoped I would follow and console him, but I hadn’t appeared.
“Hmph! Who said I’d go back first?”
Ban tore open the sausage wrapper, grumbling.
“All for myself!”
Let the rest eat bland sandwiches!
Just as he was about to take a bite,
“Ban.”
Startled, he dropped the sausage.
“So you did manage to eat lunch on time.”
Footsteps approached, and Ban stiffened.
A hand reached into view, picked up the fallen sausage, and brushed off the dirt.
“Eating just this will ruin your body. Eat healthy. Have some vegetables too.”
Ban couldn’t move under the scolding pouring down from above.
The owner of that voice was none other than Noah Winter.
