Chapter 170

「Actually, it’s thanks to Asahina-kun’s marks . 」

Satou-kun gave a wry smile and explained how we finally arrived here .

Everyone saw the marks that Asahina-kun made on the trees .

However, we were going in one direction, so thinking that we didn’t need them, we didn’t even make any marks .

That is to say, the unnatural slashes on the trees could be thought to be created after Asahina-kun’s group passed through .

If we followed the marks that were made on the actual trees and not the ones made on the tree monsters, we were able to naturally arrive at where Asahina-kun and the others were .

And, what Ueno-san who had finished her treatment had found were exactly the marks that Asahina-kun had made .

After Satou-kun thanked Asahina-kun and the others for that matter, he turned towards us with a serious look on his face .

「Also, because I was under some kind of curse, everyone was put in danger . I’m truly sorry . 」

I was impressed by Satou-kun who gave a deep bow, thinking that he was an earnest person .

Even though no one would know about it if he kept silent .

Even if he said it, the curse had already been dispelled, and it’s already all in the past .

It was the same for me, but probably Ueno-san too, I don’t think she intended on telling everyone .

「I see, when Satou split everyone into groups, you were already cursed, huh .

It seems that everyone thought that it was training because we were all grouped together with those we barely interacted with .

Still, even a stoic person like Satou-kun, wouldn’t think to train in this kind of place where losing focus for even a moment could lead to death .

Even so, Asahina-kun was absentminded .

「That’s how it is . If it weren’t for Tsuda-kun’s quick-thinking and Ueno-san’s hard work, and if it weren’t for Zeal-san and Nanase-kun letting us know about the lord of the forest, our group would’ve been annihilated . 」

I’m sorry, Satou-kun bowed his head once again .

We all looked at each other .

We made eye-contact, and the representative Hosoyama-san spoke .

「Raise your head, Satou-kun . Our leader is Satou-kun, and although it’s obvious that you have the right to make various decisions, we have no intention of having Satou-kun take on all of the responsibility . 」

This was just a hindsight-based opinion, but no one died this time .

If no one died, then it’s fine .

If we’re not dead, then we don’t need to give up hope on returning home .

「This time, what Satou-kun was at fault for was just, not having any kind of countermeasure even though you’ve been cursed before, and taking on everything by yourself . We’re close to the demon territory, but still within the beastmen territory, so if we failed here, we wouldn’t be able to reach the demon king’s castle either, and returning home would also be a dream within a dream . We too need to get stronger . 」

Right, everyone, everyone nodded at Hosoyama-san’s words .

Seeing that, Satou-kun bit his lips, bowed his head again and when he raised his head, he had an extremely refreshed look on his face, as if he’d let go of his demons .

That was certainly the case .

If we were defeated by the monsters here, that meant that we would not stand a chance against the monsters from the demon territory .

I thought that things would turn out for the better since I’ve found my resolve, but it was still insufficient .

I still needed to temper myself .

I needed to become stronger, so that I could catch up to Asahina-kun .

「Well then, now that our hearts and stomachs have settled down, let’s confirm what we will do from now on . 」

We raised our heads when we heard Zeal-san’s words .

So that everyone could see it, Satou-kun spread out a map-like item in the center of the circle .

Unlike the ones we used in class where it was minutely dotted with the names of various places, it was a hand-drawn sketch that was somewhat messy .

No, we were just used to seeing the immaculate ones, but the maps of olden Japan should’ve been like this one as well .

「This is a map that I had hand-drawn according to my memory of the one that I saw in Retice Castle . My talent in drawing is nonexistent, so it’s very rough, but please forgive me for that . 」

He placed that in front, and Zeal-san pointed at the north side of the island out of the four that was situated on the far left .

「This area is most likely our current position . Here is an enlarged version of just this part . 」

He placed the other piece of paper that was underneath on top .

It was just an enlargement of this forest .

「Passing through this forest, and arriving at the meeting place, if we continue at our speed, it would take thirteen days . However, that is if we walked there with no breaks in between, but in actuality, it’s safe to say that it would take thirty days if we factored in rest periods and times of combat . 」

So it would take about a month .

If it was a courier, then they would be able to take a much shorter period of time to get there .

In this world, cars, trains, and airplanes had yet to become popularized .

Truly, I’ve realized that we were born in a blessed time period .

「We need to do whatever it takes to get there before Akira gets here, or what would he say… . 」

Frowning, Satou-kun muttered this .

He said it in a low voice, but it seems that it was heard by everyone, and we all gave a wry smile .

I got to know Satou-kun in senior high, so I didn’t know too much about it, but I had vaguely noticed that Satou-kun one-sidedly disliked Oda-kun .

After all, every time he did something, he would look towards Oda-kun, and every time, he would make a face, as if annoyed .

It probably wasn’t feelings of jealousy due to the difference in their grades, and popularity-wise, that went without saying .

However, for some reason, Satou-kun was always holding a grudge against Oda-kun .

On one hand, I wasn’t familiar with Oda-kun .

Oda-kun didn’t seem to notice that Satou-kun was looking at him, and to begin with, he was someone who quietly sat at the corner of the classroom, so I’ve had less interactions with him than Satou-kun who was the peacemaker of the class .

Oda-kun, seemed like he saw things differently than we did, as if he doesn’t look at the things that were in front of him .

I didn’t understand Oda-kun, but after coming to this world, and experiencing being on the brink of life and death, I understood one thing .

Oda-kun was always making desperate efforts to survive .

Perhaps the situation at home was bad or maybe he had debts, I didn’t know what his reasons were, it was not a territory that you could easily barge into, but Oda-kun had always been living .

Unlike us whose everyday was monotonous, passing each day like clockwork, he was frantically living .

That did not change even after coming to this world, he was tenacious in living, and returning .

I think that was probably what Satou-kun did not like about him .

After all, Oda-kun would never look at us .

He alone, looked forward, and steadily walked further ahead .

I didn’t really care, but Satou-kun didn’t like that .

It seems like he was spurred on by the irritation of him traveling together with Amelia-san and Yoru-san .

Even though we were with him, even though we were comrades who had the same goals .

Maa, when Oda-kun left, there was something going on with us due to the curse, so Satou-kun was enduring it as well .

The two of them both had difficult personalities .

Asahina-kun who was sandwiched in between them was pitiful .