Instead of the boy, another girl explained what had happened.
“I had a fight with Rex. That bastard got into a fight again and had a seizure.”
With that said, Tom and Heren were able to get a rough idea of the situation without listening to further explanations.
It was Rex who had previously broken her nose bone.
He was still unable to mix with the monastery children, and he often quarreled with other children.
Heron asked, examining the boy’s wounds.
“Where’s Rex?”
“I was beaten hard and then ran away. That bastard is nothing.”
The boy smirked and said, as if his anger had not yet cleared up.
Then another boy helped.
“Rex ran to the forest behind his monastery.”
“·······What? Why over there?”
“I don’t know. So I was talking about what to do now….”
The forest behind the monastery, the forest where some priests and paladins had previously disappeared.
A place rarely visited by people of the monastery because there are rumors that an unknown monster lives in the depths.
“Just leave it alone, you bastard. After a while, you’ll get scared and come out.”
Tom frowned and looked around the forest behind the monastery.
“First, wash your face. I’ll look for it.”
“What? Let’s just leave it alone.”
“But what if he doesn’t come back? It’s almost over, but it hasn’t been long since Elica broke her nose, but if the nuns find out, I can’t get over it this time.”
It was better to find Rex quickly and bring him back before things get more annoying and quietly pass it on.
Heron said.
“I’ll go with you.”
“Okay. You find Elika and go to the restaurant first with them. It won’t take long.”
Before Heron and the other children could say anything more, Tom immediately turned and ran into the woods behind the monastery.
“Oh, anyway, that bastard, Rex….”
Rex, who had just entered the monastery, was still unable to adjust to the life of the monastery.
When Tom first entered the monastery, he was similar to him, so he understood and moved on, but somehow it seemed to be getting more and more troublesome.
Thinking that we should build a proper negotiation this time, Tom proceeded into the forest without hesitation.
‘Where did you go?’
After all, all the stories about the monster were just rumors, and the disappearance was just an incident that happened before, so there was no fear.
In fact, Tom, Heren, and Elica even entered the forest several times without the priests knowing. Of course, that was when the sun was shining.
Rex probably couldn’t even go that deep, so Tom turned around, scanning the outskirts of the forest. We had to find it before it got dark.
“······································································!
After wandering around for quite some time, something suddenly came into his sight.
Legs protruding out of the lush greenery.
Recognizing immediately that it was Rex’s leg, Tom felt relieved and suspicious at the same time, and hurried closer.
“Rex, you crazy bastard!
Tom pushed through the bushes and went inside.
But the incomprehensible scene unfolding in front of me had no choice but to harden.
“······uh?”
Suddenly, Tom turned his head at the sound of a noise coming from nearby. Slowly, his complexion turned pale.
Until dawn, Tom and Rex, neither of them returned from the forest.
Encounter (11)
Late in the night, the Lobelgio Monastery was completely turned upside down in a commotion.
Belatedly, the priests who explained the situation to the children searched the forest by mobilizing the paladins.
However, nothing was found, and there were no traces left to trace the two who never returned.
“Another person….”
Sister Ganesha looked at the paladins gathered in the yard with uncomplicated eyes.
It was a long time ago that people went missing in the forest.
There were rumors that it was the work of a monster lurking in the forest, but she was one of those who didn’t believe it.
I thought it was just a coincidence of overlapping misfortunes, and I thought it would never happen again.
But again, the person disappeared. And this time the children.
She turned and looked at the two men standing opposite each other. It was Elika and Heren.
They were looking endlessly at the forest behind the monastery.
Among the children of the monastery, they were the three closest friends, so it would have been particularly shocking.
“I’m sorry, Elika.”
Heren muttered, tears in his eyes.
“I should have stopped Tom, but I shouldn’t have let him go into the woods alone… but I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, so I left him alone…”
At that guilt-filled voice, Elica didn’t respond.
Inwardly, I thought that I should reiterate that it was okay, but I couldn’t open my mouth because I couldn’t afford to do that.
A friend, Tom, is missing.
Listening to the conversations the paladins were having, it seemed that nothing had been discovered yet.
It was the same as the people who had gone missing before. They didn’t find even a single trace like that, and in the end they couldn’t find it.
I never imagined it would be my job like this.
Elika felt her heart simmer and stared at the forest.
The Paladins had no intention of continuing the search, so they were in the mood to disband.
She hurriedly moved and drew closer to them.
I talked to Muton, a paladin with whom I was usually close.
“Lord Muton, why don’t you continue the search?”
Muton looked at her with regretful eyes and answered.
“The abbot told us to stop until dawn. We don’t know what will happen if we search too hard.”
Among those who had previously disappeared in the forest were paladins.
Therefore, even those who were excellent warriors were not safe in the forest. Especially on a night like this.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t find anything. I pray that your friend returns safely. Then God will take care of you.”
Muton said so and followed the other paladins and scattered.
Only a few paladins remained and guarded the entrance to the forest.
In my heart, I wanted to go directly into the forest and find Tom, but, of course, the adults couldn’t allow it.
Elica just sat there, clenching her fists.
“············”.
There was a man watching the scene from afar.
It was Jerel who came out after hearing the commotion.
Jerel looked back at her quietly, then shifted his gaze to the person who was approaching him. It was the Abbot Dehorde.
He approached Jerel with a lamp and spoke with a dark expression on his face.
“I had never seen a monastery like this go missing in the forest before.”
“······· Sure. Did they finally find it?”
“No, I couldn’t find a single trace. There were rumors that monsters live in the forest, but I don’t think this will happen again.”
The Dehorde distorted his impression as if he had no regrets.
Jerel looked at his expression intently and asked.
“Have you ever asked for help from other denominations?”
“Yeah, there were no clues, and the same thing has never happened again since then…”
Jerel nodded and said.
“I will search the forest myself.”
“Yes? But I can’t give you such trouble….”
“Isn’t the child missing? The more time is wasted, the harder it may be to find it. You don’t need to save your face until this time, Director.”
At the words filled with bones, the director’s eyes twitched slightly for a moment.
However, he soon turned into a shocked face and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you very much, Sir. Well then, please. Please help us get our two children back safely.”
***
The priests and nuns stopped sending the children away and prevented them from leaving the monastery building.
Elica secretly looked around the yard through the window. In one hand of her was a lamp wrapped in a rag and hidden from light.
Heren, who was standing behind him, said in a trembling voice.
“Elika, it’s only dangerous for you to go into the forest now. The light of the lamp won’t help you see properly.”
“············”.
“Sir Jerel himself said that he went to the search. So just wait patiently…”
“Noisy, Heron. You’re done, so go back to your bedroom.”
Now, Elica was going to go into the woods herself to find Tom.
The Paladins said that they would search again in the light of the day, but after the night passed, what might have happened to Tom was already a thing.
As Heren said, Jerel went directly into the forest, but she wasn’t the type of person who waited helplessly for anything.
Heren looked at Elika, drooling in frustration.
The paladins did not find any traces.
Even if she secretly went into the forest alone and searched, of course, there was no way she could find anything.
However, the reason why he doesn’t actively stop him is because he knew well that he wasn’t the type to listen to him anyway.
“·······Well, then, I’ll go with you.”
And there was a sense of guilt that Tom had gone missing because of him.
It was the same with Heron, who was feeling frustrated right now and wanted to go directly to the forest and find a friend.
“Because you’re done. I’m going alone.”
“Do whatever you want. If you persist like that, I’ll run to tell the other priests right away.”
Elika frowned.
Eventually, the two decided to go into the woods together.
The two of them sneaked out of the building through the window, hid themselves in the building, and looked towards the forest.
A few paladins were standing at the entrance to the forest, but then it was enough to go in the other direction. Just because there’s no road doesn’t mean you can’t enter the forest.
So the two secretly turned outside and entered the forest.
After entering the forest for some time, Elica unwrapped the cloth covering the lamp.
The inside of the forest was so dark that you could not see an inch ahead without a lamp.
The moonlight was of little help. Even with the lamp, all I could see was a few steps ahead.
“It’s a lot darker than I thought…”
Of course, neither Heron nor Elika had ever entered the forest on such a dark night.
Feeling like walking through the mouth of a monster, he relied on his dark vision to find a direction and move forward.
Heron asked, gulping down his saliva.
“What are you going to do now?”
It was asking where to start looking for Tom’s traces.
Elika answered.
“I must find it by following the path in the forest.”
It was the best because there was no other way.
Without hesitation, she continued into the woods.
Heren followed him, hoping that he would rather run into Jerel, who is now somewhere in the woods.
Quite a while has passed.
Whether it was footprints or whatever, Elica wandered the forest with her eyes wide open to find any traces of Tom.
But, of course, nothing was found.
In the first place, there was no way that she could find anything that the paladins of the monastery could not find even if they came out as a group.
“Whoa….”
Finally, exhausted, Elika sat down. And let out a weary sigh.
Heren sighed and said.
“Let’s go back. You can’t walk around the forest until dawn. People may be worried because you’ve already been caught.”
“············”.
Elika looked at the other side of the forest without answering.
Heren thought she was angry and didn’t say anything more.
But it wasn’t like that.
“Hey, Heron.”
Heren noticed her voice trembling.
It was then that I noticed the strangeness and looked back to where she was looking.
And I could perceive something faintly visible beyond the darkness.
“What is that?”
Heren couldn’t answer that question either. I just stared blankly for a moment.
Without realizing it, it was a tentacle…
Like a snake, a clump of tentacles that clenched their small jaws at the tip were wriggling and approaching.
Elika and Heren’s complexions turned pale. They both thought they were having a nightmare at the same time.
“Uh, uh….”
Elika woke up first and jumped up from her seat.
He brought a wooden sword as a weapon, but of course he had no intention of fighting such a monster.
As soon as he turned around and tried to run away, a tentacle that stretched out like a beam of light wrapped around Heren’s leg.
“··································· sort sets of
Heren, who fell to the floor, screamed and struggled.
“Heren!”
Elika hurriedly swung her wooden sword and struck down the tentacles that were holding Heren repeatedly.
However, the tentacles, which were as hard as steel, did not move.
Another tentacle stretched out again and this time wrapped around her wooden sword. And then he took it and broke it.
Tentacles only held Heren and did not let go, as if they had no interest in Elika.