The Great Forest of Altena was truly a wonder of nature. It stretched out for thousands of kilometers beyond the frontier walls, its true scope still unknown to humanity, even to the elven clans that once dwelled within.

  It’s a land that’s been fought over for many a millenia. Billions of ants, millions of humans and thousands of elves have likely fallen within its borders, all on a quest to take command of its great bounty; both from the vegetation above and the riches below its soil.

  Harold still felt a sense of amazement while traversing the forest, there was no water for miles around yet the air was still thick with moisture, if he focused he could hear thousands of critters going about their daily routines. The sun couldn’t be seen through the foliage, yet the trees held an otherworldly glow that lit up their surroundings.

  This amazement didn’t stop him from getting annoyed when his employer stopped for the sixth time in the last hour to take samples from surrounding plants. Mumbling things he couldn’t quite understand even if he knew all the words being spoken.

  “Hmm, still the same signature… strange, very strange. That could be explained by my theory but the marked reserve still doesn’t make sense… I didn’t quite believe it when I first read about it, but it seems like all plants within the forest undergo mana interexchange somehow, perhaps a form of fungi web? But for it to stretch out over 20km…”

  This mumbling session was taking particularly long, Divara even took out her notebook to start jotting things down. They were probably going to be here for a while.

  “Is this really necessary?” He knew it was stupid to hurry her, the longer she spent the more he got paid after all, but he was finding his patience stretched thin.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, still not taking her eyes off of her notebook.

  “Stopping every few minutes to observe plants, what need could there possibly be for this”

  She stopped and gained a thoughtful expression, tilting her head and looking up to think. He noticed she had a habit of doing that whenever something stumps her.

  “I guess there is no need actually, all of this is very well documented even if unexplained. I guess I just wanted to confirm it for myself. Maybe I’ll try to craft a hypothesis about mana exchange after this whole thing with the ant nest is done with. Now quite! I’m thinking”

  Harold could only sigh in response, Divara was the one paying after all. With nothing to do he could only observe her as she continued to write in her notebook. With her pretty round face, dark blue hair and clear auburn irises, he’d probably have found her strange habits charming had it not been for her constant active attempts at annoying him.

  “I’m done, help me up onto my horse, Sir Brute” That one phrase haunted him the most.

  “Would you be willing to stop calling me that?”

  “No”

  For the umpteenth time that day Harold sighed out his lungs as he dismounted Atlas, and for the umpteenth time raised Divara up onto her horse.

  For the umpteenth time Divara felt a sense of petty satisfaction. She’d have stopped by now had it not been for his overdramatic sighs, a dead joke isn’t really her style, but he kept managing to breathe life into it.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  So their strange routine went on for a few hours more, until the sun reached its peak and began to shine in its unique grossly incandescent manner, managing to shine through the treeline above.

  They decided to stop and have lunch around the same time. The horses needed rest and the heat of the sun would drain their stamina if they kept moving. Unfortunately, neither of them knew how to cook nor did they know how to forage. Dried meat and goat cheese it was then, he was starting to miss his short outing with Vannol, if only for the one bowl of soup he had on that last night. He swore that he’d learn to cook soon enough, if only so he wouldn’t have to chew on jerky swimming in a sea of salt ever again.

  “So, what’re you trying to confirm for yourself exactly?” He asked, mostly to break the silence.

  “A lot of things actually. Altena is very unique, and I don’t just mean the sheer scale of it. The entire forest is its own ecosystem, almost completely separate from the outside world. The vegetation of Altena grows nowhere else when planted, and foreign species of plants die when planted in Altena. People used to think it had something to do with the soil, but recent studies have proven that false. Furthermore, plants of Altena grow extremely quickly, unnaturally so, it's the reason why the forest has been so hotly contested for a millennium. It’s an endless source of forage and lumber”

  Harold didn’t know any of this, he did however remember there being a specific class at the academy purely dedicated to the Altena forest. Apparently this is one of the reasons why.

  “So, why is that the case then? Is it something unique to the location or the weather that causes this phenomena?”

  Divara grinned like a wolf. “That’s the thing, we don’t know. A thousand years of study and we still don’t really know why Altena is the way it is. The elves claim it's because of a divine spirit, the southern church attributes it to God, I think it’s because the plant life here can use mana to cast rudimentary spells”

  “You’re saying the plants around us are mages? Surely not. I studied magic and was declared inept at it. My teachers said it requires a certain state of mind, something I’m fairly certain plants don’t have” It was quite frankly offensive to consider the idea that these plants had more talent in magic than most of humanity.

  “But, who said that has to be the case? It’s been believed that magic is cast by using one’s will to bend the mana within the body. The idea has held true for most theories but there’s no actual proof! We don’t know how magic is cast, we only know the method for doing it. If our idea of magic has been completely wrong for thousands of years, Altena could be the key to the truth! It’s the entire reason I dedicated my life to studying this forest!”

  Divara’s face turned sour, “It’s why I’ve sacrificed so much to be here” she whispered out, it likely wasn’t meant for his ears, but he heard it nevertheless.

  He felt a sense of camaraderie begin to form for the mage in front of him. They were both nobles far from home, trying to pursue their own personal goals, even if hers were clearly far more well defined compared to his.

  He decided to push her further, she seemed to be enjoying talking about the mystical place they were in, better that than dwelling on the path walked to arrive here. “What makes you think that the vegetation here is using mana? Why wouldn’t other plants do the same?”

  She regained the fire in her eyes as she continued “The plants here? They all have the same mana signature. Every living being produces mana in some way, but their frequencies slightly change from individual to individual. The only exception being the plant life of Altena, I have a hypothesis that it has something to do with what I call ley-lines, blood vessels of the world itself that strengthen at some places to create massive pools of mana below the ground. I believe that the vegetation here draws upon those ley-lines to fuel their growth, and because they’re all drawing upon the same river of mana they have the same signature!”

  Harold smirked in amusement, who knew someone could have such a passion for plants? Even if he didn’t really get what the excitement is for, Divara’s enthusiasm was infectious.

  “In that case, we’ll have to make sure this expedition goes as well as possible don’t we? Maybe you’ll be able to get the support needed to figure all this out if we manage to find out something new from these leaf cutters” he extended his hand out to his companion.

  “Here’s to happy research”

  Divara gained a toothy smirk. “To successful research” she shook his hand.

  Her auburn irises gained a mischievous glint. “You know, I’m surprised Sir Brute is such a good partner for conversation, maybe I’ll have to stop calling you that…then again, I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong idea. You might start thinking you have manners”

  The person in question gave her a deadpan look “You want to talk to me about manners? Really?”

  “Hey, I’m not the one who supposedly caved in an ant’s skull with their bare hands”

  His eyes widened in shock ‘How does she know that?!’

  Divara’s grin turned feral, reminding Harold of a blue furred wolf “So you are the one! You’re the one that old crossbowman was blabbering about!”

  It felt like Harold was about to have a stroke, it seems like he had failed his quest of preventing a meeting between Vannol and Divara long before he even began. It seemed like he would be known as Sir Harold the ‘brute’ for the foreseeable future.

  Someone was going to die for this.