Chapter 124: Eyeing

We could be expecting our guests—no, maybe we were the guests—anytime, now. The chattering of the whole team was brought down to silence by the leader, at some point, and before I knew it, we had plunged into the dark sea of darkness and trees.

With the leader keeping up the front, having both his sword and shield readied for foes, we all followed behind. More or less. The tank was right behind the leader, meekly marching on and groaning his fear away at every snapping twig. The damage dealer coolly followed behind the two companions, and behind the three, there were the other three. A sorceress, a priestess, and a monster.

It was a shame I couldn't participate in the fighting, but just observing was good enough. And who knows, maybe I would be granted a chance to fight, at some point. I was told the party could handle goblins anyway. It wasn't that they didn't want the monster's support, they simply didn't need it.

"Ha-ha-ha! I know this may sound silly coming from us, but we're going to make a good adventurer of you yet, little man!" had exclaimed the leader.

"Mm!" had groaned the tank.

"Ain't you already the finest though, hehe!" had guffawed the damage dealer, after he heard the story of how I stunningly stayed behind to fight orcs on the battlefield even when the whole army had pulled back, telling me I was a "lil' badass."

"...We are going to bring you up well, indeed, Aoi," had nodded the sorceress.

This was before. Now that we had entered the grounds, silence reigned king on us. Then again, after we entered the grounds, a good deal of time passed by. And at present, it had been a moment since we got in, and yet, we hadn't stumbled upon even one group of goblins or other monsters. This happened. Only sometimes.

It was rare for it to be this silent and calm, but it still sometimes was thus, the party let me know. Maybe the dark woods' citizens, the goblins, weren't doing well lately. Maybe. This hunting spot wasn't especially known for being targeted as a hunting place by most adventurers, so there shouldn't be a shortage of monster-types, by the way.

Just like today was sunny, today should also be raining and swarming with goblins already. It being so calm and empty left the atmosphere quite abnormal. Swarming was a big word, but assuredly, the party should have encountered at least some monster-types. Then again, I didn't know much about their job, so maybe we just had to wait. Wait for it to come at us. Right, maybe the goblins were afraid of the party.

There weren't five, but six members today. As this last member happened to be me, a high-level monster-type, there was more than one reason for the goblins, poisonous-fang spiders, or gray-claw wolves to be afraid and not approach the party.

Or then again, I thought, we just have to wait. What I didn't know at the time, was that the little narcissistic theory I just cooked up from nothing was actually valid and true. The monsters of the low-level area of the dark woods didn't approach the party for a reason—my overwhelming presence. At any rate, I just thought we had to wait more before the monsters came, however.

To wait more and keep patrolling the area, going in circles in the same spot, over and over again. That way of patrolling was apparently how it was usually done. To secure a spot and keep exploring it till before sunset. We had to wait and observe. Wait and observe. Wait.. and observe. And then wait more... and observe... up until... "Well, no!" I cried out.

Upon frowning at me and giving me a chop on the head, the priestess, who was apparently in charge of the new team member, pinched my cheek as a punishment for speaking too noisily and eventually asked me what I meant by "Well, no!" "I say 'yes,' so it is 'yes, young man."

When I began to explain that I still said "no" and why I did that, the priestess sighed and questioned what they were going to do with me. "If you go like this, who knows what you will bring us? Only troubles, I could guess. Bad, bad, very bad.

Want me to tell the vile goblins to eat you up, yes?" When I playfully bragged I wasn't scared in the least, the priestess replied playfully, too. "Sure thing: instead of regular goblins, I'll fetch the bigger ones...! Ever had a hobgob' fight you? Some say they're stronger demi-human than orcs, my boy," she nodded, telling me I'd be afraid of these ones for sure.

At last, I explained why I said "no." It didn't get me anywhere, however. Minutes passed and I still had to try to explain to the Party how the passive skill "Mana Perception" worked.

"Listen to me, people," I said, with fidgety movements of irritation, "it's the truth."

The damage dealer laughed, amused with himself, and told me I was an amusing little guy. "You're amusing us to no end, bah!"

"Mm-hm," nodded the babe, teasing. "The truth! If my boy says it's the truth, then the truth it ought to be!"

"...What if it were the truth, Aoi?" Only the sorceress was willing to at least give me some credit and follow up with the obvious question. If it were the truth, and since it actually was, then the Party had to get a move on and proceed to the deeper parts of the dark woods. "Or rather, we shall wait," she offered as a reply. "Wait for them to come, Aoi."

The only one who was undisturbed by my claims seemed to be the leader. Still guarding our front as we walked endless circles in the low-level area of the dark woods, the spot they usually hunted in, I doubted he even listened to our loud whispering.

"You people may laugh," I frowned," but I'm for real. I can see there are no goblins around." Was "Mana Perception" that rare an ability? It seemed to be rare to the point where (common and uneducated) people couldn't even believe such a skill existed. I mean, there must have been some Mana Perception-wielder out there in the world who could also scan a whole area pretty quickly thanks to the skill.

Maybe it wasn't that the party didn't believe it existed, but rather that I wouldn't possess such a rare skill and be of the common people, too. "I can see there are no goblins around, yes. I'm telling you people it's one of my skills. Mana Perception." But when I asked them what exactly made it so hard to believe, no one answered me seriously, and the only guy whose response was more or less consistent proposed I continued to "let my imagination fly up and take me faaar away" since I nearly "got them all."

I then understood what the problem was. At the time, with Princess Elina, I might have told her, who knew my story and identity, that I was okay with her just treating me like the teenage boy my appearance suggested since I desired to fit into society perfectly, but the present moment sufficed to illustrate the huge drawback that presented for me.

The "youthful" appearance of a human teen I had probably made people think I was just a fool in development. People didn't take me seriously if they didn't know my true identity, that was for sure. Silently, I swore an oath to do something about it. Get this and that skills from monsters here and there, and make it so that I can appear adult-like. That should resolve it. Whenever I'd need to, I could be obeyed without a problem.

For the time being, however, I could only let myself be pushed around that much. A hand went in my hair and patted my head insistently. The priestess and damage dealer continued to have fun chatting about how I actually should have named the imaginary ability I got myself. According to these two, I was around that age where I would dream about my nonsensical fantasies. The babe said she would have called it "Magic Sense" and the damage dealer insisted why "Kick-ass Goblin Detector" was way better than any name she would ever propose. Well, these two were having fun, at least.

At this point, I didn't bother to insist any longer. I could indeed sense our surroundings, Kick-ass Goblin Detector—no, Mana Perception allowed me to do that. Apparently, since that was way too convenient, it was too good to be true. What's more, it came from a kid's mouth, so that was that. Still, I, the unique monster, could see around. We passed by a few goblins, by the way. They all were too far away, however. None of them dared stand in our path, for reasons I ignored.

Since the monsters were so fearful of us, I proposed why not go out of the usual area and try to explore more. Kick-ass Goblin Detector or not, it was pretty obvious we weren't going to meet up with any monster-type if we kept patrolling here. If the goblins kept away from us, why not go after them ourselves? But, no. We kept going in circles at the party's usual hunting grounds, and there was no way they'd go wandering out of their usual spot. It wasn't too dangerous to go hunt in an area they weren't familiar with, but the weak party tried not to be as reckless as possible. You never knew when things went south, they said.

Hence, it was better for the party to stick to their ways. Given the fact that I was also a non-fighter due to my special circumstances, I didn't have a say in any combat-related matters.

I genuinely thought I could make myself useful to them in order to help a little, but trying to help didn't get me anywhere. I was disappointed, but that was the end of the matter. However! At some point, surprisingly, the leader of the party rounded us up and spoke.

Eyeing me suspiciously, he talked. "Let's come to a stop and talk it through, guys."