Early morning on the next day. Our group said farewell to Baron Adrius.
Right now we are at the edge of the Scared Forest. We are traveling using three horses that I brought from Northwellen and a carriage that Baron Adrius sell to us. I and Gauvain are riding on the horses, while Lief is riding the carriage, and the other three are sitting inside.
"Wow… It is as you said yesterday. This place has a higher density of mana and miasma," said Silvia.
The two girls she brings are actually her students. They are May and Plume.
May is a shorter one between the two. She has brown short hair. Meanwhile, Plume has pale red hair that is tied in a ponytail.
Both of them are girls that grow up in Crowstar county. Both of them is the daughter of some merchants that operate there.
In Crowstar county, there is a magic academy. That academy is good enough but it can not be said to be the best in the kingdom.
The academy is attended mostly by wealthy merchant kids. Sometimes nearby noble's son and daughter also attended that school. Most students are there for political reasons, that is to foster relations with other merchants' kids. Only talented students will get the attention of the Crowstar family. I don't really know what the top student will get, but getting employed by the Crowstar family might be one of the rewards. With that in mind, May and Plume might be one of the best students. They might be very good at magic circuitry.
"Teacher, I can also feel it," said Plume.
May then followed with a question, "Teacher, is there any difference in using a magic tool here?"
"As long as the source of mana is not from the air, there should not be that much difference. Most magic tools use mana stone as their mana source," answered Silvia.
"What about the tool that uses mana from the air as its source? It becomes more powerful?"
"In theory yes… But remember that some tools are designed to operate in a special case. And as many tools are not designated to be operated here, it might break instead."
"What if there is a mana input limiter like in the tool that uses mana stone?" Another question is asked to Silvia, this time from Plume. "It should be able to operate normally right?"
Silvia nodded to her student. "Yup, if there is a mana limiter it should be okay."
"But, how about…."
I listened to the conversation between the teacher and her students without any understanding of the topic. They keep talking about magic until we reach the place to rest for the night.
"We reach the clearing, we will rest here for today," Lief said to the three passengers in the carriage.
* * *
Night time.
I sit in front of the small campfire that we make to heat a soup. This fire is the only light source in this dark forest.
From far away, I can hear the howls of wolves resounding from time to time.
"I hope, they are far away and didn't come here," said me in a small voice.
Too bad for me, I can hear that the howls are becoming near as time pass by.
"Gauvain wakes up! Also, pick your spear!" I woke Gauvain up and readied my sword. I prepared if the worst situation will come.
Gauvain picks up his spear that is stored in the carriage and readied his spear in a flash.
"Master! Where should I guard?" shouted Gauvain.
"There!" I pointed to a place not far away from my place. With both of us, we can cover a small area to defend our group.
Hearing the shouting, a girl with red colored hair wakes up from her sleep. I decided to ask her to do something, "Plume! Can you wake the other? Also, wake Lief up!"
The still sleepy Plume is startled when I shouted at her. But she then becomes alert in a second. She then moves deeper into the carriage and wakes Silvia and May up.
"Aquila, what happened?" asked Silvia that is still trying to open her eyes.
"There is a group of wolves nearby, be careful."
"Is there something that you might need?" asked Silvia.
"Do you have some light? Fire is also okay! Just put it on when you found them!"
I heard that wolves are afraid of light and tried to avoid a light source. Right now there is a small campfire that emits light. Looks like that is not enough to deter the wolves.
Before Silvia is able to bring out another light source, I see a wolf walking between the trees.
"Gauvain, I found one on the west! I will mark it, you keep looking to the north" I shouted to Gauvain.
Right now I am at the southern side of the campsite while Gauvain is on the north. On the west are a row of trees, meanwhile on the east is a river that flows from Northwellen.
Not long after I see the wolf, a howl is heard from deep in the forest. The wolf that I saw between the trees, is moving toward me. Looks like that howl is the sign of attack.
"Master! There is a wolf from the north!" shouted Gauvain.
"A wolf? One? Can you handle that?"
"I will try!"
There are two wolves that we see right now. There should be more than two wolves as the howl that signaled them can be heard from the deeper part of the forest.
Behind me, I can sense that Silvia and the others are moving around turning up many light sources. I also can see what is in front of me more clearly after more lights are turned on.
The wolf that is in front of me started to get anxious from the light. It keeps growling as it stares at me.
As the wolf keep standing in front of me without moving, I decided to strike first. I jumped toward the wolf and slashed my sword toward its body. The wolf tried to jump back, but it is late by a split second and I was able to hit it. The sword left a big injury on its back.
The injured wolf whimpered a little and its moves has become stiff. I decided to unleash another attack on that wolf. This time I aimed at its neck.
"Ah!" I shouted as I slashed its neck. Not long after I can see blood spurting from the open wound on the neck.
This should be able to kill the wolf, but the problem comes after this. How will the other wolves react?
I can hear another howl.
"They are retreating!" shouted Gauvain. Looks like the wolves are now retreating.
"Don't relax now!" I reminded Gauvain to keep focus. There is a chance that this is a trap from the wolves.
Luckily the wolves are indeed retreating and we can safely pass the night.
* * *
"So this is the Northwellen…" exclaimed Silvia.
We have passed the sacred forest and reached the Northwellen territory safely. In front of us is a vast grassland. We can see there are some horned rabbits munching on the grass here and there. It is only a few hours before we reach the Northwellen manor.
As we are all tired because of the incident last night, we are all hoping to reach the place fast.