450 To the Forest of Death
‘I wonder what he’s doing’. Zero stretched his hand to the doorknob and twisted it. As the door opened, his eyes darted to the couch.
There... Well, there’s nothing. The office was as quiet as when he left it. But the Fein was nowhere to be seen.
Zero touched the mask on his face, caressed it, then removed it. He sighed for a while before he sat at the table with a smile on his face. ‘He didn’t even say goodbye. I hope his journey to the East would be a success.’
...
Fein was now standing in front of Gregory’s office. Perhaps it’s can be said that it’s Michael’s office now. “Time really does flies...”
As he entered the door, he saw two familiar people in the office. Michael and Kidd. The two of them had changed greatly.
Michael trimmed his long hair. He now has short hair to the ear level. His eyes exude the signs of exhaustion, but his whole aura was sharper than before.
‘He finally ascended to A rank?’ Fein could feel the significant change in Michael’s degu energy. And he knew that it just at a glance.
Kidd, on the other hand, doesn’t have his mischievous smile on his face anymore. He looked quieter and more reserved compared to the past. Not only that, his facial features were more mature. Though he still had the same lady-killer appearance.
.....
Seeing Fein walk through the door. Michael and Kidd had a look of surprise on their faces.
“Fein?? Is that you? I almost couldn’t recognize you...” Kidd looked up and down at Fein who had long white hair and eyes that were more serious than before.
“If not?” Fein smiled.
Michael went beside Fein and punched him lightly in the chess with a smile on his face. “It’s been a while. I knew you have visited me a couple of times, but I was just busy with other matters, so I’m not usually at my office.”
“I understand... I’m just here to say goodbye. It’s time to bring those witches down, you know? So, are the two of you going?” Fein’s expression turned solemn and asked.
“I want to but I can’t. I can only leave for two weeks at most, but that’s not enough, right?” Michael clenched his fist. But then he stared Fein in the eye. “I want to avenge captain. But I have to take care of the duty that he passed on to me. But I know that with you, this matter is basically over.”
“So it’s a no?” Fein could understand Michael’s situation just by his tired eyes. Then he turned to Kidd. “How about you?? And why did you suddenly disappear again?”
“No... with my current strength, I would just be a burden.” Kidd sighed. “But before you leave, let’s go out first and bonding. It would be a long time before we would see each other again, right?”
Hearing this, Fein just looked at Kidd straight in the eye and didn’t say anything. He realized that Kidd became stronger again in all aspects. In just one year, Kidd had reached the limit of the A rank! So, Fein couldn’t understand why Kidd wants to hide it... Not only that, he didn’t even answer one of his questions.
“Well, I’m quite busy, but if it’s just strolling around the city or hiking, I can spare some time for it,” Michael said.
“It’s decided then! How about we go to the Death Forest in the San Luebisto Kingdom? I heard some giant strange tree had emerged there a year again but also disappeared just as fast as it appeared. Aren’t you curious?” Kidd has a smirk on his face.
Fein’s mouth twitched slightly as he heard this. ‘The fuck? Is he talking about my world tree?’
“Giant strange tree? How big?” Michael asked curiously.
“Eight thousand meters,” Fein answered this time.
Kidd was startled and exclaimed. “You knew about it!?”
‘Of course, that’s my power.’ Fein thought secretly
. “I’ve just heard of it from Sofia’s mouth.”
“What are we still doing, then? Let’s go!” Michael brushed his hair with his fingers. Then his eyes darted to the pile of papers on his desk. He couldn’t help but smile awkwardly. “Before that, I have to finish all these papers.”
“It’s really hard to become a captain.” Fein felt a bit of sympathy.
He could still remember Gregory’s look of repulsion every time he comes to the office because of the pile of documents, and his everyday exhausted look.
...
“So, this is the so-called forest of death?” Michael stared at the trees in the surrounding.
He could feel the smell of corpses of beasts everywhere and the gloomy atmosphere with the accumulation of deaths.
As they entered the forest and walked along the grassy path, Michael, Fein, and Kidd sometimes fought beasts that stupidly tried to attack their backs.
“You once came here with an old man, right?” Kidd, who was quiet all the way, suddenly spoke this time with a grin on his face.
“Me? Yeah, it was old man Albert. The one who taught me a thing or two about beasts. Why?” Fein remembered that he would tell some stories to Kidd when they were bored.
“I’m sorry...” Kidd sighed.
Michael stopped in his tracks as he step foot on a piece of wood. “Why are you apologizing?”
Fein also stared at Kidd.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Kidd shook his head. “It’s the last time we will see each other.”
Fein and Michael looked at each other, then shrugged. They knew that it would be a year again before they would reunite once Fein set off.
Just like that, they kept walking toward the center of the death forest. Few beasts dared to sneak on them once they saw how tough the three are.
As they kept walking, Kidd’s grin started to get wider and wider, and Fein felt that something was wrong with him.
‘Probe!’
...
Name: Kidd
Race: Half-Human Half Homunculi
Degu Amount: A+
State: Verge of madness
STR: A+
AGI: A+
END: A+
Abilities: Light Refraction, Light Sword, Light Beam, Light Spark, Light Elementalization, Hundred Beams
...
‘Something is really wrong!’ Fein’s eyes widened. As he was about to warn Michael about Kidd.
Multiple shadows appeared on the trees, and all of them were S-ranks!
Kidd charges at Michael with a colorless stone in his hand and a cold expression.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com