Equipment Printing School Mage

Hollow Corner is prominently listed, and the export volume of logs is quite good.

However, the scene before them began to make them doubt themselves.

They followed the timber transport road into the forest and saw that the road eventually led to a somewhat open square.

Then there is no more then.

This clearing, which was obviously opened up from the forest, sits alone in the forest, as if this is not a transit station for logs, but the destination of the logs.

The blue-white full moon silently illuminated the woodland, making the hesitation on Emiya's face more obvious.

This square actually only has an exit. And an entrance? Can a gap between sparse trees be called an entrance?

"...This is outrageous." Emilia pinched her eyebrows in pain.

The number of logs sold in the Hollow Corner is quite considerable, so there should be at least a village of dozens or hundreds of people here.

It's only natural that traces would be left behind when the logs were transported here from the felling site.

Emiya frowned and glanced around.

The Sharptooth Forest is an area with a severe lack of human activity. As a result, the forest here is extremely lush.

All the trees here are probably hundreds of years old. A tree so thick that it takes two people to hug it is just a young tree here.

Transporting such a heavy tree here should have left obvious traces.

No, even if there were traces... neither he nor the Holy Knight were good at reconnaissance in such deep mountains and forests.

Emilia walked unwillingly to the edge of the square, trying to find something - but all that greeted him were thigh-high wild flowers and weeds.

These lush creatures swayed slightly in the clear moonlight, as if mocking his doubts.

Even a wild flower in bloom swayed when he approached it, and some fine powder floated up quietly, causing Emia to sneeze violently.

“——A-choo!”

This sudden airflow brought about an even more violent butterfly effect, with more messy grass seeds flying up into the wind, creating a visible airflow in the air.

"...Ha." Emiya rubbed her nose and couldn't help sighing.

A sneeze can actually make such a big noise.

I saw the blown grass seeds suspended in the air, gathering into a blue and white torrent in the moonlight, floating slowly but steadily forward.

Like phosphorescence in the night.

"......?" Emilia stopped her movements unconsciously and stared at the unusual blue light.

His teacher had crammed a vast amount of knowledge into him - and among this knowledge, the most detailed was the knowledge about various gods.

Under the moonlight, the dust was like phosphorescent fire...

It is a manifestation of the moon goddess Selûne, in a similar form.

In more common terms -

This light dust is divine revelation.

The world of Faerun is famous for the fact that the gods are always watching over mortals.

Emiya glanced back.

Mystra's paladins were scouting in the opposite direction.

The Goddess of Magic died centuries ago, and her ally, Selûne, the Moon Goddess, became the refuge of Mystra's followers.

...If this Yuechen is really the so-called divine revelation, then his teammate must have made a significant contribution.

But still, let's confirm first.

Emilia hesitated for a moment, then turned around and shouted, "Mars, I'll scout in this direction first!"

After receiving the response, Emilia took a step towards the blue light dust.

Whenever he approached these light dusts, the invisible breeze would blow the light dusts further forward, allowing them to continue moving in a certain direction.

"really……!"

Emilia unconsciously quickened her pace, drew her sword, pushed aside the grass blocking the road, and followed Guangchen farther and farther away.

The age of the forest began to show in various places: the rough and thick stems and leaves of the grass were brushing against his body, and the ground under his feet was becoming softer and softer.

Then, without warning, he missed a step.

"!" He was startled and staggered, almost falling to the ground, and held onto the tree next to him.

“…It’s not a pit trap.”

A false alarm.

Emiya wiped the cold sweat from her head, and then realized the unusualness of the empty pit.

He quickly walked back to the spot and swept the nearby weeds aside, revealing the empty pit.

Then he fell silent.

It was a series of footprints.

The deep footprints sank deeply into the ground, and when Emilia stepped on the forest soil, the depth of the sinking was probably not even one-third of the depth of the footprints.

Mars is already the tallest among humans, but the series of footprints on the ground are even bigger than Mars' feet.

The footprints were slightly different in size and had uniform depth, clearly indicating that different people had walked past them—but each footprint was quite large.

The footprints were deep, but even a very strong person could not leave such deep footprints with just their weight.

They were carrying something very heavy.

Emiya pondered for a moment, and a series of scenes immediately formed in her mind.

It was a rainy day, and the already soft soil became very slippery in the heavy rain. Anyone who stepped on it would immediately leave deep footprints.

Forests are not suitable for human survival, and forests in rainy days are even more dangerous.

But even in such bad weather, there were several very strong men carrying something heavy and moving forward in the forest as if no one was around.

This load was not even a particularly serious burden to them, so much so that they did not bother to cut down the trees in the road and clear a wide path for their transport.

They even go a step further - they dare to stride through the forest even on rainy days, stepping on the slippery ground and carrying heavy objects.

Maybe, they even have some left.

It goes without saying that the heavy object is the felled tree.

"……hiss……"

Mars's strength was already inhuman, but trying to lift a tree so large that two people could hug it was still beyond his reach. He would need the aid of Giant Transformation and Bear Strength to attempt it.

No, for most ordinary people, the correct form of this work should be to cut down the trees, put them on various vehicles and drag them back.

Shoulder it? I'm afraid the falling wood will just smash my shoulder blade.

The lumberjacks here only need a few people to work together to solve the problem by carrying the wood by hand or on their shoulders - this means that there are several top strongmen among the lumberjacks here.

Each of them has strength comparable to Mars.

Emiya took a deep breath.

In front of him, the moon dust spun leisurely in the air, and then continued to float forward.

A log cabin loomed in the distance, and Emilia wasn't sure what she would encounter inside.

The shadows in this forest are somewhat too deep.

The Village in June (Part 3)

"The good news is that if we can enlist their help, we might be able to confront the druids head-on. The bad news is that their identities are unknown, and they may actually be allies of the druids."

Mars, using the light of the luminous magic, assessed the situation and replied, "I'm afraid every one of these guys is about my size. Although it might be a bit boastful, to have so many strong men in just one small village is a bit too much..."

Emiya responded, "The probability is too low. It's probably due to other factors."

However, there is a lack of evidence for further reasoning.

In a world where magic reigns supreme, anything is possible – there could be countless reasons why a village could have many strongmen.

They both looked at each other and sighed.

Precisely because both of them have sufficient knowledge, they dare not draw any conclusions at this time.

However, among all the possible reasons, few are optimistic.

But no matter what, these villagers can't be more dangerous than an entire druid circle.

The flying moon dust had already dissipated outside the woodcutter's hut, and the blue light that once guided him seemed to be nothing more than Emiya's own illusion.

The duration of the Phantom Horse has expired, and the ethereal shadow dissipates in the woods.

Emiya paid attention to her steps, using her sword as a crutch, and carefully felt her way forward as she approached the hut.

The hut was quite large, with a large number of logs piled together to form a living space of at least several dozen square meters and several meters high.

"between."

The hut had just filled his entire field of vision when his sword struck some hard, long, stick-like object.

"...?"

Emilia maintained her gestures alertly, took a few cautious steps back, and then placed the hard object on the sword.

The hard object lay across the steel, emitting a miserable white light in the moonlight.

——That was a white bone.

Aimiya was silent for a moment, then said, "I can't tell what kind of creature these bones belong to."

"……hiss."

Mars took the bone down wordlessly, examined it in the moonlight, and shook his head involuntarily: "Emmia, this might be a human bone."

But there was no flesh and blood on it.

As for the origin of human bones, there are countless possibilities.

The paladin silently drew out the greatsword.

The steel cut through the air, making a slight buzzing sound in the air.

The paladin pulled down his visor, shouldered his sword, and walked in front, while Emilia distanced herself from the paladin and supported him from the side.

Mars put his ear to the cabin, held his breath and listened for a while, then shook his head at Emilia.

He heard nothing.

This means the cabin may be empty.

The woodcutter's hut was not locked, but was fastened with a heavy wooden bolt to prevent wild animals from invading. Mars freed one hand, reached out and grasped the bolt, and lifted it up.

The wooden bolt, which was two palms thick and more than one meter long, seemed like a slender branch in Mars' hand. He pulled it out easily and put it aside lightly.

Without the obstruction of the bolt, Mars pulled the wooden door outward, and it slowly swayed to the outside, revealing a dark space.

Emiya hesitated for a moment, then asked in a normal voice, "Excuse me for disturbing you at night. Is anyone here?"

Darkness swallowed his answer.

The two looked at each other.

Emiya cast the dancing light spell and stepped into the house first, followed by Mars.

At this moment, Mars let out a surprised exclamation.

"?"

Emiya frowned and looked into the house in confusion.

Inside the house, an adult man was lying powerlessly on the ground, tightly tied with straw ropes, unable to move.

He was relatively thin, half a head shorter than Emilia, and even more incomparable to Mars - he was obviously not the owner of the huge footprints.

He was wearing only the clothes that formed his skin, which seemed rather thin in this late summer. The rest of his clothes had probably been unceremoniously stripped away by the real owner of this place.

The appearance of this prisoner is a very dangerous signal - it shows that the residents here not only have sufficient military force, but also have the courage to take action.

Mars in the room gestured to Emilia: What should we do?