“Can you return the forest to normal?”
Neras’s eyes went round.
Because their face was so small, it was to the point that only their eyes were visible.
“H-how?”
I pointed at the wall behind me with my thumb.
The fairy’s enormous eyes quickly narrowed.
After all, this side was just a stone wall without even a mural.
My business lay beyond the wall.
“This side. It’s the direction of the forest, right?”
“That’s...... One moment, please.”
Neras raised their index finger and tilted their head.
After gauging the direction, they soon nodded as though certain.
Knock, knock.
I clenched my fist and knocked on the wall.
The sound was clearer and lighter than I had expected.
There was none of the dullness of knocking on an ordinary stone wall.
“The sound......!”
“Right. It looks like a dead end, but behind this is actually hollow.”
“I had no idea. The others in the village probably don’t know either! How did you know?”
Neras blinked several times.
“It’s only natural you realized so easily why Rah was sick, since you’re a pharmacist, but......”
Somehow, their tone sounded suspicious.
Maybe I had acted like I knew too much.
‘Still, it’s something you can tell if you look around a little.’
I lowered myself to one knee.
Near the wall, in front of a thick cluster of Four-Tail Grass.
“Here. It’s especially dense compared to the other places.”
As though something had stepped over it, flattened leaves were buried underneath.
A great deal of new Four-Tail Grass had grown over them.
When I pushed aside the dense leaves with my hand, a fairly large hole was revealed.
“When did a hole like this appear?!”
“Who knows...... What’s certain is that something passed through here.”
I pointed at the flattened traces of Four-Tail Grass leading from the far side of the well.
Those traces passed by where Rah was lying and continued all the way to the hole in the wall.
Neras’s eyes went round again.
‘Shall I show them clearer evidence?’
I swept my hand along the cross section of the hole.
Crumbled, corroded stone powder clung to my fingertips.
“If it had simply passed through, that would have been nice, but since it didn’t, something strange must have happened to the forest.”
Neras gulped.
Wer shouted in a voice where it was difficult to find any tension.
“As expected, your eye is no ordinary thing!”
Wer stroked my head carelessly with his tiny soles.
A few strands of hair caught on his small but sharp claws and were dragged along.
“Ow, ow.”
The sensation of my long hair being pulled was unfamiliar.
After all, in my life, there had been times I had shaved it close, but never any time I had let it grow this long.
“You may be rather frail, but you do have a good head on your shoulders.”
Was this an insult or praise?
In any case, I wished he would let go of my hair.
This was more than enough flattery.
I was not someone who could use my head all that well.
‘When you know the answer, fitting the pieces in the middle is easy.’
I had only examined the surroundings based on a story I knew well.
It was nothing difficult for me.
“Why don’t you get off my head now?”
“You touch this body’s head at the slightest chance, yet you will not let me touch yours even once?”
“You’ve stroked it plenty by now too......”
Wer turned his head away with a huff and gave no answer.
He should not be young, so what was with this sulking?
I shook my head from side to side.
“Um......”
Neras was looking at us with eyes wavering back and forth.
“Since we understand the whole story now, the village will handle the problem beyond this point.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we cannot keep leaving the affairs of the forest to you, an outsider.”
The small fairy spoke bravely even as their shoulders stiffened.
“Lord Ritak, you don’t know what kind of danger may be lurking beyond this point either, do you?”
“Well......”
I let my words trail off ambiguously.
Because I did know what was beyond this point.
Neras seemed to gain confidence from my evasive tone and puffed out their chest.
“You don’t have to push yourself. We wind fairies are quite strong. And Lord Ritak is......”
Neras’s gaze swept over me anew.
“You are someone who makes medicine, so you must be better at rear support.”
Even if they pretended otherwise, what they wanted to say was clear.
If I had to guess, they were telling a weak person to fall back.
“How rude! Such words show no gratitude for grace received.”
“Is driving a benefactor into danger an act of knowing gratitude?”
“Are you not looking down on Ritak?!”
To think Wer, who had been looking down on me just the other day, was taking my side.
I was thankful.
Because it would be troublesome if I was pushed back here.
If the village as a whole stepped forward and solved the problem, it was obvious obtaining Four-Tail Grass would become difficult.
Would those old fogey fairies not resist?
“Now, that’s enough, both of you.”
I cut through the tense current between the two with my palm.
“If I hadn’t brought it up, that would be one thing, but don’t you know the saying that once you draw a blade, you have to slice at least a radish?”
“What does that mean......? Lord Ritak, you don’t have a blade. And there are no radishes here either.”
At this rate, I might develop a prejudice too.
The prejudice that fairies were old-fashioned.
I quickly plucked a Four-Tail Grass.
“Enough. I’m using Medicine Crafting. Medicine Crafting.”
Ding!
-Medicine Crafting skill activated. Please select materials.
Was it because I had not had reason to hear it while riding the wagon?
It was a voice I was hearing after only two days, yet it felt strangely welcome.
I layered the most basic of basic materials I had packed from the recovery shop with the Four-Tail Grass.
“One Four-Tail Grass leaf and one sheet of Glosswood Paper.”
The skill effect briefly illuminated the cave.
Where the intense light passed, there was the plainest medicine I had made so far, a powdered medicine packet that seemed like something one might commonly find in a pharmacy.
Inside the square-folded paper, I could see bluish powder of fine particles.
“Appraisal.”
-Low-Grade Elixir of Luck Lv2. Increases luck stat by 2 for 10 minutes when consumed.
According to the level of the Medicine Crafting skill, the elixir’s level was also one stage higher.
However, as expected of something with Low-Grade attached to its name, the effect was lacking.
It could not be helped.
It was because I had used the Four-Tail Grass raw.
To make a proper elixir, there needed to be a refining process of grinding the grass and drying it.
‘It’s a relief there’s at least a lower-compatible recipe.’
I turned the remaining three fluffy leaves into Low-Grade Elixirs of Luck as well.
I patted my bag in satisfaction and looked ahead.
“Whoa, you scared me.”
Neras had suddenly come right in front of my face.
Their jet-black eyes were sparkling.
“How are you using instant-cast magic? Have you hidden a magic circle somewhere on your body?”
The fairy flew here and there in a distracting way, inspecting my body.
Then, at last, they abruptly reached out a hand.
‘Are they planning to lift my clothes or something?!’
I quickly took two steps back.
“......One day, I just suddenly became able to do it.”
“Is it enlightenment? You don’t look that old, yet you’re amazing!”
To use magic in this world, one needed a magic circle and an activation phrase.
Just as Neras had placed a hand on the cave wall and lit the place.
If it was magic one had steadily trained and grown used to, it could be activated instantly even without a medium or an utterance.
However, there were many who could not use magic their entire lives, even after investing time.
It was also a world where human mages were even rarer.
Wer raised his chin as though showing off.
“Hmph. Do you still intend to stand in Ritak’s way?”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea he was such an outstanding mage. There was no need for me to worry.”
It was not magic, but the power of a skill.
Still, there was no great difference in appearance.
It seemed to have been enough to persuade Neras.
‘It feels like I keep unintentionally setting myself up as a genius, but I guess it’s better than looking like a fool......’
The Ritak I had possessed was indeed a genius, so it would be fine to ride along with it appropriately.
Let us do that.
“Let’s go to the forest now.”
Wer and Neras slipped out through the hole opened in the direction of the forest.
Then, they soon poked their faces back this way.
“Hm, Ritak! Can you cross over this way?”
“Lord Ritak, your body is not that large, so if you crouch, you should be able to pass through easily!”
“......I’m not sure.”
I did not want to try.
If I needlessly pushed my body in and got stuck, there would be no humiliation greater than that.
I decided to obediently take a Strength Increase Stick.
“Now, it would be best to move back. It seems Ritak intends to break the wall.”
“Break the wall?”
Neras blinked several times.
They were trying not to show it, but I could not help seeing the thought revealed in their expression.
Could that frail human really break a wall?
“Right. If you don’t want to get hurt, stand far away.”
I chewed the Strength Increase Stick.
I could clearly feel strength blooming throughout my body.
Tap-tap-tap!
With a running start, I kicked the stone wall with all my might.
BOOM!
The sound of the wall bursting apart echoed through the bottom of the well.
When the rising dust settled, the passage leading to the forest was clearly revealed.
“To think the wall collapsed so easily......!”
Neras looked back and forth between the collapsed wall and me several times.
I lightly shrugged and walked past them.
‘It’s easy enough if I use medicine.’
We advanced toward the forest.
Step, step.
Footsteps echoed through the passage.
The farther we walked, the more uneven the floor became.
Tree roots that had pierced through the ceiling began to appear here and there.
“At this rate, we truly will reach the forest.”
“That’s true, but...... Wait.”
I raised one hand and stopped the group.
“Why did you suddenly stop?”
“There’s something ahead.”
A dark lump pooled on the floor.
I lowered myself to one knee before it.
Slide.
When I swept the floor with the edge of a leather pouch, sticky mucus smeared onto it.
Sizzle......
The leather cloth was dissolving at an alarming speed.
I quickly swung the pouch and shook off the black liquid.
“As expected, this is the work of a monster influenced by Akedia.”
“Akedia? Do you mean the monster you defeated in the Root Mountains?”
“Right, that lazy bastard.”
The otherworldly being who governed Sloth.
Akedia, the first calamity, had the power to accelerate other beings.
Of course, I had dealt with him before he could fully release his power.
However, the calamity had been asleep underground for a long time.
If it was a monster inhabiting the area nearby, it could not help being influenced already.
The aftermath of the calamity had traveled along the ground and eventually reached the Wind Forest.
“If something like this has fallen on the floor......”
I urgently threw myself to the side.
At the same moment I leaped away, fist-sized blobs of mucus dropped with a splatter.
Hisssss......!
The lumps melted the place where I had been standing.
Before my fine hairs could even stand on end, the main body landed over it.
SPLAT!
With the sound of jelly being crushed, a slime fell from the ceiling.
It was enormous enough to swallow a fairly average person whole.
The wet, gloomy-colored mass had no eyes.
However, it had clearly “seen” us.
Shhhk!
It rushed in.
I was already rolling my body to the side.
“Wh-what speed is this? A mere slime......!”
Wer leaped up in horror.
It was a speed that could not help surprising him.
An ordinary slime was nothing but a trash mob that moved so slowly it would make one yawn.
‘It’s definitely become harder to deal with, but......’
It did not matter.
Everything had its strengths and weaknesses, did it not?
SPLAT!
Unable to handle its own speed, the slime flattened itself against the wall.
The mucus that splattered in every direction wriggled and gathered, returning to its original form.
“It’ll come again! At this rate, Lord Ritak, who cannot fly, will......!”
“It’s fine. This much is manageable.”
“He says so. Let us watch.”
Wer nodded.
But beside him, Neras was still drifting in the air, unable to relax.
Click.
As if to show them, I opened my bag.
A fairly generous number of Health Recovery Potions and Strength Increase Sticks.
Even the Low-Grade Elixirs of Luck I had made this time were inside.
The medicines stacked neatly within were reassuring just to look at.
They were no different from my bullets.
Tsssst......
The enormous mucus had already completely formed its body again and was looking this way.
My heart pounded with tension.
I was not afraid.
I had killed something as great as a calamity. How could I tremble before a slime?
“Now, let’s have a go. ......After I take one medicine first.”
It was about time the medicine’s effect wore off.
I took out the Strength Increase Stick, which looked like yellow jerky, and chewed it.
Shrrk!
As though it had been waiting, the slime rushed in again.