Chapter 32 – From Ancient Times.

The old wolf looked at the collapsed statue in front of him in the cave for a long time, recalling the past. When he was still young and full of blood, this statue didn’t look like it had collapsed so miserably. The first time he saw this statue was when he was very young. The chief of that time brought him here and talked about it. That he would keep this statue. At that time, the young wolf did not know what that meant. It was when he was about to go through the coming-of-age ceremony that he realized the meaning.

The past chieftain, who was as old as now, had a successful coming-of-age ceremony and decided to become the next chieftain, and died soon after. It was a sudden death that he did not even have time to properly teach him.

“The reason he brought a wolf cub that could be lifted with one hand was because he knew he was going to die, right?”

For a young wolf who had just undergone a coming-of-age ceremony, the position of chief was burdensome and heavy. He had to take responsibility for his clan, and because of his lack of experience, he managed to carry out his mission of protecting this forest from the Eraths through countless trials and errors. The old chieftain’s saying that what they really have to protect is not the forest, but this statue, has disappeared, buried in the busy life and responsibility of each day. Then one day. As usual, the Eraths came to this forest, aiming for the trees, and they prepared to hunt so that the Eraths would not harm the forest.

There was no problem. As always, he caught them off guard and hunted those who were accustomed to harming the forest. The problem arose the next moment.

“Run into the woods!”

A certain Erath shouted, and the Erath all started running into the forest. The young chieftain was embarrassed. Until now, no Erath had ventured deep into the forest. Because those Eraths ran as if it didn’t matter. Unaccustomed to this situation, he led his clan in a hurry to track down and hunt Erath, trapping some in caves, but Erath’s stamina was beyond imagination. While the wolves were getting tired faster by the hour, they kept running.

He may have been looking down on them and being careless at the appearance of them, who were not even opponents with simple speed. No clan dared to imagine that they could run that long.

“It was an obvious lack of experience.”

He muttered gloomily as he remembered that time. It was a very bitter and fatal mistake. What awaited him when he returned to this cave that day was the image of the statue he had to protect terribly collapsed. And what he found was the marble he gave to Usher. Having failed to protect the statue, he meticulously inspected the paintings carved on the walls of the cave, which only the chieftain could enter. Perhaps there is a way to restore the collapsed statue. He hopes to. However, what he was able to know was that once the statues were destroyed, they could not be restored and the owner of the forest they guarded.

“Platani, Agafia, Carbsius.”

They all meant girls. The young Erath has no idea how great or who she is. Even how undeservedly she is loved. As he laid his weary body on the ground, he saw the paws of a wolf with silver fur.

“You’re here, Belichye.”
“You have done what you commanded.”
“Is it.”

The only one with such a striking coat color was the wolf he designated as the next chieftain. Fortunately, he was given the time to teach him after the coming-of-age ceremony, and he taught him as much as possible so that he would never make the same mistake again. What the wolf values ​​most is wisdom, not strength. Strength is important to lead the wolves, who usually live separately, but without the wisdom that has been handed down for a long time, they would have been annihilated quickly. That is why they have inherited wisdom from their ancestors.

“It took a lot of work to listen to this old man.”

He taught me so strictly that even I thought I was overdoing it, lest I make the same mistake again. Still, this guy accepted everything without saying anything. He was more concerned about it because he couldn’t bear it.

“Go away now. I want to be alone.”

When he returns here, he will no longer be here. He felt his own embers go out and spoke, but even when he heard his words, his white feet did not move. At that, the old wolf rolled his cloudy eyes and wanted to see Belichye’s face. However, the blurry vision did not allow even that. Even so, he seemed to draw Velichiye’s face over the blurry figure.

“What’s so sad?”
“…”

He did not answer the old wolf’s question. Thinking he was a taciturn guy anyway, he slowly closed his eyes. And the last thing he saw was the beautiful golden light that saw him off last night on a lake where two moons faced each other. Soon, the insignificant embers were now gone, leaving only pure white ash.

“As expected, you are too kind.”

The old guilt and responsibility that had weighed him down just a moment ago had finally let go.

“What are you talking about?”

After spending the night, Usher woke up and looked around as if he heard a plaintive wolf cry from somewhere, but all he could see was the white shining sky, swaying grass, and colorful fish flying over it. Now he was in Belka and Lake to see the inside of the lake, which he couldn’t do yesterday. The only sounds I could hear were the sound of air bubbles and the muffled sound of water filling my ears. It didn’t look like anything else was going on, so he went back to look around the lake.

“Belka?”

The girl who was walking around the lake with him didn’t move even with his movements. Usher was terrified by her distant eyes and her faded presence, as if she was looking somewhere far away that he could not fathom.

“Belka.”
“…Did you call?”

After carefully calling her name once more, he said as if he didn’t know anything, relieved by the girl’s presence, which soon returned to normal.

“Let’s take a look around there.”

The place he pointed to was a place full of aquatic plants growing in the water, as if it had originally been part of the lake. It walks around in the water with vague sensations as if it were walking or flying. He found something strange.

“What is that?”

He found a line that seemed to have been artificially carved by someone in a slightly exposed part, which was difficult to see because it was covered with plants and moss, and approached it. When the aquatic plants covering the surface were removed by hand, letters made of straight lines were revealed. And Usher remembered where he had seen it.

“I saw this in a magic book.”

Because the letters were the same as the letters you had to draw by hand when using magic in a spell book. Among them, there were large characters that looked like a simple table-like object standing sideways, similar to a really simple fish drawn vertically. The girl next to him said while sweeping a rock with a letter engraved on it.

“Otilla and Perth.”
“Can you read it?”
“Yeah, I think I was really in a hurry when I made this.”

And then Belka put her finger on the end of the letter she called Perth.

“Usher, pace me and follow the text.”
“This?”

Usher, at her girl’s behest, placed her hand on the end of a letter called Otilla and followed her letter at the speed she followed her. However, it failed because he ran out of breath in the middle. It’s a while to be disappointed at the appearance of a rock where nothing happens. Belka kissed his lips and gently breathed in.

“I’m sorry. Because of me.”
“Are you okay.”

He, who had taken over her breath from her, tried again with her girl, and it was clear that he had succeeded. That’s because the rock, which seemed to be nailed to the spot and wouldn’t move, trembled and immediately went down. I was surprised for a while because of that. It sucked them in, causing them to fall forward.

“Kek, what is this…?”

Then I realized that I was breathing. Surprised, they looked around and saw that the water was down to their waists and that the cave was filled with strange writings. Usher thought that he would get tired of thinking about the cave again, but this cave was somehow different. The walls were filled with numerous letters. Besides, the things that seemed to be isolated one by one, like bricks, had a look that he had seen a lot somewhere.

“Is it a book?”

Like the surface of a lake, they reflected light as shiny and elongated and thin. Its shape was like a book, so Usher pulled out one of them. He pulled out a book and Usher tried to read the contents, but he couldn’t. Well, what he thought was a book wasn’t anything like a book.

“What? This.”

It was close to a book in appearance, but it was strange to call it a book. It was in the shape of a neat book, with no angular parts except for one side engraved with an unknown text. Too much. Like a brick with no content written on it and no space to write it on, that is all. However, to say that they are simple bricks, don’t they look like books? Even he had never seen an object with such a tactile feel that it could slide without any snagging.

No matter how neatly baked bricks or well-finished wood were, they were rough and bumpy, but this one had none of that. I took out the others one by one to see if this was the only one, but they were all terrifyingly identical shapes and unknown objects made of unknown materials. If it was something like a book, I would have been able to understand that it was stored like this, but no matter how I looked at it, it was not like a book. In the end, I couldn’t figure out anything, so I heard Belka’s voice as I sighed.

“It’s a relic.”
“Relics?”

From her words, Usher seemed to be able to get a sense of what these things were. Perhaps this is the era the girl told about.

“Is it a magic tool?!”

Belka did not deny his words. She seemed to be examining the books he had randomly put out, then she took out two and held them up.

“Now, let’s go back.”
“But.”

Maybe most of them were lost magic tools, but I hesitated because I had to leave these many things as they are.

“I can’t carry all these things around.”

As she said, it was unavoidable. This cave-like place was one of the smallest that Usher had been in, but it was by no means small. Even though it was a magic tool, I had no idea how to use it, but it was definitely impossible to carry all of them. He had to take only the two things the girl had left out. The way out of the cave they stopped by for a while and out of the lake. The bottom of the lake was still the same as the ground to the point where you wouldn’t think it was underwater, and that’s why it was a more beautiful place.

The lush greenery in the water as transparent and clear as air and the fish swimming among them were a sight that could not easily take their eyes off, so they walked out of the lake only after wandering around in the water for a while. A corner of Usher’s heart trembled at the thought that he might never see that sight again, but he couldn’t stay here forever. As he changed his wet clothes and lay down on the floor, the green grass rustled and tickled his ears, and the wind from the forest blew away the remaining moisture from his body. As he gazed at the blue sky as the wind blew his wet hair to dry slowly. It reminded me of the things I brought from the small cave.

“…I don’t know where to put this.”

He picked up one of them lying nearby and held it up in the sunlight, tried to cover it, and turned it around to examine it, but there was little he could find out. Except for the part where the letters are engraved, it is really slippery as if there is nothing on it, and the fact that it reflects light when held in sunlight, and the face can be seen when placed against his face. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t see anything useful. Usher held it for a while to find out what it was, and then the girl approached.

She was wearing a white suit that she had taken off over a dry dress as if she had changed her clothes while he was examining something like magic tools, and was holding her mask. She and she sits by his side.

“Did you find out anything?”
“No, I don’t know where to put it.”

The polished crab is similar to iron, but it is much lighter than iron of the same weight. However, it feels somewhat different to see it as a stone. I couldn’t even tell what it was made of, let alone what it was used for. When he finally gives up and sighs, Belka chuckles.

“If this isn’t another legacy they leave behind, it’s inexplicable.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll let you know sooner.”
“Because Usher looked happy.”

As if the girl was adorable, she cocked and poked his cheek. Perhaps because of this, a corner of her chest seemed to tickle, and Usher, as if tired of nothing, handed her that book or something to her and avoided her girl’s gaze, pretending to look at her sky. Time was passing just like that.

“Lord of the forest.”

When she heard the voice of the gray wolf, she turned around and saw not only the gray wolf, but also two wolves, one brown and a little lighter, behind her as if guarding the gray wolf. Belka looks at them too.

“I have brought you what you asked for.”

At her words, Usher noticed that the brown wolves were holding large rolled up bundles of grass. Maybe wolves carry stuff like that? The girl didn’t seem interested in that, so she opened the blade of grass the wolves had brought. And there.

“Medicinal herbs?”

When he was injured, the herbs Belka used to treat him could be seen crammed into giant blades of grass. A girl who puts the rest in her bag without even opening it, as if she knows that they are all the same.

“This herb can’t be obtained outside the forest. I asked for an ample supply.”

At her words, Usher remembered that he had to leave even this forest. A lot had happened since leaving the village, but they were still in the forest. It was a different feeling than leaving town. The villagers were very afraid of this forest even though they lived in the deepest part of the forest, but it was like home to him. Even so, he knew little about the forest, but still more than he knew about the outside of the forest.

“Usher.”

However, the fear of such a strange place melted away like ice bathed in the sun after encountering the worried golden light. Yes, how can I send a lovely girl out alone. Instead of answering Belka’s call, Usher held her hand. She was afraid to go outside, but she wasn’t as afraid of falling out with Belka either. I heard the gray wolf’s words, probably realizing that they had finished all preparations.

“You really are leaving the forest.”
“It was planned a long time ago. It’s just now.”

Belka responded in a plain voice to the regretful and sad words of the Gray Wolf. She said that the voice, which seemed to have nothing to do with them, made her feel sad, but the gray wolf said with resignation that it could not be helped.

“Gary, Freky. I’ll guide you to the outskirts.”

The brown wolves, called Gary and Freky, approached them without saying anything at the words of the gray wolf and bowed their backs.

“This forest is rough. Both for Erath and for you now.”

Her gaze, telling him to ride the brown wolves, was even desperate.

“And there will be tougher things waiting outside the forest. So please.”

How many times the gray wolf and Belka must have been eye-to-eye, as if they were having a snow fight. Finally Belka nodded her head. Although she spoke to him, the color of the gray wolf’s face turned red.

“The chief is sending me off…”
“No need. He’s already gone first.”

The girl cut her off. The gray wolf looked incomprehensible, but in the end, he couldn’t catch them who wanted to leave first. So they rode the backs of the brown wolves and headed out of the forest. The wolves were running so fast that when they came to their senses, they had already arrived outside the forest. If you ask me how I was able to recognize the place I was seeing for the first time, it was because of a very simple fact.

“There really is nothing.”

The forest was cut off at some point. As it got closer to the outside, the thickness became thinner and only the stumps remained, and the number of trees with other plants growing on them increased gradually, eventually reaching this place where only shallow weeds settled. A few more steps forward and the grass no longer grows there. As if someone had cut it with scissors and decided, from there, a wilderness full of vermilion led all the way to the horizon. If there was anything that stood out in the scene, it was the road with faint traces of people passing by.

Only the road was a little, but the color was different. It was only for a moment that I was fascinated by the appearance of the wilderness where I only had a vague idea that I would be able to follow that place. Though I looked back, thinking of the brown wolves who had brought them.

“By the way, what about you guys?”
“I’m already back.”

Without a chance to say goodbye, they left behind the luggage they had brought with them and returned to the forest where they lived. I felt sorry for the kind people to disappear so mercilessly, but that must be the way wolves live.

“Belka.”
“Huh.”
“Where are we going from now?”
“Well. I’m not sure either. It’s just that it’s very far away.”

Looking at the other side of the endless wilderness, Belka’s words of “I don’t know” Couldn’t help but feel like this. The place they left the forest was a world full of unfamiliar things, far from the familiar.