Chapter 213:
Traveling with Ivy
We were three days into our journey to Hatow Village, and Ciel had been zipping ahead of us in the forest for about an hour.
“Er, Ivy?”
With my eyes glued to my feet, I loudly answered, “Yes?”
Since we weren’t exactly walking on a proper road, Druid was behind me instead of beside me. The ground was crawling with vines, so we had to watch our step.
“Where exactly are we going?”
“…I don’t know?”
“Aha… Argh…is it always like this?”
Like this? Like what? “Um, I don’t quite follow.”
“I mean…when you traveled alone, did Ciel always run ahead and lead you down treacherous paths like this?”
“Come to think of it, yes.”
Earlier this morning, we were still walking down a fairly easy path near the road to Hatow Village. But along the way, Ciel had changed course and sent us deep into the forest. I was used to it, so I followed the adandara without question, but…was there a problem with that?
Oh, now I get it! This is Druid’s first time traveling with Ciel…so he doesn’t know Ciel is guiding us somewhere. That was my mistake. I guess I should have explained that to him.
“Um, Mr. Druid, whenever Ciel goes deep into the forest like this, it’s because there’s something worth exploring up ahead.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Sometimes it’ll be medicinal nuts, sometimes it’ll be rare healing herbs…so it’s always a good idea to follow Ciel’s lead.”
“Oh. But isn’t it dangerous to wander deep into the forest with such a small party?”
Dangerous? I haven’t had any problems up until now.
“Hmm…I’ve never been attacked by monsters or animals. And Ciel warns me if there’s a dangerous cliff or something up ahead.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Mrrrow, Ciel trilled proudly. It must have been listening in on our conversation.
“Well…I guess it’s okay then.”
Oh, good. Druid seems fine with trusting Ciel’s judgment now. “It’s always exciting, though, wondering what might be up ahead.”
“Ha ha ha. Well, I’m nervous.”
“Nervous?”
“Yeah. Even though Ciel is with us, we’re terribly vulnerable when we’re this deep in the forest.”
Nervous…is he scared? Worried? “But we’ll be okay, you know?”
Druid laughed again.
His words gave me pause, but I still followed Ciel. After walking for a while longer, we came upon a very large tree. A tree with blue fruit.
“Oh! This must be the blue forest fruit the guild master told me about.”
“Looks like it. Do you know what it’s called?”
“It’s a really long name that’s hard to remember. Totorasera sera…”
“See? You remember it.”
“No, I don’t. There’s more to it.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. I’ve heard it’s called toto and totosera in other villages and towns… They each call it by a different name, but shopkeepers everywhere recognize the blue fruit.”
Totorasera seratora… What came next? I tried to remember it but couldn’t. It was a tongue-twister of a name.
Mrrrrow. Ciel plonked down at the root of the big tree, so this must have been where it meant to lead us.
“Thanks, Ciel. We’ll pick as much fruit as we can.”
I took out my bag and began to harvest the blue fruit. With Druid helping, the bag got filled a lot faster than I thought it would.
“Wow, that’s a lot of fruit,” Druid marveled.
“The guild master recommended this fruit since its price doesn’t go up and down. That’s why I got a bunch.”
“Oh, okay.”
I hoisted the bag up in my arms, but Druid yanked it away from me.
“Mr. Druid?”
“C’mon, I’ve got this.”
Should I just let him take care of it? Well…yeah, we’re going to pick up all kinds of other things, so he can take care of handle the blue fruit.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll carry the next thing we find.”
“Ha ha ha. I appreciate it, thanks.”
After we picked the blue fruit, we took a little break. Since there were so many trees where we were, that meant a lot of shade and a chilly temperature. Up until just a little while ago, I’d thought it was pleasantly cool.
“I’m really surprised how far into the forest this fruit is,” Druid said.
“Me, too. This blue fruit and the yellow one grow really deep in the forest.”
“The yellow fruit…it’s called hakuto, right?”
“Yes. And I love it.”
“I’ve never had it.”
“It’s very sweet and so yummy.”
“Do you think it would bring in a lot of money, too?”
“Not sure. The last time I picked some, I ate them all up.”
“I see… Well, I seem to remember it was around the same price as the blue fruit,” Druid mumbled quietly. I couldn’t hear him very well.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
What’s wrong? His face looks a bit tense. Is he just tired? “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Well, we’d better get going.”
As soon as Druid said that, Ciel leapt to take the lead.
“Um…I should follow Ciel, right?”
“Yes. We have no idea where we are, anyway.”
Whenever you followed Ciel in the forest, you would lose all sense of direction and wind up relying on the adandara for everything. At first, I thought I could at least try to keep track of which direction we were going in, but it was futile.
“Fair point. Well, lead the way, Ciel.”
Mrrrow.
I looked up at the sky peeking between the trees. I’d noticed that it had been getting dark earlier lately. At our current speed, I wasn’t sure we would make it back to a path near the village road before nightfall.
“Ciel, let’s look for a place to camp.”
Mrrrow.
“Pu! Pu, puuu.”
“Teryuuu.”
Oh, did Flame wake up? I opened the bag to find Flame yawning. “Good morning… I mean, good evening, Flame.”
Wait…huh? Was Flame yawning just now? Hmm, has it ever yawned before? Well, whatever.
“Camp? Um…Ivy…do you know anything about this area—wait, no, of course you don’t.”
“No, sir.”
Druid looked a bit troubled. He’s been acting a little strange all day. Is he really just tired? If he is, we should turn in early for the night.
“Sora, will you do the honors?”
“Pu! Pu, puuu. Pu! Pu, puuu,” Sora chirped cheerfully, searching the area. Then it spotted something and bounded off.
“Let’s follow.”
“Ahhh…okay.”
His voice sounded quite lackluster. He sure must be tired.
“Pu! Pu, puuu,” Sora cheered, jumping up and down. Druid and I chased after it, and, after a while, we found the slime jiggling at the mouth of a big hole in a tree trunk. Apparently, this was the best place to sleep.
“Thanks, Sora.” I carefully peeked inside and found it was big enough for Ciel to fit, too. There were no signs that monsters had been there lately, either. It looked safe.
“Mr. Druid, let’s sleep here for the night.”
“Ha ha ha. That’s funny. Sure.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Ha ha ha.”
How strange. He can’t even talk properly. Is he really that tired? We’re still only three days into the journey.
Mrrrow.
“What’s up, Ciel? Something wrong?”
Mrrrow.
“Mr. Druid, I’m going to follow Ciel because it’s found something. You seem tired, so you should stay here and rest.”
“Huh? Oh, but I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not fine. You’ve been acting a little off all day.”
“Well…it’s just because this journey is turning out to be much more intense than I thought it would be…”
An intense journey? But I don’t feel like we’ve done anything particularly unusual. I gave Druid a curious look, and he just smiled back at me.
“Well, um, go ahead and rest anyway, okay?”
“Okay… I’ll set up our sleeping things.”
“Er, but then you won’t be resting.”
“I’m fine.”
“Really? Please don’t push yourself too hard. Well, um, look after Flame for me.”
I’m a little worried, but it’s already getting dark. I’ll just get whatever Ciel wants me to pick up as quickly as possible and return right away.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Be careful out there.”
“Flame, traveling with Ivy sure is intense, isn’t it?”
“Teryuuu.”
“I never dreamed she’d take us deep into the forest like this without packing anything we need… I’m a veteran adventurer and even I’m a little spooked.”
“Teryuuu.”
“And Sora just stumbles onto the perfect sleeping spots in the middle of the forest, too. That slime really is amazing.”
“Teryuuu.”
“And from the way Ivy’s behaving, I guess all of this is normal to her.”
“Teryuuu.”
“Could it be…that I’ve gone and joined a very rare type of party?”
“Teryuuu.”
“Come to think of it, we’re so deep in the forest, but I haven’t seen any monsters or animals… Ciel’s presence sure is powerful, I guess.”
“Teryuuu.”
“Flame…are you even listening to me?” I stared at Flame, and it stared right back at me. Looking into its little eyes calmed me somehow. “Thanks. I’ll do my best to get used to it.”
“Ryu!”
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