Spring, Year 3500 of the Age of Descent.
Lafarnel Continent – Border of the Haid Empire – Geshk Forest.
On this day, whether they were villagers living near the forest or hunters and adventurers venturing inside it, they all witnessed it.
A shooting star streaked across the sky and fell into the Geshk Forest.
But despite it being a meteor, when it landed in the forest, there was no sound at all—not even a single forest bird was startled.
It was as if it weren’t a meteor crashing at high speed, but a feather drifting gently down from the heavens.
The “Falling Star Incident” quickly reached the capital of the Haid Empire.
The reigning emperor, Akuhe Moto Haid, immediately dispatched troops and summoned adventurers to search for the fallen star.
Even the nobles near the forest had already sent their own search parties.
But all of them came up empty.
The reason for such a large-scale response came from the special nature of this forest.
Geshk Forest—a place spoken of in legends as a divine gift to the mortal realm.
Due to its abundance of all kinds of herbs, it was highly sought after by alchemists and potion makers.
The forest’s richly diverse fauna also made it a dependable source of income for hunters and adventurers alike.
A place like this—now with a star falling into it—inevitably stirred thoughts: Could it be a divine blessing descending from the heavens?
How could anyone not take it seriously?
But it was destined to be a fruitless search.
Because the “meteor” was hiding from them.
…
…
“Seriously…? I even specifically chose a remote forest to land in. Why are there so many people here?!”
Beside a small stream deep within the forest, Lanafit sat on a reasonably flat stone to rest.
Her sore feet were soaking in the cold stream, the refreshing water gently brushing past her toes.
As she squinted in comfort, she still couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.
She had already been wandering the forest for three days.
Not because she had foolishly landed in the forest’s deepest part.
On the contrary, Lanafit had originally landed on the outskirts—not far from her intended target village.
But just as she had gotten her bearings after landing, voices came from the direction she was headed.
“Just up ahead! Come on, everyone! This thing that fell must be something incredible!”
The footsteps were loud—at least a dozen people by the sound of it—and their target was clearly the one who had just fallen: her.
Lanafit had weighed her options at the time.
If she just stood there and got found, even if they didn’t believe she was the actual falling star, they’d surely think she took whatever had landed.
And while she was strong and not afraid of them physically, it would be a huge hassle no matter what.
So, helplessly, she fled—deeper into the forest.
And that’s where things went wrong.
She got completely lost.
…
But even getting lost wasn’t a big deal.
After all, she could fly.
Just ascend a bit, and she’d easily find her way out.
Except—right as she poked her head above the canopy, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
An entire squadron of soldiers, mounted on creatures resembling wyverns, were conducting a sweeping aerial search directly toward her position.
Clearly, during her frantic escape from the first group, her pursuers had shamelessly upgraded their tactics.
Flying was now out of the question.
Running? Well, she was already lost.
And so Lanafit had been hiding in the forest for three whole days.
And the number of searchers only grew.
She’d truly suffered a lot these past few days trying to avoid detection.
Thankfully, as a witch, she couldn’t actually starve to death, even if she didn’t eat.
So aside from being a bit dirty, she was still in good shape.
But even so…
It had only been three days, and she was already getting tired of this so-called “traveling life.”
She found herself yearning to return to her otaku days on the Sky Islands.
Wait, no!
This wasn’t a vacation—this was practically a fugitive’s life!
At first, when Lanafit saw so many people searching, she had thought she could just get farther away and then stop hiding.
She could pretend to be a newbie adventurer who got lost in the forest.
But every adventurer and hunter who crossed paths with the fully-armed soldiers had to undergo strict checks, present a variety of documents, and those without proper ID were being immediately detained.
So, after witnessing that, Lanafit, who was essentially an “unregistered citizen” in this world, chose to keep hiding.
What else could she do?
If someone asked where she was from, what was she supposed to say?
“Oh, I live on the Sky Islands. You know, that place you folks call heaven.”
Sure, it was technically true, but who would believe her?
And besides, looking like she did right now, who knew what those militant thugs might do to her if she was caught?
Even if they couldn’t beat her, it would still be a huge pain.
“Damn it! I should’ve asked Roseithe for a few invisibility potions before I left!”
Roseithe had stockpiled quite a few of those potions for… let’s just say, not-so-noble purposes.
The potion would render the drinker invisible for a limited time.
And as for what exactly Roseithe had planned with all that invisibility potion—well, it wasn’t hard to guess.
Lanafit was deeply regretting her choices now.
Aside from a few healing potions and this ridiculously conspicuous staff she carried, she hadn’t brought anything useful.
And that staff—ugh, it drove her crazy.
Potions were at least easy to store using spatial magic.
But the staff? It was made from a sapling of the World Tree, and the dimensional space created by spatial magic outright refused to accept it.
Not that the staff was too big to store—but the space itself rejected it.
So she had no choice but to lug this oversized staff—taller than even herself—through the forest while hiding from everyone.
She had thought about ditching it a few times, but remembering how special it was, she always gave up on the idea.
“Ugh… How long am I supposed to keep hiding like this? I can’t live in this forest forever…”
She looked down at the clear stream and let out a sigh.
Pulling her feet from the water, she wiped them dry using the same cloth she’d wrapped her belongings in.
Though she was reluctant to leave the cool water behind, she knew staying in one place too long made her an easy target.
She put her boots back on and slung the unwieldy staff—still lying off to the side—over her shoulder.
Then Lanafit resumed her aimless wandering through the forest.
It was exhausting, but she figured the soldiers were only here to search for something that had fallen from the sky.
The forest was big, but after three days, they must have searched nearly the whole thing.
If they still found nothing, surely they’d eventually pull out, right?
Just a few more days… she told herself in a kind of hypnotic self-reassurance.
But then—
“KU↗KU↘KU—!!”
A sharp chicken’s crow rang out.
It sounded far away, but the shrill cry pierced through the dense forest and reached her ears.
And after that first crow, more followed—several faint clucks echoing from the same direction.
Lanafit’s heart leapt.
Not because she was craving chicken—no.
But that many chickens crowing from the same direction?
That could only mean one thing:
There was a village nearby.
The moment the thought struck her, Lanafit sprinted toward the sound.
After running roughly a kilometer, she actually saw the edge of the forest ahead.
Finally—after three grueling, muddy, utterly miserable days of dodging soldiers and getting hopelessly lost—Lanafit, now completely disheveled and caked in dirt, emerged from the forest that had made her grind her teeth in frustration.
And as luck would have it—this was the very same village she had been heading toward from the beginning.
At that moment, Lanafit wanted nothing more than to shout to the skies:
“Freedom!”
But remembering how easily her voice could alert the patrols still inside the forest, she sighed—and swallowed the urge.