The next morning, and everyone was getting up and checking things out. They had no issues overnight thanks to their preparations, and no monsters had come near their camp. They did not agitate any monsters either, so the forest was still and silent. Everyone had successfully been able to rest well, although Kaede seemed unusually wary of Themist for some reason. They were able to get up, getting the rest of their gear on and starting by scouting out the entire area to see what was going on in the area. They had to make sure the camp was secure.
This included checking on the wardstones, and looking for tracks. Checking for tracks was something all adventurers had to do, as they had to make sure that they were able to notice the signs of the monsters they were hunting, as well as showing a general awareness of their surroundings. This also let them notice when dangerous monsters were getting near cities, where they could fire reports for the guild to investigate and confirm, and then put out a bounty for it. Things like the Giant Sylvan for instance. Even if the Ward and Barrier Anchors were in place that caused discomfort in and repelled stronger monsters due to their higher mana density, they had to make sure they were working. Investigating and ensuring that these Anchors were working was a key part of Adventurer work. They are much more advanced then the Wardstones, which are a weaker type of Spell Anchor, then the one Kuroki made.
Spell Anchors are essentially objects imbued with a spell, typically barriers and wards, but there were others. Its not like enchanting however, enchantments were things that were applied to already made objects essentially. Spell Anchors were essentially made with traces of basic spell construction in them, which was like a basic form of artificing. For Wardstones, you put in the basic construct of a ward. This allowed them to be Ward Anchors, which let them anchor wards to the spell without the caster needing to keep maintaining it themselves. Its especially useful for mobile wards and barriers, since there are other techniques one can do as well.
Kuroki had no idea which techniques Amyris used to create his house's defenses, but they were advanced and massive. Highly complex. He never saw any anchors, but he saw traces of the wards. But those were also covered by wards, some of which could be disguising them. Furthermore, he even saw fake wards in place just to throw people off. It took Kuroki a bit to figure out they were fake, but he realized it once he realized the ward essentially stated it would throw a pie in your face if you tried to break in unlawfully. Of course, given who the house belonged to, there is an actual possibility that such a ward was real, but Kuroki was reasonably sure that was a fake ward meant to distract people. That, or it had been disguised into that and was actually a different ward.
Furthermore, all the wards were connected in ways that baffled Kuroki, especially since at least two of them were supposedly impossible. He had to assume those were obscured from their true form as well, as Amyris seemed to be very cautious with his house. Even if the rest of the city was destroyed, his house would probably stay standing. It was doubtful that anyone could break in there, although there was the concern of the third floor which apparently got devoured by...something. At some point, they really should deal with that.
Either way, it was important to check on them. Adventurers did this all the time, since it was a vital part of safety and making sure cities were less likely to be threatened. Of course, there were times when monsters somehow slipped through anyways, or they somehow managed to ignore them. Usually this involved a Stampede, like the Goblin Stampede. It appeared that being hit with lots of monsters at once could overload them potentially, and occasionally something was able to slip through, especially if an Anchor accidentally got damaged or wasn't maintained properly.
Still, everything looked good, and they started going over the report from each party. According to everyone, thanks to their dilligence, no monsters caused any issues with the camp, and everyone was able to successfully stay safe. They went over any reports that came in, and while some tracks had been found, nothing serious had been detected. Just the usual culprits.
The only real incident happened in the fourth shift, but Kuroki's party hadn't covered it so they only heard vague second hand accounts. All they knew for sure is that it ended with a boy and a girl being totally covered in mud. There were enough rumors of how that happened that no one was sure what was truth and what was fiction, and some people just decided to leave it be as it didn't involve them at all.
That said, it did result in them having to do the river part of the exam sooner then anticipated, due to how muddy they were.
Adventurer's jobs were messy. One could get blood and mud all over themselves, and one couldn't just walk back like that. Not only would the irritation cause issues with focus and ability on the way back, but it would also cause adventurers to look worse to the public. As such, it was important to know how to clean yourselves off in rivers, lakes, and ponds, as well as your gear. This doubled as making sure you didn't bring any strange diseases back, like some sort of flu, smallpox, or lycanthropy. Kuroki thought that last one was a joke, but apparently there was an actual real life example of it happening in the past, twice.
Not to mention it was important to make sure your smell didn't attract monsters, which could result in the taking of your own lives.
That said, it wasn't like you could just carelessly bathe in the river. You would be completely naked, bare butt and all. This would naturally put you at risk of being attacked by monsters, which meant that you had to have others join you for safety in numbers, or watch over and protect you as you bathed, and everyone would do it in shifts. Given their amount of people, 4-5 five people would bathe, while everyone else would guard. When the first group was done, they would lay in the sun to dry off while the next group washed. Once the first group soaked in the sun and dried out, they would get dressed and join guard duty, usually around the time the second group was finished and the third group went to wash themselves and each other.
Bathing was considered a communal and social activity, so it was rather normal for this world. Still, to bathe in the nude while being surrounded by people who were fully clothed who were there to watch over you was...very odd and unnerving, especially when they were also being judged. Even the people of this world found it all a bit embarrassing, but to not be hobbled by such a thing was also part of the test to ranking up as adventurers. They had to be open, accepting, and trusting of each other, to at least some degree.
That said, Kuroki was able to get some joy from the situation. He didn't know why, but for some reason, the piece of shit that Ozlo hated with a passion was completely bewildered. He hid it very well, but Kuroki could feel that he seemed a bit confused.
What puzzled Kuroki however was that Vanessia was equally confused, and Baxter seemed indifferent, which seemed to feel like neither of them were behind his confusion. Kuroki didn't do anything either, and no one else in Silver Storm seemed to know what was going on.
Did Ozlo protect us from the shadows? I get it. He can't claim Ozlo was there interfering without admitting he knew of something to interfere to, which means if Ozlo made them all disappear, he can't use it as a reason to know. Very clever Ozlo!
Kuroki had the wrong idea of what had happened, but no one was around who could both read minds and could correct him, so this naturally was never pointed out to him in any case. As such, the misunderstanding would last for quite awhile.
Either way, something unexpected did end up happening, as Ezeri ended up being in his group as the first bathers. The Cat Animan boy seemed quite interested in him. Naturally, he had no idea why.
"What? Is there something on my back?" Kuroki ended up asking.
"Ah, no. Just...surprised is all. You really are fifteen".
"....I feel like you just thought something incredibly rude".
"N-no!"
Either way, when that was done, and everyone was washed off and got dressed, they proceeded to head back to have breakfast. However, that was when Ezeri had them stop.
"Hey, is that a fruit tree?" he asked, eyeing a tree that was covered in fruit. A few of the scouts moved over to check it out, and confirmed it appeared to be a fruit tree. And yet...everyone was wary. Kuroki looked over to Ezeri to confirm.
"Do you think it could be a Snareroot?"
"We have to consider it. There are fruit trees here, and I am not familiar with this area enough to say this isn't one, but given the Sylvan we saw...there is a chance this is a Snareroot. Which means carelessly going over to it could result in casualties".
Snareroots were a plant type monster. There were three general types. Snaretrees, Snaregrass, and Snarebush. They were also trap type monsters, because they made no hostile actions until it was too late for their target to escape. They were among the top ten most common new adventurer killers. They would ensnare their targets, stripping them of everything, and then toss them into their stomach. This served as a twofold issue. The subject had nothing they could use to break out of the hidden stomach, and the equipment left behind could be used as bait for more adventurers.
However, they used other forms of bait as well. Such as fruit.
Furthermore, due to their nature, Echomap could not differentiate between them. It lacked the ability to determine things in such detail, possibly a limitation of Kuroki's own current skill level.
Because of that, there was a very real risk that this tree was in fact a tree which could end up killing them if they tried to pick the fruit. However, if it wasn't a Snareroot, then showing their ability to collect fruit efficiently from such tall branches would be a merit for their examination scores. As such, they couldn't just ignore it. While they had been doing well so far, at the same time "well" wasn't the criteria they were trying to meet. They were trying to show they were so capable they should be promoted. Rank Up exams had a lot of moving parts involved.
As such, this tree represented the greatest obstacle they had to date.
"If we attack it, will it react?" Kuroki asked.
"Nah, they are crafty. Snareroots will absolutely fake non-reaction. It might also send its roots deep underground to attack us if we do as well".
"Really? Even if we set it on fire?"
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Ezeri paused at that. "That would not be good, we might start a forest fire".
"But we can just extinguish it right?"
"Depends on the forest, and the tree its used on. If this is a Snareroot, it might be affected by normal attacks, but it might absorb anything used to extinguish it as strength as well. Or it might wildly spread the fire in a panic. Can you douse the entire forest?"
Kuroki frowned. "I see your point. Still, there has to be some way to make it reveal itself".
"Mhm. Each situation with these things needs to be handled in a different way. We have to approach this scientificially".
"What if I created blades of wind to cut off its roots?"
"Oh, if it was a monster that would piss it off. But if it's just a tree, it means it won't produce as much fruit next time".
"Ahhhg. So we can't attack it at all, can we?"
"Pretty much. We lose the fruit if we do".
"Yet we cant risk its a Snareroot either".
Ezeri nodded. "And we cant ignore the possibility it is a snareroot and leave it unreported".
Kuroki wanted to throw a tantrum. This was ridiculously annoying.
"What are the usual ways of identifying Snareroots?"
"Usually, they are found when one of your party members gets attacked and then the rest of them notices and defeats it. Thats the typical MO".
"...of course it is".
"It can somehow cloak itself in a way that makes it impossible to tell the difference between it and a normal tree".
Kuroki groaned.
"And it can sense lifeforms within the area around it".
"So we can't try to sneakily take the fruit".
"Well, those fruits would all be fake and be sort of supertraps. They respond to stimuli very easily".
Kuroki hated these things so much. But it also gave him an idea. Ezeri had it at the same time, and they faced each other.
"That is it, the fruit!"
If the fruit was a supertrap, it should react. By picking just one of the fruits safely, they would be able to tell if it was true. If it was so responsive to someone picking the fruit, it would likely be unable to hide it.
"Themist! Notch an arrow! You need to hit one of the fruits!"
"Nock, join with her! Take down another fruit as well!"
The two archers nodded, taking up their bows and arrows and notching their arrows. Each one aimed carefully, bringing their arrow in line with their eyes as best they could, lining up their shot. For Themist, she did it by instinct and experience. For Nock, he seemed to almost see lines and calculations, spacial distances in his mind. No exact numbers, but more like a detailed understanding of calculations based on references he could make and prior experiences. They used arrows that had been sharpened, made of Anderstone. It was a type of stone that tended to be sleek and aerodynamic, very fast and good for arrowheads. The shafts were made of Tiribog Trees, a common tree in this area which was flexible yet sturdy, and could endure the pressure of a bow well even when made into an arrowshaft. As for the tails, they were specially processed Nirivak feathers. Apparently they were a common G-Rank bird type monster during the fall and winter, but could be found in some areas still even in the spring and summer. Their feathers were nice and decorative, and archers liked to use it so they could recover their arrows easily. Apparently, finding them was usually the hard part.
Some archers even specially decorated their arrows to make it distinct. Supposedly, arrow detailing culture existed within many archers, and they would work on them togehter and compare their arrows. Sometimes, arrow making contests would even be held by the adventurer's guild to let them compete in such things. Yet another aspect of the ever complex guild. Kuroki had to admit, he had never thought of the guild too much in all the novels and games he experienced and such, but it seemed obvious now such media had not properly portrayed it as well as they should have. The Guild here was no tacky add on or popular concept forced into this world. It was a necessary feature, like unions for workforces. It was why monsters weren't a bigger threat, why adventurers could get stronger and get the support they needed without being taken advantage of, and why nobles and merchants could find trustworthy people to hire so easily, among so many others.
In any case, they loosed their arrows and let them fly. Themist's arrow actually hit the stem, letting it fall to the ground, while Nock got it right in the center. In both cases, the fruit fell to the ground...and nothing happened.
"Yes! Its real fruit!" Ezeri said, pulling out his knife. "Adventurers! Let the breakfast harvesting commence!"
"Yeeeeaaaaah!"
Everyone pulled out their knives and thrust them into the air. They all wanted fresh fruit with breakfast. While the dried food they had was not bad, nor was any of hte preserved food, they wanted some nice fresh tasty fruit. Had the tree truly been a monster tree, it might have actually been terrified by the display of 20 or something adventurers, or hell, 20 or something children, all with knives out charging it as if it was made of gold. Perhaps, sensing the danger, it wouldn't have attacked them at all.
The three judges who watched all of that nodded along.
Vanessia was a little taken aback. "That is...always a terrifying sight to see".
"Hmmf. There were better and faster ways to tell" Fisto mentioned.
"True, but they are only F-Rankers...no, I think they have all passed at this point, although we should issue some warnings" Baxter replied.
"A large snareroot like that might have been bold enough to go after them all at once, but with them all holding knives like that? It would have faced an uphill battle".
"Still, we have to deduct some points off Kuroki. As a mage, he needs to know the danger of fire without it being pointed out to him" Fisto added.
"That is a concern, however he was asking about it as an option when it came up, so it would be a minor demerit is all. Overall, he still passes with flying colors" Baxter pointed out.
"I suppose I can't argue with that".
Fisto said that out loud, but his thoughts were different.
I am sure they will complain, but they shouldn't have let Baxter come along then, and that kidnapping team should have arrived as well. At this point, there wont be enough to prevent the rank up, and frankly, I don't care all that much about what happens to that boy myself.
In the end, it couldn't be said that Fisto did everything he possibly could have to tank the exam for Kuroki's party, even if that was what he was hired to do. That was only natural though. He was a selfish person who only looked out for himself, who did this for money, not out of revenge. He had no personal grudge against Kuroki himself, and he had no need to risk himself for a child. He may have been absolute scumtrash, but he wasn't some depraved person who directly worked in human trafficking himself. He might have sold out others for coin, but it was this detachment that was why he had yet to be caught.
Had he truly gone all out, as if he was working for his own desires and not just because he got hired, he could have easily prevented the young party's rankup. He had done everything possible to make it as tough for them as possible, but they handled it all. In fact, he knew they should be ranked higher. D at least, maybe C for certain situations.
So he was not pushing it any further. The kidnapping party had failed to arrive, that was on them, not him. They had been unable to prevent Ozlo from getting Baxter to oversee as an independent party, once again on them, not him. And Vanessia watched him like a hawk the whole time and was there to prevent any unexpected issues that came up, which again was not on him. Had they not wanted her interference, they should have prevented her from tagging along in the first place.
"That said..."
"...yes, we should issue warnings to everyone. But I suppose baby E-Rankers like them still have plenty to learn after all".
"Yes. It can't be helped after all".
"Agreed. I doubt any of us were much better than they were when we were E-Ranks" Fisto mentioned, and the other two nodded.
----------------------------------------
The hike back to the carriages had been mostly uneventful. Waiting for them there was the usual escort group, however another had joined their ranks as well. Kuroki noticed him instantly, but it was Themist who spoke first.
"Isn't that the kid who made E-Rank within a week of joining the adventurer's guild?"
"I heard it was just six days it took him" Ezeri mentioned.
"That has to be some kind of record right?"
As the others joined in and began to gossip, Kuroki seemed to know that something else had absolutely happened now. He just wasn't entirely sure what. But he was certain that boy was actually a Starfallen, probably an adult, who was quite skilled.
As Kuroki was thinking that, Vanessia took notice of him as well.
"Zak, what are you doing here?"
"Was in the middle of doing a quest to gather Versigan mushrooms. They grow all over this area, when I spotted you guys here when I was just about to head back, and figured I would hitch a ride. That isn't a problem right?"
"Ah, no. I see. Did you get a good haul?"
"Yep! I heard a rumor they were about to go into really high demand after all".
"As perceptive as usual I see. Well, thanks for that. We don't have many pickers for that these days, so its a great boon that you took it up".
Vanessia seemed to drop it there, seemingly not want to look a gift horse in the mouth. Kuroki looked to the other two party leaders.
"What are Versigan mushrooms?"
"They are a common element in many mana replenishing potions. I did hear a lot more of those were being used lately to stocks went down and demand increased. To be honest, my family runs an apothecary, and my parent's main business are these mushrooms, so this is a relief to here. Iv been being bombarded to rank up and make more money because they are concerned about this".
Now that Kuroki thought about it, Ezeri did mention his family were merchants who were setting up shop. That said...
"Hold on, if they had the freedom to open a new shop in a new city, shouldn't they have plenty of wiggleroom?"
"This concerns one of their main products, and they always believe there should be more then enough wiggleroom. They were always worried about what would happen to me and my siblings, so they always want to provide well while also making sure we have plenty of spare change for emergency funds as well. They are quite thorough on this".
It sounded like they were a bit overly cautious, at least when it came to finances. Ezeri had good gear however, so they clearly were not cheap either. One had to admire their determination to be responsible parents.
But Kuroki was surprised by his name. Zak, as he confirmed was spelled Z-A-K, was a popular boy's name. From what he learned, at least for this kingdom and especially in this region, boy names often had mostly vowels and Zs and Xs and such. Although it only had one vowel, it had a Z as well, so it was well within the norm for a name of this world. And yet, Kuroki was certain the boy was a Starfallen. It was far more typical in this world then where he lived.
Unless...did he take a new name to blend in?
Which of course begged the new question. Why?
As they started to head back, Zak let them know about a few other things he had noticed along the way. He mentioned that apparently someone had riled up the spirit of the forest, and that it lashed out a bit last night. He also mentioned that they found traces of lamis bait, which caused several adventurers to go pale.
"Lamis Bait...are you sure?"
"Yeah. I heard it was useful for hunting monsters, but...I also heard it was banned for being too dangerous?"
"Its banned in this country yeah. Lamis Bait caused The Great Stampede, which wiped out an entire city in the past".
Kuroki had never heard of this before. "Wait, what is the Great Stampede? Or this Lamis Bait for that matter?"
"Lamis Bait is an illegal creation in this kingdom that can attract various monsters. Its typically poisoned a bit, but its easier to cook out the poisons used typically. However, the issue is that it can attract some powerful monsters depending on where its put, and occasionally it attracts them too mcuh that they ignore the wards and barriers to get to it. This can play havoc on the monster ecosystem, and cause widespread chaos among the adventurer ranks as well as put countless lives in danger. Supposedly it was still legal in the Empire to the west, as well as some areas in the north. But here, in this country, it was considered highly illegal.
"As for the Great Stampede, it was a Stampede of multiple different types of monsters. This has never happened before, not unless some Demon King was pulling the strings, but the Great Stampede happened twenty years after the defeat of a Demon King. Simply put, there is no way that it could be responsible. It was discovered that at the source, there was a large amount of Lamis bait. ANd this Stampede...it wiped out everything. Not a single man, woman, or child escaped supposedly. The city itself was raised by every monster in the area from Goblin to Orc to Kobold to others. As such, it was now considered taboo to even consider making. That is how dangerous it was deemed".
"Oh wow..."
Kuroki was at a loss for words. It sounded very serious.
"Now you know why I had to report it" Zak commented. "If it is really Lamis, heads could roll".
"Thats a rather cruel expression..."
"Its not an expression, Kuri. That could actually be the punishment".
As their carriages began to head back, Kuroki processed that information. However, he did notice that one thing.
"Wait, Kuri?".
"Yeah, its a nickname".
Kuroki swore it sounded familiar, but he had trouble placing where. This ended up vexing him the entire time as they returned to the city.