Volume 4, Chapter 26

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Translator: Manga0205


「……This place is……」

 After the distortion of her view settled down, Nino surveyed the area and muttered.

「Different, from earlier.」

 The scenery surrounding was completely different from the place she was just at.

 The fact that she was within a grove of gigantic trees that covered the sky was the same as before, but the trees grew in a state where they were tightly packed, as if they had become walls.

 The place that Nino was at was surrounded by tree walls in three directions, just like it were a dead end.

 Noticing Nefas who was unconscious nearby, Nino left him alone for the time being while thinking “what a nuisance”.

 And then, she strained her ears──but, she didn’t hear anything.

 Not even the stirring of the trees, nothing at all.

 The only thing that was here, was silence.

「……What a weird place.」

 After making that comment, Nino put her 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】 on full power.

 Her 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】, which shined to the point of being dazzling, tried to interfere with the trees……However, it was repelled.

 Feeling that sensation for the first time, Nino was surprised.

 Having had confidence that she was able to interfere with everything as long as it was a plant, this was an unexpected incident.

 However, Nino immediately thought of the reason.

 For example, the possibility that the plants in front of her were actually not plants.

 But, after trying out touching the trees, Nino had the real feeling that they were certainly plants.

 As someone who possessed 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】 which interfered with plants, she could not be mistaken about that.

 Supposing that these plants were Maju (magic trees), Nino would be able to understand it.

 However, the trees that were here weren’t Maju (magic trees), but just regular plants.

 There was one more reason that she could think of.

 The possibility that they were already under the control of someone else.

 In this case, it would be extraordinarily difficult to place them under the control of Nino’s 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】.

 In the case that the other party’s power surpassed Nino’s power, it would definitely be impossible.

 Nino knew about that in her knowledge……but after having it happen in reality like this, she found it quite hard to accept.

「Ugh……」

 At Nino’s back, Nefas opened his eyes.

「Th, this place is……?」

 Staggeringly getting up and looking around at the surroundings, after he found Nino’s figure, he approached her looking relieved.

「So you were safe, Nino.」

「It’s because that was merely a Transfer.」

 Hearing Nino’s words, Nefas made a surprised-looking face.

「So that was Transfer……So it was something that felt so terrible.」

「It’s because it was done crudely.」

「……Is that, how it is?」

「It’s not like you have to believe me.」

 That’s right, that Transfer was crude.

 Most likely, even the coordinates for the Transfer location was only something general and not specified.

「No, there’s no mistake that it was certainly Transfer. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain it.」

「That’s true.」

「From what I can see, we seem to be somewhere within the forest but……No, rather than the forest, is this a labyrinth?」

 Nefas’s expression of calling it a 「labyrinth」, it was quite pertinent.

 It certainly was a labyrinth made by trees, and was clearly a place that was made by someone’s hands.

 In other words, this place had a custodian……and that meant that that custodian had invited Nino’s group in.

「Nino.」

「What?」

「I’m not exactly sure but. Isn’t this the place you were searching for?」

 The place she was searching for──in other words, a place related to the Gods.

「……It might be.」

「Ahh. Even in the Hero legend, there were parts that said that the Hero’s group took on trials of the Gods. This place might one of the trials of the Gods that were given to the Heroes.」

「Hーn. And what’s the method to get out?」

「I think there’s no other way……than to clear the trial.」

 She didn’t know if it was the God of Water Aklia or the God of Wind Wyrm, but if this really was the place for the trial of the Gods, she wanted to get out and report it to Vermudol right away.

 However, for the time being, it seemed that to get out, she had no choice but to clear the trial.

 No, for starters, there was even the possibility that this place wasn’t the place for the trial of the Gods, but the headquarters of the Alva.

「……」

 Nino peeked over at Nefas.

 Nefas had already served his purpose as a source of information, it was also a fact that it was thanks to him that she arrived at this suspicious place.

 In that case, it was fine to add in the service of taking him along until she got out of this place, and it could also fall within the range of the promise of 「if you find some prominent information, I will allow you to travel with me」.

 He would be a burden, but he wasn’t an enemy for right now.

 In that case, it couldn’t be helped.

「……Let’s go.」

「Ah, yeah!」

 Thinking “It would be great if Vermudol was the one that was here”, Nino breathed a sigh.

「Still, this place is an amazing location, isn’t it.」

 While saying that Nefas followed after Nino.

 In reality, he wanted to be manly and be the one to guide Nino, but unfortunately, Nino was far stronger than Nefas.

 Besides, Nino was more experienced at exploration.

 Nefas thought “maybe if I were to accumulate experience……”, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to catch up to Nino even if he did.

 Plus, there was those eyes.

 Those eyes that shone green, there was no mistaking that they were a sort of thing that was called Magic Eyes.

 Since it looked like she was manipulating plants, they are most likely 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】──Also, they were without a doubt at quite a high rank.

 If one possessed even low ranking Magic Eyes, they would be the target of envy and jealousy, but owners of Magic Eyes that were as high a rank as Nino’s, there most likely were close to none in the Shutaia Continent.

 It also depended on the rank, but Magic Eyes had enough power to rival magic.

 Moreover, with 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】, its application range was tremendously wide.

 From Nefas’s perspective, Nino, who possessed uncommon sword technique and 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】, could be said to be the 「strongest」.

「……」

 Nefas slowly raised his hands to his own eyes.

 He was made to realize that with Nino around, he was nothing more than a mere Human.

 When they had first met at the Edius Adventurer School, Nino had called Nefas a 「mere Human」.

 Until then, there was no one who would call him, a Human of a Duke house, like that.

 But, right now, he could understand.

 Nefas couldn’t help but be a 「mere Human」, and Nino was strong to the point of being dazzling.

 That is why he wanted to be acknowledged by her.

 Nefas came to know just how vain it was to simply be pampered as a mere son of a Duke house.

 Right now, even his father would acknowledge Nefas who was continuing to work hard as he tried to change.

 However, more than his father, more than anyone else──even if he himself didn’t have that sort of intention.

 Nefas wanted to be acknowledged by Nino.

「……You will be left behind, you know?」

「Ah, yeah……sorry.」

 Being told that by Nino who had stopped far ahead of him, Nefas hurriedly ran over.

 And then, when he caught up to Nino, he came to see that the front was blocked and that there were paths on the left and right.

 In cases of coming to a forked path in labyrinth exploration, there were many theories in choosing a path.

 Like placing a hand on the wall, or like checking the flow of the wind……from proper ones to fake ones, there were as many of them as the number of stars in the sky.

 The moment he opened his mouth to try and ask Nino “what should we do”, Nino started going down the left path without any hesitation at all.

「W, wait.」

「What?」

「Why did you choose that path?」

「Just a feeling.」

 Nefas thought that there was actually some sort of deep meaning to those words.

 For example, masters of the trade would multilaterally investigate the situation, and sum up the synthesized judgement they concluded to with the phrase 「just a feeling」.

 Nefas thought that Nino’s 「just a feeling」 was also something of that sort.

 Of course, he was overthinking it.

 Nino’s 「just a feeling」 was literally nothing more than mere intuition.

 That being said, if she does succeed with intuition, then that could also be called a talent.

「……Nino. Can you not manipulate these trees?」

 While advancing along the path, Nefas turned his gaze to the tree walls on both of his sides.

 From what he could see, the walls of this labyrinth were made with trees that were packed to the point that there were no gaps.

 If they were manipulated with the 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】, it should be possible to make a path through them as well……is what Nefas thought.

「It’s impossible here.」

「I see.」

 If Nino was saying that, it was surely impossible.

 However, what about some other methods?

「In that case, how about forcibly destroying them? In the end, they’re just trees, right?」

「……If you feel that way, Nino feels that you should just go ahead and try it.」

 Nefas nodded to Nino’s words.

 Since it would be a hard time to cut a tree down with a sword, if he was going to test it out, going with magic really was for the best.

 Since it was dangerous to use Fire Magic in a forest, it would be better to use magic of a different element here.

 And yet, it had to be something with as much destructive power as possible.

「……O wind, gather and become a sharp blade.」

 Answering to Nefas’s chant, wind gathered in front of him.

 A blade of wind meant to tear up the tree wall in front of him had manifested──However, the moment he tried to invoke the spell, it scattered.

「Wha!?」

 Seeing the magic vanish before his eyes, Nefas felt shaken.

 It wasn’t that he failed in controlling the magic.

 Nefas had said the chant correctly, and up until the activation, there was no procedure that was abbreviated.

 However, the hard fact was that the magic had been extinguished.

「In that case……O earth, gather and pierce through!」

 When Nefas started the chant for the next magic, this time, a stone spear was created in front of Nefas.

「Go……Earth Lance!」

 In accordance with Nefas’s voice, the stone lance made a direct hit on the tree wall──but it ended up shattering.

「Guh……It’s hard!?」

 Seeing that the Earth Lance that had penetrating power wasn’t able to compete with it, Nefas distorted his face in vexation.

「……Take a closer look.」

「At what?」

「The wall.」

 Being told that by Nino, Nefas went right next to the wall that the Earth Lance had made a direct hit on.

「What in the world……」

 Seeing the wall up close, Nefas gulped.

 What was there was a tree that didn’t have a single scratch.

 Even though it had received Nefas’s magic……not even a faint dent could be found there.

「What is……the meaning of this.」

「That’s how it is.」

 In other words, it was impossible to destroy with wall with brute force.

 Nino and Nefas had no choice but to advance through this labyrinth of trees head on.

 Through this labyrinth──where they didn’t know where the entrance or exit was, and where the earlier Alva might be.


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