Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume13 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 2===

"...Mmm, ooh..."

The girl opened her eyes&mdash;

First to enter her view were the leaves covering the ground and the ceiling.

(...Where is this?)

Just as she was about to get up, she noticed.

It looked like she was lying on a bed woven from grass.

There was almost no sunlight streaming in. A dark room. Incense was burning, filling the air with a choking smell.

Her gorgeous hair of darkness draped down, scattered.

Just at this moment&mdash;

"Oh, Onee-chan has woken up!"

"Hurry and tell Rana-sama!"

Suddenly, she heard these voices.

"...?"

She looked over to the direction of the voices.

In front of the room's tiny door, a group of children was gathered.

Their snow-white complexion was reminiscent of white oak. Hair the color of green jade. Pointy ears. Pairs of shining crimson eyes were watching her in curiosity.

(...These children are?)

...She searched her memories desperately.

Why was she in this kind of place?

Before losing consciousness, she was definitely wandering in a forest, it should be something like that&mdash;

(Right, I was being chased by something...)

Gradually, her memories grew clear.

When she first woke up, it was in a cold, dark forest.

Hearing terrifying howls everywhere, she ran desperately.

She could not remember what was chasing her.

All she was certain was that she was just about to be caught by something.

(...But I tripped over something and fell.)

...That was only natural. Sitting up in bed, the girl confirmed her condition. Under the long hem of the black dress, she was wearing boots decorated with cute ribbons.

...Attire unsuited for running in the forest no matter how you looked.

Inside the dark forest, the girl could not move.

If she continued to lie down there, she would probably become food for wild beasts eventually. Or lose her life to something even more terrifying.

Indeed, just like forest spirits&mdash;

(But in the end, what I encountered were not spirits. Right, they were&mdash;)

...She remembered. They were humans.

Passing through the forest, an old human couple who were carrying firewood on their backs.

(Those two people saved me and gave me food and water&mdash;)

"Onee-chan&mdash;"

One of the children called out. The boy's clear voice brought her back to reality from her thoughts.

"Onee-chan was captured by humans."

"Yeah! That's why we rescued Onee-chan."

The children in the surroundings all nodded.

"...You rescued me?"

On the bed, the girl leaned her head forward.

"Could it be, you took those friendly elderly people and&mdash;"

The girl cried out, her face deathly pale.

"&mdash;We didn't kill them. Just scared them a bit then stole their memories."

Walking in&mdash;

A girl dressed in a princess maiden's outfit of white, roughly the same age as her.

"Rana-sama."

The children all made way for the girl who had entered. The girl named Rana walked over to the bedside and placed her hand over the awakened girl's forehead.

"Looks like you were caught in our magic too."

"...What do you mean?"

"We Forest Dwellers will erase human's memories if they catch sight of us."

"Forest Dwellers?"

The girl cocked her head.

"You're different from those humans?"

Hearing this question, Rana and the children all exchanged glances in surprise.

"Isn't that obvious?"

Flashing with wondrous light, those crimson eyes stared into the girl's eyes.

"&mdash;Because this is the forest of the Elfim race."