By Zephyria 
When I focused on the sound, I could hear the conversation they were having.
“Haven’t we been walking for quite a while?”
“It’s strange! We should be getting closer.”
“The distance isn’t getting any shorter… is this right?”
At that, I raised my head and looked at the forest again. Certainly, considering how far we had walked, it didn’t feel like the distance had gotten any closer at all. It didn’t seem like the forest was that far away to the naked eye.
The pace of some of the children in the front who felt something was wrong gradually quickened. But even so, they didn’t get any closer, and eventually, the five faint-hearted children who had been walking in the very front started running.
“Wait a minute!”
Someone grabbed them, but they didn’t listen. As the five people in the front row ran away, the distance between them and us continued to widen, and the children in the back followed them late, but it was already too late. The children completely disappeared into the fog.
At that moment, the screams of the disappeared children were heard.
“……!”
The surprised children fell silent with nervous faces. Soon, in order to find those who had disappeared, they ran, and the forest, which had not gotten any closer even after walking for so long, suddenly became close.
The children in the back, who had safely arrived at the forest, looked around, searching for the disappeared children. However, the figures of the children who had run ahead and disappeared were nowhere to be seen.
“Ah… ah.”
The pale-faced children eventually sat down, weeping. The fear that comes from being left with only a few people is much stronger than when a large group of ten is together.
‘…This isn’t good.’
It seems like they’ve been divided into two groups when it’s dangerous enough to be together. And there must be someone who ‘intentionally’ created this situation. I didn’t let my guard down and looked around, and quietly told Herman.
“Herman.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t leave my side.”
Herman licked his dry lower lip. He was also well aware that the current situation was not going well. Around that time, the gloomy child, who had been watching from a position a step away from the children as if she were an onlooker, raised the corners of her lips and smiled. Then, she spoke to the children once again.
“Let’s go to the forest first. They might have gone ahead.”
Hearing those words, the children who had been sitting down in fear turned to look at her. Certainly, in this wide wasteland with no blind spots, it was strange that the children who had gone ahead had suddenly disappeared, so it was more likely that they had gone into the forest first.
But if you think about it rationally, that was strange enough. If they were fine, why did they suddenly scream, and why did they completely disappear after that scream? The situations in between were not properly explained.
‘What is that kid… what is her identity?’
Come to think of it, she stood out from the carriage.
Wasn’t that human the one who first induced them to head towards the forest?
Suspicious.
As I stared intently at her, she turned her head towards me and silently smiled, narrowing her eyes that were revealed through the bangs that covered half of her face.
She didn’t seem like she would answer even if I asked her directly, so I was wondering how to reveal her intentions. The children, who had been sitting down with pale faces, agreed with her words and turned towards the forest.
“Yes. That must be it.”
“Let’s go into the forest! We can also look for the missing people.”
When two people entered the forest first, the gloomy girl followed them as well. I couldn’t help but sigh. But there was nowhere else to go, and it seemed like there was nothing I could do even if I went back. In the end, entering the forest was the only way to figure out the situation.
After exchanging glances with Herman, I followed the children who were leading the way.
Tension ran through the children as they crossed the forest and looked around. The fog was thinner than outside the forest, but there were no signs of wild animals, and only the shadows of the trees were swaying gently, which was eerily desolate. The only one who was relaxed in this situation was the gloomy girl.
‘I guess this isn’t an ordinary forest.’
I suddenly felt a sense of incongruity and looked down at the ground.
“……?”
It might be my imagination, but it seemed like the color of the soil had become much darker than before.
No, maybe.
‘Only the soil in this block’ is this black. When I looked a little further, I could see square blocks filled with soil that was much whiter than the original soil. I couldn’t tell if it was an optical illusion or if it was actually like that until I went closer to check….
At that moment, I felt a suspicious presence coming from the front.
‘What is it?’
A vibration that sounded like something heavy and huge was dragging across the ground and approaching this way was being heard through the ground. By the time the dirt started to splatter with a ‘drdrdrdr…’ sound, the children were also surprised and looking around.
“Where is this sound coming from?!”
“L-look over there!”
The children all raised their heads at the shout.
Something black, bigger than a tree and protruding, was approaching, effortlessly crushing the trees in its path. It was a black piece shaped like a ‘Citadel Tower’, instantly reminding one of a rook from chess.
“……!”
The children’s faces turned pale as they watched it. Overwhelmed by its size, they stood frozen, unable to move.
“I-It’s coming this way….”
Someone muttered, though it was unclear who.
The black piece came right up to them.
“Get out of the way!”
Herman shouted urgently, wrapping his arms around me and dodging to the side. Only then did the children snap out of their daze, screaming and scrambling to avoid the oncoming piece. The black piece, as if fearing nothing, moved straight ahead, forcefully pushing through the spot where we had been standing and continuing in its original direction.
Herman stumbled forward as he dodged, causing me to fall as well. I brushed off my pants and stood up, staring at the piece that was now moving far ahead.
‘Not just the appearance, but the characteristics are the same as a rook.’
A chess piece that can only move in a straight line and has no limit to the number of squares it can move, the Rook. The question was, why was something like that wandering around in the forest? But that question was soon answered.
As I was examining the dirt on the ground, Herman muttered blankly.
“That was… a ‘rook’, right? From chess?”
Knowing that it only moved in a straight line and telling us to dodge to the side. I had to admit, the guy was quick on the uptake. I looked around and answered his mutter.
“Yeah. This forest seems to be a kind of chessboard.”
“A chessboard?”
“Look at the ground. There’s some kind of Magic on it.”
Herman lowered his gaze.
The forest floor was made up of a grid of blackish and whitish soil. He would immediately realize that this grid meant ‘chessboard’. And I kicked the dirt on the ground, sending some of the white soil I was standing on towards the black block.
The white soil changed color to black as it crossed over to the black block. Herman’s eyes widened in surprise at the magical sight, and then he looked back at the area the rook piece had pushed through.
“Come to think of it, the soil isn’t mixed there either.”
Because the rook piece had swept away all the soil as it passed, a deep groove was left in the ground. But the grid pattern was still maintained. A practically impossible feat. I would have to slowly analyze the Formula to know exactly what kind of Magic it was, but it was clear that Magic was at play.
Then Herman exclaimed as if he had just remembered something.
“Oh! What about the other kids?”
“They seem to have been separated from us.”
If they had been crushed by the rook piece, even the ‘sturdy Achievers’ wouldn’t be unscathed, but since there was no trace of them, they must still be alive somewhere. However, they couldn’t have gone far since we were only separated a short time ago, but I couldn’t sense them at all.
With things like this happening repeatedly, I couldn’t help but wonder if someone was intentionally trying to split us up.
“What the heck is this forest? Why is this happening?”
Herman rubbed his forehead and groaned. The quick-witted guy didn’t seem to have realized it yet. I kindly added to help him understand.
“Have you forgotten what we came here to do?”
At that, the guy who had been rubbing his forehead opened his eyes wide.
“…That’s right. The test had already begun.”
“If you understand, let’s move quickly.”
“But where to? We still don’t know what to do.”
Herman urgently questioned. I quietly raised my head and looked in the direction the black rook piece had gone. Since the black piece had gone that way, there must be a white camp in that direction. And on the opposite side, there would be a black camp. Also, in the black camp would be the black King, and in the white camp would be the white King.
‘Black King’ and ‘White King’.
They were definitely not unfamiliar words.
-Then what about this? On the border of the Monoden Marquess territory, there are white and black Kings living in the forest, protecting it. They’ve been fighting an unresolved battle for a long time, apparently.
We had already gotten a hint from the carriage.
“Chess is a game where you win by capturing the King.”
“…Ah.”
“According to that rule, we should find the King first.”
I pointed in the direction we should go.
It was the white camp where the rook piece had gone.
“We’ll go find the white one first.”