Chapter 18

༺ The First Letter (18) ༻

The beasts approached stealthily. Silence lingered in the forest.

Come to think of it, it was strange that there was no sound in the forest. All kinds of wild animals, including birds, lived in the forest, so normally one could hear their cries.

This silence now in the depths of the forest meant that a predator capable of putting all of those living beings on their toes had appeared.

As I ran, I stopped at a glade in the forest. Fortunately here, there was enough space to wield the sword. However, I had no intention of facing the demonic beasts fairly.

There were no rules or etiquette in a battle against a beast. It’s just a battle of life and death.

I took a potion out of my pocket. It had a light gray color.

It was the item Emma gave me during our last meeting. Emma’s masterpiece, which returned to my hands because her father refused to take it.

When I opened the lid of the potion bottle, a rancid stench stung my nose. Even just smelling it, I knew it would taste horrendous, however I was already too grown up to throw a fit because of the taste.

Without hesitation, I gulped the potion down my throat. A burning sensation passed as if I was swallowing strong liquor along with the heat traveling through my veins and gradually settling down into the body.

My heart rate gradually decreased. Like a dead corpse, my breath disappeared. It felt like my very own existence was blown away, and I couldn’t even be sure of my presence.

As a side effect, my movements were a little slower, but it was at a level that could be tolerated. I recalled the last conversation I had with Emma around this time.

Emma thought that this potion would be useless because of the peculiar smell of the ingredients used in it. This meant that even this potion could not remove external odors.

My hands scooped up the damp soil. I sprinkled soil all over the uniform, crushed grass strands, and applied the liquid oozing out of them to my body.

It was strange. I, who used to be fed up with just the feeling of grass brushing against me, now was casually covering my body with soil.