Chapter 79 - Seventy-Nine ... The Forbidden Forest

Chapter 79: Chapter Seventy-Nine ... The Forbidden Forest

Chapter Seventy-Nine ... The Forbidden Forest

"Tsk, tsk. That noble’s information is behind the times."

"What do you mean?"

"Isn’t it plain he’s trying to throw his weight around to grab a post in the crusade? Without even knowing the posts have already been decided."

"If he’s lucky, it might still be possible. Nothing in this world is certain, Master Agphiel."

Jan shrugged as he answered.

Who knew? The Papal See might suddenly change its mind.

"Not that it’ll be easy, of course. Ha ha."

The head of House Bohren.

This crusade was a feast being thrown for him. The rest of them were only there to gnaw whatever scraps were left on the bones.

Just as Agphiel said, if Franklin learned the truth, he would surely be furious.

"Still, he can build up some renown, can’t he?"

"Renown? There won’t be any real gain in it."

Agphiel answered, unimpressed.

"Well, now that you mention it, it’s not so bad. It looks rather good, too. A noble who helps his brothers in faith in their hour of need. Quite a fine reputation."

"And given who he’s up against, he can deal with it without much loss. The numbers work out rather well."

"Hm, true. Surely he won’t lose to a band of bandits. There’s no way."

"Right? He surely won’t lose. Ha ha ha."

Laughing at Agphiel’s joke, Jan passed the cup around again.

He had taken knights with him, after all. Losing would make no sense at all.

And a little while later...

"M-my lord!"

Absurdly enough, the joke came true.

"Please, send help at once!"

Jan and Agphiel turned to each other, utterly speechless.

What on earth was this nonsense? Was he saying that Franklin, who had taken knights and mercenaries with him, had lost?

Jan wasn’t the only one who found it absurd.

"What nonsense is this?"

"He went out with that whole army and lost? That’s going too far for a joke, human!"

"Ha ha. Franklin must be playing a prank for our amusement..."

But the messenger wasn’t lying.

"We didn’t lose to the bandits... Franklin was chasing the fleeing bandits when he s-suddenly vanished into the forest."

"Vanished?"

"Yes. He disappeared right before our eyes. We were so startled that I came to ask for help..."

Everyone looked at one another.

"What on earth?"

It was an even more baffling story. He had suddenly vanished into the forest, and they were asking for help.

Right before their eyes?

But the messenger in front of them was far too earnest and desperate for it to be a joke. Bardo, who had been listening quietly, let out a scream.

"Ah! D-don’t tell me he went into the forbidden forest!"

"The forbidden forest...?"

"And what’s that?"

"Just the name makes it sound suspicious. Heh heh."

"W-well... there’s a forbidden black forest that’s been passed down in my house for generations. Once you go in, you can’t find your bearings, and no sunlight reaches it, so in the end you die inside. They say it’s cursed, so we’ve forbidden anyone to go near it."

Bardo said it while sweat trickled down his face. Jan, who had been listening quietly, nodded.

It made sense.

"Hm... So of all the places the bandits could flee from Franklin’s army, they fled there?"

"Huh. What bad luck."

"What do we do?"

People murmured.

Franklin, whom everyone had assumed would finish quickly and come back, had gone into a forest and vanished. There could be no greater disgrace. But no matter how much they wanted to deny it, the fact remained that Franklin and his army had disappeared into the forest.

Someone had to step up and do something... Yet not one person in the banquet hall stepped forward. They all kept glancing at Jan.

They didn’t want to take a loss themselves, so they wanted Jan, a great noble with a lofty reputation, to step up.

’Hm...’

Then again, it wasn’t their problem, so who would want to step in?

And a forbidden forest on top of it?

Just from the story, it sounded like a truly dangerous place, the kind where one might actually be cursed.

If he went in for nothing and was cursed, he would lose money, lose his army, and lose his life. The worst possible outcome.

"I’ll go. I have a dependable ally at my side, the Great Sage of the Forest, so even if the forest is cursed, we’ll be able to come back safely."

"Ohhh! Truly. How faithful."

"Only you could do this, my lord. Gold-rank lord."

The moment he said it, everyone burst into praise as if they’d had it ready. Wretched people... If only they’d been this quick to actually help.

There was nothing for it.

Grumbling inwardly, Jan set down his cup and looked beside him.

"Master Agphiel. Could you help me?"

"Heh heh. Well, of course I’ll help. What’s a little thing like this? Come, let’s go quickly. Franklin must be anxiously waiting for us somewhere in that forest."

"It wouldn’t hurt him to suffer a little."

How many people had to suffer because of one noble who was all eagerness and no sense? Grumbling, Jan hurriedly got to his feet.

With Agphiel, the Great Sage of the Forest, at his side, there shouldn’t be any serious problem.

Unless something went very badly wrong, they should be able to rescue him easily.

Jan immediately led his elite soldiers and dwarf mercenaries to the forbidden forest Bardo had described.

Sure enough, the corpses of what looked like bandits, dressed in rags, lay scattered all along the way, so there was no doubt they had fled in that direction.

"Whoa, whoa. Easy. Easy."

The closer they got to the forest, the more the horses snorted and balked, as though afraid. Seeing that, there did seem to be something to it...

"Hm, what do you think, Master Agphiel?"

"I can’t tell anything from the outside... It looks like an ordinary forest."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. But mysteries have to be experienced firsthand to be understood. If it’s been forbidden for generations, there must be a reason."

"Couldn’t it just be superstition? With a forest that thick, it’s easy to lose one’s way."

In his past life, Jan had heard plenty of tales about cursed forests no one could ever find their way out of.

The stories were always the same.

You couldn’t see the sun. You lost all sense of direction. You walked in circles until you died.

It was a familiar story, and nothing particularly remarkable.

Agphiel seemed both pleased and worried to see him so unmoved.

"Not believing in superstition and seeking reason is certainly a good habit... but sometimes ignoring a clear warning isn’t the wise thing to do."

"Hm..."

Jan wanted to say something, but for now he held his tongue. As Agphiel said, this was a world where mysteries and magic were alive. So perhaps superstitions sometimes had their reasons too?

He nodded.

"Understood. I’ll be careful."

"Heh heh. Very good."

"Then shall we go in? I want to feel for myself what this forest is like."

"Good. If anything goes wrong, I’ll step in, so don’t worry too much."

"Understood. Now! Everyone, advance! It’s time to go help our brothers in faith who are in trouble!"

"Hooah! For the faith!"

The moment the order was given, the soldiers advanced into the forbidden black forest. Jan waited at the very rear until he had made sure every soldier had gone in without trouble, and only then entered the forest last of all.