Despite marking our path as we walked, we ended up back in the same spot.
I woke up the next morning with a sore body. Fortunately, it seemed I had managed to avoid being discovered by the Great Beasts or wolves. Or perhaps Veronica had protected me. Leaning against a hard tree had twisted my neck, and it hurt.
What was I doing again? Right, I was lost in the forest, going in circles. Let me try to calmly consider the cause again. The Hummingbird Harpy might be using some kind of defensive magic to show intruders hallucinations. Or maybe we were just lost. People tend to walk in circles without a reference point like the sun or moon.
I took out my compass and looked at it. The needle wavered, refusing to settle. It seems the magnetism in this area is indeed messed up. Was this the reason we got lost? If it continued like this, no matter how many marks I put on the trees, I’d just end up traversing the same path.
The sun was out now. So, I had no choice but to walk by the faint sunlight visible through the leaves.
“Alright, everyone, from here on, we walk using the sun as our guide. If we do that, we’ll definitely move forward.”
“That’s right, we can’t rely on the compass.”
Sharin put away the compass she was holding and looked up at the sky. It seemed this method was working, as we no longer saw the trees we had marked. As long as we kept walking straight, we should eventually reach somewhere.
But that hope gradually diminished as we ventured deeper into the forest. The leaves had grown so thick that they completely covered the sky. With this, I couldn’t tell the exact position of the sun.
“Arisugawa, it’s getting harder to see the sun’s position.”
“What should we do? We can’t exactly cut down branches to advance. Even for Piyo, it would be quite difficult.”
Right, that reminded me of Lauren’s thread. I could tie a rope to Piyo and have her fly higher than the trees.
“Piyo, can you do it?”
“Yes, of course.”
Piyo cheerfully flew off. It would be difficult to fly high, but she could use Wind Magic now. She should be able to fly for a long time with her wings spread. Well, we had to keep up with Piyo so as not to be left behind.
“Hey Arisugawa, Pillon looks strange.”
When Sharin pointed it out, I looked up and saw Piyo tangled in vines hanging from a branch. Ah, what happened to her?
“Umm, I can’t get free! Help meee!”
To think she’d get tangled in vines and be unable to fly. Was such a thing possible? But it was happening right now.
“Wait a moment, Nina, please help her out.”
“I guess I have no choice.”
Nina climbed the tree and rescued the tangled Piyo. I thought it was a good idea, but it didn’t work out. We were back to square one. Standing still in this dark forest wouldn’t get us anywhere.
“No choice but to proceed cautiously.”
It was hard to see, but the sun hadn’t disappeared. If I carefully observed and walked through the faint gaps, we might deviate a little, but we wouldn’t end up going in circles.
“…”
“No way.”
We walked until sunset. We definitely walked, but why were we back here again? The scratch on this tree was definitely one I had seen many times. How could this happen even though we all walked facing the sun?
“What in the world is going on! We’re being tricked by someone! I’m sure of it. If anyone’s watching, show yourself!”
“Nina, calm down. Why are we ending up back here again?”
Could the sun’s position be wrong? That was absurd. There was a possibility we were being shown hallucinations. I remembered the Puzu Tribe’s mother saying she protected her home using Illusion Magic. Perhaps this was an extension of that.
“In that case, let’s go back and talk to the spring spirit. Maybe we can learn something.”
“But we might encounter that Hippo again.”
Sharin was right. Even so, we couldn’t move forward without overcoming that risk.
“Um, excuse me.”
Pauline tugged at the hem of my clothes as if she wanted to say something.
“What is it?”
“Um, I hope I’m mistaken, but was there a flower like this here before?”
Where Pauline was pointing, a small white flower was blooming. It had many cute bellflower-like blossoms. I couldn’t recall. Such flowers grow naturally in abundance. I couldn’t answer her.
“I don’t know, Pauline, do you remember?”
“Yes, I like flowers, so I use them for embroidery on my clothes. But I wonder if there was a flower like this.”
Her gaze was different from mine. Perhaps she had noticed something I had overlooked.
“It feels like the scenery is different.”
“Eh, what did you say?”
As I asked that, Sharin tugged at my sleeve.
“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s an enemy attack. It’s not like the wolves from yesterday, so be careful.”
In the direction she was looking, there were several animals that resembled Ichita. They looked like a cross between a dog and a mouse, smaller in size than wolves. But there were many of them. They were creeping towards us, making threatening sounds.
