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Editor: Lark
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“That’s weird, I thought I was walking straight ahead.”
I looked around, but I had no idea where I was.
I thought about turning back the way I had come, but even that seemed a bit daunting now that I was completely lost and strayed off the path I was used to walking.
I wasn’t as familiar with the place as I thought and on top of that, it seems that I had lost my sense of direction in the dense fog.
Kazura sat down under a tree and sighed, wondering what to do next.
“I hope the fog clears up in the morning
 even if it does, will I be able to make it out of this forest?”
Even if the fog cleared up, there was no way to return if I don’t know where I am in the first place.
Besides, I was supposed to reach the village in five minutes on foot, but I had been wandering in this forest for about half an hour.
I think it’s safe to say that I am in the wrong place.
It would have been easy to return back if I had the compass I bought during the day, but the only things I had in my bag were some sake and liquor I had bought at the supermarket and a change of clothes.
Fortunately, I also had some energy bars and Lipo-D, they should make me last for a few days.
“I’ll burn some firewood in the morning and create a signal smoke. Hopefully, someone will come to my rescue.”
I sighed deeply as I rubbed the lighter that I always keep in my pocket.
Looking back, I knew next to nothing about this forest or any wildlife that exists here.
There had been a few times when I had gone into the forest to get firewood or nuts, but Valetta had always been with me.
While I was lost in my thoughts, I noticed that the surrounding forest seemed unearthly and something not of this world. I felt a shiver run up my spine.
“You must be worried, Valetta
”
As I was absentmindedly wondering what would be on the menu for dinner, I gradually began to doze off, probably exhausted from the daytime.
“Kazura-sama, Kazura-sama
”
“Eh
”
Still, in his deep sleep, Kazura’s body was being shaken awake by someone, and he heard someone calling his name.
When he looked up with his drowsy eyes, he saw a young woman dressed in light clothes with her hands gripping his shoulder.
From the way she was dressed, she’s probably a servant in the unit.
Holding a torch in her hand, she gazed at Kazura with a worried expression on her face
She had a kind look on her face, and her long black hair was tied into a very neat bun.
“Thank god you finally woke up
 Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I am fine, did you come all this way to look for me?”
I looked around to see if there was anyone there, but all I could see was her alone.
“Yes, we were waiting for you for so long but you didn’t come, I was asked by the village chief to search this forest to see if you might have gotten lost in this fog, the others are also searching for you.”
“For real? It seems I caused trouble for everyone.”
It seems that while I was sleeping, my absence turned into a commotion.
At this rate, the village is probably in an uproar now.
“Thank you for coming to help me, let’s return to the village.”
Saying that, Kazura stood up, but suddenly lost his footing and his legs gave out, and almost fell.
The girl took notice and hurriedly went and held his plummeting body in her arms, preventing his fall.
“Oh, we can’t return yet, your body is too cold, let’s warm up your body a bit and then return later on.”
After he heard that, Kazura touched his body,
Before he knew it, his entire body had become dreadfully cold.
His limbs were sluggish and he couldn’t find the strength to move them.
“I’ll go pick up some firewood, please wait a moment.”
She sat Kazura down a tree, thrust her torch into the ground before disappearing into the forest.
The fog seemed to be clearing up slightly, revealing a dark, dense forest around them.
As Kazura waited, shivering, the girl came back with a lot of firewood in her hands.
She quickly piled up the firewood and lit them with her torch.
Kazura thought that the rain and fog would dampen the wood, but to his surprise, the firewood started to make crackling noises and it began to burn wildly.
“Let’s stay here and warm ourselves up a bit.”
“The wood caught fire easily, how did the wood not dampen from all this rain?”
“There’s a trick to it. Even after a rain, if you look carefully, you can find branches that haven’t been soaked.”
She smiled softly at Kazura while tilting her head.
Kazura wondered where he could find any branches that wouldn’t get wet when the rain was so heavy that it made the whole ground muddy, but he didn’t have a clue.
‘
(Is that?)’
Kazura turned his attention to the ground where she was sitting.
It was supposed to be muddy from the heavy rain, but only the area around where she was sitting was dry.
“
After, 4 years.”
As Kazura frowned, not knowing what she was saying, the girl who had been staring at the fire opened her mouth.
“Four years? 
Oh, until the armistice expires?”
“Yes.”
The girl nodded and continued staring at the fire.
Her face, illuminated by the red fire, looked somewhat frail and forlorn.
“Many more lives will be lost, so many people and animals will die, again.”
Kazura stared at her sad face trying to figure out the right words to say to her, but he couldn’t find them.
“Do you think Arcadia will be able to get rid of Balveile in the next war?”
She said that, still staring into the fire.
“Of course, we defended ourselves last time, didn’t we? We’ll be fine.”
Kazura answered immediately.
She was an ordinary citizen, and I was the one who is deeply involved in the internal affairs of the territory.
I had to assure her that everything would be alright.
“Besides, it hasn’t been decided yet if the war will be continued. If we and our allies work together, Balveil will not be able to attack us easily.”
“They will, I am sure of it.”
She answered immediately.
Her face still turned to the fire, she didn’t even glance at me once.
“Why are you saying t—”
Kazura saw something unbelievable behind her and choked on his words.
Not noticing anything, the girl opened her mouth again,
“Everything was decided. They would attack us, drive us away, burn everything, and everything will come to an end.”
Saying this, she looked straight at Kazura.
“Yes, everything had been decided. Until just a few months ago, everything had been decided!”
Kazura glanced at her face as she stared at him, and then looked behind her again.
There, reflected in the light of the fire, was her shadow.
Where there should have been a small shadow of the girl, there was the shimmering shadow of something monstrous.
A huge shadow, shaped like a beast, completely different from the silhouette of the girl sitting in front of him.
“But since then, the fog has gotten thicker and thicker, and now I can’t see anything.”
Saying that, she turned her attention back to the fire.
“Will all the people and beasts living on this land die? Is it going to be worse than what was supposed to happen?”
She said, as if she is asking herself a question
“
Kazura-sama.”
She stared at the fire and called out Kazura’s name in a mumble.
As he stared at her, Kazura could not move.
He had no idea who the slender woman in front of him really was.
What she was saying had no context and made no sense at all.
The beastly shadow flickering in the fire is still there.
“Will you save us?”
Kazura turned his gaze from the shadow back to her, sweating.
“ Who is
 ‘us’?”
When Kazura answered back with a question in a voice that sounded hoarse and worn out, she hung her head down.
The hair that had been on her cheeks covered her face, hiding her expression.
“I know I’m being a bother to ask this of you. I know it’s a terrible thing to ask,”
She didn’t answer my question and continued to speak as if I wasn’t there
“But even so, please do save us.”
As she said this, she stood up with her head still facing the ground.
At the same time, the fire that had been glowing brightly went out in an instant, and the area was enveloped in darkness.
Not even moonlight could pierce through, and I couldn’t even see my own hand.
“The fog has cleared up, let’s go.”
Kazura’s expression tightened because of the girl’s foreboding speech, her menacing shadow, and the darkness that enveloped the place.
The girl grabbed him by the hand to help him stand up and walked quickly through the dark forest.
After a few minutes of walking, half dragging myself along, I could see the lights of the houses in the darkness.
Apparently, we had made it through the forest and reached the village.
I suddenly realized that I could no longer feel the hand that had been guiding me.
He looked around, dumbfounded, but there didn’t seem to be anyone nearby.
Kazura stood there for a little while before he started walking towards the village.
When I arrived at the house and went inside, Valin and Valetta were sitting in front of a hearth.
Valin was dozing off with his legs crossed, and Valetta was reading a book.
I found plates of food on the floor, it seems dinner was ready.
Valetta looked up from her book and smiled at Kazura.
“Welcome home, Kazura-san, our dinner is ready
 Kazura-san?”
Valetta tilted her head at Kazura, who was standing there in a daze.
“S
 sorry.”
Kazura entered the living room and sat down in front of the hearth
Valetta rocked him and Valin awoke.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I must have completely fallen asleep.”
“No, I’m the one who’s late, I’m sorry. Here’s a souvenir for you.”
Valin’s eyes lit up as I pulled out a few bottles of sake and western liquor from my boston bag.
“Whoa
 Are you sure? Are you sure I can have this?!”
“Yeah, you can have them.”
I took the bowl of rice from Valetta while smiling at Valin, who was jumping in joy while holding the bottle of sake he received.
“Kazura-san, has something happened?”
Perhaps concerned about Kazura’s condition from earlier, Valetta called out to him to inquire.
“Earlier, in the forest
”
Kazura was about to open his mouth to talk about what had just happened, but he choked on his words.
The story was so incomprehensible that there was no way to explain it.
I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket to check the time, it was only a little after 8 P.M.
I thought it was way past midnight.
“It’s nothing, I was probably too tired and had a weird dream, I’m just a little disoriented right now.”
“A dream? What kind of dream?”
“Err
..”
Kazura was about to say what he had just experienced but stopped himself.
After the village was attacked by bandits, Valetta seemed to be hypersensitive about such things.
I don’t want to tell Valetta that a lot of people are going to die in the war, or that Balveile is definitely going to attack, even if it’s just a dream.
“I dreamed that I was in the forest, talking to a beautiful woman.”
“
”
“
Hmm
 Valetta-san?”
“I don’t care.”
“This stuff is so good, come on, let’s drink together, Kazura-san!!”
As Kazura was getting anxious about Valetta who was getting angry, Valin handed him a cup.
After that, the drinking started because of Valin and when I woke up in the morning, I found that we both had collapsed in the living room.