Crossing The Wasteland

Having obtained a carriage—rather, a dragon carriage—I had arrived at the very edge of the continent.

“It’s hooot～……”

“Gwaaah……”

We stopped the dragon carriage and took a short break.

A vast wasteland stretched out before our eyes.

“Are you alright, Daphne-dono?”

“Uuugh… so hot… why does Toka-chan look fine?”

“I am resistant to heat! For I am a Fire Drakekin!”

Even inside the covered wagon, it was still hot.

The air was completely dry, simply hot. And it made us thirsty.

“Alright, everyone. Drink this～”

From inside the 【Workshop】, I took out potion bottles equal to the number of people (plus Chi-chan’s share).

The elf Zenith tilted her head and asked.

“…Lady Seyi. What is this?”

“A Cooling Potion. You’ll feel cooler when you drink it.”

The slave girls gulped down the potion.

I climbed down from the cargo bed and fed a potion to Chi-chan the earth dragon.

At that moment, a sky-blue aura wrapped around Chi-chan’s body.

“Gwa! Gwaaa!”

Chi-chan, who had been exhausted just moments ago, now cried energetically.

Good, it seemed to work properly even on an earth dragon.

I returned to the covered wagon. Daphne-chan was hopping around.

“It’s very cool! So comfortable!”

Daphne-chan jumped with both hands raised. Her rabbit-like movements were soothing. Ahh, very nice.

Zenith examined the potion contents and tried analyzing them.

“…A layer of cold air is coating the body. The ingredients in the potion are altering the composition of sweat, perhaps. Either way, it’s amazing technology.”

“Indeed! As expected of my lord!!!” “Indeed!”

Well, now we could travel comfortably across this completely empty wasteland.

“…Um, Lady Seyi. Are you sure our destination should really be the elf country?”

We were planning to head toward the elf nation beyond this wasteland.

“It’s fine. Your family might be there, right?”

“…Th-that… may be true.”

Zenith had apparently once been a princess of the elf nation.

Now a coup had occurred and the king had been replaced.

The royal family—Zenith’s family—had their men killed and the women and children sold as slaves.

“Your family might not be in the elf country. But there could be clues. So let’s go. Don’t you want to see them?”

From the moment we met, this girl had consistently acted mature. But to me, she looked like she was forcing it.

After all, one night I saw her crying.

She must be lonely. So I decided to take her there.

“I’m also curious about what the elf country is like! This is my selfish wish. So don’t worry about it and just guide me to your homeland. I don’t think it’s a burden.”

Zenith widened her eyes, then slowly filled with tears.

When I handed her a handkerchief, she bowed repeatedly and said,

“…I am grateful for Lady Seyi’s generosity. To go this far for a lowly slave like me…”

“Don’t call yourself a lowly slave. You’re my companion.”

I hate slavery and forced endurance!

Because I myself had bitter experiences of enduring and enduring, forced to work like a slave.

So I end up overlapping myself with her and being kind. No one helped me back then, after all.

“Alright! Let’s change the mood and talk about what’s next. Zenith-chan, the map.”

I spread out the map of surrounding nations we bought in Mitsuke.

I pointed to the vast wasteland spreading west of the kingdom.

“…Our current location is the western region of the Kingdom of Gata-Niiga, a territory called the Stampede. If we travel southwest through here, we will reach the elf nation, Anemosgive.”

“It’s quite a vast wasteland. Even with a dragon carriage it will take considerable time.”

“…Correct. We must resupply along the way, but there are few places humans can inhabit here. We’ll have to camp several times. However, caution is required.”

We tilted our heads.

“…Many ferocious monsters inhabit this land. It is also called a demonic frontier beyond humanity.”

“Demonic frontier, huh… ominous name.”

“…Yes. Higher-rank monsters than usual appear here. So normally people cross with a caravan or hire strong adventurers as guards.”

Hmm, caravans and adventurer escorts.

“Rejected.”

“…W-why?”

“I’m bad at group behavior.”

“…For such a reason.”

Zenith muttered in exasperation. I glanced at Toka-chan.

“Well, it’ll be fine. We have Toka-chan.”

“Indeed! And we have my lord as well! With my lord’s potions there will be no problem!”

Daphne and Toka seemed to trust me. I was happy.

Zenith hesitated, but eventually decided to trust my words.

“Still, it seems it will be a long dangerous journey. So I plan to stop by the Sage’s Tower.”

“““Sage’s Tower?”””

Not a familiar term, of course.

“…Lady Seyi, what is the Sage’s Tower?”

“My master’s workshop. That person has a wandering habit—building workshops all over the country and leaving them unmanaged.”

“…I see, your master’s. But what will we do there?”

“We don’t know what lies ahead. I want to borrow the workshop and make magic potions, including Numbers.”

I call advanced potions—those more effective than lower potions like healing or antidotes—Numbers.

Like the teleportation potion I used before.

The ones at home have degraded, leaving many gaps in my Numbers stock.

I want to visit the workshop once and restock them.

“There should definitely be a Sage’s Tower in this Stampede territory. Let’s head there first.”

And so, I decided to head for supplies.

“Alright, depa— wait, before that, here.”

Splash — I applied a monster-repelling potion to Chi-chan.

Well, I didn’t know how effective it would be here where high-rank monsters appear.

“Gwa, gaa!”

Chi-chan proceeded through the wasteland.

After a while…

Thud thud thud! Something fell from the sky.

“What is that?”

“…Monsters. Great Great Eagles. A B-rank monster that attacks in flocks.”

Thud — a flock of Great Great Eagles dropped down.

“I didn’t do anything?”

“…Probably the effect of Lady Seyi’s potion.”

“What! Repelling a B-rank monster with a repellent potion! Amazing!”

I didn’t really understand monster ranks, but being praised didn’t feel bad.

“…Is this easy?”

“Big sister is amazing!”

Anyway, onward we go.