The area that our group was assigned to inspect, in order along with the other groups, turned out to be the fourth section of the front part of the forest.
If taken in sequence, even I already felt that it was quite far. Although in reality, it wasn't actually that far.
Once again, the people in our group split up, some went in pairs, some in groups of three—me? Alone.
It wasn't without reason. I didn't want to go together with those annoying people. If I did, I probably wouldn't be able to focus on the forest at all.
Earlier—
When all of us were gathered together and arranging a plan (even though I thought it was pointless), I joined the crowd.
Then, after they felt that the plan was ready, we entered the phase where we would split up into smaller groups.
Since I already felt that this would take a long time and might cause problems later, I quietly walked away from them.
Luckily, no one noticed when I left. That became an advantage for me.
This way, I could observe what was in this forest more freely, without any disturbance.
——
Dense and tall trees, cool air even though there was no rain, the chirping of birds, and the sound of flowing water that sounded so beautiful.
Hah… this really is a forest in its natural state.
I was almost at the edge of the area our group was inspecting, and I found a fairly large river.
Since this was already the edge and there was also a river, I decided not to return immediately and stopped for a moment.
I crouched at the riverbank and dipped both of my hands into the water to scoop some up and wash my face.
If possible, I wanted to drink the river water because it looked very clear and fresh, but… I think that would be quite risky.
Could it be that the missing person was just a false rumor? But that seems unlikely.
Up until now, I had only encountered ordinary animals that didn't look aggressive.
Like bears or wolves, and none of them reacted when I stared at them.
In this river as well, there were several small and large fish swimming back and forth. I could see them clearly because the water was so transparent.
There hadn't been any wild beasts or monsters that I encountered, so I could say that the route I had just walked through was safe from monsters.
Srek, srek.
The bushes behind me suddenly made a sound, and I reflexively grabbed my sword.
I immediately stood up and turned around to see what was behind the bushes.
The sound kept going, and the bushes wouldn't stop shaking.
I drew my sword and tried to check inside the bushes. And then, something suddenly jumped out from within.
Whoosh!
That thing leaped out of the bushes and slammed into my body, causing me to fall to the ground.
"Ouch… what is this—"
I opened my eyes and saw a small rabbit with pure white fur and light brown eyes.
I lifted the rabbit up and looked at it closely.
"Why is there such a cute little rabbit like you in this forest? It really seems like this forest is home to animals," I muttered to the rabbit.
Wait, why am I acting like someone trying to survive in the wilderness? I should return to where the others are gathering.
Earlier, I heard that they would regroup after thirty minutes of searching.
——
I returned to the starting point, where my group and I had previously discussed our plan.
Oh, they had all gathered before me.
When I arrived, they all looked in my direction, and Tomi immediately walked up to me.
"W-what is this?" I asked.
Tomi stood in front of me, staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite describe, and then—
Pat, pat.
He patted my shoulder?
"Thank goodness. We thought you got lost, Kid," he said.
"Huh?" I asked.
"You didn't go together with us, so we thought you got lost," he said.
"Relax, I just went on my own earlier," I replied.
——
It turned out that they thought I had gotten lost and disappeared inside the forest.
I eventually explained the reason why I went alone, and they immediately scolded me for several minutes, making my ears tired from listening to their nagging.
After things calmed down and all of us had gathered, each of us began reporting information about the areas we had inspected.
I also said that I hadn't found any monsters at all.
They were the same as me. No one had encountered any monsters. They hadn't even seen any signs such as monster footprints or anything like that.
Not all monsters walk, though most of them do.
"Isn't this a bit strange?" Tomi asked.
"Strange how?" Coko-san asked.
"It's impossible for people to go missing here just because they got lost. There are only two possibilities: monsters, or a group of thieves," Tomi replied.
"So, since none of us saw any monsters, does that mean the ones kidnapping people are humans?" I asked.
I figured I should say something so I would at least look like I was contributing.
"That's right. But we still haven't found any evidence," Tomi said.
"How about we head out first? The other groups have probably already returned. It's already four o'clock, you know," Coko-san said.
"Alright, let's regroup with the others first," Tomi said, agreeing with Coko-san's suggestion.
—
We checked the map on our status screens and left the forest. During the trip out, we didn't encounter any other groups.
They probably went out earlier.
We finally arrived outside and saw that several other groups had already returned and were sitting on the ground. See, I was right.
Wait, only three groups had returned so far. Including us, that made four. That meant the rest were still inside the forest.
Lancer-san's group also hadn't returned yet, probably because the area they were inspecting was wide, requiring more time.
I looked around and saw one group that included Yuu-chan.
Oh right, I almost forgot about that. Originally, Yuu-chan and I were in the same group, but someone from another group insisted on taking Yuu-chan into their group.
One of the people in our group allowed it. Honestly, I couldn't do much at the time.
That happened while the entire party was heading toward the forest, and I didn't realize Yuu-chan was with me. Before I knew it, she was already in another group.
I heard all of this from Tomi, who had actually seen that a girl from our group was exchanged with someone else.
—
I walked over to Yuu-chan to talk to her.
"Yuu-chan," I said.
"Yukito-sama? You're back?" she asked.
"Hm. What do you think?" I asked.
"I didn't sense any strong magical power from the forest, but I did find something while I was investigating," she said.
"Let me guess, you already told your group members?" I said.
She shook her head, meaning my guess was wrong.
"No, I kept this a secret from them," she said.
"So, what did you find?" I asked.
"I saw an empty patch of ground among the trees, and on the surface of the soil, there was something like a mark or symbol drawn with something red. Its shape looked like a magic circle," she said.
"A magic circle? What's that?" I asked.
"Eh?" she said, sounding as if she hadn't expected me not to know what a magic circle was.