⋆˚🐾˖°⋆˚🐾˖°⋆˚🐾˖°

After quickly tidying herself up and storing the items obtained from mining in her inventory, Haniel headed into the forest to begin logging in earnest.

Golden oak logging. Even if she had left right after doing a little mining, time wouldn’t have been very plentiful, but now she needed to hurry even more due to the delay caused by Nasir’s advances earlier.

“Before it gets dark… well, there’s still some time left, so I should be fine if I hurry back.”

Haniel looked up at the sky near her territory, calculating how much time remained until sunset.

The forest darkens quickly.

Moreover, once this surrounding forest darkened, it became pitch black as if trapped in darkness, completely covered with black paint.

The area around the territory boundary was somewhat better, which was why Haniel frequented that route…

“Since he said it’s dangerous, I should be careful…”

Haniel didn’t plan to stay long, considering Regan’s earnest warnings.

There wasn’t much time, so she couldn’t finish all the work today anyway.

‘As I told Regan, I won’t go far, just look around near the territory boundary to see if there are any golden oak trees.’

How nice it would have been if she could get golden oak within her territory.

Since it was useful for house construction, she had previously obtained golden oak saplings and planted them in the logging area inside her territory, but it hadn’t been very successful.

She didn’t know how the environment differed, but the trees grew up weak, quite unlike those in the forest.

So Haniel had reluctantly planted golden oak saplings near her temporary logging site in the forest that she frequently visited.

“I wonder if what I planted before has fully grown.”

Haniel muttered as she carefully stepped forward.

This forest had some strange and peculiar aspects, sometimes making the saplings and plants she personally planted grow completely in just one day…

Haniel had been treating this phenomenon as something half-similar to a game system and usually dismissed it, but thinking about it, it was absurd.

Anyway, Haniel hurried her steps, hoping that the golden oak saplings she had planted before had grown satisfactorily while she was away.

Passing through fields and orchards with well-grown crops, toward the dim boundary of her territory…

“……”

‘I’m not scared.’

Perhaps it was because of what Regan had told her.

One more step and she would be outside the territory boundary.

Although it was a place she frequented so often that the threshold was worn down, today she felt an odd sensation as if the forest boundary had been waiting for her, making Haniel shudder involuntarily.

The forest waiting to swallow her with its open mouth.

It must be an illusion…

‘Yes, it’s an illusion. I’m just scared. No, no… I’m not scared. I’m not scared at all.’

Haniel’s different selves fighting inside her head.

To avoid showing fear, she deliberately stiffened her body like an animal with its fur standing on end.

Then she tried to whistle casually but narrowed her brows and pulled her lips back in.

‘Don’t whistle! What are you, an extra in some old horror movie?!’

When you’re this scared, something always happens…

She couldn’t help thinking that way.

Thud… reluctant steps.

Work needs to be done. Though hesitant, Haniel eventually stepped into the forest again.

As she passed through the shimmering boundary of her territory, she felt the temporary disappearance of the territory’s blessing that absolutely protected her.

The location displayed on her status window changed. She had completely entered the forest boundary.

Haniel heaved a deep sigh.

The familiar forest path she saw every day. With sunlight still streaming in, it felt relatively peaceful.

Haniel trudged along the forest path that her body habitually traversed daily.

At first, she was nervous as Regan had warned, staying vigilant and wary of her surroundings in case something happened… but her vigilance gradually crumbled in the face of the forest scenery she always encountered.

“…What? It’s fine.”

Although she couldn’t completely relax yet, the forest around the territory boundary wasn’t a place where disasters or fierce animals typically invaded.

In fact, the forest she was visiting after a long time, though a bit gloomy, looked even more serene and beautiful than usual.

“Ah. You came.”

Haniel greeted the butterfly that fluttered around her head with delight.

Actually, she had been feeling uneasy about the lack of insect and bird sounds since earlier.

But now that these creatures had appeared, there probably wasn’t a major problem.

The fresh moisture unique to the forest and the damp smell of moss touching her nose. The loud rustling sound of leaves shaking in the wind. Surrounded by these things, Haniel’s vigilance melted away even more.

‘This is why living near a forest is so good.’

Her steps became much lighter.

Forgetting to muffle her footsteps, Haniel moved quickly.

Her movements were busy because she had many tasks to complete quickly.

Perhaps for this reason?

Gruk, gruk.

A shadow follows behind her at some point.

Haniel was completely unaware of the large shadow that was secretly following her, silently parting the grass.

A being moving diligently in the darkness, following the scent of the human female and the traces of pressed grass.

Unaware that an uninvited guest had joined her short journey, Haniel happily headed toward the logging site, excited about the upcoming harvest.

“Wow, they really grew a lot.”

Haniel exclaimed in amazement at the lush trees.

As she had hoped, the saplings she had planted had grown so large that they were indistinguishable from the existing trees.

It had only been a few weeks since she last came here and planted the saplings, but perhaps due to the forest’s magic, each tree had grown impressively abundant.

Haniel went close to a tree and examined its bark.

It looks healthy with no diseased spots and has grown straight, making it perfect to use as is.

‘I’m going to expand my house no matter what!’

In truth, even without expanding the house, she could have Regan sleep elsewhere if necessary, though it would be cramped.

Having spent her previous life working diligently like an ant, and now living a new life where she didn’t need to worry about taxes, rent, or interest, Haniel still sought out work after work.

To her ant-like gaze, this beautiful tree seemed merely like a task to be completed.

Haniel raised her long logging axe and swung it powerfully toward the tree.

“Logging!”

Crack! With just one skilled axe stroke, the tree—so thick she would barely be able to wrap her arms around it—fell helplessly.

And a status window appeared.

Ding!

‘With 35 pieces of Golden Oak… I should gather about six more trees.’

Considering Regan’s size and weight, she would need to build a large and sturdy structure.

While calculating estimates in her head, Haniel picked up a new item that had fallen into her inventory and tilted her head curiously.

“What is this fur?”

Perhaps a wild animal had scratched itself against the tree while passing by?

Just as she was about to examine the item…

Sniff, sniff.

She heard something sniffing above her ear.

“!”

Startled, Haniel’s mouth fell open.

She almost dropped both her item and axe…

But after initially tensing up, Haniel soon realized what was happening and let out a small chuckle.

‘It’s Regan!’