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TL: ALT
Chapter 76 – Day 21 of Exploration
It’s still cold.
The three of us were camping in the desert, sitting around a campfire, but before we knew it, the fire had gone out. It was because I, who was on fire watch, hadn’t added any more wood to the fire. There was no wood in the desert, so there was nothing I could do.
“It’s cold!”
“It’s cold!”
“Yes, it’s cold in the desert in the morning. You know that, right?”
I spent the night in the desert with Chel and Hel, who had been banished from the cave. I chose the desert because if we slept in the forest, there was a chance we would be turned to stone or buried underground before we knew it.
On the second day, I made sure to prepare firewood and smoked meat…?
“Hey, where’s the smoked meat I made yesterday? Did you eat it?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“There’s no way I would have stolen it.”
I don’t trust either of them, but if it’s just gone naturally, then the food situation on our desert expedition is in jeopardy.
“No, I understand. I won’t be angry if you eat it, so tell me the truth. Did you eat the smoked meat?”
“I didn’t eat it!”
“I really didn’t eat it! What do you think of me, Makyo?”
“That would be a problem. One of you must have eaten it. When we travel through the desert, we have to lock up all our food, don’t we?”
“T-That’s right! But I didn’t eat it.”
“I understand, but without any evidence or proof, there’s nothing we can do. I didn’t eat it. All I can do is ask you to trust me.”
Neither Chel nor Hel seems to be lying.
However, if this is the case, the only question is who and how.
“We must experiment and solve the mystery of the food’s disappearance. This is a troublesome desert.”
Wrapping the ice weasel’s fur around the shoiko, we quickly made our way into the forest. This time, we didn’t make any detours on the way back. This was partly because Hel knew a spell that would keep us from getting lost.
Jennifer was lying on the ground in front of the cave, covered in blood.
“We shouldn’t have let them get together!”
Hel hurriedly sprinkled some healing potion on her, and Chel healed her wounds with healing magic. It looked like she’d been hit with a rather heavy blunt object, but thanks to her high natural defense and the fact that the attack had missed her vital points, she wasn’t in danger of dying.
“Where’s Sylvia?”
I’m more worried about Sylvia, who might have caused the injury, than Jennifer, who was injured. Jennifer has used mental magic on Sylvia before, so I can’t help but wonder if she’s done something again.
“Looks like she’s not in the cave.”
“She’s in the swamp.”
Sylvia was sitting on the edge of the swamp, looking miserable.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
She was shaking, her arms crossed.
“I-I-I’m sorry.”
“Before you apologize, tell me what happened. Was there a situation?”
I rubbed Sylvia’s back, who was on the verge of crying, and decided to listen to her story slowly.
“L-L-Last night…”
After we left for the desert, Jennifer started to drink the remaining alcohol bit by bit. When she was drunk, she started making advances to Sylvia, who was making shoes, saying things like “your skin is so smooth” and “it’s great to be from a noble family,” and finally, she bit her arm and said, “give me the blood of the vampire clan!”
“I-I-I hit her with my shoe without thinking, and then…”
She said the words she didn’t want to remember and hit her.
“I see. Then Sylvia didn’t do anything wrong.”
I treated Sylvia’s arm with a healing potion, calmed her down, and took her to the cave.
I asked Sylvia to sleep in her room and explained the situation to Chel and Hel. I tied up Jennifer, who still hadn’t woken up, with a rope and hung her from a tree.
“As Lord of the demonic land, I must decide what to do with Jennifer.”
“First, she’s banished from the cave.”
“And she’s also forbidden to approach Sylvia.”
Chel and Hel also thought that Jennifer should be punished.
“I’m thinking of banishing her from the demonic land.”
When I said this, Chel and Hel’s faces turned sour. They were companions who had spent time together in the demonic land, but I could not overlook the discriminatory remarks and the attack on Sylvia. Sylvia’s attack could also be called self-defense.
“But we’ve also done bad things. That’s why we’re banned from the cave.”
“Still, you haven’t done anything to hurt your friends. I think that’s reason enough to banish her.”
I’ll argue with a heart of stone and get Jennifer expelled. If there is a reason to keep Jennifer, I’ll accept it.
“But I think the demonic land will come to a standstill without Jennifer.”
Hel began to speak as if she had read my thoughts.
“Thanks to Jennifer’s management of things, we never run out of food. She also takes care of all the supplies, baskets, medicine, and preserved food, and she also helps maintain the weapons and armor that Sylvia makes. It’s also true that she is an indispensable member of the current demonic land.”
“Jennifer plays the role of a clown, so the atmosphere is good. I also think that Jennifer is necessary for the demonic land.”
“I can understand that. It probably has something to do with the fact that she feels inferior because she’s the only one who’s been a commoner all her life. But has anyone made fun of Jennifer for that?”
Chel and Hel shook their heads. No one is proud of being a noble, and no one makes fun of someone for being a commoner. Except for me, everyone has given up their noble titles.
“She got drunk and lost her self-control and probably said things she normally wouldn’t have. That’s her problem. I think it’s okay to banish her from the demonic land until she gets better…”
I let out a big breath. Chel and Hel both held their heads and let out a breath. It looks like there won’t be any objections.
“That’s the conclusion of the petty criminals of the demonic land, but what do you think, Sylvia, who hasn’t done anything wrong at the moment?”
Sylvia had snuck out of her room and was listening to our conversation in the corner of the cave. I could see her, but Chel and Hel couldn’t, so they turned around in surprise.
“Eh? Huh? How did I get here?”
While we were waiting for Sylvia to speak, Jennifer, who was hanging from the tree, woke up.
No one was answering Jennifer’s questions.
“What did I do? I… I did something terrible to Sylvia-san, didn’t I?”
Jennifer tried desperately to remember what had happened last night.
“No, that’s not it… No, it is… I said terrible things to Sylvia-san, and I did something I should never have done. Makyo-san, please execute me! I’m a despicable, cowardly, cunning woman! I’m stupid, a total idiot, and yet I made fun of everyone else! Even though I’m stupid myself! I can’t be helped! Please make me disappear from this world!”
Jennifer’s voice faded into the cloudy sky. Liquid dripped from every hole in her face.
“Jennifer, you have no right to decide that.”
I said calmly and clearly.
“Sylvia, I am asking you, the only one allowed to live in the demonic land cave. What shall we do with Jennifer?”
“I-I-I’m grateful for all the help she’s given me so far. B-b-but to be honest, I don’t want to see Jennifer’s face for a while. I-I-I know she’s necessary for the demonic land, and I-I-I want her to stay in the demonic land, no matter what my true feelings are. I-I-I don’t know!”
It seems that Sylvia’s feelings are confused.
“As the Lord, I will punish Jennifer.”
The bonfire crackled and burst into flames.
“She will be banished to the desert sky island! There, she will be made to reflect for a while.”
My voice echoed through the demonic land.
“No objections!”
“No objections!”
“N-n-no objections!”
“Since there are no objections from the victim, please make preparations quickly and carry out the sentence.”
I think it’s a lenient punishment, but I also want to give her a chance to redeem herself. The sky island is also in the demonic land, so she won’t be able to return so easily. I think this is a good compromise.
Jennifer had a gag in her mouth to prevent her from hurting herself, but she was stunned at first and didn’t have the strength to do anything.
“Well, since we’re taking Jennifer there, Chel, let’s just go ahead and try to cross the desert. We’ll leave for the Birdman country tomorrow morning. If we think it’s dangerous, we’ll come back. We don’t expect to make it on the first try anyway!”
“Eh? Why? That’s not fair!”
Even as she said this, Chel turned over the shell of the haze turtle and began to prepare.
“Sylvia and Hel will also have to protect the cave from the monsters on your own, so today, I want to discuss with the two of you the most efficient way to defeat the monsters and where to escape.”
“Understood.”
“U-u-understood!”
While we’re gone, I want you to forget about strengths and weaknesses and focus on using the paralysis staff to stun the monsters or the sleeping flower or egg mushroom to stop them in their tracks and finish them off. Of course, we’re also going to make a lot of traps.
I’ve drawn a map and taught them about the military facility outside the demonic land, the golden bat cave, and the old well in the north as places to escape to in case of the appearance of the giant magical beast or other unexpected circumstances. We’ll go to these places as often as possible to check the locations.
Our journey across the desert is about to begin due to unexpected circumstances.
“This is really annoying!”
“No matter how much you prepare, unexpected things will happen. Now that we’ve learned that, let’s try our best not to die. Haven’t we always lived like this in the demonic land?”
“I won’t be fooled! I won’t be fooled by Makyo!”
Chel sulked.
I, along with Hel and Sylvia, set out to do some basic monster hunting in the demonic land.
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