Chapter 132 – Even More Exciting Than a Game

The school trip started as scheduled.
Although the destination had changed from Mana City to the Elven Forest, most students were happy with this arrangement.
After all, while Mana City was far from Holl City, it was still only half a day away by train.
Hence, most of the academy's students had already visited Mana City and checked out the Hero's Sword at the Gryffin Church in their private time.

In comparison, the Elven Forest was a place that most students hadn't visited before.
This was because the Elven Forest was not only situated outside the human realm, but outsiders also needed to pay a steep price to enter the forest.

Meanwhile, Alice's classmates belonged to this group of students.
Her classmates weren't nobles.
Instead, most of them were students coming from ordinary families.
So, the bus they rode on was incredibly lively as they traveled to the Elven Forest.

Although Alice did not join her chattering classmates' discussions, she, too, looked forward to visiting the Elven Forest.
There might be photos of the Elven Forest shared on the internet, but there was still a sense of novelty to be had from visiting the place in person.

Of course, there was one exception to this lively atmosphere on this bus, and that was Lalu.

While everyone else around was having a feverish discussion over the Elven Forest, Lalu wore a bored expression as she played with her phone in her seat.

Lalu couldn't be blamed for behaving as such.
After all, she had spent 17 years of her life in the Elven Forest.
Yet, just when she had finally gained the opportunity to experience someplace other than the Elven Forest, the school trip brought her straight back to the environment she had long since grown tired of seeing.
Faced with such a situation, it was no wonder she couldn't bring herself to feel excited.

To make matters worse, the elves' living place consisted mainly of trees because of their race's tradition of living with nature.
It might be a novel sight to look at for humans who had been living in a modern environment their entire life, but for someone who had lived in this “natural” environment for 17 years of her life, Lalu found the Elven Forest nothing but boring.

“Don't people usually feel homesick after leaving home for half a year?” Alice asked when she looked back from her seat and noticed the bored look on her little friend's face.

“That might be true for humans, but I'm an elf.
I have a long life ahead of me.
There's no need for me to feel homesick after leaving home for just half a year,” Lalu answered in a frustrating tone.
“Also, you'll realize just how boring of a place the Elven Forest is once you stay there for a few days.
The experience might feel novel at the beginning, but you'll quickly realize that there isn't actually anything to do there, and you'll be hiding in your room playing with your phone in no time.”

“It's fine.
The Elven Forest might not be an interesting sight for you, but isn't there an even more exciting activity waiting for you?” Alice said as she winked at Lalu.

Lalu instantly understood Alice's words, and she couldn't help but smile in excitement when she recalled what they were going to do once they reached the Elven Forest.

Naturally, the exciting activity Alice mentioned referred to their secret adventure to sneak into the Nature Shrine and the taboos stored there.
The elves maintained an extremely conservative tradition, so this was the first time Lalu would be doing something that went against the tribe's decision.
Naturally, she couldn't help but grow excited at conducting such an immoral act.

If it was an elf who had lived for decades or centuries, even if this elf became friends with Alice, they definitely wouldn't be willing to help Alice pull such a stunt.

However, Lalu was different.
She was only 17 years old this year, and she had even spent half a year studying in the human realm.
She had come across many cultures and values that differed from those of the elven race.
Hence, she was naturally much more flexible than the older elves.

Not to mention, the stunt they would be pulling wouldn't harm anyone.
They were merely going to sneak a peek at the elven race's taboos.
So long as they didn't spread the information they learned, they wouldn't be causing harm to anybody.

“While I know what you two are talking about, can you not speak so ambiguously?” Zauna, who sat beside Lalu, couldn't help but blush a little when she heard Alice and Lalu's conversation.
“By the way, Alice, is two days…really enough?”

Unlike Lalu, Zauna knew that Alice wasn't just going there to browse the fundamental principles used in the elves' taboos.
Instead, she was going there to learn and master those taboos.

The process of learning how to use a taboo required one to have the original book with them.
It'd be meaningless even if one took pictures of the book's content.

Authentic magic books typically carried the mana formulas and operation methods for the spells they recorded.
With how complex taboos were, it'd be incredibly difficult for one to analyze the operations of a taboo solely by reading textual descriptions of the spell.

Hence, if Alice wished to learn the elves' taboos, she would have to do so in the short span of two days.
However, no matter how talented the Hero was, Zauna didn't think that it'd be possible for Alice to learn over a dozen taboos in just two days.

“You can rest assured of this.
I have already found a solution,” Alice said, giving Zauna a thumbs up.

“Why do I get the feeling that you're up to no good…”

Zauna couldn't help but roll her eyes at Alice.
Although her friend had spoken casually, her instincts told her that Alice was probably going to pull a big stunt.
After all, once Alice went crazy, there was nothing she wouldn't dare to do.
A good example of this would be when Alice smuggled herself into the demon realm even before reaching maturity as a Hero.
This was already a feat that went beyond being courageous.
Meanwhile, with such a precedent, Zauna did not doubt that Alice would hesitate to do something big so that she could learn the elves' taboos.

While Alice and the others were conversing, the bus also drove into a tunnel.
However, this wasn't an ordinary tunnel, but a tunnel with a teleportation function instead.

Because the distance between Holl City and the Elven Forest was far too great, the Gryffin Kingdom had constructed this tunnel with a teleportation function to connect their two countries.
However, because it cost a lot of money to use this teleportation tunnel, the average person wouldn't normally experience using it.
Only wealthy organizations such as the March Royal School of Magic could afford such an expense.

“We're here.” When the bus pulled out of the tunnel, and the sunlight reappeared in everyone's eyes, Lalu looked out at the giant trees outside the bus and sighed, saying, “Welcome to the Elven Forest.”