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Chapter 216 : Chapter 216
Red Forget-me-not.Even experts who can identify a herb at a glance just by the shape of its root do not know in what environment it grows.
That is why some call it the Tears of the Goddess.
They say it was blown hither and thither by the wind and took root all over the continent.
Since the elixir made in that way is the ‘Tears of the Goddess’, the masterpiece of the continent, it was natural for the Gulta Family to be frantic to find it.
Originally, the Gulta Family did not interact at all with those of unclear identity, especially ‘Villains’.
That was why Rachel needed this Red Forget-me-not.
If it was the Red Forget-me-not, even Gulta would not be able to refuse her request.
This was the idea Duncan, the back-alley doctor, gave her, and Rachel also thought this method was the best.
‘But to think this would happen…….’
I thought it was luck.
It wasn't.
Rachel chewed on her lower lip.
‘What? He has absolutely no intention of selling, so find something else?’
How?
Where can I find the Red Forget-me-not?
It would be a lie to say I wasn't greedy.
If I just had the Red Forget-me-not, I could fix Reina’s legs.
I could cure that wound left by the demon.
“…….”
She glanced at Oliver.
Oliver just sat still.
He seemed unaware of what Rachel was thinking.
‘Should I steal it.’
If I want to steal it, I can steal it.
I could also take it by force.
Enough.
Rachel had the power and ability to do so.
But.
If I do that, joining Shadow will be completely gone.
Stealing the client’s item whom I have to protect.
The request would naturally be a failure, and if that happened, I would fail the qualification exam too.
“You seem conflicted?”
At the voice heard then, Rachel looked at Oliver.
“Must be quite urgent. Since you haven't even found it yet, and we are at a stage where we can't even be sure if we can discover it.”
“……What do you mean?”
“Because you look conflicted. Whether to take the Red Forget-me-not from me or not.”
Rachel flinched inside but immediately frowned and expressed her displeasure.
“What do you take me for? I never did that.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Oliver turned his head.
“The break time is almost over, so protect me well from the magical beasts when we enter Yurad Forest later. So I can find the Red Forget-me-not with peace of mind.”
With those words as the last, Oliver stood up from his seat.
And Rachel watched Oliver’s receding back with a meaningful gaze.
***
‘Mm. That doesn’t look good?’
I thought while watching Rachel, who was lost in thought with a serious expression.
It was after overhearing the conversation she shared with Oliver just a moment ago.
I already knew through Luis’s report that Rachel was running around to fix Reina’s legs.
But to think she intended to find the Red Forget-me-not and trade it with the Gulta Family.
I didn't know this.
‘I wonder if Rachel knows. That the doctor who was once famous as a genius in Naimus is right in front of her.’
Yes.
Oliver Hyde.
The eldest son of the Hyde Family, the Naimus Empire’s best medical family that rivals the Gulta Family in saving lives, was Oliver’s true identity.
When I first found Oliver’s request form at Shadow and chose this as the qualification exam, honestly, I did have a little expectation that Oliver might fix Reina’s legs.
It felt like fate.
Gaius’s Insight points to Reina as special.
Just in time, Oliver, who can cure her flaw, requested our Shadow.
Maybe as the flaw is resolved, her true value will be revealed.
I had such expectations, and I still do.
But.
For that to happen, one prerequisite condition must be resolved.
If you ask what that condition is, it is Oliver’s trauma.
The trauma of not being able to save his younger sister.
Because of that, Oliver has currently thrown away the scalpel and turned his back on medicine.
Therefore, there needs to be some trigger for Oliver to overcome his trauma and pick up the scalpel again, but honestly, I don't know what that is.
Even in the original work, his trauma wasn't resolved.
I really got stubborn and tried everything, but couldn't resolve it, so I just moved on thinking it was just the setting.
The only episode I couldn't find in the original work.
No, I should call it a quest.
Anyway.
That's why the original Oliver was considered a one-time character who appeared only in the suburban activity sub-quest and never appeared again despite that pitiful backstory.
‘Will it be the same here too.’
I saw it.
I saw Oliver and Reina talking quite affectionately while moving here.
I saw it while looking for Reina’s singularity, but the important thing here is that Oliver’s personality isn't originally like that.
It changed.
Oliver’s behavior.
To be exact, ‘only’ Oliver’s behavior toward Reina changed.
He is the same as the original when treating us.
But he is different only to Reina.
Is he perhaps seeing his dead younger sister through her?
There is no way to know, but that's why I was pinning my hopes even though I know the result of the original work.
Hoping maybe Oliver will overcome his trauma and treat Reina.
‘That's why I was listening secretly…… Damn it. I didn't know Rachel needed the Red Forget-me-not too.’
If this happens, the story changes.
To state the conclusion first, Oliver finds the Red Forget-me-not.
Afterward, we return, and just before exiting Yurad Forest, the Silver Lion Mercenaries commissioned by the Naimus Empire attack.
But this is a problem for much later.
Watching the conflicted Rachel, I'm worried that she might betray Oliver before the Silver Lion Mercenaries do.
‘Don't get any strange ideas. Huh? You said you wanted to join Shadow? And save your sister.’
Ha.
Since I came as a cadet, I can't tell her anything.
‘It's driving me crazy.’
All I could do right now was trust her.
Unaware of my inner thoughts, the shadow cast over her face was only getting darker.
***
The group entered Yurad Forest.
From here, Oliver stood at the front.
“Where are we going?”
“Upstream of Yurad River.”
Oliver clearly remembered what Daria said.
‘There is a field made of Red Forget-me-nots inside Yurad Forest.’
In fact, this was a quite famous saying.
Sanbad, the great adventurer who crossed the continent five times in 10 years.
It was a saying he left behind, and the book the sick Daria held onto and read all day was also the travel journal authored by Sanbad.
However, he was a person from two hundred years ago.
Also, through various verifications, there was no one now who didn't know that he was a pure liar and his journal was also nonsense full of fiction.
That was the reason he is called a liar adventurer, not a great adventurer, today.
But to Oliver, those words were no longer a lie.
Since it was the will and promise his younger sister left behind, Oliver just poured everything into it regardless of whether it was a lie or not.
“If it’s Yurad River, it’s the center of the forest.”
“At the same time, the place where magical beasts swarm the most.”
“……Surely, you don’t mean we have to search the entire basin while going down the river?”
Gorian’s expression froze before anyone realized.
It was understandable, as the river was a place with water, a necessary condition for living, so various magical beasts visited, and among them, intelligent magical beasts formed communities, so it was a very dangerous place.
Casualties were certain to occur, and no matter how high the payment was, money couldn't be more important than life.
“No. Only the upstream area. I’ve looked everywhere else.”
“You looked everywhere? Ha. I can’t easily gauge what kind of hardship you went through.”
Gorian clicked his tongue.
The Yurad River starts from the Ludain Mountain Range, crosses through the forest, and flows to the Great Forest. Naturally, larger and stronger magical beasts inhabited the lower reaches.
“I don't know what grass you're looking for, but anyway, that's a relief. The downstream side is hard even for us.”
Upstream had many places too, but Oliver had one destination.
A river stream with a waterfall.
It was also a hint found in Sanbad’s journal.
“Then do we have to go up toward the mountain range again?”
Oliver nodded and added.
“Crossing through the forest.”
The group moved quickly.
Either way, since night was more dangerous than day, the plan was to break through the forest as much as possible during the day when magical beast activity was less.
Fortunately, the frequency of magical beast attacks was actually lower than when in the Ludain Mountain Range.
This was because the number of people moving in a group was large; the magical beasts of Yurad Forest had high intelligence, enough to suppress their man-eating instincts and assess the scale and combat power of the prey.
So if there was a risk, they gave up hunting.
“It’s gone. Move!”
“Move!”
Again, the Grade 2 beast, Devil Claw, which had been aiming for prey from atop a tree, was moving away while hiding its long claws.
It was already the third time.
“It’s fascinating. That magical beasts avoid us first.”
“From their perspective, there’s no need to take the risk. Easier prey is everywhere, so if they aim for us for no reason and get injured? They instantly become prey themselves. It’s a role reversal.”
At Gerard’s explanation, Reina’s eyes sparkled.
“But hey. You say you’re a mercenary, yet you don’t even know this?”
“Hehe. Sorry. You were uncomfortable, right, Unni.”
“No. It's not uncomfortable and nothing to be sorry for, I was just curious so I asked…… But why have you called me Unni since last time? Am I really your Unni? Is it true? Confess right now, Michelle!”
“Hehe.”
Karina demanded her age because her pride was scratched, and Reina just grinning and smiling.
And Yuria quietly smiles while watching that.
Rachel, who was far away, couldn't hide her complex feelings while watching that scene.
Boom!
That didn't mean there were no beast attacks at all.
Beasts with large bodies and strong appetites like Trolls or Owlbears, or those strong enough to rule a territory like Cyclops or Minotaurs, attacked thinking it was good.
“Don't scatter!”
“Aim for the legs first!”
Time flew like an arrow.
Perhaps because the stress from the tension of not knowing when another beast would attack and the pressure of the forest watching them was significant, the group’s stamina and concentration were quickly depleted.
Thus, the second night in Yurad Forest.
Unable to rest properly, everyone was staring blankly into the pitch-black forest.
However, the atmosphere was subtle.
It was because, from some point, the group was divided into two factions.
One was the Silver Lion Mercenaries.
And the other was the Academy and the mercenary sisters.
I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the rest was like that, and although they pretended not to, it was clear they were conscious of each other, so only meaningful tension and silence hovered in the forest night.
Through that, another beast attack followed.
Kyaooo!
It was a Lizardman.
Hard skin like a crocodile.
Slit pupils flashing in the dark.
The Lizardman’s beast grade was Grade 3.
However, the Lizardmen, who walked upright, could use tools like Orcs and knew how to use their own tactics utilizing collective intelligence like Goblins.
Additionally, since they harbored dangerous lethal poison in their sharp teeth, they were known as individuals as dangerous as Blood Orcs, the higher species of Orcs.
……Of course.
To the Silver Lion Mercenaries and especially the Academy group who had experienced all sorts of hardships, they didn't even amount to experience points.
“Kill them all!”
“Get your face away, you disgusting bastard!”
The battle ended in an instant.
Gorian approached Oliver, who was sitting comfortably in front of the lit campfire, and spoke.
“It’s over.”
“…….”
“And to give you one piece of good news, it seems the river upstream is nearby.”
Oliver’s eyes, which had been staring blankly at the fire, flinched and reacted for the first time.
He looked up at Gorian and asked with his eyes.
If that was true.
“Lizardmen of Yurad Forest mainly inhabit upstream. Also, their bodies were wet. It means there is a waterside not far away.”
Gorian’s deduction was correct.
As soon as day broke, the group moved and could hear the sound of rushing water before long.
It was the upstream they had been looking for so much.
And also.
Swaaaa!
Where a waterfall continued right below.
“Oliver!”
At that, Oliver ran.
Toward the waterfall.
[Once past the waterfall, there was a fan-shaped sedimentary land.]
It was exactly as said.
[Yurad River water flowing quietly as if asking when it had ever been angry. The green fields spread next to it too. But that wasn't important. Before falling for nature's mystery, I saw it.]
Looking down from atop the falling waterfall, that place was exactly as written in the journal.
The sparkling river and green fields were there.
His heart swelling for a moment, Oliver suppressed his excitement, went down the waterfall, and ran toward the field.
The group followed behind him.
The area of the field wasn't big.
If the Red Forget-me-nots really grew in bunches like a flower garden, they would have been very easily spotted.
Once, twice. Three times.
Oliver searched the field like he was hunting for lice.
But he couldn't find that mysterious place Sanbad spoke of.
Even so, Oliver didn't give up.
It is a matter of more than two hundred years ago.
Not all Red Forget-me-nots would have spread their seeds.
‘Just one. I just need one left.’
That was enough.
To fulfill his sister’s wish.
“……Ah.”
Did that desperation reach the sky?
Oliver was able to discover it.
Just one.
The Red Forget-me-not cleverly hidden in a rock crevice.
Rustle rustle-
Preciously.
And without anyone knowing, Oliver gathered the Red Forget-me-not.
“…….”
Rachel was hiding and watching that sight.