Published at 4th of June 2020 09:46:13 PM
Chapter 39
Yellow Zone
It was the second day of the expedition .
Each guild began to set about packing up camp . As soon as all preparations were finished and everyone had eaten their morning breakfast, one by one the various guilds broke camp .
Lynn followed Teedro closely as the two of them departed . Unlike Illia, Teedro didn’t slow his pace to match Lynn’s .
Teedro was much bigger than Lynn, and so he had to work hard to keep up .
It wasn’t long since they had left camp when Teedro led them off the path and into the thicket .
Lynn, in hot haste, stumbled forwards into the thicket after him .
Teedro was making easy progress through the thicket . He seemed to be making the forest bend to his will the same way Illia did .
However, it didn’t seem so much that the forest was opening a path for him out of kindness, but more so that it was frightened of his power . The trees bent as far away from him as possible .
Lynn was surprised to see the trees bends so much . He didn’t think it was possible they could become so warped .
As they moved through the forest, they left in their wake an air of unrest and disruption .
Much like the forest, Lynn himself too felt himself become a little bit frightened of Teedro .
“Lynn, are you ok?”
Teedro looked back at him in concern, noticing his sluggishness walking through the forest .
“Yeah, I’m alright”, he replied, and strained to conceal his ragged breath from his words .
In truth, he was concerned about just how long he would be able to match Teedro’s pace .
“You haven’t taken Magical Beast Class yet have you? You should follow directly behind me, that way it’ll be easier for you” .
“Ah, sure” .
He fell in directly behind Teedro, and of course the going became much easier as the forest shifted and warped in its efforts to evade Teedro as he blazed through, unimpeded .
It wasn’t as if the idea of following in his wake hadn’t occurred to him, but for one reason or another he had hesitated to do so of his own accord .
So when he was offered by teedro himself, of course he wasn’t going to decline .
“Right then, let’s hurry on” .
“Ok” .
He doesn’t like to waste any time .
When he thought of the distance to the next camp, the need to hurry didn’t strike him as necessary . He wasn’t about to voice this opinion to Teedro, however . The two of them advanced onwards, through the thicket of the forest, going deeper .
The chimera collapsed to the floor with a deep, heavy thud, its large body rolling to its side and squashing the vegetation below it .
They had encountered a chimera, and Teedro was the one who had slain it .
It was just 10 minutes ago, when they were walking through the forest, that their rings had begun glowing, warning them of danger .
When Lynn had opened his mouth to ask what they should do, Teedro had already broken into a sprint .
Over the next several minutes Teedro had tracked the chimera, and he began flanking it .
The chimera could smell their scent . It looked around restlessly as it sought the location of its prey, but before it could, Teedro had already unleashed his magic, snuffing out its life .
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My god…
It happened so fast that even Lynn couldn’t quite comprehend just how he had killed it .
Lynn walked up to the chimera’s corpse and paused, looking to Teedro . He expected him to begin collecting the valuable parts, but he didn’t seem interested in the slightest . Without so much as glancing at its sprawled out body, Teedro walked ahead further into the thicket .
Stumbling over the undergrowth, Lynn quickly followed after him .
“Teedro san!” Lynn called out from behind . “Are you sure we shouldn’t harvest anything from that chimera?”
“We can’t get anything too valuable from a chimera”
“Really?”
“Really . If you want to become a permanent member of Magulheim, you can’t be satisfied with the loot you can get from a chimera . You need to slay rarer beasts than that” .
Lynn was speechless .
The chimera was the first magical beast he had slain, and he thought it was something to be proud of . He felt dejected .
Illia told me I did well… I guess Teedro obviously feels differently .
However he wasn’t able to stay in a low mood for long . He had to learn new things, and Teedro was simply trying to make him more experienced .
He couldn’t let that favour slip through his hands .
Bolstered by his new attitude, he did his best to keep up with Teedro as he followed him through the thicket .
However after a little while he noticed that they had begun to veer off track . He remembered the location of the next camp . He had looked at the map before they left camp, but now it seemed that Teedro was leading them off course . He couldn’t understand Teedro’s motive for taking such a route .
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He decided to ask .
“Umm, Teedro san . Where are we headed?”
“The yellow zone” .
“Huh?”
“We already know all about the blue zone . There aren’t any rare creatures left there . But in the yellow zone there are plenty of unexplored caves, and magical beasts of which we still know very little about . We have to be at camp two by five o’clock, so we can’t go too far in, but we might still be able to find a rare item” .
“But aren’t we forbidden from going outside the blue zone?”
“It’s not something you need to worry about . No one will know as long as we’re back at camp by the allotted time . The association can’t police everything” .
Lynn was slightly perplexed . Was it really ok to break the rules in such a nonchalant way?
However, he wasn’t about to openly criticize the leader of Magulheim, and besides, it would be even more dangerous to go back alone .
He had no choice but to keep his misgivings to himself, and so he followed Teedro deeper towards the blue zone .
They had reached the border between the blue zone and the yellow zone .
There was no divide or boundary to speak of, it was just more dense forest as far as the eye could see .
Nonetheless, once glance was all it took to see that from that point onward they were entering the yellow zone . The vegetation gradually changed from a hue of blue to yellow .
Along the boundary, the vegetation was a mix of both blue and yellow trees and plants .
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The vivid colours made for a spectacular sight, but behind its dazzling, bizarre beauty, it was screaming at anyone who dared venture in that the level of danger from that point onwards rose drastically .
Even Teedro wasn’t unaffected by the increased threat of the area they were entering, Lynn saw, as he recognized what looked like tension in his expression . His forehead glistened with the sweat of perspiration .
Lynn could feel the Pellrat under his clothes tremble .
“Lynn, from now on we’re entering the yellow zone…”
“Ok” .
“Before we go any further I’ll go over a few important things, listen closely alright?”
“I will” .
“From this point on it’s too dangerous to proceed with the pace we’ve kept up so far . There are magical beasts in the yellow zone that can’t be brought down with the Vesper . We have to walk slowly and keep our wits about us at all times, ok? You absolutely must stay close to me .
Also, the map will no longer be completely accurate . We have to mark our position on the map as we go, in fixed distances . Usually one person takes point and stays on guard while the other marks the position on the map, but today I’ll take care of both of those things . Anyway, just make sure you really do stay close to me . If you do get lost, don’t hesitate to use the emergency smoke candle . You’re carrying some right?
Oh and if we encounter a magical beast, stay behind me, and within the distance of one staff . Other than that…”
He went on to tell him about several other things . Lynn felt nervousness coursing through his mind and body .
Teedro picked up on his nervousness, and smiled .
“Don’t worry . I’ve gone into the yellow zone plenty of times . I’ve even been to the red zone . As long as nothing unusual happens, we’re not in any danger . Trust me… No, more than anything, trust in yourself . The reason you’re here is to gain experience . Remember the important points I told you about, and you’ll be safe . But don’t forget to have some ambition too . You can learn a lot here” .
“Ok”, he said, nodding .
It was the first time Teedro had spoken kindly to him . He was able to feel a bit of relief .
From Lynn’s perspective, the Teedro up until a few moments ago was more scary than any magical beast .