Looking up, the two saw Herculia waving at them from afar. On his shoulder, he was carrying Emmy. The two approached him quickly.
“What happened to Emmy?” Isla asked worriedly as she inspected her friend.
“Hm? She’s fine. She had used all of her mana and she’s recovering now.” Herculia shrugged. “Hey, talk to them.”
“Ugh… I’m fine, guys.” Emmy replied with a groan. They could hear her almost vomiting in the middle of her sentence.
“Hey! Don’t vomit on me now!”
“I’m… Close!”
“Hold on! I will put you down!”
Quickly, Herculia lifted her up before she could do it. Then, the girl started coughing loudly as she threw up everything inside her stomach.
“Why is she throwing up?” Arthur asked with a frown.
“It’s a side effect of using too much mana in a short period of time without recovering with potions,” Isla explained. “It rarely happens but I guess Emmy had been through a tough battle.”
“We’ve all been through it,” Herculia replied. “I was still fighting those nasty fog clouds until they suddenly vanished out of nowhere. What did you two do?”
“We found the source of the fog,” Arthur replied as he showed Herculia the shard. “The nightmare is over, brother.”
“… What?! You’ve already found it?! That’s amazing!” Herculia exclaimed with a shocked expression.
“Yes, we were very lucky but we still did it. We can now leave this stupid forest.” Exhaling a long breath, Arthur sat down. “Oh man, that was such a long fight for no reason.”
‘It should’ve not been this hard. Yet, it somehow was very hard.’ Arthur thought to himself as he looked at the sky. He could see that Herculia and Emmy were also pushed to the limit in their own regard too. Their tattered bodies and the injuries they sustained were still there, slowly vanishing as their bodies healed back to a peak state.
For some reason, looking at his group, Arthur thought of a question. ‘I wonder if this forest is deliberately to test all of us?’
His reason for thinking about that was simple. This forest was basically positioned in the way of their journey toward the Last Empire. It tested the players with things that are related to their real lives along with their fighting abilities so far. Both of these aspects looked very much like a true test.
‘Is the game trying to stop anyone who isn’t strong enough from moving past this place?’ He mused. ‘That is a little terrifying. If the game truly trying to test us now, then what is it trying to prepare us for?’
This was a clear message to Arthur and perhaps to the others… The game was sending them a warning message.
‘Whatever beyond this forest is something that you cannot truly fathom.’
Slowly, Arthur’s expression grew darker as his fists clenched tightly. He felt chills run down his spine imagining what the game had in store for them when they left this forest.
As they were like that, the group heard someone approaching. Looking up, they saw the two dwarves appearing out of the thick forest, followed by an exhausted-looking Danny.
“Guys!” Seeing the group, his eyes lit up.
“See? We told you they’re fine, sir Danny.” Serko and Finlay said with a smile.
“Are you ok, brother?” Herculia approached his friend.
“I’m fine… Ugh, had some problems but I’m fine.” He replied as he pulled out a potion and drank it to restore his health.
“Wow, I thought you were dead,” Arthur commented as he stood up.
“What did you say, bastard?!” Danny cursed.
“Hey, I’m just being honest.” Arthur shrugged his shoulders and turned to the two dwarves. “I’m glad you two are fine too.”
“… Hehe, we won’t fall that easily.” The two dwarves said. “Hm?”
At that moment, the two dwarves suddenly went completely silent as they stared at Arthur. The boy was a little confused by the shift in their attitude. Their jovial smiles turned into a serious expression.
“Uh, guys?” He snapped his fingers in front of their faces a few times, trying to catch their attention. However, their eyes were locked on one single thing. Arthur followed their line of sight.
“What is that thing, Arthur?” Finlay finally asked.
“Hm? This? This is a broken part of a divine shard.” He replied.
“What?!”
Everyone was instantly shocked by the revelation, except for Isla.
“That’s a divine shard?!” Herculia blurted out.
“A broken part of it, but yes.”
“…”
“Where did you find it?” Danny frowned visibly as he pointed at the shard.
“The heart of the forest. This is the source of all the fog and the illusions.” Isla replied casually.
“Can I have a look at it?” Serko asked.
“Sure.” Arthur handed him the broken shard as the boy carefully took it with both hands and started examining it.
“Wow…” The fascination in his eyes was clear as day. He looked completely infatuated with the shard in his hand. “It has so much energy… It’s like staring at a deep ocean. Serko!”
“Yes, I already felt it, Finlay.” His friend said.
“Do you think this could work?”
“It could definitely work.”
As the two whispered to each other in secret, the others watched silently, waiting for them to speak. They didn’t understand why they were acting like that but it was clearly a very important thing.
“So, what are you two talking about? Mind sharing it with us?” Emmy asked.
“Ehem, this shard… Can we use it to finish our aircraft?” The two asked.
“… Finish the aircraft? Would that work?”
“Yes! It has enough energy to run the aircraft! No, it can run dozens of these aircrafts with ease at the same time and never get empty.” Finlay replied. “It could fly us wherever we want to go!”
“… Wait, are you serious?” Arthur blinked.
“Yes! This is perfect for our plan!”
Arthur didn’t understand how they already figured out that this shard could work perfectly as a fuel for the aircraft. But, he didn’t want to question that either. If they’re right, then this is a huge problem solved.
“Wait, how faster is an aircraft compared to the horses we were riding?”
“Our aircraft is way faster, of course! We can cut large distances in no time!” Serko replied.
‘If that’s the case, then our journey won’t be taking weeks, is it?’ Arthur smiled.
Approximately, the group had completed 40-50% of the journey so far. They still had at least another week of traveling before they could reach their destination. That is of course if he didn’t count that the academy starts in two days. He won’t have as much time to play the game so the trip would take way more than a week to finish.
‘If we can cut the distance shorter, that would be such a huge help.’ He mused.
“You can use it to finish the aircraft. How long would it take you to do that?”
“… Mm, not that long. An hour at most. We will just have to connect it to all the aircraft components.”
“I think everyone is fine with the idea, right?” Arthur asked as he looked around him.
“This would actually be a huge help. I’m tired of riding the horse for days.”
“Me neither. I’m fine with it.”
“Better than wasting time traveling on land.”
Seeing that nobody was against it, Arthur nodded. “So, go ahead and do whatever you need to do.”
“Thank you! We will start working on it immediately!”
With that, the group headed back to the house. Since the fog vanished, they didn’t worry about getting lost. Everything was as clear as day.
The moment they reached their destination, the two dwarves immediately went to work. Taking the last prototype they made, they started fixing and strapping the shard to it. Meanwhile, the rest of the group watched from the side in silence.
Their speed as they worked on the vehicle was simply unimaginable. What was even more impressive was that they didn’t even stop to think. They were working with their instincts rather than minds.
An hour or so later, the two dwarves finally stopped and looked at their finished work. A massive aircraft with a large cockpit and wide wings that spanned dozens of meters. Two wing propellers were strapped to the sides and one massive blade was on the front of the plane.
“This should be perfect!”
“You guys are amazing!” Emmy exclaimed.
“This plane looks insane!” Herculia clapped with a wide smile on his face.
“Hehe, thank you, thank you. We tried our best.”
“I don’t know how you guys have such an insane talent. It’s such a waste that you were stuck here this entire time. Whoever sent you here is an idiot.” Arthur said.
His comment, as simple as it was, made the two dwarves go completely silent. Their faces darkened slightly.
“Hm?” Arthur didn’t understand the weird reaction at first.
“Mm… We weren’t thrown in this forest.” Finlay replied as he rubbed his fingers awkwardly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make such a comment.” Arthur quickly apologized, thinking he offended them.
‘Why did I make such a dumb comment? It’s clearly not something they like to hear.’
For someone who can’t remember anything about their lives, it was naturally impactful when someone mentions the person who made them lose their memories and get stuck in such a terrifying forest.
However, their next words took everyone by surprise.
“No, it’s not that. We were not thrown in this forest… We were left behind.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
