From atop Set's back as the gryphon soared through the sky, the ground below was an endless green carpet with a single line cutting across it.
That line was, of course, the highway. The thought that without it the view would be nothing but green felt slightly disappointing.
Above them hung the warm spring sun, with white clouds drifting by.
"Looking at it like this, it doesn't really feel like there's anything wrong with the forest. ...Well, I guess that's because we're flying, though."
"Gruu?"
Set turned its head back as if asking what was wrong, prompted by Rei's involuntary murmur.
"No, it's nothing. More importantly... ah, that must be the rumored forest."
They were flying at an altitude of roughly a hundred meters, and Set was fast.
Less than a few minutes had passed since taking off from outside Gilm when the forest came into view.
As for how Rei could tell this was the rumored forest, the reason was simple. Having flown around the Gilm area countless times, Rei and Set could immediately recognize a forest they'd never seen before.
They hadn't been flying constantly through winter and into spring, partly because they'd been staying in Gilm. Even so, it was certain that a forest of this scale had not existed anywhere near this area before.
He certainly wouldn't forget a forest this size.
The location was considerably off the highway, but if Rei's memory served, this had been grassland.
"Don't tell me the grassland turned into a forest due to some kind of abnormality... or something?"
Under normal circumstances, that would be impossible. But in a world with magic, he couldn't rule it out entirely.
"Still... it's bigger than I expected."
What Rei remarked on was the sheer scale of the forest.
It was nowhere near as large as Gilm, not by a long shot, but even at a glance, it easily spanned more than a square kilometer.
"Grururu?"
Set, gazing down at the forest from above, let out a puzzled cry.
With its sharp five senses, sixth sense, and magic detection ability, Set had likely noticed the unnaturalness of the forest below — the fact that there were no monsters, let alone animals.
Rei's senses weren't as sharp as Set's, but even he could feel something was off.
"At any rate, if both Set and I sense something wrong, it's definitely not an ordinary forest. ...Though a forest appearing this size in just a few months isn't normal to begin with."
"Gruu?"
Set looked at him as if asking what they should do — land? — but Rei shook his head.
"No, I'd like to land and take a look too, but our objective is to confirm whether this forest actually exists. ...That said, I don't see any signs of it expanding."
From what Rei had heard, the forest was supposedly growing or moving, but looking down from above, it didn't appear that way at all.
As Rei scanned the ground, he suddenly caught sight of something glinting through the gaps in the trees, reflecting sunlight.
At first he thought it might be water — a river or something — but there was no river here in the first place. There might have been a stream, but... regardless, the glint caught his attention. It was near the edge of the forest, only about ten meters in from the entrance. Changing his original plan, Rei decided to descend.
"Set, sorry, but land after all."
"Grurururu!"
Set, perhaps already curious about the suddenly appeared forest, flapped its wings toward the ground without hesitation.
It landed with almost no sound, then stared intently at the forest before them.
On the ground, the forest's abnormality became even clearer.
Despite its size, there was almost no sign of living creatures. The only faint presence was a few birds perched on branches, and even those were sparse.
"Gruu..."
At Set's low cry, Rei focused his mind, ready for anything.
He drew Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring, positioned himself to counterattack immediately if anything attacked, and began walking into the forest — toward the spot where he'd seen the glint from above.
"Set, stay alert in case anything happens. A forest this large appearing out of nowhere... there's definitely something going on."
"Grururu!"
Set purred reassuringly in response.
The gaps between the trees were reasonably wide, so even Set, with a body roughly three meters long, could move through the forest without difficulty.
Rei and Set pressed forward with tension, but to their surprise, nothing happened. They arrived at their destination — the spot where the glint had been — without incident.
Partly because it was only about ten meters from the forest's edge, it had been close by. But having been so on guard, Rei's honest feeling was that it was somewhat anticlimactic.
"This is..."
What caught Rei's eye was the blade of a dagger.
It had been resting beneath a gap in the branches of nearby trees, so sunlight must have reflected off it unhindered.
But what surprised Rei more than the dagger was the remains of a campfire nearby.
In other words, someone had camped here — and that someone was none other than Thresha and her party.
"So what does this mean? One night... no, I don't know when the incident happened, so at most one night? In any case, the forest expanded this much in about that amount of time?"
The campfire remains were about ten meters into the forest. And Rei had heard that they had camped beside the forest, not inside it. That being the case, the forest had grown by at least nearly ten meters in a single night.
(Well, I don't know whether it expanded by eroding outward or whether the forest itself is moving. Either way, there's not much difference... it's dangerous, that much is certain.)
Since the items belonged to Thresha and her party, Rei gathered the various tools scattered on the ground — sleeping bags, backpacks, and the like — into his Misty Ring.
When Thresha and her companions had been jolted awake by their allies' screams in the night, they must have plunged into the forest without even time to prepare. The belongings left behind were almost exactly as they had been when Thresha and her party went to sleep.
Rei couldn't know that for certain, but there was something else he could deduce. Namely...
"There's no sign anyone rummaged through the belongings."
Among the gear, there should have been dried meat and hardtack as preserved rations. As active adventurers, they would naturally have emergency provisions, and they should have eaten something here before bed and prepared breakfast as well.
Despite that, the belongings were completely undisturbed.
Even without food, monsters or animals would naturally poke at or investigate unfamiliar objects.
"If that's the case, then it's true — there really are no monsters or animals in this forest."
Rei had heard as much from the Receptionist, and entering the forest had given him a vague premonition. But confronted with such clear evidence, he had no choice but to accept it with absolute conviction.
"...Gruu..."
Gazing at the remains of the campsite, Set purred, sounding lonely.
It was probably thinking about Thresha's companions who had died in this forest.
At any rate, Rei recovered all the belongings inside the forest. Naturally, items like these belonged to whoever picked them up, but for Rei, they were things that would be of no use to him. He already possessed a greater number of, and higher-quality, tools than anything in this gear.
"Well, this much is fine."
The belongings would naturally go to Thresha. Since Rei had no need for them, he figured that much kindness was acceptable.
Having lost her entire party in a single night, whether she continued as an adventurer or gave up the path entirely, these belongings would prove useful. As tools if she continued. Sold in Gilm for living expenses if she quit. Either way, having them wouldn't hurt.
(Is the reason I'm thinking like this because I've started forming a party myself? ...Well, I have no intention of doing anything like letting the Crimson Lotus Wings be destroyed, though.)
Then again, it wasn't as if Thresha and her party had deliberately let their party be wiped out — though Thresha had survived — by choice.
No, someone who would try to wipe out their own party wouldn't exist unless they held some bizarre notions.
"Anyway, the errand is done. I can't exactly say 'fortunately'... that's not the right word, but it was good that we confirmed there are no animals or monsters in the forest."
"Gruu?"
Stroking Set, who tilted its head as if asking if that was really the case, Rei nodded.
"Yeah. All that's left is to return to Gilm and make this report. ...Come to think of it, we came without deciding on a reward since it was a Nomination Request. Well, I can leave that negotiation to Marina or someone like her."
Rei muttered this, but in truth, there was probably no one better suited for negotiation than Marina, a former Guild Master. For this kind of request — especially a Nomination Request — someone who had been a Guild Master could easily judge what sort of reward was appropriate.
Of course, monetary rewards held little appeal for Rei to begin with.
"...Still, they said something about the forest eating people, but in the end, nothing happened. Is it because Set's here?"
Whatever was behind this incident, Rei couldn't imagine anyone trying anything foolish in front of Set — a gryphon, and a Rare Species at that, making it equivalent to an S-Rank monster.
"It's a forest, so I could just burn it down with my magic and settle things quickly... but if it turns out to be the work of an unknown monster, I might end up burning the Magic Stone too. I'd like to do something about that... no, there's no point thinking about it now."
He shook his head and temporarily pushed the thoughts aside.
For now, reporting about this forest was the top priority.
"Well then, let's go. You don't want to stay in this forest any longer than necessary either, right, Set?"
"Gruu."
Set nodded at Rei's words.
Sleeping in the shade of trees was one of Set's happy moments. But the shade of a forest like this wasn't the kind that put the mind at ease. Taking a nap in Marina's courtyard, directly bathed in the spring sunlight, was far more appealing to Set.
As they moved away from the campsite... Rei suddenly noticed a single branch lying on the ground.
It was broken partway through — probably snapped when Set was moving.
(A tree branch... well, it might be useful for something. If I examine it and learn even a little, that's a bonus.)
Deciding this, he picked it up and stored it in his Misty Ring.
"Grurururu."
Nodding to Set, who cried out as if urging him to leave the forest quickly, Rei followed after the gryphon as it led the way.
Since the campsite had been right near the forest's edge, it was only moments before they emerged from the trees.
Stepping out of the forest, Rei once again turned his gaze toward it.
From the outside, it looked like an entirely ordinary forest with no visible abnormality. But in reality, it was a forest that had devoured multiple adventurers. It could hardly be called ordinary.
(Well, even in an ordinary forest, you can die in an instant from a monster attack if you let your guard down... but this forest has nothing to do with that sort of thing.)
Gazing at the forest, Rei muttered to himself.
Having grown up near mountains back in Japan, the complete absence of any sign of living creatures in a forest felt nothing but unnatural. Of course, when he was in Japan he hadn't been able to sense presences in any serious way, but he could still hear animal cries, and catching sight of them wasn't impossible either.
"Gruu?"
Brought back to his senses by Set's purr asking what was wrong, Rei shook his head to indicate it was nothing.
"Right, we've fulfilled the request. Let's go."
"Gruu!"
Mounting Set, who purred happily, Rei soared into the sky alongside the gryphon.
The forest rapidly shrank behind them. Though it was the same as grassland in the sense of being a green carpet, the green of grassland and the green of forest trees were different shades entirely.
Given Set's flying speed, they quickly left the forest behind... and before long, Gilm came into view. At the main gate, Marina, Vihera, and Byune were waving at Rei and Set.
...Unlike Marina and Vihera, who waved with smiles, Byune waved with her usual expressionless face.