Chapter 16

༺ The First Letter (16) ༻

The forest was engulfed in silence. The dark road was covered with leaves, flowers, shrubs, and mushrooms were growing everywhere.

The demonic beasts tend to hide in the shadows of the forest near the end of the ‘Hunting Festival.’ There are rumors that students from the alchemy faculty would form groups to go there. That’s because the place where the demonic beasts are born has a high density of magic particles. That’s why a lot of high-quality materials grow there.

It was an unsullied place and even if it was not, the forest, which was not often visited by people, had a natural feel to it. It also meant that the road had yet to be carved.

Not only animals but also places are tamed by people as time passes. The more frequented by humans a place is, the more the roads are divided and the more friendly to people the place becomes.

No matter how remote it was, if there was a village nearby, there would always be at least one road. Forests are treasure troves for resources. There was no way that nobody in the village would not go in and out of it.

However, this forest, which was located south of the Academy, was an exception. Although the Academy itself did not explicitly control the access, there was no reason for a student to go in and out of the southern forest.

First of all, there wasn’t just one forest within the academy site. Located around the dormitory, there was another forest. There were no beasts and not many people frequented that place, so it was good for going for a walk or camping.

If you wanted to go to the forest, you didn’t have to walk a long way to the south.

And even if they wanted to gather materials, this was the Academy. It was a place where numerous aristocrats gathered, and although the number of commoners wasn’t small, most of them were still children of wealthy merchants.

That meant that to a lot of students, the game simply wasn’t worth the candle. Occasionally, commoners from poor families like Emma went in and out of the outskirts of the forest, but none of the students would travel to the depths of the forest without an escort.

In other words, there was not much traffic in this forest, so of course there would be no roads. Then there was only one possible ending for us.

Seeds of all kinds were covering my and Seria’s uniforms. From seeds that looked fluffy, to spiky one that might pierce if they were to sting you.

Some might call it ‘The Beauty of Nature,’ but as a person who was walking through it, it felt dreadful. If luck doesn’t favor me, I might get caught on a sharp branch and tear my uniform.

As I was walking with a sullen face,I remembered something that Emma said to me a while ago.