It was just like any other ordinary day.

At around mid-afternoon, Ellis abruptly stopped walking.

“Hmm…”

A deep frown was etched onto his face. He knitted his brow and tilted his head in confusion. No matter how much time passed, he couldn’t quite understand what he was looking at.

With a solemn voice, he said, “the river disappeared.”

Grisella walked up to him. She nodded her head. Despite the current situation, she did not seem all that fazed.

“Ah, yeah, I should have mentioned this earlier, but it does that sometimes.”

To be more specific, the river suddenly turned subterranean.

The group stood in front of a rock wall. Ellis had encountered a similar situation back when he first arrived at the lagoon. Like before, the next portion of the forest was on elevated ground. Unlike before though, the river did not follow the forest up, but rather, it continued forward in a straight line.

The river led into a pitch-black cavern. Over a thousand toothpick-like spikes stuck out from nearly all corners of the opening. The craggy mouth of the cavern resembled a badly malformed jaw.

“Contrary to how it looks, this mountain isn’t really all that impressive,” Grisella commented as she stared up at the cliffside. “It’s not very tall, nor does it cover a whole lot of land. It more resembles an overgrown anthill than an actual mountain.” She paused for a moment. “In fact, this place probably belonged to a monster ant colony, one led by an overlord. There’re traces of it everywhere… for some reason, the overlord’s gone now. I’m not really sure what happened to it.”

“Getting past this mountain isn’t a problem,” Grisella reassured the group. “Whether we circumvent it or climb over it, both options can be done in less than a day, but… there is one problem though…”

“What problem?” he asked.

“The river. The river does not resurface on the other side of the mountain. In fact, it stays underground for quite a while.”

She then explained the current situation. From here on out, the elevation of the forest would gradually increase. At the same time, the elevation of the river would also increase, but both did not increase at the same rate. The forest floor had a higher incline. It would only even out after a few hundred miles or so. In comparison, it would take the river a while longer to catch up to the new ground level of the forest.

“How the hell are we supposed to follow the river now?” He exasperatedly asked out loud. “Should we build a boat and follow the whole thing underground?”

Grisella shook her head. “No, we can’t do that. A long stretch of this river is completely submerged underwater. Unless you can hold your breath for up to a month’s time, it’s impossible to make it safely past the river. The end result would only be death.”

“I see…” Ellis furrowed his brow.

A small part of him felt somewhat expectant, but he knew it wasn’t a very viable option. Even if he could miraculously hold his breath for over a month, he still had the rest of the group to worry about.

While Ena might be able to do something with her abilities, it was completely unrealistic to rely solely on her to cross the river.

He breathed out an almost imperceptible sigh. “It’s impossible, huh?”

Is this where our journey ends? Frustration, anger, unwillingness, all sorts of emotions swirled within his heart. He lost. He lost not to a vicious monster, but to the river itself.

“Don’t overreact so much.” Grisella suddenly stated. “I have a way.”

“What way?” Ellis’s earlier despair dwindled. He looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

“Well, we’ll need to visit a certain tribe first.”

“A tribe?” This time, he was thoroughly shocked.

I’m not misunderstanding anything, am I? A tribe? Grisella definitely said tribe.

In the past, he had practically convinced himself that no human could ever live within this forest. Of course, that was before he had met with Grisella. Even then, she was a witch, so his original theory still held some weight.

It was almost impossible for someone to live within this forest, much less an organized group of people.

“Normally, no permanent settlement would ever willingly reside within a forbidden region like Ilpin forest. The tribe we'll be visiting is different.”

“What’s the tribe called?”

“They don’t really have a name. Those that know of them simply call them the Ilpin villagers, but…” she paused for a moment. “Squirrels. They are a tribe of squirrels.”

“Squirrels?” Ellis knitted his brow.

Is she talking about actual squirrels, anthropomorphized squirrels, or regular people but with squirrel-like appendages?

He hoped for the latter.

“In order to continue on our journey, we first need to visit their tribe and look for a guide.”

“Can a guide really help us navigate through the forest?” Ellis felt skeptical.

In response, Grisella nodded her head. “The squirrels of Ilpin forest were said to descend from the original inhabitants of God’s territory. Of course, I’m talking about the old God that ruled over the forbidden region, not the God that the Orthodox church worships. Although after so long, their belief has significantly thinned over the years, the squirrels are still the most informed when it comes to the lay of the land.

“They can’t take us directly to the world tree, but they can at least guide us to where the river resurfaces again.”

After some quiet contemplation, he suddenly asked, “Can’t you take us there yourself? Haven’t you been there before?”

“Well, I have, but I won’t be able to do it myself,” she shook her head. “You’ll understand when we get deeper into the forest.”

“Is that so?”

She nodded. “Trust me.”

He remained silent for a few seconds before he eventually nodded his head. “Fine. Then where the hell is this tribe?”

“Just follow me. On foot, it will take us roughly two months to get there. With all the monsters running around everywhere, it should take even longer.”

“I see…” Ellis did not really mind. At this point, he had gotten used to the long walks and constant violence.

“Well, don’t worry. It won’t actually take us that long.” She grabbed her broomstick. “We can use this to get there.”

Half a second later, the magical artifact suddenly activated. Thousands of strands of straw expanded and weaved together, before eventually coalescing into what he could only describe as a floating platform. The stick itself was on the far end of the new platform, acting similarly to a ship’s bowsprit.

“This is…” Ellis widened his eyes in surprise. “I knew it could transform into a house, but I really didn’t expect it to be able to do something like this either.” He was most impressed by the fact that it was completely floating in midair. It was similar to the classic witch’s broomstick from his old world. Grisella’s version was just a tiny bit cooler.

“There’s a lot you still don’t know about me.” She declared rather triumphantly before she hopped onto the platform and waved her hand forward. “Get on everyone.”

With her invitation, the group quickly filed in. Thankfully, the platform was large enough to comfortably seat everyone, even with someone like Plush present.

Ellis gingerly touched the platform. The surface felt somewhat rough but durable. It somewhat reminded him of a Japanese straw mat.

With a simple command from Grisella, the platform buzzed into action. It rose five feet above the ground, before it darted into the deep underbrush. The overall speed of the broom coasted at a comfortable sixty to seventy miles an hour. It was comparable to driving a car.

As they moved, Ellis caught sight of Grisella rubbing something all over the platform.

“More monster repellent?” He asked out loud.

She nodded her head. “It helps keep them from swarming us. The number of monsters will increase the closer we get to the tribe. Although we won’t die if they swarm us, it will seriously impede on our progress.”

Ellis nodded in understanding. Although he wouldn’t mind taking a more scenic route and advancing through the forest one battle at a time, he felt a certain pleasure from feeling the wind brush against his hair.

Still, he did have some complaints. If they remained monster-free for the duration of the flight, what would they do about food? While there was still plenty of hydra meat left, it was always good to diversify one’s diet. As of late, Ellis enjoyed cooking various other types of meat with his signature brand of dragon spice. Currently, his favorite was the tentacle-like arms of the Overlord Sloth that they had encountered a while back.

While such thoughts ran through his head, the magic platform slowly rose higher and higher into the air.

For a moment, he wondered whether they were going to break through the tree line. Unfortunately, they stayed firmly beneath the canopy. In fact, the highest they climbed was fifty feet above the ground.

Just as he appreciated the rapidly passing scenery around him, a thought suddenly struck.

“Why couldn’t you have just done this earlier?” He shouted through the buffeting wind. They spent countless months battling their way up the river. Ellis felt somewhat cheated after he realized that Grisella had possessed such a trump card all along.

“It couldn’t be helped. My artifact needed time to recover,” she calmly explained. “As you know, it can transform into an array of different forms. Its original form takes the shape of a broomstick. After every form shift, it needs to go through a period of recovery before it can shift into its next form. In this case, it would be going from a cottage to a carriage. Ah, its original form does not count.”

“I kind of get it…” Truth be told, the illusion from before had faded. Her broomstick sounded like a very troublesome artifact.

Grisella suddenly furrowed her brow. “I can tell what you’re thinking and I don’t like it.” Her broomstick was an important treasure. It was gifted to her by her master. Despite its flaws, she loved it quite a bit.

“Ah, was I that obvious?” He unconsciously touched his face. Was he too expressive?

“Hmph! Watch it. You think I won’t dare kick you out? I’d like to see you run the rest of the way there.”

Ellis scratched the back of his head and awkwardly let out a strained chuckle. While he probably could run all the way to their destination, he did not want to lose this comfortable ride.

He proceeded to shut up and focus the rest of his wandering attention onto the passing scenery.

****

Eight days later and they finally arrived at their destination.

The Broomstick platform came to a stop and the group quickly jumped off. It detangled itself before fully reverting back to its original form.

“Is this the place?”

Ellis briefly surveilled his surroundings.

They stood in a small clearing. All around him were towering trees with dark-brown, almost entirely black trunks. The place looked particularly gloomy, but that wasn’t really anything special to this forest.

… To be honest, it did not look all that different from the rest of the forest.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” He skeptically questioned.

“Yes, this is certainly where the tribe resides.” She succinctly responded.

“I don’t really see a tribe anywhere around here.”

“That’s because you’re looking in the wrong direction.” Grisella then tilted her head up. “They are squirrels. Where else do you think they’d live?”

Ellis quickly imitated her and looked up. To his disappointment, he still saw nothing of note. There was only a canopy of evergreen leaves.

“The village of the squirrels exists far above the canopies, in a place where the sun shines brightly but is otherwise invisible to those from below.” She walked over to a certain tree and gently placed her hand on its rough surface. “If we want to find our guide, then we first need to get up there.”

“So, do we just start climbing?” Ellis walked towards her and similarly placed a hand on the trunk. Unlike her, Ellis was testing the grooves on the trunk to see whether they were suitable for climbing.

She shook her head. “No, if you do that, then they’ll take it is a form of invasion. We have to invite someone down here.”

Grisella then took out an item from her spatial artifact.

“That is?”

It was a triangular leaf with the color of Auburn.

“It’s a token of friendship that I acquired during my previous trips here.” She explained. “They don’t really take too kindly to outsiders. While not a lot of people actually know of this tribe, the information still spreads, especially to those wishing to find the world tree. As a result, they’ve become a lot more cautious in terms of the people they befriend.

“Still, I am an exception. After all, I’m a world-famous alchemist.” Grisella shamelessly boasted. “Every couple of years or so, I drop by this place and give them some medicine in exchange for a few goods. They’re all actually quite friendly once you get to know them.”

She then brought the leaf to her lips and blew. A high-pitched whistle reverberated through the air. Ellis felt that it sort of resembled a clarinet, although he wasn’t certain. At first, nothing, then he caught sight of the canopy rustling.

A single leaf slowly descended to the ground. At the same time, something large and human-shaped ran down the length of the tree. It moved fast, faster than a lot of the monsters that he had encountered. What’s more, it moved on all fours, strikingly similar to how a regular squirrel moves.

After a while, the figure jumped through the air.

It landed on the forest floor with a dull thud. As the dust settled, Ellis couldn’t help but shiver in anticipation. Will it be a cute anthropomorphic squirrel or a sexy beast-lady with squirrel ears and a fluffy tail?

“Ah…”

To his utter disappointment, it was a guy.