Chapter 57 – A Stroll in the Forest
The moment the carriage stopped, Faye woke up.
As for Ann… She was still fast asleep while leaning on her hand.
Since Faye just woke up, her mind hadn’t fully processed her existing in this world and what was going on.
Thus, Allen was faster than Faye. He took the initiative to shake Ann’s body gently.
“Mmm… What is it…,” Ann mumbled, still with her eyes closed.
“Wake up,” Allen said softly.
By this time, Faye had fully processed that she was alive and who she was and what she was doing, but she was too late in doing her duty to wake Ann up.
Thus, she could only stare blankly while praying that Ann would quickly wake up…
“Mmm, Boss, it’s my… break… time…,” Ann mumbled something that Allen couldn’t understand.
That phrase was Ann’s autopilot response whenever she was woken up while being asleep sitting. She used to work in front of her computer until she fell asleep on her chair.
Allen furrowed his brows as he continued to shake her, “We’ve arrived.”
“Huh? Where?” Ann’s eyes twitched.
“Mojo village.”
“What Mojo vill--,” Ann’s eyes were suddenly wide open.
Exactly one second after she opened her eyes and saw Birdie, Faye, and Allen… Ann finally remembered that she was transmigrated. Her brain was instantly running on full power.
“Ohh, we’ve arrived! Let’s go!!”
The three of them (plus Birdie) finally went down from the carriage.
When Ann looked at her surrounding, she saw what seemed to be an entrance of a forest. The forest itself didn’t look intimidating. Rather, it was beautiful and bustling with activities. The nature sound that she never really heard for a long time entered her ears. The fresh air entered her lungs. She felt refreshed just ‘feeling’ the forest.
Ann unconsciously stretched her body like a cat, which caused Allen and the other people from his residence to furrow their eyebrows.
Noticing their questioning gazes, Ann quickly assumed a posture like a noble lady as she tried to discreetly look at them to have their approval…
The maids and butlers that followed tried their best to hold their laughter. If there was someone among them who was still suspicious of Ann, their guard was lowered after this incident.
“Come, let’s take a stroll here,” Allen said as he led the way.
“Where is this?” Ann asked as she walked behind Allen.
As they walked, Allen slowed his pace down so that the two of them eventually walked side by side.
“This is the Verde forest. It’s a popular sightseeing forest. The outer part has various—,” Allen didn’t even finish when Ann’s squeal could be heard.
“Aaah! What is this cute creature?! Oh wait, there’s another one over there? Whaaa?!” Ann was totally out of control. Goodbye all the noble etiquette she had learned. Welcome back, the raw Ann from the modern world.
Ann walked quickly towards the cute creature that caught her attention. It was a small round white fluffy creature with two long ears and four short limbs. Its large round eyes were looking at Ann who was coming at it, as it tilted its head.
“Uiiiii?” The creature let out its cute voice.
“Kyaaa, what is this cute thing?! Can I touch it?” Ann was still careful as she turned around to ask permission from Allen.
“It’s called Uigre. They are common monsters here. They’re pretty tame and are often used as livestock—”
The moment Ann heard that they were tame, she quickly petted the one next to her as she bent down to stare at this marvelous creature.
One second later, her brain registered the last sentence Allen said as she asked, “Wait, so their meat is eaten…?”
“Yes. You’ve eaten their meat before…,” Allen said.
“W-whaaaaaa?!” Ann was dejected as she gently picked up the Uigre next to her and petted it.
“I’m sorry… Should I turn vegan here…,” Ann muttered.
Allen who was approaching her together with Faye halted their steps.
“Arlea-sama, your favorite soup consists of Uigre meat…,” Ann said with a blank face.
“What?!” Ann gasped.
Finally, she gave up the idea of going vegan and had it in mind that the Uigre here was like chickens or cows or rabbits from the modern world. Yes, some rabbits and chickens were adorable, but she could eat their meat just fine…
After that, they continued to walk around as Allen assumed the role of a tour guide. With his extensive knowledge, he introduced the unique creatures and plants that Ann encountered along the way.
They also saw some beautiful sceneries, together with the other people who were there.
As Ann became more comfortable, her holiday brain was turned on and she often grabbed someone else’s hand and dragged them to go to where she was going—whoever was closest to her. Often it was Faye, but she also dragged Allen’s arms from time to time.
The first time Ann did it, Allen was surprised, but he didn’t reject her. Instead, he liked it when she circled her hands on his arm as she dragged him to the other direction.
Ann was too absorbed in the hype that she didn’t even notice. She just casually did that and excitedly pointed at what attracted her attention as she smiled to whoever she dragged.
Seeing Ann’s very carefree smile, Allen felt like his impulsive decision was for the best.
After walking for quite some time, Ann finally arrived in front of the area of the forest that had a different atmosphere from what she just went through.
Unsure, Ann stopped walking and turned around at Allen.
“Hey, is it just me or this part of the forest seems to be different?” Ann asked as she pointed at the trees in front of her that seemed to be different than the ones she walked just now. The air seemed to be more tense and the soothing voices had some growls mixed in it.
Allen nodded, “This is the deeper part of the forest. There are wild monsters appearing there. Though they may attack, they aren’t that dangerous.”
“So, this area is different and the creatures we’re going to see will be different?” Ann asked.
“Yes,” Allen said before he added, “Do you want to have a look?”
Ann asked in disbelief, “We can?”
“We can,” Allen then proceeded to give instructions.
The ones going forward would just be the three of them, plus the hidden bodyguards Allen had. Allen was confident that the monsters in that forest were of no problem, but just in case a stronger monster appeared… he wouldn’t be able to protect many people at the same time. If it’s just Faye and Ann, he was confident everything would be alright.
Ann was instructed to be careful and rely on Allen should any monster try to attack her. She learned that it was alright to hunt the monsters there, so this was dubbed as the ‘Hunting Zone’ of Verde forest.
Since she possessed no real fighting skills, Ann docilely nodded at Allen’s instruction.
At most, in the dire situation, she could try kicking or punching the monsters away… right?
Oh wait, she could use magic!
…Though her Pure Water magic was considered useless in combat in this world, with her modern knowledge, she was sure that she could do something with it…
But obviously, she wouldn’t use it unless it was necessary.
The three started walking inside the Hunting Zone of the Verde forest. Birdie who was rampantly flying here and there in the outer zone was now perched on Ann’s shoulder. Perhaps she was able to sense that it wouldn’t be so wise of her to run around freely in this section.
Sure enough, the monster they happened to encounter all seemed to attack them. But Allen who was leading them could slay the monster as he introduced the monster to Ann.
Ann froze in the spot as she just witnessed a butchering… or a slaughter on live. Luckily, she was only surprised for a moment. But she was still amazed at Allen whose first reaction after finishing the monster off was to… become a walking encyclopedia or Pok*dex that explained the monster to her.
Just as she was about to laugh at the absurdity, she noticed a shadow springing towards Faye.
“Faye, be careful!” Ann warned Faye.
“Huh?” Faye turned around only to see a shadow of a monster quickly springing on her…