"I knew it. Ash is really dependable, huh."
With both hands on her waist, Eleen ran swiftly towards Ash and Ciel. She smiled broadly when she saw Ash's rattan basket filled with herbs that suited his task today. Meanwhile, Ciel's rattan basket was mostly filled with grasses.
"Well, I tried, but don't you know? All those herbs look the same to my eyes."
"Not really. Even though it's hard, I can recognize them when Eleen describes them."
Eleen chuckled at the siblings' constant arguing. He put the rattan basket containing the herbs on the ground, then moved on to the other basket containing food supplies and a large square of rags. He spread the cloth on a sloping place and arranged the food one by one in front of Ciel and Ash.
"Well, instead of fighting like that, it would be better to eat first. My mother has prepared it for you guys."
Ciel quickly sat down beside Eleen, looking at the food in front of her with hungry eyes. Several loafs of Ciel's favorite sliced fruit bread that only Eleen's mother could make, slices of bacon, and fruit juice mixed with milk and honey.
"You're already impatient, huh. It's burning outside and drain our stamina faster." Ash chuckled. He immediately helped Eleen to divide the food into three portions.
As Ash said, the season and weather could affect their stamina. Their stamina would rarely be depleted during winter or cloudy weather, but during summer or hot weather, their stamina would be depleted almost twice as much as usual. That's why, for humans on difficult Holy Tasks such as being loggers, quarrymen, farmers, and so on related to strenuous activities, hot weather and summer are the worst.
When their stamina reached zero, they couldn't do anything anymore and it would take twelve hours for their stamina to recover on its own. But if they eat food, that stamina can increase according to the HP of the food. When the stamina was full, the remaining food would no longer be edible and would turn into rotten food. Therefore, Eleen who was in charge of preparing lunch always kept in mind the amount of Ash and Ciel's stamina so that there would be no rotten food later.
Ciel, who was already starving, started eating the sliced fruit bread without saying anything. Among the three of them, Ciel had the most stamina. While Ash was the opposite. After finishing the food, the three of them began to breathe a sigh of relief while holding their stomachs.
"It's amazing. Anyway, your mom's dishes are the best!" Ciel gave Eleen a thumbs up while smiling widely.
"You guys praise too much." Even though it was her mother who was praised by Ciel, it was Eleen who blushed. "By the way, have you heard the rumors about this forest?"
"Rumors?"
Eleen nodded, but he hesitated to answer. "Yes... I just heard it from the other village children. They say that in the thick part of the forest, she' will come out."
"Huh?" Ash and Ciel spontaneously looked at each other. "She?"
".... A ghost."
Ash and Ciel were both silent for a moment. They shuddered unconsciously. Actually, even long ago, these cheesy rumors were often spread in Junon City. However, every time the children reported it, the village chief just dismissed it as a childish joke. After all, no one could prove that 'ghosts' existed.
"Could it be a creature from another domain that got lost?"
"That's not possible." Ash immediately refuted Ciel's ridiculous statement. "There's a prohibition on creatures from other domains crossing the borders within the Canon. They would have been punished immediately if that had happened. What do you think, Eleen? Have you ever met that ghost?"
Eleen smiled bitterly. "For that, I'm wondering too. Aren't you guys curious? There could be humans who have regrets when they die, then become ghosts, then-"
"Hey, stop it!" Ash quickly gagged Eleen's mouth with the leaves of a herbal plant, causing the boy to cough a few times.
"If you're curious, why don't we check it out, right? Who knows if 'he' really exists."
Ash refuses, but when he saw Ciel flashing a teasing smile at him, he became annoyed. Ash suddenly stood up, then replied while glaring at his brother. "Alright, let's go. It was surely just a rumor!"
Ciel desperately held back her laughter at the sight of Ash who said so with his hands trembling at his sides. "In that case, why don't we try going at night? Wouldn't things like that be good to see at night?"
"Whaaaat? No! We'll go during the day! Don't you know that sunlight is great for walking around in a lush forest like this? Right, Eleen?"
Eleen just laughed in response to the two brothers' silly bickering. Ciel who liked to tease Ash, and Ash who often became Ciel's butt. Sometimes he felt jealous seeing Ash and Ciel who looked after each other, but also teased each other like that.
Feeling herself the most sane, Eleen quickly put the empty lunch box into the rattan basket, then stood up. "Well, let's finish the preparations before seeing the ghosts."
Ciel nodded, while Ash immediately stood right behind Eleen. With slowly moving steps, they began to enter the interior of the border forest. Through the gaps of the large conifer trees that almost resembled cedar above all else, they walked hand in hand. Everything looked normal. The rustling of leaves and the chirping of small birds on the branches of the trees began to sound.
"Hey, we're not really crossing the border, are we?" Ash started to get anxious. He couldn't stop checking the surroundings.
"No, we didn't." Ciel answered confidently. "The canon only prohibits us from crossing the border, not going to the border forest. Besides, if we had crossed the border, the ground wouldn't be like this. So do not worry too much like that."
Ash pursed his lips. "You're talking like you've seen the border."
"That's right. I've seen it."
"What?!" Ash and Eleen both shouted, but they quickly shut their mouths so as not to cause a ruckus.
Although the border forest was only visited by lumberjacks and herbalists, it did not mean that other villagers were not here. If an adult saw three small children in the dense forest, they would immediately report to the village chief and could be punished with confinement. Ciel also knew his parents would nag him to no end. That's why Ciel chose to hide it like that.
While telling a little about the border, they walked further and further. The forest was slowly getting more and more lush. The sound of rustling leaves and chirping birds began to diminish. Likewise, the scorching sunlight that Ciel loved so much began to fade.
Ciel looked around once more, then asked Eleen. "Hey, is it true that 'she' appeared in this area? If I remember correctly, we're about to touch the border with another domains."
"Well... that's ...." Eleen wandered around, trying to match the surrounding area with the descriptions of the people who saw the 'ghost'. "It seems to be right near here. A few days ago, Uncle Delt and his son cut down a tree around here. However, out of doubt, they immediately returned home without approaching the figure. When they returned the next day, someone else saw a little girl with white hair appear."
"Ah! There!" Ash immediately pointed at one of the tree trunks that had marks like felling marks. "It looks like they cut down the tree, but because the ghost appeared, they immediately ran away."
Ash was getting more and more anxious. He squeezed himself between Ciel and Eleen with his eyes constantly wandering. Deep in the lush and dark forest, even though it was scorching hot, the air around them became cold. At the same time, a little girl dressed in white with platinum white hair seemed to be sitting under a tree.
Her face was not visible.
Both legs were covered by a long white dress.
And... there was not the slightest sound.