After riding their horses for a while toward the Eastern Forest, the advance party arrived at the forest entrance. Since the Eastern Forest was dense with trees, they dismounted and entered the forest on foot.
“Martina, it’ll be about a twenty-minute walk from here. Can you manage?”
“I can walk, but…I might be really slow,” she replied.
Seeing Martina already out of breath, Lambert hesitated slightly before scooping her up in his arms.
“Whoa…s-sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s understandable for a civil official not to be trained. Besides, is there any other information? I’d like to know as much as possible.”
“—Just one thing, actually. I have some concerning information about a black haze.”
Martina furrowed her brow, looking as if she were hoping her prediction would be wrong.
“You mean the report of monsters appearing from it? I’ve been wondering too. Couldn’t it just be smoke, maybe from burning trees?”
“I also think that’s possible…but I worry it might be what they call a ‘miasma pool.'”
“Miasma pool? That’s a term I haven’t heard before.”
Lambert said the term in an uncertain tone, clearly unfamiliar with it. Watching his expression, Martina pondered where to start before she began explaining.
“…Are you familiar with the World Purification that happened about a thousand years ago?”
“Of course. Before that, the world was overrun by monsters, and humanity was on the brink of extinction. But after the World Purification, the number of monsters drastically decreased, and humanity began to thrive.”
“Exactly. There are many theories about the World Purification—some say it was divine mercy, others that a great sorcerer brought it about. As for the Dark Ages, it’s said demons inhabited the world or that humanity had angered the gods. From what I’ve read, though, I suspect that during the Dark Ages, miasma pools were scattered all over. The World Purification was an act to eradicate those pools.”
Martina’s recounting of history, seemingly without hesitation, astonished Lambert, the knight commander, who had never heard these details before.
“The term ‘miasma pool’ was mentioned in three books about the Dark Ages and a research paper on demons. Since the term appeared multiple times, I judged it to be credible. These pools were formed by black haze emerging from the ground, and monsters supposedly overflowed endlessly from them.”
“…If this black haze is indeed a miasma pool, how would we get rid of it? What did humanity do during the World Purification?”
At Lambert’s tense question, Martina took a small breath before responding.
“It seems they summoned a figure known as the Saint from another realm. Do you know about the technique called the magic circle?”
“…It’s used to cast magic without being limited by attributes, right? But I thought it was an outdated technique due to its impracticality.”
“Correct. They used that magic circle to summon the Saint, who then purified the miasma from the entire world. At least, that’s what I’ve gathered from a few books.”
“—So, does that mean we’d have to perform this Saint summoning again?”
“…If miasma starts appearing in multiple locations like during the Dark Ages, then it might be necessary. But since light magic is also effective against miasma pools, we might manage if we gather enough users of light magic. That is, if there’s only one miasma pool to deal with.”
As Martina’s words trailed off, the sound of their footsteps crunching on the grass filled the silence, until Lambert murmured.
“…You learned all this from books?”
“Yes. Most of it came from books in the public library, with some from the royal palace library. Some of it I read at an old bookstore near my home, where I helped out in exchange for reading time. The research paper on demons was from that bookstore.”
Lambert was speechless, both at Martina’s incredible knowledge and at the potential crisis facing the world.
As they walked, the sounds of battle reached their ears.
“For now, let’s continue this discussion later. Our priority is to defeat these monsters,” Lambert said.
“Yes, sir!”
When Lambert gave the command, the surrounding knights responded, and Martina and the others were met with a grim sight.
Injured knights were scattered about, and even those still on their feet were barely holding on. They were on the verge of being wiped out.
“We’re here to help! All members of Squad Seven, fall back!” Lambert’s voice rang across the battlefield, and hope returned to the eyes of the knights, who were fighting on sheer willpower. Those who could walk moved back on their own, while the wounded were carried to safety.
“Captain…!”
“You held them off well. Leave the rest to us.”
“Please…! That thing, none of our attacks work on it!”
At the knight’s words, Lambert turned his gaze forward, his sharp eyes locking onto the monster responsible for most of the damage.
“Martina, do you know what that monster is?”
Lambert pointed to the enormous creature that the knights were struggling against. The monster had numerous long legs and was completely covered in a hard shell.
“I think it’s a Sand Crab. They usually inhabit desert areas, so it’s strange to see one here in the forest.”
“Do you know how to defeat it?”
“Desert monsters are generally weak to water. Luckily, we have plenty of knights here who can use water magic. Have them attack the Sand Crab with water to slow it down, and then strike at the joint of the topmost leg, where the weak point inside the shell is. You’ll need to drive a sword deep downward into that spot.”
“Got it.”
After receiving Martina’s information, Lambert immediately relayed it to the knights.
Thanks to the prior information on other monsters like the boar-type and wyverns, which included tips from Martina on their weaknesses, they were able to deal with those effectively. If they could also handle the Sand Crab, the battle would likely turn in their favor.
