Making their way deep into the Black Fruit Rainforest was much easier than they had imagined.
Perhaps it was because someone was clearing a path up ahead, but Sean and the others didn’t run into any major trouble on their journey.
For seven days straight, the most difficult challenge they faced was a pack of nocturnal forest wolves. Wolves that lived in a primeval forest were fiercer and stronger than those in the regular wild, and their numbers were great. Fortunately, Genduo understood their habits and had set up traps for large beasts in advance. And so...
At dawn on the eighth day, the group was eating chewy roasted wolf meat and a pot of rustic wolf soup.
Wolf meat has a naturally strong, gamey taste, but Genduo had clearly come prepared. He brought a whole slew of bottles and jars, all filled with seasonings: chili oil, bean paste, pepper, mustard sauce... The list went on. They were mostly strong flavors—so strong you could probably make a shoe insert taste good, never mind the wolf meat.
Genduo also had a dedicated notebook for recording what was edible and what wasn’t in the Black Fruit Rainforest. The forest wolves were listed as one of the many types of edible game, so there was no worry of getting sick.
So far, their journey had been smooth. Every encounter was a thrill without any real danger, making for a perfect, safely exciting forest adventure experience. In this regard, Wilson had kept his promise to Konina.
But he still wasn’t happy.
Because he wasn’t just taking care of Konina; he also had to take care of Sean.
He was taking care of two people the entire time!
Whenever anything happened, he would immediately pull Konina behind him for protection, only for Konina to then pull Sean behind her.
The sleeping arrangements were the same. To ensure Konina’s safety, he made sure to pitch his tent close to hers. But it turned out Konina’s tent was even closer to Sean’s—they were practically touching, almost forming a double tent.
Before the expedition, they were neighbors, separated only by a single wall. And now, they still were.
Even now, as they were having soup, he’d ladled a bowl for Konina, only for her to immediately pass it to Sean. Then, she turned back to him and said in a pleading voice, "Mr. Wilson, I’d like another. Could you get one more for me?"
Wilson was trembling with indignation.
’Isn’t this just taking advantage of a nice guy?’
He could see it clearly now. Konina was just using his feelings for her, treating him like a gofer.
’And she doesn’t even throw him a bone! Even the capitalists they say should be strung up on lampposts aren’t this cruel!’
He decided. This time, he would respond to this woman with absolute resolve!
"Of course!"
Wilson said firmly.
Konina gave him a gentle smile. "Thank you, Mr. Wilson."
Nearby, Sean held his bowl of soup and couldn’t help but shake his head.
Looking on, Sean thought, ’The man’s a lost cause. Utterly hopeless.’
Through their casual conversations over the past few days, Sean had learned that Konina had never hidden the fact that she was a married woman from the club’s main group chat. On that point, at least, she was honest. Sean had found this strange at the time. He’d asked Wilson in private why he was still chasing after Konina when he knew she had a husband. Wilson’s reply had left him speechless—
"If she didn’t have a husband, I wouldn’t even be interested."
Sean: "..."
He could only respect his choice and wish him well.
The bonfire crackled and popped. The cold night wind made the firelight and shadows dance, bringing a touch of warmth to the desolate cold.
The group sat gathered around the fire. Johnson was blowing on Jenny’s soup to cool it down for her; the young couple was clearly still very much in love.
Meanwhile, Genduo was scouting the vicinity for trail markers left by previous club expeditions. He returned, consulted his map, and said, "We’re still on the right path. We just need to get through the Wild Bird Forest up ahead, and we’ll see the grove."
"I suggest we take a detour."
The Wild Bird Forest was the final leg of the journey before their destination, and also the last high-risk zone. The footprints they were following had become indistinct at the last campsite, so they couldn’t tell if the previous group had entered the Wild Bird Forest—and even if they had, following them would be extremely dangerous.
Because it was a big forest, and a big forest has all kinds of birds.
According to their intel, one species of bird resembling a young eagle was the most difficult to deal with. They were extremely territorial, and by extension, extremely aggressive. They were also smart; they never swarmed intruders all at once. Instead, they would send out a "vanguard." If the vanguard couldn’t win, it would flee and hide. But if they sensed a clear advantage, they would call for their kin, and you would suddenly face a sky-blotting flock of Young Eagle Birds.
"So they bully the weak and fear the strong," Johnson remarked.
Genduo nodded. "A very apt description."
"Let’s take the detour, then," Jim said, taking a sip of soup. "We’re almost there. There’s no need to take unnecessary risks."
He was looking at Johnson as he said this. Of everyone in the group, Johnson was by far the most excited about the grove, and he had been giddy the entire trip. He kept talking about how when he became a Wizard, Jenny would be his Witch Queen. They would claim a mountain as their fiefdom, have a ton of babies, and establish the first Wizard family in the history of the Empire, and on and on...
It had gotten to the point where Jim wondered if the guy had been bitten by some bug with a neurotoxin.
Johnson hadn’t actually lost his mind.
He had said he would listen to Genduo, so he wasn’t about to disagree.
"I agree with the detour."
However...
Johnson added with a sly smile, "I think we should set out tonight to make up for the time we’ll lose on the detour."
Clearly, he was in a rush.
Sean also wanted to get there quickly. After all, the Water of Enlightenment was almost within their grasp. To Johnson, it might just be a key to unlocking the arcane, but for Sean, it was a matter of life and death. He was just better at hiding his impatience.
"If it’s a thrill you want, let’s see it through to the end," Konina said with a smile, having noticed Sean’s eagerness. "We’ve already traveled through the night a few times. What’s one more? What do the rest of you think?"