Chapter 30

30

"We've come this far, but I haven't seen a single rabbit. I wonder if the people who went ahead found any game..."

The Crown Princess muttered softly. Indeed, not even a squirrel was in sight. However, there was something else that concerned me more.

'Can't the others sense anything?'

The deeper we went into the forest, the more distinct the tingling sensation in the air became. It wasn't unpleasant; rather, it felt like small flower petals gently teasing me.

I was about to ask the people around me if they felt anything strange but ultimately kept my mouth shut. If I brought it up, I might end up looking strange myself.

'...Just in case, I need to stay alert. Owen's mage is suspicious...'

At that moment, a different sensation came over me.

I instinctively stopped my horse.

A chill ran down my spine, mingled with a sense of unease. While the tingling sensation had been harmless, this was the opposite.

"Madame Valentina?"

The Crown Princess tilted her head, puzzled by my sudden halt and immobility.

At that moment, I suddenly realized what I had just felt. It was... the sensation of space warping. I had felt it once before in Veronis, when a crack appeared in the town—

"Why are you stopping, Madame Valentina? Is riding too difficult for you?"

Adelaine approached and spoke with a sympathetic tone. I raised an eyebrow and asked her.

"Miss Albine, didn't you feel anything?"

"..."

Adelaine looked at me with a confused expression. I turned my head, ignoring her, and shouted to Queen Elemele.

"Your Majesty, please stop the procession! We must not go any further!"

Just as Queen Elemele turned to look at me, a crack appeared right where she had been about to pass. It was a fissure.

"A crack, it's a crack!"

"A crack has appeared!"

"Your Majesty and the Crown Princess, please move to safety!"

The royal knights guarding Queen Elemele and the Crown Princess reacted the fastest.

They quickly moved the two women to the back and took up positions at the front. The knights from the Valentina and other houses also drew their weapons and reformed their ranks.

"What's a crack doing in Ashridge Forest?!"

"It's not even the season for cracks to appear...!"

"Cracks rarely occur in this area! This is the first time it's happened!"

People were shouting in confusion. Amid the chaos, Adelaine's curious voice came from beside me.

"Lily, how did you know a crack was going to appear?"

...Is that really important right now? I didn't want to deal with her, but I answered her earnestly because some, including the Queen, were paying attention.

"I felt the space warping."

Adelaine furrowed her brow and opened her mouth.

"That's impossible. To sense that, you need to have a contract with a spirit—"

At that moment, a tremendous cracking sound echoed through the forest.

The ground shook and the air trembled as the space fractured. Trees swayed as if being uprooted, and leaves fell in a flurry.

A dark, malevolent aura flowed from the tear in the world. It was like looking through a broken window, and a strange beast's claw suddenly protruded from the other side. It was a monster.

"..."

The atmosphere turned deathly silent as the impending flood of monsters was sensed, and the tension tightened.

The silence was broken by the sharp cries of the monsters as they poured out of the fissure.

"Everyone, stay in your positions! Do not retreat!"

The knight at the forefront shouted. In such situations, there were two typical responses. Those who could fight would protect those who couldn't while battling the monsters.

And those who couldn't fight would flee.

But the latter was not a good choice. Because...

"Aaaah! Help me! Aaaah!"

The person who had just tried to flee was caught by a monster that leaped from behind.

For this very reason. Whether the monsters had intelligence or not was unknown, but they tended to attack those who showed their backs first.

"Fire a signal flare! We must inform the Crown Prince immediately!"

"The signal flares are defective! We've tried several times already—cough!"

The situation was dire. The signal flares were defective, and the number of monsters was overwhelming, causing the knights to fall back. It wouldn't be long before the defense had gaps.

Amid the anxiety of the noble ladies and matrons, Adelaine suddenly stepped forward and shouted.

"I'll drive them away with magic, so everyone stand behind me!"

Indeed, Adelaine, as the Crimson Daughter of the Albine family, could use magic. The problem was that dealing with monsters using magic was not easy.

The only force that could reliably repel monsters was spirit power. Magic could weaken or kill monsters, but the entrance to the flood of monsters, the crack, could only be sealed with spirit power.

Therefore, every territory needed at least one spirit contractor. The Albine family, which had a lineage of mages, often adopted spirit sensitives from other families or brought them from the capital's academy because they couldn't produce spirit contractors in their direct line.

"Ah, Miss Albine!"

"Can you really do it?"

Some quickly gathered behind Adelaine, clutching at her back with desperate expressions. Adelaine closed her eyes, focusing, and a red light of magic appeared in the air above her head.

Red usually indicated an attack spell. The color of magic changed depending on the spell being cast, and the intensity of the color depended on the mage's aptitude.

'This red...'

It was murky, as if diluted with water. It didn't bode well. As I hesitated about whether to stop Adelaine, she cast a spell at a few monsters.

Red arrows struck the monsters' foreheads. The monsters, caught off guard, staggered for a moment before their eyes flashed and they charged at Adelaine.

'As expected.'

Adelaine's magic had no effect. It only further agitated the monsters.

An Albine knight moved swiftly, swinging his sword at the monsters. Thanks to him, Adelaine was unharmed, but the problem was what happened next.

The monsters, further agitated by her magic, began to rampage even more.

"Kyaah!"

Three monsters charged at the Queen, the Crown Princess, and Rozenn. I quickly stepped in front of them, and a brilliant light burst from the brooch Theodore had given me.

"..."

The blue flames of Theodore's spirit, Seraphim, enveloped me, protecting me from the monsters.

Thanks to this, the monsters that had been about to attack the Queen and others hesitated and retreated. Indeed, the pure power of spirits was what monsters feared the most.

'But this won't last long.'

The spirit power contained in objects had its limits. It wasn't infinite. The spirit power in this rose quartz would run out, and support needed to arrive before that happened.

"Madame Valentina, how long can you hold out with that?"

"..."

I answered the question with uncertainty. The blue flames were losing their strength and gradually fading. The monsters, sensing this, began to gather here again. ...If this continued, the worst could happen.

'Until Theodore arrives...'

At that moment,

The tingling sensation I had felt earlier returned from somewhere.

I stiffened, startled. This feeling... was definitely not a dangerous one. It didn't seem to want to harm me or interfere with me.

It felt like it was trying to help me.

'...Could it be?'

The wind blew, and the forest seemed to whisper. My heart raced. The deep green foliage seemed to wave in greeting. If my guess was correct, the entity sending this sensation was, most likely...

'...The spirit of Ashridge Forest...'

Every natural thing has a spirit. In the earth and sea, on the cliffs and rocks of high mountains, in trees and wildflowers. And in such an ancient forest, many tree spirits gather to form a 'collective' known as the forest spirit.

Spirits do not communicate in human language. That was only natural. Words and letters, which have a regular structure, were created by humans to communicate with each other, not as a language of nature.

Therefore, spirits convey their intentions through more intuitive means.

"Ugh..."

The spirit's 'language' hit me directly in the mind, feeling somewhat violent. The will of the spirit, which I recognized immediately without any prelude, was clear.

The spirit of Ashridge Forest was asking me, "Do you want help?"

'How can I...'

I was not born with spirit sensitivity. How could I communicate with a spirit?

But I didn't have time to think about it deeply. Seraphim's blue flames faded rapidly. The monsters, waiting for their chance, prepared to leap at me with glowing eyes.

There was no time to hesitate. I poured all my heart into a plea for help to the spirit of Ashridge Forest.

Just as the blue flames went out, roots shot up from the ground, entangling and impaling the monsters.

A brutal slaughter unfolded before my eyes. The powerful force of the ancient forest spirit left the monsters helpless, their throats cut.

The dark red blood of the monsters soaked the ground, forming pools. As I staggered, looking at the horrific corpses scattered around, the tingling sensation returned.

This... how should I describe it? It felt like it was asking if I had done well.

'What...?'

My mind was hazy. Thinking about it, I had held out for quite a while in this body. The sound of hooves pounding the ground came from somewhere, growing closer.

"―Lily!"

A familiar voice called my name. I then lost consciousness.