Chapter 73 (1/2)

Volume 1

V4 Chapter 3

「Is This What They Call Damage?」

The next morning, Ariane lead Chiome and me into the fog-blanketed forest with baggage over our shoulders and Ponta sitting on my helmet .

The morning light was filtering through the tree branches and continued to illuminate the foliage-laden forest path .

A thin layer of haze covered the landscape, making it difficult to grasp our location from visual markers alone .

However, Ariane traversed this natural maze without hesitation as if it were a familiar mountain trail .

Once the magic-obstructing fog cleared, we would able to use transfer magic and reach the fork between the Rydell and Riburute rivers before noon .

Then we just had to cross the river with 【Dimensional Step] .

When we reached that location, I made sure to completely memorize the scenery where the rivers split off as we took our break .

I had to lower my head back in Raratoia when I told Ariane that we couldn’t use my long distance transfer magic, 【Transfer Gate], to return here because I failed to memorize it the when we were here before .

Without minding my personal grief, our group reached the Rydell riverbank .

The forest on the opposite bank had a radically different atmosphere than Great Canada Forest .

Despite how dense and lush it was .

We would kill the occasional monsters that popped up while we used transfer magic to cover an impressive amount of distance . As the ground began to rise, the path we were traveling along took on a slight incline and the trees’ shadows started to cover the area as the sky took on the colors of dusk .

“We made spectacular progress thanks to Arc’s transfer magic . Let’s stay here tonight . ”

Ariane began cutting off low hanging branches that was blocking our way with her sword while I took in the scenery .

The clearing she lead us to had a three huge trees that had a large, nest-like object nestled between their branches ten meters above the ground .

It was a rather unnatural thing to see in this place .

There were support beams on each of the trees below the observation deck .

“Huh, what…… is that?”

“Kyun!”

When I asked Ariane about the baffling structures, Ponta happily used her wind magic to fly to one of the observation decks .

I couldn’t see Ponta anymore once she landed on the top of the deck .

“This is a rest area that we elves have made . There are multiple sites like this scattered throughout the forest for warriors to stay while hunting monsters . ”

I suppose people could rest here without having to worry about the monsters that roam the forest floor . However, while I could simply use transfer magic to reach the structure, normal people would have to climb to the top . A difficult task to accomplish while carrying baggage .

If I were going to spend an extended amount of time, I’d sure to bring a backpack full of necessary equipment .

“Elves are quite impressive . To establish such a place in the middle of this forest……”

Chiome voiced her admiration as she looked up at the observation decks .

For a brief moment, Ariane smiled and puffed out her chest, but then her expression became clouded .

“There used to be a few small villages along the river around here, so the local warriors often used this place, but when the humans’ elf hunts increased, the villages this side of the river had to be relocated . ”

After Ariane had finished speaking, Chiome looked up at her face that was obscured by the growing shadows .

Ariane shook her head to remove her bleak expression and tried to laugh it off as she approached one of the trees and grabbed hold of some ivy vines that were wrapped around its trunk .

“The sun will be setting soon, we need to climb to the top and set up camp before then . ”

After rearranging her the baggage, Ariane used the ivy vines and the hollow to literally run up the tree trunk .

“Alright . ”

Chiome followed after Ariane by kicking off the tree trunks to climb up .

I doubted I’d be able to copy their climbing methods .

So I stepped back from the trees until I reached a point where I could transfer to the top of the observation deck with 【Dimensional Step] .

The two of them were already rummaging through their bags for their camping gear .

Ponta was peeking over the deck’s edge at the forest floor below . She seemed to be comfortable in her natural habitat .

The deck was covered with short grass and it didn’t move an inch even with all of us moving about . The base of the terraces was intertwined with the branches and I couldn’t find any uneven sections either .

On the center platform for the main tree, there was a stone pedestal set up for a fire pit to be lit .

While Ariane and Chiome began gathering twigs to build up a fire, I sat my baggage down and called out to the two of them .

“Ariane-dono, since this is a rather unique and memorable location I, we could return to the village and come back tomorrow……”

I found that difficult to say when they had gone through the trouble of preparing the camp, but Ariane didn’t seem practically upset when she looked back at me .

“That is an option, but what if you visit other rest areas that look just like this one? No offense, Arc, but I doubt you could distinguish this location from the others . ”

“Ye〜ah……”

“Camp set up is almost complete anyway . Since we’re gonna be camping for several days, it’s best that you get use to it . How you ever been camping before Arc?”

“……Yes . ”

I did have experience camping, but there weren’t any heat-retention sleeping bags, sturdy tents or kerosene stoves on this trip .

In a sense, this might be my first true camping experience .

Besides, I thought that familiarizing myself with camping on this trip would be beneficial in the future .

Just as Ariane had said, if I used similar rest areas in the future, I wouldn’t be able to distinguish them from each other and I’d be more likely to transfer here since I’d seen this one first .

I’ve been told the reason my sense of direction was so terrible was because I had difficulties leaving strong impressions of my surroundings in my brain . If I relied on long-distance transfer magic, I ‘d never be able to tell these rest areas apart .

When I thought about it, 【Transfer Gate] was a spell quite fitting for myself .

Relenting to Ariane’s suggestion, I asked the two of them if there was anything I could help with, but they turned me away saying they hadn’t done much of anything today .

With nothing else to do, I walked over to where Ponta had been laying on the grassy ground and sat near the edge to watch the two work .

Ariane reached into her knapsack and pulled out a large, folded cloth . After tightly tying a rope between two of the trees she threw the cloth over the rope and pinned its four corners to the desk with pegs .

She had set up a triangular roof tent .

The top half of the fabric was dyed green with a type of luster that was meant to keep out the rain .

Chiome, on the other hand, had started pulling out cooking utensils and dry ingredients from a bag Ariane had given her, the variety of which caused her to cry out .

“I amazed that we brought this much…… Usually, we don’t make such extensive preparations for camping because heavier loads slow down our pace . ”