Editing Skill Tree Goddess:Volume1 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 1===

Sismond Johnson was bored.

There was nothing for a 9-year-old boy to do in his small, peaceful village.

The grownups had told him to never leave the village. All of them had. They said the forest immediately outside the village was dangerously vast and deep. But Sismond knew it wasn’t all that dangerous. The village prospered as a midpoint used by merchants traveling from one major city to another, so many people came and went with monster bites being few and far between.

“Hm, hm♪”

The forest was a special place. And because the grownups kept telling him not to go there, it carried an immoral air instead of simply a mystical one. But most of it all, he was free here. This wasn’t like building a secret base in an empty part of the village.

That said, eating any of the wild plants would be too dangerous since he didn’t know ''which ones were safe''. So he decided to do some fishing and started toward a gentle stream while making a rod out of a wingnut branch.

On the way, he glimpsed a golden gleam from between the dark forest trees.

It came from some hair. He also saw long ears.

(That’s an elf!)

This was a surprise, but he kept quiet. Because saying something might scare off the elf.

There were several different kinds of elf, but the ones with long ears were the rarest variety: the high elf. Glimpsing one even for a moment was something of a miracle. They were a sign of good luck found even in children’s picture books.

This one was an older girl with pale skin and long blonde hair tied back. The item in her hands appeared to be a longbow, but it had a lot of modifications here and there. She looked to be around 17 and her damp hair suggested she may have just been bathing.

And aside from the elf herself, Sismond couldn’t believe there was a shortcut here! He lived here and had never known. He doubted his friends knew about it either. This meant a lot. A shortcut no one else knew about was just as attractive as a secret base. Elves really were good luck.

Sismond Johnson followed the elf down the animal trail. He was careful not to make much noise as he stepped on and parted the underbrush. Where did this lead? He needed to know that if he was going to brag about the shortcut to his friends in the village.

…But he had never heard of a village of elves in this vast forest. Nevertheless, here was an elf. Then was she resting here while on a longer journey?

And then.

Sismond Johnson suddenly stopped. He had finally noticed. He took a look around.

“Huh?”

Where had the high elf girl gone?

And more than that…

“Where am I?”

Oops. Why oops? Because he had reflexively spun around to take a look. All the trees here looked the same, so he couldn’t even tell which way he had come from. Which way was the village? He couldn’t even find the road used by merchants. Could he even get home now?

And then he heard a sound. From behind.

''A rustling.