With the advisors in the lead, the student teams in Jun's group headed for the forest along one of the icy, muddy roads. Whether it was the weather or the hundreds of students and adventurers that had already headed into the Forest after their briefings, the walk was fast and uneventful. The plains around the city had been thoroughly coated in white snow broken only by the black lines of cleared roads, with the hills and mountains behind them and the snow-covered treetops of the Forest ahead of them. A misleadingly idyllic and peaceful scene.

  As they walked, Arwen handed Aya a binder of documents showing the region and threat assessments. After studying it for a bit, Aya passed the map around for each of them to study. Jun nearly dropped the heavy sheaf of bound papers, surprised at the size and weight of it when Aya handed it to her.

  A series of maps at the front showed the entire region of the Forest along the Moros Mountain Range measuring thousands of miles long and hundreds of miles wide. Several fortresses and passageways through the mountains were marked on the map as well as general threat levels for each of the regions. Forest's Edge was the largest city in the Moros Mountain Range guarding the single largest passage through the brutal terrain. However surprisingly, Forest's Edge seemed to be the safest region in the area, the general threat level labeled as only in the low Silver range, while to the North and South there were places labeled up to high Platinum. Each of the regions were further detailed in other maps.

  Flipping to the map for Forest's Edge, Jun frowned as she took in the area and more detailed information. Despite the entire region being listed as only low Silver, huge swaths of the Forest were labeled with low Iron to mid Silver threat ratings, with the plains around the city only carrying a low to high Bronze rating. Even more concerning, the mountains that Jun recalled passing through on her way to Forest's Edge for the first time were labeled on the map as a high Gold area, and she felt lucky that she and Shiori had managed to cross through only dealing with goblins. The map made it clear how dangerous the Forest truly was.

  Skimming through the briefing documents gave an even clearer picture of what they were walking into, and after Jun went through it all she passed the documents to Michael while processing what she'd just read.

  The Gold area was hypothesized to contain a full Goblin stronghold with multiple Gold ranked goblins and a veritable army of Silvers and Irons estimated to be well over 10,000 with even more Bronze ranked goblins. Even if most goblin warbands were mostly Bronze ranked creatures, those numbers were more than enough to threaten a Gold ranked adventurer. After all, quantity was a quality itself. However, none of the information on the stronghold was certain. The stronghold's defenses were enough that none of the IAG or Kingdom's scouts could get close enough without being detected to find out the truth of the matter, and it was feared that getting too close might spark an all-out assault on the nearby cities. It was explicitly labeled off limits, not that Jun had any intention of getting anywhere near there, even with Shiori accompanying her. Luckily it was far enough away that she and her teammates would actually need to intend to get there to even get close.

  Of greater danger were the Silver areas in a ragged ring around the goblin stronghold which moved a bit, some coming as close as a hundred miles to the city. With the speed that even Bronze ranked things could move on Merinthia, that was just a couple days running. The Silver areas each held outlying war camps or hordes numbering in the thousands, and if Jun were to guess, she assumed many of the non-student adventurers had been sent to push the goblins back.

  The Iron and Bronze areas were more reasonable locations where scouting parties like the one Jun and her team fought on their first bounty or smaller raiding groups like the one Sara, Cecilia, and the others were fighting when Jun first met them. As long as they stayed within those areas, they should be able relatively safe, though that was never a guarantee in the Forest.

  Reading through the document and processing the information made for a remarkable way to pass the time, and by the time everyone in Jun's team had read through the documents and passed them back to Aya, they'd arrived at the edge of the Forest. The advisors milled about as the students huddled up in their respective teams, some of the other groups only now passing around the packet of documents for others to read while others discussed their plans in hushed whispers, worried about the others overhearing them.

  Jun's team was no different as they chose a spot far enough from the other groups for some privacy without putting them to close to any potential ambushers. Arwen followed along, hovering back just enough to give the illusion of privacy, though from how Sara had once told her how sensitive elven hearing could be, especially when amplified by high stats, she was certain the man could hear everything the students discussed.

  "Keira, scout the area for threats," Aya ordered, her eyes scanning the snow-covered plains and Forest for threats. Nodding, Keira darted into the Forest as the rest of the team watched their surroundings, eyes moving to look for anything out of the ordinary.

  As she left to scout the area, Jun noticed the other teams turn to watch Keira until she disappeared into the Forest, provoking a round of hushed whispers from all the groups before several more students followed in her footsteps. Part of her was concerned that they would try to ambush Keira as she scouted and Jun even started to pump mana into her snare spells before the rational side of her brain caught up, telling her that they wouldn't do that kind of thing with all of the advisors watching. Even if Jun's team knew Arwen wouldn't lift a finger to help them unless forced to, Jun was certain the other teams didn't know that.

  Calming down a bit, Jun settled in to wait with the rest of the team until Keira returned a few minutes later, soon followed by the other students who'd gone after her. When the stealthy scout returned, they huddled up in a group and Jun cast a modified barrier spell in a cocoon surrounding them, muffling noise from outside. The barrier wouldn't stop all sound, only muffling their conversations enough that even Arwen shouldn't be able to understand them so long as they talked softly, but it was better than nothing. Once the barrier manifested, Jun nodded, and they began to discuss their plans in earnest.

  "Keira, what did you find?" Aya asked quietly, her attention focused on the scout.

  "There were two battle sites nearby, the first just 100 feet due West of us, the other about 500 feet to the Northwest. Goblin corpses at both sites, basically frozen over and missing ears. The fights were fast and one-sided. There weren't many signs of struggle, like the goblins were eliminated quickly and efficiently before they could really respond. Probably killed by some of the earlier groups that passed through. Tracks from previous groups split off around the first battle site to the West with a large number headed to the Northwest, about half I would guess while most of the rest went Southwest. Fewer tracks headed due West."

  Aya pulled out the map they'd gotten from Arwen and held it open for all of them to look at. Just as Jun remembered, the closest Silver area with a suspected war camp was only 100 miles away from the city, located to the Northwest of their position, while the regions around it were mostly listed as Iron ranked threat levels. "Sounds like most of the older students and guild adventurers headed Northwest to deal with the war camp," she said, pointing at the dangerous region. "The surrounding areas are all Iron ranked, and while I'm sure we can handle it, the number of people in the area will probably make it safer."

  "More allies in the area means if something goes wrong, we'll be that much closer to help, especially since you know..." Michael said quietly, his eyes flicking towards Arwen, distrust in his eyes.

  "Yeah..." Jun knew exactly what he meant. "But we'd also have to worry about other teams messing with us." Jun glanced at the other teams. She had a feeling being anywhere near Melody and her friends would cause complications, but they weren't her biggest concern.

  That belonged to a team of 6 boys all wearing heavier armor and large two-handed weapons. Among their number was Ivar and his two friends, the boys that had tried to force Jun and Aya to join their party. Their advisor, an orcish man wearing heavy plate with an impractically large sword, seemed to be glaring at Arwen as the elf grinned smugly. They were the only team that hadn't sent out a scout after Keira left. The way the boys in that group openly eyed up the girls disgusted her, and the way they looked at other boys in mixed groups with open anger and jealousy made it worse. She didn't want to be anywhere near them in the wilderness, even with her Master accompanying her.

  "But it'd also mean more competition for kills and loot," Aya replied with a frown. "We're still being graded on our performance, and I don't think we'll do too well if we spend the entire expedition hiding behind other teams and relying on help from older students."

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  "We could go to the Bronze ranked areas to the South," Keira said. "Even if a lot of our classmates head that way, I overheard some professors talking about how we're one of the strongest first year teams this year. As frustrating as someone has been with out training, apparently only one other first year team has done even one Iron ranked bounty, and that was only a couple weeks ago. We've been doing them from the start. If we go South, none of the other teams should be able to keep up with us."

  "That'd be unfair to the other teams though," Jun said with a frown. "Besides... I'm not sure I want to risk going where most of the other teams end up going," she said, covertly motioning at the group of armored boys eyeing them up.

  Cian pointed at the map, tapping an Iron ranked area to the West. "We should go there."

  Everyone looked at where the quiet warrior tapped. It was an isolated Iron ranked region surrounded by Bronze areas. While it was farther into the Forest, practically in the foothills of the mountains Jun had crossed through with Shiori, it was far South of the Gold ranked area. "I think Cian's right," Jun said slowly. "The goblins' biggest advantage is numbers. The rough terrain would make it harder for them to use those numbers, and it would be easier to find good camp sites."

  "There should also be fewer trees in the area, so we should be able to see any threats from further away, and I could use my bigger spells without worrying about setting the whole Forest on fire."

  "Plus it's still close enough to the city that if things go bad, we could get back in a day or two."

  Their objective decided upon, Aya slipped the team's documents back in her bag and they quickly agreed upon a quick marching order with Keira scouting ahead, Cian in front with Michael and Aya in the middle and Jun bringing up the rear. Michael had protested at first, insisting he take the rearguard position, but Jun insisted she could handle it even if she was the lowest level among them, especially since she'd managed to hold out against the rest of them with Shiori's help. Besides, Jun was less worried about the goblins and more worried about their advisor. Taking the rearguard would let her and Shiori keep a closer eye on the man.

  With everything settled, Jun dropped the privacy barrier as Keira took the lead, setting a quick pace into the Forest while the other teams still argued over a plan. Silently, Arwen ghosted along at the rear of the group next to Jun, shooting one last smug look at the orcish man before slipping into the trees. Jun couldn't help but turn back as well and frowned as she saw Ivar and his friends watching her and whispering before the trees blocked them from view.

  With Keira in the lead, they set a ground eating pace through the snowy forest, following the well trampled trail through the snow to the first battle site Keira told them about. From there, Keira continued on to the West, following a much less traveled trail, the footprints half filled with snow. Over the next hour the trail thinned as sets of footprints split off in other directions while they continued heading West, and an hour later they broke a new trail through the snow.

  As they traveled deeper into the Forest, the snow on the ground thinned, going from ankle deep where they'd first entered to barely more than a light dusting on the ground. The Forest of Kresh reminded Jun that this forest was nothing like what she was used to on Earth as the trees retained their leaves and the canopy caught the majority of the snow, holding it in place until it froze into a solid layer above.

  While the lack of snow and hard soil of the Forest floor made travel easy, it also made things eerie. Instead of the hike through a winter forest that Jun had expected, instead it felt more like a hike through a frigid cave. The snowcap above the trees made things even darker than Jun expected, and by the time they paused for a break it felt like it was dusk even though her teammates assured her it couldn't be later than midday. Worse still were the sound, or rather the lack of it.

  Growing up in a small town on Earth, one of the things she'd learned as a child was how loud nature truly is, even in the depths of winter. Birds still sang and animals large and small still moved about. Nature was rarely truly quiet except when something strange was going on.

  The Forest around them was dead quiet as nothing moved. Not even the air. The only sounds were those Jun's party made. Creaking leather. Tinkling chainmail. The crunch of footsteps on the rare layer of snow, frozen soil, and the detritus of a forest floor. Aya's teeth clicking together as she shivered. Jun's heart pounding in her chest. Every step took them deeper into the Forest, the oppressive atmosphere growing as the shadows lengthened, seemingly reaching out to claw at them. Even Arwen seemed unusually serious, his eyes darting about as they moved, betraying the relaxed posture he affected.

  Jun kept her spells primed and her body tensed and ready for action the entire day as she strained her senses to watch for an impending attack. It never materialized.

  Once the Forest grew dark enough that they would start to need light to move by, Jun and her party stopped at the first site Keira determined would make a good camp site to settle in for the night. The chosen location was in a stand of young trees and bushes that would shield them from casual viewing in a rare spot where the canopy was weak, the snow covering the ground in a deep layer.

  Except Arwen and Shiori, all of them immediately set to work setting camp. The party pulled shovels out and cleared the ground, piling the shoveled snow around the edges of the small clearing to form a chest high wall of ice around it with only a single gap marking the winding path they took to get inside. Using magic, Aya melted and froze the snow wall until it was as hard as stone, while Cian and Michael dug out a small latrine in the far corner between the wall and a bush they left inside, the rest of the stray vegetation quickly hacked away and piled up in the corner.

  With everything cleared out, the group quickly set up a pair of tents big enough for three people each that took up half the space in the clearing. They left enough room for Arwen to set up a tent if he wanted, though the space left for him was suspiciously close to the dug out latrine. As evening fell, the students settled in, eating dried travel rations in a cold and fireless camp before splitting up to watch. As the group's rearguard, Jun got the first watch of the night alongside Shiori as the rest of her team and Arwen settled in.

  After the long and tense hike through the woods, her teammates fell asleep quickly, and surprisingly, so did Arwen. Jun had expected their advisor to be awake for a while with his high stats and the inherent danger of being so far out from the city and potentially surrounded by aggressive monsters, but as soon as he finished his meal, he'd ducked into a small one-man tent and quickly fell asleep while her teammates chattered for a bit before drifting off.

  Sitting on a camp chair she'd pulled from her bag, eyes straining in the dim starlight to pick up any movement, Jun learned a few things. Aya snored. Loudly. Like a monster crashing through trees. When she'd first heard the sound, Jun leapt to her feet as she fed her mana into one of her spells, conjuring a faintly glowing barrier in a low dome around the camp while she rushed to the tents to wake her teammates. As she opened the girls' tent, she found the source of the noise. Aya snoring as she sprawled out in her sleep. Impressively, Keira didn't seem bothered by it at all, the scout peacefully sleeping through the sound of a team of lumberjacks clear cutting a forest. Carefully, Jun crept over to Aya and gently rolled her on her side and her snoring cut out. For once, she was glad to have heard her mother on Earth complain about her father's snoring and how he wouldn't do simple things to address it. The complaining a lifetime ago had come in handy now.

  Threat located and taken care of, Jun silently withdrew to her chair to wait out the rest of her watch, quietly chatting with Shiori about what they could expect.

  "Most of the Forest's denizens hibernate or move deeper in during the Winter months kitten. The only things that stay in the Outskirts are the weaker creatures that cannot handle the inner layers or those too territorial to leave such as Dark Claws and Crag Crawlers." Shiori looked up into the starry night sky as she sat on another camp chair next to Jun.

  "What's a Dark Claw?"

  "Large birds with nearly silent flight that like to hunt in the dark."

  Whether it was the way Shiori answered or something she subconsciously noticed Jun wasn't sure, but instinctively she cast her dome barrier again, the spell coalescing moments before something large slammed into it with a bone crunching thud!

  "Attack!" Jun yelled, waking her teammates as she looked up at the large shape pressing against her barrier. The force of the impact was massive, nearly expending all of the mana she fed into her barrier, though thankfully none of the layers shattered. Pulling more of her mana, Jun cast another copy of the barrier to reinforce it while her teammates woke and grabbed their weapons, rushing out of the tents within seconds of her shout.

  Cian rushed out of the tent, sword in hand at the same time that Keira did with an arrow already nocked on her bow. Aya and Michael streamed out moments later, the healer smashing together a pair of light stones as Aya conjured a burning lance of flame.

  "Above!" Jun called out, pointing up at the dark shape pressing against her barrier as she fed more of her mana into a snare spell, conjuring the magical ropes just outside of her barrier and lashing out at the dark shape.

  In the combined light of Michael's light stones and Aya's flame spell, a horrifying visage stared down at them. Large, unblinking eyes stood above a wickedly curved and razor sharp beak. Massive wings, each wider than a grown man was tall, were spread out, covering more than half of Jun's barrier. The bird's feathers were the color and pattern of wood, dark in color and perfect camouflage amongst the trees.

  Jun's snares lashed out at the bird, wrapping around its body and wings as she pulled her barrier back, shrinking it down so that her teammates could attack. She needn't have bothered. As her barrier pulled away, the massive bird's body slumped down, its head hanging limply from a broken neck as Jun and her party stared.

  Arwen poked his head out of his tent, looking up at the dead bird for a moment before glaring at the students. "It's dead," he said testily, before ducking back into his tent.

  "That's a Dark Claw," Shiori said in Jun's ears, calmly licking her paw from her seat on Keira's chair.

  Jun glanced from her teammates, to Shiori, and back to the dead Dark Claw. "Oh."

  https://www.patreon.com/NekoSaigai