Chapter 111

The next morning.

“Orabeoni! What are you doing!? Come over here and eat!!”

I heard Kelly—completely recovered overnight—calling out to me from outside.

“Already!? I’m coming!”

I was sitting on the cot, maintaining Astraphe and the Recall Dagger. Realizing it had been about thirty minutes since the women began preparing breakfast, I stood up.

.
.
.

Swaaaaaah…

While the rain continued to pour, sliding off the roof of the physical barrier Ailet had constructed and into the drainage ditches, a hearty stew bubbled in the center of the seated group.

Considering the ingredients consisted of dried, steamed, salted, and pickled items from our spatial backpacks—along with canned goods that smelled slightly of preservatives—it looked quite appetizing.

“Oh… it looks like budae-jjigae.¹ Looks delicious.”

“Huh? Boodi-ache-kay? What’s that? Food from your hometown, Orabeoni?”

“Ah, something like that. Slurp… tastes good too. Who made this?”

Kelly raised her hand high and shouted energetically.

“Me! Orabeoni! I made it!!”

“Oh… honestly, that’s a bit unexpected.”

Chel, who had been listening quietly, smacked the back of Kelly’s head.

Thack!

“Ouch! Senior! Why did you hit me!?”

“You brat. There are three witnesses here; where do you get off lying? You didn’t do a thing except pull out the ingredients and start the fire.”

“Haven’t you heard that ‘ingredients are 90% of the meal’!? If it’s 90%, then I basically made it, didn’t I?”

I clicked my tongue and asked again.

“If it wasn’t Kelly, whose handiwork is this?”

Ailet, who had been quietly using her spoon, raised her hand.

“I did.”

“Really? I didn’t know you had a talent for cooking. Thanks for the food.”

The beastman mage’s face flushed slightly at my praise.

“It’s… just like what I always did in the lab. In terms of following a recipe to produce something accurately, cooking is very similar to reagent production or wet magic…”

“I see. So, are all those lab-dwelling mages usually good at cooking?”

“Lab-dwelling… I have some objections to that expression, but yes. As long as it’s a meal that involves reproducing a recipe, most are proficient. It’s also similar in that things turn into chaos the moment you move into spontaneous modification or the realm of creation.”

“So there’s a recipe for this, too?”

“Yes. In fact, the ingredients themselves were selected with a recipe in mind when we packed them. This is Red Stew No. 7, made using beans, tomatoes, ham, and salted pork from Recipe No. 317.”

“…Just how many recipes do you have in your head?”

“If you include the minor arrangements, about a thousand.”

“…Hmm. Typical of a mage.”

I fell silent and focused on the meal again.

Patter, patter, swaaaaah…

The intensity of the rain hitting the barrier grew stronger. Streams of water flowed roughly along the drainage ditches. Thinking the scene was quite atmospheric, I was bringing a spoonful of stew to my mouth when Chel broke the silence with a calm voice.

“Everyone, listen while you eat. I’ll summarize our current situation.”

“Hmm?”

“We are currently dropped in a strange land that we can’t even begin to guess the location of. The only things we know are that this place is still part of the Western Continent and that it isn’t that far from the Tubilan Empire.”

“…….”

“Therefore, naturally, our final goal is to leave this place and return to Redna City.”

“…….”

“There are three things we need to do moving forward. First: gather information through scouting to figure out where we are. Second: find a means to return or a way to request rescue. And finally… in the event the second option is impossible, establish a foundation to live here. Of course, the third is only for the worst-case scenario; the first two will be our main focus.”

After swallowing her stew, Kelly gave a mischievous grin.

“If it comes to the third option, do Orabeoni and we become the Sam and Lila of this land?”

Chel let out a hollow laugh at those words, while Elizabeth and Ailet glanced at me with reddened faces.

“Sam? Lila? Who are they?”

Chel looked at me with an odd expression.

“…Eh? Even if you’re from the Eastern Continent, how can a human not know Sam and Lila? They’re the first pair of humans created by the Chief God.”

“Ah…”

I suppose those Sam and Lila folks were the equivalent of Adam and Eve on Earth. No wonder the adolescent girls(?) were blushing.

Unfortunately(?) for them, there was no chance of me and these ladies busily bearing sons and daughters to fill this land with half-elves and half-beastmen.

Why? Because I already knew where this place was.

Flashback to last night.

Rumble…

Watching Shia depart and her massive Imagery world dissolve into light… I asked Bel where the real-world me and Kelly’s party were located.

Bel answered without much difficulty.

“It is a Demon Territory.”

“A Demon Territory!?”

“Yes. You saw it too while you were clinging to Yuribel, didn’t you? That cold, desolate land at the edge of the Northern Continent.”

“No, I know what a Demon Territory is. I know, but… it’s just so absurd. Is this also the work of that Demon King wench, Disis?”

“Who knows? I am not sure about that either…”

“Phew. So? Roughly where is this Demon Territory located?”

For context, the Western Continent’s Demon Territory is not actually on the Western Continent. I’d heard it was on an island somewhere outside… but there were only countless theories, and no one knew the exact location. Maritime monsters were so rampant, and every single island outside the Western Continent had been occupied by monsters, making access impossible.

Because of this, the ways monsters attacked the Western Continent were limited to two: attacking and landing on ‘coastal cities’ via maritime monsters, or suddenly dropping into the ‘inland’ via spatial movement in the form of a ‘Raid.’

However, regarding the location of the Demon Territory, Bel spoke a definitive answer.

“If you travel about 500 kilometers west from the Tubilan Empire by sea, you’ll find a massive island shrouded in mist. That is the Demon Territory. Calling it an island is a bit of an understatement, really. It’s roughly one-third the size of the continent of Oceania.”

“If it’s that big, it’s about the size of Greenland. You’re telling me a place like that was only 500 kilometers away?”

“Yes. Until 200 years ago, it was known as Bordeaux Island… though that name is mostly forgotten now.”

“Then, the buildings and towers I saw here are…”

“Remnants of the Kingdom of Bordeaux, which was the only kingdom on the island. Naturally, it was destroyed by monsters.”

“Wait… doesn’t that mean the Demon King’s Castle is somewhere here too?”

“Yes. But you don’t need to worry about encountering the Demon King.”

Bel projected a map of the Demon Territory into the air and pointed to various spots.

“This is the Demon King’s Castle. And this is where you are.”

“So, we are currently in the eastern part of the Demon Territory, while the Demon King’s Castle is at the western tip?”

“Yes. The distance is roughly 650 kilometers. Furthermore, a Demon King bound by the restrictions of the ‘Forbidden Feet’ cannot stray very far from their castle. However, you must be careful of the monsters. Being denizens of the Demon Territory, they are quite powerful. There are many monsters there that you cannot handle in your current state.”

“I see. I’ll keep that in mind. Oh, right. Keep the map enlarged and floating in the air so I can check it periodically using the half-eye method.”

“Understood.”

I was about to explain to Chel and the rest of the party where we were and what the situation was. However, at that moment, someone spoke up a beat faster than me.

“The truth is… this place is a Demon Territory. Unnie.”

Chel’s eyes widened at Kelly’s words.

“…A Demon Territory?”

“Yes.”

“The Demon Territory I’m thinking of? The one teeming with monsters where the Demon King Disis occasionally takes strolls?”

“I don’t know about the strolls, but… yeah. That’s the place.”

After staring blankly for a moment at the sudden bombshell, Chel raised her hands and wiped her face.

“…Certainly, that would explain most of the mysteries. It would, but… Kelly, how do you know that?”

“W-well… I just woke up and somehow it just clicked, you know?”

“Hey… what kind of nonsensical explanation is that?”

Kelly gave an embarrassed smile.

“Honestly, I don’t know either. I can only say I just found out… but I’m certain.”

Saying so, Kelly pulled out a notebook and began to rapidly sketch something. About three minutes later, Chel narrowed her eyes at the drawing.

“This is… Bordeaux Island. The large island that was said to be near the Empire long ago, before the Demon King descended. So, if I summarize what you’re saying, we’re currently on Bordeaux Island, and that island is now a Demon Territory?”

“Yes.”

Chel stared at Kelly’s confident face for a moment before scratching the back of her head.

“Phew… I guess I’ll just have to believe that the Goddess Merina helped us. I mean, given how few Merina Elves are left, it’s the least She could do.”

Elizabeth let out a groan at that.

“Chel unnie… are you actually believing that nonsense right now?”

“Setting aside how she found out, it’s not entirely implausible. Besides, we don’t have any other information anyway, do we? Nothing to lose, right?”

Ailet nodded as if in agreement.

“Wow…”

“Then, Kelly… draw that map the Goddess Merina put in your head as detailed as possible… and based on that map, we’ll decide what to do next…”

Kelly interrupted Chel and shook the notebook.

“Actually, what we need to do is already decided.”

“…Which is?”

Kelly marked a spot on the western side of the map with her pen.

“Here.”

“Where is that?”

“There’s a Sanctuary here.”

“…A Sanctuary?”

“Yeah. The Sanctuary of the ancient Sea God.”

“…Come to think of it, the Kingdom of Bordeaux did worship the Sea God ‘Pacanse.’ But was there a Sanctuary back then?”

Chel was lost in thought for a moment before asking Kelly again.

“So you’re saying we should go to that Sanctuary and escape to the Western Continent through the gate?”

“Exactly.”

“…Will a Sanctuary that’s over 200 years old even work?”

“It’s still functioning.”

“…Did the Goddess Merina tell you that too?”

“I’m not sure. I think I met someone in a dream… but seeing how certain I feel, that’s probably it, right?”

Chel eventually burst into a hollow laugh.

“I wonder what that Goddess—who usually isn’t helpful in the slightest—is thinking giving us this kind of help. Fine, then. Let’s head to that Sanctuary for now.”

This time, not only Elizabeth but even Ailet wore a complicated expression.

“Will it be alright?”

“Kelly isn’t the type to talk nonsense, right? And it’s not like someone immune to mental attacks would have been affected by something strange… there must be something we don’t know. It really could be the work of the Goddess Merina. Like I said, we have nothing to lose.”

“For now… understood.”

“Phew, I guess so, but man. Demon Territory… what on earth…”

“Orabeoni. Don’t you have an opinion? Your expression looks a bit strange…”

“Ah, oh? No. For now… let’s try it that way.”

I replied like that, but I couldn’t hide my internal bewilderment.

That was because everything Kelly said was correct—except for one thing that differed from what Bel had told me.

The location Kelly identified as the Sanctuary of the Sea God, our supposed exit…

‘My God. That’s… the Demon King’s Castle.’