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TL: ALT
Chapter 83 – Day 28 of Exploration
I spent the morning in the inn, looking out the window.
I ate in the inn’s cafeteria and didn’t go outside.
Early in the morning, a girl from the Bird Tribe came to visit us.
“I’m a messenger from Xueni.”
The girl handed me a small letter.
“The shop is a bit busy right now, so it’ll take a while to find the items we need to exchange. Also, you should all try to hide as much as possible. It might be a good idea to stay in the inn.”
I also showed Chel the letter from Xueni.
“Even if they tell us to stay inside, what should we do?”
“There is nothing to do. But Lipa seems to have something to do.”
Lipa seems to really like swordsmanship, as he’s practicing his swings with a stick by the well. I suggested that we do some light exercises as well, but Chel said, “The guards will come, so let’s not do it.” Even if we stay in the inn, will we be noticed?
Even if you look out the window at the streets of Valkirya, the scenery won’t change. Still, people on carpets and brooms flew through the sky, and carriages hurried through the streets. Chel looked at the scenery outside in the same way but soon got bored.
I looked for someone in the inn who could tell me about the tourist attractions of Cliff Garuda, but the peddlers who were guests had already gone to work, and the adventurers went to the guild to take requests.
“Innkeeper-san, is there a place where no one goes?”
There was no choice, so I asked the innkeeper who was cleaning.
“Places where no one goes can’t be called tourist attractions, mister.”
“I see. Then what about unexplored places?”
“Since the advent of flying magic tools, there are hardly any places left to explore. Well, except for the demonic land and the Great Hole.”
“What is the Great Hole?”
“There’s a forest in the middle of Cliff Garuda, and it’s said that a dragon made a big hole in it a long time ago. Even adventurers don’t go there, and deliverers don’t fly over it. There are many dangers in the forest to begin with.”
“Are there monsters there?”
“Yes. I have heard that there are still many monsters in the countryside.”
I’ve certainly seen monsters in the countryside, but I’ve never seen anything so strong.
“Thank you. Can I rent a flying carpet to get out of the city?”
“Sure, but are you going to the Great Hole?”
“No, I’m not going to a place that is dangerous. Just hearing about it is enough. I just want to see the city from the sky.”
That’s a lie. There’s no way I won’t go to the Great Hole.
“Oh, that’s right. I understand. I’ll ask about it. There are many famous places in the capital. They’re all crowded, but you should see them at least once.”
With that, the innkeeper left to call the magic carpet deliveryman.
“Chel! There’s a huge hole in the ground made by a dragon. We’re free, so let’s go.”
“What if the trading company contacts us? Are you sure?”
“We can leave it to Lipa.”
In truth, we didn’t have high hopes for trading at this point since there was no magic book for space-time magic. Rather, I think just making a connection with the Cliff Garuda was something to gain from this trip.
“Lipa, I’m going out with Chel for a while, so if anyone comes, please take care of them.”
“What do you mean, take care of them? What do I have to do?”
“Just drink a cup of tea and laugh. After that, you can do whatever you want.”
“Okay!”
The innkeeper came to call us, so we quickly got ready and went to the front door.
“Hi, I’m from Carpet Transport. What is your cargo?”
A cheerful-looking young man from the Bird Tribe stood there with a rolled-up carpet.
“The cargo is me and my companion from the demon tribe. We came to see the royal capital.”
“I understand! Please get in.”
I paid the fare in advance and sat down on the carpet the young man had spread out.
“Well then, let’s go! It will be a bit bumpy, but as long as you don’t take your hands off the carpet, you won’t fall.”
“Oh, please take care of us.”
As the young man sat down on the carpet, it lifted gently off the floor.
“Have a good trip!”
As Lipa and the innkeeper watched us off, we flew into the skies above Valkirya.
“Are you a married couple?”
The young man asked as he manipulated the carpet.
“No, we’re just roommates, not a married couple. Is that so strange?”
“Yes, I thought it was a rare couple, a demon and a human together. I thought it might be a forbidden love between enemies.”
He’s young at heart.
“The war was a hundred years ago, though.”
Chel laughed and answered.
“That is true. Are you a human from the south? I’d like to go there myself, but how is it over there?”
They trade not only with the demon country but also with the southern countries.
“Cliff Garuda is more developed. More importantly, I want to see the royal capital from the outskirts of the city. Can you take us there?”
“Yes, I’ll take you there.”
If we talk too much about ourselves, we’ll end up revealing too much.
“I heard that there’s a big hole in the forest. Is that true?”
“Yes, it’s a big hole that’s said to have been dug by a dragon. It’s said to be in the Great Forest.”
“Is the Great Forest dangerous?”
“Even large airships take a route that avoids that big hole. It is said that even experienced adventurers never return from such a place.”
“Isn’t it strange that everyone knows about the big hole, but no one has ever returned?”
Chel asked the young man.
“That is true. But it’s written in Pharrell-sama’s biography, so it must be true.”
“Hmm.”
We looked down at the city for a while, enjoying the sky.
“Well, this is the edge of the royal capital. What do you think? Isn’t Valkirya big and beautiful?”
I know Valkirya is huge and beautiful in its architecture, but we’re looking outside the city.
“Yes, it’s beautiful.”
“I think that’s where the airship is changing its route.”
Chel and I figured out the general location and asked to be dropped off there.
“Here’s fine.”
“Huh? Right in front of the back gate?”
“Yes, please.”
“If you tell me to drop you off, I will, but this area is a hangout for rowdy adventurers, so please move quickly. I wouldn’t sleep well if I heard a rumor that you were killed.”
“It’s okay.”
Chel patted the young man on the shoulder and stepped down to the ground. I followed.
The back gate of the royal capital is a busy place, with horse-drawn wagons full of garbage and merchants with their slaves going back and forth. There are also a few one-armed adventurers, but no one tried to attack us.
When we entered the back gate, we asked the guards about the great forest, and they pointed straight west to show us. They probably didn’t want to open their mouths too much because they smelled of alcohol.
After leaving the back gate, I headed west. There was still a road, but there were no wagons or anything. As we crossed the hill, I could see the forest ahead. The road turned sharply north. There seemed to be a garbage dump to the north, and smoke came out of the chimneys.
I don’t know if this is the entrance to the great forest, but for now, we left the road and entered the forest. The slaves and merchants were watching us, but we weren’t particularly noticed or reprimanded.
Since there was no one else around, Chel and I ran as fast as we could. There were some monsters, but as usual, they didn’t appear as often as in the demonic land. All the monsters ran away as soon as Chel produced a flaming spear from her palm. After running for a while, I released magic power to the ground and searched for the big hole.
“If we go straight ahead, there’s a mountain.”
“There are a lot of birds chirping.”
“Let’s look for the big hole from the top of the mountain.”
We climbed the steep mountain. After all, it would be better if we could somehow master the flying broom.
When we reached the top of the mountain and looked over, we saw a hole in the ground that looked like a meteorite had fallen into it, and there were strange rocks lined up like scales. The strange rocks were covered with colorful moss and lichen that looked like coral.
“It looks like the remains of something that crashed into it!”
Chel exclaimed in admiration.
“Yes, it looks like there are monsters here too.”
Bones of birds and animals, reduced to skeletons, move around, their eyes glowing. The monsters with flesh are almost impossible to see.
“Is this hell?”
The bones of a three-headed dog the size of a horse walk around, spitting fire. When the wind blows, the moss spores fly away like smoke. The center of the hole is invisible in the yellow mist.
Suddenly, I hear the sound of blood rushing through my ears. Is my sense of hearing getting sharper?
“The density of magic power here is very high. If you breathe in too much air, you’ll get sick, so it’s better to use magic.”
“Is that so? But if you inhale and exhale magic power, isn’t it the same?”
Thinking of myself as just a tube, I breathed in and out, and sparkling white smoke came out of my mouth. My body suddenly felt light, and I felt a surge of power.
“You see, if you inhale too much, the magic will clog your blood vessels. There are demons who got sick that way.”
Chel said, wrapping a cloth around her mouth. I’ll do the same.
Chel then used water magic and fire magic to cancel each other out. Steam spewed from all around. I tried to put magic into the knife I had. The knife heated up all at once and started glowing bright red.
“This is bad…”
I picked up a stone nearby and squeezed it tightly, trying to put some magic into it because I didn’t want the knife to melt and become useless. When I opened my fingers, I found a translucent red glowing magic stone in my palm.
“Can magic stones be made artificially?”
“What is that? Weird! Makyo is a weirdo!”
Chel said and quickly ran into the hole. I chased after her and picked up the stone.
The bone monster also chased after us and attacked, but I could see how it would attack from the way the bones moved, so there was no way it would hit me, and I easily dodged it and smashed its head in. However, the bone monster quickly repaired its bones and got back up.
“The density of its magic power is so high that it gets back up before it realizes it’s dead.”
Chel explained as she froze the bone monsters with ice magic and smashed them to pieces.
“So it’s a hole where they can’t die.”
We continued through the strange rocky area, a little excited by the scenery, which even the demonic land couldn’t match.
The bone monsters disappeared as the number of spores in the air increased. The yellow spores must have accumulated and looked like fog because the wind was blowing toward the center of the hole. We put on work gloves to prevent the spores from touching our skin as much as possible and continued.
There was also a monster that looked like a black lizard with bones sticking out all over its body, but Chel used all of her magic power to roast it.
A huge dog with bright red skin attacked the roasted lizard monster. I grabbed Chel’s collar and pulled her away.
“If that thing swallows you, it’ll take you in one gulp, and you’ll be in its stomach.”
“Not good! That skin is immune to magic!”
Chel shouted after her spear of flame was easily deflected.
Grrrrrrrrrr
I threw the magic stone I had saved at the giant dog that was threatening us, and it opened a hole in its stomach. The dog didn’t seem to care, even though it was bleeding and making a pool of blood on the ground.
“The monsters here are not afraid of death.”
“They don’t care because they can’t die.”
Finally, the giant dog took the lizard monster in its mouth and ran off somewhere.
“This place is so different from the demonic land.”
“It’s probably a secret place that shouldn’t be found.”
Before we knew it, the strange rocks around us had disappeared, and a fog of spores covered our vision. Both Chel and I were covered in yellow paint, and our entire bodies were yellow.
“Makyo, look at the ground.”
Just as we were about to turn back, Chel noticed a crack in the ground. As we walked on, the crack gradually widened.
“What is that? Can you see a shadow ahead?”
When we looked to see what the shadow was, we found that it was a huge stake about five stories high. The top was stuck into the ground, and there was a round ring on top with a large chain hanging down. The end of the chain was broken.
“Isn’t this the same chain that connects Sky Island to the desert?”
Chel was right, it certainly looked similar.
“So the Sky Island was connected here?”
“I don’t know, but it’s probably better to think of it as a relic of the same civilization.”
“I think so, but does that mean that there were giants in the past who drove piles like this?”
“There were also some stories about giants in the demon country. When the shadow of someone climbing a high mountain is reflected in the clouds, it looks like a giant.”
“But you can’t make chains and stakes like that out of the shadows.”
“Hmm, is there a hammer that can drive in stakes?”
I wanted to go back but decided to watch for a while first.
“Hey, aren’t those letters?”
Small letters were carved into the surface of the stake. When I brushed off the yellow dust and looked closer, I saw that they were human letters.
“Dragonfolk, hold this stake to prevent the continent from breaking apart. The bird people, your descendants, will continue to protect this stake.”
It was an old style of writing, but it certainly read that way.
“Preventing the continent from breaking up? Is that really possible?”
“The bird people are the descendants of the dragonfolk?”
We looked at each other. After that, we looked around but couldn’t find anything except for the crack.
The density of the magic and the fog of the spores were thick, so we decided it would be better not to stay too long, and we hurried out of the hole. On the way back, the red-scaled dog attacked us, but it couldn’t keep up with our speed, which we had filled with magic in our legs.
We climbed up the mountain and jumped off. We landed in a normal green forest and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“That place is demonic land, too.”
“Yes, I can see why flying is forbidden. These sights are not meant to be seen.”
We washed our whole bodies in a spring in the forest. We were yellow all over.
“They say it’s the dragonfolk. Do you think they mean the royal family of Estinia?”
“Maybe. If the bird people are descended from them, then maybe they also have dragon blood?”
“I don’t know. I once saw a theory in an old dream that birds evolved from dragons.”
“In a dream?”
“My dreams are surprisingly accurate.”
After carefully washing our bodies and clothes, we re-entered Valkirya through the back gate.
“Where have you been?”
The guard at the gate asked, but all we could answer was “the forest spring.”
It was almost evening, but I still felt as if magic power was rising from my whole body. Even Chel waved her hand; fire came out of her fingertips. I also picked up some pebbles from the roadside and returned to the inn.
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