The Misty Forest, whose real name is the Assyrian Forest, exists in the middle of the mountains that cross the continent. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

It is said that it was once just an ordinary forest, and one day many years ago, the forest suddenly became foggy, and then all those who tried to cross the forest would get lost in it, and occasionally someone with a good fortune would successfully cross the forest and enter the Northern Territory, and most people ended up getting lost in the forest, and finally suddenly appeared in a strange state of confusion in a human settlement near the forest.

It's been three days since I traveled north alone, and the misty forest is already visible in the distance.

If Xia Nan's message is accurate, maybe the Misty Forest is my target.

I couldn't help but think of Xia Nan's words again: "Three years ago, shortly after the annihilation of the Blood Oblivion Mercenary Regiment, a small detachment claiming to be them reached the city of Kesir after crossing the Misty Forest—it is said that they looked very dejected and had very little possessions. ”

The team should have only one purpose in going to the free trade city of Kesir - to sell the stolen goods.

Then they should have carried a lot of treasure, and of course they could have taken captured slaves with them.

However,

"They looked very depressed and had very little possessions."

The third ranked blood annihilation of the mercenary group is very strong, and the strength of the squad responsible for selling the stolen goods should not be weak, so it can't be because of robbers. It is even more unlikely that they will be caught up by the Burial Corps, because if the regiment commander's analysis is correct, the goal of the Burial Corps is to destroy the mouth and not property, and there is no reason to let them go.

They must have chosen to travel through the Misty Forest to escape the pursuit, right?

――What happened on the way?

As for Xia Nan - "Don't you feel sorry for giving up your identity, status, and love just for a maid?" ”

Pity? Maybe? Just like I replied to Xia Nan, the status that those knights are pursuing is not important to me. Only, Sakura......

I sighed.

Regardless of how the bastard knew, but he was right, Sakura was the only one......

I know, from the day I left the Windriders, Sakura and I were destined to be separated.

Because......

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

There is a village on the edge of the forest.

It was an abandoned village.

Although I have seen many abandoned villages, it is the only one that has left such a strong impression on me.

Because there are dozens of rudimentary crosses erected at the entrance of the village.

I carefully led the horse in.

The village road was covered with dust, and the surrounding houses were even more dilapidated, with cobwebs entangled. Looking through the broken window, it was pitch black. Many of the doors had been flooded with grass, and a few crows that I had alarmed flew out of the house. In the distance, there seems to be a church at the end of the road, and a cemetery behind it.

Not far away, there was a room with its door ajar and still intact, and I chose it as my place to rest tonight.

Pushing the door open, the musty smell mixed with the dust came to my face, and I couldn't help but cover my mouth and nose.

Looking at it, the inside of the house is okay, everything is still in good condition, it seems that the former owner of this house is doing well, and the furniture is all available, although it is dilapidated, it can still be seen that their style is by no means affordable for an ordinary villager. There was a vase on the windowsill, and the flowers inside were withered. There was an iron pot in the fireplace, and a clay pot next to it.

Pushing the door of the inner room, it was very tight, it seemed that the door was stuck, and after pushing it violently, I gave up the intention of entering the inner room.

"No wonder the rich man's house is so complete," I muttered to myself, picking up a few broken door panels from outside the house and lighting a fire in the hall.

"It seems that this village has been abandoned for a long time," I thought again, eating toast, "There is no trace of fire, and things are placed neatly, not like they were caused by war, and they don't look like demons, if it were them, there should be a lot of bones left, it can't be that there are no bones," I thought of the cemetery in front of the village, "Maybe it was naturally deserted, probably because of the forest at the edge of the village......" raised his hand and removed the vase by the window, "porcelain, oriental?" The workmanship is so exquisite, it should be worth at least two gold coins, right? - Huh? ”

Seems to be missing something.

Wrong!

Something is wrong.

I looked around suspiciously.

The village is not a natural desert.

If it was abandoned by nature, it would not be possible to leave so many things behind.

From this room, it appears that there were people living before it was abandoned, and it seems that someone was preparing to cook.

The other rooms probably do the same, right?

I suddenly remembered the cemetery, and the dozens of rudimentary crosses.

Generally speaking, no village would have a cemetery at the entrance of the village.

Not to mention that there is a cemetery behind the church.

If the ancestors of the villagers are buried behind the church, then what about the cemetery in front of the village? Who is buried?

Dozens of crosses!

And this village can only live for a maximum of thirty people!

The same simplicity should have been buried at the same time.

That is to say-

The cemetery at the entrance of the village is buried with all the villagers who died during the same period!

The slaughter of the army?

No, the village seemed to be peaceful before the accident.

What's even stranger is that there are still people who bury them one by one! Survivor? No, burying thirty people is a big project, and even if there are survivors, there won't be too many, who can work for many days in a ruined village strewn with dead bodies? Also, where are the survivors? On the run? Don't even bring a valuable vase?

If he fled in panic, he would not have the reason to come back and bury people; If he still had his senses, he wouldn't have brought not even a single valuable.

Unless-

He's nearby.

He is a madman who has the ability to gather the whole village to kill and bury them one by one.

Or, he's a demon who has lost his mind, but is powerful.

Because only the demons know how to confuse people's hearts, they have to gather the whole village at the same time - at least a mid-level demon clan, right?

My palms are sweating, it doesn't matter if it's a murderer, if it's a demon - can I deal with it?

- What happened to that team, could it have something to do with this village?

Holding the sword, I stayed up all night.

。。。。。。。。。。。。。

The night, in my chaotic thoughts, passed and nothing happened.

Early in the morning I searched the village carefully for a while, but found nothing.

It seems that the answer is still in the forest.

The forest is dense, full of mist and has the characteristic sour smell of the forest.

Vigilantly weaving through the outskirts of the forest, in the evening, we returned to the ruined village with dozens of crosses.

This time, I slept peacefully with the sword in my arms, and I was no longer so nervous.

The next day, I went in and out four or five times, and found nothing unusual, and the forest was still abundant, at least so that I didn't eat dry bread every day.

On the third day, I went deep into the forest as planned, carefully marking along the way, and in the evening I jumped up to the treetops, carefully identified the direction, and behind me, I could vaguely see the abandoned village.

At night, with my back to the tree, I had a dream.

In my dream, Ogi was running away in panic, and there was a group of people behind her who were chasing after her with torches, and I was anxiously trying to rush forward, but I was stopped by the people around me, and finally someone said something, and then an axe slashed at me.

The last thing I saw was that Ogi, who had been caught by a group of people, was looking at me in despair, crying frantically.

！ It's not Ogi!

I jerked over and sat up, a tingling pain in my palm.

However, ignoring the pain, I looked around in surprise.

It was dawn, and there were still tree trunks behind me, but I was surrounded by thorns, and my hand was just pressing on the thorns of the thorns.

What happened? I looked at the tree behind me suspiciously, it was no longer the one I had marked yesterday.

Could it be that

I hurriedly climbed up the treetops.

A sea of dark green trees.

There are no margins.

Yes, no matter how hard I try, I still can't see the abandoned village that was faintly visible yesterday.

Looks like I've been moved by something during the night.

I took a breath, but surprisingly didn't panic - maybe because the woods, which had been dark and silent in the bright sunshine, had become brighter? The fog that had been lingering in the forest was gone, and the sour smell was gone.

"Is this the Misty Forest?" I exhaled with a pretended ease and climbed down the tree.

What to do next? Bandaging my freshly punctured palm, I looked around.

I don't feel hostility, if it could have moved me here last night without me knowing, it could have killed me at any time, but it didn't- why?

Originally, I was going to go deep into the forest, but now I should be in the depths of the forest, right? There's no edge in sight around - the question is, which direction do you go down here?

"Trouble ......" I picked up the sword next to me, by the way? Lying to the thorn flowers.

The thorny thorns had a bunch of small lilac flowers blooming on them.

Isn't it the season for thorns to bloom?

I leaned forward in confusion - it was the one that had stabbed me, and the blood that had just clotted could be seen at the root of the flower.

Blood can make it bloom?

I had this ridiculous thought.

It's ridiculous.

Shaking my head, I wanted to dispel this weird thought.

However, the idea is getting stronger.

Try again?

I hesitated, then picked up the handkerchief that had just been stained with blood from wiping the wound and wiped it on another thorn.

The thorns bloomed in small purple flowers before my eyes at a speed I could see.

How can it be?!

I looked at the small flowers that had just grown in amazement.

I remember that Grandpa St. Wolf said that my blood is special, but he didn't say that my blood can raise flowers?

Is this forest special? A forest that grows in human blood? Bring me here to make fertilizer?

Jokes, all those who get lost in the forest will find it outside of the forest, and the Misty Forest, though weird, has never hurt anyone.

That's-

I carefully observed the bunch of flowers that had just grown.

If you have to say that it is special, then it is that it blooms in an undesirable position on the branches, so it does not grow in a straight bunch like other thorn flowers, but is slightly distorted at an angle.

Wait a minute!

Angle?!

I turned my head to look at the first one.

The same is distorted.

Same with this strain.

Could it be ...... I hastily pricked my finger (the original wound had already congealed) and smeared the blood on another thorn, this time with an extra heart, intentionally on the back of the thorn.

In the same way, a bunch of small flowers bloomed again.

It's weirdly twisted in one direction.

All three flowers are distorted in the same direction.

What is indicated?

The secret of the forest?

I looked back and forth at the three little flowers in confusion.

Anyway, the direction is unknown now, and since the forest is still friendly, you might as well walk in the direction it indicates.

I smiled helplessly, then picked up my sword and strode in the direction indicated by the Thorn Flower.

The road is smooth, there are many thorns along the way, and when you are unsure of the direction, you just need to let them bloom a flower again. (It's just that every time you need direction, you have to prick your hands with thorns - it hurts!) ）

However, after walking for half a day, there was no need to use blood to make the thorns bloom, because I found that the movements guided by the plants became more and more obvious along the way, and the thorns of the thorns, the leaves of the oak tree, and the vines of the beauty vine were all doing the same thing.

What exactly does the Misty Forest want to do?

It feels like it's very welcoming to me, and acorns, chestnuts, and pine nuts often fall in front of me along the way, and it's nice to have something to satisfy my hunger, and I don't care about that it's not the season to produce fruit - but don't you plants feel weird when you feel thirsty and drop an apple in front of you? ――Where are the apple trees in the vicinity?

Such a graciously inviting me?

For what?

If only I could be an elf who could talk to the forest, ha.

――Could it be that there are elves living in this forest?

No, the elves are not so boring, the haughty elves are definitely too lazy to use such a complicated way, they will contact me in a more direct way, even if they don't bother to meet directly, they will use illusion magic-

- Illusion magic?

I can't help but think back to last night's dream.

The sad parting dream was as painful as it was in the memory, and at first I thought it was a reappearance of the memory, but at the moment of awakening, I clearly felt the difference.

I struggled to remember.

In the past, the nightmare was a recreation of the scene when I was separated from Ogi, and each time I woke up after dreaming that I was slashed by a knight with a sword, but it was an axe that slashed at me last night.

The girl who was hunted down was only about the same age as Xiao Di, but she didn't have long fiery red hair like Xiao Di.

I have the impression that her hair is pale yellow, does it look like?

Yes, just like the one in front of her.

She?!

As I reminisced about the scene in my dream, I brushed aside the branches in front of me, and then I saw her.

Ahead, a girl slightly shorter than me was looking at me with surprise on her face.

It's like seeing it in a dream.

The long pale yellow hair is waist-high, the two hairlines hang down to the chest, and the face is white and delicate, faintly, you can see the tiny blood vessels beating slightly. The eyebrows are lighter, and the eyelashes are long, slightly obscuring the golden eyes. Slightly pale lips, the corners of the mouth slightly upturned. He wore a pure white dress inlaid with gold thread, and was covered with a loose sky-blue robe embellished with yellow and white flowers, and the robe was tightly tied to the waist with the same sky-blue belt, and the proud chest showed off the graceful curves.

It's so beautiful - it's like a fairy in the legendary forest.

**？

But the one in front of me is bigger than the one in the dream.

Another hallucination? Or did I never wake up from my dream?

Or, is she really the fairy of the woods? Did she invite me here?

I stared blankly at the girl in front of me, my mind confused.

The girl reacted first when I was confused.

I saw her eyes widen and widen, and she looked more and more frightened, and then—

"Ahh The girl let out a terrible scream, then closed her eyes and crouched down with her head in her hands.

“……”

Scared? Didn't she invite me?

Well......

But—

How is this fairy in the forest stupid?

If you're scared, shouldn't you run away? Think it's safe to close your eyes and huddle there?

I scratched my face with my fingers helplessly and took a few steps back in friendliness.

After screaming for a while, the girl seemed not so alarmed, and curled up with her mouth pursed, and secretly opened her eyes—seeing that I was watching her and trying to close it again.

"Uh," I saluted and tried to communicate with her, "Hello! My name is Threstin, excuse me—"

"Rusya." She hesitated for a moment, then replied in a low voice, her pink face flushing between her fingers.

"Don't worry!" I spread my hands, "I'm not a bad person~ I'm sorry to disturb you, I was summoned by this forest." ”

"...... Summoned? ”

"Ahh Yes! I don't know if it's—" I scratched my head, "the plants all the way in this direction, and here I am." ”

"Ahh Rusya exclaimed involuntarily, then muttered to herself uncertainly, "Joka?!" ”

"Joca?"

"Well," Rusya looked at me hesitantly, looking like she wanted to leave but was afraid of me, "ahhh......h

I continued to smile politely, "Can you take me to see it?" Don't worry, I'll stay away from you. ”

Rusya lowered her eyes and thought for a while, and finally bit her lip as if she had made a lot of determination: "Hmm...... I'm sorry. ”

I made a gesture to her asking her to lead the way.

So Rusya led the way in a panic, and from time to time she peeked sideways at me.

I followed from afar.

"Miss Rusya," I asked on the way, "are you a fairy of the forest?" ”

"Leprechauns? Why? Rusya stopped in confusion.

"Hmm...... Because you live in such a deep forest, and so beautiful," I scratched my head a little embarrassed, "and let me see you under the guidance of the forest, I think you should be a fairy or a fairy of this forest......"

"No~" Rusya smiled innocently, "I'm not a goblin or a fairy~ I'm just a person." ”

Then, she solemnly emphasized: "I am human. ”

"Oh...... Do you know if there was a team of many people who came to the forest three years ago? I didn't know what she cared about, but I asked anxiously, "Is there a red-haired, ten-year-old girl in the team?" ”

"Three years ago?" Rusya tilted her head and thought for a moment, "I don't remember - let's go and ask Joka, it must know." ”

"Joka is?"

"Ground Scythe* Joka," Rusya turned to continue leading the way, explaining as she said, "The Twelve Artifacts have the power to manipulate earth spirits, and you said you were guided by plants - it should have been made by Joka. ”

"Oh, then why did it summon me?"

Rusya shook her head, "I want to ask it too—ah!" It's here. ”

She led me to a clearing in the middle of a forest, with a small lake in the middle and a log cabin on the side.

Rusya was careful to lead me to the back of the house.

There was a square stone platform with a pitch-black scythe stuck diagonally on it, and it looked very simple, but it was so large that the length of the blade exposed outside the stone was already longer than my sword. The handle is about two meters long, right?

"Joka, why?" As I observed, Rusya reached out and stroked the hilt of her knife and muttered, as if sensing Joka's words.

Gradually, her expression became more and more solemn, and at the same time, her breathing became more and more rapid, and her body involuntarily began to tremble.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's all right," she looked up at me, her eyes filled with panic, "you come into the house and promise me not to come out no matter what happens!" ”

"How?" I was wondering when she had pushed me into the cabin in a panic.

"Don't come out, don't come out!" She emphasized.

Before she could finish speaking, she heard a rush of footsteps outside the door, and Rusya ran away.

What happened?

She looks so panicked, nothing will happen, right?

After a little hesitation, I finally decided to do as she was told.

There was only a few simple pieces of furniture in the wooden house, and a few apples were placed on the table.

Let's rest first, and we should know what's going on tomorrow.

Despite thinking so, I unsheathed my sword and held it in my hand.

(I think of those dozens of crosses.) ）

Who is she? Why here? What does the scythe want to do? What does she have to do with the people in the abandoned village? Will it be the whole village......

Gently, the house is filled with a faint fragrance.

Her voice is so good, has she always lived here?

What exactly was I thinking?

She's so beautiful, why am I so ......

I don't know who she is.

But, the first time I saw her, how I felt about her......

In my mind, my smile came up again, her light turn, and her soft words.

I don't think she's a murderer, maybe she got in.

Isn't Joka protecting her?

Just thinking about it, suddenly there was a painful ** outside the house.

It's Rusya.

I instinctively wanted to push the door open, but suddenly remembered her words, "Whatever happens, don't come out!" ”

"Don't come out!"

I hesitated - what to do?

Looking out of the window, I saw Rusya kneeling by the lake not far away, her hands touching her neck, vaguely, as if her whole body was trembling.

Is she sick? Should I go out?

"Ahh

No matter! She may be very sick, how can she not care?!

Pushing open the door, I ran to her to pick her up, "Miss Rusya, Miss Rusya?" ”

"Nope! Don't come here! In her pain, Rusya looked up and saw that it was me, pushed me away in a panic, ran a few steps on my back, and then staggered and fell.

"Miss Rusya?" I was pushed to the ground, "Maybe, I can help—?" ”

Before I could finish speaking, I was surprised to see how quickly her pale yellow hair turned black!

At the same time, Rusya's ** voice also disappeared, and I saw that she was no longer trembling, half-sitting, and slowly turned around-

Red eyes!

Ruthiana turned blood-red, and her bewitching red eyes completely caught my eye.

The black silk was scattered over her shoulders, slightly blown by the wind, and it was so beautiful against the backdrop of the silver moonlight.

I don't feel like I'm stunned.

Her eyes sparkled with seduction, and she panted slightly as she crawled closer to me.

"You ......" I only felt my throat dry and my heart was beating so fast that I couldn't help but stretch out my arm to her.

Slowly, Rusya's snow-white arms slid up my shoulders, and she gently touched my neck with her slender fingers, caressing, caressing, and gasping, and Rusya's body leaned limply against my chest. Weak, weak, but clinging to it.

Her cheeks were red, her lips were quivering, and she was babbling as if in a dream.

"Rusya...... "In a trance, I hugged her gently.

"En......" she whispered slightly, her face pressed against my shoulder, rubbing and rubbing like a cat......

There was silence by the lake.

However, my heart was full of agitation, and I listened to her soul-destroying gasps, and finally I couldn't help but lean over and kiss her.

She snorted, her face slightly avoiding my lips.

lips, imprinted with her ears, came a sweet scent of hair.

With that fragrance, I couldn't help but shake all over.

Then there was a sudden pain in the neck, followed by the sound of "gurgling" drinking water.

She, biting gently into my neck, was sucking blood.

Rutha ...... "But I still hugged her, and I couldn't bear to push her away.

The mood is so good.

It seems that there is nothing more beautiful than that.

It doesn't matter what happens...... Even if it was all her flesh and blood......

"Enjoy......" I said in a trance, feeling her weak body.

Suddenly, Rusya's body stiffened, and she jerked her head up, her eyes turning golden again.

"I ...... Sucked your blood? I...... ...... again" Her golden eyes were full of horror, she covered her ears with trembling hands, and struggled to escape from my embrace in a panic, "I...... I...... Again...... No...... No...... No! ”

I raised my hand, my neck was bleeding, but I didn't seem to be conscious, I just wanted to touch the black hair that was gradually changing color, I just wanted to comfort this delicate and painful girl.

Eventually, I fainted from blood loss, and the last thing I saw was a pair of black wings growing out of Rusya's back.

End of Chapter 6...