Sometimes, Alnea wondered if there was something wrong with his head. No, not wondered. He knew for certain that there was something wrong with his head. Or else, he would not have had to worry about his body being overtaken by the memories of a man who used to live in a different world altogether. Though it was not as if those memories were the only thing that was wrong with his head.

  Recklessly charging in without any disregard for his life, be it against his enemies, or for the important decisions for his life… It was a wonder that he was still alive. A wonder that came in the form of his master. But for the moment, that wonder was not with him. Rather, she had not been with him for months. And in those months, he had to take the responsibility of his actions on his own. Just like what he was doing in the Final World.

  Maybe that was why his master had left him in the first place. To teach him how to take care of himself. Other than learning how to deal with other Wanderers, of course. And helping him realise the flaws in his Heart. Regardless, at the moment, his master was not with him, leaving him to confirm his thoughts on his own. Though it was not exactly his thoughts that he had to confirm. The voices… Talking with trees… Was there really was something wrong with his head?

  …Alnea suppressed his errant thoughts, subduing them before they could overwhelm him. He had already confirmed his guess, so why was he doubting himself again? Was it the because of the flaws in his Heart, or the absurdity of the situation? Maybe both. And so what if there really was something wrong with his head? It was not as if he could do anything about it. At least not at the moment. So, instead of worrying about—

  “Wake up.”

  Alnea paused in his thoughts, taking a moment to return his Heart to its Serenity, before opening his eyes. Though instead of looking towards the girl who disturbed his meditation right away, he first took out his Blood Card, and observed it with his Spirit.

  “Challengers defeated: 467.”

  “Area explored: 27.91%.”

  “Time left: 22 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes, 12 seconds.”

  A little over four hundred and fifty, Alnea noted to himself, comparing the numbers with what they had been a day before. After a few moments, he shifted his attention to the lowermost row of symbols on the Assistant Panel, nodded to himself, and put his Blood Card away, before turning towards Yuri. The white robed girl was standing next to him, with her Blood Card in her hands, and a thin smile on her face. A rare sight that he was able to see only because the rest of his teammates were recuperating.

  “Exactly a quarter of an hour,” Alnea said, allowing himself to indulge in the pleasure of his Heart for a few moments. “Punctual as ever.”

  “Only a fool will misestimate time with such a convenient tool in their hands,” Yuri said, putting her Blood Card away, and offering him a hand. “But being as diligent as you is not something that anyone can do. Checking your own Blood Card despite me confirming the time…”

  “…You know that I trust you more than I trust myself,” Alnea said, with his smile turning stiff at Yuri’s words, as he grabbed her hand, and pulled himself up from the ground, while continuing to explain his actions, prompting the latter to smile even more unrestrainedly. “I check our Assistant Panel more to remind myself of how much we have progressed in our Trial, and how much more we need to explore.”

  “And how much time we have left.”

  “That too. But we are running ahead of schedule, so I am not too worried about not being able to complete our Trial in time. Even if we face some delays, it should not have too big of an effect on our rate exploring the Final World,” Alnea said, and paused, losing his smile for a more solemn expression, finishing the rest of his words through their bond. “It is the number of Wanderers we have met that worries me so.”

  “…Four hundred and sixty seven, not even five hundred…” Yuri said, recalling the details of her Assistant Panel. “In comparison to the number of enemies we have to face, we are indeed a little behind on how many of them we have defeated. But there is nothing we can do about it. The number of Wanderers we come across in our explorations has been significantly reduced in the past couple of days. If we do not even meet then, how are we supposed to defeat them?”

  “That is what I am worried about,” Alnea said solemnly. “Why is the number of Wanderers we are encountering in our exploration decreasing?”

  “…Maybe it is because their infighting has increased in intensity. After all, which Trialist of the Lost City can resist the temptation of clearing the Final Trial?”

  “There should have been some signs…”

  “We did see some traces of battles along the way. Like the river we crossed the other day.”

  “…We are not sure if the transformation of the river was because of Wanderers fighting among themselves. And even if it was, we have rarely come across such signs in the past few days. Nowhere near enough to account for all the missing Wanderers…”

  “…Maybe the forest erased their traces.”

  “…The forest,” Alnea said, glancing at the forest around them, at the strange fog permeating in the air, and the swamp next to them, with bubbles of air popping on its surface from time to time. “That is what I am worried about the most. This forest… It does not look as it is supposed to…”

  “…Since we have decided to ignore its anomalies, what does the troubles of the forest have to do with us?” Yuri said, tilting her head in confusion, making her irresistibly cute for a moment. Pale white skin, snow white hair, crystal blue eyes, and blood red lips… She was like a whole kaleidoscope of colours all in herself. An irresistibly charming kaleidoscope. Only Alnea knew how he restrained himself, and continued with what they were talking about.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “…We may have decided to ignore the forest, but the forest itself might not ignore us,” Alnea said, tearing his eyes away from Yuri, and glancing at the forest once again. “Although it has not shown any changes on its surface, I can feel it moving… I can hear its sounds…”

  “…What sound?”

  “…The sound of the forest crying. The sound of it begging us to stop harming its trees and lands. The sound of its—

  “Wait a moment,” Yuri said, raising her hand to stop him, while staring at him with a solemn gaze. “Are you sure that you are hearing the sound of the forest?”

  “…It is either that, or I am losing my mind. Anyways, we will know it once we try,” Alnea said, and stepped towards a tree, placing his right hand on its trunk, before closing his eyes, concentrating all his senses on the tree. In the next moment, he felt some strange fluctuations flowing from the tree into his hand, and from his hand all the way to his head, to his Spirit World and his Spirit resting within, establishing a connection between him and the tree. Or was it with all the trees around him?

  He could not understand. All he could tell, was that the moment the strange fluctuations reached his Spirit, they brought him to a world where as far as he could see, all that existed were trees. Lush, green trees, with endless vitality and infinite tolerance. Or so it seemed at first. But even for the trees, there was a limit to how much they could tolerate. And so, when they sensed his presence, all of them shifted their attention to him, and asked him the same question. Why?

  Why were the beasts of his kind hurting those of its kin? Why were they destroying their lands so wantonly? They provided his kind with shelter, did they not? They even kept the fog at bay, giving them a safe environment. Giving them respite from what lay hidden beneath the silence. They had fulfilled all of their duties, even going a little beyond what they were supposed to do. What more did his kind want of them? Would they be happy only if they broke the seal, and—

  The trees grew silent the moment they mentioned the seal, taking the initiative kick him out of the strange world, and cut off the connection between them, refusing all his attempts to communicate. Not that they had been communicating with him in the first place. It was not the first time he been to that strange world. Yet, without exception, every time he went there, the trees only spoke, and never listened. As if they were just trying to vent their emotions. Or probably asking him to be kind to their kin.

  Regardless, he was sure that the trees were sentient, even if partially. And they knew something about the forest. Something that they did not, or could not reveal. Something that could scare them with just the mention of its name. Something that could make them hold all their grievances within themselves. Something…

  “Did you feel it?” Alnea said, withdrawing his hand from the tree, and turning back towards Yuri.

  “…It was vague, but I did feel a consciousness trying to communicate with your Spirit,” Yuri said, withdrawing her senses from his, and looked him into his eyes. “Why did you not tell me about this before?”

  “…I thought that it might be my paranoia that was making me imagine things, so I wanted to confirm my guess before telling you.”

  “Still, we could have—

  “And it has been only a couple of days since I began hearing the sounds of the trees.”

  “…A couple of days?”

  “Now, do you see why I am so worried about this forest? Or the decrease in the number of Wanderers we are encountering?”

  “…Do you want to say that those Wanderers were not defeated or killed in infighting, but by the forest itself?”

  “…I know it sounds absurd, but…”

  “…It is the only explanation we have,” Yuri said, before glancing at the rest of the Star Seekers. “Are you going to tell everyone about this?”

  “At first, I did think of keeping this a secret from most of them to keep them from panicking, but if I cannot even trust them with just a simple information, how can I expect them to trust me with their lives? Maybe some of them will indeed panic a little at first. But I believe that they have all grown up enough to overcome their fears. More importantly, everyone needs to know what we are facing in order to deal with unexpected situations.”

  “Having the courage to believe in your companions, and the charm to incite their own courage…” Yuri said, trailing off towards the end, while nodding to herself in satisfaction, resuming her smile from before. “You are becoming more and more like a qualified leader.”

  “Are you implying that I was not a qualified leader before?”

  “…It looks like you have not lost your touch with the art of words,” Yuri said, turning her smile into a smirk. “Though you should not always keep on playing with your words. I am still waiting for the surprise that you promised.”

  “…I did not promise, I just said that I would give you something to compensate for your contribution to the team.”

  “Are you going to break your word once again?”

  “…And I am going to fulfil my words. But let us complete the Trial first.”

  “…I will be keeping my eyes on you.”

  “You are welcome to keep your eyes on me for all the time to come.”

  “…Pervert.”

  “How does that make me a pervert?”

  “You just are.”

  Instead of arguing with Yuri, Alnea glanced at her red lips, accentuated by her pale white skin and crystal blue eyes, and the unusually attractive bulge in her chest, which had grown to twice the size they had been before coming to the Lost City. Maybe he really was a pervert. He could not let her know that though, so he quickly shifted his eyes away from her, only to be attracted by the figures of Cecilia and Vestia.

  Unlike Yuri, Cecilia’s skin was more between a normal white and healthy bronze brought about from getting blessed by Enn’s grace for a long time. Yet, the slightly dull colour of her skin did not make her look any less attractive. Rather, her light bronzish skin reminded him of his mother, making him even more attracted towards her. Then there was also the bulge in her chest, which was a hint bigger than Yuri’s…

  In contrast, Vestia’s chest was largest of the three. Not as large as big sis Serena’s or his master’s, but of his contemporaries, her chest was indeed one of the largest he had seen. It almost seems as if she was hiding a pair of small melons in her chest. Should he check, just in case there—

  “What are you looking at?”

  “Huh? Me? Nothing. I was not looking at anything.”

  “…Were you—

  “Right, I almost forgot,” Alnea said, hurriedly taking out his Blood Card, and confirming the time, before letting out an awkward laugh. “Has a quarter of an hour has passed already? Time sure does fly when you do not pay attention. Anyways, we should wake everyone up to resume our exploration.”