This is from the perspective of the former corporal turned adventurer.

***

My name is Franz

I used to be a corporal in the army, but now I work as an adventurer in Tower City.


I still remember my encounter with the strange Alraune in a remote village during a witch hunt. Somehow, it already feels like a distant memory.
Soon after that, a dragon from the Demon King’s army attacked. I barely made it out alive, and a few days have passed since I found myself starting over as an adventurer here in Tower City.


I need to send money home to my family, so it’s time to focus and work hard!


By the time I was starting to get used to life as an adventurer in Tower City, I met a friendly old dwarf at a tavern.


“Ah, I see! Sending money back to your wife and daughter in your hometown? You’ve got your hands full, huh!” The dwarf said, laughing heartily, “Gahaha!”


We had just hit it off and decided to drink together at the tavern, but as I got to talking with him, I realized he was surprisingly well-informed and a pretty entertaining old fellow.


“Did you hear? The fort guarding the outskirts of this town was just taken by the Demon King’s army.”

By “fort,” he probably meant the outpost that guarded the route between Fortress City, which fell to the Demon King’s army last winter, and Tower City.
It seems the fort was taken by someone claiming to be one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s army.

The Four Heavenly Kings? That doesn’t sound peaceful.
If the Demon King’s army strikes again, Tower City will likely be their next target, and that has left the townspeople and soldiers on edge.
I can understand why. If something like that dragon showed up again, we wouldn’t stand a chance of winning.

Apparently, the fort was attacked by a giant bird-like enemy.
There’s nothing you can do if they strike from the sky.
Guess I’ll have to keep my eyes on the sky while working too.


“So, where are you headed tomorrow?”
“I’m heading to the forest nearby for a scouting mission.”

The job I took from the Adventurers’ Guild was a request to investigate The Forest of Dryades.

This job might even have something to do with the fort the Demon King’s army captured.
After all, If that forest falls into their hands, Tower City will end up right next door to the Demon King’s forces. At that point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the town had already fallen.
That’s just how vital the forest is as a defensive stronghold.


“Then do you know this? The forest is home to Dryads, forest spirits.”

Apparently, spirits dwell in the forest.
I see. That sounds like it’ll be worth investigating.



The next day.
I walked alone through the forest.

Back home, I’d worked as a hunter, so navigating through the woods was second nature.
I’d heard the forest was full of monsters, but the areas near the town seem relatively tame.


I hadn’t discovered anything out of the ordinary.
Just as I almost started to doubt whether the rumors about the Demon King’s army approaching the forest were false, I encountered it.

While resting by a small stream, I heard the sound of a tree falling right behind me.
Turning around, I saw a dead tree.

No, this wasn’t a dead tree.
It was a tree monster, a Treant!

And it was uprooting a strange triangular-shaped tree.

What in the world was going on?
Treants are said to be the guardians of the forest, protecting the trees from humans and monsters alike.
I’d seen Trents back in my hometown, and every one of them had treated the forest with care and respect.

And yet, this Treant was destroying the very trees it should have been guarding.
Carrying the oddly triangular tree on its back, it disappeared deeper into the forest.


But my encounter with the unknown didn’t end there.


A little ways from the stream, I saw a young girl.

It was rare to run into a human in such a vast forest.
Her hood was pulled low, so I couldn’t see her face clearly, but she looked to be around ten years old.
Somehow, I felt like I’d seen her somewhere before…

Looking closely, I noticed the girl was holding a bucket.
Perhaps she had come to the forest to gather something.
The girl gave off a strange aura, and in a firm voice, she warned me.

“You’re not allowed to go any further.”

“…Why not?”

“If you go, I won’t forgive you.”


That wasn’t really an answer.
What could possibly be up ahead?

Ignoring me entirely, the girl passed right by my side.

“Wait a moment!”

But strangely, when I turned around, her figure had disappeared.
All that remained was the sound of wings flapping somewhere nearby.

Where had she gone?
I felt as if I’d been tricked by a fairy.

Of course… a fairy!


I understand now. That girl was a fairy.
The old dwarf I met had mentioned that spirits lived in the forest.
If there are spirits, then surely there must be fairies as well.
So the fairy was probably warning me that going further would be dangerous.


It’s better to heed such warnings from the forest.
Back home, veteran hunters often told me that ignoring the advice of the forest’s inhabitants never ends well.



When I returned to the town, I immediately went to report to the Adventurers’ Guild.
On my way back, I spotted a peculiar girl in the plaza.


“What is this honey? It’s way too delicious!”

That girl had been licking honey out of a jar for a while now.
She looked to be about fifteen.
I can understand why a girl her age would like sweet things, but she was licking that honey so much it was a little off-putting.


Judging from her clothes, she seemed to be affiliated with the church.
If I’m not mistaken, that’s the uniform of a saint apprentice.

The saint apprentice, completely absorbed, was scooping up honey with her hands with complete abandon.
Her mouth and face were sticky and messy.


Actually, I had seen a saint once before.
It was five years ago when my home village was attacked by the Demon King’s army.

The saint happened to be visiting the village at the time, and she saved the villagers.
She healed everyone injured in the battle with her light magic. I, too, was one of the people she healed.

That saint, who became the village’s savior, is still a figure of admiration among the village children.
The granddaughter of the great sage next door was especially loud about it, constantly proclaiming, “I’m going to become a saint someday!”


I only met that saint once, so I didn’t remember her face clearly, but I recall her being a truly divine and majestic figure.
Come to think of it, what was her name again?
I remember hearing through the grapevine that she had passed away, and I was shocked.

Seeing a saint apprentice in the plaza, desperately devouring honey like that, is not something I want etched into my memory, especially since it reminds me of that beautiful saint.
Yes, I’ll just pretend I didn’t see it.
I don’t want my image of saints to be ruined.



At the tavern, I ran into the dwarf I had met the day before.
I joined him at his table, and we shared a drink.
There’s nothing better than a drink after a day’s work.

I told him about seeing the fairy in the forest.
Because of that, the dwarf started asking me detailed questions about exactly where in the forest I had seen it.


“Hey, old man, why are you so interested in fairies?”

“Well, well. You were lucky to have met a fairy and returned safely, lad.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Don’t young folks know? Well, it’s a famous story around Tower City.”


According to the old man, the master of the fairies is a forest spirit, a Dryad.
And apparently, that Dryad is considered dangerous to humans.

“Spirits aren’t exactly part of the Demon King’s army, so I wouldn’t think they’re that dangerous,” I said.

At that, the dwarf’s cheerful expression suddenly turned serious.

“That forest spirit… fifty years ago, it killed a Hero.”

I listened carefully to the dwarf’s story.
I learned that fifty years ago, a Hero had been killed in that forest by the Dryad.

***

Author’s Note:

This time, the story was told from the adventurer’s perspective.
It seems the former corporal has left the army and is now working hard as an adventurer.

Next Time: For My Beloved Family, I’ll Muster My Courage and Draw Out Even More Nectar Today