The <Woodman Colony> is one of the least dangerous maps in the early Forest of Eternity.
The Woodmen that appear here are fundamentally dead slow, don't group in more than ten, and are relatively docile at night.
'A place where stable growth and farming are guaranteed.'
But even so, there is an enemy to watch out for.
If you can call it an enemy. It's an event, really.
'Wood Revenge.'
The moment I recalled the name of that goddamned event.
[The field event, <Wood Revenge>, begins.]
[While the event is in progress, all Delvers who have intruded upon the <Woodman Colony> cannot leave this field.]
[Find the solution and escape the colony.]
Escape, my fucking ass.
"Mr. Kaindel?"
"One moment."
Combining the various pieces of information in my head, I first went over <Wood Revenge>'s trigger condition.
'……It was hunting 10,000 or more Woodmen within a month, wasn't it?'
This was why I'd let my guard down.
The Woodmen we'd beaten down over a week, without even resting properly, came to 2,000 or so at most. Hopelessly short of meeting the condition.
In other words…….
"Kria. Check the surroundings once more."
There's another party nearby.
***
A moment later, Kria said.
"There are three parties nearby."
"Not counting us?"
"Yeah. But it's strange. There was definitely no one around until just now……?"
They were naturally drawn to where the black tree is, no doubt.
Just like us.
"Mr. Kaindel. Please explain now. What on earth is happening in this forest right now?"
Kazen said in a frustrated voice. With me putting on a grave air without properly explaining, his anxiety seemed to have flared up again.
'Explaining the situation…….'
Come to think of it, this kind of information sharing was something you never had to do in the game.
I let out a dry laugh with an expressionless face, then opened my mouth.
"Each region of the forest has its own rules that must not be broken. The <Woodman Colony> is no exception."
"We broke a rule? We didn't do anything particularly strange……."
"To put it simply, think of it as a mess caused by killing too many Woodmen."
Kazen said with a blank face.
"So…… you mean the forest is angry because we cut down too many trees?"
Needlessly literary way of putting it.
It wasn't entirely wrong, so I did nod.
"And the way out?"
"Who knows……."
Of course there is one.
That's this game's identity.
Even in situations that seem hopeless at a glance, it always leaves a few air holes.
That's why <FoS>, despite being trashed as a shit game and a trash game at every turn, has a solid user base.
'The problem is whether the current me can meet that condition.'
If I'd become a Necromancer as planned, my survival rate would have risen meaningfully…….
Regrettably, right now I'm a <Tamer>, something never in my cards.
'……For now, I'll have no choice but to spend Achievement Points.'
Three purchase opportunities total in the Bronze shop.
I never thought I'd use two of them on my first exploration, but this was no time to leisurely save.
Because in the current situation, the survival rate was under ten percent, even being generous.
"Kaindel. Someone's approaching this way."
Kria's words snapped me alert.
"Another party?"
"No. I think it's a Woodman, but it looks a bit strange. Its bark is red, and somehow……"
"It looks more like a human?"
Kria flinched, then nodded.
'Goddamn.'
They're moving fast.
"What should we do? Should we prepare for combat……"
"No."
Let's calculate.
The Woodmen we'd killed were about 2,000. Since Kazen's theatrics at the end meant we hadn't met the target, there'd be a margin of error of a hundred or two…….
Kria had said there were three more parties nearby.
'The remaining number is about eight thousand.'
Three parties besides us.
Whether the three parties had split it evenly, or one party had monopolized 5,000 to 6,000 or more, I didn't know. It didn't much matter, either.
The key here was that we were absolutely not the party that had hunted the most Woodmen.
In other words—
"Th-they're almost here! Kaindel?"
I looked at the flustered Kria and Kazen and said.
"Listen carefully. From now on, don't move. Stay still."
We aren't these things' first target.
"What do you……?"
"No time to explain. Understood? Whatever those things do, don't move under any circumstances—"
I closed my mouth midway. Because I sensed an eerie presence.
And then—
Rustle.
Beyond the thicket, those things showed themselves.
'Fuck.'
An appearance that draws curses on its own.
If the <Woodmen> we'd killed until now had looked like walking trees, these looked like nutcracker dolls made with crude craftsmanship.
Should I call it the uncanny valley?
Either way, a repulsive appearance.
Skrrk, skrk.
They all moved with their bodies bent at extreme angles, as if their joints were twisted, and that was when the text written above their crowns caught my eye.
[Lv.50 'Woodman Avenger']
Level 50 at the entrance, my fucking ass.
Only natural, since they weren't made to be fought in the first place, but when I faced them directly, my breath caught in my throat.
The Avengers lingered around us for a while, observing us intently.
'Just pass on by, please.'
I wished it with all my heart, but reality, as expected, doesn't work out that easily.
One of the Avengers' movements stopped dead.
[…….]
Its gaze was on Kria. Its form looked as if even its eyeballs had merely been drawn on, but judging by the direction of its head, that's where it looked.
The Avenger strode up to Kria in an instant.
"……!"
The moment a startled Kazen raised his crossbow, I pressed down firmly on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, the Avenger extended a finger toward Kria.
A Woodman's thumb was blunt in shape, just like a wooden stamp.
Press.
And in fact, the Avenger pressed that stamp-like thumb firmly against the nape of Kria's neck.
"……"
Even in contact with a monster, Kria didn't budge. I thought it admirable, but judging by her expression, it seemed her body had simply frozen.
[…….]
After that, the Avenger group left.
I stayed silent until the moment their presence was completely gone, then opened my mouth.
"……All right. You can move now."
"Kria!"
Kazen hurriedly checked his sister's condition.
Near the nape of her neck where the Avenger had touched. A mark with a bizarre pattern had been branded there.
'Goddamn.'
So it came to this after all.
Just as I sighed inwardly, Kazen asked me.
"What on earth is this mark? What did the Woodman do to Kria?"
"A brand."
"……A brand? What on earth is that?"
"It was mentioned earlier, wasn't it? The pitch-black tree had two fruits on it."
"Y-yes, it was."
"Simply put, the black tree currently desires two sacrifices."
"Sacrifices? Don't tell me……"
I nodded and said.
"Offer up two branded sacrifices, and the other people caught up in this can save their lives."
"We absolutely can't abandon her."
Kazen said in place of Kria, whose face had gone wan.
A crisp, decisive attitude—enough to make me wonder he could make such a face.
'That's the spirit.'
I had no intention of offering Kria as a sacrifice either.
I did say that offering a sacrifice saves your life, but it's literally only your 'life' that gets saved.
"In that case, hide the brand. And don't get found out. We'll be joining up with another party soon."
"……U-understood."
Kazen turned up Kria's collar and even pulled her hood over her head.
A stopgap measure, but like that, the brand wouldn't be visible for now.
'So, what do I do now?'
Honestly, from here on, even I couldn't predict how things would go.
The dispositions of the other Delvers we'd meet from now on, their knowledge, experience, headcount, and so on. Too much to consider.
'I'll have to respond on the spot, I suppose.'
The moment I finished that judgment.
A rustling sound came from behind.
"Oh! As I thought!"
Then several figures showed themselves from the thicket.
"You see? Didn't I say I sensed a presence here?"
"Yes. So it was true."
A band of people revealed themselves as if they'd been waiting.
How did these bastards know our position?
The answer was simple.
Beside the man puffing himself up was a spirit about the size of a human face.
A Sylphid. A mid-grade spirit of wind.
'Ha.'
Kria's scouting must have been detected because of that thing.
"Ugh."
Kria's face went pale as she realized that fact, but it wasn't particularly her fault.
Spirit summoner is one of the classes that's extremely hard to come across. In terms of ratio alone, even rarer than mages.
I'd ordered the search figuring there'd be no chance of running into one, and yet this happened.
But.
"We have no intention of hostility, so there is no need to be on guard."
The real problem wasn't some spirit summoner.
Resplendent armor and golden hair, a sharp jawline and a calm, low voice. I saw a man who looked, quite literally, like a model of a knight.
I realized who he was at a glance.
'It's the <White Knight>.'
A named NPC all too familiar to me.
The question was why a super-named of this caliber was loitering in a beginner zone like the <Woodman Colony>…….
Looking at the party's members, I could guess the reason for that too.
'An escort mission?'
In the deepest part of the formation, in a spot where the Delvers were lined up protectively, a golden-haired woman who looked every inch a young lady of a noble house was sending us a look of disdain.
She looked fussy at a glance, but that might have been my prejudice.
It could be just her appearance, and she might actually be of a gentle temperament…….
"Laurent. What is it?"
"We discovered new Delvers, and I intended to speak with them."
"Delvers? Judging by their clothes, they just look like beggars."
Physiognomy really is a science, I suppose.
As I sighed inwardly, Laurent said.
"……We should do at least a minimum of verification. Could you show us your <Exploration Crystal>?"
Since this was the flow I'd expected, I nodded and showed him the crystal.
"Here."
"Excuse me."
Examining the crystal carefully, Laurent asked me.
"A Lowest-Grade Exploration Crystal."
"Is there a problem?"
"No. If that seemed rude, I apologize. And…… there appears to be no particular problem with the crystal, either."
"……"
"Then is it now my turn to show you ours?"
Saying so, this time Laurent took a crystal from his breast.
"Wow……."
Kazen let out a voice tinged with admiration. He couldn't help it.
Unlike ours, which flickered like a lamp on the verge of going out, the crystal Laurent produced gave off a brilliant, five-colored light like the finest crystal.
'A Highest-Grade Exploration Crystal.'
When will I ever be able to get my hands on something like that?
When I recalled the functions built into a Highest-Grade Exploration Crystal, envy welled up on its own.
"My lady. Their Exploration Crystal is still functioning. These people are not <Stragglers>."
"Really? How unexpected."
Those whose Exploration Crystal has stopped, leaving them unable to return, are called <Stragglers>.
Delvers who reach that state are ignored and despised even among fellow Delvers, and with bad luck, even have their lives taken.
Because the moment you become a Straggler, a kind of missing-person report is filed on your Delver status.
'And clearing that missing status is a chore of its own.'
But you can't leave it alone either.
Because with your status uncertain, you can't even use the kingdom's basic facilities.
That's why the grade of your Exploration Crystal matters.
The pricier the crystal, the overwhelmingly longer your permitted stay in the forest.
'A party giving that greenhorn a free ride, at a glance.'
That's the only reason an NPC of this weight class would be roaming the <Woodman Colony>.
Laurent looked at me.
"It seems a <Calamity> has occurred in this area……."
"……"
"I have one proposal. How about we cooperate with each other until this matter is resolved?"
Calamity—that's what the people of the <FoS> world call a <field event>.
An expected development, but I asked as if I didn't know.
"Cooperate?"
"Yes. My introduction is late. I am Laurent. One wing of the <Fars Knight Order>, the sword of the kingdom."
"L-Laurent Lefebvre! The Empire's White Knight!"
Before I could even answer, Kazen's expression brightened instantly.
This guy had heard of White Knight Laurent's fame too, it seemed.
"Mr. Kaindel……!"
Kazen looked at me with eyes ardently hoping for something.
You don't have to look at me like that.
"……Fine. Let's do that."
Naturally, I intended to join up too.
"Hm. A wise decision."
When Laurent nodded, Kazen let out a sigh of relief, as if the tension had drained from him.
Kria's complexion brightened noticeably too.
"……"
But did these two know, I wonder?
The perilous trait this White Knight, who looked so upright and incorruptible at a glance, possessed.
Perhaps, in avoiding the wolf, we were walking into the tiger's jaws.
"Your name?"
The White Knight's eyes turned to me.
A calm gaze, but I felt an inexplicable pressure.
"Kaindel."
"Kaindel. It seems you are the leader of this group—do you know anything about this Calamity, by chance?"
"……"
Licking my dry lips, I said.
"……Better than most."