Echoing Melodious Laughter

"Hey, why are you wasting food like this?!" A woman with a chestnut-colored high ponytail sat on one side of the table. She wore a beige turtleneck shirt, a dark red velvet vest, and a leather jacket that made her look sharp and capable. Her pants were the same color as her vest, and she had black leather knee pads – the typical attire of adventurers.

She had taken off her gloves and was holding a wooden spoon, eating the plant-based stew in the wooden bowl before her. She spoke to the person opposite her with a pointed remark.

"You're twisting words." The man sitting opposite her wore similar attire. Compared to the somewhat boisterous woman, his movements, while not exactly graceful, were composed and at ease.

This male adventurer had his eyes covered with a strip of white linen, indicating his inability to see – a blind adventurer, which sounded quite intriguing.

"Hmph, look, you dropped this food out of your bowl!" the woman insisted, but as she extended the hand holding the spoon, she coincidentally dropped food near the edge of his bowl.

"You crazy woman!" the male adventurer said, his expression turning unpleasant.

Fatenai, sitting to their side, watched the two of them. Since she wasn't involved in their argument, she had already finished her meal and was observing their quarrel with great interest.

These two, who called themselves adventurers, were the newest faces she had seen in the past half-month.

At that time, Fatenai was standing in the yard, lamenting how quickly it got dark. She then keenly detected the arrival of two guests – both were riding horses laden with luggage, slowly approaching the wooden cabin.

"There's a hunter's cabin here," Fatenai first heard the male say as he pointed out the wooden cabin to his companion.

"That's wonderful," the woman's personality seemed a bit lively, she said, "I really want to try some different game and salads, and it would be even better if they had mead!"

The man couldn't help but remind her, "We are still quite far from town, you're thinking too much. It's already good enough if the hunters share some fruits and vegetables."

"I don't care, I'm going to puke if I eat any more dried rations!" the woman declared.

Listening to their conversation, Fatenai simply squatted down to pick edible plants – she even picked quite a lot unintentionally.

"Oh, there's a little girl here." The two quickly arrived in front of the wooden cabin. The woman dismounted first and soon spotted Fatenai, walking up to her. "Does a family live here? Hello, can I speak with your parents? We are adventurers and would like to request lodging for one night."

No matter how you looked at it, Fatenai appeared to be no more than an eleven or twelve-year-old child. It was hard to imagine a child living alone in the forest.

"They've gone hunting," Fatenai replied, "You're welcome to stay."

"That's great! My name is Helise, and this is Hubert," Helise said happily. "Don't worry, we're very quiet and won't disturb your rest tonight."

Fatenai nodded politely, only then realizing how untrustworthy Helise's words were – no matter what they encountered, she had to discuss it with her companion, and during their discussions, they would argue. Sometimes it lasted a few minutes, other times, Fatenai felt they could discuss it all night.

This truly had nothing to do with being quiet.

At the dining table, as their argument about who was wasting food began, Fatenai had grown accustomed to their peculiarities – fortunately, she didn't truly crave silence, otherwise, based on her previous living standards, these two could be considered noisy and rude.

"Haven't your parents returned?" Finally, when their argument had reached a rough conclusion, Fatenai had already tidied up her things and was preparing to retreat to her room. Helise noticed her and asked.

Helise was a seemingly reckless but very enthusiastic person. In contrast, Hubert was taciturn, only appearing quick-witted when speaking with Helise – at other times, he hadn't even spoken a word to Fatenai.

"They will be in the forest for a long time, no need to worry," Fatenai replied. "If you need to find them for anything, you can tell me – after all, they sometimes stay in the forest for half a month, it wouldn't be good if you had urgent matters that were delayed."

"I see, what a pitiful and adorable child – actually, we wanted to ask for their help in finding something." Helise showed a sympathetic expression towards Fatenai.

Fatenai smiled without speaking, listening carefully to her words.

"We want to find a stone platform, roughly square, it should be in a clearing. You just need to take us to that place," Helise gestured something to Fatenai. As Fatenai listened, her heart gradually grew heavy.

The place she spoke of was precisely the stone platform where Wickel had died.

"What are you going there for? That's not a good place," Fatenai said after hearing this.

It was indeed not a good place. Besides the shadow left by Wickel's death, the stone platform, which had clearly served as an altar, likely held secrets she was unaware of.

She wanted to know something from these adventurers.

"It's very beautiful, so we want to see it," Helise said.

Fatenai looked at Helise's sincere expression, but she found it amusing. This reason, even if intended for a twelve-year-old girl, seemed rather clumsy.

"If you're unwilling to go, then forget it," Hubert said first, without waiting for Fatenai to speak. "If it were that easy to find, then the things we've been doing for months would be meaningless."

"You have such a bad temper!" Helise protested, puffing out her cheeks at Hubert, but ultimately agreed with her companion. The two quickly finished the food on the table, then bid farewell to Fatenai and left – they clearly had things to do in the forest that night.

Fatenai found Hubert's aloofness natural, and instead felt overwhelmed by Helise's enthusiasm – she truly didn't want to go near that stone platform again. Helise's enthusiasm would go unrewarded, only making Fatenai feel uncomfortable.

Fatenai didn't want to say more to them, fearing they might change their minds and ask her to lead the way again. Turning back to her room, Darwin was still engrossed in writing at the table. Following up on the suggestion from that afternoon, Darwin had already started organizing information on plant care. Thinking of this, Fatenai couldn't help but turn her head – the rough wooden cabinets were filled with various plants, which were growing quite well under her care.

"It looks like we had guests today," Darwin said, having just finished a section of his work, when he saw Fatenai.

Fatenai nodded, watching him resume his work, and didn't disturb him.

She still had to think about the two guests.

The two who claimed to be adventurers were looking for a stone platform in Eisole Forest – but this was only on the surface. In reality, the identities of these two were not as simple as they seemed.

With her Eye of Connection activated, Fatenai clearly saw that these two were mages.

Fatenai felt that since arriving in Eisole Forest, mages had become increasingly common – conversely, in noble social circles, the profession of mage was never specifically mentioned.

For two mages to seek that stone platform was no simple matter. It was worth noting that a group of mages had also been searching for Wickel before – this indicated that the secrets on that stone platform were closely related to mages, but what exactly was that relationship? Fatenai felt a headache coming on.

As she thought, Fatenai had already lain down on the bed. After some thought, she closed her eyes, perhaps feeling that these matters could be pondered tomorrow.

At this moment, someone was lingering in the forest outside the wooden cabin.

"Sigh, I'm so sleepy, Hubert, can't we just go back?" Helise yawned, looking at Hubert who was squatting on the ground drawing magical symbols, feeling extremely bored.

"There's a barrier here that can block the perception of mages and beasts," Hubert ignored Helise's drowsiness and said sternly – as a mage, his perception could help compensate for his loss of sight. "It looks like the work of great mages. This is no ordinary forest hunter's cabin."

"Forest hunters live in the woods year-round, so it's no big deal if they use a little magic to protect themselves. Maybe they even have a powerful mage friend who helped them create this barrier," Helise felt these things weren't worth worrying about.

"That little girl is clearly living alone. If you can't even see these traces, you won't graduate this year," Hubert said bluntly.

Helise couldn't help but feel like her sore spot had been poked. "You're going too far! Why are you telling me this!"

"It's the truth—and this little girl is also full of questions," Hubert said.

"So what? She's not our objective this time. If she really is some hidden powerhouse, it'll be more troublesome for us to target her! The Month of Trekking is almost here, and if we don't find research materials soon, graduation will be even harder," Helise said.

Helise's words didn't give Hubert anything to refute. He poked the spot where the magic symbol had been drawn with a twig and then erased the symbol.

"Heh heh, that's more like it. Don't always be so prejudiced against people. We'll just continue our journey after waking up tomorrow," Helise said with a smile. Seeing Hubert stand up, she unceremoniously grabbed his hand and ran towards the wooden cabin, startling him.

"What are you doing?" Hubert couldn't help but ask, but Helise replied with a silvery laugh, not giving a precise answer.