It was two days later when we set out.
I had wanted to set out yesterday, but Baroness Rose wouldn't allow that to happen.
The excuse that she gave was that she wanted to ensure that everything was safe before we headed out, but in truth…she just wanted to spend more time together.
We didn't separate at all yesterday as she kept me by her side all day.
Normally we would have our own tasks to take care of, but she cancelled everything that I had to do and forced me to stay with her during her normal routine.
I couldn't help finding it all a bit funny how clingy she was, but it wasn't as if I didn't like it.
This was her way of showing that she loved me, so I actually felt touched by it. Even if she was a bit too clingy.
When we set off, she even came to send us off even though she was the busiest person in the town right now as she was managing the whole town by herself.
To put her at ease, in front of everyone, I placed a deep kiss on her lips.
This was also my way of showing everyone that she was my property since I could see the way that a few men in town looked at her.
Finally with that, we were able to leave the town and head off to the Spirit Forest.
Our group wasn't a big group, but it wasn't a weak one either because I had gotten Cecilia and several of the knights to come with me.
This group was one that I had carefully assembled based on my knowledge of the elves, so it was surely a group that would succeed.
The Spirit Forest wasn't that far away from the town, so we arrived at the edge of the forest in just a few hours. However, I made sure that we didn't go into the forest and had us camp on the edge of it.
The rest of the group were confused why I had given this order, but they still followed them since I was the leader of this group.
During this time, I snuck off with just Cecilia and Haley by my side.
The two of them were confused why I was sneaking off from the rest of the group like this, but when they saw that it was just the three of us, they couldn't help having some secret thoughts. These thoughts caused a blush to appear on their faces.
Still, they obediently followed me around the edge of the forest.
Finally, after a while, I saw what I was looking for.
There was this tiny mark on one of the trees that people would have normally missed, but I didn't since I knew what I was looking for.
When I found this marked tree, I looked around the area until I found another marked tree that was deeper into the forest. Seeing this tree, I started heading into the forest from where the marked tree was.
I made sure to go in a straight line between these two trees so that I ended up right under the marked tree that was deeper in the forest.
Once I was there, I started looking around again.
It didn't take me long to find another marked tree that I quickly headed towards.
Just like this, I went deeper and deeper into the forest while following the path of these marked trees.
The distance between the marked trees wasn't that far, so I didn't actually go that deep into the forest when I found the final marked tree.
I knew that this was the final marked tree because the mark on this tree was different from all the trees that I had passed.
The mark on the trees before were a triangle and the mark here was in the shape of a square.
Once I realized that this was the final tree, I started looking around the area, but I wasn't able to find what I was looking for. It seemed that this was the true test that I had to face before finding that thing…
So I turned to the two girls whose faces were red and I couldn't help being surprised.
I never thought that just a simple walk in the forest would be enough to tire them out like this…I hadn't even walked that fast since I had been paying attention to the surrounding area to find those marked trees.
After seeing that we had stopped, both Cecilia and Haley couldn't help peeking up at me, but neither of them said a thing.
After getting over my surprise, I said, "Alright, I need you two to help me."
Their hearts had already been beating fast, but it sped up even more when they heard this.
Both of their faces turned even more red at the same time.
But they knew what was about to happen, so they both raised their hands and brought them up to their waists. They grabbed the bottom of their shirts and started lifting up, but they were stopped when I suddenly asked, "What are you two doing?"
Hearing this, both of them suddenly trembled.
Their hands stopped, the blush on their faces disappeared, and their hearts slowed down.
They both revealed confused looks as they looked up at me and asked, "Huh?"
When I saw this, I also couldn't help feeling confused as I looked at them and asked, "Huh?"
Just like this, there was an awkward silence that filled the air as none of us knew what to say.
But finally, it clicked for me…
They thought that we had snuck off from the rest of the group to get frisky in the woods…
But that wasn't what I had in mind at all.
I was here to find a special object that would help us get into the elven village.
So I awkwardly said, "Uh, it's not what you think."
Then before I could react, I saw that there was a fist that was growing larger in front of my face.