Although the first forest didn’t have the Divine Tree, Kousuke was satisfied with what he saw in the end.
It was not something one could easily see, a barrier so elaborately constructed and created by the workings of nature.
Just being able to find that forest was more than enough of a result for Kousuke.
By the way, beside Kousuke, Colette was sitting with a slightly pouting face.
She was currently in a foul mood because she still hadn’t seen the forest that Kousuke was praising so much.
Kousuke and the others were currently in a castle on a floating island. Colette was here because she insisted that she would definitely go next time.
Kousuke said to Colette, with a bitter smile, “Come on. Colette, cheer up. We decided we’ll go together next time, so it’s okay, right?”
“That’s true, though…” Colette replied to Kousuke in a monotone voice.
There was a reason why Colette, who usually didn’t hold grudges for more than a day, was acting like this now.
She was deliberately doing this so that she wouldn’t be left behind until the very end.
Kousuke and the others knew this, so they didn’t get annoyed and indulged Colette’s act.
Eiru entered the room where Kousuke and the others were.
“We will arrive soon, what will you do?”
It had taken a considerable amount of time for Kousuke and the others to move to this place after arriving.
Therefore, although it was a little early for dinner, it was too late to go out.
In other words, it was a very awkward time, so Eiru’s inquiry was understandable.
In response to Eiru’s question, Kousuke looked around at everyone present and confirmed silently.
By the way, the members present today were the ones who investigated the forest last time, with Colette added.
“We won’t be able to investigate much by exploring now, so we’ll return as is today.”
“Is that so? Then tomorrow?”
“Yeah. It would be helpful if you could stay in this location, if possible.”
Kousuke and the others would return to the management layer using the teleport array, but it would be meaningless if they were far away again when they returned tomorrow.
Kousuke’s words prompted Eiru to nod as if he understood.
“Of course. We will keep it here tonight.”
“Okay. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. We are not moving along a set route anyway.”
Currently, the floating island was not flying to a fixed location for various reasons, but was flying along a completely random route.
It was a known fact that one of the reasons for this was to prevent interference from unauthorized organizations and countries.
After getting a promise that the floating island would remain in its current location for the night, Kousuke and the others returned to the management layer.
Upon returning to the management layer, Colette seemed to have forgotten her previous attitude and returned to her usual self, but no one pointed it out.
***
The next day.
As planned, Kousuke and the others returned to the floating island from the management layer and then descended into the forest on Kou and the others.
And, just like last time, the investigation would be on foot from here.
However, learning from the lessons of the past, they did not enter from the forest entrance but decided to enter from before the barrier.
This was because the forest itself had become even larger than before, and it would take time just to move around.
There was also the fact that they had resigned themselves to dealing with it if it were a similar barrier.
Kousuke approached the barrier with some anticipation, wondering what would happen this time, but was slightly dejected by the result, which was, in a sense, as expected.
“There’s a barrier, as usual,” Colette said. Indeed, this time there was a clearly recognizable barrier.
However, this was only because Colette and Kousuke had sharp senses; ordinary people would not notice the presence of a barrier there.
In fact, Floria had not noticed the presence of a barrier at all.
“Is it really that noticeable?” Floria asked, tilting her head. Colette nodded in response.
“It’s no wonder Floria couldn’t notice. This barrier seems to use more natural elements than magical ones.”
Kousuke nodded in agreement with Colette’s explanation.
In other words, Colette explained that it was not using a lot of magic like magic circles, but was a barrier typical of an elf forest, utilizing natural objects like trees.
To see through this, one had to be familiar with nature like elves or possess superhuman senses like Kousuke.
By the way, Colette and the other women did not question why Kousuke could see through it so easily.
As they exchanged such words, Kousuke and the others entered the barrier.
However, even though they had seen through the barrier’s mechanism, they were still cautious, as they couldn’t be sure that something like last time wouldn’t happen.
After all, since the floating island could not be moved from the sky, it could not be composed solely of physical barriers.
Naturally, magical barriers must also be combined somewhere.
As Kousuke thought about this while walking through the forest, the magical barrier he feared appeared before him.
“Colette, stop. Are they showing themselves quite honestly this time?”
Finding it so easily made him suspect it might be a trap.
However, at least to Kousuke’s eyes, a barrier similar to the ones created by the World Tree was present.
Colette, who had stopped walking at Kousuke’s words, turned around and asked, “There’s a barrier here?”
“Yeah. There is. Silvia might be able to see it from this side.”
Unlike Colette, Silvia was becoming knowledgeable about magical barriers.
Everyone, including herself, acknowledged that this was due to Kousuke’s influence.
Silvia, questioned by Kousuke, began to stare intently at her surroundings.
Then, she confirmed that there was indeed a magical barrier in that spot. At the same time, she understood what Kousuke meant by “honestly.”
“Indeed, there is. It’s difficult to find… but could it be said to be faithful to the basics?”
“Yeah. Or rather, maybe people in the past found these and theorized about them through research?”
“Perhaps,” Silvia agreed readily with Kousuke’s words.
This was because the barrier present was made in accordance with the basic theory of barriers that Kousuke and Silvia knew.
To be more precise, it was made more intricately and complexly based on those theories.
Although Kousuke and Silvia easily saw through the barrier, it was not a barrier that could be easily seen through, just like with Colette earlier.
However, as Kousuke said, this barrier could be honestly passed through if Kousuke were present.
True to his word, Kousuke gently opened the barrier so as not to break it, and after confirming that everyone had entered, he closed the (provisional) entrance as before.
Annoying Colette activated!
This happens sometimes.
It’s not just Colette; the other women are the same.
