My name is Rudeus Greyrat, and I'm a pretty boy who just
celebrated my eleventh birthday a few days ago. As a skilled magician, I've
gained notoriety for my ability to use magic without chanting spells and my
unique way of mixing the different elements.
One year ago, I was caught in a magical disaster and teleported to the
Demon Continent. My hometown was on the exact opposite side of the map
in the Asura Kingdom's Fittoa Region, which meant I had to travel halfway
across the world to get back.
I became an adventurer to earn money as I started out on the long
voyage home. In the past year, I've successfully cut my way across the
Demon Continent.
***
Wind Port, the Demon Continent's one and only port city, was a
townscape with rolling hills. From the entrance, you had a sweeping view of
the entire city. Most of the houses were made with mud and stone in the
Continent's typical style, but there was the occasional wooden house here
and there. At the edge of the city was the harbor. That, rather than the main
entrance, was where most of the hubbub took place and the peddlers set up
shop.
It was a city with a flavor uniquely its own, different from the others I
had seen before. Beyond the harbor, across from the city, the sea spread out
vast and wide. When was the last time I had seen the ocean? Probably back
when I attended a middle school on the coast.
This world was different from ours, but the sea was not. It was the
same blue, had the same sound of crashing waves, and birds that looked just
like seagulls. There were even sailboats. It was the first time I'd ever set my
eyes on one. I saw them occasionally in movies, but seeing the real thing—made of wood with its cloth sails unfurled, gliding through the water—made
my heart pound as if I were still a young boy.
There must be some mechanism in this world that allowed a boat to
sail against a headwind. Actually, considering the world I was in, maybe they
propelled themselves forward using wind magic.
"Look!"
The moment we arrived in the city, the red-haired girl riding the lizard
with me suddenly leaped up. Her name was Eris Boreas Greyrat. She was the
granddaughter of Sauros, the Liege Lord of Asura Kingdom's Fittoa Region,
and also my pupil back when I worked as a tutor for their house. She was
ferocious and spoiled rotten when we first met, but she'd become more
flexible recently—enough to listen to what people had to say. She had been
teleported together with me, and I had to see her safely back home.
"Look, Rudeus! The ocean!" The words that passed her lips were in
fluent Demon God tongue. I had stressed the importance of speaking it all the
time; Ruijerd and I also spoke in Demon God tongue as much as possible. As
a result, Eris' language abilities had increased dramatically as of late. It was
as I suspected: The quickest way to improve in a foreign language was to use
it as often as possible. Granted, Eris couldn't read or write in the language at
all. It wasn't that difficult a language, but it also wasn't something that could
be mastered in a year.
On the other hand, I hadn't taught her any magic since coming to the
Demon Continent. So not only could she not cast spells without chanting, but
she had probably also forgotten the chants themselves.
"Eris, wait! Where are you going? We haven't even figured out where
we're staying for the night!"
Eris stopped in her tracks when I called after her. This was the third
time we'd had this exchange since we came to the Demon Continent. The
first time, she got lost; the second, she got into a fight on a street corner. I
wasn't going to have a third incident.
"Oh yeah! I'll get lost again if we don't decide on an inn first!" She
bounded back to us, constantly glancing over her shoulder at the sea.
Come to think of it, this was probably the first time she'd seen
something like this. There were some rivers near Fittoa, and apparently Sauros took her there on his days off and let her play in the water. Sadly, I
never went with them, so I had no idea how much she knew about bodies of
water.
"Can we swim?"
I tilted my head at her words. "You want to swim in the harbor?"
"I do!"
I did want to see how sexy her body had gotten now that she was
thirteen, but that desire was destined to remain unfulfilled. Namely because
there was an important component missing from this equation.
"You don't have a swimsuit, do you?" I asked.
"What the heck is a swimsuit? I don't need one!"
Her response was so shocking I couldn't hide my confusion. What the
heck is a swimsuit, I don't need one, she said. So she meant to swim totally
naked…? No, no way, that couldn't be it. Most likely she meant to swim in
her underwear. I pictured her clad in nothing but her underwear, water
pouring over her. The damp fabric would cling to her body, and through the
sheer material I would be able to see the color of her skin, as well as the
slight protrusions on her chest.
Why didn't I ever join them when she went to play in the water back in
Fittoa? Oh yes, because I was busy. Even on my days off I was preoccupied
with something. Still, I should have gone with her just one time at least.
No, now wasn't the time to think about that. I needed to focus on the
city right before me. Live in the now. That's right, live in the now! Woo-hoo,
the ocean!
"No, you shouldn't swim in this ocean." A voice cut in from behind
like a bucket of ice-cold water.
When I looked back, Ruijerd was sitting there with his bald head and a
scar stretched across his face, like a yakuza. His full name was Ruijerd
Superdia. He was a demon, one who loved children and had taken it upon
himself to escort us from the very beginning, when we were so lost we didn't
know up from down. Now that he was bald, it was impossible to tell that he
had the infamous emerald-green hair of the Superd race. In this world,
demons with emerald green hair were regarded as a symbol of fear. Ruijerd had cut his hair off for our sake. Restoring honor to the name of his people
was just one way I could repay my debt to him.
"There's a lot of monsters in there."
A red jewel embedded in Ruijerd's forehead provided him with a sixth
sense. It acted as a radar that could detect the presence of every living
creature within several hundred meters of its bearer. With such a convenient
ability, it was easy to think we could swiftly dispatch all those creatures in
the ocean, but maybe it wasn't as all-powerful as I thought. Maybe those
murky depths were impenetrable.
Nah. Even so, we should still be able to swim for a little bit, right?
Swimming in the harbor might be too dangerous, but I could at least use earth
magic on a nearby beach to make our own little pool.
No…there was still a chance it could be dangerous. There were beasts
out there with powers of their own. Some of them might be able to jump over
my barrier. It might be a sexy encounter if it were an octopus, but if it were a
shark, we'd be in a real-life reenactment of Jaws.
There was little choice. Probably best to give up the idea of a swim in
the ocean. There really was nothing else we could do. "There'll be no sea
bathing this time. Let's go find our inn and then hit up the Adventurers'
Guild."
"Okay…" Eris looked dejected.
Hmm. I was still very much interested in seeing how toned her body
was. We hadn't much opportunity to check out each other's growth in the last
year. It was difficult to gauge anything through her clothes, but maybe if we
were out on the open beach, I could see a little more. Yeah, that's right, we
should do that.
"Even if we can't go in the water, we could at least play on the beach,
right?"
"The beach?"
"There's something called sand by the ocean. At the water's edge, that
sand stretches out pretty far," I explained.
"And what part of that is supposed to be fun?" Eris asked.
"On the beach, you can squirt water on yourself and…"
"Rudeus, you've got that weird look on your face again."
"Ugh." Apparently, my expressions changed too easily with my
emotions.
As I tried to clean the lecherous look off my face, Eris turned her eyes
to the ocean and smiled. "But it sounds interesting! Let's do that afterward!"
She happily kicked off and soared through the air, returning to the lizard. It
was an incredible leap. Just the sound of her takeoff made me jump—it was
like a low thumping noise. She had really toned her legs and lower body.
Right now that really complemented her build, but I imagine her becoming
even more brawny and muscular in the future, and that worried me a little.
***
Once we decided on our inn and boarded our lizard, we headed straight
for the Adventurers' Guild. A diverse crowd of adventurers clamored around
the Wind Port Adventurers' Guild. It wasn't an unfamiliar sight, but it
seemed there were a considerable number of humans present this time. Once
I crossed over to the Millis Continent, their numbers would surely increase
exponentially.
There was an uncertain look on Ruijerd's face as I went to check out
the bulletin board as I always did. "I thought we were going to cross the sea
immediately?"
"I'm just looking. I heard that you can make a better income on the
Millis Continent, anyway."
You could make a better income on the Millis Continent because the
currency was different. The Millis Continent currency was broken up into six
types: the king dollar, the general dollar, gold coins, silver coins, large copper
coins, and copper coins. Comparing this to the Demon Continent's cheapest
currency, which was the stone coin:
1 king's dollar = 50,000 stone coins
1 general's dollar = 10,000 stone coins
1 gold coin = 5,000 stone coins
1 silver coin = 1,000 stone coins
1 large copper coin = 100 stone coins
1 small copper coin = 10 stone coins
A B-ranked mission in the Demon Continent netted you about five to
ten scrap iron coins. That converted into 150-200 stone coins. If Millis
Continent's B-ranked missions were worth—let's assume—five large copper
coins, that would be 1,500 stone coins. That was ten times as much. We were
better off making money on Millis Continent.
That said, if we had time to kill before our ship was ready, then we
would probably take one of the jobs here. Generally, that meant B-ranked
missions. Not only were A-ranked and S-ranked missions dangerous, most of
them took more than a week to complete. If we wanted a consistent daily
income, then B-ranked jobs were our best option. It was also why I had no
plan to raise our party to S-rank, because it would mean we could no longer
accept B-ranked missions.
In fact, as an A-ranked party you could undertake S-ranked missions
anyway, so I initially questioned the need for having an S-rank in the party
ranking system at all. When I asked one of the guild personnel about it, they
told me there were special benefits if you rose to S-rank. I didn't pry any
further, but I guessed it meant getting bigger discounts for lodging, being
allotted better-quality guild jobs, or the assurance that they would turn a blind
eye to some of a party's illegal behavior. Something along those lines.
Those who benefited the most from those perks were primarily the
adventurers who went dungeon-diving into labyrinths. Our party had no such
plans. It was dangerous and it took days to finish such a venture. Our
missions were primarily B-ranked, and we had no designs on moving up to S-
rank any time soon.
Eris, of course, disagreed on that point.
Digressions aside, we were adventurers primarily interested in earning
money, so if going to Millis Continent was the fastest way to do that,
boarding a ship immediately was in our best interest.
"By the way, where do the boats leave from?" I asked.
"The harbor, of course."
"Yes, but where in the harbor?"
"Ask someone," Ruijerd said.
"Yes, sir."
I moved to the counter. Standing behind it was a human woman. In
fact, most personnel tended to be women, and for some reason they tended to
be generously endowed, probably for aesthetic purposes.
"I'd like to go to Millis Continent," I explained. "Do you know what I
should do to get there?"
"Please direct those questions to the checkpoint."
"Checkpoint?"
"Once you board a boat, you'll be beyond our country's borders."
In other words, the guild had no jurisdiction over international travel,
so its personnel had no responsibility to guide me in those matters. Hm. In
that case, it was time to head toward the checkpoint. Then, just as I was about
to ask for a more in-depth explanation…
"Hey, you!"
A loud voice echoed through the room. When I looked back, Eris had
punched some male human. It seemed our nuclear warhead was feeling
particularly explosive today.
"Just who and where do you think you were touching?!"
"I-It was an accident! Who the hell would want to touch an ass like
yours, anyway?"
"I don't care if it was an accident or not! Your apology isn't!" Eris had
grown quite proficient in the Demon tongue. The better she got, the more
frequently she got into fights. It clearly wasn't such a good thing that she
knew what the other party was saying after all.
"Gahahaha! What's this, a fight?!"
"Go on, get 'em!"
"Come on, don't let a kid kick your ass!"
Fights between guild members were such a common daily occurrence
that the guild didn't even bother getting involved. In fact, some of the
personnel even took part by placing bets.
"I'll crush you under my feet!"
"I-I'm sorry, I admit defeat. Please let me go, don't grab my leg,
stooop!"
While I was distracted, Eris had thrown the man on the ground. Lately,
she'd become an expert in backing a person into a wall. She would snap
without warning and decimate her opponent with incredible precision. In the
time I spent wondering what she could possibly be pissed about, she already
had her foot pressed firmly into her opponent's weak spot. Those C-ranked
adventurers were no match for her.
Whenever her quarrels reached a certain point, Ruijerd would always
step in. "Stop," he said.
"Lay off, I'm not going to stop!"
"You already won," Ruijerd said. "Let it go."
The same spectacle as always. I couldn't really stop her. Mostly
because my way of stopping her was throwing my arms around her from
behind, whereupon my hands would move of their own accord, finding an
inappropriate location to fondle, and then it would be my life in danger.
Someone shouted, "A bald guy and a ferocious red-headed girl…!
Could you guys be Dead End?"
Silence fell across the hall, and then:
"Dead End… You mean that demon from the Superd race…?"
"Idiot! The party name. Those fakes all the rumors have been about
lately!"
"I've heard rumors about the real thing, too."
Oh?
"I heard they're brutal, but he's not a bad guy at heart."
"So he's brutal but he's nice? C'mon, that's a contradiction."
"No, I meant not all of them are brutal."
The guild fell into hushed murmurs.
This was the first time we had experienced something like this.
Apparently, our group had become quite famous. I guess we didn't have to
spread Ruijerd's good name here after all, huh?
"They're an A-ranked party with just three people, after all."
"Yeah, that's incredible. Real thing or not, that's gotta be them."
"Mad Dog Eris and Guard Dog Ruijerd, right?"
The two of them had nicknames! Mad Dog and Guard Dog, huh? I
wondered why they were both dogs. Also, what kind of dog did that make
me, then? I tried to picture this for a minute. Certainly not a fighting dog. I
hadn't done anything grand enough to earn that title, and I wasn't gallant at
all. If I had to give myself a nickname, it would probably be something like
Butter Dog—you know, the kind that help women get off.
Well, I had been the group's leader for the last year. So maybe a more
intellectual nickname would serve, like Faithful Dog.
"Then that little midget over there must be Kennel Master Ruijerd!"
"I heard the Kennel Master is the nastiest one of all."
"Yeah, all he's done is awful things."
What in the world!!
Not only was the nickname different than I'd imagined, they didn't
even remember my name! No, wait, but it was true that I used Ruijerd's name
all the time, right? Still, whenever I did anything good, I would always
proclaim, "I'm Ruijerd of Dead End, and don't you forget it!" Meanwhile,
every time I did something bad, I would cackle loudly and say, "My name is
Rudeus, bwahahaha!" So they shouldn't have gotten the two mixed up, right?
Hmm. After a whole year of laborious work, it was a bit of shock to
discover people remembered everyone's name but mine. Oh well. It seemed I
had a negative image attached to me, but at least people weren't using my
real name. Besides, Kennel Master wasn't such a bad title. I'd love to put a
collar on Eris and lead her around.
"But he's pretty small."
"Bet he's small down there too, since he's a kid and all!"
"Hey, hey! You start calling it small and he'll set his dogs loose on
you!"
"Gahahaha!"
Before I realized what was happening, they were all laughing at me
over something completely unrelated. Too bad for them, though. I was still
growing (and coming along nicely, at that), so yes, it might be little more
than a bamboo shoot for now. But the day it would grow into a magnificent,
robust tree wasn't far off.
Ah, forget that. If we kept getting laughed at like this, Eris would go
back into demon rage mode…or so I thought. Instead, she kept stealing
glances at me with her cheeks flushed bright red. Aww, how adorable.
"Eris, what's wrong?"
"I-It's nothing!"
Heh heh heh. If you're that interested, then why don't you take a look
while I'm showering tonight? Don't worry, I'll explain everything to Ruijerd.
If you want, we can even get in together. Of course, a hand, leg, body, or
even a tongue might slip in the process…
Anyway, enough joking around. It was time for us to move on to the
checkpoint. I would leave here with every bit of dignity expected of a
"Kennel Master."
"Miss Eris, Mister Ruijerdoria! Let's be on our way!"
"Why do you screw up my name like that…?"
"Hmph!"
We departed with the attention of most of the guild trained on the three
of us.
***
We arrived at the checkpoint. This city was located in the Demon
Continent, but the boat we wanted to board would take us to the Holy Country of Millis. If you were carrying any luggage, you would have to pay
taxes, and entry into the country itself would cost money as well. This was
either to prevent crime or simply an opportunity for profit. My curiosity
aside, we would pay if they said we had to.
"How much would it cost for us? We have two humans and one demon
in our party."
"Two humans would be five steel iron coins. Which demon tribe?"
"Superd."
The checkpoint official jerked their gaze toward Ruijerd with a start.
When they realized he was bald, they let out a heavy sigh, like they were put
upon by just addressing us. "It'll be two hundred green ore coins for the
Superd."
"T-two hundred?!" Now it was my turn to be the one in shock. "Wh-
why is it so high?!"
"I'm sure you already know the answer."
Of course I knew it! I had traveled with Ruijerd for the past year, how
wouldn't I know? There was such contempt toward the Superd tribe that all
its members were groundlessly persecuted. Even so, this fee was too high.
"But why such an impossibly high sum?"
"Don't ask me. Ask the person who decided on it."
I pressed on. "Well, why do you think it's so high?"
"Uh, well, to prevent terrorism, I'm sure, in case someone brings one
along as a slave and sets them loose on the Millis Continent." At least, that
was his interpretation. In other words, they were treating the Superd as if they
were a ticking time bomb.
"You're those guys, Dead End, right? The fake Superd. When you
board, they'll check what subrace you are. Don't act tough and waste two
hundred green ore coins here when they'll figure you out anyway."
The official's words of caution were a blessing in disguise. This meant
we wouldn't be able to pretend Ruijerd was from the Migurd tribe because
we'd be discovered anyway.
"If you lie about your tribe, you don't have to pay a fine, do you?"
"Just the money you wasted by lying about it in the first place." In
other words, as long as we paid the money like he told us, we would be fine.
The power of money was impressive indeed.
***
The sun was already going down by the time we departed from the
checkpoint. We decided to return to the inn and eat. We were provided with
the port city's unique seafood cuisine. The main dish was the size of a fist,
steamed in rice wine with a touch of garlic butter. It was delicious, easily the
best thing I had eaten since we arrived on the Demon Continent.
"This is so good!" Eris said happily as she chewed, her cheeks stuffed
with food.
In this past year she had entirely forgotten the Asura Kingdom's
customary table manners. She cut her food with the knife in her right hand,
then stabbed it and put it straight in her mouth. At least she wasn't shoveling
it in with her fists, but there was nothing graceful or refined about it. Edna,
her etiquette tutor, would surely be reduced to tears if she could see Eris now.
This was also my responsibility.
"Eris, your table manners are awful!"
Munch, munch. "Who the hell's worried about manners?"
In comparison, Ruijerd's manners were much better, although they had
no elegance to them, either. He didn't use his knife at all, but used his fork
both to cut the food and eat. He slid his fork through the fish as easily as if it
were butter. The skills of an expert, no doubt.
"Well, I realize we're still in the midst of our meal, but let's start our
strategy meeting."
"Rudeus, talking during a meal is poor manners," Eris said, suddenly
wearing the expression of a prim and proper lady on her face. We started our meeting once the meal was over and our bellies were
full.
"It's going to cost two hundred green ore for us to cross the sea. A
ridiculous price."
"Sorry. It's because of me." Ruijerd's face clouded over.
Even I never imagined it would cost this much. Frankly, I'd completely
underestimated the fee. I thought that making a little coin along the way
would let us cross the ocean easily. In reality, it was five silver coins for
humans. Even other demon tribes would pay one or two green ore coins at
most. Only the fees for the Superd tribe were abnormally high.
"Now now, let's not say things like that, Pops."
"I'm not your father."
"I know," I said. "It was a joke."
That aside, two hundred coins was no ordinary amount of money. Even
if we prioritized taking on S-ranked and A-ranked jobs, it would take us years
to save up that much. It seemed the Millis Continent really didn't want any
Superd crossing its borders.
"We're in a bind. We can't just leave Ruijerd behind."
Leaving Ruijerd behind would be the quickest way to make the
crossing. The two of us were fairly experienced adventurers by now, so we
could continue our journey even without him. That said, I had no intention of
doing that. Ruijerd was going to be with us until our journey was over. Our
friendship was unbreakable and eternal, after all. "Of course we won't leave
him behind."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"We have…three options," I said, holding up the corresponding
number of fingers. There were always three options for everything. One was
to move forward, one was to go back, and the other was to stay where we
were.
"Ah."
"Amazing, there's three whole options?" Eris asked.
"Heh heh!" I laughed. Now just hold on, I thought. I haven't thought through all of them yet.
Let's see…
"The first option is a frontal attack: we stay here, earn money, and
travel to Millis Continent by paying the fee."
"But if we do that…"
"Yes, it will take way too much time," I agreed.
If we prioritized making money, we might be able to save the required
sum within a year. However, there was no guarantee something wouldn't
happen to it at some point, like us losing our coin purse.
"The second option: we go into a labyrinth and obtain a magic crystal
or magic item. This would be a laborious task, but we might be able to get the
money we need in a single mission." A magic crystal would net a high price.
As for how much exactly, I couldn't say, but if we handed it over to the
official at the checkpoint, he might even let a Superd through.
"A labyrinth! I like the sound of that! Let's do it!"
"No." Ruijerd shot down that plan immediately.
"Why not?!"
Ruijerd could easily detect living creatures with his sixth sense, but the
traps within a labyrinth were probably a different matter.
"I really want to go," Eris said, pouting.
"It's an option, but one I'd rather not go with."
We might be fine if we proceeded with caution, but since I was rather
careless with my feet, we would definitely make a fatal misstep at some
point. It seemed prudent to heed Ruijerd's words on this one.
"The third option: we find a smuggler in this city who can take us."
"A smuggler? What the heck is that?"
"Where country borders are involved, you usually have to pay taxes to
carry things across. That's why we were told to pay a fee. If you're a
merchant, you most likely have to pay taxes on your goods, right?"
"I don't know, do you?"
"Yes, you do," I answered. Otherwise there would be no point in charging a greater fee based on a person's race. "And there are probably
items that cost an insane amount in tax. So there should be someone here who
does that job for a cheaper price, as well as handling illegal goods." Well,
maybe there wasn't. But if there was, then we could surely have them take us
across for a much lower price than two hundred green ore coins. There was
clearly something going on with the fee at the checkpoint. That official told
us we wouldn't be punished even if we lied about Ruijerd's tribe.
Anyway, I had just learned the hard way that the easiest path was the
one riddled with traps. So while I included that as a potential option, I wanted
to avoid doing anything unlawful if possible. For the moment, the three
options that I had come up with were:
The straightforward approach of earning money and paying the fee
Making a killing by dungeon diving in a labyrinth
Striking a deal with a smuggler
None of them were particularly good. Oh, right, there was one more. I
could sell my staff, Aqua Heartia. It had an enormous magic crystal and was
an Asura Kingdom masterwork. That would at least earn enough money for a
member of the Superd race to cross the ocean.
Pros and cons aside, I didn't want to sell it if at all possible. It was a
precious birthday gift from Eris, and I was making good use of it. Eris and
Ruijerd surely wouldn't agree to me letting go of it so easily.
***
That night, a divine message came to me.
The Man-God told me, "Buy some food at a street stall and search the
alleyways by yourself."
Sounds like a real pain in the ass. But since I have no other options,
I'll try to be optimistic and give it a shot.
"So you're doing it because you have no other choice?"
Nah, I just already know what's going to happen since you said the
words "food" and "back alleyway".
"Do you?"
Yeah, pretty cliché, right? Let me guess, I'm going to find some hungry
kid that got lost. And she's going to have some weird guy trying to pick her
up. How's that?
"You're exactly right. Incredible!"
Then that kid turns out to be the grandchild of the leader of the
Shipwrights' Guild or something like that, right?
"Heh heh heh. Save the surprise for tomorrow."
What surprise? There hasn't been a single enjoyable surprise this
entire time. Besides, dude! What the heck? It's been a whole year since you
did this. I even thought I'd never have to see your face again!
"Ah, you see, last time my advice didn't turn out so well for you, did
it? So it was a bit hard for me to show myself again."
Huh! So the Man-God has a little shame after all, I guess. But don't get
the wrong idea, okay? That was my mistake the last time. That said, what was
the correct choice I should have made?
"Well, if you want to use the term 'correct', that's on you. The
'normal' choice would have been to turn that lot into the guards, thereby
solidifying your friendship with Ruijerd."
What? You're telling me the solution was that simple?
"That's right. I never dreamed you would make them your allies and
earn the attention of those conniving small fries in the Adventurers' Guild.
What an entertaining watch it was for me."
Yeah, and I didn't have the least bit of fun.
"But thanks to that, you managed to get this far in a year."
So you're saying the ends justify the means?
"Results mean everything."
Tch, I don't like that.
"You don't, eh? Well, that's up to you. Anyway, you seem to be in a foul mood, so I'll be off."
Wait just a second! There's one thing I want to confirm.
"And that is?"
If I don't think too hard about the advice you give me, does that mean
things will go well?
"It's more entertaining for me if you give it a lot of thought."
Aha, so that's it! That's your game. Now I get it. Thanks for the tip.
Next time it won't be so entertaining for you.
"Heh heh. I look forward to that, too."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course you do.
My consciousness faded as those final words echoed in my head.