The demon beasts in Crim Forest had been cleared out by Ed and the other three a while back.
Thanks to that, the group encountered no real threats along the way.
Even the occasional one or two stragglers that popped out were quickly brought down by the adventurers’ weapons.
“We’re here.”
The girl suddenly spoke up.
She stopped in place and pointed at a conspicuous clearing in the woods.
“Ed set the traps right here.”
Some adventurers leaned over to look, but the clearing contained nothing but fallen leaves—no sign of any traps.
Although they knew this was probably some special mage technique, Wilfred still stepped forward with a stiff expression for the sake of everyone’s safety.
“Mage,” he said, bowing his head respectfully.
“You don’t need to call me that.”
The girl turned around and shook her head, as if unaccustomed to such sudden respect.
“Just call me Miss Bailis like Kelta and Sylvia do. Do you have a question?”
“Yes, Miss Bailis.”
The middle-aged adventurer replied, hesitating for a moment.
“I wanted to ask how powerful the traps you two set actually are. To be honest, we’ve tried using hunter-made traps to capture or even kill those two demon bears before, but they escaped every time, and we ended up losing quite a few people.”
“As for their power…”
Bailis recalled a scene from a few days ago when she had secretly followed Ed and happened to see him testing the spell traps on a demon beast.
The result had naturally been quite bloody.
Strangely, though, she herself felt none of the normal human reactions described in books—disgust, nausea, or any further physical discomfort.
Perhaps from the moment she had fully become a witch, she had already stopped being like normal humans.
The girl laughed self-deprecatingly in her heart, then slowly came back to the present.
She looked at the middle-aged adventurer who had been patiently waiting without complaint even after being left hanging for a while.
“You don’t need to worry about their power,” she said.
“Any trap Ed sets will ensure that if they step in, they won’t come out.”
“If that’s the case, then we can rest easy.”
Wilfred turned around to face the large group of eager adventurers behind him.
“You all heard what Miss Bailis just said,” he said in a deep voice.
“Next, please divide yourselves into three teams to defend the east, west, and south sides of the trap area. Once you’re in position, immediately shoot an arrow into the air as a signal. Understood?”
Although he was only a temporary leader, the adventurers couldn’t find fault with Wilfred’s arrangements and nodded in agreement one after another.
“Move out!”
With a wave of his hand, the gray-and-black stream of people briefly fell into chaos before splitting into three groups of roughly equal size.
Under their chosen temporary captains, they marched off toward their designated defensive positions.
Once most of them had left, the middle-aged adventurer nodded to the three of them in farewell and disappeared into the western side of the forest with Leo.
A cool autumn breeze gently brushed through the forest, rustling the leaves and covering the faint sound of a girl letting out a small sigh of relief.
“This… should be good enough,” she murmured to herself.
“Miss Bailis really likes Mr. Ed a lot.”
The girl jumped at the sudden voice behind her. “S-Sylvia, why are you suddenly saying something like that!”
“Because I suddenly saw Miss Bailis looking so serious and stern, and I couldn’t help myself.”
The young apothecary girl covered her mouth and laughed softly.
“Besides, isn’t what I said true?”
“Um… m-maybe.”
The girl turned her face away, a faint blush creeping across her pretty features hidden beneath her silver hair.
“That’s why girls in love are really quite terrifying. Even someone who’s usually soft can become incredibly strong at times like this.”
Sylvia sighed with feeling.
“I just wanted to take some of the pressure off him…” the girl grumbled quietly.
“He’s done so much for me. It’s only right that I step up and help him too.”
“You two…”
Kelta had been trying to listen in on what the two girls were talking about.
The moment he heard the word “love,” he wisely stepped farther away.
“By the way, has Sylvia ever gone through something like this?”
Bailis asked curiously, watching the young adventurer carefully wipe down his short blade.
The young apothecary girl nodded.
“I have.”
“When?”
“Probably around the time I first told my father I wanted to marry Kelta.” Sylvia tapped her chin, thinking hard.
“That was the first time Kelta met my father. He was so intimidated by my father’s imposing aura that he couldn’t even move. In the end, I had to step forward and confront my father before Kelta could finally act normal again.”
She seemed to remember how comical the youth had looked facing her father and couldn’t help laughing.
Bailis tried picturing the Kelta from Sylvia’s story next to Ed and felt the corners of her mouth lift slightly.
“He sounds pretty unreliable back then.”
“After all, Kelta came from the countryside. It’s normal for him to be scared by the imposing front my father puts on.”
Sylvia gazed gently at the young adventurer. “But most of the time, Kelta is actually a very reliable person. That’s one of the reasons I like him. Miss Bailis likes Mr. Ed for the same reason, right?”
It sounded like a question, but her tone was almost certain.
“Of course.” The girl lifted her head proudly.
“Other than my mom and dad, Ed is the most reliable person I’ve ever met.”
“Then it looks like we’re the same.”
The young woman and the girl looked at each other and, in perfect sync, burst into laughter.
Kelta heard their unrestrained laughter and glanced over for what felt like the umpteenth time.
“Relax, we’re not talking about you behind your back.”
The young apothecary girl said as she and Bailis walked closer.
Then, under the girl’s slightly envious gaze, she took her lover’s hand.
“I was just remembering some things that happened back in the city and got a little nostalgic.”
The young adventurer’s expression suddenly changed, as if he had connected the dots.
“I-It wouldn’t be…”
He trailed off halfway, then awkwardly scratched his head.
“It’s fine. It’s all in the past.”
The girl smiled and squeezed his hand tighter.
“I wish Ed would let me hold his hand so casually one day…” the girl muttered, half complaining and half hopeful.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
At that moment, three sharp arrowheads pierced the air in quick succession.
All three of them froze for a second, then immediately realized what the sound meant.
“Looks like they’re ready,” Bailis said seriously.
Kelta nodded.
“Then I’ll send the signal to Mr. Ed.”