After leaving Tsuki no Hokora, Shin went straight to the northern forest. Since encountering the guild’s staff that came to investigate the Skull Face would be troublesome, he advanced while confirming that there was no one in the surrounding area.
He didn’t have the direction, so he depended mostly on his instinct. But he aimed at the depths of the forest first, because the depths of the forest felt somehow suspicious. Still, because he thought that the encounter with the investigators could not be avoided when he went to the place where the Skull Face appeared, he advanced toward the opposite direction of where the Skull Face was. It was the direction he did not walk when he came here before.
The position where the Skull Face existed was the southeast of the northern forest. Since Shin was aiming to advance to the depths of the forest, he took the west route near the center part of the northern forest. Trees grew thicker and shut out the daylight as he advanced farther into the forest. The darkness was like the night, and could not be compared to the eastern forest. The heights of the trees alone eclipsed those in the eastern forest, and with the dark and thick atmosphere he felt like it was refusing a person to advance to the its depths.
In fact, the deeper he advanced into the forest, the more Shin thought about not approaching in his mind. It was not perception or foresight. More precisely, there was something that was affecting his consciousness in this place.
(This, is this a barrier?)
Though he was not certain, the more Shin moved forward, the stronger he sensed the intention to obstruct him. It was some kind of protection barrier that was erected.
But the barrier or something was nothing to Shin as he moved rapidly. Even though he was going ahead like it was nothing, to begin with, if it were normal humans, it would not be possible for them to approach the barrier, as the feeling of avoidance increased as they got closer. However, the barrier was not effective against Shin, especially after he put some effort to strengthen against the mind interference system. Rather, it was notifying him ‘There is something ahead!’.
Shin walked earnestly toward the direction where the sense was getting stronger while observing his surroundings. None of the monsters appeared because of the effect of the barrier.
He continued walking for a while, and the moment he passed the side of a particularly big tree, the darkness was cleared before his eyes and a soft light gently shined upon Shin.
There was an open space with a diameter of about 30 mels as if it was cut into the ground in a circle. And a bright cinnabar red torii* and a cozy Shinto shrine were built there. (TL note: a Japanese gateway of light construction commonly built at the approach to a Shinto shrine)
“This place is the center of the barrier?”
Because of the mental interference that had been received when he first entered the forest abruptly ended when he set foot in the shrine, he guessed that it was likely he had come off from the barrier effect. Still, he did not think that there would be a Shinto shrine.
“Hmm~?…This Shinto shrine, I think I’ve seen it somewhere before.”
He felt like he remembered that he saw it somewhere before, and tilted his head. The Japanese style architecture was not rare at the time of the game, but there were not many enthusiasts who built a Shinto shrine. He thought that he could remember it instantly, but couldn’t, no matter what.
“For the time being, should I enter first?”
Because it was absurd to agree by himself, he passed through the torii at once and entered the Shinto shrine.
There was a road from the torii, straight to the main shrine. The only buildings were the torii and the main shrine, not even one of the essential parts of a Shinto shrine like guardian lion-dogs, a purifying basin and offertory box were present.
“Did the air change?”
However, the moment he passed through the torii, the air which surrounded Shin changed completely to show that this was a holy place, although the building was only a main shrine.
Shin’s cheek was brushed by a refreshing wind that could make him forget that he was in the middle of a forest. Shin noticed much stronger mixed scents of various creatures that came through the middle of the forest. It made one realize that this was a special place.
Inside the Shinto shrine, it seemed to be well managed as it was not particularly rough. The main shrine had a higher floor, and few decorations. If seen by people who only knew a general Shinto shrine, they would feel uncomfortable.
A moment before Shin arrived at the main shrine, a “pishiri” sound reached his ears.
“What is that?”
It was the sound of something like glass cracking. There was a possibility that a barrier was cracked, he thought. And it was not a nice foreboding.
Is it probably because of me? He looked around, but there was no change in particular in the vicinity. The clear atmosphere didn’t change and the sacred air had not weakened either. To begin with, Shin hadn’t done anything.
The door of the main shrine was slightly open.
It was somewhat telling him to open it quickly. Though there was no gap for him to look through inside, it was really difficult to ignore his curiosity once he was interested.
“…Should I try to open it?”
While thinking that there was nothing much to say, Shin opened the main shrine door and was exposed to a full view of a gloomy room receiving light from outside.
The letters written on the floor were the first things he saw. The Sanskrit characters-like letters were lined up to form a circle. A big circle was wrapping around several smaller ones, and the appearance of it was just like a magic formation.
And in its center. One figure lay at the middle of the various-sized circles.
“…A fox?”
It was a young fox, which had a silver coat of fur, that was lying down on the floor exhausted, while its body was exposed to light.
“Isn’t it carefree being seen like this?”
When he confirmed there was no trap, Shin rushed over to the young fox. There was no visible injury, but the HP gauge of the young fox was in the red zone. Moreover, it was suffering from abnormality states 【Poison • Ⅹ】 and 【Curse • Ⅹ】. It was only a matter of time until it ran out of vitality if it was left unattended in this state.
“The fox that Millie mentioned, is it this fox?”
It was certainly not a common fox as it was in a place like this. He would think about it later as it was not the time for it. Shin opened the Item Box from the menu screen, selected the all purpose cure ‘Elixir’ from the list of items lined in a rows and took it out directly as an item, not the item card. Then he flicked the cap open with his thumb. The full phial of golden liquid could completely restore HP, MP, loss of body parts and remove abnormalities except one portion of it. When he tried to put it to the mouth of the young fox, a crashing sound reached Shin’s ears. The loud sound was like a large amount of glasses breaking all at once occurring multiple times in succession.