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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30: THE LOST FOREST

— The next day.

The next day, we finished our preparations in the morning and immediately set out to capture the Lost Forest.

「So, this is the Lost Forest, huh?」

「It seems like a pretty damp place. I can already tell that it’s going to ruin my precious and fluffy tail 」

「I don’t really like this place. At all. It gives me some really weird vibes. I can already tell that capturing this place is going to be a major drag…… Hey, do you think I could perhaps burn this entire forest down? It would make traversing it that much easier.」

「No way! Why would you ever think that!?」

「Ouch!」

With a pop, Kanade lightly poked Tanya to the head.

「What kind of person burns down an entire forest just because it’s a hassle to look for something in it?」

「I do!」

「What arrogance! And this isn’t something that you should be even remotely proud about!」

「So then…… What do you want to do here? There is a relic called Shield of Truth somewhere in this forest, right? Alongside its Guardian no less.」

「Here, I have this map that Arios’s group managed to make. We can try to use it as a point of reference as we move forward for the time being.」

「Huh, that Hero’s group did……?」

「It’s actually kind of annoying to have to rely on those guys for anything……」

「The Lost Forest is said to be such a troublesome place that it’s called a natural fortress. But regardless of its source, if we have a map on us, there’s no way that we are not going to use it. Well, that is to say, this map isn’t exactly accurate either. Still, it’s better than nothing.」

According to what I’ve heard from Natalie-san……

The Lost Forest has existed for a long time and covers an area the size of three large cities.

Its interior is so intricately maze-like that no one has ever been able to accurately map it in its entirety.

The forest itself seems to be growing non-stop and continues to expand every day.

So, it seems that its internal structure changes over time, and mapping it often ends up being futile.

Natural mazes are more tricky than anything else to deal with.

They’re not designed to be cleared by people, and by utilizing your normal means.

So if we can hope to have a clue about this place, even the smallest and the most insignificant one, it’s a chance that we must take no matter what.

「Let’s go.」

「Oooh!」

「Alright.」

With those two shouts giving me some much needed encouragement, we proceeded through the Lost Forest.

***

Has it been about half an hour since we started exploring the Lost Forest?

Kanade tugged at my clothes, as if trying to bring my attention to her.

「Say, say. Rein?」

「Yeah? What is it, Kanade?」

「Didn’t we already come through here a while ago?」

「What, really?」

「I couldn’t say for sure because I had a feeling as if I had vaguely seen this place before, but……」
.
「No, Kanade is right. Here, see?」

Tania pointed to the grass on the side of the road.

Some patch of it was clearly charred.

「We have fought a few monsters along the way, didn’t we?　These are the marks of that same battle.」

I remembered it well.

A large number of small fry monsters had appeared, and an irritated Tanya had suddenly shot out a fireball at them.

It was a good thing we managed to put out the fire in a hurry, but if we hadn’t done it so well, we would have accidentally set the entire forest ablaze.

「Could it be that we are simply walking in circles all this time?」

「Yeah, you’re right. It really seems that way.」

「This map isn’t very useful after all.」

I heard that Arios tried to attack the Lost Forest a few days ago.

And yet, I really did not want to believe that their map would be so downright useless.

Maybe this was going to be a whole lot trickier place than we all thought.

「How about we try to change our current approach? I’ll go and check the terrain around us. I will try to assimilate with the wild birds like last time, so in the meantime, I need you to be vigilant and guard my body.」

「Rogerthat~!」

「Leave it to us! We are going to take good care of it.」

「Okay. Well then, let’s get on with it……」

I then found the right wild bird and assimilated its consciousness with my own.

I took control of the wild bird’s body and flapped my wings into the sky just like I did the last time.

I then looked around at the Lost Forest from above.

Hidden by the thick foliage of the trees, it was hard to find my way around.

However, with a careful and persistent exploration and the reconnaissance from above, I managed to find a route that led to the deepest part of the forest.

I returned to Kanade and Tanya’s side, and released the wild bird from the assimilation technique.

「I’m back.」’

「Welcome back…… So? Did you manage to find the way?」

「Yeah, you’d better believe it.」

「Well then, what are we even waiting for? Let’s just go there right away. I hate this place. There are so many bugs in here. I just can’t stand it.」

「If you are having such a hard time here, then why don’t you just go back to town and wait for us to get back, Tanya?」

「W-What?　No, no, that’s not what I……」
.
「Just kidding. I want you to stay with me if you can, because it’s more reassuring to have you around at my side, Tanya. Will you stay with me a little bit longer?」

「……………」

For some reason, Tania’s entire face turned bright red.

「Hm? What’s wrong?」

「How should I know!? You dummy!」

「Ouch!?」

「Rein, you should really try to be more perceptive, you know?」

Kanade said while nodding her head to her own words.

***

「Well, that’s strange……」

We started walking towards the deepest part of the forest.

But despite that, the scenery around us has not really changed all that much.

It was as if we’re going in circles in the same place.

「Rein, look at this.」

「This is……」

Tanya pointed to a patch of grass with scorch marks on it.

「We’re back where you were earlier?　No, but that’s impossible……」

「Rein, you’re sure that the path that you have found was the correct one, didn’t you?

「……Yeah. That’s right.」

「Could it be that we have simply taken a wrong turn somewhere?」

「No, that’s not possible.」

When I was still with the Hero’s Party, I was tasked with performing reconnaissance over and over again.

If we took the wrong turn somewhere, I was shouted at and cursed at, and when it would turn out to be a really bad turn, fists would fly my way.

Now that I think about it, I was treated by them in such an unbelievable way that……

…… Oh well. No use remembering all of that stuff now.

Because I’ve been treated like that, I’ve learned to be very careful not to make elementary mistakes when scouting my surroundings.

It should not be the case that my skills have become rusty just because I was kicked out of the Hero’s Party.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the fate of my friends depended on my actions right now.

So, let’s analyze all of the information in our possession for the time being.

Could it be that we have taken a wrong turn somewhere?

No, that’s certainly not possible.

I can say that with the utmost confidence.

「Nya, nyah? But, but! Since we are back where we originally came from, that means that we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere!」

「I myself don’t think that we are on the wrong path.」

Surprisingly enough, the backup for my theory came from the least expected side.

「Why is that?」

「We might have taken a few turns to the left and right, but basically, we’ve been walking in a straight line, haven’t we?　And yet, it’s strange to go back to where you were before. Besides, you can get lost, but you wouldn’t go back to where you came from this conveniently.」

「Ah, now that you mention it……」

That’s right.

The path leading to the deepest point of the forest was basically a straight line.

There was no such thing as a sharp turn or anything that would cause us to change directions, so there should be no such thing that would cause us to go back to where we came from.

「Then what does that mean?　We were walking straight, and before we knew it, we were back where we started…… Nyah?　I don’t know……… My brain can’t handle it……」

「In that case, how about you leave this one to me?」

Tanya said while walking a few steps forward.

She closed her eyes and concentrated.

Then she opened her mouth and said a phrase infused with Magic Power.

「’Material Search’.」

A blue-white light dotted Tanya’s fingertips.

It blinked like a firefly and danced softly around her.

The particles of light drifted through the air for a while…… and then disappeared as if they were sucked into the trunk of a single large tree.

「I found it.」

「What’s the meaning of this?」

「We were caught in the middle of the hallucination trap.」

「Huh? Halluci? Nation? Trap?」

「A magic force field that is formed over a wide area in advance, and then it penetrates the target’s brain. By irradiating the part of the brain responsible for vision, it causes us to perceive reality as something else than it actually is.」

「Unyaah……」

When Tanya rattled off one jargon word after another, Kanade couldn’t possibly keep up with all of it, and she turned her eyes around in circles in confusion.

She seemed to have developed an intellectual fever of sorts from trying to take that all in.

「Umm, how should I put it…… It’s the kind of magic that only allows one to walk in a closed circle without being able to proceed forward. That was the sort of the spell that was cast on us. No, it’s more of a ward than a spell? And there seems to be so many of them that no matter how or where you walk, you’ll never get to the right path.」

「Oh, nyah! Now I see!」

「Kanade. Can you bust this tree for me real quick?」

「Nyah? Bust? And what tree? That one?」

「No. And what are you looking at me like that for?」

「With my eyes!」
.
「Hyah!」

「Unyah!?」

Tayna straightened her fingers and poked Kanade slightly to her eyes.

「What are you doing?　What was that for!?」

「Nothing. That answer of yours just downright annoyed me.」

「R-Rein! Please help me! Tanya is being mean to me!」

「Now, now. Please don’t fight, you two.」

「It’s not a fight. Anyways, this tree is forming the ward. Remove it and we can move on.」

「I wish you’d say that sooner, then.」

Kanade then stood in front of the large tree.

She spun her arms around and was about to deliver a powerful blow to it……

「…… LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK.」 .

…… but then a voice came out of nowhere, just as Kanade was about to shatter the tree into splinters.