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TL: ALT
Chapter 80 – Day 25 of Exploration
“Hihihihihi!”
I woke up to Chel’s laughter.
A swarm of slime that had come out of the stream was clinging to my body and sucking up my magic power.
“Hey, don’t suck it!”
I forcefully pulled out the core of the slime and dealt with them one by one.
“What a way to wake up. Where’s Lipa?”
“He’s stretched out. Didn’t you try to save him, Makyo?”
Lipa lies next to me. It seems that the slime sucked up his magic, and he ran out of magic. For the time being, I’ve let him hold the magic stone I took out of the slime.
“Is the bread toasted?”
“It is.”
I stuck some dried meat into the hole in the round bread and made it into breakfast.
“I wonder if we can’t take the haze turtle shell into town?”
Judging by Lipa’s reaction yesterday, it didn’t seem to be used much as a bag. I’d never seen such a bag when I lived in the city.
“Why don’t we just take as much as we can carry in shoukos and trade it around bit by bit?”
“Then, should we bury the shell? It might get stolen.”
“I don’t think anyone would steal it. We’ve already hunted quite a few monsters around here.”
Yesterday, after we heard about Lipa, we hunted the monsters around here. It was much easier because the plants didn’t attack us.
Also, unlike the demonic land, the monsters’ attacks were easy to understand. Poisonous snakes that bite, eagles that scratch and wild boars that charge at you all came at you at a slow pace.
The lack of tension was so great that I almost grabbed them and took care of them. Even the black panther-like leopard monster would roll on the ground and scream “Pigaaa” if you grabbed its nose. I let Lipa finish off the monsters that wouldn’t die even if I grabbed them.
“Lipa is weak anyway, so it’s better to learn how to kill everything.”
Chel acted as an instructor, teaching him everything from how to move his body to how to use magic, but Lipa didn’t understand anything, like a doll.
“Lipa’s memory capacity is low.”
“But he did everything you told him.”
I tried it by having him hold a wooden stick and saying, “Try swinging it around,” and he did it for about two hours. After that, I put some potion on his arm that had stopped working.
“If that’s what it takes to survive, then fine.”
“Let him carry some of our stuff and show us the way. Maybe he’ll get stronger.”
“Yeah, hey, Lipa, wake up!”
After breakfast, the three of us made a shoiko out of tree branches and vines and tied up the goods we were trading—honey from the honey ants, smoked crocodile meat, and crocodile skin.
“Are you going to carry so much?”
“Yes, Lipa will have to carry some of it too.”
“Y-yes!”
Even though I said it was only a little, I made him carry as much as he could.
“I can’t do it! It’s too heavy! I can’t move!”
After making him take about three steps, it seemed as if he had really reached his limit, and Lipa collapsed. Chel healed him with a healing spell and said, “Let’s give him another chance,” so I stopped.
We adjusted the load on the shoiko and started again. We walked very slowly, keeping up with Lipa. We continued down the creek. We heard that if we made it to the road, we could get a ride on a carriage.
It seems that the Cliff Garuda’s distribution is well developed, with carriage roads crisscrossing the country and airships in the air. It is said that they also trade with the demon country to the east.
“So there are demons as well?”
Chel asked.
“There are a few of them.”
“That means my disguise was useless.”
Chel took off her disguise.
“You’re from the demon country, but you didn’t know that?”
“No, I didn’t. I think it’s probably just the families on the western side doing their own secret trade.”
Secret trade between the western side of the demon country and the eastern side of Cliff Garuda. I wonder if they have secret deals with the demonic land as well.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve come out onto a pond!”
Lipa, who was leading the way, pointed ahead.
“There is bound to be a pond in the forest, right?”
“I’m talking about not hitting the road. We can go around the pond and look for side streams. If there aren’t any, we can just go south for now.”
Chel explained to Lipa.
“Yes!”
Lipa started to move around the pond.
“You know so much, Chel.”
“More than Makyo.”
“Well, as long as you use a spell to keep us from getting lost, I think we’ll be okay. I mean…”
When I said that, Chel was silent for a moment, then pointed and said, “The path is 300 paces south from here.” She didn’t seem to have used the spell.
“Yes, 300 steps south! I’m on my way!”
Lipa ignored the pond and dove into the bushes.
“Makyo, could you have told me sooner?”
“You mean the magic? I thought you didn’t use it for Lipa’s sake.”
“Hah~.
When there are three people, you have to be careful. Chel cut through the bushes with magic, and I cut through with a knife.
“Hyiii!”
Lipa jumped out of the bushes.
“What happened?”
“There’s a hole! There’s a snake hole!”
His face was pale, but he didn’t seem to be hurt.
“You weren’t bitten, were you?”
“No, I wasn’t bitten!”
Anyway, we cut through the bushes and went to the scene, where we saw countless black snakes writhing in a pit-like hole.
“These are the snakes used for curses. They’re proof that we’re getting close to inhabited areas.”
Saying this, Chel cut through the bushes with magic and continued.
“I-is that okay?”
Lipa asked, looking into the hole.
“I think it’s fine. Look, the branches and leaves from the bush we cut are in the hole, so the snakes will come out soon. People who try to put a curse on you aren’t good people.”
I quickly move on.
“It’s a road! It’s all cobblestones!”
An excited Chel jumps up and down on the street. Indeed, as far as the eye can see, it’s all cobblestones with no broken pieces.
“Why is it so nicely paved?”
“The adventurers ride in the carriage. If it breaks, they fix it with earth magic.”
It seems that the road system is well-developed. This is what happens in a country with a well-developed distribution.
“If we go east like this, I’ll get caught and thrown off the cliff again, so why don’t we go west? I think the carriage is coming soon.”
Lipa says, so we go west for now.
A wind blows through the forest, carrying the scent of wild beasts. The monsters are probably spying on us. In the distance, we can see fields, and behind them, eagle-like monsters are targeting grazing cows.
What a peaceful scene.
“The monsters don’t seem to attack much.”
“Are there monsters here?!”
Lipa is surprised and comes over to my side.
“I don’t know if they’re hungry or afraid of being attacked first, but it’s a world of difference from the demonic land.”
As we walk on, a carriage comes up behind us, making a clattering noise.
“Hey, Makyo-san, it’s them! Let’s go over and talk to them! Excuse me! Can you give us a ride?”
Lipa shouted at the top of his voice, and the carriage slowly stopped. On the open back of the carriage were about four people who looked like adventurers. They all had small faces and large eyes. They must be birdmen.
“Are you peddlers?”
The coachman asked.
“Yes, please. Could you take us to the next town?”
“No problem…”
Do I have any money? I hardly ever use it in the demonic land, but when I became a noble, I was given some gold coins.
“I don’t mind taking magic stones as well.”
The coachman said as I searched my pockets.
“Is this okay?”
These are the magic stones I took from the monsters that attacked us last night. They’re about the size of a walnut, so they probably won’t be very effective.
“That is good! That’s the one! Please, give it to me!”
He was so insistent that I handed over the magic stone and climbed into the back of the carriage. The other adventurers who were already in the back looked at me quizzically.
“Where did you get the magic stone?”
It seems that the adventurers are curious about the source of magic stones.
“I found it in the forest.”
I gave a random answer.
“The forest, you mean, the forest that stretches to the south?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“You’re a peddler, but how did you not die going into that forest?”
“It’s not as easy to die as you think. You should try it.”
“We know how scary that forest is, so we couldn’t do that. All I can say is that you were lucky.”
“So we were lucky. Is there a shop in the town ahead that deals in trade goods?”
“Trade goods? Ah, the demon tribe…”
One of the adventurers looked at Chel and said.
“If you’re looking for trade goods, you should go to the capital in the east. The city in the west is full of local specialties and magic stones. There’s also a flight training area.”
“So the bird people can really fly?”
“Hmm? Where did you come from? Have you seen any airships? Or any messengers riding on broomsticks or carpets?”
“It seems that these people came to Cliff Garuda by ship.”
Lipa hastily made excuses. People usually come to Cliff Garuda by airship or something. If they can fly, I wish they would come to the demonic land as well.
“I heard there was a long staircase on the western wharf, but you must be very strong.”
When the adventurer said this, Chel let out a “pfft.”
“Were you attacked by any monsters on the cliff?”
“I heard that seabird monsters live there, but did you bring some pretty skilled guards?”
The other adventurers also seemed interested and asked.
“This guy is a demon.”
When Chel grinned, the adventurers fell silent.
“We’re almost there!”
After a while, the carriage ride came to an end, and we found ourselves in a city with large buildings lining the streets. All the buildings were at least three stories high and made of stone, so they looked very solid. It was as if a city had suddenly appeared in the middle of a rural area. Looking up in the sky, we could see delivery men flying on brooms and carpets, and on top of a hill was a tall, thin tower that looked like a lighthouse, with airships coming and going.
It seemed more civilized than the capital of the Kingdom of Estinia.
“This is amazing…”
“This is so cool…”
Both Chel and I let out exclamations of surprise.
“If you’re surprised by a city this small, you’ll faint when you get to the royal capital of Cliff Garuda.”
The coachman laughed at us.
There was a statue of an adventurer in the center of town, and we were dropped off there.
“Who is this adventurer?”
“You seem to know nothing. This is the one and only Pharrell Jails who traveled to the demonic land. It is said that he was a follower of some adventurers 100 years ago, but it is fair to say that Cliff Garuda has developed to this extent thanks to the technology Pharrell brought back.”
The words “Pharrell Jails” are engraved below the statue.
“P.J. is here too?”
We went to the Adventurer’s Guild to exchange our magic stone for money and a room.
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