Dear Not Cunning Witch - Chapter 9.2

Part 2

An erythroid sunset spread across the horizon.

There was a flock of sheep out on the ranch, and the boy who was supposed to be watching over them while the shepherd stepped had away for a moment was nodding off to sleep. The spring breeze was whispering through the grasses, and the tolling of the church bells from afar tickled the ranch as it napped.

Diana was sitting in the ranch alone. Hardly anyone visited the ranch on the outskirts of the village while the day was still dark. It was even harder to find anyone on the road on Sundays, like today, because the villagers were all attending the weekly mass to solidify their faith.

Surprisingly, Diana had actually attended Sunday mass once. She had only tried attending to see if she could find any hints about the story since all the villagers had gathered there, but her efforts had unfortunately been in vain. To the contrary, she had nearly lost her mind because so many people had asked her a bunch of pointless questions, such as, “Where did you come from?”, “How long will you be staying here?”, and “What do the three of you do?”

This was why she had excused herself from today’s mass by saying that she wasn’t feeling well. She did feel a little sorry for Cedric and Rupert, who were surely troubled around now as the villagers kept pestering them, but Rupert had been blazing in his determination to learn more about the wizard of the swamp today, so it was at least partially self-inflicted.

‘What’s the point in asking around? The only thing they ever say is that the wizard is scary.’

Diana swallowed back a sigh. The villagers knew strangely little about the wizard of the swamp, especially considering that he had lived in what was practically their back yard for centuries. Some people said he could summon a dragon, and others said he was a cannibal. The only things that everyone had agreed on were that the wizard lived in the middle of the Black Forest and that he was terribly cruel.

Just how terrifying was this wizard that everyone was saying this? Of course, this was a time period when the Millennium War was still in full swing, so it was possible that all wizards scared people this badly. After all, the world of magic and human society, and the Church of Santigma in particular, were still at each other’s throats.

But what if that wasn’t the case? What if the wizard of the swamp truly was as terrifying as everyone said he was?

What if he was a cruel wizard like Niolo Pagliacci had been?

Diana buried her face in her hands, unable to beat back her gloom. Eventually, she would have to make her way to the swamp to complete the story. And she would likely come face-to-face with the rumored wizard then. Diana hadn’t met the wizard of the swamp yet, but he was already starting take shape within her imaginations. And, regardless of whether Diana acknowledged her imaginations or not, that shape was very similar to Niolo Pagliacci.

“Miss!”

a familiar voice suddenly called out to her from afar. There was only one person who called out to her like that, both inside the storybook and out.

“Jallomo.”

Diana forced herself to look up and did her best to smile. She desperately wanted to be alone, but, unfortunately, Jallomo failed to see her melancholy and plopped down right next to her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well…….”

“I heard you were sick. Are you sure you should be out here like this?”

Diana could only smile awkwardly. Jallomo tilted his head to the side as he studied her complexion before he straightened himself out and continued,

“The sirs will be a bit late. The misters and missuses are holding a drinking party, and they’re not going to let anyone leave until everyone’s dead drunk.”

“I see.”

“You’re not worried for them?”

“Not really……. I’m sure they can take care of themselves.”

“Aha. So they know how to hold their liquor?”

Meanwhile, Jallomo had already formed his own conclusions on the matter and began chattering away at length. He told Diana about how he wished he could hold his liquor, but his face turned bright red after just one beer and the villagers sometimes called him a carrot because of that. Then he began gossiping about the other villagers —something that Diana hadn’t particularly cared to know about. He continued,

“Mr. Muller’s normally real quiet, but it’s like he turns back into a child or something as soon as you get some drink in him, yeah? No wonder people say that it was the evil wizards who discovered alcohol. They probably wanted to make people drunk and catch us off guard so they could torment us.”

“Yeah right.”

Jallomo grew very excited when Diana quipped back.

“But it’s true! That’s what the pastor said!”

“It has to be a lie.”

“Why would a pastor lie?! There’s no such thing as a pastor who lies!”

“Sure, all right. It’s not a lie, then.”

Diana raised the white flag in her annoyance. Jallomo gave her a side eye before he grumbled,

“You’re really mean sometimes, you know that? You can be such a bully.”

To his surprise, Diana nodded frankly before burying her face against her knees. He stopped talking as he watched her quietly.

A tranquil silence settled between them. Diana was toying with the hem of her skirt, and Jallomo was busy staring up at the gradually darkening sky. Quite some time had passed. Then, Jallomo suddenly grabbed Diana’s arm and shouted,

“Miss! Look, look up there!”

Diana was startled by the sudden shouting and looked up to where Jallomo was pointing before she realized what she was doing. They sky was now a dark purple, and she could see that the white stars were beginning to peek through. Jallomo continued,

“It’s Lilla, the Star of Fortune! They say you’ll get lucky if you see that star!”

There was an unconcealable joy filling Jallomo’s voice as he spoke. Diana narrowed her eyes and carefully studied the heavens. The doubts on her face quickly subsided.

“That’s Adam, the Star of Purity. Lilla rises a little more to the east.”

“What? Really?”

Jallomo stared blankly between the sky and Diana in turns. He continued,

“How do you know that, Miss? Are you a shepherd?”

“What on earth are you talking about? Why would knowing a bit about the stars make me a shepherd?”

“Well, I guess not…….”

Jallomo blinked for a moment before he quickly began pointing at the stars in the sky, twinkling like salt, and asking questions about them. He asked,

“Then, what’s that star!”

“Monty, the Star of Emergency.”

“And that one?”

“Argento, the Star of Time.”

“Then what about that one, over there?”

“Beatrice, the Star of Beauty.”

“And the one next to it?”

“Xantalos, the Hunter Star.”

“What about that one, the really bright one?”

“Orphedellè, the Spring Star. You don’t even know that seasonal stars?”

“O-of course I know them! I was just making sure you knew!”

Diana huffed. Jallomo sneakily studied the look in her eyes before he gingerly confessed,

“You know, I’ve always wanted to be a shepherd. I wanted to know a lot about the stars, just like you.”

“I keep telling you that I’m not a shepherd.”

“It doesn’t matter. All shepherds know a lot about the stars,”

Jallomo said as he laid down on the grass. Diana snuck a glance at him before she generously asked,

“Why are you so curious about the stars?”

“The stars are always the same no matter where you go. The stars we can see from here are the same stars you saw down south where you’re from. And whenever I look up at the stars, I can imagine. I can pretend that I’m somewhere that’s not here.”

The sky had been dyed black at some point. The embroidered stars twinkled down on Jallomo’s village. He continued,

“I’ll probably end up living in this village my entire life, just like the other villagers. And it’s not like I intend to leave either. I mean, where else would I find so many good people who were willing to care about an orphan like me? But I can still imagine, right? For now, I can’t leave the village because I’m too young, but later, I won’t be able to leave the village because I’ll be married and my family will be here or because I’ll be too old to even leave my house. But I can always imagine myself living a completely different life somewhere else.”

Jallomo raised his head and turned toward Diana. His wide-open eyes didn’t seem to be requesting a response from her. And it wasn’t as though Diana had anything in particular to say. Jallomo had been so oddly friendly to her ever since their first meeting. She had barely known him for ten days now. He was the main character of the story. It was only now that Diana was beginning to wonder what kind of person he was.

Slowly, Diana began to speak up. But a sudden shout from afar interrupted her just as she hesitantly opened her mouth.

“Miss Diana!”

“Oh, it’s Sir Rupert.”

Jallomo looked puzzled as he sat up. There was a grave look on Rupert’s face as she run over from the other side of the field, where the crimson sunset was still settling down.

“Miss Diana! The hero’s here!”

His voice was carried to her as he ran with his back to the sunset. He continued,

“The Hero Arnoldt is here!”

Diana blinked slowly.

It had been fifteen days since they had been trapped inside the storybook. And now, the hands of the story’s clock were beginning to move.

 

* * *

 

The sun had already finished setting by the time they had made it back to the village square. The villagers looked ominous as they whispered amongst themselves with grave looks on their faces as the occasional torch illuminated the square.

“Is it true that a hero’s here, Mr. Martin?”

Jallomo wedged his way into the crowd and grabbed a middle-age man by the hem of his shirt.

“Oh, Jallomo? Isn’t it almost your bedtime?”

“Gosh. How could I sleep when there’s a hero here?”

“You already heard the rumors? Goodness. People should mind their mouths more in front of children…….”

“So anyway, is it true that a hero’s here?”

But someone cried out boisterously in the square just as Martin was about to reply.

“Now, now. Please quiet down, everyone. The Lord Hero wishes to speak!”

Silence immediately fell unto the square. The villagers looked nervous as they turned toward the yellow house on the opposite end of the square. Jallomo was clever, and he did not let the moment of silence go to waste.

“Goodness, Jallomo!”

“Sorry, Mrs. Hannah! Passing through!”

He smiled audaciously as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Diana was small, and she was able to follow behind him by sticking close to him, but Rupert, unfortunately, could not. Rupert was quickly pushed to the back of the crowd, and he continued to call Diana’s name in his bewilderment. But the person who responded to him wasn’t Diana, the daughter of Griselda Sol, but Martin’s youngest daughter.

Creak.

At long last, the Hero Arnoldt walked out from the yellow house. The villagers seemed a tad disappointed to find that the hero looked like any ordinary man, but they still could not help but exclaim in pleasant surprise when they saw his face in the torchlight.

His countenance was pale, as if he had never worked a day out in the fields in his life, and his features were elegant. The villagers had never met a hero before, but it made sense to them that someone with such a noble mien must surely be a world-renowned hero.

“Oh, it’s a hero……,”

someone whispered, and the villagers began bowing down before the hero one after another. The square quickly became noisy again, but then the stumpy man behind the hero irritably shouted,

“Quiet down! You’re embarrassing us before the Lord Hero by being so loud!”

The villagers immediately quieted down. Jallomo, who had been watching the entire exchange, crossly muttered,

“Hmph. And yet you’re the loudest out of all of us.”

“Who is that man?”

“He’s the son of the old man in the yellow house. The old man hasn’t left his house much these days, maybe because he’s at the end of his life. That’s why his son’s taken over most of his duties as the village chief.”

Diana’s eyes grew sharper as she stared at the stumpy man. If the saying that children took after their parents was indeed true, then the stumpy man must surely be just as vile as the old man in the yellow house.

“Now. As I’m sure you all know, this is the Lord Hero who defeated the evil dragon of Mount Olafir. His Majesty the King has personally bestowed him a knighthood, so please welcome him with a round of applause.”

“Why has such a renowned hero come all the way out here?”

one villager bluntly asked, causing the stumpy man to glare.

“I was just about to explain! Why are you people so impatient? I’ll explain everything if you shut up for a minute!”

“Well, I was only curious…….”

“And there you go again! Can’t you see that you’re shaming my father’s good name by acting so unceremoniously? How can you be so thoughtless?!”

The villagers grew sullen and exchanged looks with each other as the stumpy man berated them. Then, the Hero Arnoldt, who had been quietly watching over the situation, stepped forward.

“It’s quite all right. I will explain things myself.”

His voice was quiet, but it penetrated throughout the entire square. He smiled gently at the stumpy man, who had fallen quiet despite himself, before looking back at the square. He then said,

“My name is Arnoldt. I have been called a hero ever since I defeated the evil dragon of Mount Olafir seven years ago. But I am sure that you would rather learn why I am here than hear about how I managed that feat.”

The villagers nodded hesitantly. The Hero Arnoldt grinned and continued,

“I hear that there is a vast forest to the north of this village. And that there is a wizard who has been living at the heart of the forest for the past two hundred years. I am here to kill the wizard of the swamp.”

A chilling silence swept through the square. The Hero Arnoldt carefully studied each and every one of the villagers’ astonished expressions.

“There’s no need to be so worried. I will face the wizard of the swamp alone. I do not believe I will fail, if I am to be honest, but even if I do, I will promise that no harm shall befall you.”

“How can you be sure of that? If you fail, Lord Hero, then the wizard of the swamp will come after us for revenge…….”

“The wizard of the swamp is already over two hundred years old. Remarkable wizards tend to live longer lives, but there is still a limit to their lifespans. Even Angela Ortega, the witch who slaughtered four hundred monks of the Schlondorf Monastery, was only a little over a hundred years old. The wizard of the swamp is over two hundred years old, so he must surely be counting down the days until his death. It’s even possible that he died quietly long ago.”

The villagers nodded back blankly.

“All I need is a little help from you……,”

the hero said as if he was at a loss. The stumpy man who had been waiting eagerly for a chance to speak said,

“We need someone to guide the Lord Hero to the swamp. As I’m sure you all know, the Black Forest has complicated paths and little sunlight, so it’s difficult for people to find their way around the first time they’re inside.”

“Why would we know the way to the swamp? We only ever visit the entrance of the Black Forest to cut down some trees.”

“Ahem. Still, I’m sure you at least know which paths to take. The Lord Hero’s come all the way here out of the goodness of his heart, so we couldn’t very well simply ask him to go alone, can we?”

The villagers looked away in vain when the stumpy man scolded them sternly. They were too afraid of guiding the hero to the swamp where the terrifying wizard lived, even if said hero had once slain a dragon.

“My guide is free to return to the village ahead of me once we’ve reached the swamp. I can promise you that my guide, whomever they may be, will never come face-to-face with the wizard,”

the Hero Arnoldt added. But no one volunteered. The villagers only continued to exchange looks as they tried to push the responsibility on someone else.

Then, the stumpy man quietly slipped in,

“Ahem. This is just a suggestion, but… Why don’t we exclude anyone with children? I’m sure nothing will happen, but the rest of the family will suffer if the head of a household was to pass away.”

Anyone with a family immediately nodded in agreement. This encouraged the stumpy man, and he continued in a louder voice,

“And the job is best suited for someone strong and healthy. Only then will the guide be able to assist the Lord Hero in the Black Forest, no?”

“Agreed!”

“And, I might also add that this might be a job best suited for someone who doesn’t have a family.”

Someone who was yet unmarried and had no children, and someone strong and healthy but with no family. The villagers busily began searching for someone who met these criteria until their eyes suddenly stopped in one direction. An eerie silence fell upon the square, and Diana voiced her doubts when she felt the prickling stares.

“……Jallomo?”

The blood had drained from Jallomo’s face, as if he had seen a ghost. Diana urgently looked behind her. She was astounded to see how many villagers quickly turned away from her gaze because their guilty consciences stung.

“It’s for the sake of the village,”

the stumpy man said as he smiled slowly. He continued,

“Aren’t we all a part of one community? While I’m sure that you all work very hard for the village, please don’t ever forget that the village does a lot for you too. It’s only natural for you to take the initiative and volunteer to help if the village needs it. If you’re truly a member of the village, that is.”

A ‘true’ member of the village.

Jallomo’s hands were trembling.

“But I agree that this particular burden is a lot for just one person to bear. And so, my merciful father, the village chief, has declared that he will give one hundred grats to the person who volunteers to be the Lord Hero’s guide.”

Several people exclaimed when the stumpy man brought up the money. But even still, no one volunteered to be the guide.

The stumpy man slowly surveyed the villagers before his eyes stopped at Jallomo. Jallomo was quivering pitifully, but he soon bit down hard at his lip as if he had finally come to a decision.

The stumpy man smiled in delight.

“Now. Who will volunteer?”

 

The villagers, who had been gathered in the square like clouds in the sky, whispered amongst themselves as they scattered and headed back to their homes. But Diana could not bring herself to walk away so readily. Jallomo’s retreating figure looked so pitiful to her as he followed the stumpy man and the hero back to the yellow house.

“That’s some loyalty right there. I was almost moved,”

Cedric quipped sarcastically as he walked over to Diana. Diana watched over Jallomo’s tiny figure until he finally disappeared behind the gates before she quietly asked,

“That man… Is he really the Hero Arnoldt?”

“The old man in the yellow house confirmed that he carried the king’s seal. The people here might be ignorant, but I’m sure they at least know what their king’s seal looks like.”

Diana nodded back quietly. In any event, Jallomo needed to accompany the hero in order for the story to progress. It had been a revolting process, but the results had ultimately worked out in their favor.

The square grew quiet. Just as she was about to begin walking back to their lodgings, Diana abruptly asked,

“But it is really possible for an ordinary human to kill a dragon?”

There were countless tales of witches and wizards fighting desperately against a dragon to death. But Diana had never heard about an ordinary person managing to accomplish the feat before. Even Winter, the dragon that Cedric was raising, was much too dangerous for the average person to stand against.

Cedric, who had fallen silent for quite some time as wrinkles formed in his brow, finally replied,

“No.”

 

* * *

 

The wind was whistling cheerfully.

The breeze was still a little chilly as it whisked across the fields. Diana was sitting down as she stared down at the festival in the village square. The square below was filled with excitement as colorful flags embroidered the sky and peculiar dolls restlessly crisscrossed the ground, but Diana simply looked bored. Even reading the absolutely absurd scriptures of the Church of Santigma would have been less tedious than this.

She let out a shallow sigh. She looked diagonally upward from the square, which she had obstinately been fixing her gaze on until then, but that only served to increase her frustrations. There was a small figure sitting far away from her who was likewise staring blankly down at the festival. It was suffocating that the boy could not participate in the festival property even though it was being held in his honor, and it was also vexing that the villagers were still in such great cheer after having failed to notice that the star of the show had vanished from the crowd.

‘Where on earth are Cedric and Mr. Rupert?’

Cedric was monitoring the Hero Arnoldt, and Rupert had been stolen away by the village maidens and had been forced to dance for the past two hours —even his feet were sweating now—, but Diana had no way of knowing that. Diana resented them in vain for their absence as she stealthily stood up and pat down her bottom. She wasn’t happy about the fact that she was alone, but she knew that now was the perfect opportunity to talk.

“Jallomo.”

Jallomo’s shoulders flinched when Diana quietly called his name, and he turned around. Diana carefully studied his eyes as she sat down next to him. She continued,

“Why aren’t you at the festival?”

“Well……. Why are you at the festival, Miss?”

“I’ve never liked noisy places to begin with.”

“Then, let’s say I don’t like them either,”

Jallomo said gloomily as his shoulders drooped listlessly. He looked so dispirited that anyone who had known him on a regular basis would have thought he was acting strange. Diana tried to think up of something to say to console him, but it was impossible do well at something she had never done before. Ultimately, she gave up on consoling him and decided to be candid with him instead.

“I hear that you’re leaving tomorrow?”

Jallomo sighed softly as he nodded back. It was plainly obvious that he wanted to avoid discussing this topic, but Diana couldn’t abandon her attempt quite yet. She continued,

“Will you be okay?”

“Why does that even matter? —everything’s already been decided.”

“That’s true, but…….”

Diana stole a glance at Jallomo as she studied his expression. He looked surprisingly composed. She had thought that he would either be furious at the villagers for half-coercing him into the role or quivering in his fear, but she had been far off the mark. She continued,

“You’re not scared?”

“Of what? The wizard of the swamp? Of course I’m scared of him.”

Jallomo looked back at Diana as if he found her absurd. Diana narrowed her eyes as she then asked,

“Then why are you even going?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You can always decide not to go if you’re so scared. There’s always a chance that things might change if you tell everyone that you don’t want to go, even if the villagers hope you will. They dote on you, don’t they?”

Jallomo was an orphan. Diana was also an orphan, but she had been taken in as Barbara Jiles’ apprentice and had grown up with her teacher’s children, whereas Jallomo had always been alone ever since he had lost his parents. The only reason why he had been able to grow up without much issue was because the villagers had cared for him.

“Sure, they dote on me. That’s why they give me food and clothes. But things are a little different when lives are on the line.”

Jallomo rested his chin in his arms as he flatly continued,

“I don’t hate them, you know that? I do dislike the stumpy man a bit, but he’s always been rude. Everyone else was just looking out for themselves and their families, and that’s why I ended up getting chosen —because I don’t have anyone. It’s not like they’re sending a young kid like me into the Black Forrest because they wanted to.”

“Is that what you really think?”

“……I did resent them a lot yesterday, but I’m feeling better today.”

Diana nodded bitterly. Jallomo looked calm, almost as if he understood everything. Just how much had the fires of indignation that had been burning in the pit of his stomach for the past few days simmer down that he could make such an aloof expression now? Diana could not help but pity him. Jallomo continued,

“And, what could possibly happen anyway? The Lord Hero’s coming with me. And it’s not like I’ll be seeing the wizard of the swamp either. I just need to close my eyes and pretend like I’m on an outing for a few days.”

He was forcing himself to sound cheerful. Diana stared at him for a moment before she turned her gaze back down to the merry festival below.

The village chief, who had blabbered on and on about community but had pushed a lonely orphan off a cliff. The villagers, who were using their hopes of Jallomo’s and the hero’s success as an excuse to make merry. The young orphan, who had no choice but to stick his head inside the gaping maw of a savage beast.

She had no idea why Grieg Fromm had written a story like this, but if she ever had the chance to meet him, this was the first thing she wanted to say to him:

You are the most wicked wizard in the world, Grieg Fromm.

“Want me to go with you?”

Diana asked quietly. It was only a beat later that Jallomo, who had been observing the festival blankly with his chin in his arms, looked back at her.

“What?”

“I’ll go with you, if you want me to.”

“W-what are you talking about? Why would you do that?”

The light in his eyes were shaking. Calmly, Diana looked straight back at him.

“Don’t ask me why. Would you like it if I went with you?”

 

* * *

 

The Hero Arnoldt was gradually slowing down. Jallomo was daunted and carefully studied the look in his eyes, but Arnoldt was simply surprised.

“I saw you people at the village, if I recall correctly…….”

“My name is Cedric.”

Cedric nodded as he introduced himself. Arnoldt was smiling amicably, but he could not hide his curiosity.

“And the other two are your companions?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t remember seeing the young miss at the festival. In any event, what brings you all here?”

Diana stared over his shoulder without a word. They were standing at the entrance to the Black Forest. And they were blocking the hero’s path on purpose.

Just then, Jallomo stepped forward and said,

“Um, Lord Hero? Can they please come with us? I don’t think sending me into the forest alone sat very well with them because I’m so young.”

“Alone? But I’ll be accompanying you.”

“Jallomo will have to make his way back alone if anything happened to you.”

Arnoldt raised an eyebrow when he heard what Cedric had said.

“You almost sound like you’re hoping for something to happen to me.”

“O-of course not! He’s just really, really worried. Right, Sir?”

Jallomo said urgently, giving Cedric no choice but to nod back. Arnoldt looked unconvinced as he scrutinized Cedric up and down.

“You’ll follow us even if I said no, won’t you?”

“I’m sure you won’t refuse us if you already have your answer.”

Arnoldt sighed multiple times, but he inevitably gave his consent. Jallomo brightened up a little. He had been carefully hiding the terror in his heart, but he hadn’t been able to completely erase the anxiety in his visage.

As he stood at the entrance of the forest, Jallomo warned everyone,

“The Black Forrest is always dark, like it’s evening, even in the middle of the day because not much sunlight gets through. And we can’t use torches recklessly either because there are a lot of wild animals about. So for now, we should only move during the day and find somewhere to rest when night falls.”

“How will we find our path inside the forest?”

“The trees are marked at regular intervals. Only people from the village will be able to recognize the marks, but there isn’t really anything that points the way to the swamp. Nobody really goes to the swamp because everyone knows that it’s where the wizard lives. We’ll have to find our way by using different sets of markers. It’s hard to explain because it’s really complicated and a lot of it is based on experience. But they say that fog starts rising up from the ground when you reach the swamp, so please be sure to tell me if you see any fog.”

Jallomo explained that it would take at least four or five days to reach the swamp. Which, of course, meant that it could take anywhere from a week to ten days if someone got hurt or they got lost along the way. Jallomo only knew how to find and decipher the marks in the Black Forest, and he wasn’t very confident because he had never been so deep inside the forest before. He continued,

“Mr. Martin said that no one’s gone very deep inside the forest in several years. So it’s possible that some of the markers are missing along the way or the paths were cut off…….”

“We can worry about that later. It’s just as possible that the paths are just fine.”

Arnoldt tried to put Jallomo at ease as he urged the boy to begin leading them. Jallomo stepped forward hesitantly —he was still just as anxious as before. Following behind him were Rupert, Diana, Cedric, and Arnoldt, with Arnoldt at the very back. This was because there was no way to know if and when a dangerous beast might jump out at them.

The Black Forest was extremely dark, just as Jallomo had warned. It was late in the morning, but the forest was as dark as evening. If it was this dark already, then how much darker would it be when night fell? Diana shuddered as she imagined it being so dark that she couldn’t see anything and quickly brushed those thoughts away. Now wasn’t the time to be entertaining such useless thoughts. She was already busy enough making her way across the dried leaves and rotting branches.

“Don’t you think that the magic’s been getting denser ever since we stepped inside the forest, Miss Diana?”

Rupert asked nervously. Diana nodded as she quietly surveyed her surroundings. The Black Forest was densely packed with tall trees. The forest was eerily silent, and it was so filled with magic that it was almost strange. She had always felt the magic around her, since they were trapped inside the magical world of a storybook, but she was certain that it hadn’t been this dense inside the village.

Just what on earth had Grieg Fromm wanted? But the three of them had too little information about Greig Fromm to be able to answer the question. They weren’t even able to guess why Grieg Fromm had written this story to begin with, so there was little point in trying to guess what would happen once they reached the swamp.

Diana couldn’t help but sigh. She pressed down against her throbbing temple as she took a deep breath. It was difficult even just to breathe, perhaps because the air was stagnant here, just like how the sunlight didn’t reach. The damp and humid air only served to grind down her nerves.

“There’s a marker here.”

Jallomo stopped at the first fork in the path. A crude sword had been carved into the tree that he was studying. He continued,

“A sword probably means that there’s a path here that leads to the west. I’ve heard that going west will eventually lead you to the royal palace where the king lives —do you think that’s really true? I’ve always taken everything that Grampa Cal says with a grain of salt because he liked to brag a lot,”

Jallomo mumbled as he turned his back to the path that the sword was pointing to. Eliminating one path at the fork only left the other option open.

“Then, is this the path that leads to the swamp?”

“It’s not the other path, so it must be.”

The rest of the group gathered around the tree and stared at the marker. They didn’t know how many more markers they would encounter on their journey, but they were certain that it was wiser to ignore the sword marker that pointed to the royal palace.

“Well, we should get going. We should walk as far as we can before it gets too dark…….”

Jallomo suddenly stopped mid-sentence. A pack of wolves had suddenly appeared inside the lonely forest without any warning and was blocking the path.

Growl—

The wolves had barred their sharp fangs and were growling at the uninvited guests who had suddenly intruded upon their territory. Jallomo slowly stepped back, having realized how serious the situation was, but the wolves’ hostility did not subside. Rather, they had instinctively read their target’s terror and were pawing at the ground as if they were planning to close in at any given moment.

“Please move! I’ll take care of the wolves……!”

Suddenly, Arnoldt boldly stepped forward. He was too busy drawing his sword from behind his cumbersome mantle that he failed to realize that his outburst of action had only served to agitate the wolves even more. And his sword caught on his mantle so many times that he couldn’t even draw it properly.

The wolves kicked off against the earth just then. Diana covered her face with her arms and screamed instinctively.

“H-hey! That’s dangerous!”

But then she heard a deafening roar that she hadn’t expected to hear. It was so loud that she thought her eardrums were splitting, and it was immediately followed by a long moment of silence. She couldn’t hear the wolves howling or the reckless hero yelling as he stood his ground against them —there was only silence.

It was only then that Diana realized that something was strange and hesitantly lowered her arms. The whitish dust had settled down, and a terribly cruel and dreadful scene was sprawled out before her.

A tall tree had mysteriously fallen, and the wolves had been crushed haplessly beneath it. The bloodlust hadn’t yet left the wolves’ eyes as they lay in a pool of their own bright red blood, and they gleamed frighteningly.

“T-the wolves…….”

Rupert, who was hiding behind Cedric’s back, mumbled vacantly. The noise snapped Arnoldt back to his senses, and he sounded excited as he exclaimed,

“The heavens must be smiling down on us! There’s no doubt that the goddess is watching over our journey! Why else would a tree suddenly fall down just as the wolves were closing in on us?”

The hero praised the divine for quite some time before he obstinately began pressing forward again. Jallomo was pallid as he jumped over the fallen tree, as was Rupert.

“You’re really amazing, Sir Cedric. I don’t think I’ll be afraid of the wizard of the swamp as long as you’re here,”

Rupert said as he followed after Jallomo. But Cedric was looking at the fallen tree with an unusually sharp look in his eyes. His eyes were chilling, as if he had just witnessed something extraordinarily strange.

Diana suddenly walked up to him and said,

“You didn’t need to kill them.”

She looked nauseated as she threw a glance at the tree. She continued,

“You were more than capable of stopping them without killing them, so why……?”

“It wasn’t me,”

Cedric quietly whispered back. Diana stopped in her tracks and turned back toward him. Their uneasy gazes entwinned in the air.

“It wasn’t me and it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t the librarian either. Then, was it really divine intervention, like the hero said?”

They heard a crow cawing out of nowhere from afar as their anxiety made it difficult for them to speak.

It sounded gloomy and bleak, as though it had heard their conversation and was sneering at them…….

 

Fortunately, they did not run into any other wild animals. They had no way to tell whether it was because the goddess was watching over their journey, like what Arnoldt had claimed, or if it had simply been sheer dumb luck. Jallomo looked like he was feeling a little less troubled, and Rupert, who had been glued to Cedric’s back ever since they had run into the wolves, looked like he had regained some peace of mind. Only Diana and Cedric were warily observing the dark forest in search of the source behind their shapeless anxieties.

“The magic’s getting dense the closer we get to the swamp. It’s so dense that we might not notice it even if someone cast a spell right in front of our faces,”

Diana grumbled quietly as she walked next to Cedric. It was only natural for them to be tired after walking all day long, but, for better or worse, the dense magic around them helped lessen their fatigue.

The problem, however, was that the magic was so dense that Diana’s keen senses had dulled. At this rate, she had no doubt that she would be utterly defenseless if the wizard of the swamp was hiding nearby and he cast an evil spell at them.

“Magic doesn’t get this dense even inside the Coffin of Crystal. I know this is a magical world inside a storybook, but this is still too much.”

“I agree. Grieg Fromm may have been a genius wizard, but I doubt that he was capable of creating a world this realistic. How was one single wizard capable of completing this spell all by himself?”

Diana replied as she furrowed her brow. The village, which perfectly mimicked the North from half a millennium ago, and the villagers, who were so overflowing with vim and vigor they could truly be alive. Moreover, the density of the magic, so dense that it was making it difficult to breathe, defied Diana’s notion of common sense. As far as she knew, even the most legendary witches and wizards in history had never managed to craft such a realistic world.

“Not by any normal means —that’s for sure. But if he broke a taboo, then perhaps,”

Cedric replied as if in passing. Taboo —Diana’s shoulders stiffened instinctively when she heard the two-syllable word and did her best to pretend that nothing was wrong. Forbidden arts could forever surpass the limits of magic, and, as Cedric had suggested, something like this was possible if Grieg Fromm had broken a taboo. Not they either of them had any idea what price Grieg Fromm might have paid in exchange, of course.

Just then, Diana spotted a crow sitting on a tree branch from afar. It was strange to say this about an animal, but Diana almost felt as if their eyes had met. She grew nervous, and she continued to observe the crow warily. She didn’t like the fact that it was a crow of all birds that was making her feel this way.

“Is something wrong, Miss?”

Arnoldt asked jovially as he walked up to her from behind. The crow fluttered into the sky as Diana returned him a noncommittal reply. It had vanished without a trace by the time she tried to look for it again.

Diana couldn’t let down her guard. She knew that she was probably worrying Jallomo because her eyes were so bloodshot, but she could not help the fact that her anxiety was squeezing at her heart. She had a bad feeling about all of this.

“Do you think that us accompanying Jallomo was the right choice, Cedric?”

Diana carefully and quietly expressed some of her inner concerns to Cedric on their second night inside the forest. The magic filling their surroundings to the brim, the way their senses were growing duller by the hour, the endless stream of wild animals circling around them……. There were many things that she could point out as examples, but there was only one thing that Diana truly wanted to say. She continued,

“I feel like something’s going wrong. And I’m not just saying this because I’m scared —something’s really not right.”

Cedric candidly agreed with her.

“I know that you have an unusually good intuition. But we have no choice but to stick with Jallomo right now even if something bad happens at the swamp. It’s not like we have any better ideas on how to escape this storybook even if we decided to turn around and head back to the village. Let’s keep our guards up and make our way to the swamp for now. I’m sure we’ll be able to figure out what we’re supposed to do once we get there.”

And so, four days had passed since they had first stepped foot inside the forest.

They were supposed to reach the swamp tomorrow, according to their calculations, but Jallomo had never been so deep inside the forest before and he was skeptical as to whether he was doing his job as the guide properly. Especially since they weren’t feeling any extra humidity, much less seeing any fog, even though it was already past noon.

Jallomo found Diana so pitiful as she shrank into herself that he couldn’t help but say,

“It’ll be okay. We might not see it today, but I’m sure we’ll start seeing some fog come tomorrow.”

His words had almost been like some kind of signal, as it was only a little while later that Rupert pointed to his feet and giddily exclaimed,

“Look over there! It’s fog —it’s getting foggy!”

It wasn’t only by Rupert’s feet. They could see white fog crawling up from the ground with their naked eyes if they studied the earth’s surface carefully. The swamp wasn’t much farther now.

“Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since we last ran into a fork in the road. We can probably just keep walking straight to the swamp if there aren’t any more,”

Jallomo said as he flushed. It looked like he was caught between feeling good about finally completing his job and being terrified about the fact that they were so close to the swamp. Still, judging by the way he was staring at Arnoldt so earnestly, it was obvious that he wanted the hero to tell him to either go back to the village first or hide somewhere and wait for his return.

Arnoldt —was he aware of Jallomo’s feelings or not?— stroked his chin as he fell into thought before he slowly said,

“You mean to say that we’ll be at the swamp soon?”

“Yes. If you follow the thickening of the fog, you’ll be there by tomorrow at the latest.”

“In that case, I should start wrapping things up about now.”

Jallomo looked puzzled by his unexpected words. But his questions didn’t linger for very long.

Bang—!

Suddenly, a gunshot resounded. The silence of the forest shattered, and the birds that had been resting atop the tree branches all flew away. The echoing gunshot came and left, and all that remained behind in their wake was astonishment, shock, and the sound of blood moistening the earth.

Diana grew as pale as a corpse as she stared back at Cedric. To be precise, her eyes were glued to his abdomen. She felt like she was simply looking over a storybook illustration as she watched him slowly collapse to the ground without even being able to let out a single cry. She could not believe the pale pistol that she saw once he had finally fallen flat on his face. It all felt so unrealistic to her that she almost thought she was dreaming.

But she snapped back to reality in an instant. The pistol floating in the air made Diana feel like she had suddenly been baptized by icy waters.

A gun.

But this was a world from five hundred years ago. Modern weaponry had no business existing here.

“Bravo, bravo.”

She heard the sound of someone applauding. The Hero Arnoldt walked merrily past the frozen group and grinned as he stopped by Cedric’s head. He continued,

“I don’t know if you’re too honest or just stupid. I know we’re inside a story, but what made you so boldly decide to use your real names? Well, your face would’ve given you away immediately even if you used a fake name.”

Arnoldt tapped his foot against Cedric’s head as the latter lay on the ground. Diana could see Cedric’s verdant eyes peeking out from behind his tangled black hair. Arnoldt stared at Cedric’s face as Cedric gasped in pain and tilted his head to the side as he grinned.

“You really are the spitting image of your father, Cedric Jiles.”

Cedric managed to grin back before he passed out. Arnoldt looked intrigued as he looked back up. The floating pistol spun around and pointed itself at Diana and Rupert as he eyed the rest of the group.

“Y-y-you, you couldn’t possibly be……!”

Rupert suddenly began quivering from head to toe. Arnoldt smiled, but he did not make any further gestures. And Diana, who alone had been staring at Cedric the entire time, suddenly realized the shocking truth.

 

“You can win the treasures if you satisfy the conditions set by the author. Some books drop you into a maze and force you to find your way back out, and others make you solve a riddle. But the point is to hide the treasures, so the authors usually make their conditions really difficult to satisfy. And the conditions only became harder after the storybook hunters appeared and tried to steal the treasures.”

 

She heard something that Rupert had once said in passing echo again in her ears.

“A storybook hunter?”

she muttered in a daze. The man spread his arms open in satisfaction and sketched a theatrical bow.

“I always knew we’d meet one day, but I never imagined I’d meet him here of all places. I have no idea what brought you people here.”

The man’s mouth split open into a smile. He continued,

“I congratulate you for your misfortune, Ginger.”