"Haha!" Roland laughed as he slashed down a wild boar, "And with that, our schoolwork is complete!"
"I already completed it, you know." Helena sighed as she held up her captured jackalope, "Honestly, you should have just left that to Kaguya and Mikado."
"On no, it's quite alright." Kaguya smiled, "I was hoping for a more exciting target."
"All the interesting stuff is deeper in the forest." Helena said, "I don't know if we'd be able to return by the time we get there. And you."
Helena leaned on Roko's shoulder as he continued writing in his notebook, "What have you been writing about?"
"Just the statistics of the creatures we've come across." Roko replied as he finished up his entry on the boar, "Having non-human data would definitely help with my conclusions."
"Are you not tired after using your spell so many times?" Kaguya asked.
"Not particularly." Roko held his head with one hand, "The real issue is containing all that information in my head. That usually gets exhaustive."
"Need a break?" Helena asked.
"I'm fine for now. Let's continue."
Wiping his sword clean of blood, Roland followed the group as the ventured further into the Paramnesia Wildwood.
"What exactly are you looking for exactly?" Helena asked Kaguya.
"Hmm...a fire rat perhaps?" Kaguya smiled slyly.
"Why'd you want something as weird as that?"
"Oh, no reason in particular."
"Lady Kaguya is just playing around with you." Mikado said, "Don't worry about it."
"Oh, I wouldn't say I'm completely playing around." Kaguya giggled, "Why, I'd even say that if anybody could give me a fire rat, I would marry them instantly."
Helena smacked Roland as his head perked up, "Don't take it so seriously, you idiot."
"I-I wasn't!" Roland yelped, "I swear I wasn't!"
A rustling of grass turned the group's attention back to their surroundings. The rustling continued, seemingly from all directions at once. From the grass emerged a pack of dire wolves, snarling at them from all sides.
"What now?" Roland asked as he drew his sword.
"What else?" Mikado said, drawing his sword as well, "We fight."
"But we have three people to protect, including a horse."
"Just do what you can. That shall be enough."
The wolves circled the group before lunging towards them. Roland and Mikado leaped into action, slashing at as many wolves as they could, drawing as much attention to themselves, though much of them made their way past the knights.
"Ice."
Helena pointed at one of the wolves and blasted the wolf with ice, blowing it off its feet. She continued to cast her spell at any wolves that approached her side. On the other side however, one of the wolves lunged at Kaguya's horse. Roko kicked the wolf mid-lunge, keeping it from attacking the horse but drawing the wolf's attention to himself. The wolf landed on the ground but quickly returned to its feet, turning and snarling at Roko before lunging at him. Roko brought up his arm in defense and the wolf bit into his forearm, drawing a great number of blood from him. Roko grabbed the wolf's lower jaw, trying to pry it open and remove his arm but only succeeded in injuring his fingers on the teeth.
"Roko!" Helena cried.
Wolves began to approach Roko as if sensing how little ability he had to stop them. Still struggling to remove the one wolf from his arm, Roko turned to face the other wolves as the began to throw themselves at him. Out of nowhere, lightning shot out from the foliage and blasted the wolves in the back, sending them falling to the ground. Another bolt hit the wolf gnawing at Roko's arm, finally releasing its grip on Roko. Out of the bushes, strode the black knight, lightning sparking from his hand and sword drawn as he approached the wolves from behind. The wolves turned to face Varis, barking as if to intimidate him but he kept walking forward, unfazed. With their terrorizing tactic ineffective, the wolves attacked the black knight only for them to be cut down, one after another with one slice. Sensing the addition of a greater threat and already struggling to beat the two knights, the wolves began to disengage, turning and running back into the grass.
"Scan." Roko said, scanning on of the fleeing wolves before they could flee into the bushes.
"We're good!" Roland announced with a grin.
"No we're not you idiot!" Helena cried, "Roko, you okay?!"
Roko gripped his bleeding arm, trying to think through the aching pain rattling through his brain.
"Is everyone alright?"
Corissa ran out of the trees, quickly leaning down next to Roko.
"Are you okay? Let me see."
Corissa carefully pulled Roko's sleeve back, revealing the gruesome bite marks cutting through his skin.
"He has bandages." Mikado said as he came over, "In his bookbag."
"Alright." Corissa nodded as she dug into a pouch hanging from her shoulders, "I have some herbs that should help."
Carefully covering the wound with some medicinal herbs, Corissa covered them with bandages, tying a tight cast around the injury.
"That should stop the bleeding." Corissa gulped, "I can make a sling for you if you'd like."
"Thanks." Roko nodded as Corissa wound the rest of the bandages around his shoulder to make a sling.
"That was dangerous!" Helena cried, "You could have died, you know!"
"Better than letting the wolves attack the horse and knock Kaguya down." Roko grimaced.
"Oh my. I am in your debt, young man." Kaguya said as she dismounted her horse, "You saved not just my life but my prized steed as well. I will not forget this."
"Don't you know any magic?" Helena frowned.
"My spell isn't made for combat." Kaguya sighed, "I usually leave all matters of combat to Mikado. Perhaps I should reconsider."
"And maybe not bring a horse into the woods next time."
"N-Now now." Corissa smiled as she helped Roko to his feet, "We're all alive. We should just be glad for that."
"Indeed." Kaguya turned to Corissa and Varis and bowed, "Thank you for assisting us. We would have been in a much more dire situation without your help."
"N-Not at all!" Corissa cried, embarrassed, "We just heard the conflict and came to help."
Roland stared at Varis who simply stood there, silently watching the conversation, "You. What were you doing in the woods?"
"V-Varis and I were out looking for herbs!" Corissa quickly stepped in as Varis just stared back at Roland.
"Herbs?"
"Yes. For the assignment."
"We're supposed to capture or kill a creature for our assignment." Helena said as she held up her jackalope.
"I asked the instructor and he said I could gather herbs for our assignment."
"Really?" Helena blinked, "Never heard about this."
"Not that it matters." Roko said, "Killing those wolves would count for your assignment now even if you didn't have any herbs."
"T-That's true..." Corissa gulped, "And Varis did kill a number of creatures while we were exploring."
"Well it's a good thing you had those herbs anyway." Helena smiled, "We were going around looking for something for Kaguya to kill but I guess that's been resolved now."
"I suppose it has." Kaguya nodded, "I suppose we could return back to school now."
"That might be best." Corissa nodded, "Then we could get that wound properly treated."
"I'm fine." Roko said, pushing any lingering pain out of his mind, "I've already got a wound in my shoulder so this is nothing."
"You've got a wound on your shoulder?!" Corissa cried, noticing the damage the spider had left on his clothes, "Then we really need to get you back as soon as possible!"
"Mmm..." Roko sighed, "That might be best. I'm a bit worried about Momo though."
"Wait, MOMO was supposed to be with you?!" Helena cried.
"Yes but she ran off after a carbuncle I hear." Kaguya explained.
"What the hell! She would have been super useful back there!"
"What can you do about it now?" Roko shrugged.
"You should be the angriest one out of all of us!"
"At any rate." Kaguya said, "I'm sure Momo will be able to leave on her own. Your injuries are the more pressing matter at this point."
"I'm just worried that if we don't find Momo, she'll be looking for me all day."
"Hmm..." Kaguya frowned, "That does sound like her."
"Then, I can bring Roko back while the rest of you can look for Momo." Corissa suggested.
"No, if you're going to continue exploring, I want to come along." Roko said.
"What?! Why?!" Helena cried.
"I want to gather more data." Roko said as he took out his notebook.
"Are you kidding me?" Roland scoffed, "You can't even write with your arm like that!"
"Information that I gain tend to stay at least until the end of the day so it should be fine."
"That's not the issue here."
"Now now." Kaguya said, "If that's what he wants, I don't see why we should stop him. What's more, we've gained a powerful ally so any further encounters should be easy to handle."
"Easy for you to say." Helena sighed before turning towards Corissa.
"I really think he should go back and get some treatment but if he wants to continue, I won't stop him." Corissa said with a small smile.
"Alright." Helena said, "I'm not used to being the voice of reason anyway."
"Then let's go." Roko said, "Corissa, you coming along?"
"Of course."
The group ventured further into the forest, further than even Roko believed he had ran when he first arrived. The further they went, the thicker the woods became until Kaguya could no longer ride on her horse and had to walk with the rest of them. Trees began to crowd the terrain so much that it became hard to find a path for all of them to travel through easily. Branches blocked the waning sun and trunks prevented them from seeing anything more than a few feet in front of them. Keeping a close eye on any sign of danger, they continued on until they came across a glade with a strange round dome structure in the middle of it. Stepping into the opening, everyone approached the dome warily.
"Anybody seen this before?" Helena asked.
A chorus of 'no's rose from the crowd in answer to her question.
"I don't think I've ever been this far in the forest." Kaguya mused, "This doesn't look like a structure that the school would construct."
The crunching of grass alerted them to a figure approaching them from around the edge of the dome structure.
"Oh!" Momo looked surprised as she spotted them and ran over, "Hey! What are you guys doing here? Oh my god, Roko what happened to you?!"
"A spider and a wolf."
"You defeated a spider and a wolf? Amazing, I knew you could do it."
"I defeated a spider. Got saved for the wolf bit."
"What about you?" Helena frowned, "I heard you ran off somewhere."
"I'm sorry!" Momo yelped as she bowed deeply, "I thought I saw a carbuncle!"
"Why'd you go chasing it?!"
"Carbuncles are really rare! They're supposed to be lucky and if you can get their gems, they're supposed to be powerful magical items!"
"But you didn't even catch it?"
"No..."
"So what did you do?"
"I killed a juvenile griffin!" Momo dug into her pocket and pulled out a feather, "Here, look!"
"Oh?" Kaguya said, "That's actually a bit impressive. Griffins are usually very powerful. A juvenile would be a decent challenge for even Mikado."
"Here!" Momo thrust the feather towards Roko, "I'll give you this feather!"
"I don't want it."
"Why?!"
"So how did you get here?" Helena cut in.
"I was looking for Roko." Momo replied, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Looking for you."
"Well great! We can all check out this weird dome together!"
"Alright." Kaguya said.
"Sure." Roko shrugged.
"I'm down." Helena added.
"Um...shouldn't we go back to the school?" Corissa asked.
"But we don't know if we'll ever find this thing again!" Momo cried, "We should explore it while we have the chance!"
"But..."
"It's fine." Roko said, "We still have time to get back before dinner if we make this quick."
Corissa just sighed.