[Lynn's POV]
(Four days after Klada Disaster)
We started walking towards the city once the sun is up in the sky again.
"So, do you realise that you are a dragonkin?"
I didn't ask Kyrielle these few days because she was still a bit unstable, and that she's grieving. I allowed her time to rest up so that she will be ready for this journey after all.
It seems that she's a bit okay now so any questions I have can be asked.
"Yeah... It isn't a great thing. "
"It isn't?"
"I can't be sure but so far when the dragon inside awakened, it went berserk and attacked out of control. That's why, I'm sorry about pounding you, but I'm not the one in control when it happened...."
"It's fine, all of your attacks are too weak to actually hurt me. "
"Is that so...?"
"Yeah. Didn't you see how I caught that Aamon's great sword with my hand and it didn't even scratch me?"
"That's true... If only I can be as strong as you are..."
"...For what? Why do you want to be strong?"
"I... If I had been stronger, I would havw been able to save Dad..."
This girl.... she's blaming herself for the death of her father.
"I see.... But you shouldn't blame yourself too much."
"No?..."
"That's because Aamon is in fact one of the strongest out of the 72 Arch Demons, and a Demon King at that. There's a reason he was sealed instead of killed. With that territory expansion that he used, I doubt anyone short of the four man gods would've survived that. "
"The four man gods? Who are they?"
"They are the Trump cards of humanity, the four strongest humans. Aside from humans, there's also the beast men, dwarfs and elves who each have 2 mortal gods of their own, totaling out into 10 God titled mortals of the allied forces. I am the Magic God, the strongest of the bunch."
"I see. Are you a God then?"
"Hahaha, no obviously! The 'God' in our name is just a title to signify that we are the strongest of our respective ways. Besides me, there's the Fighting God who's a master in hand to hand martial arts, the Sword God is the strongest swordsman though I have never met him myself, and then there's the God's Paladin, who's the strongest priest and a crusader of the twelve Gods. He didn't take the title of God in respect to them, and so he called himself the God's Paladin."
"That is really cool. "
"You think so? "
"Yeah. These 'Trump cards' and 'four man Gods' are straight out of the stories that you'd read in a book. "
"Well, you have a point. Anyway, that is why I think you shouldn't blame yourself for your loss. Aamon was among the top 10 strongest arch demons, there's no way normal humans like you or your dad can actually beat him."
"Thank you for your attempt to cheer me up but.... I'm not a normal human."
"Ah that makes sense. You are a dragonkin after all, who's destined to save the world... or so they said. Honestly if you ask me I think that prophecies shouldn't be taken as literally as they are taken. "
"That's not what I'm talking about.... But you wouldn't get it. Now that we are getting close to the city I have been meaning to ask. What is the difference between monsters and demons?"
"There aren't a lot of distinctions between them, just like how there aren't a lot of distinctions between humans and animals for example. But one big difference between demons and monsters is that monsters are not sentient and only acts on instinct, while demons are sentient and reasonable."
"I see. Then are there multiple races in the demons themselves just like how humans have different races, beast men with different animals and elves and dwarves of different races?"
"There are. Demons are just a broad term to describe monsters which talks. There are many demons, some are skeletons, undead, orcs, insect people, sentient beasts which is not to be confused with beast men, and more. And then there are actual devils themselves, which the word 'demon' is referencing to. Aamon is a Fire Wraith, a devil, that's why he is called an Arch Devil instead of an Arch Demon."
"I see... That explains everything. "
"We have arrived. "
We reached the outskirts of the city now, which is directly next to a big river where fresh water flows. There, we saw farms using those water to grow weird grains that didn't exist back on central continent. 'Corns', is what ancient humans who lived here called them.
"Hmm. You wanna try out some of the local food? Demon kind's food culture isn't particularly fancy but it's still tasty most of the time. "
"...we don't have any money do we?"
"No haha.... So, the first things here that we should do is to get information. Do you know how to speak the Demon Language?"
"No."
"Then leave everything to me. Be careful, I don't know if the locals here will attack us or not."
"Alright..."
We walked further inside, closer to the city without walls and then we finally saw one of the local farmers.
They weren't human, nor monster. No, the one we saw is a orc, a type of ogre that is sentient, as compared to goblins or trolls who are more like wild monkeys than anything. They are well known to be friendly, but they aren't particularly talkative and their sentences are weird.
Now I see why there are farms here. If the demons that live here include creatures that have need for food and drinks like an orc, then they need to farm for food somehow.
"Stay close to me. "
"Mmn..." Kyrie sounded a bit nervous. That is a good sign because it shows that she's still concerned about her life at least.
We approached the orc, and as we did so the orc also saw us.
[Author's note : Brackets, () will be used to signify that another language is being used.]
"(Excuse me sir, could you perhaps spare us some time to answer our questions?)"
"(....humans, are you?)"
"(Yes.)"
"(How come here?)"
"(We were caught in an magic accident and was teleported here. Right now we are stranded....)"
"(...I understand. You can ask.)"
"(Okay, where are we right now? What is this city?)"
"(Area, we are in western, Republic of Golia. City, we are in Cloid.)"
I see, so we are in the western side of the Bostnia continent, on Republic of Golia, in the city of Cloid.
"(I see... Can I know if the city is safe for humans to enter and live in for a while?)"
"(Safe, is true. However, recommend I do not.)"
So they aren't hostile towards humans, but they aren't particularly welcoming either huh? That means it'd be hard to get supplies here.
"(Thank you. Is there some way that we can earn some quick money for travels?)"
"(Hmm... Go to city's center, kill monsters.)"
It seems that there are jobs here similar to an adventurer's quest huh? If it's not too dangerous and Kyrie doesn't face any safety issues then I can accept it for a quick coin or two.
"(Thank you. Last question, where can I buy some clothes?)"
"(In city south, market place.)"
We came from the west, and so since the river here crosses us diagonally from the left(north) to the right(south), that means if we go down stream then that should be the West side.
"(Okay! Thank you very much for your assistance, I will repay you once I earn some money!)"
"(Very well, however not necessary.)"
With my hands pushing on Kyrie's shoulder, we walked away for a bit onto the road to the side where we stopped.
"So, what did you learn?"
"To start...-"
I briefed her on what the orc told me.
"-and that was it."
"I see... So, what are our plans from here?"
"First, since we need supplies then it's good to assume that we need money. For now, we can accept kill quests that involves monsters to earn quick money. That won't be a problem for me, but for you? I wouldn't know for sure, your safety is indeed a concern. "
"...I'll be careful. "
"We'll see how dangerous the quest is, if it's too dangerous for you then we'll abort. Second, once we secured some money then we can buy new clothes for you. My clothes are still perfectly fine and I won't face any weather issues, but for you it's a different story. As it is right now, your clothes are too badly damaged and provides no help to this continent's deadly weather."
"True... Besides, my chastity would feel a bit damaged if a man saw me like this.... My clothes are barely covering up my sensitive parts after all."
"That too... And then finally, once we get some clothes for you it's good to try to get a mount to ride on and also some food supplies. You can't eat wild games all the time, and having a mount would save a lot of time as well. "
"I agree. I'm starting to feel a bit uncomfortable eating meat always, I need some vegetables. "
"Right. That will be all. Anyway, you can choose to sleep in an inn in this city here, or we can still sleep in the wilds to save some cost. I'm fine either way. "
"...The wilds will do. "
"Right. Now, let's get to work! First we will go accept a few quests in the town's government building!"
We started walking towards the main city. The city's center lies across the river where almost the entire city is on, versus this side of the river. That's because this part of the city is used for farmlands since there's a lot of fertile soil here, surprisingly many for a desert.
We walked into the farming area and there are lots of locals. Primarily there were lots of orcs, but there are also revenants, some amount of insect people and finally a giant cat like demon which most likely is the guard that protect the farm from monsters because they are really strong in a fight.
It seems that aside from a very few strong demons, I didn't have to worry about our safety because they are all far inferior to even Kyrielle here. Since they are all so weak, if I wanted to, I could do exactly what Aamon did at Klada, and start another....
But I won't do that, even if I had an urge to take revenge for what Aamon did to the city. The people, or rather the demons here are innocents, so razing this city to the ground wouldn't do anything, it'd be unrational.
We headed to the middle of the city, and to do that we must cross a giant arc'ed bridge over the river about 15 meters in length. The bridge itself is about 6 meters in width, which can fit about 2 carts.
We walked on the bridge made out of stone bricks. As we did so, Kyrielle starts to grab onto my arm.
"Lyn.... I'm scared..."
"Don't worry, if anyone dares to attack us, I'll level this entire city like Aamon did."
Aamon's attack must have left a really huge bad impression on her for demons, to the point of her being afraid of demons more than even monsters like dire wolves or giant carnivorous bats or raptors that we have met on our journey so far. It's a bit sad of a sight.
"...Mmn... "
We walked down the bridge and just as I thought, there are a lot of demons across the river. Many were orcs, but some are insects, undead, and even devils.
As I thought, we are drawing a lot of attention as we walked. I could hear them gossiping amongst themselves.
"(Are they lost?)" "(A mother and daughter?...)" "(This is the farthest west... How are there humans here?)" "(Papa, are they hostile?)"
"...we are drawing a lot of attention here."
"Mmn..."
We walked faster and headed to the city's center.
There, we found a large building, and on the signboard it reads 'Area Government Building'. Unlike humans who have established many guilds and the biggest of them being the adventurer guild, the demons have a republic society in which there is no need for guilds to handle monsters or other dead end jobs since they have established individuals with guilds or companies that deals with those problems.
That being said, the reason why they do accept some outside help is because this city lies at the very far west of the continent where even supplies are rather scarce so there isn't enough personnels to handle dangerous jobs. Which is perfect for when someone strong like me to come in to take the quests like it's candy.
"We'll enter now. Again, you should stick close to me until we can be sure that it's safe. "
"Mmn."
We entered the building. Inside, there is a lot of counters. One specific counter has a sign that read 'Quests Registration', and the receptionist is a lady who's an undead, which can be tell by her almost unnaturally pale skin, way fairer than mine which is already white enough for humans.
Unlike monster variants of undead, sentient undeads will try to maintain their face and their body using potions and magic so that they don't appear grotesque. It's a natural response if you ask me, because no one with a mind would want to appear like a rotting corpse.
"We'll head to the service counter to talk first. "
We headed to another counter with another undead. The counter is specifically for giving assistance to people like us who are new to this type of building.
"(Hi, how may I help you two?)"
"(Hello there. I'd like to ask a few questions and also request for some assistance if it is possible.)"
"(Very well but before that I'm a bit curious... Are you two humans? We haven't had any humans visit us in years at least.)"
"(I see... we are indeed humans, so your guess is right.)"
"(Okay... what say you need help with?)"
"(You see, this girl here and I were caught in an magic accident and was teleported to the west of here by complete coincidence. We are now trying to head back to the central continent.)"
"(I feel sorry for your misfortune. That is a really long journey you'll have to take home, that must be a really sad feeling, especially for a little girl like she is.)" He glanced at Kyrielle, who still hid herself behind me.
"(Yes, thank you for the concern. Anyway, the problem we have is that we are trying to secure some money to make preparations for our journey. I heard from the locals that I can accept jobs that pays for money, so I'm looking for some odd jobs or quests to make a few quick coins and get ready for traveling.)"
"(Ahh, I see. Unfortunately, to accept work here you must be registered as a citizen.... However, this is the outskirt of the continent, so we don't really follow the rules.... Besides, we could certainly use a new hired fighter to do our jobs, as many of the stronger guards here have all died to monsters already...)"
"(Thank you for your understanding.)"
"(No problem. We have quite a few odd jobs made from the requests of the people here. But to be honest, we don't have any quests that could earn enough money for your journey...)"
"(I see... That is a shame then.)"
"(Well... That is if we are talking about the easy jobs. There are some highly dangerous quests that involves killing multiple monsters that are at least B- ranked. You walked all the way here from the west right? That must mean you are really strong, since the monsters you face there is no less than C+ ranked.)"
"(I wouldn't say that we are really strong, but we can handle some amount of B ranked kill quests I think.)"
"(I see. You can read right? Then the sign board to the right of you has all the quests that are present, as well as the estimated time to complete each of them. Do take your time in looking at it.)"
"(Okay, thank you for the help, handsome.)"
"We can accept jobs here and earn money for our travels. " I quickly briefed Kyrielle on what the assistant told me.
"Mmn... Are those monsters gonna be dangerous?"
"Probably. You handled yourself well against C ranked monsters during our travel, so I'll assume that your abilities are B ranked. The quests that we are accepting is of the same rank as you. "
"Mmn... You will protect me right?..."
"Naturally. "
"Then... Let's do it.... together...."
We walked to the quest board. There are quite a few quests on the sign board, all written in paper. However, 80% of them are just odd jobs that earned very little money. Things like finding pets or clesring the ditch was rather common. The other 20% are all really dangerous, and for try demon living in the same space. A few quests particularly stood out to me amongst the rest.
Killing death worms in the desert. That is really dangerous because they can dive deep down into the sands and ambush you, not a good quest when you have a child to protect who can be swallowed in one gulp. It's too far away for us to do it in a day as well.
The other one involves killing black desert scorpions. A single one of them isn't really dangerous but they come in packs here apparently, and their stings are deadly if you don't have a priest in your party to cure the venom. This one is acceptable at least, since it's only 5 hours of walk away, but it is still really dangerous for Kyrielle.
The final one involves killing some giant fresh water alligators. A pack of them specifically, which is about 4 or 3. This one sounds good, and the location is just up stream of the river, which can be reached with just a single hour of walking.
"(Oh, that quest is an urgent quest, Miss. This means that the lay will be slightly higher.)" The receptionist at the back told me that as I looked closely at it.
"(...Well then, this one it is!)"
I grabbed the paper and then walked to the counter with that undead lady. After some procedures, we accepted the quest without any problem.
Right now it's still the morning, so we immediately headed out after we took a small rest under a tree in the city. We didn't stayed for long because we drew a lot of attention, and Kyrie isn't good with that.
We walked out of the city and this time we headed up stream of the river, towards south west, where a lake lies. The river's water all came from that lake in the middle of a desert, so it's really crucial to the water supply of this city.
That must be why it's an urgent quest as well. You don't want monsters in your drinking water afterall!
We are walking on a road right besides the river, and heading towards out direction. After a while of travelling, Kyrie is a bit more talkative than before. This is actually a good sign.
"So, how did you get so strong?" She suddenly asked me a rather vague question.
"Me? I don't know, by repeatedly putting myself near death's door I guess. "
"I meant by your unrivalled magic power, how did you get so good at controlling spells?"
"I'm just naturally talented at it though so I can't tell... but for me anyway, most of it was learned through repetitions. The more you use magic, the more you get better at it, right? But to reach my level, you will need a lot of talent because training can only bring you ao far."
"Makes sense... If only I have that much talent."
"You do though. Aside from Saint ranked mages that I have met, only you have successfully pulled off Magic Techniques upon the first few tries. And your fire magic is exceptionally strong as well. Is that due to some reason, or just talent?"
"Talent is guess.... Fire is a concept that I just understand really well, it's hard to explain. Maybe it's because the dragon inside me is also familiar with the fire element?"
"Ah, that makes sense. But even with talent, you still practised a lot to reach your current level. You look like someone that is really familiar with using a lot of magic, with that many Reserve Mana you must have practised a lot."
"What dictates how much Mana a person will have anyway?"
"Again it's by repetition, and also by talent. almost everyone was born with the same amount of Reserve Mana, but individuals get to grow it differently. The more mana potential you have, the more you can increase your Reserve Mana, but once you have hit that potential limit then you wouldn't be able to increase it by much."
"Hmm, that makes sense... My Mana is still increasing a bit day by day if I use them up, so my mana potential must be really high."
"Correct. Like you said, your mana potential is among top tier, not weaker than those of the saint rank mages. With practise, I think you will be able to match them. But for that to happen you need to also learn more about other elements aside from fire, because you can only do so much with a single element."
"I see... I'll try my best then."
After an hour of walking we reached our destination, a large fresh water lake.
There, we saw 5 alligators resting besides the river bank. This is the perfect opportunity for a magic lesson.
"Kyrie, you want to improve at magic right?"
"Mmn. "
"Then how about a lesson?"
"Eh? Right now?"
"Obviously, since there's even live test subjects here."
(Chapter 39, end)