Alright then...

There are two curses I suffered in that forest.

One of them gradually made me lose all my memories.

But it doesn't seem like it was still in effect after I woke up.

I wasn't forgetting things anymore once my memories have been totally wiped.

And when I died, I got my memories back and remembered everything.

The second curse just messed up my sense of direction.

And it seems like that one stayed even after I lost all my memories.

First, I need to figure out just what is causing these curses.

If it's the forest itself, then that's a problem.

But if it's something specific in that forest, I can either evade or destroy it.

...

But...

Now, if I think about it...

Back there, if I didn't get cocky against that frog, I might have survived for a long time.

Maybe even settled down in the forest and lived out the rest of my life.

...

Hmm, the god would have probably intervened and had me killed in some way.

But if not...my head would be a mess after I would finally die.

And I can't have that...

I know that all I need to do is to kill myself if I get cursed.

But last time, I even forgot that death doesn't matter to me.

And I tried my hardest to survive.

I need to somehow force the me without memories to willingly die.

How will I do that?

How do I...communicate with my future self...?

I sit in deep thought as I glance back over the mountains.

...

That titan dragon won't wake up now, will he?

When I was in the forest, I didn't hear anything resembling a dragon's roar or the mountains crumbling.

But maybe if I keep sitting over here, he might...

...

No, since my 'spawn point' is here now, I can just kill myself if he shows up.

Right...

Let's just keep thinking about how to get past this forest...

After racking my brains for a while, I came to a few conclusions.

First, just in case this happens again, I should write a message into something I readily have on me.

The mithril sword's blade is too hard to carve into.

The handle, though, might be usable.

I will probably be holding the handle, but I should notice the carving eventually.

But...the question is, what message should I carve?

If I write something like 'kill yourself', the me without memories will most likely doubt it.

And the handle isn't big enough for long explanations...

Hmm...

The other thing is the curse of misdirection.

When I lost my memories, I actually figured out a way to counter it.

Just keep my eyes on the destination and when I lose sight of it, look around and readjust.

But the problem is...

Are there enough of these landmarks in the forest to keep doing this?

Looking at it right now, all of these trees seem the same.

I can't really tell them apart.

Hmmmm...

|= Some more thinking and a bit of experimenting later =|

'Insert mana'

That's what I, one way or another, ended up carving into the sword's hilt.

It's only readable if I rotate it as I read, but I think it gets the message across.

But that is not all there is to it.

[Enchant: Blazar]

The blaze version of supernova.

...yes.

I plan to trick the me without memories into blowing herself up.

After a bit of testing, I found out that even a regular supernova will more or less kill me without any fire resistance.

So this one should definitely do the job.

The question is, will I be able to insert mana without my memories?

Last time, I unconsciously used magic, so I think it should be fine.

As for the other curse, the curse of misdirection, I will be using the quest pointer.

Every few minutes I will just readjust my course using that.

And just in case, I also decided to make some landmarks myself.

If I get afflicted with that curse again I will periodically cut down a group of trees to make a landmark.

And I will keep going directly away from these spots.

That way, I shouldn't get lost.

Lastly, I will have to check my status all the time to figure out just what is causing these curses.

And...that should be it for my preparations.

Luckily, the titan dragon never woke up, so I didn't have to waste time with him.

Now then, let's go.

I finally head off to the forest again.

Even before entering, I keep checking my status and activating the quest pointer.

But I'm not cursed yet.

It's only after I smell that sweet scent again when I finally realize it.

Status: Cursed

Curse of misdirection

Your sense of forward, backward, left and right randomly switches directions.

It's the flower's scent.

The one with black and purple leaves.

Damn...

Something like that will be hard to avoid...

I could probably try to use air magic to keep it away from me.

But I would use up a lot of mana by doing that and I'm still not very experienced with air magic.

Ugh...

Let's look at the flower for now.

Type: Plant

Name: Conscio Lazera

Used in: Confusion potion

Notes: This plant's aroma causes curse of misdirection to those who smell it.

Yep, it's this thing.

Ugh...too bad it doesn't say how to get rid of this curse.

Well, at least it's the weaker curse.

If it was the memory one, that would be a serious problem.

I guess I'll stick to my initial plan for now.

I continue further into the forest while periodically checking where the quest pointer is going.

|= Seven hours later =|

It's getting really late...

And I still haven't gotten afflicted with the other curse.

That's good...but I feel a little uneasy, because I'm still not completely certain what causes it.

I fear that if I go to sleep, the curse will get me and I will wake up without any memories again.

Of course, I do have an idea on what could be the cause.

It's probably these treants I fought last time, but I can't be certain yet.

Hmm...

But, I think it should be fine.

After all, I enchanted my sword to blow me up if I insert any mana.

Let's just find a place to spend the night.

I look around and eventually find a good spot.

It's a small hole with a rocky overhang above it.

I initially feared it could fall on me when I'm asleep, but it seems to be stable.

Other than that, it's a nice spot.

Thanks to the overhang, it will be hard for the monsters to spot me in there.

And the small hole even has some yellow leaves inside of it.

I can use those as a cushion.

It's perfect.

I stab the mithril sword into the ground and lie down on the leaves inside the hole.

Then, I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

|= One nice rest later =|

I open my eyes.

...

Where...am I?

I slowly lift up my body from the soft place I was lying on.

After that, I spot a sword stabbed into the ground.

What is this...?

...

I grab my head and try to remember what happened to me.

...

And that's when I realize I can't remember anything.

Huh...?

Wait...

Why can't I...

As I'm looking around in panic, I notice the sword's handle.

There seems to be some carving on it.

I swiftly get up and pull the sword out of the ground to inspect it.

As I rotate the sword, I read the engraved text on the handle.

'Insert mana'

...

What is this...?

Insert mana?

Why is this telling me to insert mana...?

I look at my free hand as I flex my fingers.

Several bits of pure mana come out of my fingers.

Right...this is mana...

Should I...insert it into the blade?

Maybe things will be explained if I do that.

After several moments of staring at the sword, I decide to do it.

I grab the hilt with both of my hands, insert my mana and-

...

...

...

I open my eyes.

I'm standing on a mountain overlooking a forest.

...

I plop down on the ground with a sigh.

It's the leaves...

I kinda thought they looked familiar.

Weren't they the leaves of those treants?

So the cause of the curse weren't the treants themselves.

It's their leaves...?

Anyway...my plan worked.

The me without memories actually remembered how to use mana.

And killed herself only a few minutes after waking up.

That's good.

Since now I know, what causes the curses, I can try to avoid them.

But I'm still going to do the whole enchantment and engraved message countermeasure.

There is no such thing as being too careful.

|= A quick preparation later =|

[Air blast]

[Air blast]

Status: Cursed

It's no good...

I can't prevent the curse of misdirection from getting me.

Even if I were to burn the flowers, their aroma would still be in the air.

I guess I'll just have to keep relying on the quest pointer.

As I activate the quest pointer and readjust my course, I look at the pocket suicide my sword has become.

...I really hope I won't activate it out of habit to use phantom force.

|= Several hours later =|

It's getting late again.

I better find a place to sleep.

...without these leaves this time.

After finding an abandoned cave, I once again stab my sword into the ground and lie down.

I didn't see any leaves around here, but just in case, I check my status before falling asleep.

Status: Cursed

And it seems like I still only have the curse of misdirection.

The other curse hasn't found a way to me.

That's fine then.

Let's sleep...

Bonus:

Let's talk about ranged weaponry of this world.

To be honest, bows, crossbows and similar things are extremely underpowered in a normal combat.

They are only really used in assassinations and ambushes.

The reason for their inferiority is simple.

With a sword, you can use your amplified strength and speed from stats and your swings become faster and stronger.

But pulling the bowstring more to get more power just doesn't work at higher levels.

Of course, there are some materials, which would make really good bows.

But you are better off just making staves with those.

If you intend to attack from a distance, you just use magic.

Another big disadvantage of bows compared to magic, is that if your bow breaks or is stolen, you are done for.

But if you are a magic user, even without your staff, you can cast some spells.

And as a result, classic ranged weapons have absolutely no place in regular combat.

And we all know who we can thank for this imbalance.

"Hey, just so you know!"

"That's what is used to be like some time ago."

"But since then, I changed around the world laws a bit."

"The speed and power of arrows actually now depend on some of your stats!"

"So ranged weaponry should totally be viable now!"

"...but nobody is using them!"

Well, if they are perfectly fine now, why are they still not being used?

"The world just got too used to swords and magic!"

"It's like a social stigma."

"People would scoff at people practicing bows and discourage them."

"So instead those people went with the sword or the magic route..."

...surely there are some people, who aren't bothered by such a stigma, right?

"Well, there are..."

"There's a handful of people who use bows or crossbows and are actually quite strong."

"...but they are not acknowledged by others."

"There's even a ban on those weapons in fighting tournaments and whatnot."

...how deep is this prejudice?

Why is there one anyway?

"Well, as I said, these weapons are often used in assassinations and sneak attacks."

"People just see these things as unjust tools of slaughter."

"Seeing a person with one, is like seeing someone in a modern world brandishing a minigun."

"Unless it's fake, your brain just automatically assumes, that this person is going to murder someone."

"..."

"By the way, why are you always pretending you don't know things and ask me about them?"

"You are the author!"

"You know everything I do and even more!"

Because there has to be someone who asks the questions.

Since we both know the answers, one of us has to act ignorant.

"Well...I guess..."

"But in that case! Let me be the one who asks the questions next time!"

Hmm, sure.

Why not?