“When that happens, do the animals go back to their dens?”

  “Me and other beastfolk do because the low visibility makes it impossible for us to hunt, but I’ll still hear animals howling and bleating,” Samya said. “From the smell, there are probably wolves and deer roaming around, but it’s kinda hard to tell.”

  “They’re free to move around to some extent thanks to their sharp noses, huh?”

  “Apparently so.”

  Beastfolk like Samya had far better senses than humans, but their perception wasn’t at the level of wild animals in the forest. They relied on their vision in more cases, so when it was foggy out, it was tough for them to operate.

  “That’s trouble,” I said. “We have to travel to the city tomorrow or the day after.”

  “They’ll be wandering around, but they won’t attack us out of nowhere. Fog isn’t the ideal condition for them either.”

  “I see.”

  Aside from my cheat skills, I was fundamentally a normal human with normal human limits. With my vision gone, stolen away by fog, I would be hard-pressed to defend against any enemies. I’d be a sitting duck if a pack of wolves jumped us. It was more advantageous to attack when both your vision and sense of smell were operational. That logic held true for the animals in the forest too. In this case their intelligence was a boon.

  “What you’re saying is, we can relax and take our time traveling through the forest,” I said.

  “Yeeeup. It’s easy to lose sight of the road though, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  I shrugged as I replied, “You’re right about that.” We knew the Black Forest like the backs of our hands, but even so, if it was transformed by fog, there was a good chance we’d quickly get lost.

  To avoid that scenario, we might have to consider postponing our trip if the fog’s too dense.

  We neared the forest entrance. The trees grew sparser, which meant that the raindrops filtering through the canopy increased in proportion, as did the number of times Lucy shook herself off.

  “We should be getting close,” I said. It felt like it’d been ages since the incident, but not even a week had passed. “Shall we split into small groups to search?”

  Samya responded with a sickened expression, “No. It stinks.”

  The rain should have washed away the reek of blood. Which meant...

  “Got it. We’ll follow you,” I said without asking about the source of the smell.

  Diana and Rike looked like they didn’t understand the situation, whereas Helen had realized straight away what was going on, her face twisting into a slight grimace. Anne had also grasped the implication—the fact that she had left me feeling cold.

  We soon found the source of the stench. Our attackers had covered up their crime, but they’d been sloppy. They wouldn’t have had time to do a proper job, fearing that we could pass through at any moment. Nevertheless, their effort had been thorough enough that, had we walked by this area, it would’ve been unlikely for us to stop, even if we’d gotten a whiff of something.

  I had Diana, Rike, Lidy, and the two little ones wait—the rest of us closed in on the scene.

  Should we be happy that the victims haven’t been buried? There were three mounds covered with leafy branches. At a glance, they wouldn’t have looked like anything other than normal brushwood.

  Samya and I carefully removed the camouflage, revealing the bodies of the three victims. They didn’t look very well-to-do, even after accounting for the water damage from the prolonged exposure to rain, but their outfits were likely disguises. The quality of their clothes was good enough.

  I turned to Anne. “I know it must be painful, but do you recognize them?”

  Biting on her lower lip, she mumbled, “Yes...”

  I placed my palms together in a prayer for the deceased and closed my eyes softly. “I’m sorry, but we’ll have to bury them here. We’ll dig their graves as deep as we can, so animals won’t dig them out. Can you please remove anything that might give away their identities?”

  “I understand,” responded Anne.

  Helen stood guard while Anne, with hesitant movements, stripped the bodies of identifying markers like pendants or knives. Both Anne and these victims would’ve come prepared for the worst, but that didn’t mean that she was immune to shock when tragedy did strike. Her hand was shaking minutely.

  I wanted to say something, anything, to help her, but I couldn’t find the words. I could only watch over her silently.

  After a while, Anne moved away from the corpses.

  “You’re finished?” I asked.

  She responded with a tiny nod. I didn’t bother asking if she was okay. It was obvious that she wasn’t.

  After this, we would dig the graves, but there was no need for Anne to participate. I left her in Diana’s care while Samya, Helen, and I got down to work.

  It took us a considerable amount of time to shovel out the holes, which might not need saying considering the graves were for three grown adults. However, more than the physical toll, it was the mental burden of the deaths that slowed our movements. If Helen, who was comparatively more used to this kind of situation, hadn’t been with us, it might have taken well past evening and deep into the night to finish.

  We’d brought torches with us just in case, but it certainly would’ve been difficult to continue working had it gotten even darker. Thankfully, we finished while there was still some light in the sky.

  I called Anne back. It must’ve been agonizing for her, but I wanted to give her the chance to say goodbye. This was the last time she would see them.

  “Come and help us lower them down. I’ve got this side. Anne, can you take the opposite side?” I requested.

  Anne and I supported the body near the head while Samya and Helen grabbed the feet. We picked up the body and gently laid it in the grave. As I carried out the task, I was thinking that it was my responsibility to help shoulder some of the burden. After all, I wasn’t a simple bystander in this incident.

  We arranged the three victims at the bottom of the grave. Anne squeezed each of their hands tightly in turn, saying farewell in her own way. She reluctantly peeled away from the bodies, her movements as slow as the rain seeping into the ground. We stood by and watched.

  Once Anne was done with her goodbyes, it was time to bury the bodies. I gave Anne one of the shovels. Her face downturned, she layered dirt over the victims with care. As they disappeared from view, her movements grew more and more sluggish, but Helen and I made up for it. We didn’t stop until the corpses were completely covered.

  I entrusted Anne to Diana a second time, while Samya, Helen, and I filled the graves the rest of the way. Then, I made three grave markers from branches I found nearby, planted them on mounds of dirt, and called everyone over.

  I placed my palms together and bowed my head. “May you find peace on the other side,” I murmured. Feeling too drained to pay attention, I didn’t know whether the others had done the same.

  Beneath the rain, we spent what could’ve been minutes and what could’ve been hours. Everyone was soaked to the point where it was impossible to tell whether one was crying or not. That may have been preferable for Anne anyway.

  And, as for me?

  I was seized by a nameless emotion that could’ve been anger or grief or something else entirely. There was no way to counterattack directly, but I would do whatever I could to right this wrong. This might’ve only been trouble we’d unwittingly gotten wrapped up in, but me and my family’s way of living had been threatened.

  We buried our attackers in a shallow grave as well. It was said that all was made holy after death. We didn’t find anything that would divulge their identities when we checked, so we weren’t forced to become grave robbers.

  None of us said much on the way home. Krul and Lucy, both of whom should’ve been excited at the outing, rain or no rain, plodded next to us without their usual running around. Perhaps they had sensed the dark moods we were all in.

  Back in the cabin, I prepared hot water for everyone. Anne soon came up to me. “Thank you, Eizo.”

  “I wouldn’t have felt right without seeing them off properly,” I replied. It wasn’t for her sake so much as for my own sense of justice. However, because I was far from a saint, I left off without saying she didn’t need to feel indebted.

  We all took boiled water back to our own rooms, Anne included (though for her, it was the guest room), and wiped ourselves down. The hot water felt like heaven as it warmed my rain-chilled body.

  It was fairly late by the time we finished cleaning ourselves off. I started cooking dinner right away. The women gathered in the living room to chat—though the day would come when we’d need to part ways, it was good for them to get along in the meantime.

  Dinner was nothing but our usual fare, except I brought out alcohol. I prepared cups for all of us and three extras. When Anne noticed, she bowed her head in gratitude. I waved her off.

  The next morning, when I went outside to go to the lake, I found that the rain had stopped completely. For the first time in a while, blue sky peeked out from behind the trees, backgrounding the canopy of leaves.

  “It feels like a typhoon has just passed,” I remarked. I didn’t know whether typhoons happened in this world, but at the very least, there were probably large storms. We should prepare for that eventuality.

  But first, we had to deal with the metaphorical storm headed our way. Today, we would take the first step toward doing so.

  Krul and Lucy had come out to meet me, and together we went to refill our water supplies.

  After the morning chores, we prepared to travel into the city, loading the cart as usual with all the normal inventory. However, today, only Rike, Diana, Helen, and I would be making the trip, along with Krul and Lucy.

  Samya and Lidy would be staying behind to hold down the fort. Samya was intimately familiar with the Black Forest and was a skilled fighter. Lidy was still new to this particular forest, but she had knowledge about forests in general and could wield magic.

  It was a tough blow not having Samya with us, since she could root out enemies with her sharp sense of smell and instincts, but Helen and I would just have to work harder to make up for it. Needless to say, we were leaving Anne at the cabin too, which meant that we’d be operating with less intelligence about the situation, but that couldn’t be helped.

  “All right, good luck here,” I told the three of them. “Worse comes to worst, run—even if you have to set the cabin on fire.”

  “Got it,” replied Samya, disgruntled.

  The “worst” included the possibility that Anne was a traitor in disguise. Does Samya realize that? I ruffled her hair and then climbed into the back of the cart, which was already hitched to Krul.

  Krul drew the cart through the forest, heading for the road to the city. The weather had done a complete turnaround. Unlike the last few days, sunlight spilled through the canopy here and there.

  The occasional rustles in the underbrush were likely from small forest critters tired of the rains. We didn’t slack on our watch during the journey, but the most we saw were a few deer in the distance. In the near future, wolves would come out to roam and fill their empty stomachs. The forest would return to the way it always was.

  The way it always was... That’s the exact opposite of the situation we’re in. I failed to suppress a bitter laugh.

  “What is it?” asked Diana.

  I shook my head. “It’s nothing. Just marveling over how the forest is slowly returning to normal around us while we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. It feels like the world is moving on without us somehow.”

  Strictly speaking, the ground was even now still muddy from the rain, but otherwise, normal was well within reach.

  “It can’t be helped, right? It’s not as if you’re to blame,” Diana replied.

  “You’re not wrong, but...”

  It was true that I wasn’t the direct cause of our current predicament. Anyone could claim that one of the triggers had been the weapons we’d made, which had been smuggled into the empire, thus leading to Helen’s capture. However, nothing would’ve happened had the empire’s men not bungled their job in the first place. From that perspective, it felt as if the empire was now just profiting off its own mistake.

  That being said, it was undeniable that our weapons had been the seeds, and that was what still bothered me.

  But, I had no choice except to swallow my unease. What had happened...had happened. There hadn’t been any way we could’ve prevented it either. Our only option would’ve been to jealously guard our weapons, never letting them off the premises, like some sort of national treasure. That just wasn’t realistic. And besides, they were already in circulation.

  I shared my thoughts briefly with Diana and then returned my focus to the road.

  The mud posed even more of an obstacle than I’d imagined it would, sucking at Krul’s feet and the wheels of the cart, so it took a little longer than usual for us to traverse the forest.

  Most likely, the mastermind behind the scheme would’ve already been informed that the plan had gone awry. We were a large group and would stick out like a sore thumb to anyone spying on the road, especially since our cart was pulled by a drake and not a horse.

  From the driver’s seat, Rike turned to look at us and asked, “What should we do?”

  We had four options.

  One, travel at our usual speed. Two, drop our speed and stay cautious. Three, do the opposite—speed up and blow right on through. Four, stop here and send a scout ahead.

  There were pros and cons to each. Personally, I didn’t want to call any more attention to us than we already would be by just emerging from the Black Forest.

  “Let’s proceed at our usual pace,” I directed. “Diana and Helen, I’m counting on you to keep a lookout.”

  “Understood,” Diana replied.

  “Of course,” said Helen.

  Rike nodded and flicked the reins. Krul did as Rike commanded and proceeded forward without altering her behavior. Diana, Helen, and I scanned our surroundings. Lucy poked her head off the edge of the cart, her snout twitching in the air; she was probably trying to help out.

  Despite our caution, nothing awaited us outside the forest besides the usual flat plains bathed in sunlight.

  When we turned onto the road into the city, a wave of relief washed over us. However, it was dangerous to let down our guard since our enemies could be waiting for just such a moment to strike. We shored up our resolve and proceeded down the road at our normal speed.

  It was difficult to relax on the road for fear that we could be ambushed from the plains at any moment, but soon enough, the outer walls of the city became visible in the distance. Once again, it was tempting to slack off, but there was no true respite for us until we arrived at the city entrance.

  “Helen,” I said.

  She leaned forward toward me. I didn’t think we were in danger of being overheard, but there was absolutely no reason for us to announce our honest situation to the world.

  “Anything from the rear?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” she replied.

  “That was quick.”

  “This is my forte. I know what signs to look for.”

  “I see.”

  We could trust the judgment of a professional mercenary like Helen.

  I tightened my guard and returned to scouring the area around us. We only had to persevere until city guards came into sight.

  As we drew near the entrance, we saw a familiar face. We’d met the guard on duty several times before, but since we usually passed through quickly, I didn’t know his name. Marius or Camilo would likely be able to tell me if I were to describe him, but there was no reason for me to ask.

  We slowed down as we approached. Peering down from the cart, I called out, “Hey there!”

  Diana and Helen kept their eyes on the surroundings.

  “Oh, it’s you guys,” the guard replied. “I’ve been wondering what’s been keeping you away. Haven’t seen you around lately.”

  “The rains,” I answered simply.

  “Now that you mention it, they did last quite a while this time.”

  “Yeah.”

  After a bit of small talk, we continued through the gate. If there’d been nefarious rumors floating around—like, for example, a felon who’d committed a major crime was hiding out in the area—the inspection might not have gone so smoothly. However, on an average day, the inspections were usually cursory.

  The city was boisterous as always. Today, the crowd seemed denser, perhaps because it’d been raining up through yesterday. Lucy peeked out of the cart, swiveling to look all around us, and just like always, passersby treated her with smiles.

  It was unlikely we’d be attacked in the city since the cost of failure was so high, but the chances of our enemy launching an all-or-nothing offensive weren’t zero either. I kept an eye on the streets while pretending to mind Lucy.

  In the end, we made it to Camilo’s store without encountering signs of anyone suspicious. No one tried to ambush us either. All our caution had amounted to nothing, but if we waited until something happened to start paying attention, it’d be too late.

  We left the cart in the storehouse as usual and entrusted Krul and Lucy to the apprentice. Krul rubbed him with her neck, and Lucy ran circles around him. They’d both gotten attached to the boy.

  “Come on now, Krul, Lucy, behave yourselves,” I scolded.

  But the apprentice only smiled and said, “No, that’s all right.”

  The best time to kidnap Krul and Lucy would be while we were up in the conference room, but they would be safe in the apprentice’s care.

  And so, Diana, Helen, and I went up to the second floor to wait for Camilo.

  “I’m beat,” I muttered, collapsing into a chair and planting facedown on the table. We hadn’t gotten a moment to catch our breath since leaving the cabin. These harrowing journeys were going to be our norm in the near future.

  Diana looked at me and laughed. “I thought you lived and breathed peril, Eizo.”

 

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