A black-haired young man, a white-haired young woman, and a black-furred cub marched under the shadows of the branches and leaves of old oaks, hiding from the scorching rays of the mid-morn sun.
Hal and Liora had spent the entire previous day preparing, investing in a month’s worth of rations and drinking water, along with a special Manatech marking device commonly used by wizards during expeditions.
With this, there was no need to rely on pebbles, as the Manatech Expedition Pro Mark 7, which cost them ten whole silver coins, could both set a mark that was nearly undetectable even to high-ranking creatures and locate it using its built-in tracking function.
This would make navigating the tricky Luminous Runeforest considerably easier.
The young maiden’s heart ached at the mere thought of the expenditure.
So, she froze when Hal paid for everything, then handed her five more silver coins, saying it was repayment for what he had borrowed.
Liora hurriedly tried to return the money, insisting that his decision to accompany her was more than enough.
But Hal remained firm, declaring that a debt must always be repaid.
A few moments later, the small group of two young humans and one pup arrived near the outskirts of the Luminous Runeforest, where Hal suddenly asked for Liora’s sack bag, leaving the tan-skinned maiden confused.
She still gave it to him, though.
Liora now trusted Hal’s character after what happened yesterday.
Her jaws then dropped the moment the bag disappeared.
"H-How did you do that?!" she asked in disbelief "Did you just use the Item-box spell?!"
Hal’s brain worked fast.
"Yeah, my entire month went to learning the spell," he lied with a straight face. "But I’d appreciate it if you don’t tell anyone. Can I trust you with this secret?"
He already knew the answer but still asked Liora anyway.
Hal wanted to hear it from her.
"O-Of course. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone..." the tan-skinned maiden swore, wearing an expression that was honest to a fault.
"Thanks." Hal smiled.
The two then proceeded to enter.
Liora’s heart began to race, looking around as she observed the faintly glowing natural runes.
She even picked up a pebble along the way and observed it up close.
However, fifteen minutes later, Hal suddenly stopped, summoning his Spirit Sparrow.
"Liora, advance close to me and stop when I do, alright?"
The white-haired maiden nodded without a second thought.
Hal had already been inside and survived, while she had not.
Ever so carefully, the two advanced, stopping by to check the periphery through the flying summon’s eyes from time to time.
This time, however, Hal was more confident, and he sometimes became the ambusher, though he mostly targeted unsuspecting D-ranked creatures like Red Goblins and Ironskull Hogs, which were the common creatures in the outskirts.
The two sometimes stumbled upon both species trying to take each other out.
Or more accurately, the Goblins were trying to hunt the hogs, sometimes ending up being taken out themselves.
The slow advance continued...
Hal and Liora worked together to take out a creature whenever the former suggested they ambush one, with Hal holding the target down using [Conjure Chains] and Liora finishing them off with her Glow Needles spell.
It was almost impossible for the slim Red Goblins to defend themselves, their deaths guaranteed whenever they were captured and locked in place by the chains.
As a result, in just two hours, the two had collected five D-ranked cores.
Just a single one of these cores would earn them five whole silver coins, making the stingy young maiden’s heart race at the thought of selling them.
Perhaps she could move her family to one of the safer towns after this endeavor?
But then Liora remembered...
She had to return alive first.
The thought snapped her back to focus, reminding her that a single moment of inattentiveness could cost her life, rendering everything she obtained here useless.
The two also put a suffering, heavily wounded Ironskull Hog to rest, harvesting its meat for food.
Another hour of advancing later, Hal froze.
He heard sounds of what seemed to be flowing water...
Excitement gave him the slight boost of courage he needed to make the Spirit Sparrow fly a little farther away, and soon enough, he spotted a flowing stream a few hundred meters ahead.
"Water source!" he exclaimed in a low voice.
But then he frowned, causing Liora’s heart to sink as she swallowed and waited for Hal’s next words.
A water source meant that there were probably a lot of monsters living nearby...
However, they, too, were living beings and were in need of water, so for the sake of sustainability, they had to also lurk somewhere close.
"Survival of the fittest indeed..." he mumbled...
Slightly nervous, Liora finally couldn’t resist asking,
"H-Hal, what’s wrong? Is there a dangerous creature ahead or something? You said there was a water source..."
"Ahh, no," Hal assured. "But there could be since monsters and beasts also have to drink... I just thought there might be a lot of creatures lurking around here, so we need to be careful."
He paused for a moment, glancing toward the flowing stream before continuing,
"We can’t stray too far from this water source, though, since we need it too. Plus..."
Before Hal could finish, Liora’s eyes lit up as realization dawned on her.
"A potential natural spring!"
Clean, flowing streams one could have various sources, and one of them might be a natural spring where Iridescent Willows, the trees Liora was searching for, tend to thrive.
"Correct. If we follow this stream and head in the opposite direction of its flow, we might be able to pinpoint the source. Who knows? We could end up finding those willows you’re looking for..."
The white-haired maiden clenched her fists in excitement.
It seemed that her death endeavor had a fair chance of succeeding, after all.
Wrestling control of her emotions, Liora glanced at Hal, her heart fluttering with a faint, ticklish warmth once more.
She couldn’t help but sincerely thank the gods for blessing her with the unexpected encounter with the guy standing just a few meters away.
Had she been alone, she likely would’ve been too distressed to think clearly and might have missed such an important clue.
Heck, without that sparrow, who knew if she would’ve even made it this far?