"Well, it's really saved me. Thank you. I never thought I'd be caught by a thief. Honestly, I thought they were going to sell me as slaves... Oh, thank you."

　A dark elf woman reaches out, thanking Vihela for her sandwich.
　Then, as she tossed her sandwich into her mouth, she opened her mouth with a keen look around her.

"And yet, it's quite amazing to have such a magic-item carriage." No, not to mention Audovan, but Marina is there, so it may well be."

　When asked, Audovan opens his mouth dumbfounded.

"Well, Jusla," Why were you caught by thieves? It would have been all right if you had used Spiritual magic."
"Well... that's it." The spring sunshine was so pleasant in the woods that I was taking a nap. And when I realized it, I was in that situation. He was fitted with a monkey, and I couldn't do spirit magic, but I'm not good at close range, let alone at bows."
"I'm dumbfounded. You know what's going on in the forest right now, right? Why do you bother to get out of the world.
"Hahaha. It's a little adventure. But you didn't get out of the boundary of confusion. You just got out of the boundary of barriers. ... well, here you go. For some reason or other, my chastity was safe after all. I hope you don't mind."

　Audovan and Marina are dumbfounded at the words.
　The reason why the robbers didn't touch Jusla was probably because they thought it would sell better as slaves if they didn't touch it, even though they weren't. It's safe to be swept away by immediate desires.
　With that in mind, Jusla's safety is almost a miracle.

"But what did you do when you ate? You didn't catch me yesterday, did you? Then it doesn't make sense to sell me as a slave if I'm weak. Didn't you make me eat?"
"Ah, yes, they let me have dinner. ... yes, here it is it's like this. with a weapon in his throat."

　Jusla's words convince everyone who was listening.
　Spirited magic tends to be shorter than ordinary magic, but time is still necessary to call on spirits.
　When a weapon is held in the throat, it would be quicker to cut it off than to say a chant to call the spirit.
　And if the throat was cut off, it was naturally impossible to sing any more, and it was certain that he would die before using the spirit magic.

"If I had been good at close combat, I might have managed... as I said, I am good at archery, but I am not good at close combat."

　Well, Jusla scratching her head when she says she's embarrassed, but she doesn't seem to have any feminine features.

"You've been saying this for a long time, haven't you?" They told me not only to practice archery but also close combat. The arm of the bow is the best of us, and we should have been able to do it if we wanted to do close combat
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! ... well, there's something like this, and I think I'll think about it a little bit. --and, by the way, I'll change the subject."

　Then Jusla pauses and turns to the people in the carriage.
　Ray, Elena, Vihela, Bune, Audovan, Marina.
　Originally, Arla would enter here, but now she works as a coachman.
　Then Jusla turned to the window of the carriage.
　From there you can see Seto walking next to a carriage and Yero sleeping comfortably on his back.

"...what kind of group is this?"
"You know. When I left the forest, the elder explained, right? Jusla was there, too, right?"
"What? Uh... Uh... I remember, I remembered. It seems like he said he would go to Marina to help him treat the world tree."
"Why don't you remember so well?"
"No, because it was a long talk about the elder. So I lost my sleep."

　Jusla says she has fallen asleep, and Audovan looks dumbfounded from the bottom of her heart.
　The story of the elder is naturally important.
　I don't know what to say when people say I fell asleep because I'm sleepy.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah Don't worry too much. We all know I'm not serious anyway.'
"It's no different, Jusla said.

　Jusla smiles shyly at Marina's words as she watches Audovan and Jusla communicate.

"Hehe. But I've learned from Marina that I've improved my archery skills. The number of monsters hunting in the woods is also high for me."
"Really? You don't have to worry that much about Jusla because she was still young."

　Even so, he must be happy to have someone who adores him. Marina's mouth had a rare, glamorous smile.

"Hehe. It's a precious memory for me that Marina taught me."
"I'm glad you say so, too. ...and Jusla. By the way, what is the state of the forest?"

　Marina, with a gentle smile on her face, asks with a slightly serious expression.
　In response to the question, Jusla doesn't play around and shakes her head as serious as Marina.

"It's worse than when the hors d'oeuvan left." It doesn't feel like acceleration, but even so, the boundaries of the world trees are weakening. Actually, that's why I was caught by a thief. Up until now, it would have been the inside of the world of confusion."
"Yes,"

　It meant that the condition of the world tree was getting worse every minute.
　Meanwhile, Ray suddenly says what he was curious about.

"Why did the world tree become so weak? I heard it got sick, but it's a very special tree because it's like a world tree. But I don't think it's going to weaken so easily."
"...I left the woods a long time ago and haven't been back since, so I can't say for sure." What do you think? At least I didn't think the world trees would get sick when I left the forest."Marina's gaze makes Audovan and Jusla look at each other with difficult faces.
　Marina left more than a hundred years ago, and she probably remembers that time.
　But soon Jusla shakes her head.
　Apart from Audovan, Jusla is still -- as a dark elf -- young.
　It was still quite small, as I mentioned earlier, when Marina was taught how to use the bow before she left.
　Compared to Jusla, Audovan remembers that time very well, considering that he is a little younger than Marina, though he is a dark elf.

"Well, for some time since Marina left, the world tree has not been sick." I think Jusla had been getting weak a little while before she started going out alone in the woods... Of course, it was really little by little, and I didn't expect it to be as exaggerated as it is now."
"A little by little," That's too much of a stretch. Regardless of the fact that the world tree has begun to weaken rapidly in a short period of time, it is hard to notice little by little. It's especially hard to feel because we've lived for so many years."

　Unlike the typical dark elves, the words had an indescribable weight as Marina came out of the woods to see the outside world.

"Oh, dear Marina," Is the outside world interesting after all?"

　Marina nods with a smile at Jusla's curious remark.

"Yes. It's very different from living in the woods. It's been a long time before I got used to it, but don't you understand Audovan?"
"Well, the first time I went out of the woods, I had a lot of trouble. Well, I was able to get used to it somehow or other."

　He must be recalling a lot of stories of his failure. Audovan muttered a complex expression and turned his eyes to Jusla again.

"And I'll go back to the subject, but is there anything unusual besides the weakening of the boundaries?"
"...well, I think I've heard you're starting to see monsters like you've never seen in the woods before."
"Huh? Wait a minute."

　Listening to the three Dark Elves, Ray suddenly opens his mouth as if he had noticed something.
　Marina was the only one who noticed Ray's appearance, though Audovan's face stretched for a moment.

(I wonder if I've failed a little. I didn't expect Ray's magic to shrink me this far. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

　The magic unleashed by Ray when he removed the ring of the new moon had completely shrunk the Audovan.
　Marina would like Audovan to get along with Ray if possible.
　Even if we don't get that far, at least we don't want them to act like enemies.

"There was a boundary in the forest, right? But did monsters come out from the front?"
"Oh, that's it. The forest is quite large. That's much more than that forest where the Lays fought against the Cyclops recently. That's why the boundaries of the world trees are only around where the dark elves live. Most of the time, we can't live without eating. If we're going to eat anyway, we'd rather have high-ranking monster meat."

　Monster meat is probably an important food for dark elves, too.
　And for eating, delicious meat... I could understand that high-ranked monster meat is better.

"If the boundary is strong and wide, monsters that can be used as food will not appear."
"Yes. Besides, we need materials other than food."

　With a few exceptions, elves and dark elves are basically more magical than humans.
　Of course, it's not that we're not good at alchemy using that magic, but we can also make some magic items ourselves.
　In that case, you will need materials, and there will be many monsters among them.
　Hearing the explanation, Ray's eyes sparkle with curiosity.

(Is it a magic item made by Dark Elf? To be honest, if you say you're not interested, it's a lie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

　Since you live in a place with trees around the world, of course you are used to making magic items using various materials from trees around the world.
　That's what Ray decides, but Jusla opens her mouth before she speaks.

"Anyway, that's how the woods are," I don't think it's going to happen soon, but it's definitely getting worse. That's why I'm looking forward to you all, Mr. Marina bringing me.

　Jusla says she helped me too, and some of the people who heard it smile bitterly.
　This is because they thought it would be better to go straight to the forest of dark elves instead of stopping at the hideout after defeating the robbers who attacked them.
　If Ray had listened to the words calmly, Jusla would still be held captive by the bandits' hideout.
　Of course, knowing Jusla was in captivity would have easily convinced others to attack the hideout.
　But there's no way to know that.
　For that reason, the matter is half‐progressive…it can even be said that it was luck.

"... Marina. I would like to ask you a few questions, but are there any bandits ahead of us? If so, considering this incident, would it be better to put them down as much as possible?"

　Marina smiles bitterly at Elena's words.

"Even if I ask you," I'm sure you've heard me talk a few times, but I left the forest a long time ago. I don't think there are still thieves there at the time."
"Is that so?" How about you, Audovan and Jusla?"
"Well, I don't know. When there was a boundary, the robbers could not enter unless it was a coincidence, and when I came out of the woods, they were not particularly attacked."

　Elena turns a little troubledly to Ray as he mutters confidently.
　Rey nods back when she sees him.

"Well, wouldn't it be better to destroy the robbers one after another if they asked.

　Everyone nodded to Ray's words, and the fate of the bandits in this neighborhood was decided.