What spread out before my eyes was a forest — a space that had lost its vitality, with desolate shadows falling everywhere.
A gloomy, damp, and unpleasant place that made one instinctively refuse to approach it.
Bare trees with only branches left. Bizarre flowers of forms I had never seen before.
It looked like skinny arms were hanging down.
When I was young, whenever I was riding in the car with my father, there was a scene that came to mind.
On a dark night, the trees outside, seen through the window, looked eerie, like skeletal humans dancing. The landscape expanded through the child's imagination, changing its appearance at will.
I could hear the wind. No, it changed from moment to moment, as if mocking what I thought was the "sound of the wind."
—It sounded like a human crying. Like a child laughing brightly, a woman crying desperately, an animal wailing, or an old man screaming.
Square. Square.
Because I had lost my sense of smell, I couldn't smell anything.
On the contrary, I felt fortunate about it now. I was sure that if my nose had been fine, I would be nauseous all the time right now.
We continued walking without saying a word. It wasn't that I was holding back from speaking for any particular reason.
It was just that none of us were able to open our mouths because we were so overwhelmed by the eerie atmosphere.
It was Eden who broke the silence.
"It's a spookier place than I thought."
I nodded.
"… I think it might be a good thing that my sense of smell was banned."
Eden smiled brightly.
"Ha ha ha! Maybe so. But does a plant called Mandrake actually exist?"
Charlotte answered,
"Of course. Commoners like you wouldn't know, but I've seen it myself."
It seemed quite scary to see her constantly looking around even while answering.
"Then do you know where it grows?"
"Hmm… a damp, humid place?"
I looked at her with a dumbfounded face.
"… … ."
That was because the entire place was damp and humid. She seemed to realize that and turned her words around in an irritated tone.
"It must be somewhere! I've felt it before, but isn't there something strange here?"
At that moment, Frey, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped.
"What? Why did you stop suddenly?"
Frey said, looking at the group with a serious expression.
"… It seems like we keep circling the same place."
Charlotte asked in disgust,
"Frey, really…?"
She nodded.
"Yes. Do you see that tree over there?"
Her finger pointed to the tree on the right. It looked like a human face.
"What is that?"
"It's an interesting-looking tree."
"Is it a human face tree…?"
"That's right. I felt something strange earlier, so I counted in my head every time we came across that tree."
Charlotte swallowed.
"We encountered that tree a total of seven times. In other words, this is already the seventh time we've been in the same spot."
I looked at the face.
'What? Is it an illusion?'
It seemed like its expression had changed just now… as if it were laughing at us.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
It was Charlotte who screamed. She shouted, pointing somewhere with a pale face.
"Hey, over there, over there!"
The trees surrounding us all took on human shapes.
It wasn't an illusion after all. The corners of the mouths of the trees looking at us were torn into half-moon shapes.
The creepy sight sent a chill down my back, but it wasn't the time to just watch.
Frey drew her sword and charged courageously. Eden followed behind.
"I will stop it!"
"I will help too!"
I ran up to Charlotte, who was terrified, and shouted,
"Charlotte! What are you doing? Get a hold of yourself!"
The girl who had been so confident was now on the verge of fainting. She grabbed me by the collar, shaking like a scared puppy.
"I don't know! I don't know! You guys, please do something about them!!"
I expected it to some extent.
Having grown up as a flower in a greenhouse, she had a significant lack of practical experience compared to her talent.
But more than that, she seemed to have no resistance to fear.
"Quick, quick! Get it out of my sight quickly!"
Suddenly, I felt irritated. If things continued like this, she would only be an obstacle rather than a help throughout the exam.
In this case, the classic method is best.
Smack!
I slapped her in the face. I thought I had controlled my strength, but her lips burst, and her head snapped back.
"—!"
She looked at me with a shocked face, as if she couldn't believe what had just happened.
"How dare you…!"
She was so stunned that she couldn't even speak, muttering with tears in her eyes.
However, there was no time to indulge in foolish hysteria.
"If you whine one more time, I'll rip your mouth off, so shut up and listen."
My next words must have shocked her even more, as she began hiccuping.
"Hic!"
"Everyone except you is suffering like a dog right now. Fuck that damn ban that you suggested. But what are you doing? Are you going to keep shaking like a scared mutt? If you want to be the leader, show appropriate behavior."
Her face turned red like a ripe apple. It seemed she felt quite ashamed.
"… You, just wait and see."
She stood up with a venomous expression on her lips.
Her hands were shaking violently — not from fear, but from shame and anger.
I knew that the target of her anger was me, but it didn't matter. For now, it was more important to have her regain her composure.
"Charlotte. Use fire magic."
"Shut up! I'll take care of it, so don't give me orders!"
Naturally, trees were vulnerable to fire. Even wet firewood is reduced to ashes before overwhelming firepower.
Charlotte closed her eyes and concentrated.
Red mana rose like a haze from her entire body. Four rings bloomed above her head.
It was the mark of a 4th Circle wizard.
I shouted to Eden and Frey, who were buying time at the front.
"Eden, Frey! That's enough. Please come back!"
The two seemed surprisingly fine. Frey looked composed, and Eden was a stronger man than I imagined.
He said with a bright smile,
"Ugh, trees with human faces moving are the worst. I thought I was going to die because it was so disgusting."
"… I agree, Eden."
Frey also had an unusually disgusted face.
At that time, Charlotte, who had completed all her preparations, quickly began to chant — her serious and solemn voice contrasting with her usually haughty tone.
"The wind that flows through my will. The fire of hell will burn the enemies who stand in my way."
However, the shame was mine.
"—Weathering Fire."
Her eyes twinkled as if filled with flames. The air flow changed.
She held onto the fluctuating mana and moved her hands gracefully, like a conductor leading an orchestra.
The wind blowing along her hands gradually became stronger, soon covering the entire area and oxidizing into flames.
Raarrrrrrrrr!
The bodies of countless trees surrounding us caught fire.
The flame, which had begun as a small ember, gradually grew in size and turned into a fiery demon, engulfing them in an instant.
Crackle. Crackle.
Many of the human-faced trees turned into ashes in an instant.
As expected from the blood of the Magee family, she was tremendously talented.
It was a miracle I, who had relatively little magical power, could not even imitate.
I approached Charlotte. She seemed tired, perhaps because she had consumed a lot of magical power.
I caught her as her legs weakened and she was about to fall.
"Are you okay? That was great work. As expected, the bloodline of one of the empire's greatest magic families is extraordinary."
Charlotte glared at me as if she were dumbfounded.