“…I get what you are saying, but I still cannot understand how this has anything to do with why we should not worry about our Trial?”

  “Who said that we should not worry about our Trial?”

  “…You just said that a few moments ago.”

  “Do not malign me!” Alnea said, raising his hands to show his innocence. “I just said that we can relax a little, and get some rest, but that does not mean that we should not worry about our Trial.”

  “…How is that any different?”

  “How is that not different?”

  “…Stop teasing him, Alnea,” Vestia said, finally unable to control her giggles. “Just tell him why we should not worry about any ambushes for a while.”

  “Tsk. There are only a few times that we get to see Karl so tensed, and you stole all our fun,” Alnea mumbled, but gave in to Vestia’s request anyway. Still, he did not give Karl a direct answer. Instead, after taking a quick glance around himself, he reached out to break a part of the root hanging from the branch above him, swinging next to his face, and drew a circle on the damp ground.

  “How large an area did Vestia said we had to cover?”

  “…A little above thirty thousand square kilometres.”

  “And how many Wanderers are going to be there in these thirty thousand square kilometres?”

  “…A little over two thousand,” Karl said. “But that is even more so why we should lay out our traps, and prepare for those Wanderers to come to us.”

  “Except, they will not,” Alnea said, pointing to the circle with the broken root in his hand. “Assume this circle is the area we have to explore. For those thousands of Wanderers to have their own Trials that do not interfere with each other, but still have the chance of stopping us from completing our Trial, they must be distributed in this area evenly. And since most of those Wanderers are in a team, the number of Trials disturbed in this region should be around three hundred or so.”

  While explaining his thoughts to his teammates, Alnea drew a few small circles within the larger circle, and pointed to those smaller circles with the broken roots in his hand.

  “That is to say, this area of around thirty thousand square kilometres can be roughly divided into three hundred regions, with each region having the possibility of a team completing their Trial in that area. Furthermore, on average, each of these smaller regions should have an area of around a hundred square kilometres or so. Much larger than the measly area we covered.

  “Of course, this is just what I deduced from the information that we have. The actual situation may still differ due to various factors. For instance, if multiple teams happen to have a common Trial. Or if a team’s Trial itself needs a larger or a smaller area. Still, no matter how many variables there are, the actual situation should not be too different from my estimates.”

  “In other words, we should not have to face any other teams in our immediate vicinity,” Vestia said, just as Alnea drew a small circle in the centre of the larger circle, providing the finishing touch to his explanation.

  “…I understand,” Karl said after a moment of silence. “It looks like my nervousness finally got to me.”

  “It happens to all of us,” Alnea said, tapping the ground where he had drawn the circle with the broken root in his hand. “Besides, you were not completely wrong either. What I said earlier was just an ideal situation. In reality, accidents happen all the time. And the danger may not be from just other Wanderers and Oren Beasts. We can put off the matter of laying traps, but we should never let our guard down. This is why I asked you to always keep your Glyph Tokens active. At least while we are in the Final World.”

  “…It seems that you do not need me to remind you to be careful,” Yuri said, just as Alnea finished his words, drawing a smile from within his Heart.

  “Of course,” Alnea said, glancing at Yuri, trying not to grin too much. “I made a promise earlier. And I also have to earn your trust back as soon as possible.”

  “…Are you so eager to get punished?”

  “Only because it is you who is punishing.”

  “Fool,” Yuri mumbled, as she restrained the subtle smile on her face, while the others also finally let go of the stones they were holding in their Hearts.

  “The Final Trial does not seem to be as dangerous as I thought it would be…”

  “See, I told you. As long as we are careful…”

  “I was never afraid of the Trial though. Rather, I always knew this was how things were going to turn out…”

  “…Still, covering over thirty thousand square kilometres in thirty days…”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “It is just over a thousand square kilometres a day. We can do it as long as we stick to it.”

  “…Are you even listening to yourself?”

  “Of course. Who do you think I am?”

  “…A braggart?”

  “When have I ever bragged?”

  “When have you not bragged?”

  “When I said that I know Arcanas from all twelve lineages.”

  “…Anyone who knows about your background can guess that part.”

  “And when I said that you can leave your back to me.”

  “…Although it was your duty, you did keep your word. But that is it. Can you give another example?”

  “When I reached the top ten rank in the Arcanist Hall, proving myself to be one of the best Arcanist in the Lost City.”

  “…It was just the Sixth Blood Hall. And you only ranked tenth.”

  “How much was your rank?”

  “…I do not exactly focus on the path of Arcanists.”

  “Then what was your rank in your chosen path?”

  “…I cannot argue with that.”

  “Because I am the most talented Wanderer—

  “Arcanist.”

  “It is the same thing.”

  “And not the most talented, but the tenth most talented. That too, only in the Sixth Blood Hall of Northern District.”

  “…Shut up, you top hundredth rank plebeian.”

  “…Ignore them,” Aren said to Fran. “These clowns will only mess up with our Hearts.”

  “…I would not say that they are clowns, but they certainly do not know how to read the atmosphere,” Fran said, as he glanced towards the depth of the forest. “Though we do not have to worry about other Wanderers attacking us unexpectedly right away, we still cannot waste our time like this. Covering over thirty thousand square kilometres in thirty days…”

  “Over a thousand square kilometres a day…”

  “Do not forget about the enemies we will encounter in process.”

  “Around ten teams a day on average.”

  “Seventy to eighty Wanderers a day…”

  “Do not worry,” Alnea said, intervening between the two gloomiest Star Seekers before they could turn the others just as gloomy as themselves. “Although the goal of our Trial sounds difficult to achieve, it is not impossible to complete.”

  “Indeed,” Karl said after some hesitation. “But at what cost?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “…If I calculated it correctly, we spent roughly half an hour to cover about three square kilometres. And that is when most of the Oren Beasts had already been driven away. If we add in the time needed to deal with other Wanderers… I am afraid that unless we split up to explore the Final World individually, we will never be able to complete the Trial on time. And that is probably also what the hint of the mission requirement meant. But if we do split up, just how many of us will be able to last till the end of the Trial?”

  “So, you noticed that too,” Alnea said, laughing out, and waving his hand to dispel the fears of his teammates. “Do not worry. Like I said, the Trial may seem difficult to overcome, but it is not impossible. Besides, why do you think we have not rushed out to explore our surroundings yet? Just to get some rest? Do you think that we were so exhausted that we could not even continue to explore the forest?”

  “…We were afraid that we might have to face other Wanderers right away, so we needed to secure a base…”

  “Now, not only do we have our base, but we also do not have to face our enemies right away. And though we may still have to face thousands of Wanderers, at least we will not have face them with an overwhelming disadvantage in numbers. At best, they will only be four to five times our size. As long as we are careful, we can still take them down. So, why do I still insist on keeping everyone here, and talking things out slowly?”

  “…To plan?”

  “Planning is indeed a great part of the reason why we have yet to begin exploring the Final World. If we want to complete our Trial without splitting up, we must plan carefully. To plan anything though, everyone must have a calm head,” Alnea said, putting on a solemn face, as he glanced at his teammates.

  “Maybe you did not notice it yourself, but after coming to the Final World, everyone’s nerves have been a little tense. And the content of our Final Trial only served to increase that tension. There was even a moment when I almost lost myself to my anxiety. Not for long, of course. It was just a momentary reaction. Still, it was enough to remind me that you might be having the same reaction. And I was right.

  “At first, I thought that I should just let you suppress your emotions in your Hearts for the time being. The Final World is not exactly a good place to let your emotions break out. Especially with the dangers that might erupt at any moment. The way that Yuri handled your outbreak of emotions earlier though, gave me an idea of helping you soothe out your emotions.”

  “…Is that why you asked us to sit down? And have been talking in such a roundabout manner?”

  “Did it not work out well in the end?”

  “…I cannot argue with that,” Karl said, with a hint of embarrassment leaking into his voice. And though the others did not say anything, the way they hid their faces, and tore their eyes away from their Captain was enough of an evidence that they were not feeling much better.

  “…It looks like everyone has calmed down now,” Alnea said, smiling for a moment, before resuming his solemn face. He then tilted his head down, and tapped the broken root in his hand on the ground, bringing everyone’s attention to the circle he had drawn earlier. “Then it is time to discuss our plans.”

  “…We are really not going to split up?”

  “I will never abandon my teammates,” Alnea said, not even bothering to glance towards Norren, as he tapped the broken stick at the centre of the large circle, where he had drawn the smaller circle. “As of now, we have explored the area in this small circle. Our objective is to explore the entire larger circle. But there is a catch. We have only thirty days to complete our exploration.

  “This is an almost impossible task. At least if we keep using the method we used to explore this smaller circle, we really would not be able to complete our exploration in time. Which is why we need to change our method. For one, we cannot continue to sweep out in a circular fashion. Although it might seem efficient at first, once our enemies discover our movements, we will have to face the risk of being surrounded from all sides.

  “Besides, there is no need to fight all the Oren Beasts we come across either. As long as we clear the place where we rest of any dangers, and have someone guard at all times, it would be enough. Other than that, we also need to change the way we advance through the forest. Since the only requirement of our missions is for at least one of us to explore an area with their Spirits, we do not have to proceed with just one scout. From now on, in addition to Cecilia, I…”