The hero party celebrated for a while.
They rested for an hour to regain their stamina and mana before setting off to the forest.
Walking through the densely covered area, Louisa started talking as she ran up behind the hero.
"Hero-sama~ You looked so cool during that fight! You're so strong~!"
Louisa hugged the hero from behind.
"Mmm."
Mike interrupted the moment.
"I am focusing!"
"You tell her Mike!"
"Shut up redneck!"
"Guys, calm down. This is important."
The hero deescalated the situation as Louisa and Scarlet both replied with a "Fine."
Walking through the thicket, they soon reached a large lake.
"It looks like nothing is here unless it's over that lake."
"Let's keep searching."
The group walked around the lake while keeping their eyes peeled for any monsters.
"Oi redneck. Why can't we just cross the lake with some ice?"
"You know I'm mostly a fire mage."
"Mostly."
"Shut it. We can't. Get over it."
Louisa sighed as she took long strides so that her clothes wouldn't get dirty.
The hero, who was at the front tried to ignore the silent bickering at the back and focus on the mission.
'If we get a rare resource or even information about someone reaching a higher rank in the neighbouring kingdom, no matter what we find we can sell it to the Royal family.'
As he kept walking, he suddenly felt something.
Stopping in his tracks, his party reacted swiftly while grabbing their weapons, leaving all the bickering behind like nothing happened.
"What is it?"
Scarlet asked.
"I... Don't know."
The hero answered before looking around.
Seeing nothing, he dismissed it for a moment and started walking again.
The next step he took fell right into a small stream of water that came from the lake.
Removing his foot from disrupting the stream, he looked towards the lake.
"The water here. It's... going up a hill?"
His party members reacted and pushed their senses to the limit just in case this was a trap.
Following the stream, the party conversed.
"This is weird. I feel no mana from the water."
"What?"
Louisa reacted to Scarlet's comment.
"How?"
"...No clue."
The hero didn't say a word during their small trek up the hill.
It has been a few minutes since they started.
The hill seemed to be getting steeper and steeper.
"...The forest didn't seem to have any tall hills or anything from outside."
"This might be an illusion trap..."
"I doubt it. If it were, it would have to be a very high ranking one for us to not sense it."
"Well yeah. But still."
"I think we'll be fine."
The hero finally spoke, reassuring his party.
Hearing his words, the party members relaxed a little. Till now they had been completely on edge.
As they finally reached the top of the hill, the sight they saw could only be described as magical.
The dense and dark forest they were just in was gone. Instead replaced by a beautiful clear blue pond surrounded by moss-covered trees. The stream from the lake reached the pond, supplying it with water.
Flowers of multiple colours bloomed in the surroundings as small animals and bugs thrived.
Yet nothing, not a single thing living or not tainted the pond.
In the middle of said pond, a single flower.
A lotus that shined in different colours, its light bringing life to the surroundings.
The entire lotus seemed to shift its colours every so often as a strange air surrounding it.
"Wow. What is this place?"
The hero spoke out as the party admired the scenery.
Not long after, the hero noticed a shining purple butterfly.
The bug flew around him and then neared the flower, the moment it did, its colour seemed to be drained, turning dark and grey before flying away into the forest. It died where none could see it anymore.
"What is that flower? It feels... weird."
"Oh. Wait... OH MY GOD!"
Scarlet yelled out after noticing the distinct patterns on the lotus petals.
As she yelled, every creature in the surroundings hid.
"Ai. What was that for?"
"S-sorry. It's just that... wow."
"What?"
"T-That's a 7 Coloured Soul Lotus."
"...And?"
"Ughh. Blondy, listen. That right there is the rarest resource in the world. These lotuses bloom in places wrought with death as they steal the soul of the dead and use them as nourishment. The more it consumes, the more colour it has. Till now only 5 Coloured Lotuses have been documented, 6 and 7 coloured have only been talked about in legends."
"So. It's valuable?"
"Valuable? Every single country in the world would commit genocide for a single petal!"
"Oh. What can it be used for?"
"The last one was found by an alchemist a few tens of years ago. 4 coloured. He researched it till his death and found a few ways to use it. One would be an elixir that strengthens and heals another would be eating a petal raw which increases your element control and power another would be to run water through the core and drink it which could grant you a skill of one of the souls stuck in the flower. There are a few more that he found but these are the best ones."
"Anything else you know?"
"Ugh. I don't know if it helps but in legend, it was believed that the strength of the souls it absorbs is equal to the colours it radiates. So the amount of souls doesn't matter. I don't really believe that though."
"Hmm. Well, we came here to see if there was a rare resource and we found it. Let's take it to the capital."
"Hero-sama. Couldn't we... have a nibble?"
"?"
"I mean... Hero-sama, we could get stronger. A lot stronger."
"That's..."
"It's true."
"I don't feel like it's right to take a shortcut in gaining strength. Besides, I don't know if it's true but couldn't they find traces of it on us?"
"If that is what Hero-sama wishes then we won't even think about it."
"Right. Let's just get it to the capital, we are going to get a huge payday."
The hero recklessly stepped into the pond and grabbed the lotus.
As soon as he did, he noticed how...
"It's rotting?"
"What?!"
Scarlet observed the flower and pond.
"Ah! It's because of the pond! It acted as a seal! That's why Lotuses with over 5 colours are only in legend because they respond to unclean things by slowly rotting! Probably!"
"Shut it and teleport us to the capital! We can't go back with a rotten flower!"
"The capital?! That's way too far to teleport! I don't have the mana!"
"Scarlet! We don't have time, you can use all of my mana! Just focus on getting the teleport ready, I'll stop the rot as best as I can!"
"Ugh! Fine!"
The hero slowly placed the lotus back in the pond. The rotting slowed down but the pond started to become murky.
"Damn."
The hero grabbed Scarlet's hand and gave her all his mana.
"We don't have time, hurry!"
"Ughh..... Done! Grab it!"
Grabbing the lotus, the party was teleported to the capital.
Arriving right in front of the Royal family, blades were drawn by the guards and the party was surrounded.
"We have the material! It's rotting though!"
The king reacted fast, recognizing the flower in the hero's hands.
"Call the scientists! Get them the flower now! They'll know what to do."
And so, the flower was brought to the lab and put into stasis as mana manipulators did their job granting the flower mana so that it can fix itself.
The hero and his party earned a large prize and praise for bringing in a Mythical material while a certain scientist named Chris was excitedly looking at the lotus.
...
Meanwhile, a certain silhouette was pacing around the flower, unseen by everyone.
This is the story of that silhouette.