Raymond tugged at the back of my head, grumbling.
“How could you hit me like this all of a sudden! And you even moved the tree with magic!”
“The wind must have moved the tree,” John replied with a shrug.
“You know you can’t really use magic well in this Monster Forest from the start, right?”
The wind around the Monster Forest was blowing fiercely now.
The reason the place was called Monster Forest was that the weather around it changed capriciously, just as if it were a place where monsters lived.
But Raymond looked at John with an unfair look.
“Are you really not my lord? Could I be struck by a tree all of a sudden…?”
“It seems the tree knew your guilt too,” John said.
“Would a lord do such a thing to his master!”
I kept talking to that tree.
-You don’t hear me, do you?
Even if you’re not someone else, you can’t fool my eyes.
It was indeed true that suddenly a tree moved and struck Raymond.
‘There’s no answer coming back.’
Sometimes there are trees that can’t be spoken to.
‘But it felt like a warning was being sent to me.’
So I contacted the major trees directly.
-Excuse me, tree folk? I can’t even communicate with the trees of the Monster Forest.
But strangely, there was no response from the major trees either.
It felt ominous.
‘What’s the reason?’
Before entering the Monster Forest, I asked the trees about it.
-Trees there aren’t cooperative like us. But there isn’t much difference, really.
-For real?
-Of course!
Having said that—
‘There’s no contact at all!’
The information from trees is not something they experience themselves, so sometimes they’re wrong in this way.
I felt an unseen gaze, so I turned my head, and John was carefully watching my expression.
I blinked and smiled as if I had done something bad.
“Did something smudge on my face?”
“You don’t look as good as this morning,” he said.
My condition wasn’t that different.
“Well, I’m not sure,” I said.
“When you say you don’t know, you mean you’re not feeling well?”
Lately John checked my status every time our eyes met.
At first I worried how to handle it. But now I knew how to answer.
“So, John, what do you mean by not being able to use magic well in the Monster Forest?”
He deftly changed the subject.
“Ah, because this Monster Forest has magic as unstable as the weather. That’s why there are restrictions on using magic.”
“Even you, John?”
“If I’m careless, I’ll fail magic. And if magic fails, I’ll take backlash. So I’d rather not use magic in this Monster Forest as much as possible.”
That said, the place was weird enough that even contacting the major trees wouldn’t be easy.
John pointed to his waist and loosened the corners of his mouth.
“But don’t worry. Your lady can definitely be protected.”
“Did you learn to sword-fight too?”
“I can do anything.”
A very arrogant remark, but it made John’s nod seem natural.
Still, I worried and asked.
“But wouldn’t fighting monsters be dangerous?”
“Still the same.”
John raised his eyebrows and asked back.
“How much do you know about monsters?”
“I know the kinds of monsters and their general traits.”
Monsters are beings that defy the order of the gods.
Monsters born from chaos are dangerous beings that could ruin the world.
‘Come to think of it, John’s black magic is also close to chaotic power.’
It’s amazing that he uses regular magic as well as black magic.
John looked quite surprised by my quick answer.
“The nobles of the capital don’t know well either. You’re really smart.”
“I just spend all my time reading at home. I don’t know what others all know.”
I felt shy and gave a awkward smile.
“Still, knowing something is a great thing.”
But hearing praise felt good.
‘Maybe because I feel recognized, even if it’s fake.’
I had quite a desire for recognition without realizing it.
Kind and calm conversation, occasional smiles I didn’t even notice, the warm touch.
‘If all this is a deception… I hope it lasts as long as possible.’
Tap, thud—
Raindrops began to fall slowly from the sky. The sky grew dark.
‘If it keeps raining, moving by carriage will be difficult.’
The leader of our group suddenly stopped walking. A strange anxiety spread.
“Sir, my lord! This is bad!”
A mounted scout rode up and reached John’s side. The scout’s face was pale.
John narrowed his brows and asked.
“What happened?”
“A group of crawlins appeared nearby. An entire swarm is converging toward this place!”
“Crawlin is coming as a swarm?”
John’s expression hardened.
“Are you sure they’re crawlins? Crawlin doesn’t live in swarms.”
“No, they are crawlins. They came separately, but they’re coming as if in one big swarm, from multiple directions toward Monster Forest.”
The mood grew darker.
Crawlin was a monster I knew to be extremely dangerous.
‘Magic doesn’t work on them at all, and their blades hardly cut. They’re a disaster.’
They come in various shapes, but all crawlin glow with complete magic resistance, earning them the name of disaster monsters.
But their weakness was that they only hunt their prey and then fall asleep.
“How much longer until we get there?”
“In about 30 minutes.”
John asked the soldiers with narrowed eyes.
“Has there been any recent instance of monsters suddenly coming out like this?”
“Nothing like that. We always keep an eye on crawlin-type monsters.”
After a moment of silence, John spoke.
-Did you contact their nature?
“Yes. But because of crawlin, communication with monsters in the forest isn’t possible.”
“Understood. This is a situation where crawlins are rushing in en masse. Split into five-person squads and head toward the Grand Citadel while avoiding the crawlin swarm.”
With crawlin, magic can’t be used, so it’s wiser to avoid them. When John gave the order, the soldiers moved in perfect order.
The raindrops fell heavier and heavier.
A rushing, terrifying crawlin swarm gathered in the rain.
Even in this crisis, John remained steady, controlling and issuing orders to the knights.
‘This is it.’
The noble, proud image of the Blanchet Duke that Libertan had so envied.
I found myself staring at John’s charismatic, almost hypnotic presence as if I were entranced.
John’s gaze met mine.
“I’ll move separately with you, my lady.”
Raymond and the knights moved with composure, placing their hands over their hearts and then moving ahead.
~·~·*· . ·*· . ·*· . ·*·~·~
And so I moved separately from John.
“Is it okay to be just the two of us like this?”
John even held me, not wanting me to push myself.
“It’s better to be alone than being bothered by a nuisance.”
“But—”
The Blanchet Duke’s knights were elite soldiers. They would help.
“It’s safer to stay apart from a crowd. It’s better to go separately. And I’m the strongest, so it’s fine.”
His words cooled my anxiety a little. But I knew how dire the situation was. Crawlin were monsters so dangerous they were called a disaster.
“John.”
I squeezed his shoulder with a reassuring grip.
“Everyone else should be safe, right?”
“If we’re lucky.”
John didn’t try to console me in a clumsy way. He scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes.
“If we narrowly avoided the crawlin swarm, we’ll all be fine.”
“Will we be okay?”
“Don’t worry. I’m right beside you.”
Even in a steep forest, John walked like on flat ground, then paused.
A gentle smile faded from his face.
“…Why are the crawlins suddenly changing position…”
“Why?”
“No. I think we need to change direction.”
John picked me up and started running in another direction.
‘There’s no doubt something went wrong.’
His attitude had completely changed. There was strangely little room for ease.
The surrounding trees groaned and shook as if in pain. The sudden rain and strong gusts intensified.
‘I keep feeling something off.’
Even while being held by him, I couldn’t shake the growing sense of unease.
I asked John.
“John. Something is…”
Quack… thud!
A huge tree suddenly toppled over.
A monstrous form, a monster with a grotesque shape, stood and glared at us while breaking the tree.
‘Is that crawlin?’
In front of us, the crawlin looked like a mix of multiple predators in one form.
A lion’s face, a scorpion-like body, and snakes writhing on the tail.
Crawlin charged at John.
Even in the dark rain, the crawlin’s sharp fangs flashed ominously.
John cut the crawlin in half with the sword at his waist. The monster’s black blood pooled on the ground.
His face grew even darker.
“Have they already reached this far?”
The arm that had been holding me clenched tight. John was tense.
Crrr… another crawlin began to appear.
In the dark, their fierce eyes glinted. They were slowly approaching to threaten John, but with a willing mind they could close the distance soon.
‘There are more crawlin farther away.’
A primal fear rose through me.
No matter how strong John is, he cannot face all those horrendous monsters without magic.
I slowly stepped down from John’s embrace.
“Estelle. Don’t be afraid,” John whispered with a calm smile.
“We can take care of it quickly.”
“There’s no need.”
As I slowly shook my head, he looked at me with a strange, fixed gaze.
“What do you mean?”
“John, go alone.”
With a smile still on his lips, John tilted his head. It sounded absurd.
“Go alone?”
“There are too many. If we stay, we’ll both be in danger.”
I looked at him quietly and spoke.
“If you go alone, you can run away.”
“No,” John answered firmly.
“Can’t run away.”
“Your answer is faster than usual.”
The rain drenched me. I held John’s hands without a word.
Perhaps John would stay and fight to the end for me.
‘Even so, there’s no guarantee we’ll both survive.’
But if that happened, John would die in this Monster Forest before completing his revenge.
My heart grew strangely calm.
I had known that a day like this would come. I think I prepared my heart to some extent.
“John. I’m fine.”
It wasn’t a terrible ending after all.
‘I wasn’t betrayed by John and killed.’
If I let him go first, my death would become a sacrifice.
“With this situation, such jokes are hard to swallow, even for me.”
“You can go to the fortress alone.”
John did not answer; he looked down at our joined hands.
I unconsciously trembled at the sensation of his touch.
I quickly pulled my hand away and forced a faint smile. Probably my body still didn’t want to die.
‘Just because you cry and push doesn’t mean you’ll live.’
Sometimes you have to give up as the situation requires.
As much as I fought to stay alive, I was furious at this situation. But I knew this wasn’t John’s fault, nor mine, nor anyone’s.
So I could speak calmly.
But John’s reaction was different from mine.
“So you’ll abandon me and go?”
“Abandonment isn’t what I’m doing.”
Luckily, my voice was very calm.
“John will survive too.”
“Ha!”
John let out a derisive laugh.
“I guess you don’t understand what this situation is.”
John lowered his voice and grabbed my shoulders.
“You, you’ll die.”
“…”
“To be eaten by the monster swarm.”
“I said I’m fine.”
A tiny crack appeared on John’s expression.
“I don’t want to see you risk yourself for me just because of me.”
“My lady.”
“Don’t worry too much.”
I placed my hand on his cheek.
“And don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault.”
Normally calm as always, John felt strangely hot.
“Even if I die, I’ll never blame you.”
John stared at me for a moment, as if he had nothing to say. Red—his eyes—were filled with many emotions. I moved his hand from my shoulder, stood back with my hands behind me, and looked away.
Now, the last face I would see was John’s.
“Go.”
I forced the most beautiful smile I could as I looked at him.
“For those waiting for John.”
One crawlin among the swarm that hadn’t moved, as if alerting us, began to step forward.
In the end, John’s sharp gaze contorted.
~·~·*· . ·**##^^##**· . ·*·~·~
Hey there, It’s Green Rose 😉
Since I human I might have make some mistakes while translating so please if you find them let me know here in the comments or in the Discord group so I can correct them and be careful in the future so they do not repeat.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
~~~Next Chapter~~~
Next chapter will be released Tomorrow.
See you then!!
