About an hour later, the survey force to the forest was assembled at the entrance of the village, and the 21 knights led by Lanka, plus me and Il, numbered 23 in total.

The forest, where many monsters and beasts live, is a dangerous place for ordinary people, so there are no decent roads, and even walking is laborious, let alone riding, so the horses brought can only be stored in the village.

As soon as they heard that the knights were going to help survey the forest, the villagers were happy to take care of their luggage and horses. Lanka seems to want to pay the villagers some storage fees, but is rejected by the good villagers.

"This is a healing potion I made, and although it is not very effective, I hope it can help you." Kilo handed the five potions in different bottles to Lanka.

Lanka hesitated, after all, a ten-year-old child said that he could make potions, and it was unlikely that anyone would believe it. But in order to live up to Kilo's kindness, Lanka still accepted the gifts with a smile and stuffed them into his luggage.

"Thank you so much, what's your name?"

"Kilo Fürth."

"Then Kilo, this is for you, and you have to grow into a responsible man!" Lanka crouched down, touched Kilo's head, and took a dagger from his waist and placed it in his hand.

"Ah, thank you, sir! Sister Nina, come and see! Kilo took the dagger and lifted it up excitedly. The dagger was stuck in a scabbard, and it was impossible to tell how sharp it was, but just by the sterling silver, beautifully carved handle, it was still worth a lot of money.

Hearing Kilo's voice, Nina ran out through the crowd.

After seeing the dagger in Kilo's hand, Nina looked a little uneasy, and she snatched the dagger from Kilo's hand and handed it back to Lanka. "My lord, this gift is too expensive for us to accept."

"Nina! It was given to me by an adult! Give it back to me! Kilo stood on tiptoe to retrieve the dagger from Nina's hand, but was too short and screamed anxiously.

"Ah, it's okay, this dagger ......" Lanka looked up at Nina, and then his expression froze instantly, and the whole person was as motionless as petrified, if it weren't for the fact that there were other people walking around, one couldn't help but wonder if time had stopped.

"Great, sir?" Not knowing what happened to Lanka, Nina called out to the other party again with some concern.

"Ah, ah, I'm so sorry," Ranka quickly looked away, his cheeks flushed unconsciously, as if realizing that staring at a girl was rather rude.

"No, it's okay, I don't usually need a dagger, and it won't be happy on me." Lanka wanted to push the dagger back, but accidentally grabbed Nina's hand because he was looking away.

“……”

Both of them quickly took a step back as if they were electrocuted, and Kilo, who was still rolling on the ground, tilted his head to the side in confusion after seeing the reaction of the two.

"Really, I'm so sorry, Miss Nina, I didn't mean to......"

"No, it's okay, just call me Nina."

"Ni, Nina, my name is Lanka."

Why do you always feel that the atmosphere has become a bit like a blind date?

Nina clasped her hands to her chest, as if she had forgotten about the dagger, and Lanka's gaze kept wandering, as if she was attracted by some kind of force, and no matter how she escaped, she would eventually return to Nina's body.

Ah, I have witnessed the whole process on the side, but I can see it clearly, with my years of experience in the love field, these two people definitely have a situation! Now Lanka's face is not simply red, it's almost smoking, okay? Ah, ah, now you have a rival in love, and you are also rich and handsome!

I looked at Il with sympathetic eyes, but he looked unimpressed, and lay lazily under the shade of the tree. Feed! I'm worried about you, okay?

A knight came up and whispered something in Lanka's ear, probably reminding him that it was time to go.

Lanka patted Kilo on the shoulder, "Take good care of my sister." ”

"Yes, Lord Lanka!" I don't know when Kilo has already retrieved the dagger from a sluggish Nina.

"Then Nina, see you next time," Lanka smiled warmly at Nina.

"Yes, okay, please be careful." Nina blushed and nodded.

"Then let's go!"

Lanka, who has regained his status as a warrior, gives the order with a powerful voice!

"Yes!"

The knights around him also responded to him with considerable momentum.

"Mr. Carter, Mr. Eli, let's go!"

"Okay," I nodded to Lanka as I dragged Il, who was napping in the shade, to Ranka.

The trees in the forest grow very tall, with dense foliage intertwined into a network that shades most of the sunlight, and the miasma that lingers all year round makes the whole forest as dark as evening even during the day. The wind that blew from nowhere shook the surrounding trees like a monstrous creature.

Since it was common for mage robes to get caught in branches when walking in the forest, Il changed into a light gray tight-fitting outfit this time. The knights also shed their heavy armor and replaced it with light armor that made it easy to move. We made our way to the depths of the forest, and although we didn't encounter any monsters along the way, no one let it go. The knights tried to maintain their formation as much as possible without hindering the battle. The shadows between the trees resemble the open mouth of a demon, giving the illusion that they are about to be consumed by darkness. Such an environment naturally has an inexplicable sense of oppression for ordinary humans who do not have night vision, and in fact I can also hear the knights next to me swallowing nervously.

Suddenly, there was a small sound between the trees in front of me clinging to the ground, one after another, and it was the sound of a large number of creatures rapidly approaching.

"Ready for battle!"

Along with Lanka's shouts rang out the sound of several swords unsheathed. The knights clenched their swords tightly, and could only squint and stare at the front due to poor vision. The shadows of the trees swayed more and more, and short, high-pitched cries advanced like a giant net that spread.

"It's a rat monster!"

(Note: The rat monster, a monster that resembles a mouse, the adult rat monster is about 50cm long, has a whip-like tail and sharp teeth, is agile, is a social creature, rarely invades the area of human activities, the strength of a single individual is weak, can be easily killed, and does not belong to the category of star monsters, that is, even the difficulty of one star cannot be reached.) ）

The knight standing at the front shouted, quickly crouched down, and covered himself with the shield on his back.

Puzzled by his movements, the other knights looked ahead in confusion, and in their minds, the rat monster was supposed to be a weak monster that didn't pose a threat. However, the sight in front of them made them gasp, and the knight who was close to the tree climbed up in a panic, and the knight who had no cover beside him reacted in the same way as the first knight.

The ground in front of me felt as if it had been flooded, and it was a black turbid current formed by a staggering number of rat monsters. The sound of a rock crashing echoed from the hard shield, the sound of a galloping rat monster crashing into a shield. In the face of such a large number, weapons such as swords were useless, and the knights could only curl up behind their shields, praying for the torrent to recede.

Soon the knights disappeared into the turbid current as if they had been swallowed up by a tsunami.