Name: Kazen(?)
Level: 15
Class: Mage(?)
Trust with Target: 41
Stress: 44
Stats
Strength: 6 Agility: 4
Endurance: 6 Magic Power: 9
Talent
Body: ▓▓ Mind: ▓▓
Art: ▓▓ Intuition: ▓▓
Skills
<Light>, <▓▓▓>
Traits
<Inventor King>, <▓▓▓>, <▓▓▓>, <▓▓▓>
▶ Kazen is harboring a special secret. You can find out when trust with the target rises.
Name: Kria(?)
Level: 15
Class: Spirit Summoner(?)
Trust with Target: 23
Stress: 29
Stats
Strength: 4 Agility: 7
Endurance: 6 Magic Power: 11
Talent
Body: ▓▓ Mind: ▓▓
Art: ▓▓ Intuition: ▓▓
Skills
<Spirit Summoning>, <▓▓▓>
Traits
<Insomnia>, <▓▓▓>, <▓▓▓>, <▓▓▓>
▶ Kria is harboring a special secret. You can find out when trust with the target rises.
Not all the information was revealed.
Judging by the notes, they seemed to be harboring a few secrets, too.
'So the names were aliases.'
That much was more or less as expected.
The problem was that the question marks were attached after the class field as well…….
Of course, as the notes said, I'd naturally find out by raising trust, but thinking of that process, a sigh escaped me on its own.
'Anyway, if the names are aliases, they could actually be nobles.'
If not nobles, there's no particular reason to hide one's real name in this world.
They could also be serious criminals, but given how green these two were, the odds weren't high.
'Hm. Or they could be illegitimate children.'
Bastard children of a noble house.
A setting you commonly encounter in FoS.
'Plus, four traits.'
Of course, there may be penalty traits among those, but even including that, it's impressive.
Because the number of traits fundamentally indicates an NPC's potential.
Separately, what bothered me was the stats.
Actually, I have a minimum benchmark, or formula, for distinguishing companions who are unusable.
[Sum of all stats = Level × 2]
In other words, if these two are level 15, they should exceed at least 30, but regrettably, both fall short of the standard.
Meaning they're exceptionally weak even compared to other companion NPCs of the same level.
'Lots of traits, dismal stats.'
The stats of the typical late-bloomer companion look roughly like this.
If I could check their <Talent> grades too, I could make a more accurate judgment, but…….
'That unlocks only once trust exceeds 50.'
Even so, companions are necessary.
All the more so now that I haven't gotten hold of the Necromancer class.
Now, there's really nothing to do but go.
***
Who is the core of a party?
Without a doubt, the tank.
I'll accept no rebuttals.
Clueless bastards look down on tanks, calling them meat shields and the like, but that's completely wrong.
Without a front line, even forming a basic formation becomes difficult.
A party of only damage dealers.
A party composed only of healers.
Even just as words, they make you wonder what you're looking at.
On the other hand, a party composed only of tanks runs well enough.
That's because they can deal with enemies slowly but steadily, and above all, stably.
'Though the deeper you go into the forest, the less damage they'll deal.'
That'll be after entering at least the forest's midsection, so it's still a distant story.
Anyway, why am I emphasizing the importance of tanks like this?
Simple.
Our party has no tank.
"……"
You'd wonder what kind of ruined party this is, but the reality is that's us.
Damage dealers can be few.
The healer role can be substituted to some degree with potions or herbs.
But the absence of a front line, of all things, is hard to ignore.
So—
"Mr. Kaindel. Here you are."
What choice is there?
As the All-Rounder position, I have no option but to take the front line myself.
"Good work."
I took the lump of metal Kazen held out.
A shield roughly made from train wreckage.
"I trimmed the outer panel of a train door. You can hold it by the handle part."
Not so rough, is it?
The shield looked fairly presentable.
Patchwork Shield
A shield stitched together from train wreckage. Its defense is better than it looks, but its weight is a drawback.
After all, an item information window had even popped up like this.
Whatever the case, it meant the system too recognized this as 'equipment.'
"Ah. The edge isn't properly polished and is sharp, so please be careful."
"The edge?"
As described, the bottom edge looked unusually sharp—it looked dangerous, but if anything, I liked it.
Because it looked usable as a weapon in a pinch, like a kite shield.
"It's a shame. With proper tools, I could have made it far better……."
"This is plenty."
The weight is a bit of a drawback, but it's well worth carrying around.
With my current Strength value, holding it for a long time shouldn't be much of a strain.
"I'm back."
Right on cue, Kria returned and shared her haul too.
She'd gone around the train one last time and picked up anything usable.
"Why so much?"
"I-it's all usable."
"What are you going to use a torn teddy bear for?"
"There's cotton inside."
"So?"
"……Wouldn't it be easy to start a fire with?"
I hadn't thought of that.
Come to think of it, our mage can't even use <Fire>, a basic spell.
"And, also, um. It's good for storing fragile things inside the doll. Like glass bottles."
"Can you carry it?"
Kria nodded.
Actually, the doll wasn't that big, so I said nothing more.
The haul besides the teddy bear…….
'Bandages, antiseptic, a few knives, and food.'
There were other things too, like wearable armor and weapons, but we didn't have the leeway to carry around things we couldn't even use.
The core of the haul was, without question, the food.
Food meaning just bread and dried jerky, but if we rationed it carefully, we could hold out for several days on this.
With a headcount of three, it was a comfort that there were few mouths to feed.
'The rest, we'll have to find in the forest.'
Because the <Forest of Eternity> has nearly everything.
"Preparations?"
"Complete."
"Good. Then let's go."
The Forest of Eternity.
A place where all manner of dangers and countless threats lurk, but where correspondingly great rewards also, without fail, exist.
We finally set foot on the game's main stage.
***
We walked through a forest dense in every direction.
Since we'd entered right around sunrise, it wasn't that dark, but it wasn't bright either. Because the leaves of this forest were so thick and dense.
About 10 minutes after entering the Forest of Eternity, I looked back and opened my mouth.
"Kazen."
"Yes!"
"There's no need to be that tense."
"Understood!"
"……"
Are you a recruit standing guard duty for the first time?
Actually, this was already the third time we'd had this exchange.
'If he doesn't relax his shoulders, he won't last a day.'
The <Forest of Eternity> is certainly a dangerous place, but you don't need to be on guard in every place, at every moment.
When you play, there are times you go nearly a month in game time without encountering an enemy.
At times like that, the game's genre temporarily changes too. From hardcore roguelike to relaxing foraging sim.
'Not that we're at a level where we can relax that much, of course.'
What was certain was that Kazen's current vigilance was excessive.
Had he heard some baseless rumor about the forest?
Like it being a demonic realm where death and threats come crashing in without pause…….
Well, that's not entirely wrong, actually.
"……Looking at it like this, it just seems like a beautiful forest."
Kria murmured.
As I followed her gaze, the majestic sight of the forest came into view anew.
The leaves, pierced by sunlight, gave off green ripples with every brush of wind, and only the tiniest fraction of light, having succeeded in passing through every leaf, could reach the ground. That sight looked just like rays of light leaking through dark clouds, and it gave off a somehow sacred feeling.
"Why does the kingdom risk its life on this forest……?"
Kria's murmuring continued.
Something I'd realized recently: this girl seemed to have a habit of talking to herself at every opportunity.
'Does she not know the king's policy?'
Then she might not be a noble after all.
Or is she playing dumb?
In any case, not butting into someone's muttering is an unspoken rule, but I opened my mouth and answered anyway.
"Because it's not a place that's only dangerous."
"……Hm?"
"Weasel. Can you fetch that for me?"
I woke the weasel resting on my shoulder.
The weasel's gaze went to where I was pointing. Its nostrils twitched and its whiskers quivered, as if gauging the distance.
Tuh-tut.
Right after, the weasel, seeming to understand my instruction, quickly launched itself into the air.
In the meantime, I explained to the two siblings.
"A number of discoveries brought out of the forest changed the very foundations of human history. <Mithril>, which became the foundation of magic engineering; the <Wood Record>, said to have all history recorded since the continent's formation; and the <Record of True Words>, which made communication between different races possible."
Of course, things like these only come from the forest's final stretches—the deep regions, though.
But that doesn't mean there's nothing to gain at the entrance.
Kyu.
The weasel returned.
I took the blue leaf it had gotten hold of, then patted its shoulder.
The weasel purred contentedly.
……Are you a cat?
"From now on, secure these leaves whenever you find them."
"What is that?"
He doesn't even know this, huh.
You could tell at a glance he'd received only higher education.
After all, a successful party wouldn't need to obsess over foraged goods like this.
But our position now is rock bottom, so this leaf is our very lifeline.
"Watch closely."
I took out a canteen I'd gotten from the train, then headed to a puddle of muddy water nearby.
A puddle formed when the shower had poured down not long ago.
When I scooped that murky water into the canteen, the two's expressions grew even stranger.
"Mr. Kaindel?"
Into the canteen of muddy water, I put one of the blue leaves I'd just gotten hold of.
Then I shook it.
A little hard, for about 10 seconds?
After that, I poured out the water in the canteen before the two of them.
"Wow……."
"It's clear?! This water, can it actually be drunk?"
I nodded and explained.
"<Blueleaf>. A leaf with purifying properties—one leaf can purify up to 2 liters. It's not hard to use, either."
This is the safest way to secure drinking water early on.
"To think a mere single leaf has that much purifying power……."
"If this is a discovery too, can it be registered in the crystal?"
Kria asked a fairly sharp question.
"Yes."
As far as I know, this <Exploration Crystal> is new, so Blueleaf wouldn't be registered in it yet.
I held the other Blueleaf the weasel had brought up to the Exploration Crystal.
Hummm—
The Exploration Crystal trembled faintly, and a faint cluster of light quickly swept over the Blueleaf.
Then, before long, something like liquid faintly filled up inside the crystal.
[The discovery has been registered in the <Exploration Crystal>.]
"……How much did it fill?"
I told them the figure I could see before my eyes.
"0.1%."
"Oh……! Then if we find 999 more of these leaves, we can return to the Royal Capital?!"
"As if. The exploration rate a discovery can fill is only the first time. No duplicates."
"Ah……."
Kazen smacked his lips regretfully.
But strictly speaking, Blueleaf isn't a first discovery either.
If anything, we should be grateful it filled even 0.1%.
Blueleaf
Rarity: F
A blue leaf that rarely sprouts on the trees of the <Forest of Eternity>. Possesses excellent purifying ability.
Because this leaf's rarity is a mere Grade F.
"Ah. Come to think of it, there's something I've wanted to ask since earlier……."
"Go on."
"What's that flower-shaped light at the bottom of the crystal?"
At the bottom of the Exploration Crystal, a flower-shaped light was wavering, changing its form by the moment.
To be more precise…… the petals were slowly crumbling with the passage of time.
"The time remaining."
"Time remaining?"
"Yes. You could call it the Exploration Crystal's lifespan, too."
Exploration Crystals come in grades too, but the one we'd gotten hold of was the lowest.
Naturally, its lifespan is short too.
Like a wristwatch made from cheap parts that doesn't keep running long.
"One month."
I said, looking at the two of them.
"If we don't fill the exploration rate within that time, the crystal breaks, and the built-in Return Magic can't be activated either."
"Th-then what happens?"
What happens, he asks.
"We're stranded in the forest."
There's a phrase generally used to describe a situation like that.
"Simply put, game over."
Fortunately, they seemed to understand this phrase, since both their faces went pale.