We live at the foothills of Dragon Peak.
Our small hands held together are like children’s.
“If Mistral and the others are also here, they might be nearby.”
“But we don’t know how wide an area the Bewildering Technique is affecting, and perhaps they’ve been sent to a completely different part of the Great Forest?”
“That’s true. In any case, let’s proceed with caution from now on.”
Saying that, Carly, without letting her guard down, nocked an arrow and began walking through the forest without using Spatial Jump.
I continued to follow, keeping my grip on Yun’s hand. Yun seemed to want to shake my hand free, but seeing that I was holding on firmly, he seemed to give up and followed.
“Still, it’s surprising that Grave allowed Yun to accompany us.”
“…It’s probably because Mistral was by his side.”
Carly, walking ahead, nodded at Yun’s reply.
“I see. It seems safer to entrust Yun to Mistral and the others than to leave him at the fort alone.”
Carly didn’t look back. Although Carly usually exuded a sharp presence without any negligence, she didn’t show any overt hostility towards Yun.
Did Carly also feel some degree of sympathy for the story she heard at the fort?
At any rate, Yun, Carly, and I walked through the forest together.
“… Elnea.”
“Could it be!?”
“…What are you expecting? Apparently, we’ve safely reached the campsite. The Bewildering Technique seems to have worn off at some point.”
“Then, shall we hurry and prepare for the night?”
“That’s right. Mistral and the others might be nearby. Elnea, you stay here so we don’t miss each other. I’ll go and pick some wild plants.”
“Please be careful. Even though the Bewildering Technique has been lifted, don’t let your guard down.”
“Of course.”
Carly quickly checked the herbs and spices she had, and then disappeared into the forest, which was nearing dusk.
“…I’d like you to let go of my hand now?”
“Ah, that’s right. But I won’t let go, okay?”
“Why?”
Yun furrowed his brow at me, who had gently rejected his request with a smile. But I didn’t pay it any mind and sat down, still holding his hand.
Then, with my free hand, I gathered firewood.
“Could you use your spirits to start a fire?”
“…Unfortunately, I can no longer command spirits.”
“That’s right!”
In that case, I couldn’t help it. I struggled with one hand to start a fire.
Yun watched me move clumsily and sighed as if wishing I would let go of his hand.
It’s true that I could easily start a fire with both hands. Or rather, if you’re just going to sigh while watching me struggle, you might as well help me.
As I desperately handled the fire-starting tools with one hand, white smoke finally began to rise from the gaps between the kindling. I blew on it, and then covered it with dry leaves that seemed easy to burn.
As small flames began to flicker, I then arranged twigs to make the flames bigger.
And finally, I fed the grown flames with the remaining charcoal from yesterday and some suitable firewood. Only then did it become a flame enough to provide warmth.
“All that’s left is to wait for Carly to return.”
“…That’s right.”
In front of the flickering flames, Yun and I sat side by side.
Yun seemed somewhat uneasy.
Well, we’re still holding hands, after all.
Is Yun looking for an opportunity to escape my hand?
But I won’t let go.
Because, you see…
I felt Yun’s hand move again, shifting restlessly. By the time I noticed, the sun had almost set in the west, and the sky was beginning to deepen into a deep navy blue.
Carly was taking too long to return.
Even after gathering wild plants, she would still have to cook, so Carly should know that it would take time to get to dinner.
Despite that, this delay…
“Carly probably got caught in the Bewildering Technique again.”
“…That might be the case.”
Yun answered, gazing at the flames, to my lighthearted murmur without any particular sense of crisis.
Apparently, Yun found it awkward to sit holding hands with me and watching the flames.
Well then, let’s get to the main point.
“…Hey.”
“What is it?”
“Why don’t you show your true form soon?”
“!?”
For a moment, Yun’s expression stiffened.
No, that’s not right. It was the expression of the woman disguised as Yun.
The small, black-haired woman sitting next to me exerted force to try and pull her hand away from mine. But I won’t let go, okay?
The woman next to me glared at me, who was holding on tightly, with a sharp expression she hadn’t shown before.
“Why do you say such a thing?”
“It’s useless to try and trick me. That’s because my wife has twin sisters who are identical to her. Compared to them, a disguise is easily seen through.”
Yufilia and Nina cannot be distinguished by their appearance or behavior. However, my family and I can distinguish between them.
There’s no way we, who can tell Yufilia and Nina apart, would be fooled by a mere disguise.
I replied with a confident smile, and the woman let out a small snort. Then, she began to try and escape my hand in earnest.
But I will absolutely not let go!
“Now, now, calm down. I don’t want to fight. I didn’t tell Carly because I don’t intend to contend with you. You also drove Carly away with the Bewildering Technique because she was in the way, right?”
“…You’re a cunning child.”
“Ha! I’m not delicious even if you eat me!”
“…”
“Do spirits have a taste? Well, I don’t think about such indecent things, nor am I interested in them.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We are protecting Yun. You should know this area by now, right?”
“Why do you think so?”
“See, the presence of surveillance covering this forest, that’s you, isn’t it?”
“Eyes of surveillance?”
“It’s no use pretending. Ares-chan has also noticed, and I understand it too. Ah, you probably don’t know about Ares-chan?”
I said, without letting go of her hand. The woman next to me seemed to be looking for a way to escape from me, but I won’t let her go so easily.
Because I’m using the Sticky Dragon Technique taught by Laira, our palms are stuck together tightly!
“That’s right. It’s hard to converse when we don’t even know each other’s names, especially when we’re having such a conversation. I am Elnea Eris… Do you know this too? And your name is…?”
I looked at the woman sitting next to me, but there was no sign that she would answer. Only a gaze of strong vigilance and the struggle in our hands was conveyed.
“That’s right, let me guess! Your name is… Rin! You are the second daughter of the Yun, Rin, and Ran sisters, and like Yun, you’ve committed a taboo of the Mimicho Race, haven’t you?”
“!”
No reply was necessary. The woman next to me, Rin, her eyes darted about in agitation.
“You must also know why I know. As I said, we are protecting Yun. And we heard everything from her. About Yun herself. About Rin. And about Ran.”
Let me reveal the truth.
Yes, at the Fort of the Yorttenitos Kingdom, we extracted all the information from Yun and Gorigal.
The incident that occurred before dawn on the day the talks for harmony were supposed to bear fruit.
Not only that.
Why was the orb of the Bewildering Technique covering the Great Forest destroyed? Why were the spirits injured? Why did Yun eat a spirit, even at the cost of a taboo?
And who was the real traitor?
However, whether their story was the truth or if they had other secrets, we couldn’t tell just from Yun and the others’ words.
Therefore, we came to the Great Forest to obtain confirmation of the story Yun and the others told us, and we wanted to hear from people with different perspectives and positions.
However, when we descended into the forest, a slight problem occurred.
The existence of a watcher.
A gaze that only I and Ares-chan noticed. A gaze directed from nowhere and a clinging presence that followed us the entire time we were in the forest. Yet, not only I, but even Ares-chan couldn’t pinpoint the location of the source of the presence.
However, it also led us to the culprit.
A being that monitors our movements. No, it was a gaze that monitored not just us, but everyone in the forest. Wasn’t it the mastermind behind the chaos in the Great Forest, namely, Rin, who is flustered next to me?
If we assume the watcher was Rin, then while we are in the forest, our actions are constantly being exposed.
In that case, we cannot reveal our hand.
That’s why Ares-chan has been assimilated with me the entire time, and even when talking with Evans and the others, I concealed the parts about Yun’s information, meaning that we had heard everything about Rin and the others.
“But you must be curious, right? If you knew we were in contact with Yun, you’d be curious about how much we know and how involved we plan to be.”
If you were watching the forest, you must have known about Lily, who freely enters and exits my shadow. For those who have malicious intentions, it would be concerning to know how involved I, who am friendly with an Ancient Species black dragon, am becoming.
I tried to speak in as cheerful a tone as possible to avoid making the atmosphere tense, but I was met with a menacing gaze.
“That’s why I thought you would come into contact with us soon. With the black dragon Lily now separated from us, I thought this was a good opportunity, so I thought it would be soon. I didn’t expect you to appear in disguise, though. Your appearance is very similar to Yun’s? Perhaps it’s the power of the spirit you absorbed? Since you’ve seen Yun’s form as a Flame Giant when she wasn’t human, perhaps you can also disguise yourself as others, so I was vigilant. Rin’s miscalculation was that I wasn’t fooled by your appearance, and that your existence was noticed. If you had been suspicious from the start, it would have been easy to see through. In my conversations with Carly so far, I only mentioned Mistral’s name, and as expected, you didn’t mention the names of my family members other than Mistral.”
“…You mean you see through everything.”
“Not everything. That’s why I’m trying to hear everyone’s story like this. And when I say everyone, that includes you, Rin? You must have heard it if you were watching. I am an ally to everyone, and an enemy to no one.”
“I see, Elnea says he will also listen to Rin’s story, the source of evil?”
“Ah, Carly, welcome back.”
“Elnea, it’s fine to plan things, but you shouldn’t leave your family out.”
“Hello, Mistral. And, everyone. Welcome.”
Unknowingly, the Bewildering Technique that Rin had set up had been broken. But it seems it wasn’t Carly who broke the technique.
And it seems Mistral and the others really were nearby.
“Rin, let me introduce you. This is Mistral, and this is Priscilla-chan being held. Priscilla-chan might have broken the Bewildering Technique? Also, standing next to her is Ruiseine. As I said earlier, the identical twins are Yufi and Nina. Yufi is on the right, and Nina is on the left. And this is Laira. Finally… this is the real Yun.”
Rin and Yun stared at each other in silence.
