In this deal, there was one slight issue. I was not a local, far from being one, in fact, but luckily, Nila had a map of this region on hand which further proved her indispensability in this case. She took it out of her suitcase, which seemed stocked with all kinds of garbage, both potentially useful and absolutely useless. Among other things, I saw coins of different sizes, books with plants and some mice on the covers, as well as a robe, several bones of unknown animals, glass bottles with suspicious liquids, and dried meat. She kept dried meat beside everything else! No wonder the map and seemingly everything inside was so greasy to touch.
"Are you sure you are not some kind of a witch?" I asked.
"Why would you think that?" she tilted her head, her face unperturbed.
I sighed and replied, "Nevermind." Then, I looked at the map that she gave me. From here stemmed another problem: I couldn't read whatever was written here, but I recognized the paths along Wülgenville and the roads to houses on the outskirts that I had pillaged. The skill of reading maps was essential for me whenever I planned my escapes through the streets and sewers or when I had to infiltrate some bigger place like a museum; for that, I would always learn its construction plan. Finally, at least some instance of my knowledge from my home came in handy. I was easily able to pinpoint the vague location of Nila's hut, with the beacon being the cliff I had fallen from earlier.
"So, how is it? Will you be able to find a way out of Schöltum?" she suddenly asked.
I narrowed my brows, raised my eyes at her, and replied, "Do not rush me!"
I further examined the map and noticed how the whole region abruptly ended along a line, with only black lands going further. This must have been the monster realm I had heard about from nearly everyone I interacted with. Up north from that cliff, a little further away from Nila's hut, I could see a village mapped out. To the left and right from the village, there were two big cities; the one on the right was larger than Wülgenville, and the other one was smaller, although nearly the same size. The map did not look too old, which made me believe that all of these locations were still intact. I pointed at the picture of the bigger city and looked at Nila.
"Is this the place where you need to go?"
"Yes, Wiskoschia. It borders the narrowest path through the monster realm and onto the Dlayla region."
She pointed at the dark black lands with something written in big letters, confirming my assumption. I nodded at her explanation, but then wondered, "But would it be possible to travel through any other direction?"
"It certainly would, but that path through Wiskoschia saves time significantly. Moreover, there is a higher possibility of getting lost in the monster realm upon taking liberty in its passage. I surely do not want to be stranded there."
"Is the monster realm really that dangerous?"
Nila shook her head with a smug expression, "Certainly not for me, I am a mage after all. Even you should be safe if your story about slaying the darewolf is real."
"It is real," I said with a stern voice, to which Nila blankly continued, "The main problem comes with the lack of intelligent life along the monster realm. There are no villages, roads, or any kind of infrastructure. Maybe abandoned buildings here and there built by someone delusional enough to try to live at the place like that. If we get stranded in the monster realm, then we won't be seeing civilization for quite a while."
I understood her reasoning and, after finding myself a few times at the brink of death while staying in the wilderness, I nodded slowly. It truly was not worth it, having a new start as a hermit that is. I failed, after all, so I doubted that anyone else would be able to do that in this world.
Afterwards, she pointed at the village nearby and said, "Then how about we move out tomorrow and stop at this village? I am low on supplies, with even everything I managed to forge."
"Doesn't this region work on equal exchange? What are we gonna offer them for supplies?"
"This is simple." She took out her wand as if from thin air. I peeked behind her back to see where she hid it all this time, but then she popped up in my line of sight, "People are prone to seek help from a mage, in the end, it is too convenient."
Well, I was only capable of stealing and destroying. Raising this village to the ground certainly would not be anyhow helpful, only in the case if inhabitants are as bad as the nobles I had slayed... I think those were nobles. Thus, if I had to, then I would certainly do that in order to protect myself. But I must be relatively safe with Nila around; in the end, she seemed to be a better magic user than Michael, whom I killed.
I nodded in agreement to her plan and tried to engrave the whole map into my head for the rest of the day. When the night had fallen upon the forest, Nila increased the intensity of the blue light above the hut. It worked well as a night light, but I really did not like to sleep in the light. It was much easier to flee or fight back against someone in total darkness, when both of our visions were abstracted. But once I asked Nila to turn it down, she only shook her head and said but three words: "We need protection."
I was too tired to enter the debate about it. If she felt like we required it, then so be it. I simply buried myself in the cloak I was wearing, put the twig I had gnawed on under the pillow made of moss, and fell asleep with one eye open as per usual. Nila, however, remained outside, not willing to share the hut with me, which was fine as long as I stayed in comfort.
Through the weariness, I heard her last words pronounced in a gentle manner, "Good night." but no answer came from me.