Hugo
We continued southbound, visiting Fontaine before crossing over to the region controlled by the Wisdom Demon Lord. Though technically, now this whole northwest peninsula was under his control.
There, we only stayed for a single night. We didn't really have any business here so there was no reason to dally.
Though that single night was enough for
to et up with a certain overly enthusiastic elven bard that I once t in Fiania. What were the chances?
She, of course, imdiately made a move to interrogate
for her tales. Thankfully, Felicia was there to put a stop to it.
In the end, she had to settle with interviewing Theo instead. And of course, he had my blessing. As my biggest fanboy (not to toot my own horn here), he was more than happy to tell her about my exploits.
Hmm, a fanboy and a fangirl… Heh, would be funny if they end up hitting it on. Go for it, my young Padawan! She has great thighs and butt! Just look at those tight leather trousers of hers!
Of course, he didn't tell her where we were going. Or else she would stalk us for sure.
Afterwards, we continued southward. Myrilla decided to skip Ixon, the demon capital, as it was located more to the west than our optimal route to where Sherry's village was.
Eventually, we left the northwestern peninsula entirely, entering the mainland Demon Continent. I expected the difficulty of our journey to increase, but it seed Myrilla was knowledgeable enough in her geography to always take us through the least monster-infested routes. I asked her about it, and she explained that there was a set route that one must follow in order not to be sward by S-rank monsters. The monsters knew that if they settled on said route, they would be slaughtered by the demons, so they would stay away from it for their own survival, with the exception of a wandering few. I then asked her how she knew where the route was, since all around us was just a blank wasteland with barely any landmarks. She answered by pointing upwards, to the stars that decorated the night sky. She told
that as long as a certain constellation remained at a certain angle, they were on the right path.
She really was an expert adventurer. I was starting to think that she was a lot more experienced at it than Mother and Father. Now, I didn’t know her age (she just gave
a scowl when I thought to ask it of her) but I had a feeling she was at least a hundred years old. And if that long age was spent mostly on adventuring… yeah… Father and Mother could never compete.
Oh yeah, around this point, a few months had passed, and I should already be fourteen years old. Looking at a mirror, I certainly could notice the growth spurt I experienced from when I started to be thirteen a year ago. Now, I actually looked more like an adult than a kid. I was now taller than Felicia even. And thankfully, I still kept my dashing good looks in the process.
Soon, we shifted our direction, slowly heading east instead of south. Myrilla noted that Kawa, the ogre city where she was staying before, was to our west. We wouldn’t be visiting that place either.
What a sha. I really wanted to see how an ogre city looked.
Sherry’s village was located at the far east, beyond the Great Fairy Forest that covered a significant chunk of the continent. However, we wouldn’t be traveling through said forest. Not even the Demon Lords dared to. It was pretty much its own dinsion, where it was impossible to keep a bearing to where you were going. You would be lost forever in no ti at all, swallowed by the forest and stuck being the plaything of the feys.
And yes, you couldn’t ask your fairy summons so help you navigate through it either. The Fairy Queen, Titania, ruled over the region with an absolute fist, and she didn’t tolerate outsiders trodding on her land. She only allowed mages making pacts with her subjects, only visiting the place in a dream.
In short, our only option was to take the northern route, taking a detour around the Forest until we could go back south without entering it.
------------
On the way there, I kept up with my training, both physical and magical, though mainly the latter. As I walked, I would continue my training, learning to be able to focus my raw mana even without standing still. Every ti we took a stop, I would polish my spellcasting, careful not to waste all my mana in the process as we would still need to defend ourselves if a monster were to appear. And when one did appear, I would try to use Asphyxia and Heartbreaker to kill it. Only after it did not work that I resorted to my sword or my Boom Cannon.
It didn’t take long until Myrilla ca to , asking
about it.
It was after I put down a small pack of jackals by taking away their breaths. They were A-rank monsters and there were five of them. My Asphyxia could now cover a small range around
so I could kill them all with one fell swoop.
“That spell of yours… the one you used to choke those jackals… was what that? I have never witnessed such a spell.”
With a smile, I explained everything. How I had developed my own style of wind magic, separate from the common form used by the mages of this world.
“I see. That’s… peculiar. Almost unbelievable, if I haven’t seen it for myself.” She stared at , probably reading my mind.
“You know, I’m surprised you didn’t ask
about Boom Cannon.” I had defeated a couple of monsters before this by that spell.
She retained her gaze. “It’s just a compressed sphere of wind being shot out at high speed. It’s certainly unique, I have to admit, but I can understand it. This Asphyxia thing however… taking away the air inside your opponents’ lungs… I don’t think it is possible. Normally, you can’t manipulate natural objects that are far from your mana core. Not to ntion how your own mana would resist the manipulation.”
“Want
to teach you? You’re a wind mage too, right?” I grinned. “In exchange, you teach
your Wind golem spell. Or whatever that spell was when you made those n out of tiny whirlwinds. When I first saw that spell, I was surprised that you could even do that as a Wind mage.”
She nodded. “I doubt I would be able to do what you did but you becoming stronger is necessary. You’re the strongest fighter we have now and I know just how badly you want to protect everyone here.” She glanced at the others, who were sitting under a tree several feet away from us.
“Thank you!” I grabbed her hands and shook them. “And you’re right! I do want to be stronger!”
Her next reaction was not what I expected however.
She abruptly pulled her hands away and looked to the side, as if I had offended her.
And was that a light blush I just saw on her face?
---------------
And so, from then on, Myrilla beca my next teacher. As promised, she taught
about her wind golem spell, or rather, Whirlwind Automata. As I expected, it was a spell that required great mana control. It was similar to how so earth mages could construct golems from the earth to fight their battles. It was not a direct damage spell, which ant I was not used at all in its casting. Less skilled mages had to continuously channel the spell but Myrilla could already make them run automatically, which made her a master of the art of magic constructs.
She soon discouraged
from learning the spell though, believing that I should focus on my own spells instead, as they were more powerful than it.
Well, perhaps. But I still would like to know how she did it anyway.
--------------
After fifteen weeks of travel, we arrived at one of the stops in our journey — one of the nomadic ogre clans’ encampnts in the region. To be more specific, it was the camp of the net clan, the clan that Orluk belonged to.
Myrilla knew where they were just by the ti of the year. The net tribe’s wandering route was mostly set in stone, unlike so of the other tribes. And they were right on the route we were taking so we didn’t even need to take a detour. She believed it would be prudent to ask them for information about the northern route, since recently, the ogres had been fighting the orcs coming from the east, right to where that route was.
And since I was an acquaintance of Karla, that unpleasant ogress who was too fond of young boys, we should be able to ask for her help.
Ooh, so this is how an ogre camp looks!
The place was big, bigger than I expected. It was pretty much an entire small town constructed out of tents. Or rather, yurts, similar to those used to the tribes of Central Asia, back at Earth. They were made out of animal skin and feathers, not fabric as our tents were.
It was quite fitting for them to be that way, actually, considering that we were now in a region filled with endless grassland. The grass was blue, however, and quite poisonous to any humans (not demons). Thankfully, we had our wise and clever alchemist, Felicia, who brewed preventative antidotes for it.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a pair of ogre guards, tall and red and as nacing as ever.
And by "greeted
Reviews
All reviews (0)