“Why is that?” Tokan asked puzzled, and Kanal stuttered uncharacteristically.

It was the first time he had seen that his gaze, which always looked into his eyes, began to tremble.

“Ah, that’s… um, yes. The messenger we sent to that forest has disappeared. I can’t clear this forest now, so I don’t check…”

“…Elder?”

Kanal, who was nervous, froze at Tokan’s call.

Soon, he took a deep breath and tilted his head up to look at him.

The trembling eyes calmed down.

“I’m sorry. I’m out of my mind right now. Anyway, I was wondering if you saw anything in that forest.”

Taking a deep breath, Kanal was noticeably calmer.

He even smiled at Tokan.

Tokan narrowed his eyes and looked at Kanal.

Instinct told him that there was something fishy about Kanal in front of him.

He was about to change a new face, but it was difficult to blindly write a new face for a teacher he found again after a long time.

He considered using his magic, but he felt embarrassed to use it in front of his teacher.

Moreover, his mastery of magic was not high enough to use it without fear that his opponent would notice.

Even Achim, a human child, felt something strange, but there’s no way that Kanal, one of the elder fairies, won’t notice the power of God’s eyes.

“Yes, the forest was too quiet when I walked through it. I didn’t feel the presence of spirits. I would like to check in more detail, but due to the time delay, I needed to return as soon as possible.”

“Then the human child…”

“I brought him because he fainted on the way. Although it was annoying to take him here to town.”

Instead of telling the whole story, Tokan responded by leaving out some facts and abbreviating others.

Although he was his teacher he had followed for a long time, Tokan was not stupid enough to blindly tell the whole truth.

Because what he won on his long journey was not only the eyes of God.

“It’s fine, I understand it. Maybe I should investigate more on my own. Then go inside and rest.”

“…Teacher.”

“Hmm?”

Kanal turned around and looked at Tokan.

“Are you still upset?”

Kanal paused at Tokan’s question, then smiled benevolently as always.

“Will I still be upset after all this time has passed…?”

Kanal smiled and quickened his steps.

Tokan admitted that he was immature when it came to scrutinizing hidden truths.

However, there was another eye he had developed from wandering for a long time.

That is what he gained through his own experience.

“Teacher. You’re lying.”

An eye that sees through the opponent’s lies.

Tokan stared at the back of the disappearing Kanal for a while. For some reason, his heart was breaking.

He sighed for a moment and walked slowly.

He had just arrived in the forest and it was too soon to judge anything.

Lost in thought, he slowly walked towards his hut and opened the door to find Ahim.

“Kid, have you been quiet?”

But strangely, there was no response.

He paused, scanning the hut with just his eyes.

He held his breath and tried to feel the presence but couldn’t feel anything.

“…Ahim?”

The boy has disappeared.

* * *

When Ahim lost consciousness and woke up, the boy was lying in a very dark place.

The smell of damp earth stung his nose.

With a blank head, Ahim walked tossed and turned.“…Where am I?”

A place where not a single ray of light enters, much less a window.

It was so dark that he felt like he was trapped in a coffin.

A freezing cold crept in.

Ahim remembered the terrible scene he had witnessed in the palace.

Monsters and unknown people hang upside down like dead animals.

No, were they even human?

Their skin was almost purplish-black, with a bark-like texture and long regrown nails.

Yes, there were even animals hanging there, fairies and spirits…

In retrospect, the place looked like a museum, full of the corpses of everything imaginable.

Achim’s body was trembling violently.

The fairy named Tokan.

He waited for him, devouring the food that his spirits brought him.

And after he fell asleep for a moment, he woke up and found himself here.

No matter how different the fairy was from what he had imagined, fairies were known to be basically a good race.

Most of the spirits and fairies were good, except for the fairies consumed by darkness.

Clenching his trembling hands tightly, the boy squeezed out his voice.

“…P-please… help me…”

Can he scream? Or should he not scream?

But the horror was too great for the boy to remain where he was.

Why was his life so scary…

“Someone… someone… please help me.”

Please…

“Help!”

Did Ahim’s shrill voice come from outside?

There was the sound of someone coming down the stairs.

* * *

-Kyuu?-

Tierra, who was playing with Sasha, suddenly raised her head.

Thanks to that, Sasha, who had been rubbing Tierra’s tail, laughed out loud.

Iru, who was sitting by the baby’s bed and playing with his tail, looked at Tierra as if asking why, and Tierra kept shaking her head.

Kalia, who was watching Sasha play with the spirits, stroked Tierra’s round head and asked.

“Why is that? Did you hear something strange?”

-Kyuwoo…-

Tierra, who hesitated, immediately said that it was nothing.

She felt a strange aura through the ground, but the aura was too faint for her to detect.

The mole spirit soon turned her attention back to the baby.

Shaking her small, plump buttocks, Tierra shook off Sasha’s hand that was holding the tail and tickled the baby with the tip of her nose.

“Kyaa!”

-Shhha!-

-Chirp chirp!-

Fuego, a red snake that hid the flames, wrapped around the baby’s wrists and body and played with him, and Elemento, a raindrop-shaped bird, twirled around the baby, playing with the spirits.

“Kyaung!”

The baby’s roaring laughter spread throughout the carriage.

Hemmie, who had been watching it with a pale complexion, barely could move her tongue.“Sasha-sama… is really amazing… Ugh… Indeed, miss Kalia and mister Simon’s son… Wow!”

After teleporting three times in a row, Hemmie began to feel nauseous as usual.

It would have been much better than tearing the scroll because Simon focused his mind on moving it, but Hemming couldn’t come to his senses after passing 4 times.

“Hemmie, lie down. It’s okay now.”

From then on, the group traveled by carriage. Since there was no rush, they agreed to teleport only once or twice a day.

However, once they started riding the carriage…

“Ugh!”

Derek began to feel sick.

Whenever they teleported, Hemmie would freak out, and when they rode the carriage, Derek’s face turned pale.

Meanwhile, the youngest Sasha was happily playing with the spirits on a makeshift baby bed.

“Really.”

Phew.

Simon shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it and came up with a compromise.

Teleport twice a day and ride the carriage at a moderate speed.

“Kalia, I… I can’t do it. I’ll be on the second carriage with Allen. I don’t think I can keep showing them how sick I am here.”

Hemmie, who was clinging to the window, unable to lie down or sit in the carriage with Kalia, Simon, and baby Sasha, finally stopped the carriage.

With a pale face, she got up unsteadily and went into the second carriage like a zombie.

At that moment, when they were about to depart again.

Derek knocked on the carriage door with a pale face.

Then, with trembling hands, he held out the dragon egg he had hugged tightly.

“…Simon, I’m sorry, but can you take this?”

The situation was like this.

When Derek got motion sickness, the dragon egg took advantage of his weakness and drained his mana. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but because of his motion sickness, Derek couldn’t bear it.

Simon put the egg down where Hemmie had left and waved his hand as if telling him to go inside.

“Thank you…”

Derek stumbled back to the carriage.

Simon put a hand to his forehead, looking worried.

* * *

All the way in the carriage, Kalia remained silent.

She watched Sasha playing with the spirits, watched the passing scenery, and sometimes closed her eyes lost in thought.

Even while observing Kalia in all those moments, Simon didn’t disturb her. He understood that her mind was more complex than ever.

He knew that talking about her worries wouldn’t necessarily solve them.

However, he couldn’t just leave Kalia in that state.

As he thought so, the carriage suddenly jolted and shook.

Although he had cast a shock absorption spell, it still made their bodies jolt slightly.

Due to the jolt, Kalia, who had been looking out the window, turned her head and met Simon’s gaze.

Simon, thought it was a good opportunity to start talking, so he opened his mouth.

“Kalia, tonight…”

But the carriage stopped abruptly again with a loud jolt, interrupting his words.

As a result, Kalia, who had let her guard down, leaned toward Simon on the opposite side of the carriage.

“Oh.”

Even so, Kalia’s amazing reflexes didn’t manage to stop herself from falling completely.

However, Simon quickly reached out his hand to support her and prevented her from falling.

But… unfortunately, the place where Kalia had reached out her hand was ambiguous. And the moment she grasped it, she felt something filling her hand.

“…Ugh.”

Simon groaned, covering his red face with one hand.

The carriage fell silent.