The eve before we left the Doldia Village, Eris and Minitona had a
fight. It went without saying, I'm sure, but Eris won easily. Of course she did.
She was able to keep up with Ruijerd's training, after all. When the other
person was younger and had no training, they were hardly even an opponent.
It was more like the strong bullying the weak.
I thought I should at least warn Eris about this. I knew she was that
type of person, but she would soon be fourteen. While technically still a
child, fourteen was old enough that she couldn't just indiscriminately punch
another person. But just how was I going to word it?
I had never stopped one of Eris' fights before. Normally I left Ruijerd
to deal with her and her quarrels in the Adventurers' Guild. So what could I
even say at this point? Should I tell her that adventurers and village girls were
different matters?
"N-no, it's Tona's fault," Tersena said in protest.
According to her, now that the rainy season was over, Eris had said she
was going to leave the village and Minitona tried to stop her. Eris was happy
that Minitona wanted her to stay, but she explained why she had to continue
her journey, pointing out that Minitona's request was a selfish one. It was
usually the other way around with Eris.
They continued talking for a while after that. At first the two of them
were calm, but their dispute soon grew heated. Minitona began hurling
insults. Among them were things about Ghislaine and myself. Eris looked
annoyed, but endured it all and replied calmly.
In the end, Minitona threw the first punch. She was the one who tried
to pick a fight with Eris. That took a lot of courage. I gave her props for that.
It was definitely something I couldn't do. Eris didn't back down. As
expected, she mercilessly beat Minitona to a pulp.
"Eris."
"What?!"
I stopped to reconsider the situation. Firstly, Minitona should have
known she would lose the fight, yet she still got heated and started throwing
insults. Even after she got pulverized by Eris, she still wouldn't back down.
The best of adults broke easily when facing Eris. Minitona had to be quite
strong-willed.
"You did hold back, didn't you?" I asked Eris.
"Of course I did," she said, turning from me. In the past, Eris would
never have shown mercy to someone who bared their teeth at her, not even if
they were a child. I knew that especially well.
"Normally you'd be meaner about things, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, well, she's my friend."
When I looked at her, Eris looked ashamed, her lips pushed in a pout.
Hm. It seemed she did regret punching Minitona at least a little. That
was something I'd never seen before. In three months, maybe she'd become a
little bit more of an adult. She was maturing without me even noticing. In that
case there was only one thing to say.
"You'd better make up with her before we leave tomorrow."
"…Don't want to."
Still a child, huh?
***
We were busy preparing for our departure on the last day, so I didn't
meet with the Sacred Beast. Instead I got two visitors in the middle of the
night.
"Ah!" came a small cry accompanied by a loud crash.
Those two sounds were enough to wake me. I got up, aware of how
much I'd lowered my guard lately, and reached for the staff at my side. Our
intruder's aura was too pathetic to be a burglar. Ruijerd would have noticed
one long before they got this far, anyway. That made the intruder's silence all
the more bizarre.
"Tersena, try to be a little more quiet, mew!"
I put down my staff. So that was why Ruijerd said nothing.
"Sorry, Tona, but it's dark."
"If you squint your eyes enough you can see, mew… Ah!"
Another sharp banging sound.
"Tona, are you okay?"
"Owie, mew…"
Perhaps the two of them were trying to whisper, but their voices were
loud enough I could hear them clearly. Just what was their objective?
Money? Fame? Or were they aiming for my body?
Kidding, of course. I knew it was Eris.
"Ah, here, mew?"
"Sniff, sniff… Nope, this doesn't seem to be her."
"Don't worry about it, mew. They're probably sleeping, mew."
The girls stopped in front of my door and I heard a click as they
entered. Cautiously they peeked in and looked around, only to lock eyes with
me as I sat up in my bed.
"Mew…!"
"What's wrong, Tona? Ah…!"
It was Minitona and Tersena. They were each wearing a thin leather
dress with a gap over the rear where their wiggling tails peeked out. This
sleepwear was peculiar to the beastfolk, and it was truly adorable.
I spoke as quietly as I could. "What are you doing here so late at night?
Eris' room is next door."
"S-sorry, mew…" Tona apologized and started to shut the door before
pausing suddenly. "That's right, I haven't thanked you yet, mew."
Huh, T-Tona?
Minitona spoke as if she'd just remembered and slipped inside the
room. Tersena timidly followed her.
"Thank you for saving us, mew. I was told I might've died if you hadn't cast your healing on me, mew."
That was probably true. Her wounds were quite serious. At least severe
enough that I would've been pretty traumatized in her place. I thought her
undaunted attitude was impressive.
"Not a problem," I said.
"Thanks to you, I don't have any scars either, mew." She rolled up the
hem of her dress, revealing her bare, gorgeous legs. It was just dark enough I
couldn't see what was between them. Lady Kishirika, why didn't you have
any demon eyes that could see in the dark?
"Tona, that's improper…!"
"It's not like he hasn't seen it before, so it's fine, mew."
"But Uncle Gyes said that human men have a long mating season, so if
you don't approach them with caution you might get assaulted."
A long mating season? That was a rude thing to say. Not that it was
wrong.
"Besides, if he gets that turned on from looking at my body, then it's a
good way for me to say thanks… mew?! It's cold!"
"That's because you keep holding your dress up!"
At that point, I wasn't even focused on Minitona's legs. A cold sweat
ran down my back as I curled my fingers around the staff that should have
been lying at my side. A vicious, murderous intent oozed from the
neighboring room.
"A-ahem. I'll accept your gratitude. Eris is in the room beside mine, so
go on."
That's right, it didn't matter if she was a child. She shouldn't have
been carelessly showing off her body like that. It would cause real problems
if she were assaulted by some sick old man trying to play doctor, after all.
"Okay. But really, thank you, mew."
"Thank you," Tersena chimed. The two of them bowed and left the
room.
After a few moments I tiptoed across the room and put my ear to the
wall. I could hear Eris' sullen voice in the neighboring room as she said, "What do you want?"
I pictured her in her usual pose, arms folded over her chest. Minitona's
and Tersena's voices were a bit difficult to hear. Or maybe Eris' voice was
just too loud. I listened anxiously, but Eris' voice gradually grew calmer. It
seemed like things would be okay. Relieved, I returned to my bed.
The three girls spent the entire night talking. As for what they talked
about, I had no idea. Minitona and Tersena were far from being masters of
the human tongue. Eris had learned a little of the Beast tongue, but not
enough to hold a conversation. I worried whether they'd really sorted things
out or not, but when it was time to part the next day, Eris held Minitona's
hand and had tears in their eyes when they hugged. It seemed they were able
to make up after all. I was glad.
***
The Holy Sword Highway was a road that went straight through the
Great Forest. Built long ago by the Holy Country of Millis, it was bursting
with mana. Even as the area around it flooded, the highway remained dry and
untouched. Apparently no monster would set foot on it. The three of us would
be using the horse-drawn carriage we'd gotten from the Doldia tribe to travel
down that road, heading south.
The beastfolk prepared everything we could possibly need for our trip.
The carriage, the horse, travel money, and supplies. We could head straight to
the capital of Millis without once returning to Zant Port.
It was time to head out! Or at least it was supposed to be, when for
some reason a monkey-faced man approached us.
"Oh man, this is perfect timing. I was just thinking about going back to
Millis. Let me ride with you guys," Geese said, shamelessly hauling himself
inside.
"Oh, it's you, Geese."
"You're coming along, too?"
The other two didn't sound as annoyed by his appearance as I did.
When I asked if they knew him, their answer showed he'd been gradually warming up to them without me noticing. This included cozying up to Eris,
Minitona, and Tersena, and sharing amusing anecdotes. He'd also joined
Gustav and Ruijerd during their chats, where Geese adjusted his manner to fit
the tone of the conversation. He truly was a smooth talker and skilled at
manipulation. He managed to successfully ingratiate himself with both of
them without me noticing a thing. And the two of them had just welcomed
him so easily. What, were they cheating on me with Geese?!
"All right then, let's get going!" Ruijerd declared as the carriage
lurched into motion.
We waved farewell to the beastfolk who gathered to see us off. It was a
bit moving to see Eris with tears in her eyes as she watched Minitona and the
others.
Still, something heavy weighed on my heart, and it was entirely
Geese's fault. If he wanted to tag along, he should have said so in the first
place. There was no need for him to act so shady and sneak around behind
my back. I wouldn't have refused him if he'd flat-out asked me. After we'd
eaten the same food and picked off each other's fleas, it felt distancing.
"Hey, hey, boss. Don't glare at me like that. We're friends, right?"
Geese must have noticed the disgruntled look I no doubt had as we sat
in the coach, blazing down the road at an impressive speed. He grinned at me
and leaned close to my ear.
"Might not look it, but I have confidence in my skills as a cook, just
you watch!"
He had a charming face, and he wasn't a bad guy, either. Still, ever
since the incident with Gallus, I had a lingering sense that there was
something darker behind all of that.
"Rudeus."
"Yes, Mister Ruijerd?"
"Who cares if he tags along?" he said.
"Master Ruijerd!" Geese exclaimed. "I knew you would understand!
Ahh, it just confirms what I already thought about you. You truly are a man
among men!"
"Are you sure about this, Mister Ruijerd?" I asked. "This man is one of those criminals that you loathe so much."
"He doesn't look that bad to me."
I had no idea what Ruijerd's metric for measuring that was. Geese
coming along was fine, but Ruijerd's double standards were bad. No, perhaps
this was all a result of Geese's smooth talk with him. The monkey bastard
sure had done a good job.
"Heh heh. I do gamble, but I don't think I've ever done anything truly
contemptible to another person. Master Ruijerd, you have a good eye for
people."
Frankly, I did owe this man a debt. He gave me his vest when I was
cold, and he helped me out during the fight with Gallus, too. I wasn't sure
what he was planning, but I had no reason to turn him away. I was just a bit
irritated at his roundabout methods, that was all.
"I don't mind if you come with us, newbie. But are you sure you're not
scared of a Superd?" I spoke loud enough that Ruijerd could hear. I wasn't
sure yet if he knew the fact that Ruijerd was a Superd, but if he partook in
their drinking festivities, he may very well have heard. I just didn't want him
to find out later and complain about how terrifying it was being with a
Superd.
"Of course. Did you think I wouldn't be? I am a demon, after all. I've
been hearing about how scary the Superd are ever since I was a kid."
"Oh really? You know, Ruijerd may not look it right now, but he's a
Superd."
When Geese heard that, he narrowed his eyes. "That's different. He
saved my life."
Curious as to what that meant, I turned my gaze to Ruijerd, but he only
shook his head as if he had no idea what Geese was talking about. At the very
least, it wasn't something that had occurred within these last three months.
"Guess you don't remember, huh? Well, it was thirty years ago, after
all."
Geese then launched into an explanation. It was an epic story that
included an initial meeting, a parting, a climax, and a love scene. When an
incredibly handsome hard-boiled hero said he was going to set out on a journey, hundreds of women pleaded with him to not go. He set out from his
hometown despite his lingering attachments to it and encountered a
mysterious beauty when he arrived at his destination.
To summarize what would otherwise be a long tale, when Geese was
still a novice adventurer, Ruijerd stepped in to save him when he was
attacked and nearly killed by a monster.
"Well, it was thirty years ago. I don't particularly feel like I owe him
for it or anything," Geese said. The Superd tribe was scary, but Ruijerd was
different, the monkey-faced newbie said with a laugh.
Ruijerd relaxed when he heard that. I felt like I understood the meaning
of the word karma after hearing that story. Good for you, Ruijerd, I thought.
"Well, I hope you'll let me stay with you for a while, Senpai~☆"
And that was how Dead End gained a new member in the form of a
monkey-faced— Hang on now, he wasn't a new member. He was only
staying with us until we reached the next city, I reminded myself. Geese
claimed that he was jinxed—whenever he was in a party of four, something
terrible happened. I had no words for how he managed to get thrown into a
cell with me despite purposefully avoiding that jinx. In any case, it was fine if
he wasn't going to join our party.
That was how we set off on our journey with an extra traveler
accompanying us.
***
The carriage carried us along on a nonstop path that cut through the
Great Forest. It really was a straight road, one that stretched unbroken into
the horizon, continuing all the way to the Holy Country's capital. There
wasn't a single monster, and water drained right off the road.
I was suspicious about how such a path came to be, but Geese
explained for me. This highway was created by Saint Millis, the founder of
the Millis faith, the biggest religious denomination in the world. With a
single swipe of their sword, Saint Millis cut the mountains and the forests in
half, splitting a demon king on the Demon Continent into two. The road was named the Holy Sword Highway with that story in mind.
As much as I wanted to skeptically dismiss the story, Saint Millis'
mana still remained. The fact that we had encountered no monsters thus far
was proof of that. The carriage hadn't gotten stuck in any mud, either. We
were sailing along smoothly. It was nothing short of a miracle.
I could understand now why their religion held so much power. At the
same time, I feared the possible negative impact that much mana could have
on the body. Mana was a useful thing, but an abundance of it could be
terrifying. It could also do terrible things, like twist animals into monsters
and transport children from the Central Continent to the Demon Continent.
Although in this case, not being attacked by monsters did make our journey
easier.
There were fixed intervals along the highway where you could make
camp. It was there that we spent our nights. Ruijerd would hunt down
something in the forest for dinner, so we had no shortage of food.
Occasionally beastfolk from a nearby settlement would come to sell their
goods, but we had no need for additional food supplies.
There was also a great abundance of plants, as expected of a forest.
Flowers that could be used as spices grew aplenty on the roadside. I used
what I learned from the Plant Encyclopedia I read when I was a kid, and
gathered some ingredients to season our food. I wasn't a very skilled cook,
but I'd improved somewhat in the past year, albeit only going as far from
terrible to less awful.
The Great Forest provided much higher quality ingredients than the
Demon Continent did. Not just in terms of beasts, but normal animals as well.
The rabbits and boars tasted delicious enough roasted without seasonings, but
that wasn't good enough for me. Since we had the ingredients readily
available, I wanted to eat more scrumptious dishes. I was greedy as ever in
my quest for good food.
That was where Geese came in. Just as he'd professed, he was a master
at cooking outdoors. It was like sorcery the way he took the nuts and wild
grass I collected and turned them into seasoning, injecting the most
delectable flavors into our food.
"I told ya. I can do anything!"
It wasn't empty boasting, either. The meat really was delicious.
"Amazing; hold me!" I threw my arms around him without thinking it
through. Geese was disgusted by it. I was disgusted by it. Our feelings were
mutual.
***
"I'm bored," Eris muttered as we were preparing our daily meal as
usual.
Ingredient Collector: Ruijerd
Fire and Water Producer: Me
Cook: Geese
Our job assignment was so on point that there was nothing for Eris to
do except collect firewood, but she finished that quickly enough. As such, she
was bored.
At first Eris would just silently train with her sword. After being forced
into repetitive drills by Ghislaine and myself, she could go on swinging her
sword for hours. That didn't mean she found it fun, though.
Currently Ruijerd was out hunting, Geese was boiling soup, and I'd
settled down to continue working on my figurine. This 1/10th-sized Ruijerd
figure was taking quite a bit of time to complete, but I was sure I could sell it.
I'd add options to it to increase its value as well. Using this figure, I would
show people that the Superd were not to be attacked and instead could be
befriended.
That aside, Eris was finding her boredom unmanageable.
"Hey, Geese!"
"What's wrong, Miss? Food's not ready yet." He took a test sip of the
soup before glancing back at her.
Eris was standing in her usual pose, arms crossed and legs spread apart.
"Teach me how to cook!"
"I'll pass." His reply was instant. Geese returned to cooking as if their conversation had never happened.
Eris looked dumbfounded for a moment, but she recovered quickly and
yelled, "Why not?!"
"'Cause I don't want to."
"So, why not?!"
Geese let out a big sigh. "Okay, Miss. All a swordsperson needs to
think about is fighting. Cooking is a waste of time. All you gotta do is eat."
This was a man whose culinary skills went beyond his "just eat"
mentality. He could open his own restaurant. He wasn't so good that it would
make a certain gourmet king's jaw drop and have a beam of light shooting
out of his mouth, but he was at least good enough that his restaurant would be
moderately popular in its neighborhood.
"But, if I could cook…um…well, you know, right?" She hesitated to
explain, stealing glances in my direction.
What is it, Eris? What do you want to say? Heh heh, go ahead and say
it, I inwardly goaded her.
"Nope, no clue." Geese was being cold to her. I wasn't sure why, but
he was being unusually harsh. He wasn't that way toward Ruijerd or myself,
but he always sounded detached when he interacted with Eris. "You're
skilled at the sword, aren't you? You don't need to know how to cook."
"But—"
"Being able to fight is a wonderful thing, you know? If you want to
live in this world, there's nothing more essential than that. Don't waste your
talent."
Eris' face turned sullen, but she didn't try to punch Geese. There was
something strangely persuasive about what he said.
"That's my official reason." Geese nodded to himself and stopped
stirring the pot. He then began filling the stone bowls I'd made. "See, I
decided I'd never teach someone to cook ever again."
Geese had been in a dungeon diving party before. It was a party of six,
an unskilled bunch who, unlike Geese, had only one role they could fulfill. At
the time Geese had a habit of complaining, "You guys seriously can't do
anything else?" Their party was unconventional, but effective at getting
things done.
However, one day, a woman in the party approached Geese and said she wanted to learn how to cook. She wanted to go after one of the men in the
party. Clearly the saying "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach"
existed in this world, too. Geese responded with "Sure, I guess, why not?"
and began teaching her.
It was unclear if the cooking had anything to do with what happened
after, but the woman did get with the man and the two later married. Then
they left the party and went off somewhere. That was fine, said Geese. There
was a quarrel when the two left, but them leaving wasn't a problem.
It was what happened afterward that was horrible. When the two most
important people left, the party fell to pieces. It became a maelstrom of
squabbles and apathy, so much so that they couldn't undertake missions
anymore and soon disbanded entirely.
Geese, however, was a man who could do anything. He had no talent
for the sword or magic, but he could do everything else. That's why he
thought he'd find a new party immediately. But that endeavor turned out to
be an overwhelming failure. At the time, he was a somewhat well-known
adventurer, yet no party would pick him up.
Geese could do anything. Anything any other adventurer could do.
That was the problem, in other words. Other people could also do the things
he could. If a party was highly ranked, they would split those menial tasks
among their own members.
That's when Geese realized that the party he was in before was the
only place he belonged. He was only who he was because they were all so
unskilled. After that, Geese prematurely ended his career as an adventurer.
Now he lived by gambling.
"And that's why I refuse to teach women how to cook."
Yet another jinx to add to his name. Although if you asked me, Geese's
"jinxes" were a load of garbage. I saw no problem with him teaching her how
to cook. This soup was delicious. One sip and jazz music started playing in
your mouth. It was good enough that I wanted him to teach me too, so I
jumped in to help.
"I understand you had something terrible happen to you, newbie, but
that woman you helped found her happiness, didn't she?" I asked, with the
added nuance of So why don't you go ahead and teach Eris? Geese shook his head. "I don't know if she did or not. Never saw her
after that." Then he let out a self-deprecating laugh. "But the man did not turn
out happy."
Perhaps that was the reason for the jinx, then. I couldn't say anything
after that, not after seeing the depressed look on Geese's face. The soup,
which should have been delicious, suddenly didn't taste so great anymore.
I wondered just how much longer it would be before Ruijerd got back.
***
One day I found a curious stone monument on the roadside where we
stopped to rest. It came up to my knees and had a strange pattern on its face.
A single character was inscribed there, with seven motifs surrounding it. I
was pretty sure the character was the word "seven" in Fighting God tongue.
As for the other patterns, I felt like I might have seen them before.
I decided to ask Geese. "Hey, newbie, what's this monument here?"
He looked and nodded in recognition. "That's the Seven Great
Powers."
"The Seven Great Powers?" I echoed.
"It refers to the strongest people in this world—seven warriors."
The story went that when the second Great Human-Demon War ended,
a person known as the Technique God came up with that name. At the time,
the Technique God was considered to be one of the strongest people in the
world. They selected seven people (themself included) and declared those
people to be the strongest in the world. This monument was a way to
immortalize who those people were.
"I believe Master Ruijerd knows more about it. Master Ruijerd!"
Geese called out and Ruijerd, who had been training nearby with Eris,
came over. Eris fell back onto the ground with her legs and arms spread wide,
trying to steady her breathing.
"'The Seven Great Powers', huh? Brings back memories." His eyes
narrowed as he examined the monument.
"So you know about this?" I asked.
"I trained hard when I was young so one day one of the 'Seven Great
Powers' would take me as a student." Ruijerd looked off into the distance as
he spoke. Very, very far off… Wait, just how far back into the past was he
looking, anyway?
"What's that pattern?"
"These are the motifs for each individual. They're pointing out the
current seven names." Ruijerd motioned to each one and told me their names.
The current seven were (in order of hierarchy):
Number One - Technique God
Number Two - Dragon God
Number Three - Fighting God
Number Four - Demon God
Number Five - Death God
Number Six - Sword God
Number Seven - North God
"Hmm. But I've never even heard of the Seven Great Powers before." I
said.
"The title was well known until Laplace's War."
"Why has it fallen out of use?"
Ruijerd explained. "Laplace's War brought about great change. Half of
those listed went missing."
Apparently, with the exception of the Technique God, the Seven Great
Powers had all participated in Laplace's War. Among them, three were killed,
one went missing, and another was sealed away. The only one who made it
out in one piece at that time was the Dragon God. After several hundred
years, with those at the bottom swapping spots for the strongest, the phrase
fell out of use. Currently, the whereabouts of the four at the top were
unknown.
TECHNIQUE GOD: Missing
DRAGON GOD: Missing
FIGHTING GOD: Missing
DEMON GOD: Sealed Away
It wasn't much of a ranking system when those confirmed to be the
strongest were absent. That was why the title 'Seven Great Powers' fell out of
use and faded from people's memories…or so it seemed. Incidentally, the
reason the Demon God hadn't been removed from this ranking because he
wasn't dead; he'd merely been sealed away.
"I wonder how many people from that time period are still alive?"
"Who knows," Ruijerd said. "Even four hundred years ago, people
doubted whether the Technique God even really existed at all."
"Why did the Technique God create this list in the first place?" I asked.
"Hard to say. It was said they created it so they could find people
capable of defeating them, but I don't know."
Almost like the Fukamichi Rankings.
"Well, this monument is pretty old, so maybe the actual rankings have
changed anyway," I muttered.
Geese shook his head. "I heard that monument changes by itself
through magic."
"Huh? Really, it does? What kind of magic?"
"As if I'd know."
So apparently the monument updated the ranking display on its own. I
wondered how it did it. There was still so much magic in this world that I was
unfamiliar with. I wondered if I would learn more about those types of magic
by going to the University.
That aside, the Seven Great Powers, huh? Here I thought the world
already had enough ridiculously strong people. It looked like I really couldn't
keep up with the best of them. Not that I was aiming to be one of the
strongest in the world, in particular. In fact, I decided it was best I didn't preoccupy myself with thoughts of that.
It took us a month to make our way out of the Great Forest. But that
was it—just one month and we were out. It was a completely straight road
without a single monster. That's why we were able to devote our time
entirely to travel.
That was one reason, at least. The other was because our horses were
highly efficient. The horses of this world had an insane amount of stamina.
They could run for ten hours in one day without rest, then nonchalantly do it
again the next day. Perhaps they were using some kind of magic, but either
way we made it smoothly out of the forest.
As for accidents, the only one we had during our journey was me
getting hemorrhoids. Of course I didn't tell anyone, and secretly cured them
with healing magic.
Eris spent her time standing on top of the carriage, claiming that it was
part of her training. I told her to stop because it was dangerous, but she only
huffed back that it wasn't, it was for balance training. I tried to do the same,
but my legs and hips were trembling in agony the next day. It gave me a new
respect for Eris.
Just past the Blue Wyrm Mountains, there was a rest station nestled in
a small city at the entrance to a valley. It was run by dwarves. There was no
Adventurers' Guild. It was famously known as a smithing city with
weaponsmiths and armorers lined up side-by-side.
Geese told me the swords sold here were cheap and of good quality.
Eris looked wistful, but we didn't have the extra money to spend on anything.
Besides, it would no doubt cost a pretty penny to take a Superd with us from
Millis to the Central Continent. I persuaded Eris against buying something on
the grounds that we couldn't afford unnecessary spending. The sword she
was using right now wasn't bad, anyway.
Still, I was a man. It didn't matter how old I was internally, seeing
sturdy swords and armor lined up like that still made my heart race, though
my age (and appearance) did seem to matter to a salesclerk who laughed me
off, saying, "I don't think these would suit you, kid." He was surprised to learn afterward that I was actually intermediate rank in the Sword God Style.
Well, we didn't have the money anyway, so I was really just browsing.
According to Geese, this was where the road diverged. If you took the
mountain path to the east, you would find a large dwarf town. To the
northeast were the elves, and to the northwest was the vast land the halflings
inhabited. Perhaps the lack of an Adventurers' Guild in this town was an
issue of location.
Also, apparently if you entered the mountains there was a hot spring. A
hot spring! Now that was something that caught my interest.
"What the heck is a 'hot spring'?" Eris demanded.
"Hot water comes rising out of the mountain," I explained. "It feels
really good to bathe in."
"Yeah? That sounds interesting. But Rudeus, isn't it your first time
coming here? Why do you know that?"
"I-I read it in a book."
Was that written in the Wandering the World guidebook? I somehow
felt like it wasn't. Still, a hot spring. That sounded nice. Though surely this
world didn't have yukata. Still, imagining Eris with her wet hair and her
peachy skin, spacing out as she submerged herself in the warm water…
No, it probably wasn't a mixed facility anyway. I mean, right? But on
the off chance it was a mixed facility, then how amazing would that be? Now
I really did want to check it out.
As I was busy debating the issue in my head, Geese made his
opposition known. "The rainy season just ended, so it's a mess right now in
the mountains." It would take too much time for us to make our way up there
since we were unused to traversing the mountains.
And so, I gave up going to the hot spring. What a bummer.
***
The Holy Sword Highway was stretched across the Blue Wyrm
mountains. Its path cleaved the mountain range in two, creating a space just wide enough for two horse-pulled carriages to make their way past one
another. It was a ravine, but thanks to the divine protection of Saint Millis,
rocks rarely came falling from above. If this path didn't exist, we would've
had to take a more indirect path by traveling north.
Although blue dragons were a rare encounter in the mountains, there
were still many monsters. Trying to pass through the range presented a
considerable danger. Instead, Millis had created a shortcut straight through
where monsters wouldn't appear. I could see why this saint had been so
highly praised.
We made it through the valley in three days, completing our long,
arduous journey out of the Great Forest. Straight from there was the Holy
Country of Millis. We had finally returned to the domain of men, a fact
which made my heart leap as I continued my journey.