When the hunting festival of the 2nd semester of the 3rd year had about 3 weeks left.

It was around the time when the idea came to talk to the other party members, including St. Claire, that they would start training for the hunting festival.

Before I went and talked to the party members, Xian called me saying he had something to say first.

I had something to do with her, so of course I responded to the call.

Since the timing is the timing, I wondered if we were going to have a strategy meeting ahead of the hunting festival.

Seeing that he came with a somewhat serious face, it was clear that he came to me for a slightly different purpose than that.

In order to understand the true intention of senior Xian calling me, I looked at her face while sitting side by side on a bench in the central square of the academy.

“What’s going on, Xian-senpai? He called me with such a serious expression.”

“I found something in the Demon Forest this morning, but for some reason I thought I should inform junior Konrad.”

“A demon forest?”

Lately, it seems like you’ve only been on expeditions or training in cold caves.

Why did you suddenly visit the Demon Forest?

“Yeah, that’s the only place where bush clover trees grow naturally near the academy.”

“Ah, it must have been because of the arrow.”

It was only now that it was noticeable that the number of arrows in the main quiver was significantly less on her back.

It was not difficult to guess that she went to the Demon Forest to replenish the lack of arrows.

Because in his previous life, senior Xian used to make his own Hagi tree arrow shaft whenever he had time.

Occasionally, when I was in a hurry on the battlefield, I picked up other arrows and used them, but more than half of them could not withstand the magic of senior Xian and broke.

It was the fate of those who were born in the shrine to be able to use only arrows cut with their own hands.

“You talk as if you know my constitution, Junior Conrad.”

“Every hunting festival shoots an arrow with compressed magic that makes no sense, but it would be more strange to think of it as an ordinary arrow.

It’s that power. I’ve been hit once, so I know it well.”

“I guess so.”

I couldn’t tell you that I saw her sharpening arrows in the future.

He immediately put an end to her suspicions, sending a slightly suspicious look.

Come to think of it, the world tree staff I’m using right now must have been made by her using her arrow shaft sharpening skills.

Without that, there was no way he could have made a staff with such a smooth flow of magic power.

“Anyway, that’s not what’s important.”

“Ah yes. You said you found something in the Demon Forest.”

“yes.”

After saying that, Xian sunbaenim took something out of his bag and showed it to me.

“… … .”

As soon as I saw what she showed me with my own two eyes, my mouth closed by itself.

“What do you think?”

“… You said this was found in the Demon Forest?”

“yes.”

“Give me a moment.”

As soon as I lightly spilled my magical energy on the black-stained wooden block I received from her.

Along with a strong sense of resistance, I felt the turbulent mana vibrating.

As soon as I confirmed that the color had become a little darker, I was convinced of the identity of this magical power.

“It’s dark magic.”

“As expected.”

“Incredible. How did you find out?”

“What a coincidence… Because elves are a race that is sensitive to magic. While exploring the forest of demons, I felt a strange magic power.

When I looked at the trunk of a rotten tree that felt magical, something was strange, and it was tinged with the same muddy magic that I had seen in the forest last summer.”

“I see.”

Even for an elf, it would not have been easy to distinguish normal magic from dark magic with intuition alone.

It was a truly amazing intuition.

“Thank you for telling me first, Xian.”

If the hunting festival had been held without confirming the identity of this dark magic, I was not sure what kind of damage it would lead to.

At this point, with three weeks left of the hunting festival, it was a great achievement to discover that dark magic was flowing in the Demon Forest.

If there was a new concern, it would be that the fact that dark magic was discovered in the Demon Forest at this time was different from the previous life I knew.

The cause of this may have something to do with the case that dealt with Professor Hemes.

In my previous life, it was not me who had killed Professor Hemes, but Saint Claire and the escort knight, Willia.

As it was not an easy fight, it was a battle that had no choice but to spread rumors in the process.

As a result, several members of the Dark Church, who felt threatened, disappeared from the academy.

In this lifetime, only a few key people knew the course of Professor Heims’ case.

There was a good chance that the Church forces, still hiding their claws, would remain in the academy.

Without doing so, there was no way the incident related to the Dark Church, which I did not know about, would proceed.

Regardless of whether the presence of the forces of the Dark Church within the academy meant good or bad.

It was undoubtedly true that this opportunity was a good opportunity to expel the power of the Dark Church.

However, it was an incident in which I did not accurately grasp the truth, so I could not act blindly.

I wonder if the purpose itself is to dye the trees that inhabit the Demon Forest with dark magic.

Or did you pollute other life in the forest in the process of implementing something else?

If that’s not the case, maybe it was just contaminated by mistake.

Because I couldn’t get clear information about him.

“I understand, senior Xian. Let me finish this one.”

Perhaps I should enlist the help of a friend who is a bit better at searching than I am.

Coincidentally, she also heard that it was possible to track the smell of magic recently, so it would be a good first practice.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

next day.

Academy Hunting Guild’s entrance to Demon’s Forest.

Lulu and I stood side by side at the entrance of the forest, grasping the dark magic remaining in the evidence Xian-senpai handed over.

I felt quite grateful to Lulu, who was willing to step forward even though I had only spoken out the night before.

Because among all the people I knew, Lulu was the only one who could identify the source of a specific magic power.

Originally, she was excellent at detecting monsters with her sensitive senses, sounds, and vibrations in the air.

It is said that recently, as the tracking technology has improved, it has become possible to read even the information contained in magic.

It must have been of considerable help in resolving this matter.

So, originally, I was going to determine the identity of this magical power through Lulu’s pursuit, and I would deal with the forces of the Dark Church that would be the source.

“I didn’t call and only Lulu juniors were called. It’s a little disappointing, Junior Conrad.”

I don’t know how I came to know about it, but even senior Xian was present at the same place.

“I told you I was going to finish it, senior Xian.”

“Yes, junior Konrad and ‘I’ have to finish it.”

“I didn’t even tell you when the search would start in the first place, how did you know and waited for me to come in advance?”

“It has already been more than a year since I saw junior Konrad from the side, and I don’t even know that much.

I know that junior Konrad never puts off what needs to be done, so I just expected it to be the next day if I did it.”

Excluding vacations, the period in which we actually saw each other would have been less than a year.

Senior Xian was surprisingly insightful of my habits.

I don’t think you’ve ever paid this much attention to me in a previous life.

It was a reaction that made me feel a deeper relationship with Xian-senpai for the past year or so in this lifetime than the five years I spent with Xian in my previous life.

Because there was no instance of him paying that much attention to others because he was the senior Xian I remember.

Well, that’s not a bad sign.

“Don’t worry, I won’t disturb you.”

“Yeah. However, there are only four arrows left, so please use them as carefully as possible.”

“You’re talking for granted.”

Even if I don’t tell you, if you’re a senior, you’ll figure it out.

Thinking so, I moved my gaze downward and thrust a piece of wood contaminated with dark magic right in front of Lulu’s face.

“How, can you track it down?”

“Wait a minute, I’m checking the smell now.”

She brought her nose to the piece of wood stained with dark magic, and let out a snort as if sniffing it.

Among the beastmen, Lulu had a special constitution, so she was able to track the information remaining in her magic by smell.

In her past life, she had received a lot of help thanks to this ability.

I’ll probably rely on Lulu’s constitution countless times in this lifetime as well.

‘Sniff sniff, sniff.’

The moment a racist thought flashed through my head that it was like a dog sniffing a person’s hand.

Lulu’s face dropped from the block of wood and her mouth opened up and down.

“yes. I checked.”

“yes?”

“It’s faint, but it probably feels like it’s leading to the north of the Demon Forest.”

“Keep track. Until we can figure out the identity of this dark magic.”

“yes.”

Finally, her short one-word answer.

Me, Lulu, and senior Xian entered the northern part of the Demon Forest.

To confirm the identity of the existence that shouldn’t have been in the current academy.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The search for the Demon Forest, which started with Lulu’s footsteps, started to suffer quite a bit.

At first, it was nice to hear her say that it was North and enter it with enthusiasm.

It was because after walking for about 30 minutes, Lulu couldn’t find her direction and was confused.

First of all, the first reason was that the search range was too wide in that it covered the entire Demon Forest.

The second reason was that dark magic was already covering more than half of the Demon Forest.

It’s a pity that I figured out this situation before the hunting festival started.

If the hunting festival continued without knowing anything, some sensitive students would undoubtedly show symptoms of poisoning by dark magic.

And I don’t know what the person who spread this dark magic was thinking, but this one thing was clear.

It’s a bit weak, but still powerful enough to cover more than half of the Demon Forest with dark magic.

It was reasonable to assume that even large-scale magic was being prepared.

Considering the timing, it was probably planned to use this hunting festival as a testing ground for that magic.

Probably like the last coil mouse incident.

Whether the large-scale magic they are preparing is necromantic magic, summoning magic, or just powerful magic.

Either way, it was impossible to just watch what was being presented on the hunting festival stage.

Before the hunting festival started, it was necessary to remove the cause.

The problem was that Lulu, who had to track down the cause, was still at a loss.

“Lulu, are you not feeling well?”

“Eh, there are too many magical powers that interfere with tracking, so it’s not going well… .”

At this rate, a considerable amount of time would have been consumed before progress was made in the search.

To the best of my knowledge, I hinted at her some helpful advice.

“Luru, I’m not very knowledgeable about the method of retracing mana.”

“yes.”

“Lulu, you’re talking about the search method you use, but it’s exactly the method of reading the information contained in magic, right?”

“Uh, how did you know?”

How did I know, I knew because you in my previous life told me about it.

“It’s just that, for some reason, it seems to be using magic in a slightly different way from the way wizards use magic.”

Of course, it was impossible to recite the lines that came into my mind, so I had to come up with other excuses with my mouth.

“To be able to recognize that just by looking at it, you must be Conrad.”

Although Lulu’s gaze, as if looking at a great person, was a little burdensome.

Anyway, I brought up this story not simply because I wanted to be praised by her.

In a previous life, she once told me exactly how she had tracked down dark magic.

“Anyway, it’s when you read the information contained in that magical power.”

“yes.”

“Rather than reading who created magic, how about reading when it was created?”

“Reading when magic was created… ?”

“Anyway, if it spreads equally throughout the forest and interferes, there is a high possibility that the owner of the magical power itself is the same person.

Then I wondered if finding the oldest magical power would be helpful in the search.”

Reading the information contained in magic was a special talent that only a few people, including her, had.

As if it came to my mind spontaneously, I told her about one of the tracking methods that Lulu used most in her previous life.

“… … .”

After hearing my words, Lulu looked at me with wide eyes.

“There was such a way… .”

He nodded quietly and made a look of admiration.

After hearing the method she made in her previous life, it was like Lulu was actually praising me.

Even enduring that unfamiliarity was a matter of conscience.

Anyway, now more important than that is figuring out the identity of this dark magic.

I continued to give her advice with a shameless face.

“How about it, do you think it’s possible?”

“Wait a minute, I’ll try again.”

‘Sniff sniff, sniff.’

As if trying to read new information contained in the dark magic, Lulu sniffed at the wooden block again a couple of times.

As if he had figured out something, he suddenly pricked his ears and opened his mouth with a confident voice.

“This way, in the northwest, I can feel a similar yet oldest magical power.”

The sluggish search was followed by an answer.