Chapter 73: Something Strange in the Forest of Lost Paths

“The monsters seem weak?”

After finishing our baths and feeling refreshed, we camped a short distance from the lake. Once we’d eaten dinner, Lilina and Alisha said they’d noticed something, so I listened.

I recalled the monsters we’d fought and tilted my head.

I hadn’t participated directly in most battles, but none of them had seemed especially weak.

I'd also used 'Support' to raise both girls' abilities. If they still considered the monsters weak even after accounting for that, I could think of only one explanation.

“Couldn’t it simply be that you two have become stronger?”

Lilina and Alisha were steadily gaining power, though in directions different from the anime. Lilina had changed from a power fighter into an assassin. Alisha, originally a magic-heavy power fighter, was becoming a sniper.

Because those roles paired so well with the 'Support' skill I'd stolen from Kane, their strength seemed far ahead of where it should have been at this point in the anime.

Perhaps they were only feeling that gap. But both shook their heads.

“That may be part of it. Still, for monsters in the Forest of Lost Paths, they’ve offered far too little resistance.”

“There are two major reasons people are warned not to enter this forest carelessly. One is that you’ll lose your way without a guide. The other is that its monsters are excessively strong.”

I frowned as they explained.

“Excessively strong?”

“Yes. I heard that’s why they built a main road to the small village.”

“My mother told me that too.”

Seeing Lilina agree with Alisha, I reconsidered.

Apparently, the forest's powerful monsters were common knowledge. Even without 'Support', none of the monsters we'd met would have caused me much trouble if I'd freely unleashed my skills.

Calling them excessively strong seemed like an exaggeration.

Granted, Lloyd's skills were absurdly overpowered, but even allowing for that, the monsters hadn't been exceptional.

The monsters we'd met when Kane used 'Decoy' on Zard and disrupted the mountain ecosystem had seemed stronger.

“So it isn’t that strong monsters are here, but that the strong monsters have disappeared. The exact opposite of Kane’s incident.”

It would have been easy to dismiss it as coincidence, but after the previous incident, something potentially serious couldn’t be ignored.

What phenomenon could make only the powerful monsters vanish? Another person rampaging with 'Decoy' like Kane seemed far too unlikely so soon.

Then there had to be another cause…

“No good. We don’t have enough information to understand what’s happening. But we’ll remember that something may be wrong. Thank you, both of you.”

Because I knew almost nothing about this forest, their observation was invaluable.

Without them, I would have assumed this was normal and ignored it. For that matter, if I'd traveled alone, I wouldn't even have escaped the forest.

At my thanks, Lilina wagged her newly fluffy tail and hugged my right arm.

“I’m happy I could help Lloyd-sama!”

She sniffed my clothes lightly, then ground her face against my arm. Her sudden closeness made me swallow.

“Um, Lilina, I don’t mind, but aren’t you suddenly far too close?”

After several days of unusual distance, the abrupt change left me flustered.

Lilina looked up with her usual loose smile.

“Now that I’ve washed away the sweat and dirt, I need to put my scent back on Lloyd-sama.”

“Put it back? You mean you’d already marked me with your scent?”

Looking at the girl tightly clutching my arm, the question escaped me.

…I'd heard that dogs and cats re-marked their favorite toys after the toys were washed. Was this that phenomenon?

Lilina’s silver ears twitched cheerfully.

No. This didn’t feel like an emotion I should explain away that easily.

"Perhaps my scent has become so ordinary to you, Lloyd-sama, that you no longer notice it."

She said it happily and shot Alisha a triumphant glance.

Alisha immediately seized my left arm and looked up at me.

“Lloyd-sama, please experience my fragrance as well.”

Imitating Lilina, she ground her head and face against my arm.

“Ah! Don’t put Alisha’s scent on Lloyd-sama!”

Lilina pouted, but Alisha ignored her and hugged me even more tightly.

In response, Lilina increased the force around my right arm.

…This exchange felt strangely familiar.

Despite myself, I was relieved that the party’s usual sense of distance had returned.

No pursuers had followed us inside the forest, but we had no idea what awaited us once we left tomorrow.

I needed to brace myself again.

Even as I thought that, looking at the girls pressed close on either side made me feel that somehow, everything would be all right.