“There is always a way out, if one only seeks diligently enough.” - Old folk saying.

“I have to admit, I did not think I would be able to relax while camping in the Forest of Despair while enjoying some good food like this when I heard of this trip,” said Astra as she munched happily on a skewer of broiled slug. Olyvee had earlier discovered that applying a bit of oil to the surface of the slimy meat helped crisp it up even better, so they had cooked the meat by cutting it into cubes, briefly marinating it in seasoned oil, then skewering and broiling them over the open fire.

For someone who grew up in a privileged household – both of her parents were Marshals for the Republic of Caroma after all – Astra was surprisingly not picky with her food and although she looked somewhat revolted when she saw the slugs themselves, she ate their meat without much hesitation once it was cooked.

As the escort target for the mission, Astra was naturally in the center of the encampment where she was as safe as she could be. The mercenaries maintained a tight, constant watch even while they rested, with guards taking shifts throughout the night. Elfriede, Erycea, Alycea, and Ze’phane were accompanying Astra that night and chatted together with her.

“This is pretty good indeed, reminds me a bit of thunder lizard fat,” commented Ze’phane, who being a half-orc from the northern plains, was likely used to all sorts of food that people from the former Empire likely never even considered eating. “That said, I am more curious with the relative ease of our travel so far. The stories I have heard of this forest portrays it as… far more dangerous.”

“The Unliving did something clever with this path we travel,” said Elfriede, which attracted everyone else’s attention. “They did not only clear the path, but they also did more to ensure that this path would be safer and thus more usable for people to travel, compared to cutting through the forest. I don’t know if any of you noticed it yet, but this whole path, and especially clearings like this one, are infused with mana.”

“What do you mean?” asked Astra with some confusion.

“I had thought that it might be the case, but was not certain about it. I can only sense the mana vaguely and was uncertain as to its origin,” noted Ze’phane as a look of understanding dawned on her face. “How did you notice, Madam Edelstein?”

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“I sense things through the wind, remember? That involves infusing my mana, albeit slightly, into my surroundings. One side benefit is that it makes my perception particularly sensitive to other mana sources,” replied Elfriede nonchalantly. “It was harder to detect when we were closer to the entrance, but the infused mana grew stronger as we went deeper, and here it’s particularly strong.”

“It’s a clever way to keep the path relatively safe compared to the rest of the forest, to be honest, though whoever pulled this off must be a really powerful archmage. It just wouldn’t be possible to do shit like this unless you got hell of a lot of mana in you,” she added rather vehemently. “They probably infused more mana in this clearing than what our entire group put together possesses.”

“How does that work in keeping the path safe, though, Ma’am?” asked Astra somewhat curiously. “I get what you mean by mana infusion, but I thought that’s something people do when they enchant things?”

“It’s the same process, yeah, but they didn’t enchant this area or anything. They just made it positively reek of their mana,” answered Elfriede. “You know how animals usually rub their bodies or piss on things to mark their territory? This follows the same logic. Monsters that awaken their mana typically infuse their mana to mark their territory as well. Whoever did this abused that natural habit to render this path safe”

“I see, so by infusing their mana to this path, they make it look like the territory of a powerful monster to the perception of other creatures?” questioned Astra.

“That’s the gist of it, pretty much. Most stronger wild beasts and monsters are sensitive to mana, so they would naturally be wary of approaching this region because of the infused mana,” Elfriede said. “Weaker creatures or ones that are less sensitive to mana would still trespass here, though, as they are unable to perceive it. It’s what we had to deal with so far. Maybe we might have to deal with some desperate creatures that were driven out of their original territories too, but the chances of running into one of those are slim at best.”

“I guess the Unliving really did try to accommodate visitors as best they could, then,” noted Astra as she nodded her head. “This must have been quite a tiring process, even for a powerful mage, no?”

“Definitely. I highly doubt anyone could infuse mana to such a long stretch of road in less than a week or so of constant work, which was unlikely given the disturbances they likely had to deal with while working at the path. Say two weeks to a month of labor then?” speculated Elfriede. “What’s more impressive is that this whole stretch so far possesses mana that has the same feel to them. All of this is the handiwork of a single person.”

Everyone stayed quiet as they digested the implications of Elfriede’s words. While mana was not so distinctive from one person to another, there were subtle differences that would make anyone mana-sensitive immediately notice when the source of mana changed. Elfriede was particularly sensitive to mana, so she was unlikely to make a mistake in her assessment, which meant that whoever did the job was a mage far more powerful and diligent than what any of them had ever met in their life.

They knew that there were many powerful mages who rose as Unliving after their deaths. Stories of such cases were not exactly uncommon, so it was not too unexpected, but there was a difference between finding something not unexpected and seeing the scale of the thing at hand with their own eyes.