Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 60: Strange Surroundings

"Are we supposed to be here?" Koko asked, noticing a drastic change in the forest as Wallace checked the map beside her.

"From all of the landmarks we've seen so far, we should be following our path perfectly... I think..." Wallace replied in a troubled tone. And while Koko had thought that they were going down the correct path as well seeing as they were actually following a well-maintained dirt pathway through the forest, she was second-guessing herself seeing as the trees that had once been so full of color and life were now all dead around them. The soil had turned into a seared crimson color, any foliage that was once there seemed to have vanished and the dirt crunched underneath every step that they took as if they were walking in snow. And from everything that she'd learned about the forest ever since coming to the academy, Koko knew that it wasn't supposed to be like this at all.

"Maybe there was a forest fire?" Mary suggested.

"A forest fire wouldn't turn the ground this color, plus, none of the trees are burned. They're only dead." Emily observed.

"Then it may be possible that this place had been corrupted by evil somehow." Mary replied worriedly.

"Keep your eyes open and let's get moving." Koko ordered, attempting to drag everyone's attention away from scene as something about this place made her slightly shiver. "Let's hurry up and regroup with the others so that we can report it."

"But what if we meet and monsters that have been effected by whatever did this to the forest?" Emily asked nervously. "This isn't natural, and monsters that appear along with these kinds of events are normally strong, aren't they?"

"Maybe..." Koko replied, wondering just what could have caused the forest to become like this before she started moving down the path again. "Sorry guys, but I'm ending the field exercise early. Wallace, you guard the rear now and I'll take point. If we encounter anything on our way to the others then use the same formation as before to defend yourselves. Other than that, if I say for you to run, then all of you stay together and and go back the way we came until you reach the academy. Understood?"

"Yeah." Wallace was the only one to reply as she had been looking at him, though she couldn't help but smile as the relief on his face was evident when he realized that he didn't have to be on the front lines anymore.

Moving at a faster pace than what they'd been doing before, Koko led the way for them as the live and unaffected forest fell farther and farther behind from them. However, seeing as the pace was increased, this also ment that they had to take more breaks seeing as the less athletic members of their party became exhausted easily. Though she couldn't really blame them for that seeing as there was no way that a mage and priestess would ever be able to keep the same pace as a knight and martial artist.

By the end of the day, Koko was almost tempted to break down another tree and use it to carry her party the rest of the way seeing as the two magic users were completely exhausted and even Wallace as showing signs of fatigue. Though in the end she refrained from it before the sun began falling in the sky and she started looking around for a good place to camp. And while such a task had been difficult in the normal forest, now there were several openings between the skeletal trees where perfect for a campsite.

"Okay, let's stop here and set up camp." Koko ordered, though after turning around, she noticed that everyone was looking at her as if she were insane.

"Are you insane? There's no way that we can camp out here!" Mary, surprisingly, was the first one to complain. "We may have not seen any of them today, but if there really are strong monsters out here then they will only multiply in the dark!"

"It's going to take another half a day at least in order to reach where everyone else will be gathered." Koko explained. "So unless you want to hike the rest of the way there in the dark, then I suggest you start working. But this time, Emily will come with me to gather firewood."

"A-are you sure? I think I would be much more useful here with Wallace..." Emily suddenly grew quiet as her face turned red.

"How are you even still able to think about that kind of stuff in this situation?! Time and place, Emily, time and place!" Koko yelled at the girl. "Besides, you might get attacked if you two stay here alone, in more ways than one!"

With her last words, Emily flushed completely red and Wallace made sure to hide his own expression by turning around and busying himself with the tent. And soon Koko was nearly dragging the mage behind her as the left to go gather firewood. However, as it turned out, she didn't even need anyone to pick up twigs this time seeing as the forest floor was completely bare. Whatever had happened, the event had eradicated all traces of anything organic while leaving nothing but barren soil save for the rocks sticking out of the ground and dead trees scattered everywhere. However, upon closer inspection, Koko was surprised to see that even the trees were beginning to disappear as she easily pushed one of them over to see that it's roots were missing. And as the soil stuck to the bottom of the tree, Koko began to wonder if the ground itself were somehow eroding the plant-life before she sat down on the dead tree and lifted up her boots in order to inspect them as they had been in contact with the strange soil ever since they entered.

"Emily, what kind of shoes are you wearing?" Koko asked.

"Wool cloth with wooden soles, why?" Emily asked curiously.

"Sit down here on the log and look at them." Koko replied, using the tree to scrape the packed dirt off of her own hardened-leather boots only to see that the soil seemed to be almost glued onto them. And just as she'd suspected, the hardened leather was already a great deal more worn than when she'd started the field exercise.

"This stuff won't come off!" Emily cried before she reached down and attempted to brush them off with her hand, though she stopped as Koko reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her.

"It's eating through our footwear..." Koko said thoughtfully as she examined her hard-leather boots which had already been slightly eroded. "Don't touch it, okay? Who knows what it'll do to our skin."

"I just bought these a week ago and the wool at the sides already has holes in it!" Emily complained, thankfully seeming to follow Koko's advice as she dropped her foot back down to the ground.

"Go back and tell the others about this, and tell Wallace to stop putting up the tent, alright? Also, if he's already touched the dirt then wash his hands with water. And while you do that, I'm going to gather some trees and try to make some kind of flooring. Otherwise this stuff will eat right through the cloth of both the tent and our bedrolls and we'll be laying in it by morning."

"Alright!" Emily smiled despite having only recently discovering the condition of her shoes, and all Koko could do was sigh at how happy the mage seemed to be in a possibly dangerous situation just because she was allowed to spent time with their cowardly knight. Either she was incredibly love-struck since yesterday or she was incredibly naive to the situation. But either way, Koko was just thankful that no one was freaking out about what could have caused the forest to be in such a state. But little did she know, they were about to find out.