Chapter 7: A party in the forest (1)

“We need to deal with them quickly while the magic lasts!”

The party I had encountered in the forest swiftly began to cut down the Minotaurs.

Even with the level difference, they weren’t so foolish as to be overwhelmed by opponents who couldn’t dodge, attack, or even block.

Still, what could be said? A faint irritation stirred within me.

Seeing them train with such an ill-conceived party composition…

‘This is pointless meddling. They have nothing to do with me.’

Once I get directions to the village, I’ll be done with them anyway.

Though I had yearned for human company just moments ago, truthfully, their presence didn’t evoke the same welcoming feeling as Lee Seeun’s.

I felt a slight disconnect from the ‘humans’ I knew.

Moreover, among those standing before me, only the swordsman and the priest were human; the rest were demi-humans, which made the feeling understandable.

Even the humans among them weren’t those who lived on Earth, but rather individuals born and raised in this world, making them quite unfamiliar, to be honest.

“Oh, Earth Mother, please forgive this act of slaughter…”

–*Thwack!*

The priest thrust her staff through the Minotaur’s neck.

A few whistling sounds escaped the gaping wound in its neck before the monster finally ceased to breathe.

[ The priest ‘Aria’ has leveled up. ]

▶ ( Lv.35 → Lv.38 )

A Level 35 character taking down a Level 60 monster means gaining 3 levels in one go.

By the way, is this visible window I’ve been seeing my status window?

It’s something that wouldn’t appear no matter how desperately I called for it at first, but if it existed, it would have been better if it had appeared earlier.

‘Most of the books in the magic tower, I couldn’t read them.’

It wasn’t that I couldn’t read the sentences written there.

[ When the echo of the future resounds, the transcendent one shall lift the veil and resurrect the evil swallowed by the abyss. ]

However, those sentences were difficult to comprehend.

From the very beginning, in the game, I could never find any books filled with such cringeworthy sentences.

The abyss, indeed—my hands and feet would shrivel and shatter from the sheer cringe.

“It’s over… We’ve dealt with the Minotaurs.”

The brown-haired swordsman slumped to the ground, speaking.

It seemed he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Certainly, if I hadn’t appeared, at best, that elf would have barely managed to escape, and the rest would have met the same fate as those who say, “kill the men and capture the women.”

Minotaurs themselves aren’t particularly intelligent, but their leaders tend to be quite cunning.

Some of them even made contracts with ‘s*ave merchants.’

It appeared as one of the sub-quests in every forest with a Minotaur habitat. I used to do it quite often because the Minotaur meat given upon completion provided a strength-enhancing buff.

Only in the early days, of course.

‘I don’t want to eat that muscle-bound monstrosity again.’

According to the description, it was said to be quite unpalatable.

The occasional character nausea was a minor risk.

–*Thud. Thud. Thud.*

“Thank you for your help. We owe you our lives.”

While I was briefly lost in old memories, the situation seemed to have settled.

As the party’s representative, the swordsman offered me his gratitude.

It seemed this fellow was the party leader, estimated to be in his late teens.

I simply nodded, accepting his thanks.

“Excuse me, if you don’t mind, may I ask your name?”

“It is Cyan.”

“Ah, Lady Cyan. Thank you once again.”

He seems well-mannered, at least.

His effort to smile and express gratitude felt a little endearing. Was it like looking at a neighborhood kid?

And he seemed quite courageous too.

‘…The rest of them are all terrified.’

The other members of the party, excluding the swordsman, had all taken a step back, wary of me.

Surprisingly, even the elf who appeared to be the highest level among them reacted the same way.

Outwardly, they seemed calm and rational, so why were they displaying such animosity?

“Ah, please understand our elf friend. As you know, Forest Elves are wary of ‘High Elves’…”

High Elf?

Did he just call me a High Elf?

I’m not an elf, but a demon… Ah, I’ve concealed my horns.

[ High Elf ]

It is a rare and seldom-seen existence, said to be attainable only by superior individuals of the elf race.

At least, that’s how it is in the lore; in the game *Novel Online*, it’s treated as a type of advanced class that an elf character can acquire after reaching Level 150 and completing a job advancement quest.

Furthermore, according to the lore, High Elves possess silver hair and beautiful appearances like Cyan, so it was only natural for them to misunderstand when they saw my pointed ears, much like an elf’s.

Demons typically don’t descend to the human realm.

But actually, this worked out well.

‘I can conceal my demonic identity more easily.’

Such a misconception was actually beneficial for hiding my true identity.

“I understand. It doesn’t particularly bother me, so it’s fine.”

I decided to simply act as a High Elf.

After all, human-form demons like Cyan don’t differ much from elves, and it would be difficult to distinguish me even with my mana.

Moreover, the magic I just displayed would be convincing enough. And since High Elves, unlike regular elves, primarily use magic, wouldn’t it be even better to impersonate Cyan, a fellow magic-user?

“Regardless, it doesn’t matter, but I have a question.”

“Yes? What is it?”

I called back the swordsman who was about to leave.

I shouldn’t forget why I saved these people.

“Where is the nearest city from here?”

A city.

Commonly, a city refers to a permanent settlement where more people gather than in a village, a place with thousands of inhabitants and its own political system, but…

‘In *Novel Online*, it holds one more meaning.’

That is, it’s a ‘neutral zone.’

While conflicts between players or NPCs might occur, under normal circumstances, monsters do not appear within its boundaries.

Even if some appear occasionally due to events or story quests, it’s relatively safe most of the time.

Furthermore, there were places to stay, and one could earn money by taking requests from the Adventurer’s Guild.

“The nearest city from here is Asral City to the east. But even being the closest, it’ll probably take four days, you know?”

“Asral City, huh? No problem… Wait. Four days?”

“Yes.”

However, the distance was farther than I expected.

To walk for four days—of course, running would take less time, but it would become quite bothersome.

The biggest problem was the high possibility of getting lost.

Even if I were to vaguely run eastward, if my direction veered even slightly without my knowledge, it would be a wasted effort.

‘I made a mistake. There are no teleportation methods here like in a game.’

In *Novel Online*, one could simply use portals on a stage to move to the next location, but that wasn’t the case here.

After all, this place felt so unpleasantly realistic that it was hard to call it a game world.

“……Excuse me! Uh, High Elf-nim!”

“?”

As I was briefly lost in thought, the priest who had been wary of me suddenly spoke.

“W-would you mind coming with us, if it’s alright?! We also need to go to Asral City…!”

****

《 ~Field Stage~ Eastern Tebere Plains 》

The sun had already set.

Exiting the forest didn’t take long.

This was thanks to the Dwarf Mage, who had summoned an ‘Earth Spirit’ to locate the forest’s exit.

Cyan secretly envied this.

This was because demons had an extremely poor affinity for spirits, making it impossible for them, no matter how skilled their magical abilities.

“I feel so relieved that Lady Cyan is accompanying us!”

Inside the carriage, Aria, the priest, smiled brightly.

The image of Cyan she had witnessed moments ago was truly powerful, incredibly dignified, and utterly trustworthy.

Moreover, for a High Elf—rumored to despise humans—to so readily agree to accompany them, it was something that, if spoken of back at the temple, would be dismissed as an outright lie.

However, Cyan, seated opposite her, held no particular interest in her.

‘Disgusting.’

If anything, Cyan felt a stronger sense of displeasure.

And for good reason: Aria was a priest.

This meant she primarily used holy power, a type that was as incompatible with demons as spirits were.

Of course, the feeling of displeasure was entirely one-sided on Cyan’s part.

“I’m relieved too. All the mercenaries who came with us were either badly injured, or… they suffered such fates that we were short on numbers.”

–*Clatter! Clatter!*

Rain spoke, accompanied by the powerful thud of horse hooves.

He was expertly driving the horse.

Behind the carriage Cyan was in, the elf Rasiel was driving, followed by the carriage carrying the Dwarf Mage Thomas.

That carriage was carrying the mercenaries who had been overwhelmed by the Minotaurs just moments ago, along with the deceased.

Rasiel, finding Cyan unsettling and unable to abandon the carriage, and Thomas, needing to preserve the bodies and treat the wounded, had split into separate carriages.

Thanks to this, the current carriage could be considered relatively comfortable.

Cyan sat in the carriage, gazing out the window.

“……So, you said you were escorting a merchant caravan? But this looks rather shabby for a caravan, no matter how I look at it.”

“Ah, well… There’s a bit of a situation here.”

At Cyan’s question, Aria bit her lip.

Curious about what had happened, Cyan pressed further.

On the surface, for a merchant caravan, there weren’t many goods loaded, and what little there was consisted mostly of items needed for camping.

At best, it could be considered the trade of a small-scale individual merchant, and what’s more, the merchant themselves was nowhere to be seen.

They weren’t among the injured or the deceased either.

And the escort force was far too small.

Even including the wounded in the other carriage, they barely exceeded ten people—a strange number to escort a large-scale merchant caravan.

The scale itself seemed too small to begin with.

“I think it was unavoidable. After all, we were suddenly attacked by a herd of Minotaurs.”

“That’s not it, Rain! If only the merchant group had cooperated, there wouldn’t have been any casualties…”

It seemed there was indeed a story behind it.

Apparently, Rain’s party had accepted a merchant escort request and were proceeding through the forest alongside other mercenaries and merchants.

It was a large-scale caravan, mobilizing as many as ten carriages solely for goods, and they, along with others, had been at the forefront, protecting the caravan from attacks by monsters or bandits.

And they had been performing their duty admirably.

Moreover, the scale of the merchant group following behind was considerable, so they would have originally been able to respond even if Minotaurs had attacked, but…

They had faced the risk of annihilation, just as they had a short while ago.

“In other words, the merchant group, who should have fought alongside you, abandoned you and fled when they were attacked by the Minotaurs.”

“That’s right…”

And it was due to the betrayal of the merchant group they had set out with.

The injured and deceased in the other carriage were adventurers who had taken the same request as them.

There were no members of the merchant group among them.

“That’s unfortunate.”

Having heard their story, Cyan simply stared fixedly towards the west.

As if seeing something.

“?”

But there was nothing in that direction.

Aria, wondering what the great High Elf was looking at, gazed in the same direction, but all she saw was the path they had traveled by carriage.

‘This one has been staring at me since earlier.’

Aria likely had no way of knowing what Cyan was thinking.

However, according to tales, High Elves are said to possess the foresight to read the times by observing the movements of the stars.

Aria merely let her imagination run wild, thinking perhaps that was what Cyan was doing.

Still staring intently at Cyan, as if fascinated.

****

‘So, they abandoned the hired adventurers, then…’

Such occurrences could also be found in *Novel Online*.

Merchant NPCs in each city offered escort quests, and sometimes, when attacked by monsters, certain NPCs would abandon the players and flee.

This usually happened when the player who accepted the quest had a lower level compared to the attacking monsters.

‘Lucky.’

However, sometimes a hidden quest would trigger here.

The rewards for these hidden quests were dozens of times greater than those for regular escort missions, and upon first completion, one could even aim for special spoils.

My reason for specifically accompanying this lackluster party wasn’t just for guidance; I was also aiming for that quest.

‘If all goes well, I’ll get all the funds I need in one go.’

Travel requires a lot of money.

As sleeping on the streets wasn’t something I desired, it was essential to save up money.

Then, it would be good to start preparing for the hidden quest. If my memory serves me right, it should begin tomorrow.

While this world might not be perfectly identical to *Novel Story*, if the framework is the same, then the quests should be too.

–*Whoosh!*

How far had we traveled?

The sound of flowing water reached my ears.

《 ~Field Stage~ Tebere Plains River 》

The carriage came to a halt.

The swordsman dismounted from the carriage, surveyed the surroundings, and seemed to briefly consult with his party members.

After that, he finished speaking with the elf and the mage in the back, then finally approached me.

“Excuse me, Lady Cyan, it’s getting late today, so we’re thinking of setting up camp soon. Would that be alright with you?”

Camping, huh?

Well, I suppose it’s unavoidable for now.

Indeed, there were no human villages visible nearby, and we couldn’t keep moving without rest, so a break was necessary.

“It doesn’t matter. I just need to reach the city.”

“Ah, that’s a relief. We’ll hurry with the preparations, so Lady Cyan, please rest.”

“I’ll go too.”

The priest also followed the swordsman, beginning to unload items from the carriage.

They all seemed accustomed to camping.

The swordsman moved the firewood and supplies, while the priest began taking out food, seemingly to prepare dinner.

The elf took up their weapon to guard the surroundings, and the mage tended to the horses that had been running tirelessly.

Perhaps, despite their low levels, they were quite experienced in adventuring.

These sorts of camping experiences weren’t properly implemented even in the game, so for me, who had only watched a few documentaries on video, it was quite a novel sight.

–*Crackling! Crackling!*

A bonfire began to blaze on the plain, where night had descended.

Soon, a rather delicious aroma wafted through the air.

What should I call it? It smelled like a stew.

The smell of food, after such a long time, felt strange.

Yet, I didn’t feel particularly hungry.

Having consumed little more than water for the past six months, food itself felt largely unfamiliar to me now.

It was hardly surprising.

“Lady Cyan! Lady Cyan!”

So, I was simply gazing vaguely at the night sky when the priest’s voice began to draw closer.

“Lady Cyan! Would you perhaps like to have dinner with us, if it’s alright? Uh, I’m not sure if the food we eat will suit your taste, but…”

They brought over a bowl of steaming stew.

However, unlike the meaty aroma I’d smelled, it appeared to be a vegetarian dish, containing only vegetables and milk.

Ah, now that I recall, elves were vegetarians.

It occurred to me when I saw that elf preparing their own portion of food without meat.

“……Very well, I thank you.”

Since my goal wasn’t to fill my stomach, it didn’t matter.

My intention was simply to experience the act of putting something into my mouth and swallowing it down my throat into my stomach once more.

I followed the priest and dismounted from the carriage.