Chapter 56: Forest Wave: First ③ – The Green Sea

While Galado-san was meeting with the person in charge of the subjugation village formerly owned by the Jinryuu family, we decided to look around the village.

“Still, Finger Rocks are surprising-ssu, aren’t they?”

“Everyone’s like that the first time they see Finger Rocks.”

“This place is on top of a rock, right?”

The 5 subjugation villages based around Finger Rocks.

These Finger Rocks aren’t attacked by monster hordes even during Forest Wave.

The positions of the subjugation villages differ depending on the Finger Rock.

Some are on top, some below, some centered around, and some inside the Finger Rock.

The Finger Rock at this subjugation village had a platform-like shape.

On top of the fingertip. But it’s no different from the ground.

That building is a general store, right? And a weapon shop, armor shop, and tavern lined up.

There are many people passing by too.

Contrary to my expectation that they’d all be subjugators, there are people dressed differently as well.

Carriages stop one after another, spreading out tents and carpets in empty spaces.

They seem busy unloading cargo from freight wagons.

“Street stalls-ssu. They start appearing around when Forest Wave begins.”

“Could they be merchants from the Full Moon Bazaar-ssu?”

“There are many of those too.”

Such tenacious merchant spirit.

Well, I suppose that’s what makes a merchant. I couldn’t imitate it.

“First we go to the guild, right?”

“Yeah. We need to register at the guild.”

“Come to think of it, we completely forgot to register-ssu.”

We had carelessly forgotten that we weren’t registered as subjugators.

It’s a mandatory condition for participating in Forest Wave.

Since guild branches are fine, we decided to register here.

We found the guild branch and entered. Everything except the registration counter was full.

Well, I guess not many people register here.

The registration was simple. Just hand over your explorer tag.

Submit it and wait a bit, and when it’s returned, you’ll be given a subjugator tag.

“Different colors…”

It’s totally Player 2 colors.

“That’s how it is-ssu.”

“Now then, what shall we do-ssu? Hm? What are you looking at-ssu, Wof-kun?”

“…Ah, no, I was just a bit curious.”

There’s a particularly conspicuous subjugation request posted on the wall.

It depicts a monster with a large ‘X’ on its belly.

Exactly the same as what I saw at the subjugator guild.

“…The ‘Wounded One.'”

“It’s huge-ssu, isn’t it?”

“It’s actually even bigger-ssu. Big enough to look up at.”

“Seems like it would have a good texture-ssu.”

Are you planning to eat it?

“Well then, shall we go?”

We left the guild.

Now, what should we do?

“The Heizen Great Forest. You can see it from here too.”

“Then I’d like to see it.”

“Where can we see it from-ssu?”

“At this fingertip.”

The Heizen Great Forest.

I’ve never actually seen what it’s like. It’s 4 days away, so it can’t be helped.

The fingertip was a wall.

A stone wall running along the finger in a circle.

“Seems like it would cost money-ssu.”

“No, this place is free-ssu. Use that ladder.”

A ladder was propped against the wall.

Not rope or wood. It’s made of iron.

We climbed the sturdy ladder and stood on top of the wall.

The wall’s width was surprisingly substantial, and there were a few other people scattered about besides us.

Iron railings for fall prevention were installed around the wall.

“Is that Trade City Heizen on the other side?”

I can see something sparkling lined up in a straight line.

It’s like a horizon, but beyond that was the real horizon.

Since Lake Liv connects to the Cloudia Sea, I suppose you could call it a sea.

“Not that way-ssu. This way-ssu!”

“Oh, right.”

“It’s amazing-ssu!”

Told by Bid-san, I moved to the opposite side.

Let’s see, I thought casually.

“…!”

At the sight before me, I couldn’t help but gasp.

The plains stretched out, and beyond that was the sea.

It’s the sea. That’s the sea.

As far as the eye could see, as if it continued to the ends of the world, it was a green sea.

That’s the Heisen Great Forest… it’s a sea of trees, isn’t it.

That would certainly be called a great sea of trees.

“…”

Why is it called a great forest?

“Wow… it looks like you’d get completely lost-ssu.”

“Yeah. It’s not unusual for subjugators to spend months in the Great Forest outside of Forest Wave. Naturally, there are many accidents-ssu.”

“…Can you come back?”

“…If you have it, forced teleportation stones somehow work-ssu.”

“Isn’t that already a dungeon at that point?”

“Yeah. Well, some still can’t believe it even then.”

According to the Witch, very few above-ground dungeons have been identified as such.

One reason is that at first glance, you can’t tell at all.

“Ah, jeez. Where is the Forbidden Land-ssu?”

“Deep inside… there seems to be something like an island.”

“It really looks like an island-ssu.”

There are isolated land islands scattered in the green sea.

“Those are Finger Rocks-ssu.”

“They’re in the forest too-ssu?”

“Yeah. They make good landmarks.”

“Finger Rocks aren’t attacked by monsters, right-ssu?”

“Yeah. They aren’t attacked. Of course, there are places with subjugation villages too. Normally they serve as oases in the Great Forest, but during Forest Wave, they become deserted.”

“Even though they aren’t attacked-ssu?”

“There’s no demand during the Wave. You can’t leave the buildings around the clock. You don’t know when it will end. Who would want to stay in such a place-ssu?”

“That’s true-ssu.”

“But it’s a lifesaver for us-ssu.”

“That’s also true-ssu.”

“…”

We plan to enter the Heizen Great Forest during Forest Wave and head to the Forbidden Land.

And defeat the dungeon anomaly.

That sounds like either suicide or a joke.

However, no one knows when Forest Wave will end.

It would be good if it ended in 3 days. It would be good if it ended in a week.

But it could also take a month or 3 months.

The dungeon anomaly causes frequent EVENTs.

It would be troublesome if something like what happened with Barou occurred again.

We’re aiming for the period between First and Second Wave.

From First to Second Wave is minimum 12 days, maximum 3 months in length.

By the way, from Second to Last Wave is maximum 6 days, a short duration. Minimum is 2 hours.

Still, it’s quiet.

I can’t imagine hordes of monsters coming from that green sea.

The blowing wind is slightly cool.

Suddenly, Bid-san was gazing at the green sea with interest.

“Are you sure it’s okay, Bid-san?”

I ended up asking.

“What is-ssu?”

She asked back without looking at me.

“The dungeon anomaly subjugation. I invited you, but…”

“I don’t mind-ssu. But I never thought I’d be subjugating a dungeon anomaly in Heisen-ssu.”

She gave a bitter smile while still looking at the scenery.

Her Holland Lop ears were swaying in the wind.

“That’s true-ssu.”

“The dungeon anomaly. It brings back memories-ssu.”

“Of the Clown, right?”

“Huh? The land catfish-ssu. What Clown-ssu?”

Ah, right. I had changed it.

I’m the only one who remembers that.

As I felt deeply moved, I bumped my back against something with a tonk.

“Ah, sorry.”

“Oh, my apologies.”

We turned around and apologized to each other.

It was a cute white cat-eared girl. Cat people are rare too.

Huh.

“Nyaaah! Wof!?”

“Pakira-san!?”

We were both surprised. Shocked.