Starting Life From Zero: Far From Home

Chapter Forty-Four

Other than going to rescue the children of Arlam Village, Emilia had never ventured off the roads that snaked between the villages of the Roswaal domain. And since they had set off from near the manor, the forest grew thick quickly and blotted out most of the light from above. The overcast sky didn't help matters.

Emilia kept her hands to her sides, pulling at her skirt to keep it close to her form for fear it would catch hold of something as she passed. Otto walked a little out front of them, with Peter and Wilhelm in front of and behind her, respectively. They moved along, weaving around trees and thickets with twigs and leaves crunching underfoot.

Something snapped under his boot and Otto froze, cupping a hand to one ear as if he were trying to better direct the sound into it. They all paused with him, Emilia even going as far as to stop mid step. Otto glanced over his shoulder at them, brushing his cape away from the branch of a tree it had gotten caught on. "We're nearly there," he said. "Only a bit further."

Otto veered to the right to avoid the elevation change that saw a large swatch of the land to their left dip down into a ravine. They followed it, continuing along the raised path over a rockier part of the forest where a tree's roots would have a hard time finding any purchase in the soil.

"I must admit," Wilhelm said through a huffed breath, "this is much further off path and from the Roswaal manor than I expected to be going."

"I doubt that anyone expected to be going this far out," Otto said. "I had always heard it said the forest around here were full of mabeasts, but I haven't seen any sign of one."

Emilia swelled with pride. "That's really on account of Peter...and Miss Rem. They entered the forest to find children missing from the village and wiped out basically all of the mabeasts."

Wilhelm and Otto stopped to stare at Peter. "First the mabeasts here and then the White Whale-really seems like you're bad news for witch beasts," Otto said.

"It is a rather impressive track record," Wilhelm said.

For a moment it looked as if Peter might tug his mask down over his face to hide his reddened cheeks. "Um, thanks," he said rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. "It really just boils down to doing what I had to do. I just hope that my luck or whatever it is pays off."

The split where the ground diverged into two separate paths caused the forest to open up more until there was a small clearing. An opposing rock face rose up through the middle of the forest to a height almost above the tops of the trees, but it was a space that even Peter wouldn't have spotted unless the swung or walked directly past it. The woodland canopy here rose up higher than in other places and the only part of the forest that they had entered previously was in the immediate vicinity of the Arlam.

"I don't think that I ever realized something like this was out here," Emilia said as the trekked along the edge of the clearing.

"I would imagine that no one did, except maybe Lord Roswaal," Wilhelm said.

Without the forest for cover above them, the rainfall grew apparent. The ground here should have been dusty, but instead it had soaked down in most places. The dirt was too thin to have fully formed into mud, but only just. The four of them followed the tree line until Otto pointed up through the gloom at a rock face where a cave was burrowed through straight into the stone.

"There it is," Otto said. "That's got to be the place."

Peter looked to him. "You found it? Just like that?" he asked.

"I told you I would," Otto said.

"Hmm." Emilia rested her chin on her hand as she thought. "Still, you didn't come off as having any impressive skills before. I commend you."