Chapter 76: Ignoring the Unpleasant Old Man and Setting Off
“You lot, huh? I heard you brought in some Wild Heavenly Wolf Mushrooms yesterday.”
With a swagger that suggested he was slightly puffed up with self-importance, the old man approached us, sizing us up with a scrutinizing gaze.
“Huh? That’s not us.”
“Hmph. My eyes aren’t so easily deceived. You must be the ones.”
I attempted to feign ignorance, but he merely scoffed at me. What is this old man’s deal? He looked more like an ordinary person in lavish casual attire than an adventurer, with a thinning patch on the top of his head.
“Regardless, we’re about to leave the village.”
Rio subtly conveyed that we didn’t have much time, but the old man pressed on, seemingly indifferent to our urgency.
“If you have information on where you found them, the Mimina Trading Company I belong to will buy it at a high price. And if you still have any Wild Heavenly Wolf Mushrooms, I’ll buy those too.”
“Excuse me?”
I couldn’t help but let out a strange sound at the old man’s overly aggressive demeanor. The location we found them… I wasn’t well-versed in the forest, so I could only say it was deep within. I did have some mushrooms left, but those were for my own consumption. I had only sold them out of curiosity to know their worth.
“Furthermore, how about I issue a special designated request for gathering more Wild Heavenly Wolf Mushrooms? If it’s a designated request from the Mimina Trading Company, the rewards will be generous.”
This old man clearly wasn’t listening. No, he might be listening, but he was being quite forceful. It was best to escape from such a character quickly.
“I’ll have to decline. Please look elsewhere.”
“Huh?”
He seemed taken aback by my refusal, his expression turning serious. Taking Rio’s hand, I brushed past him, but his voice called out behind us in a threatening manner.
“Are you really going to turn down a request from the Mimina Trading Company? Do you understand what it means to be targeted by the Six Great Trading Companies in a commercial nation…?”
He rambled on, but I had no obligation to listen to the end. Once we exited the Guild, his voice faded away, leaving behind the unpleasant memory of the old man. If I ever decided to sell, I would choose a more honest trading company.
“He was going on about the Six Great Trading Companies, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah? Did he say something like that?”
I hadn’t been paying close attention, but I recalled that the Six Great Trading Companies were the ones that managed this commercial nation, right? Well, it didn’t matter; we had no further business in this village, and I doubted we would have any future dealings with them.
“I hope this doesn’t lead to any troublesome situations…”
“Well, we should be fine for a while, right?”
I tried to reassure Rio, who wore a weary expression.
“We’re crossing the forest and taking a shortcut, so we should be okay for now. Besides, we don’t plan on lingering.”
“But we can’t let our guard down.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
In the previous country, I had indeed let my guard down and paid the price. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. That said, it would take a day and a half by shared carriage to return from Fenrir Village to the border town. From there, it would take three days to reach the eastern commercial city, and another two days to get to Craftsman City Raven. I wasn’t sure how fast a swift horse would be, but I estimated we had about a week before we needed to worry.
Besides, we hadn’t informed anyone about where we were headed. We had checked out of the inn, and while we had received our rewards at the Guild, we hadn’t taken any requests, so they would know we were leaving the village.
“Yeah. Either way, we need to stay vigilant at all times.”
“That’s right. So, shall we get going?”
With that, we exited the village from the east and headed into the depths of the forest. Just like yesterday, we walked deeper until we took to the skies, increasing our speed. I wanted to get through the forest today, so I had no intention of making detours.
After a while, we ascended higher into the air above the forest. At this altitude, it was unlikely anyone would spot us. The dense trees below would obscure our presence.
“Flying above the forest really lets us pick up speed.”
“Yeah, dodging trees down below is a hassle.”
Below us lay the lush treetops of the Heavenly Wolf Forest. I could sense the presence of monsters here and there, but of course, they wouldn’t notice us flying above. The view ahead was still just forest, but gradually, a mist began to rise, thickening as we progressed.
“This isn’t going to let us pick up much speed…”
“I really want to get through the forest today.”
The sky was clear, so I wondered what was causing the mist. When we had come to search for mushrooms yesterday, there had been a faint mist as well. Perhaps this area was naturally prone to fog.
“Wait, what’s that…?”
Suddenly, a tower loomed high above the trees, emerging from the forest. It seemed to appear out of nowhere, perhaps obscured by the mist.
The tower, about twenty meters in diameter, soared into the sky. At first glance, there were no visible entrances or windows. I couldn’t tell what the ground level looked like…
“What could that be? Could it be that Lady Karin is inside?”
“Huh?”
The tower was much thicker than the one where the Cat Goddess resided, but I had let my thoughts slip out loud.
“Never mind that. Still, I haven’t heard any villagers mention a tower like this in the forest.”
“Yeah, I haven’t heard anything either.”
I was curious, but the more pressing issue was the dense presence of monsters in the area. I wanted to observe the tower closely, but doing so would mean we wouldn’t make it through the forest today. Camping here was out of the question… there were just too many monsters lurking around.
“I’m curious, but for now, let’s stick to our original destination.”
“Right. It’s best not to meddle with anything dangerous that we don’t understand.”
“Agreed. The strong monster presence I felt before is getting closer, so let’s bypass this tower.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”
At my words, Rio began to look around nervously.
“Is it the same presence I felt when I found the corpse of the Silver Wolf?”
“Yeah. It seems to be approaching slowly… wait, it’s speeding up!?”
“Huh? Oh! You’re right, it’s coming this way!?”
It seemed the monster had finally entered Rio’s detection range. The creature that had been slowly approaching us had now noticed our presence and was rapidly closing the distance.