Finally, Cassian whit a few words of praise and appeasement, he calmed Celestine down, and she finally evaluated the rest of the items, one of which was another stamina recovery potion.
The bracers were the same as Cassian's, only with a more elegant design—something Cassian didn't understand. Why did his look like something a barbarian would wear, while hers were more ornamental and delicate, yet had the same effect?
Finally, there was a necklace that passively improved mental health. The latter struck Cassian as curious. Setting aside the fact that Celestine growled at him and got angry again, he wondered if it could really cure mental problems and such.
Hmm, I think Nora had something wrong with her?...Celes doesn't seem to want it... hmm, but Plouthys didn't specify what exactly couldn't be shared. If I see him later, I'll ask him. But first I have to—
Rumbler Rumbler...
As Cassian wondered what to do next, the room that until then had no exit formed a giant door. It opened by itself and revealed something that finally caught everyone's attention...
"Oh, it's the exit."
Now it was indeed the exit. Cassian could indeed see the warm orange light of a sunset, along with its source, a sun.
Cassian approached the door; he was actually a little claustrophobic after being underground for so long and with so many tremors, so as soon as he saw the exit, he approached it without hesitation.
"Hahahaha! Finally, the exit!!"
And he wasn't the only one. Celestine, in fact, was faster than him and got to the exit first. Cassian, who was approaching the door, noticed something that Celestine didn't, and at that moment:
"Hey, wait!"
"Huaa! W-what happened? Ah—! Oh!!"
Yes, she was so focused on the fact that it was an exit that she didn't notice that once she passed through the door, there was only a small space beyond it.
Cassian, who noticed, ran too and caught her just before she, who had a lot of momentum, fell.
"Ufff~, well done, my subordinate, although I could have flown back up with my magnificent dragon wings."
"With those little wings that only—?"
"What!?"
"No, it's nothing. Just be careful. Oh, it's big... How far away is it? Is that Varnorr?"
Now that he was outside and had a broader perspective, Cassian noticed many things. In addition to the sun setting on the horizon, he noticed that they were in some kind of gigantic valley and that they had just come out of a mountain.
And in the center of it all stood a gigantic tree. At first glance, Cassian couldn't estimate its height, as it was a great distance away, and everything around it looked like simple grass, but looking at some trees near the foot of the mountain where they stood, it seemed that the grass or moss must be at least the size of normal trees.
It was so far away that even with his excellent eyesight he couldn't see those things in detail, but the tree itself was clearly visible. Connecting the dots, he wondered if that giant tree was the much-mentioned Varnorr.
"I don't think so, Sir Cassian. According to legend, it is so large that once you step into its world, no matter where you are, you cannot see its top. Rather, it is said that its branches and canopy are the sky itself."
"Really? How does that work? Isn't that an exaggeration?"
The rest of the group also came out and looked at the landscape, with Valeriane answering Cassian's question. But he couldn't really imagine such a large tree just from her description.
Cassian wondered: if it was so big, wouldn't it block out the sun? Or the rest of it? If a branch fell, wouldn't it be a disaster? How did it even work?
He was already impressed just by how big the one there was... he couldn't imagine that it wasn't Varnorr.
"Right, Cazzy? When I was a child and heard that legend, I thought it was nonsense. Varnorr is probably the one in front of us, isn't it?"
"The god Plouthys said that the 'giant tree' was our next target, he didn't call it Varnorr, so it's unlikely to be that one. On the other hand, if we want to complete this and get out of here, we'll have to go there."
"Hey, but isn't it far away? It would take us days to get there. Ah, but he said time doesn't matter, right? Well, if that's the case, it doesn't matter. Well, Little Knight, you're the leader now, what do we do? Do we just stand here and stare, or—?"
thurmp!
As they talked, the door behind them closed. Everyone was a little distracted by the scene, but in fact their situation was not the best.
They were on a cliff with little space. In addition, there was a breeze that seemed a little strong. Cassian had no problems, but it was likely that someone as light as Ellys would be pushed, and in fact it could happen at any moment.
"Yes, the situation doesn't look good, we can't go back... and it's about to get dark. Staying here is not a safe option."
"Well, after being underground all day, who didn't want to get out? But look over there, Caballerita. There's a small path there that leads to... oh! Is that smoke?"
Valeriane, quick as a leader, thought about the consequences of the door closing. But Naelune pointed to a small path on her right.
It was a very narrow path, but it was downhill and led into the forest. And if she wasn't seeing things, there was smoke coming out from between the trees, which was usually a sign of civilization.
"Yes, that's smoke. Hey, Lys... oh, right, you can't see very far, can you?"
Cassian, who had good eyesight, recognized that it was indeed smoke. And if he concentrated, he could see something like structures, although they were difficult to see because of all the trees obstructing his view.
He wanted to ask Lys for a second opinion, but he remembered that Lys's eyes were not omnipotent.
"No... but I see a strange flow of mana throughout the area... mhn... I don't know how to explain it. It's like a knot."
"Yeah, that wasn't an explanation at all, litlle angel."
"We can't spend the night here. Even though we don't know what awaits us, heading toward the smoke seems like a better option. It's usually a sign of civilization. Given the distance, it might take us a few hours... but even if it's nothing, it's worth checking.If no one objects, we'll head that way."
In the end, with Valeriane making the decision and no opposition to what she said, the group began their descent into the forest.
..
.
{There is no defeat sadder than that of those who fight endlessly,
feeding their greed by not letting go of what they loved,
forgetting that sometimes, surrendering is the greatest act of courage.
Because a will that never breaks,
can also be a chain.}
"Hey, what if we just camp in the forest instead? We haven't even arrived yet and there's already a sign telling us that giving up is courageous. I say we take the hint and turn back. I've got a really bad feeling about this."
"But Yefeng said it was okay."
"No, Cazzy, we can't trust Yefi. His skills fail half the time."
"/_\"
"So, little knigh, what do you say?"
"No. It's already nighttime, and even though we haven't found anything, we don't know what beasts we might encounter now. Sir Cassian said he saw what looked like structures, in addition to the smoke. Staying in a forest without a decent camp can be very dangerous."
"Yeh, little kight, but we can take the other path."
"Hee~, coward!"
"Huh? What did you say, little dragon? Who's the coward? Fine, let's go! If anything happens, remember that I told you so."
The group had finally descended the mountain, which, looking at it from below, although it seemed high when they left, could only be described as the foot of the mountain.
And it was a gigantic mountain, part of a mountain range that formed an almost perfectly enclosed valley.
After noticing that there was a path even when they reached the forest, and that it led in the direction of the smoke, the group sensed that it probably had something to do with their next test.
And after walking another hour through the dark forest, under the guidance of Ellys, who could see what she described as a strange flow of mana in the form of a knot, they came to a clearing that had a sign saying that, giving Naelune—carried by Cassian since she got tired halfway there—a bad feeling.
It was also true that, in addition to the path leading in the direction of the knot, there was another that went in a different direction. The group was at a fork in the road, although it was not known where the latter led, and the former had that legend on the sign pointing in its direction...
In the end, only Naelune had the bad feeling, and although the words on the sign seemed to have a strange meaning, they followed the path indicated by the sign, which was the most reasonable and closest option, rather than the uncertain one.