"Hm…" The cartographer, named Elly, a female elf, pondered over her compass as the group traveled through the forest.
"Is there any problem, Elly?" Leafa asked.
"Apart from the batkin village, there are no landmarks at all. We could differentiate the trees somewhat, but 95% of them look similar."
"I couldn't tell at all," Rebecca said. Hiro couldn't either. It was fortunate that they hadn't strayed far when they were investigating this place.
"It was fortunate that the batkins didn't choose to rebel. I certainly wouldn't want to fight them in this kind of forest," Leafa said. "The compass still works, right? We just need to head north until we hit the mountain."
"Yes. The compass still works, though I doubt it would be that easy. Just because we hit the mountain doesn't mean we can climb it," the elf said. "We might find a cliff instead of a gentle slope."
"Careful. I heard there are vampires around here," Rebecca said, referring to the former batkin tribes that had chosen to give in to their desires.
At those words, the soldiers guarding the carriage tensed. They soon found themselves gripping their swords.
"There is nothing here," a soldier muttered. The forest was too quiet. The silence was deafening. Only the hum and clicking of insects could be heard.
"The batkins and the dovekins decided to move because they rarely found game here," Rebecca said. "They really hunted this forest dry."
"I thought their numbers barely reached two hundred. Did they really hunt the entirety of the forest?"
"No. Dovekins ate grubs and chestnuts. Only batkins ate meat, and they numbered about one or two dozen at most. I think the problem lay in the forest itself. Hardly any food grows here." Rebecca said.
"Ew…" The cartographer and some soldiers winced when they heard that the dovekins had resorted to eating worms to survive.
"... Please don't say that. It's quite novel." Rebecca rolled her eyes, smiling wryly at her own words. She couldn't believe she had just said that she enjoyed eating worms.
"Let's take a break. Set a sentry. We will depart at dawn," Leafa said hours later when the sun was setting. The cartographer had estimated that the journey would take about two days to reach the mountain.
"I thought it was less than a day by carriage." Leafa studied the schematic as the soldiers and workers set up their tents.
"We are traveling on foot, and the ground hasn't been paved or trodden yet. We are traveling slowly to avoid getting lost. Once we get our bearings, we should build a simple inn or lodge at the base of the mountain," the cartographer said, thinking about how merchants were going to travel to their new harbor village.
"We will. This is just the first step. We will make checkpoints and probably build beacons and watchtowers to warn travelers."
"These workers won't return to their hometowns for some time, will they? I wonder how you persuaded them," Rebecca muttered.
"The contract said ten years. So, yes. They intend to move permanently to the new village. Most of them have unrepayable debts. Some are convicts. Light convicts, of course. Then, there are Latvin's former soldiers. Rather than work in the mines or become adventurers, they would prefer to work in the village," Leafa said. "Many of them have experience with farming."
"I see." Rebecca thought hard. Litmus was a fairly peaceful nation. To gather this many convicts and workers, the government must have put a lot of money into this project.
When morning came, the mountain range was finally visible, and by lunch, they rested at the foot of the mountain. Leafa frowned, wondering what they should do. Just as Elly had said, they had encountered a cliff instead of a slope.
"Ugh…" Leafa groaned after seeing the tall cliff jutting out before her. She could probably climb it even without Hiro. However, she had retainers, workers, and craftsmen who might not be so lucky during the climb. "So, what do we do?"
"Either we carve out this hundred-meter cliff, creating a slope, or we travel east and west, hoping to find easier terrain."
Rebecca, Cecile, and Nana turned to the left and right. Cliffs stretched as far as the eye could see.
"I regret not bringing Elizabeth here. She probably recognizes this mountain, and even though she might never have crossed it, she might know its features."
"She is busy with Liberta and the new village. They only have a dozen people there."
"I mean, if they focus on guarding the village instead of hunting, I'm sure we can borrow one or two of them. Then the government can pay them for leading us through the mountain, right?" Rebecca said.
"Cartographer, should we return for the time being and fetch the locals? It might take a week or two. Or should we try exploring the area?"
The elf pondered for a moment. "I think we should try exploring the area first. Let's set up a camp here. Um… do you need someone to mediate? I heard the relationship between us and the locals wasn't stellar."
"Yeah. I think you might need us to mediate. The dovekins and batkins are naturally isolationist. They don't like outsiders and aren't keen on earning money either." Rebecca nodded.
"Let's set up camp. We will refrain from contacting the dovekins and batkins. If we don't make any progress after a week, only then will we hire their help," Leafa said. Her captains then split the group to set up camp. Then she ordered the foremen to build a more permanent headquarters. This would be the checkpoint for the trip to the harbor.
Several knights on horseback then rode to the east and west. At night, they returned, each bringing news.
"We found a pass in the west. We hadn't gone far, but it stretched on. We found animal bones, so we assumed a highly dangerous monster might inhabit the area."
"What about the east?"
"We found a slope. But we hadn't gone very far up. The slope looked unstable, with several patches of loose soil. But we didn't know for sure."
Two choices. Each carried a risk.
"Hm… Cartographer, any ideas? I would prefer the mountain pass. Hiro might be a producer symbiote, but he is still a symbiote user. I am sure we can clear the area of dangerous monsters."
"I prefer the slope, Lady Leafa. Hiro is a producer symbiote. If the soil is loose, we can simply ask him to create some stakes to stabilize it or make wooden planks so our carriages can pass. We have construction workers here."
Rebecca frowned. Here they were, faced with two equally risky choices. It was worse than having no choice or a bad choice, as both options seemed viable.
After discussing it throughout the night, Leafa still preferred the group to pass through the mountain pass. She judged that whatever predator inhabited the area might not leave them alone or attack future caravans if she ignored it. It was better to exterminate it now.
And so, she detached two companies. One consisted of herself, Cecile's group, and a dozen riders as the vanguard, while she ordered a captain and the rest of the workers to trail behind.
Hiro was slightly amazed by Leafa's determination to remain on the front line.
"It's wider than expected," Cecile said as she looked at the mountain pass. A river flowed down from the mountain, carving a gentle slope. The riverbank was dry and over ten meters wide. Just as Cecile said, it was wider than she had expected.
"ARGH!!" a sudden scream broke the silence. Nana turned, only to find a large white shadow hurled toward a soldier who walked close to the river. Ignorant to a shadow that lurked underneath.
A snake bit a soldier and dragged him into the river. Leafa had repeatedly warned them to stay alert, but no matter how much she warned them, they couldn't possibly prepare for something they had never seen.
"The river! Archers! Spears! Try to fish him out!" Leafa shouted.
Rebecca, being a mage, naturally stayed in the rear. But little did she know—
"Hiro!"
Cecile jumped into the river, but the snake was already far away. Hiro slithered out, enveloping his girls, including Cecile in protective suits. He wondered whether he should inject his buffs, but the situation wasn't that dire yet.
"Damn it. Send a squad. Keep spears trained on the river at all times." Leafa cursed. They had just lost a soldier.
At that moment, something snatched Rebecca from the rear line.
"AHHH!!" Rebecca flew toward the cliff. Hiro turned his attention behind her and found a humongous spider opening a hidden door on the cliffside. Before the spider could wrap Rebecca in a cocoon and bite her, Hiro jabbed his tentacle into the spider and activated his parasitism.
The spider screeched. Hiro didn't let go and stretched his tentacle. The spider turned its attention toward Hiro.
[You are cursed.]
Hiro paused his tentacles for a moment when the notification came. He had never been cursed before. Then, he felt his nutrients decreasing. He panicked. He lashed his tentacles, intending to kill the humongous spider. Rebecca was flapping in the air like a flag, caught in the midst of the intense battle between Hiro and the spider.
"Guh! Hiro?" Rebecca slammed against the wall before dropping inside the small cave made by the spider. The struggle had ceased.
Hiro emerged victorious. The spider was dead, its carcass resembling a mummy after Hiro had sucked out its nutrients, but the curse didn't cease. Hiro weighed his options. There might be more spiders in this cave. He had to save Rebecca at all costs. With the last of his strength, he used his tentacles to rappel down the cliff.
Hiro blinked at the curse ravaging his body. No matter what he did, even cutting off his own tentacles, the curse didn't cease. It seemed to latched on to his core.
"Hiro?" Rebecca turned toward him, wondering why he suddenly removed the bodysuit. Cecile and Nana then came over.
"It's not over yet! There are more of those spiders up there!" Nana yelled. Thanks to her eyes, she had spotted the hidden doors the spiders used. Whenever she saw one peeking out, she shot it with an arrow. Hiro pumped amphetamine into her, enhancing her archery. With this, the moment another spider peeked through the gap in a door, an arrow pierced its eye.
"Tch. One arrow wasn't enough." Nana spat as she reached for her explosive arrows. The explosive arrows would surely kill them, but she only had a few of those.
"Don't take your eyes off the river! Let the others deal with the spiders on the cliff!" Leafa said.
The passage turned into a battlefield. Then, another snake sprang from the river. But thanks to Leafa's earlier order, this time, it didn't manage to take anyone.
During the mayhem, Hiro ignored the curse gradually eating away at his nutrients, nudging Rebecca to take cover in the center. After two hours of persistent assaults from four spiders and over a dozen snakes, the monsters finally retreated. But they all knew that this was not over.
Meanwhile, Hiro saw his nutrients drop to zero.
His vision and sense sharing with Rebecca turned dark. His connections severed.
He died.