Somewhere in the Great Elven Forest.

A young man and a crow were walking along a forest path.

The Great Forest is, without exaggeration, not a friendly place for humans. The undergrowth is so dense it's difficult to take even a few steps, and all manner of poisonous creatures swarm about.

Every three steps, a venomous snake might strike; cunning beasts lurk behind you; and before you know it, disease-carrying leeches are stuck all over your skin—a natural hell.

Even a decent adventurer would lose their life within a day of setting foot in the Great Forest.

"Tsk, how annoying."

The very fact that they were walking calmly through such treacherous terrain proved their exceptional nature.

The ominous crow with blood-red eyes opened its beak and spoke.

"Benett, I smell water from the 11 o'clock direction. There's also the distinct scent of mammalian milk. If there are intelligent beings in this forest... we should be able to make contact with their civilization soon."

"...Couldn't you speak more plainly?"

"Can there be beauty without rhetoric? You should pay more attention to aesthetics, Benett. It is the most precious heritage of intelligent beings."

"This is maddening."

Benett, the young man, sighed at the crow's verbose speech.

This talking crow was originally a human known as the "Mad Magician," who claimed to have taken the form of a bird due to "certain unspeakable reasons."

Benett suspected the crow might have been cursed for blasphemy against the Goddess.

His final act as a human had been trying to deceive the Goddess to stop the "Divine Punishment," so the theory made sense. In that respect... being transformed into a crow was probably getting off lightly.

Crow MadMa seemed to have retained his intelligence and could still use simple illusion magic, albeit much weakened. Apart from his increasingly suspicious way of speaking, not much else had changed.

"Today, I find myself craving seeds for lunch. Sunflower seeds would be absolutely delightful. If you find some, you'll shell them for me, won't you?"

"......"

Sometimes Benett worried if the magician truly believed he was a crow now...

But according to him, there was a way to return to his original form, so Benett decided not to worry about it for now. They had a more urgent goal: escaping the Great Forest.

They needed to find a way out of this infernally vast forest and return to the Holy City.

It wasn't an easy task. They had been wandering through the forest for three days already, and even though the crow magician had flown high to scout, there was no sign of human territory anywhere.

They must have been teleported to an extremely deep part of the Great Forest.

How long would it take to get back? As Benett wiped the sweat running down his cheek with the back of his hand...

"Wait, Benett."

The crow made a sharp clicking sound with its beak as a warning.

"...Did you find something?"

"Yes. I've discovered hair caught on a branch. It appears to be body hair. It's blonde, and judging by its thickness and strength, I believe it's human. The nutritional condition seems quite good."

"You can determine all that from a single strand?"

"Yes, it's a basic skill for a magician. You can skip the praise, Benett. Based on our deduction from two days ago, we've established that this is the Great Elven Forest. Therefore, the person who left this trace is most likely—"

Swooosh—thwack!

An arrow embedded itself in a tree trunk.

Benett calmly looked up in the direction the arrow had come from, recognizing it as a warning shot.

High up on a branch, backlit by the sun, was the silhouette of a person aiming a bow.

An elf.

Their natural ghillie suit, made of woven leaves and branches, provided such perfect camouflage that one wouldn't notice a person there without focusing intently.

Only upon closer inspection could one make out the pointed ears and glimpses of pale skin showing through.

The elven archer, with an arrow nocked and ready, spoke threateningly:

"...Human. How dare you trespass into this sacred forest?"

"Oh, fair maiden who resembles nature itself. Member of the race that sings the whispers of the forest. We harbor neither hostility nor malicious intent. The reason for our presence here is but one—an accident."

"A crow that speaks...?"

While the elf was taken aback by the talking crow's eloquence, Benett calmly stated his position with his arms crossed.

"We were... caught in a magical experiment and involuntarily teleported. All I want is to leave this place and return to the human world. If you just point me in the right direction, I'll leave on my own."

"I don't believe you. Did humans send you to infiltrate our territory for an invasion? You're a scout, aren't you?"

"If that's what you suspect, I have no way to prove otherwise. But what I say is true."

"...No, you're both too suspicious! If you're truly innocent, you'll have to come with me to the outpost. If you're still clean after a mind examination, I'll let you go."

The elf's eyes were filled with suspicion.

Benett had heard that wild elves were quite exclusive toward other races, but he hadn't realized they were this difficult. After exchanging glances with Crow MadMa, they decided to accept the elf's proposal.

It would be better to undergo examination in an elven village than to wander aimlessly through the forest.

"Fine."

"...If you make even the slightest suspicious move, I'll shoot!"

"Oh, miss. Why are you so wary? Young Benett is unarmed, and I am merely a talking crow."

"You say that and still don't find yourself suspicious?"

Is that so?

Benett turned his head to look at his reflection in a nearby puddle.

A young man with ash-gray hair, letting his bangs fall to one side to cover facial scars, wearing only a scabbard without a sword, with a crow perched on his right shoulder.

...Admittedly, he did look rather suspicious.

The crow cackled.

"Aha. We look just like dark mages, don't we, Benett? If you squinted your eyes right now, the image would be perfect."

"That's because of you."

"No, Benett. While I may have contributed to the atmosphere, you look quite suspicious on your own. If you don't believe me, let's ask. Elven lady!"

"...Stop chattering and follow quietly!"

Benett sighed and followed the wild elf.

===============================================================

After about three hours of walking, Benett arrived at a wild elf settlement hidden among the dense trees.

Hammocks strung between trees, roofs made of leaves—the structures were closer to nature than civilization. There were so few artificial elements that at first glance, one wouldn't even recognize it as an elven village.

"...Closer than I expected. And better camouflaged."

"No wonder nothing was visible from an aerial view."

There was a reason Crow MadMa hadn't discovered this place during his aerial reconnaissance.

Elves could be seen moving along branches and through gaps between trees. They wore clothes made of leaves and were practically half-naked.

"......"

Yet they didn't seem to feel any shame despite their near-nudity. All Benett could sense was their wariness toward unfamiliar outsiders.

The crow spoke up.

"Benett, do you know the difference between wild elves and civilized elves?"

"Not really. I'm not particularly interested either."

"According to Defense Department agents, wild elves' minds are bound together through the World Tree. They can read each other's thoughts transparently, and thus live like an ant colony."

"...So their minds are connected?"

The crow clicked its beak as if to say "Isn't that interesting?" The distinction between wild elves and elves was the presence or absence of this bond.

The reason they were disparagingly called "wild elves" was the result of viewing them through a distinctly human lens.

Wild elves were close-knit because they could read each other's minds, but conversely, they were extremely exclusive toward other races whose "inner thoughts they couldn't read." Since they were fierce and avoided external contact, they were considered no different from wild beasts.

"They're probably trying to peek into your mind using the World Tree's power. To see if we truly have no ill intentions."

"That's actually fortunate. We can leave the forest without misunderstandings."

"I wonder about that?"

"...?"

Wooong.

Magical energy moved subtly within Crow MadMa. It was an extremely delicate manipulation that even Benett, who was in contact with him, could barely sense.

What emerged was a whisper that only Benett could hear.

-Observe discreetly. The elf sitting on the branch of the second tree from the left, facing us. Do you see her?

He did.

Flowing blonde hair, smaller build compared to the surrounding elves. She barely covered her lower body with leaves. But her eyes seemed somewhat vacant.

This alone wouldn't make her appear dangerous. What was the crow trying to say?

-Let's look more closely. Focus on her muscle movements. And her breathing. Isn't it fascinatingly strange?

Breathing, huh.

He gauged the tempo of her breathing by watching her chest rise and fall. Benett noticed something off. Her breathing was slow, like someone in a very deep sleep.

The movements of her muscles were visible beneath her skin. Whenever the branch swayed and she tried to balance, he could see her muscles bulging and contracting in an unnaturally exaggerated way.

Once he noticed the discrepancy, it was clearly abnormal. Even without Benett's level of Ascension Manifest, anyone observing carefully would feel the strangeness... it was disturbing.

Some kind of disease, or perhaps a curse?

-No, not at all. That wild elf is being controlled while in a sleep state. And I know of a dark mage with such talents...

Faceless. The Redburn family assassin who could manipulate others' bodies at will.

Crow MadMa had detected her traces.

Had she also been caught in the Goddess's "Forced Expulsion" and coincidentally landed among this elf community? What was she planning by taking over a wild elf's body? He didn't know.

But it was clear that both her means and her ends were likely malevolent.

-What will you do, Benett?

What do you mean?

-Will you turn a blind eye to this injustice and focus on returning to the Holy City? Or will you stop her? I leave the decision to you.

"......"

It's not that he couldn't tolerate injustice. Benett had always acted to protect what he wanted to protect. With their urgent need to return, there was no reason to cause a disturbance.

Moreover, the dark mage had already taken over an elf's body. Even if Benett denounced her, the other elves would scoff at his ridiculous claim. Arrows would likely follow.

But.

She wouldn't just leave them alone. Would a dark mage quietly accept the sudden appearance of an external variable?

So this was... a preemptive strike for self-defense.

Benett silently conveyed to the crow his intention to disrupt the dark mage's plot. The crow cawed happily, seemingly satisfied.

And then.

"...You, foreign human! You shameless creature, what do you keep staring at?!"

"What?"

"You've been staring intensely at Lira. You pervert!"

The wild elf spoke with an expression of disgust.

While they felt no shame about their attire, they naturally experienced emotions like everyone else. Benett had been staring at the girl for quite some time, so it was understandable how it might have appeared.

"...You misunderstand."

"We'll see about that. If your thoughts are impure, I'll cut off your lower parts and use them as fertilizer! Go to that tree over there!"

-I told you to observe discreetly. You lack finesse.

"......"

And so Benett underwent a mind examination.

The wild elves used the power of a World Tree sapling to look into Benett's mind, and after confirming he truly had no ill intentions, they welcomed him as a guest.

"Welcome! It's been a while since we had a human guest. You can stay the night!"

"...Weren't you pointing an arrow at me just moments ago?"

"Then you were a stranger, now you're a guest."

After the examination, the elves completely changed their attitude and became friendly toward Benett, because his mind was filled only with thoughts of Tara, Niore, and his sister.

Since he remained consistent even when seeing the half-naked traditional attire of the wild elves, it wasn't unreasonable for them to view him favorably.

===============================================================

"But how did this story turn into you being chased by elven rangers?"

"Because I half-stole their sacred artifact."

"...I can understand the stealing part, but what do you mean by 'half'?"