Chapter 145: Ecological Park

"It will be quick," I said, my voice low and devoid of warmth. "Sit."

Oliver looked at the open door, then at my face, then at the door again. He did the math, realized his escape probability was zero, and slumped back into his chair. He looked like he was about to cry.

"P-Please don’t take my lunch money," he whispered, clutching his bag to his chest. "I... I only have a sandwich today. It’s cucumber. You wouldn’t like it."

I stared at him.

Was this really the future Guardian of the Forest? The man who, in the bad ending of

Asteria Online

, sacrificed himself to hold back a wave of Undead Treants? Right now, he looked like he would faint if a squirrel looked at him wrong.

"I don’t want your cucumber sandwich, Oliver. I want an invitation."

Oliver blinked, confused.

"An... invitation? To... a party?"

"To your home. I’m planning a trip to the Fern Kingdom this weekend. Specifically, the Ecological Park."

Oliver let out a breath of relief.

"Oh... the Park? It’s... it’s a nice place. Very green. Lots of... trees. But... you don’t need my invitation for the Public Zone. You just buy a ticket at the gate."

"I’m not interested in the petting zoo or the botanical gardens, Oliver. I want to enter the Restricted Zone. Sector 4."

Oliver’s face went pale. The blood drained from his cheeks so fast I thought he might actually pass out right there.

"S-Sector 4?!" he squeaked, his voice cracking. "That’s... that’s the Deep Forest! It’s forbidden! Even High-Ranking Knights aren’t allowed there without a Royal Decree! It’s dangerous! There are poisonous swamps and... and Alpha Beasts!"

"I know."

"Then why?! It’s suicide!"

"That’s my problem, not yours."

I leaned in, resting my knuckles on his desk.

"As the Heir of House Verdant, you have the authority to grant a Guest Pass, don’t you?"

"I-I can’t! My father would kill me! It’s illegal to let a student in there! If you get hurt, House Verdant would be blamed! My allowance would be cut! I’d be disowned!"

He shook his head furiously, his glasses rattling.

"No! Absolutely not! I’m sorry, Cadet Ashborne, but I can’t—"

"Oliver."

I dropped the polite facade. I let a sliver of my [Killing Intent]—the cold, suffocating aura I had honed in the sewers against Chimeras and Shadow Stalkers—leak out.

The temperature in the classroom dropped. The sunlight streaming through the window seemed to dim.

"Won’t you invite your

fellow cadet

to your estate this weekend?"

"...What?"

"Don’t tell me," I whispered, tilting my head. "You don’t consider me... your friend?"

Oliver’s eyes widened. He saw the abyss in my gaze.

"And here I thought we were good friends, Oliver. It would break my heart if you rejected my friendship. And when I’m heartbroken... I get cranky."

Oliver’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

He realized the implication.

Refuse, and you are my enemy.

Accept, and you survive.

"I... I..." Oliver gulped. "I... would be... honored... to invite you."

"Excellent."

I patted his shoulder. He flinched again.

"I like you. We can become best friends"

Oliver whimpered, pulling out a piece of parchment with trembling hands.

****

As Lucien was busy "negotiating" with the terrified heir, unbeknownst to him, a group of cadets were lingering near the lockers, pretending to clean up.

Kael, Elisha, Mariella, Celestia and Bordonon.

Their eyes were wide, and their ears were perked up, focused entirely on Lucien’s mosquito-like whispers.

"Did you hear that?" Elisha whispered, her eyes narrowing. "Sector 4. The Restricted Zone."

"I heard," Kael nodded gravely. "That’s where the high-level monsters live. Why does he want to go there?"

"Maybe he’s meeting someone," Bordonon suggested. "You know... a secret date?"

"In a swamp full of Poison Hydras?" Mariella asked, trembling. "That’s not very romantic, Bordonon."

Elisha bit her thumb nail.

"He coerced Oliver. That snake. He threatened the poor guy with ’friendship.’"

"But Lucien is up to something," Kael said, his hand resting on his chin. "He never does anything without a reason. First the sewers, then the slums... now the Fern Kingdom. Everywhere he goes, a disaster—or a miracle—happens."

Kael looked at his party members.

"So?" Bordonon cracked his knuckles.

"So," Kael smirked. "We have a field trip this weekend."

"We’re following him?" Mariella squeaked.

"We’re following him," Elisha confirmed, her eyes burning with suspicion (and perhaps a hint of curiosity about his ’entourage’). "If he’s causing trouble, we stop him. If he’s in trouble, we save him."

"And if he’s on a date?" Bordonon asked.

Elisha pulled an arrow from her quiver and snapped it in half.

"Then we shoot him."

And so, the Protagonist Party’s weekend stalking trip to the Fern Kingdom’s Ecological Park was decided.

****

[Fern Kingdom - Ecological Park (Restricted Zone)]

"The Ecological Park is a collection of all the ecosystems in the world. Well, except for deserts and oceans, of course."

Following Oliver’s surprisingly enthusiastic explanation, I ventured deeper into the dense foliage. This area was practically an uncharted zone, with trees so tall they blocked out the sun and vines as thick as pythons.

To be honest, Oliver hadn’t wanted to come this far. But since I needed him to bypass the Wards, I had dragged him along—figuratively and literally.

However, once we entered the forest, a change came over him.

The timid, stuttering boy vanished. In his place was a nature lover who couldn’t stop talking.

"Oh! Look at that!" Oliver pointed at a glowing blue flower. "That’s a Moonlight Lily! It only blooms in areas with high mana concentration! And that over there is a Razor-Fern! Don’t touch it, it slices through leather!"

He was introducing everything around us happily, his eyes shining behind his round glasses. There was no sense of his previous fear. This was his domain.

Tap.

Something landed on my head. I casually brushed it off.

"Oh!" Oliver gasped, his face paling instantly. "That’s a Dark Purple Caterpillar!"

"Is it rare?" I asked, wiping a smudge of purple slime from my glove.

"It’s a highly venomous insect! One touch causes paralysis and necrotic rot within minutes!"

"...."

I froze.

Did I just narrowly escape death because I wore gloves?

’I need to get out of here fast.’

Suddenly, Oliver stopped.

The smile vanished from his face. He whipped his head around, his nose twitching. A wary, sharp expression crossed his innocent face—like a meerkat sensing a predator invading its territory.

"Intruders," Oliver whispered, his voice low and dangerous.

"Someone broke through the Barrier Magic at the park’s entrance. They’re moving fast. Probably poachers targeting the rare creatures."

He clenched his fists, green mana gathering around him.

"Hold on, Cadet Lucien. I’ll go deal with them. In this Ecological Park, the Verdant family is invincible."

I grabbed his shoulder.

"No. No need to go."

I had a hunch who it was. When I was "persuading" Oliver in the classroom, my [Detection] skill had picked up a few extra heartbeats nearby. We were being eavesdropped on.

It was obvious. The Protagonist Party had decided to play detective.

But this time, I wasn’t going to let it slide.

"Is there a high hill nearby? With a clear line of sight to the entrance path?"

Oliver blinked, confused by the sudden shift in my aura.

"Of course. The Owl’s Perch is just ahead. But... why?"

I pulled the Winchester from my inventory.

"Because I’m going to send a message."

For once, I gave a genuine smile. It wasn’t a nice one.

"Are you going to snipe?"

"Yeah."

****

[Ecological Park - Outer Perimeter]

Meanwhile, the Protagonist Party—Kael, Elisha, Celestia, Mariella, and Bordon—moved through the underbrush, following the faint traces of mana left behind by Oliver.

The tracking skills they learned at the Academy proved useful, but the dense forest was slowing them down.

At the back, Mariella was anxious. She kept glancing over her shoulder.

"U-Um... is... is this really okay?" she whispered, clutching her staff.

Having broken through the Barrier Magic using her family’s specialized decoding tools, Mariella was arguably the biggest contributor to this illegal entry.

"No matter how I think about it, this is stalking..."

At Mariella’s question, the party paused. The reality of their actions—trespassing in a foreign kingdom’s restricted zone to follow a classmate—started to sink in.

"No! It’s suspicious!" Elisha declared, crossing her arms to hide her own doubt. "Isn’t it suspicious? There’s definitely something about Lucien!"

She began listing her evidence, counting on her fingers.

"The terrorist incident! The Dr. Eldric lab in Fern Kingdom! The Demon Summoner Elena! What is it? Is Lucien really just the scoundrel of Ashborne County? I think there’s a massive conspiracy that even our Four Great Ducal Families don’t know about! Right?!"

Mariella crumbled under the storm of questions. It was indeed full of mysteries.

"Or could it be..." Bordon scratched his chin, trying to sound smart. "That thing? That Executioner legend? The secret group from the Holy Empire? Maybe he’s a descendant?"

"The Empire fell over a hundred years ago, Bordon," Kael sighed. "And why would he act like trash if he was a secret hero? It doesn’t make sense."

Bordon shrugged. "Maybe he’s just... complicated?"