Castle Core 3: A Slice of Life LitRPG by Milo Storm

Author:Milo Storm [Storm, Milo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

As expected, there wasn’t much to differentiate between the northeast and northwestern quadrants of Gloomy Forest. While we’d seen some higher-level predators in this side of the forest, they mostly came out at night. For now, small critters were the only wildlife we found. Hans had a pair of hares tied to his belt.

There was no path here. No dungeon, no hidden sister for Sora to rejoice over, and above all else, no fun. Midday came and went, and I began regretting my choice.

At least someone was getting something done, gaining a bit of experience. It wasn’t me, but part of my lordly duties was to care for the development of my people, wasn’t it?

I just wished those duties weren’t so damn boring.

When Hans suddenly grew tense and held up a hand, silently ordering the rest of us to be still, I was itching for a fight. Anything to relieve the monotony of the day.

Instead of finding an angry predator, he said, “Look at the treetops. They open up in a straight line in that direction,” he pointed west.

The Hunter stared at the ground as he trotted over to the opening. Now that he pointed it out, the trees along that line were much shorter, and younger, than those around them. The tangled, overgrown forest gave way to something tame.

Hans kicked leaves aside for a solid minute before putting his hands on his hips. “Well, shit. We just found another path. How old would this need to be if we never even noticed it from the main road?”

“It must have been abandoned before any of us were born, at the least,” Alice replied. We all crowded around the opening in the leaves Hans created. “My parents never mentioned a second path up this way, and Praud didn’t either. Maybe he hid that knowledge, but he clearly made no use of it, so I doubt he knew.”

Florence pulled his attention away from his work and pointed his quill at a tree nearby. “Could you cut this down?” He asked Alice, as one of her tools was a small hand axe, but she quickly gave it to me.

“Just don’t break it,” she asked.

I nodded and turned to Florence. “Why am I doing this, exactly?”

“Well, if we find out how old the tree is, which we can do by counting the layers of wood in its trunk, then we’ll know how much time has passed since the path was in use! Roughly, of course, and we’d need to add a few years since the trees wouldn’t return immediately. Should I include this path on our maps?”

After a second of thought, I replied, “Keep it for your own records, but leave it off any maps we post in town. At least until we figure out where it leads.”

Florence bowed his head formally and returned to drawing while I chopped away.

One blow sent wood splinters everywhere, and my companions took an extra step back. The second blow cleaved right through the relatively young trunk, and I gave the tree a push, forcing it to fall away from us.

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