"Well, anyone would laugh after knowing it"s a punishment. But what"s with harem?"

Since our last stop, these two guys tagged along. They were weird in several ways. The guy who called himself Billy was suspiciously friendly considering we just met. The other guy, Drake, he rarely even spoke.

Following his introduction, I introduced me and my friends like I usually did. Lucy, whom I didn"t introduce, was peeking through Marina"s hair.

"Why do you look so angry? They can be bandits for all we know."

"W-we are having dinner soon. I-if you want, you can join us," Marina said. She was cutting the vegetables.

"Ohh... I am in. Thank you," Billy said with a smile.

"No. I will hunt for myself," Drake said looking towards the trees behind our tents.

Everyone except Billy looked surprised at hearing that response.

"But it"s already dark. Wouldn"t it be better to eat with us?" Princess Anna asked.

Drake just ignored her and walked towards the trees that he was looking at. Princess Anna looked a bit angry at being ignored, but Billy calmed her down by saying, "He has always been like that, just ignore him."

"Hey Nara, you said you need to go to the labyrinth. Can you tell me why?" He said looking towards me with a serious look.

"Well, there is no point in keeping it a secret."

"My friend is injured, and they say that there is a medicine that can heal him there," I replied.

"But why would you do that? Are you guys that stupid to risk your life on a chance?" Billy asked in a loud voice.

"I need to do this, but I am worried about everyone else too. If possible, I want to go inside the labyrinth alone."

As I was thinking that Marina stopped cutting the vegetable and looked towards Billy and said, "Y-yeah, how could we leave a friend behind like that?"

"But..."

Billy was about to say something, but he stopped and looked towards the ground. He then raised his head again and said, "Yeah, you are right" with a smile.

Since I was taking a break today, Princess Eliane was helping Marina with the cooking. When they finished cutting the vegetables and were about to start cooking, Drake returned carrying a wild turkey and some firewood.

"That was fast."

"Ohh Drake, that"s seriously delicious," Billy said looking at the turkey in Drake"s hand.

Drake just ignored him and put the turkey and the firewood on the ground. He then started digging a firepit. The soil was soft so he could easily dig using his hands. After the hole was big enough, he put some of the firewood there and started cleaning the turkey.

"Honey, I want to eat a turkey too. Won"t you go and bring it for your darling?" Arica said with a teasing smile.

"Nope, I am taking a break today." I thought but before I could say anything Billy stood up and pulled me saying, "Let"s go Nara."

"W-wait, the stew is almost ready," I said trying to refuse.

"Yeah, we will eat it after we come back with a turkey. Show the lady your manliness," Billy said with a smile.

"Guess I have no choice."

[Flare, I am just going to the nearby woods. Please stay on watch here.]

[Understood.]

The past couple of days have been hard for me. I was driving with Princess Anna during the day and struggling to control myself from unconsciously doing anything wrong during nights.

Two days ago, I was unconsciously groping Princess Eliane in my sleep. It was just Arica and Me in the tent when I fell asleep but, in the morning, everyone was inside our tent. Fortunately, she was asleep too and didn"t find out.

It was dark but I didn"t use a fireball to light the way since that would put the nearby animals on alert.

"Nara, so which girl is your favorite?" Billy looked towards me and asked.

"I like everyone the same. They are all my friends," I replied.

"Haha... Just friends? I don"t know about the other three but the girl who asked you to hunt the turkey probably loves you," Billy said while laughing.

"What do you mean? She was just teasing me." I asked in confusion.

"Can"t you see? The dog girl, she acts as though she is teasing you. But she is actually doing that hoping you would man up for her," Billy said with a surprisingly serious tone.

"Really? what makes you say so?" I asked.

"Well, Drake and I have been together for a long time, but I have a girlfriend. I told her that this was the last time I will try convincing Drake. Only then she agreed to let me come on this journey. I clearly know that the look that the dog girl had in her eyes. She was clearly asking you to be a man for her," replied drake.

"Is it really that? I always thought she was just teasing me"

"Well, just try being a man for her next time and see if the smile she will have is a teasing smile or a happy one," said Billy. He probably saw the confusion in my face.

I was so focused on thinking about that that I forgot we were inside the forest. Before I could realize that, a bird with a sharp beak was right in front of my eyes.

I was unprepared, there was no way of dodging it.

Fortunately, I was the only one unprepared. A knife came from the side and stabbed the bird changing its trajectory.

"Phew! that was close, how can I be so careless."

"Monsters aren"t the only threat in this forest. This is an Eye owl, a species famous for plucking off animal eyes. But unfortunately, its meat isn"t very tasty," Billy said while taking the knife out of the owl that was struggling on the ground.

"Thanks man, you saved me," I said in relief.

"No problem. But be more careful, there are bigger threats in this forest," Billy replied and we started walking again.

After walking for a while, the two of us came across an open area between the trees. There was a herd of turkey resting in the trees nearby.

Billy silently threw his knife and killed one of them while I used the air slash. I managed to hit one, but the other ran away.

"Well, I think two will be more than enough."

"Hahaha... Well, it"s alright for now but when you are deep in the forest you will find two kinds of animals. The first type runs away since they are scared, and the second type attacks you because it will see you as a threat. It"s usually good to hunt them using knives and swords without using magic," Billy said while taking his knife out of the turkey.

"Can animal sense magic attacks?" I asked since I was curious.

"It depends, but most of the animals you see from here and out can. The deeper you go inside the forest, the higher-ranking animal and monsters of the food chain you see," replied Billy.

"Looks like I will have to use the sword that the Duke sent for me from now on," I thought. I hadn"t used it until now but it was in the carriage

After that, both of us came back towards the camp. When we got there, we found out that no one had started eating, they were probably waiting for us. Since it was late, we decided that we will eat the turkey tomorrow morning and have the stew for the night.

But surprisingly Arica didn"t say anything against that plan. She just had a smile on her face. This wasn"t a teasing smile, she looked happy.

"Could it really be..."

Next Chapter: The Forest of Endless Trees - Part 2