They began walking along the forest path at the time when light and darkness were battling. They needed to reach the lakeside and settle in before it got completely dark.

It was the first time being out this late, and a strange tension arose.

When Jade put on the red cloth over her head to become excellent bait, Axel’s face became ambiguous. He seemed unsure whether to mock her or call her brave.

“Don’t look at me with that expression.”

“…Did the old lady give you that?”

“Yes.”

“What else?”

Jade rustled through her pocket and took out a magic stone. The transparent stone contained a blue-yellowish energy inside and cooled her hand with its chilly temperature. Axel nodded with satisfaction after checking its transparency.

“Did you know she had it?”

“I saw her use it to make fire last time.”

So, Ollie had at least two or more magic stones, and those magic stones were high-quality ones engraved with Dilidot. Jade was now completely certain that neither Axel nor Ollie were ordinary people.

If Axel was a knight, what did Ollie do? Could she have been a magician?

Right, somehow the books and papers placed on the small table in the corner whenever she went to help always seemed unusual. That messy appearance was undeniably similar to the desks of research magicians.

Jade considered asking about Ollie but decided against it.

She thought it would be better to ask Ollie directly about her affairs, and if Axel flatly refused, she might feel unnecessarily hurt.

Today, their cooperation was extremely important, so it was better not to create such emotions.

“Jade. As I said earlier, you know what you have to do, right?”

“Be an attractive bait, fluttering nicely like a worm on a fishing line.”

Axel finally burst into a short laugh at the bold answer.

“Right. But there’s one thing different between you and a worm.”

“Only one?”

“Yes, just one. You can’t get eaten.”

Jade grinned at his calm voice.

“That’s right. I guess I’m too precious to be eaten.”

The nonsense meant to ease the tension was naturally ignored. Axel stopped walking and looked down at her.

If someone doesn’t know what it means for gray to be deep and clear, I’d like to show them his eyes. They were so clean they even gave a sense of clarity. Not like ash left after a fire, but like stars scattering light from the sky.

She felt stupid staring at his eyes as if enchanted. But a stern voice came, as if to wake her up.

“Jade. Your goal is just to lure the monsters, that’s all. When they appear, you immediately ride the horse and run home.”

Jade frowned, but Axel didn’t give her a chance to speak.

“You said with your own mouth that you’d play the role of bait. Then be faithful to that role only.”

“You’re telling me to run away and abandon you? Even taking the horse? Then how will you move if a dangerous moment comes?”

She glared up at him with her head held high, but a strange smile formed on his lips instead.

“I’m not in danger.”

“How can you be so confident? We don’t know how many monsters there will be, or how difficult they’ll be to kill. Among the ones I’ve seen-”

“Jade.”

Axel bent down with his hands in his pockets. Only then did their eyes properly meet.

He was smiling. Very comfortably.

“You said you trust me, didn’t you? I’m not in danger. You just need to think about yourself.”

So, in other words, Jade had nothing she could do except run away to protect herself.

Her stiff neck lost strength and drooped. His large gloved hand hovered nearby for a moment before gently landing on her shoulder, as if to comfort her.

“Ride the horse and run. You won’t be in danger when you get home.”

“Damn it, this is frustrating. As soon as I get out, I’m going to burn down the Athanase Forest.”

If only she could use magic, she wouldn’t have had to listen to this stupid talk about running away.

Her nose tingled with the unfairness of it all. It was a separate issue from trusting him. Even if she guessed he was strong, there were unpredictable dangers everywhere. It was frustrating that she couldn’t defend against them.

Outside, she had always protected or strengthened knights she wasn’t even interested in, but now when she sincerely wanted to help, she had no power to do so.

The hand that had been carefully resting on her shoulder fell away and then quickly grabbed her cheek.

“Hey, are you crying?”

“I’m not crying!”

She yelled as his face came close enough for their noses to almost touch, and he chuckled. Soon, the warmth of his large hand brushed away.

“Ah, I thought. I thought you were crying because you were so worried about me.”

“Why would I cry when you say you’re so great? I’m not crying!”

“Alright, alright. Anyway, it’s a promise.”

He straightened his back and held out his fist.

Jade, still fuming, mercilessly punched his fist with her own. Of course, she was the one who felt the pain.

They started running again. Even while doing so, they intermittently confirmed the plan.

Axel said he would climb up a tree before sunset.

“If it’s an intelligent creature, it would be better if I’m not visible. It might notice it’s a trap.”

“Should I just wander around the lakeside?”

“Yes. But don’t go into the water.”

Jade, whose feelings were hurt by the fact that she had to run away, became prickly.

“Am I a child?”

Axel replied calmly.

“If no monsters appear, I think you might try to splash around in the shallow part. Or am I mistaken?”

He was accurate.

Anyway, Jade wanted to finish everything today. If she heard again later that a girl had been injured, she felt she couldn’t bear that uneasiness, and she also disliked the idea of Axel going out every night braving the cold.

Of course, she added reasons to her thoughts. Worrying about Nina was because many children in the territory came to mind, and worrying about Axel was because he was her friend.

They definitely had to play games in front of the fireplace when they returned early. She also needed to finish learning how to cook.

Somehow it felt like reasons stuck on haphazardly, but she erased them from her mind. Right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand.

“Is that the dock Nina mentioned?”

“Yes. Someone made it because they missed the outside world so much. Even though there’s no boat.”

A wooden bridge and its supports were firmly installed in a place that looked particularly deep. Although moss had grown on the lower part, it didn’t seem rotten as something had been well applied to the surface.

Jade carefully stroked the horse’s mane. Unlike its appearance, the docile horse quietly accepted her touch.

“Don’t break your promise.”

Ignoring that warning remark lightly, Jade grabbed the reins and walked briskly.

Axel, who had been watching her back, pulled his hood over his head and burrowed into the shadows. The sharp sword resting in its leather scabbard was with him too.

When Axel was right beside her, she hadn’t noticed, but now the deepening darkness approached eerily.

The darkness seen through the shutters was merely an element that emphasized the warmth inside the house, but facing it directly was intense enough to overwhelm everything. The city could dilute it with the overflowing lights around, but the forest couldn’t. Only the pale moonlight rising round faintly illuminated the surroundings.

Jade deliberately made her footsteps audible. The sound of treading on soil echoed far into the night air.

As she approached the dock, she turned around again and headed back to where she came from. She was faithfully performing her role as fluttering bait.

At that moment, she thought she saw gleaming eyes in the distance.

Startled, she clung to the horse, but fortunately, it wasn’t a monster. A beast with yellow eyes was staring at her intently while drinking water.

No, is that fortunate? Don’t such things try to eat horses? Am I going to be attacked by wild animals instead of monsters…?

Just as she was worrying about this, fortunately, the beast only drank water and returned to the deep forest.

“Horse… If it weren’t for you, I might have cried a little…. Come to think of it, what’s your name…? Since I don’t know, I’ll call you Mimi for now….”

She thought she heard a slight mocking laugh at her muttering, but she dismissed it as her imagination. Axel, who said he would hide thoroughly, wouldn’t make a sound.

Enough time passed for the movement of stars to be visible, but when nothing happened, the tension that had been steadily rising subsided a bit. This was despite the darkness growing even deeper.

Mimi also seemed bored, occasionally acting up.

“Of course, Atlas’s axe isn’t visible. That’s… Sabik’s scales.”

Although it’s well established now, they say that in the past, no one knew why fire attribute magic became powerful in summer, or why water attribute magic became powerful in winter.

Therefore, many people in the past created stories based on which constellation was at the center of the sky.

They said that because Atlas, the knight guarding the gods, had a fiery temper, fire attribute magic worked well in the season when he held his axe, and because Sabik, the sensitive and cold judge, held the scales, water attribute magic worked well in that season.

Absurdly, the reason for recalling this old tale was that the constellations were clearly visible in the black forest lacking light.

When the monsters are somewhat cleared out this time, I should ask Axel to watch the stars together, even if it’s within the fence. Because in the city, it’s difficult to see the constellations clearly without a telescope.

Jade stepped carefully with firm resolve. She shouldn’t trip again on the tree roots tangled like spider webs.

Then, as she glanced towards the lake, she discovered a regular glimmer hitting the water’s edge.

It was too dark around to be certain what was reflecting the moonlight. But Jade ‘felt’ that something was undulating beneath that glimmer.

Somewhere, a sound like birdsong was heard. Since there are no birds that chirp at this hour except owls, it was probably a whistle blown by Axel.

Jade waited a while longer.

The glimmering something occasionally surged to shallower areas before returning to deeper parts repeatedly. But it consistently followed near her, staying within reach if she just extended her hand.

It’s a cautious one. It probably won’t come out until I completely approach the water’s edge.

She thought while caressing the magic stone in her pocket.

But if I approach the water’s edge, it’ll be tricky for Axel to defend. Even if he can use his sword like a spear, if that monster drags me into the water and hides, it’ll be too late. The trajectory will miss. The magic stone will probably lose effectiveness in the water too.

So, we need to face it on land.

Then, what should we do?

How can we lure it out?

She needed to show an intense temptation. A temptation that it couldn’t resist without daring to come out.