Almark ran as?fast as he could into the forest and immediately broke off a reasonably long branch from a tree near by. He took a quick swing and felt it. It was better than being completely armless

"Hey, wait!"

He heard a voice behind him and turned to see Torque running toward him, breathless.

“Torque! What are you doing here?"

Torque caught up with Almark, still out of breath.

"You're fast, damn it!"

He glared at Almark.

'There's a monster out there and I'm going to take it down I told you get the teacher Don't play dumb with me."

Torque, with the sweat on his forehead, told Almark, "I know about the monster, and I thought i will help you ."

“You think I'm going to be scared when I hear the word " monster "? Did you think I'd be in a rush to go get the teacher? Don't underestimate me. If a junior student has been kidnapped by a monster, I'm not going to leave you alone, especially when you can't even use magic and don't even know the paths in this forest.”

Almark looked at Torque with a surprising look.

"That how you take it "

"But, Torque,"

"pride is good thing , but it won't save someone's life,"

Torque said with a small shake of his head.

"You don't get it ."

”The pride of nobility.”

Almark remembered how the nobles had fought in the North. Yes, mercenaries don't know what it's like to be a nobles .

"All right, then, let's go. If you come with me, you'll have to defend yourself."

"Shut up. That's my line."

They started running again.

Do you have any idea where we're going?"

Torque asked breathlessly, and Almark, on the other hand, answered almost imperceptibly,

There are no monster nests in the forests nearby enough for students to reach. That means we need to go as deep into the forest as possible. ......"

“You idiot!"

Torque spit out.

I'm glad I came after all. It would have take you five days to find it if I had been so naive. The forest here is very deep, and there are many roads leading to it."

"Oh, yeah? You have a better idea?"

"The first-years practice their magic over there, near the field. If we can find footprints there, we can find him ......."

"Okay, let's do that."

Almark changed direction in a loop and ran up the slope without slowing down at all.

Oh, wait! ...... Damn, you' ......, your legs are fast!"

When Torque finally caught up with Almark, he had already picked up one of the bags in the field.

"It's Eldo's."

Almark pointed to the ground. There were footprints on the ground that were clearly not made by a human being.

It's just as I thought , Cicily was right, she did see it. She must have been scared, but she's a good girl."

"What?"

"From what Sicily told me and basing on these footprints, I'm pretty sure the monster is Jalanon, the evil creature that lives in the forest .He attack and eat people if he feels like it. But we have hope ."

"What do you mean, ......?"

"Jalanon likes fresh meat. They bring their prey back to the nest and then kill it. In other words, Eldo is probably still alive."

He looks at Almark, who is looking at the footprints and speaking calmly, with a grim look on his face.

"You know a lot about monsters ."

I don't know about them because I want to. I know about them because

I wanted to survive."

After saying this, Almark started to run, looking at the footprints.

"Let's end this before the dark. This way."

"Oh, wait! Don't start running on your own, you savage!"

After saying this, Almark start running,

"No, not that again. You've got to be a little smarter than that. You're a magician after all!

As he said this, Torque moved the fingers of both hands intricately, as if he were playing a musical instrument. It was a delicate movement that was hard to imagine from his usual behavior .

Then, the footprints? on the ground began to glow with pale yellow light.

"This is ......."

"I colored the monster?Scents. Now it will be easier to find it. Let's go!"