Crying Sounds Lingering in the Forest

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Night quietly descended...

In this world completely shrouded in darkness, all signs of life seemed to have been erased. Even the vast forest, usually teeming with life, couldn't escape the engulfing darkness.

As night fully fell, Noah arrived at the entrance of the forest swallowed by darkness. Looking at the boundless expanse before him, he sighed inwardly.

If he could, Noah really wouldn't want to be executing a ghost-banishing mission at night.

Although Noah wasn't afraid of ghosts, that didn't mean he liked them.

So, faced with ghosts, beings whose existence was questionable, even if he didn't know if they actually existed, Noah would prefer to carry out this task during the day. At least it would be easier on his mind.

Unfortunately, the appearance of the Strauss siblings disrupted Noah's plans.

To be honest, while the Strauss siblings' request was somewhat unreasonable, Mira was right. For Noah, a Mage of Fairy Tail, even giving up this request wouldn't be a big deal. At most, he'd just go back to the guild and exchange it for another one.

Didn't Makarov say that if a task couldn't be completed, there was no need to force it and just give up?

The Strauss siblings seemed to have some reason for needing this request. If it were a different situation, not considering the arrogant and self-important Mira and the timid Elfman, but for the sake of Lisanna, that adorable and understanding little girl, Noah wouldn't mind letting them have the request.

However, this was Noah's first job in the truest sense.

If he encountered setbacks on his first job and had to abandon the task, Noah would inevitably feel disappointed, and might even lose confidence in himself. Not to mention, he hadn't even encountered any setbacks that would force him to abandon the task; it was just a few people who came out and said they wanted to steal his job.

Moreover, they did so with such an attitude.

Turning back, Noah glanced behind him to confirm that Mira, Elfman, and Lisanna hadn't caught up. He picked up his long, cloth bag and walked into the forest.

The forest at night is dangerous.

In the year or so that Noah had been in Magnolia, he had run into the forest almost every day to train his magic control and swordsmanship.

Therefore, Noah was well aware of how dangerous the forest could be at night.

For one thing, many truly dangerous Magical Beasts only became active at night, coming out to hunt for prey.

Coupled with the limitations of terrain and visibility, the forest at night was often very advantageous to the Magical Beasts that were accustomed to it, while conversely, it was very disadvantageous to humans.

Fortunately, this forest wasn't like the forest in Magnolia, where Magical Beasts were everywhere. At most, there were just some wild beasts.

The probability of encountering Magical Beasts wasn't zero.

However, Magical Beasts in this type of forest were generally foreign, few in number, and of varying strength.

After all, powerful Magical Beasts could usually occupy a place in their own habitat, even taking over an entire territory.

Only weak Magical Beasts would be driven out or escape from their habitats, seeking other places.

In this situation, this forest couldn't be considered dangerous. Even the villagers of a small village often came to hunt. Noah believed that he was capable of dealing with a night in such a forest.

Currently, the Kingdom of Fiore was in the middle of summer.

However, the temperature in the forest was quite cool, making it hard to believe that it was the height of summer.

And at night, the atmosphere in the forest was different from during the day, as if an eerie aura had been added out of nowhere, making one's hair stand on end.

As Noah walked deeper into the forest, breathing in the cool air, a sense of nostalgia inexplicably arose.

No, it wasn't inexplicable at all.

Because Noah used to frequently visit the forest in Magnolia at night as well.

The scenery of the forest in front of him seemed to connect with the scenes in his memory, which was why Noah felt nostalgic.

However, compared to the forest in Magnolia, which was full of Magical Beasts, this forest was undoubtedly much more reassuring.

For example, there wasn't the pungent smell of Magical Beasts here.

For example, bugs bigger than humans didn't fall from the trees here.

For example, there weren't strange bird calls here.

For example, spiders the size of fists didn't run around everywhere here.

At most, you'd run into a crawling snake on the road, or an owl with glowing eyes hidden in a tree.

Thinking about these inexplicable things, comparing the forest in Magnolia with the forest here, Noah had unknowingly begun to wander around aimlessly.

There was no helping it. It was said that there were ghosts in this forest that would occasionally make crying sounds, but the Village Chief hadn't said exactly where to hear the sounds.

This wasn't surprising, since Noah had told the Village Chief that he would be carrying out the task tomorrow. In that case, the Village Chief should give a detailed explanation before he set off tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Noah felt a little annoyed. He should have gone to the Village Chief's house first.

"Waaah..."

Just as Noah was immersed in his annoyance and about to sigh, a sound like crying and wailing rang out from the surroundings, causing Noah to freeze on the spot.

"Waaah..."

Before Noah could fully react, the crying sound became clearer and clearer, startling Noah out of his daze.

At this moment, Noah noticed two details.

First, the crying sounded very young. A preliminary assessment suggests that the source of the sound is definitely no more than ten years old, and it's a girl.

Second, besides the crying gradually approaching Noah's location, a footstep sound is also gradually approaching from the depths of the forest ahead. It should be the sound of the owner of the voice, and it's not hard to imagine that the person is walking and crying at the same time.

"Footsteps?" Noah tilted his head in confusion.

"Not a ghost? Do ghosts need to walk? And make walking sounds?"

With such doubts, Noah, carrying the long cloth bag, leaped and silently concealed himself among the trees on the side, his eyes cast forward, looking in the direction from which the crying and footsteps came.

He didn't know how long had passed, but from the depths of the forest ahead, a very petite figure slowly walked over and entered Noah's sight.

It was a little girl.

She was about seven or eight years old, four or five years younger than Noah.

The little girl had a head of deep blue short hair that was exceptionally conspicuous even in the dark night. She was wearing an extremely thin shirt, which would definitely be very cold in the forest at night.

But the little girl was completely unaware of this, and her body didn't seem to be shivering from the cold. Instead, she lowered her head, rubbed her eyes with her hands, and kept crying as she walked this way.

"Waaah... Grandine... where are you... it's so dark here... I'm so scared..."

Listening to the heartbreaking, sorrowful cries, and watching the small child crying as she walked this way, Noah was really puzzled.

Is this a ghost?

It doesn't look like one at all, does it?

Could it be that the truth behind the crying in the forest is this child, not some ghost?

Wouldn't that mean that this child has been crying in this forest all this time?

Noah fell silent. After a while, he walked out.

The little girl seemed to have noticed a sudden strange sound in the surroundings. The crying stopped abruptly, and then she wiped the tears from her face and looked around in a panic. Immediately, she hurriedly hid in the grass on the side.

Seeing this, Noah could basically confirm it.

Regardless of whether the little girl in front of him was the so-called ghost, she had definitely been in this forest for quite some time.

Otherwise, how could an ordinary child hide when they heard an unusual sound?

This child definitely knows that there are all kinds of ferocious beasts in this forest and that encountering them would be very dangerous, which is why she found a place to hide at the first sign of an unusual sound.