Danger!
Ronald’s eyes narrowed tightly, and he imdiately stepped back, extinguishing the fla of the [Ocean’s Lantern] under his control in an instant.
This darkness and void were not an attack, but a certain feature of this world itself. In fact, the existence of thorn vines was not ant to trap people in the Song Forest, but to protect the Song Forest within them.
The threat Ronald was facing now was like a diver’s diving bell being compromised, with a powerful deep-sea current full of imnse pressure rushing toward him!
Ronald’s heart rang with alarm.
The danger foresight of the [Instinct] Spell almost reached its limit, comparable to when encountering a great presence.
Bam!
At the critical mont, Ronald stomped fiercely, making a desperate backward leap.
As his body lifted in mid-air, a strong wind suddenly appeared.
The air currents wrapped around Ronald like a tornado, pulling his body backward, accelerating his already swift action to almost light-speed!
It was Costate.
The maid loyally executed Ronald’s orders.
The mont crisis struck, Costate used a spell from behind to assist Ronald in escaping the dangerous edge of the Song Forest.
"..."
Ronald internally thanked Costate but dared not take his eyes off the void outside the Song Forest.
He was contemplating how to ensure the safety of both of them and how to deal with this phenonon afterward.
At this instant, an anomaly abruptly occurred.
In the distance within Ronald’s view, the thorn vines recently burned by the [Ocean’s Lantern] fla regrew swiftly, once again enveloping the Song Forest, and in re seconds completely isolated it from the external void.
Once the structure was complete, the concealnt effect of the thorn vines reappeared.
The serene and harmonious illusion of the forest erged on the edge of the world, blocking all terrifying things outside. The Song Forest now returned to the quiet state it had when Ronald and Costate first entered, calm like the world in a ballad.
Splat—
Watching the scene before him, Ronald landed back on the ground.
Before he could turn his head, Costate rushed forward, beginning to check Ronald’s physical and ntal condition:
"Sir, are you alright? I just saw the situation outside the forest..."
Ronald gestured he was fine:
"I’m okay. You did well just now, helped a lot."
Thanks to the quick reaction, Ronald was naturally unhurt.
Once Costate completed her inspection and felt at ease, she followed Ronald as he walked back to the edge of the Song Forest. This ti the maid stayed close to Ronald, unwilling to leave his side even for a mont.
The two arrived once more at the edge of the Song Forest, with the thorn vines appearing again before them.
For these fast-growing vines, the earlier destruction seed like a dream. Ronald saw nothing broken or traces of having been burned on the scene before him.
Until his gaze noticed the position where the thorn vines grew out of the ground.
"This position is shorter than before?"
Before setting the fire, Ronald had carefully observed the situation here, keeping the boundary of the thorn vine’s growth in mind.
Now he realized, after the recent peril, the Song Forest’s range had indeed shrunk by a circle!
There were hardly any other possibilities.
Ronald was certain—the land had been devoured by the void!
Unless he wanted to continue squeezing the space for himself and Costate to operate, without a sound plan, it was best not to make another attempt on these thorn vines.
Analyzing so in his heart, Ronald led Costate back into the depths of the forest, during which the maid proactively asked:
"Sir, how shall we proceed next?"
Ronald’s retreating action indicated his plan, so Costate didn’t inquire about the reason for leaving the forest edge but directly enquired about the next move.
"I don’t have any ideas for now." Ronald admitted straightforwardly to his current state of being at a loss, and continued, "At present, it seems that the edge of this forest can’t be damaged. Let’s search these trees for clues; we might find sothing. If worse cos to worse..."
At this point, Ronald’s lips curled into a smile:
"If worse cos to worse, my [Greed Sin] should be ready to use again—then the problem will naturally be solved."
"..."
Upon hearing such a response, Costate fell silent.
The maid followed Ronald’s retreat, her footsteps pausing frequently along the way, her eyes revealing a hint of contradiction, often considering speaking, but ultimately closing her mouth.
Until the two reached the center of the Song Forest.
As Ronald prepared to split up and continue exploring this forest almost indistinguishable from the outside world, Costate couldn’t help but speak:
"Sir, according to my understanding of you—is this behavior to be understood as, when facing a problem, choosing not to intervene and allowing things to develop for the worse?"
"..."
This ti it was Ronald’s turn to halt and fall silent.
He turned to look at the curious-faced Costate, controlling his facial expressions, and after a while, he could speak:
"Costate, when did you learn to speak in riddles like this? I reflected on your words just now, and your aning—you are asking, isn’t this behavior called letting things go?"
"Sir! I didn’t an..." Costate imdiately got tense.
But Ronald didn’t let the topic run wild, instead, he promptly gave his take on the matter:
"Not taking action when things foreseeably worsen is what’s called letting things go."
"And now? We are actively taking action, with a spell as an anticipatable solution. So Costate, this is by no ans a negative attitude; we are working to solve the problem!"
Thus strongly explaining, Ronald decisively issued a command for them to split up and explore the forest.
Apart from a face flush after turning around, both Ronald and Costate walked steadily, quick and strong.
...
The outco was that their exploration was fruitless.
They thoroughly understood everything here, the Song Forest here was identical to the one outside, with no difference aside from the dwelling birds and beasts.
Even their extre ticulousness yielded no information.
In the end, they had to accept a dip in morale.
At the scheduled ti, when [Greed Sin] could be used again, Ronald and Costate returned to the center of the Song Forest.
"..."
The master and maid exchanged a glance, understanding each other with just a look.
Ronald scratched his head, hiding his embarrassnt, then followed his previous thought, again locking [Greed Sin] onto the forest in front of him.
Afterward, [Greed Sin] manifested a reaction quite different from before.
Through the spell as a dium, a few beautiful and gentle singing voices transmitted into Ronald’s ears:
"The song circles within the forest, here, and elsewhere."
"Unchanging sound, unchanging person, the courtyard path stretches from here..."
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