Lenaria: The Party Begins CONTINUED

Until Next Time - Part 1

"No troops have gone to the forest for a while now,"

The crew was passing in a village, discreetly getting supplies. Minerva had put on a large cloak to hide herself away as they went through the market. The crew had noticed a large number of guards patroling in the village, so Minerva didn't want to risk getting caught. Evgenia had to take off her hat and leave it in the wagon.

A hat like hers just screamed "witch".

Adva and Momoko had stayed back with Lucy and Omis, residing outside of the village far from view.

While Evgenia, Victor, Bella, and Minerva gathered supplies they had overheard a conversation from two gossiping villagers.

"Well, it makes sense," One of them said, "That forest has been untouched for centuries. But lately there's been signs of magic and His Majesty wants to get rid of it."

The other villager shook their head, "It's a shame every troop he's sent had been wiped out. It's just a forest, I'm sure there's nothing in there."

A forest? With magic in it? And people haven't been able to get through it?

This sounded interesting.

The four of them looked at each other, silently wondering who should go ask the villagers. After a couple of seconds, they all stuck their hands out and did rock, paper, scissors.

Bella lost.

The bard sighed, scratching her head. With a red face, Bella awkwardly shuffled to the two villagers.

When they noticed the reddened girl, the two villagers stared at her with confused looks. "May we help you?"

"Um, I- er," She coughed, rubbing her heated neck. Stumbling over her words, Bella quietly but quickly asked, "Where is this forest? The- uh, forest you were talking about. Not that I was, um listening or anything- I mean- shit, uh... Forest."

The villagers looked at her, deadpanned and unimpressed.

Sighing, one of them said, "It's on the west side of the kingdom, just a couple miles from the sea."

Oof, that was a long ways from here.

Meekly thanking them, Bella hurried back to her friends.

Telling them the whereabouts, Evgenia looked at her map. There was a large forest in Renaisse where the villagers said it was.

This forest was a supposedly a beautiful sight to see in Renaisse. It was a thick mass of oaks and pine, with an atmosphere of a serene life.

But magic?

No way.

Evgenia frowned at the map, wondering if it was worth checking this forest out.

"If what they're saying is true about this forest being magical and dangerous, then I'd say it's a shot," Minerva said, "There must be something there worthwhile if Faust sent troops there." That was a valid point.

Perhaps it was something to help them in the war. Maybe it was just mages in hiding. Either way, they could go to this forest.

"Alright," Evgenia nodded, stashing her map away, "We'll head out once we get more supplies."

...

"A magic forest? What is this, a fairy tale?" Adva said, polishing their staff clean. The necromancer felt jumpy and irritated. It was all the death in Renaisse. The aura of death was so thick in the kingdom that Adva couldn't even identify sources well anymore.

The sense of death was everywhere. It was like being trapped in a maze.

Evgenia nodded, petting Omis as Victor looked at her map. Evgenia sighed, "It's the best thing we've got right now."