Chapter 6

We are walking through a dense forest.

The trees are tall, and the sunlight is blocked, so the surrounding temperature has dropped.

We had to cross a swamp along the way, so both Teresa and I were covered in mud on our lower bodies.

As I stopped to observe the surroundings, Teresa was staring at me intently. Her gaze seemed to be asking, "What do you intend to do now?"

"Yeah, cutting through the forest was a mistake after all!"

I smiled and spoke to her.

A few days after slaying the Wild Wolf, we were on our way back to the town of Caps, where we have our base.

We could have taken the same route we came on and would have already arrived, but I thought it would be boring to just go and come back the same way.

I decided to cut through the forest on the way back.

I had seen the map at the Adventurer's Guild, and this forest wasn't particularly large. If we went well, we could get through in a few hours and save time, returning to Caps by evening.

While I was lost in thought, her gaze of protest did not stop.

She must have felt reassured that I knew the way since I entered the forest without hesitation.

At first, Teresa was looking at me normally, but after accidentally falling into the swamp and getting mud all over her lower body, her gaze seemed to become sharper.

"Since it's come to this, there's no choice. Let's rest here today."

We have plenty of food, and as I said before, it's a small forest. If we keep moving in the right direction, we should be able to get through eventually.

Teresa nodded and leaned against a nearby tree trunk, closing her eyes. She wrapped her cloak around her body and quickly fell asleep.

I watched her for a while,

"Well, I need to do something before I rest."

And I started walking around the forest.

"It took a bit of time..."

To ensure we could sleep soundly, I set up traps to alert us if any enemies approached and collected some edible plants. Then I returned to where Teresa was resting.

"Huh? She's not here?"

Teresa was supposed to be sleeping there just a moment ago, but no one was by the tree trunk.

I touched the tree trunk where she had been leaning. It was still warm.

It seems that Teresa had woken up and gone somewhere on her own.

"Well, I guess she can handle any monsters around here..."

Still, there's always a chance. I set out to find her.

★

—―Splash—―

In the forest where the presence of living things had become sparse, Teresa, now completely naked, was wiping her body with a cloth to remove the dirt.

She had been sleeping just a moment ago, but being a clean person, she couldn't rest properly with a dirty body.

After a while, Teresa felt that Galion had left the area. She walked through the forest in search of a water source and found a spring.

While bathing, Teresa reflected on recent events.

She had been suddenly expelled from the S-rank party, and on the same day, a strange man approached her.

While she was in shock after being kicked out of the party, he suddenly offered her a fried doughnut and invited her to join a party.

The next day, he visited her at her lodging in the morning and dragged her around, taking on requests forcefully. Thanks to him, she had no time to be depressed and realized she was completing requests as usual.

At first, Teresa thought Galion was just a man of words.

The Wild Wolf is not a weak monster. When she was in her previous party, they encountered and fought one a few months ago, and even Lux couldn't defeat it with one blow.

Moreover, this time there were more enemies, and even a Wild Wolf Leader, yet he defeated them in the blink of an eye.

Initially, Teresa thought he was just a fool, but she is beginning to recognize his strength.

Though he seems to act insensitively, she can sense that he is always concerned about her and ready to step in if anything happens.

Teresa sighed. She is aware that she has been sighing more frequently since she started traveling with Galion.

If she stays naked any longer, she might catch a cold. She put on her damp clothes and returned to the original spot.

★