Dream Life Vol II Chapter 47: “The Search”

　October 10th, around 4pm.

　We were heading to the north forest to look for the missing Quentin Wagman. On the way, we heard the 4:00 p.m. bell, but it was already quite dark due to the thick black rain clouds.

　It was even darker in the north forest, and the haze made it difficult to see.

　We turned on our light magic tools so that we could be seen by Quentin and continued through the forest.

　After about 30 minutes, we found traces of what appeared to be the passage of several people a few hours earlier. But the rain had not yet fallen this morning, and we assumed that some adventurers had entered the forest, and we could not determine if they were his. But the only clue we could find was the trail, and we had no choice but to follow it.

　We had been in the forest for about an hour and were about to turn back when we heard a howl of what sounded like a wild dog or wolf.

　Listening more closely, I could hear the boy’s cries also faintly carried on the wind.

　The three of us looked at each other and immediately started running in that direction.

　Beatrice ran through the forest, holding her spear low and agile like a fierce beast. Liddy and I followed behind her, but we could barely keep up with her. Beatrice seemed to have already found her destination and was running without a second glance or hesitation. I followed her frantically, impressed that she was such a seasoned veteran.

　After a couple of minutes of running through the forest, I saw a small human figure wielding a stick about 30 meters ahead. It was Quentin, crying and waving his staff, trying to scare off the wild dogs.

　His clothes were in tatters, but from the way he moved, he did not appear to be badly injured.

　However, there was not a moment to lose, as five wild dogs were trying to jump on him when they saw an opening.

　Liddy and I quickly cast a spell as we ran. Beatrice was screaming like a bull, and she sped up even faster.

　Liddy unleashed a [Whirlwind Blade – Wind blade] and I [Fire Cannonball – Flame Cannon] an improved version of the fireball I had created after seeing the professor’s magic.

　Liddy’s attack was slightly faster, cutting through the grass and slashing at the neck of a wild dog that turned its head when it noticed Beatrice.

　My [Flame Cannon] activated immediately after that and flew at high speed while illuminating the area brightly. Then, it hit one wild dog and exploded, and the blast blew the other dog away. The wild dog that was blown away crashed into the trunk of the tree and stopped moving.

　Where the [Flame Cannon] hit, the fallen leaves under the trees were set on fire, and a small blazing fire lit up the area.

　When our magic killed three wild dogs, the remaining two threatened to attack us. However, seeing Beatrice running through the forest like a real tiger, the two escaped without hesitation.

　Beatrice made sure that the three wild dogs that fell before Quentin were dead, and waited for us, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings.

　By that time, Liddy and I finally caught up with them.

　I said, “Mr. Wagman! Are you safe?” and check to see if Quentin was safe.

　He was slumped to the ground, perhaps loosened up after our magic had blown away the wild dogs.

　He asked weakly, “Mr. Lockhart?” his tension completely broke and he began to wail.

　I checked his crying body and found that he had no serious injuries other than a few scratches and bruises. At any rate, I cast a healing spell on his wounds and forced him to stand up.

“Let’s go home. Beatrice, I’m sorry, but I need you to carry this boy on your back.” (Zack)

　Beatrice said, “Boys shouldn’t be crying,” but she carried Quentin on her back as if she had no choice.

　The area was now completely dark, but we turned off our light magic tools and continued on through the forest. We were trying to prevent monsters from being attracted to the light.

　Beatrice walked behind me and said, “You really can see,” and then spoke to me.

“By the way, what was that magic you were doing just now? Also, fire magic is not allowed in the forest, you know?” (Beatrice)

“The magic I just did is an improved version of the [Ball of Flame – Fireball]. I increased its fire power and speed. I used fire magic in the forest because I had no choice. With wind magic, it is difficult for wild dogs to notice us. I would have liked to have used a powerful light magic, but I thought of that [Fire Cannonball – Flame Cannon], on the spur of the moment. I figured that with all this rain we wouldn’t catch fire, and with him standing there with only his will power, if he saw the magic, he’d realize help was on the way.” (Zack)

　Beatrice said, impressed, “Hmmm,” and then.

“I see you’ve thought this through. Certainly, fire magic at that timing would light up the area at once. This boy doesn’t have any magic tools for lighting, and I’m sure he was anxious in the dark. Really, I never get tired of being with you.” (Beatrice)

　She said that and laughed.

　When the 6:00 p.m. bell sounded in the distance, we left the forest.

　On the way, we were attacked by big bats, but Liddy and I beat them all off with our magic.

　We returned home and went to Councilor Wagman’s mansion to tell him that Quentin was safe.

　At the mansion, there are many adventurers hired by Stewart, the butler, who say that they are about to enter the forest.

　When I told him that Quentin was safe, Stewart thanked me repeatedly. I told him he had better clean up the fuss and that I would bring him back to the house.

　When I returned home, a slightly calmer Quentin was drinking soup that Sharon had made. Liddy had heard what had happened and explained the situation on behalf of the still trembling Quentin.

　Quentin left home around nine in the morning and came to my house. But when I didn’t come out at all, he thought I had already gone into the forest, so he headed into the forest before ten o’clock. When I asked him why he did not check with Liddy or Sharon at home, he said that he called out to them, but no one came out, so he asked a neighbor who had just come out.

　Apparently, both Sharon and Liddy were upstairs at the same time, and since the even more well-bred Quentin did not call out loudly, they did not notice.

　Mr. Litorf next door is a clerk at the academy, and it seems that he called out to him who he knew. And when I asked about my whereabouts, Mr. Litorf only told him that I went out with Beatrice after eight o’clock.

　Unfortunately, the only story he heard at Mr. Litorf’s place was that I had gone out with a weapon, but he never told him which way I was headed. He seemed to have conclude the idea that if I went out with weapons, I must have gone to the woods.

　He entered the forest around ten o’clock and walked for about an hour, luckily defeating a rabbit with horns, Horned Rabbit, with a single blow.

　After defeating the Horned Rabbit, he saw a wild dog, and he tried to stop it by wounding it with a [Shining Arrow of Light – Light Arrow]. However, he did not seem to be able to inflict much damage, and the wild dog ran away. Without thinking, he followed the wild dog and got lost.

　In the afternoon, as it began to rain, the visibility in the forest became poor. He could no longer tell which direction he had come from, so he wandered aimlessly through the forest.

　It was getting darker and darker, and he was sitting under a tree, hungry and cold from the rain, with no food. Then a pack of wounded wild dogs attacked him.

　Although he injured several of them with his magic, he only managed to anger the wild dogs, and he fled the scene.

　But he was soon cornered and was about to swing his staff to drive the wild dogs away when we arrived.

　We were lucky to find him, Beatrice thought, because he was circling around the same spot and what looked like multiple footprints was probably because he was walking in the same place.

　After listening to the situation, I called out to Quentin.

“Mr. Stewart is worried about you. I’ve made some calls, so let’s go home.” (Zack)

　He shook his head and began to yammer, “I don’t want to go home. “Apparently, now that his life was no longer in danger, he was more concerned about being scolded when he got home.

　As I was trying to persuade him, Liddy said to Beatrice, “I want to take it easy as soon as possible. I’m sorry, but you’re going to carry him.”

　Beatrice, too, sounded unhappy.

“Yes, I do. This guy is giving me a lot of trouble. And he doesn’t even say thank you to Zack. It’s getting annoying too.” (Beatrice)

　Quentin was horrified by these words, and immediately stood up.

　Liddy, however, could tell that Beatrice was acting, but Quentin didn’t seem to understand.

　I told the frightened Quentin.

“I don’t want you to thank me, but you can thank Beatrice. She is the one who carried you out of the forest on her back. And she was the one who went into the forest in the rain to help you, even though she had no duty to help you.” (Zack)

　As I said this, Quentin finally realized he was being a spoiled brat.

“Thank you, Miss Beatrice. Miss Lydiane. Miss Jakes.” (Quentin)

　He bowed his head and thanked me, “And Mr. Lockhart. Thank you so much…”

　Beatrice grinned at me, but I was tired enough as it was, so I quickly sent him on his way to the mansion.

　In the end, it was after 8:00 pm when I got home, and I only took a shower without taking a bath. The expression on Beatrice’s face at that time was so disappointed that I almost burst out in laughter.

　I felt bad and told her that she could come over to my house the next day because it was Professor Ruspede’s class day, so I told her that I could come to her house, and her expression suddenly brightened like a flower blooming. I couldn’t hold it in at that time, and I bust out laughing.

　The next day was October 11.

　I went to the academy to attend Professor Ruspede’s lecture.

　Worried about Quentin, I showed up at the classroom once, but he didn’t show up even when it was time to start class. Sharon and I had no choice but to go to the professor’s laboratory.

　My professor gave me a homework assignment on how to create a [Earth Wall] —a method to generate soil at high speed without making it from scratch—but I thought about it on my own and came up with a theory.

　The professor talked about the homework assignment, and I explained my theory.

“My idea is to use the soil from the ground, but with an ingenious way of using it.” (Zack)

　The professor nodded in satisfaction and said, “The usage… mmm. Good, go on,” motioning me onward. I nodded back at him and continued my explanation.

“The other day you told us you use the soil directly under or around the wall, and I think that’s probably correct. As for the question about the lack of reduction in the surrounding soil, I believe that either a very small amount of soil was moved from the surrounding area or that the soil was raised from deep underground. As a result of my experimentation, the latter seemed to be more efficient. I know you and I have different ways of imagining things, but I suspect that the professor also raised the soil from deep underground.” (Zack)

　The professor excitedly replied, “Correct! I built the wall with the image of lifting the earth from underground!”

“If you think about it, if you used the soil directly below to build the wall, the ground at the foundation would be weak. It would not be a problem for a temporary wall, but for a wall to be used as a castle wall, it would be inconvenient. Therefore, I believe that the wall was built with the image of the ground rising.” (Zack)

　The professor gave a big nod and said, “Exactly.”

“That’s exactly right. For example, if you think of magic that requires a large amount of water, you can create water more easily by pumping it up from a water source than by generating it from scratch. It is the same with trees. It takes a lot of magic power to grow a tree branch, and above all, the speed of its growth is slow. But if you use the branches and roots of other trees, you can make them grow rapidly and use them for binding or attacking.” (Ruspede)

　I realized this when I was making the water in the case the professor mentioned. When I was filling my bathtub with water, I imagined I was pumping up groundwater to make water. I was thinking about my homework, and as I was putting the water on, it suddenly hit me that this was the same thing I was doing now.

　I immediately went out into the garden and created a column of soil, and the soil grew like a bamboo shoot. The image I had was of a lava dome rising up under the pressure of magma underground, and it worked.

　It was at this point that I realized that the magic of [Spear of Rock – Rock Spear] a magic in which a sharp pillar of rock, about 10 cm thick, sticks out of the ground – was an application of this magic. When I used [Rock Spear] magic to test it, the rocks began to grow several times faster with a fraction of the magic power of before. Until now, the rocks had only grown about 30 cm per second and were easily avoided, so the only use for them was to place them at the bottom of a pit. This time, however, the rock extended more than one meter per second, making it usable as a spear.

　After that, as in the previous session, we continued to chat and answer questions.

　When I returned to the classroom during lunch time, Quentin had not arrived. Elliott Wentworth, who had spoken to me with Quentin the other day, was there, so I asked him about it.

“Mr. Wagman is taking a holiday. The doctor said it was because he pushed himself too hard yesterday. You know the reason, don’t you?” (Elliott)

　When I asked, “What do you mean?”

“Mr. Wagman said he was going to the woods with you. Yesterday, the Wagman family’s butler came to me asking if I knew where he was going. I know he was with you.” (Elliott)

　It seems he was the one who told Stewart, the butler, that Quentin might have gone to the woods, and he thinks he was in the woods with me, injured and resting.

“Please ask him for the details. But do you know why he suddenly started saying that he was going into the forest?” (Zack)

　Elliott looks displeased,

“When I went to Ruspede, he told me that he couldn’t lecture me as I was. I have experience in real combat, too. I told him that, but he wouldn’t listen to me at all. I think Wagman was told the same thing.” (Elliott)

　As soon as he said that, he turned on his heel and walked away.

　Apparently, his pride was hurt and he was in a bad mood.

(If what Elliot said is correct, I can understand why Quentin was in a hurry. Even so, the injury wasn’t enough to take him a rest, but… He must have been in a state of mental shock… I wonder if he’ll show up after school…) (Zack)