Chapter 52: Journeying into the Demon Realm Forest with the Exiled Marquise 1
“This is the place.”
I spoke while spreading out a copy of an old map and checking it against a compass and an old stone road sign that looked like it could crumble at any moment.
Before my eyes, a deep, dark forest stretched out.
This is the edge of the forest known as the middle layer of the Demon Realm.
“According to the map and the road sign, if we head north from here, we should reach the church.”
The two I spoke to had contrasting expressions.
Erica looked like a mountaineer gazing up at a challenging peak, while Shara wore a face that couldn’t decide if this was a joke or a nightmare.
Unfortunately, this is reality.
Just as Erica had declared, with truly only one day of preparation, we were standing in this place.
Although the preparation time seemed insane, the grasslands of the Demon Realm, being only the shallow layer, were indeed easy to traverse.
The grassland area has many adventurers during the day, meaning it’s the kind of place suitable for many adventurers to earn their daily keep. With Erica around, that was bound to happen.
But from here on, it’s the middle layer.
Considering that the Demon Realm Forest hasn’t been cleared, it means that even in Hecate, known as the city of adventurers, there are few adventurers who can operate in the middle layer.
Apparently, the Demon Realm Forest withers if the number of surrounding Monsters decreases.
This means the adventurers of Hecate are able to subjugate Monsters to the extent that the middle layer forest doesn’t expand, but they haven’t been able to subjugate enough middle layer Monsters to make the forest recede.
We are now heading into a forest teeming with such Monsters.
To be honest, I want to call it off even now… Yeah, that’s impossible.
Seeing Erica’s face, completely motivated, I gave up.
*
The middle layer of the Demon Realm, the Demon Realm Forest, gave us a welcome befitting its name.
Less than an hour after entering the forest, Monsters attacked us from all directions.
So many of them. As expected of the Demon Realm, I suppose.
I cut down three Monsters that leaped at me from the front. Can’t let my guard down.
“May I say something?”
My guard…
“The middle layer of the Demon Realm is surprisingly dull, isn’t it, Shin?”
Don’t let your guard down!
I watched the Monsters—in the air, on the ground, underground, on the trees, in the shadows of trees, everywhere, whether they were attacking us or not—being turned into fireballs by Erica the moment they entered her range, and warned myself not to get careless.
Incidentally, Shara was looking at Erica with eyes that said, “What is this girl talking about?”
I think she’s gradually becoming less reserved.
“Well… to be honest, I can’t say I didn’t think it would be something like this, but it is the Demon Realm…”
While wondering if it was okay to admit it, I replied to Erica.
Because I felt the same way as Erica.
Shara turned the same kind of look towards me.
Hey, I honestly really do think that way, so it can’t be helped, right?
Into the infamous middle layer of the Demon Realm, we stepped with Guts, but all that came out were numerous small fry.
It’s not that Erica or I are abnormal; if you brought along some Rank 4 adventurers from the Faltar Kingdom, they’d probably hunt Monsters gleefully.
Heck, even a well-coordinated party of Rank 3 adventurers would likely be fine.
In other words, that’s all it amounts to so far.
No, it’s certainly true that it’s this easy largely because of Erica’s presence.
After all, the moment they enter her range, most Monsters become fireballs.
Honestly, I don’t get it.
Or rather, Erica makes far less sense than the Demon Realm.
Right after stepping into the forest, she said this:
“Oh my, it seems I have acquired a Skill.”
“I wonder if this is Presence Detection,” was her assessment.
As for my assessment, if you call that Presence Detection, then I’d like to ask just what kind of Skill my own Presence Detection is.
Erica’s self-proclaimed Presence Detection had abnormal precision.
Not only was the precision abnormal, but she said it even worked underground. I really want to say that it’s definitely not Presence Detection.
Although its range is modest, the precision and the fact that it detects opponents regardless of whether they’re concealing their presence already make it completely different from mine.
What’s most abnormal is that not even an hour has passed since Erica acquired the Skill.
And yet, this is the result.
In an instant, more Monsters than I can sense with my Presence Detection are turned into fireballs by Erica’s magic. Seeing and sensing this, I almost sigh.
It’s painful when the person you like is too much of a genius.
Being able to use a Skill and mastering a Skill are not the same thing.
Just as the Presence Detection used by a veteran scout is completely different from my Presence Detection, there’s a huge gap between being able to use something and mastering it.
Despite this, Erica, that unparalleled genius, is naturally mastering a Skill she just acquired.
Making the dim forest sparkle with her Golden Magicka, with steps brimming with a confidence bordering on arrogance, Erica walked haughtily through the Demon Realm Forest.