After a short talk, Shirou and the others quickly went into the forest.
For most people, a narrow forest with blocked views would be a hard place to move quickly. Even Ruijerd didn't have much experience in this kind of area.
But Shirou was very experienced with moving through forests. After coming to this world, he had spent almost his whole life in the forest fighting monsters, so he knew a lot about moving through the jungle.
Because of this, Shirou easily led Eris and Ruijerd forward without any problems.
However, as they were about to go deeper into the forest, Shirou stopped slightly.
"What's wrong?"
Eris looked at him, confused.
Ruijerd also hesitated.
Shirou spoke first, "There's a monster nearby. I remember the other adventurer team called the Foolish Gang went in that direction."
"So what? Those guys are just looking for death."
Eris didn't care and didn't think the other adventurer team was important.
But Ruijerd looked worried after hearing Shirou's words. He said, "Kids can't handle dangerous monsters. We should help."
"Yeah, I think so too."
Shirou and Ruijerd had very similar ideas about what was right, so they usually agreed on things like this.
Only Eris didn't understand why Shirou and Ruijerd cared so much about other people.
They were just strangers they didn't even know.
"Helping others is like helping yourself."
Shirou saw Eris's expression and knew what she was thinking. But he didn't force his beliefs on her, and instead said something easier to understand, "If you were in danger, Eris, wouldn't you want someone to help you?"
"That's... true."
Eris nodded.
She had been saved by others before, whether it was a long time ago when a man named Emiya saved her life, or later when Shirou helped her. She remembered these things.
But she didn't have the almost crazy sense of justice that Shirou and Ruijerd had, so she didn't always understand their actions.
Shirou didn't force Eris to understand his sense of justice right away. Instead, he prepared to move and said to Ruijerd, "Let me and Eris handle it later. If you fight, people might recognize your fighting style and realize you're a Superd demon."
"I don't care."
Ruijerd was very open about it and didn't care if his reputation would cause problems.
Shirou sighed quietly. "You don't care, but other people will. Do you want us to be kicked out of town later?"
"That's... okay, but if you can't handle it, I'll step in right away."
"Okay."
Shirou nodded.
He understood Ruijerd's thoughts completely because they were the same kind of people. They were willing to sacrifice themselves to help others.
Because of this, they often worried more about the people around them than themselves.
This was true for both Shirou and Ruijerd.
Only Eris didn't understand, so she felt more and more out of place. But she didn't say her thoughts and kept everything hidden in her heart.
...
After using his Eagle Eye to see better, Shirou quickly found Kurt and his group.
This adventurer team called the Dokurabu Village Foolish Gang was mostly made up of young people who had just become adventurers. They didn't have much experience and their skills were average.
Most importantly, they didn't understand the forest environment and were arrogant and self-confident like many young people. They didn't even try to hide their tracks.
This was like lighting a torch in a dark forest, showing their location to all the wild beasts hiding in the shadows.
It was the worst thing they could do.
In fact, that's exactly what happened.
When Shirou easily found them by following their tracks, Kurt and his group were already being attacked by a monster, and a very dangerous one—a Headsman.
Headsmen are human-shaped monsters. Their bodies are zombies made from dead adventurers.
Because they are undead monsters, their strength depends on the power of the adventurer they were before they died. Some special undead monsters even inherit the skills they had when they were alive, and some even have intelligence.
Of course, undead monsters with intelligence are not really monsters, but demons.
The Undead Demon Lord Atofe and her undead army are a group of demons made up of undead monsters with intelligence.
But that's another story.
Right now, Kurt and the others had run into a powerful undead monster as soon as they entered the forest. The monster was clearly a B-rank or higher adventurer before he died. His great strength hadn't faded even after becoming a monster.
Kurt and his group were badly defeated as soon as they started fighting and desperately wanted to run away.
But they didn't expect to find almond pythons blocking their path.
Almond pythons are monsters that appear in groups of three to five. They have almond-shaped patterns on their bodies.
They are about three meters long, have poisonous teeth, and move very quickly.
Because they are hard to defeat and there are many of them, they are ranked B and are strong enemies.
Kurt and the others were attacked by these two monsters that could be called the symbols of the Petrifying Forest, and were the two monsters they least wanted to meet. Their faces showed complete despair.
"Get back!"
At that moment, Shirou and Eris rushed out of the shadows.
Shirou drew the magic sword Wind Break from his waist. The Sword Saint level Longsword of Light suddenly appeared, like a flash of light in the dark, blocking the undead monster's attack.
Eris also drew her long sword and tore through the almond python's body!
However, unlike the weaker almond pythons, the Headsman was very powerful. He seemed to have been a strong swordsman before he died.
Shirou, respecting the swordsman, didn't directly tear apart his body. Instead, he had a sword fight with him and realized that the Headsman might have used North God Style. He then knocked the sword out of his hand and easily won the fight.
The reason it was so easy wasn't that the opponent was weak.
In fact, this swordsman was at least North Saint level when he was alive.
However, North God Style skills are almost impossible to use for a monster without intelligence. Those skills require a fast-thinking mind to change tactics on the fly.
On the other hand, if a Sword God Style swordsman became this kind of monster, he wouldn't become weaker, and might even become stronger.
This is because Sword God Style doesn't involve any thinking during battle. You just need to swing your sword as fast as you can.
While thinking about these things, Shirou picked up the Headsman's greatsword from the ground and saw that it wasn't ordinary. It was made of a very unique material that was extremely durable and far exceeded the weapons made by human blacksmiths.
"Phew... really... sob... saved, thank you..."
Kurt was to pale and trembling beside them.
He thought a strong person who happened to be passing by saved him, but when he saw that it was Shirou, he was surprised because Shirou was about the same level as him.
"This isn't a place you should be. Go back quickly."
Shirou said calmly, making Kurt look bitter.
He had realized his mistake and almost caused the members of his team to die.
If Shirou hadn't helped, they would have all died there.
"I'm sorry, and thank you."
Kurt thanked Shirou and Eris again.
Eris didn't really know how to handle thanks from other people, but she wasn't completely unable to accept it. She understood a little bit about the strange feeling you get when you help someone.
However, maybe it was a habit of his race.
Before leaving, Kurt suddenly took Eris's hand and kissed the back of her gloved hand.
Then, Kurt thanked them again and left quietly with a smile on his face.
Eris, left behind, froze and looked confused. Then, she suddenly looked at Shirou with a strange expression and started rubbing the place that had just been kissed.
"What's wrong?"
Shirou didn't understand Eris's reaction.
Eris became strangely agitated and threw away her gloves, saying in a panic, "I... I don't want these anymore!"
"???"
Shirou couldn't understand Eris's actions at all. He didn't care about Kurt's behavior because kissing the back of the hand was probably just a custom of his race.
Eris was very unhappy with Shirou's reaction. She stomped her foot anxiously and held out her gloved hand to Shirou.
"Shirou, you, you kiss me too!"
"Why?"
"Just do it, hurry!"
"..."
Confused by Eris's reaction, Shirou reluctantly took her hand and kissed it quietly.
Even though Eris had told Shirou to do it, she became embarrassed and her face turned red after being kissed.
Then she lowered her head and didn't say anything.
The group continued walking into the forest.
When Shirou and the others weren't paying attention, Eris kissed the place where Shirou had kissed her. Then, her face turned red and she desperately wiped her hand with the hem of her clothes.
In fact, Shirou noticed Eris's actions.
But he kept her feelings in mind, so he naturally didn't say anything.
Shirou and the others went deeper into the forest. Their goal was to defeat the monster before the team called SuperBlaze arrived, so they wouldn't be in danger.
However, when Shirou and the others arrived, they realized they were too late.
When they got there, they saw the corpses of the adventurers.
"They're all dead?"
Eris's eyes widened.
Ruijerd also looked surprised and muttered, "Are the monsters here that strong? How could they instantly wipe out a group of skilled adventurers like that?"
SuperBlaze was a B-rank adventurer team. Their strength was enough to defeat A-rank monsters, and they could even escape from S-rank monsters.
The fact that this group of brave and skilled adventurers had all died showed how terrifying the monsters in this forest were.
"No, something's not right."
Shirou shook his head.
He disagreed with the guess and quietly went around the adventurers' bodies. After looking them over, he concluded, "The monsters didn't kill these people. Or rather, it wasn't just the monsters."
"What?"
Eris and Ruijerd were surprised and confused.
Shirou took a deep breath and said urgently, "Go, quickly catch up with those Foolish Gang kids. If they go back to town, they'll definitely be in real danger!"
"Why?"
Eris was confused and asked.
Shirou said as quickly as possible, "The monsters in the forest aren't wild. They're raised by the adventurers of Rikarisu town. The people who killed Blaze and his group weren't monsters, but people, the adventurers of Rikarisu town!!"
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