Vol.6 Epilogue: Traveling with a Witch

Epilogue: Traveling with a Witch

In front of me, there was a massive hole the size of a lake. It

descended into darkness, and I couldn't see the bottom. Just peering

down filled me with the sense that I was being dragged inside.

"So this is Tartarus...said to connect to the underworld..." I

murmured.

"It's one of the last dungeons, unknown to mankind..." Lucy replied.

As for why we were here... The story began several hours ago.

Every time I staggered up to go train, Sasa and Princess Sophia sent me back to bed for more rest. I was under observation to stop me from sneaking away.

Damn it. I'm tired of lying in bed.

Lucy seemed like she'd be easier to convince than Sasa or Princess Sophia, so I tried pleading my case. "Come on, Lucy, I'm fine now. I just want to go outside."

"Hmm, I'd like to let you, but the doctor says you still need to rest." "I'll be with you. We can go together."

"Aww, but Aya'll be mad... If you have to, though..."

Great, it was working! I just needed to keep up the pressure.

"Oh, you two," Rosalie said, suddenly appearing from nowhere.

"You're heading out? I'll play transport."

Lucy and I barely had time to utter a noise before our field of vision changed.

Before us was a world of blue and white. Lucy and I had been released...in the sky...more than a kilometer above the ground.

We both started screaming.

"What's with the yelling?" Rosalie asked, her voice calm like she was just taking a stroll. "Oh, can neither of you fly?"

"We can't!" I yelled. "Do something, mama!"

"Such needy children," Rosalie said. The next moment, we were enveloped in light, and we started to float in the air.

"What are you doing?!" Lucy demanded.

"Well, I thought I was doing you both a favor." "You didn't wait!"

I was watching the parent and child argument when I remembered that Rosalie was a master of teleportation. "Rosalie? How far can you go with your Teleport?" I asked.

"Hm? Is there somewhere you want to go?"

"Well, I haven't seen any of the other continents in this world."

"So you want to see the sights? Okay! A wonderful excursion for an adventurer, coming right up☆!" She grinned, grabbing our arms. "Time for a secret tour!"

Lucy and I both yelped, and then, we found ourselves in front of Tartarus.

"Brr!" I quickly put up a barrier against the cold. Where were we?! "Mama! This is the north pole!"

Tartarus was at the northernmost point on the northern continent. In other words, it was damn freezing. Discounting that, though, it was an incredible sight. A fissure had lanced through the ice, so wide that it was impossible to see the other side. What on earth was down there...?

"It's a last dungeon, so no one's ever completely explored it. Want to give it a go?" Rosalie smiled at me. "Apparently, if you clear the deepest floor, you can get some serious power! Like, the god of the dead can grant you the ability to bring people back to life!"

Right—this was a dungeon where you could have people raised from the dead. It was also a place with no end of challengers, despite its location at the pole. The entrance was huge, so we couldn't see any other adventurers...but they were almost certainly here.

"Have you ever tried?" I asked Rosalie.

"Of course. I got as far as the fourth floor, but you can't live and go to the fifth floor."

"What? Then how do you get past that?" "Well, you die, of course," she said casually.

What the hell? I suppose...if you manage to clear the fifth floor, you get to come back to life...?

Hell, that was a one-way trip. What a crazy dungeon. Either way, even the fourth floor of this last dungeon was beyond my abilities. Though, I kinda wanted to take a look at the first floor.

"Look! Something's there!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing at the cliffs. I peered over there with Clairvoyance and saw a huge snakelike monster writhing around.

"What is it?"

"Ah, that's a shadow dragon. The first floor is their nest," Rosalie

explained.

"So it's a dragon lair...?" It was just like Labyrinthos's final

floor...except this was the first one.

Yeeeah... I can't do that...

"Why don't we just look from here and call it a day?" I suggested.

"Oh, really? To the next stop, then!" Rosalie cheered.

"The next?" Lucy and I asked in unison, but we didn't have time to

stop her before the scenery in front of us changed again.

"Here we are—the last dungeon, Babel, and the dungeon town,

Carafe!"

Lucy and I both let out impressed noises at the sight in front of us.

The first thing we saw was the tower—known as Babel or Celestial Tower. It was a huge building jutting up from the center of the town; it seemed to be holding the very skies up, and its top was obscured by clouds.

"This is Carafe...the number one adventurer town..." Lucy murmured, and I immediately understood the gravity of her words. "It's a town built around one of the last dungeons... The merchants are here for its treasure."

Carafe was a place Fujiyan had mentioned wanting to visit several

times. I never thought I'd get here first...

Aside from the impressive dungeon, the town itself was interesting as well. It wasn't like the towns in any other country I'd visited before. The stalls were lined with magic items I'd never encountered, along with powerful weapons. They'd probably all been found in the dungeon.

The people of Carafe were made up of all races, and each individual seemed visibly strong. Seeing that, I could understand why it was known as the number one adventurer town.

As we observed Carafe, Rosalie continued the explanation.

"Technically, they aren't adventurers, but investigators. The dungeon is managed, so you need to apply for permission to explore it.

Although...my Teleport means I can skip all the formalities." "Come on, Rosie, that's illegal."

"Hm?" was Rosalie's only reaction. Lucy and I started in shock.

A huge man had turned up right behind us.

Could he teleport as well? No one had been there a moment ago... He had sharp eyes and a robust beard that made him look almost like a lion.

"Oh, if it isn't Uther!" exclaimed Rosalie. "Can you afford to waste time here?"

"Well, a mage with ridiculous mana reserves teleported into my town, so why wouldn't I come running?"

"Welp...guess we were discovered by the law," Rosalie said sheepishly. "Sorry, guys, we're not going in the dungeon today."

I hadn't been intending to break the law anyway. Honestly, I was

more interested in the man before us.

"Um...mama. You called him Uther..."

"Oh, so this lovely lady is your daughter?" asked the man. "Nice to meet you. I am Uther Mercurius Pendragon. I'm in charge of this town."

He was pretty informal about it, but that meant— "King Uther of the Dungeon Town..."

—the man in front of me was a king.

"I am not fond of that kind of title, boy. I'm an investigator at heart."

"Well...I've read your World of Adventure so many times," I told him. It'd been one of my favorite books when I'd been making my way through the literature in the Water Temple. But...I never thought I'd meet the legendary adventurer Uther here.

"Oh! You like my book? That's good to hear. May I have your name?"

he asked.

"M-Makoto Takatsuki," I answered nervously.

"An otherworlder's name if I ever heard one. Interesting. Please, I would like to invite you to my home for some tea. Naturally, there will be accompanying snacks of the finest make."

"No, no, no," Rosalie refused. "This is their date! No third-wheeling!" "I would say that having the girl's mother along on a date is the

biggest example of a third wheel," Uther said in exasperation. He then shrugged, and a magic circle spread out beneath his feet. "There is much to see in the town. Enjoy yourselves. Just please refrain from breaking the law."

With that, the man vanished. Lucy and I let out sighs.

"What's up?" Rosalie asked us. She obviously didn't understand how

we felt.

"Mama...you know the king of the number one adventurer town in

the world?"

"Isn't he a legend?" I pressed.

Rosalie was a bit legendary herself—she had killed a demon lord after all. However, the impression she usually gave off was more average, and when I spoke to her, it mostly felt like talking to Lucy's mother rather than a renowned witch.

She was incredible, though... Even when warned against lawbreaking by the king himself, she seemed unruffled. Whew.

"Anyway, now that he knows we're here, there'll be no sneaking in. The prize for clearing Babel is famous, so you probably both know about it, right?"

"Eternal life," I recited, "and..."

"Access to the realm of the gods," Lucy finished.

The dream of all mankind. Babel was the most popular dungeon in the world. It was right in the middle of the southern continent as well, so it was well-placed for travel.

"It's a stupid-long dungeon though—a thousand floors! You need to

be ready," asserted Rosalie. "A thousand..."

"That's ridiculous..."

Naturally, mankind had yet to succeed. Lucy and I exchanged looks. This dungeon was also crazy, albeit in a different way than Tartarus.

"Let's move on to the next one," Rosalie declared.

My heart pounded at that. There were three dungeons known as the last dungeons in this world. Having three despite them each being called the last was a bit odd...but whatever.

These dungeons were Tartarus, Babel, and the Seafloor Temple.

"Next is the Seafloor Temple, right?!"

Rosalie's expression soured at my excitement. "You...want to go?" "Oh, aren't we?"

Her expression said she wasn't feeling it. "He's aiming to get there, mama."

"Ah... Why?" she asked curiously.

"Well, don't all adventurers want to beat the last dungeons?" I deflected. I wanted to hide anything about Noah since she was a wicked deity.

"Well, true... But the Seafloor Temple is on another level. It isn't a massive dungeon in itself, but the protector is a bit much..."

Rosalie's words brought up vivid memories of my previous attempts. "Leviathan, the divine beast..." I murmured. "On top of that, you

can't use elementals around the temple..."

"Oh?" Rosalie's voice was curious. "How do you know about the barrier? Wait...don't tell me..."

"He made the attempt before and saw Leviathan."

Rosalie's eyes widened. "What?! But you've only been in this world for a few years! You've already faced a last dungeon and Leviathan?!"

"Not that I managed anything..." I replied dully. For some reason, she

smiled widely.

"Not bad! You're loopy!" she exclaimed, grabbing my hand between

both of hers.

I sighed.

"I've been looking for a companion after all the solo traveling," she continued. "What do you say—I'll give you a hand if you want to

clear the last dungeon."

I could have the Crimson Witch by my side? Why wouldn't I accept that? Just as I was about to do so, a selection screen appeared in front of me.

Will you enter the Rosalie Route? Yes

No

And just what's that supposed to mean, Mr. RPG Player?

"Don't you dare steal him!" Lucy protested. "Don't fall for it, Makoto!"

I don't think that's what she meant, Lucy...

"One time wouldn't hurt. You must be tired of all the young girls, right? A more experienced woman...someone a bit older than you... Well, from time to time, it makes for a nice change."

I retract my previous remark. That's exactly what she was aiming for.

"'A bit older' indeed!" chastised Lucy. "You're two hundr—" "I said no talking about my age!"

Should I try and stop the headlock?

"Ahhh! Stop, mama! That hurts!"

Well, they looked like they were having fun, and interfering with family time was rude.

After they'd squabbled for a while, Rosalie turned back to me. "Okay, joking aside..."

"Uh, I think...you were at least half serious," Lucy complained,

staggering back over to me now that her mother had released her.

"The Seafloor Temple's underwater, and Lucy's no good with water magic, so going there right now isn't ideal," said Rosalie. "I'll take you two somewhere else instead."

Grabbing our hands, Rosalie teleported once more.

"Where..." I muttered, glancing around. The area was covered in green as far as I could see. At first, I thought the color came from the trees, but looking down revealed an uneven wooden floor. However, a blue, cloudless sky stretched out over our heads, so we weren't inside.

"The sky feels so close... Mama, where are we?"

Lucy was right—the sun seemed significantly closer than normal, and the air felt thin.

Rosalie chuckled. "This is the floating continent. That thing in the middle is the world tree!"

"The floating continent?!" "The world tree?!"

The four continents of the world were surrounded by a middlesea that stretched out to the north, east, south, and west. However, I'd heard that there was a continent floating above that ocean as well. The other countries barely traded there, and the people living on the floating continent were almost isolated...

"The world tree..." Lucy said nervously. "That's supposed to be a holy site for the people living here... Maybe we shouldn't just go walking in." Her uneasy voice made me nervous as well.

We'd literally just been scolded by the king in the dungeon town. Rosalie seemed all too willing to ignore immigration control.

"There's a village on the world tree—it's up this way. The place is really interesting, so I'll show you the way." Despite her daughter's

hesitancy, Rosalie was as unconcerned as ever. Lucy and I exchanged glances, but since we didn't want to get left behind, we hurried after her.

The floor was practically made of rolling trees. At first, I'd thought it was made of plain wood...but it was actually comprised of massive branches. How damn big was this tree?

"You're not finding it hard to walk?" I asked Lucy.

"I'm fine. I grew up in the Great Forest, so I'm used to this. What about you?"

"I'll manage," I replied. The surface was completely different from

walking on solid ground, and I was being careful not to fall. I followed after the two elves, albeit more slowly.

"There, we can see it now! That's Torys Village—the village atop the

world tree."

In the direction she was pointing, I spied a small settlement that was about half the size of Canaan. The houses were made in a similar style to those in the elf village. They looked kind of plain at a glance, but the people were certainly unique. In fact, they had wings growing from their backs.

"Makoto, look!"

"They're angels," I said, while Lucy simultaneously declared,

"Avians!"

We stared at each other. Apparently, one of us was wrong.

One of them seemed to notice our voices and turned toward us. The

person's expression turned to shock, and they flew over. "Rosalie! You came to visit!"

"Yup, I sure did!"

The two apparently knew each other, and the first winged person was soon joined by more. All of them were women.

Makoto, these are avians, Noah explained. Their race lives only on the floating continent.

So they weren't angels...

Angels are just spiritual and holy, Noah clarified. They don't have

bodies. Avians are completely different.

I hadn't studied enough... It seemed that I didn't know much about

the world outside of the western continent.

"Who are these two?" one of the avians asked, looking at Lucy and me.

"My daughter and son-in-law."'

"Oh my! Your family? We need to make them feel welcome!"

Out of nowhere, we found ourselves in the middle of a party. Interestingly, all the avians present seemed to be women.

How do they have kids? I wondered, but there was no way I'd bring that up around people I'd just met. Rosalie could tell me later...

Speaking of Rosalie, she was happily drinking away with the villagers. Lucy and I awkwardly listened in.

Apparently, Rosalie had once saved the avians—she'd happened to drop in during an attack by a calamity level monster. The beast could have spelled the end of the village, but she'd repelled it, earning the avians' gratitude.

No outsiders were usually allowed here, but Rosalie's presence

seemed to be an automatic pass.

So, yeah! This also wasn't somewhere that we should just wander into!

Lucy and I had turned apologetic at that point, but the avians had smiled and said that any family of Rosalie was welcome. She seemed to have well and truly earned their trust.

However, the most interesting thing we heard was that this village had been the birthplace of Anna the Holy Mother. She'd been Abel the Savior's comrade and lover, on top of being Highland's first king and pope. And, in the middle of this village, there was apparently a statue of her alongside Althena.

According to the avians, it was a symbol of the village's peace. Had Anna the Holy Mother been an avian? She'd had wings? I hadn't heard anything like that before now...

As the party continued, an avian girl turned and whispered to Lucy

and me. "This is just between us..."

According to her, there was a nice clearing past the rear gate of the village where you could see the entire continent. Also according to her, vows between lovers that were spoken there would last forever.

"It's even where Abel the Savior and Anna the Holy Mother exchanged their vows!" she said with sparkling eyes.

Huh? In the story Princess Noelle had told me, those two had not gotten married. Abel had defeated Iblis, and then he'd left to keep the world at peace...

Did this village have another story?

"Thank you for telling us!" Lucy exclaimed. "I'd love to go and see it!"

The story had gotten Lucy really excited.

I stole a glance at Rosalie. She was focused on the meal—this feast

seemed like it'd keep going for a while. "Want to check it out now?" I asked Lucy.

"Of course! It's not every day you get to come to the world tree!"

Well, normally we couldn't come, full stop. And, if we weren't careful, we'd never be able to come again.

So, with that in mind, Lucy and I headed out of the village's back gate and walked along a small road. Well, it was more like a green tunnel than a road, though it felt different than walking through the forest.

Eventually we came to a clearing where the branches thinned and the sky was visible. This was a place where the huge boughs of the world tree protruded through the canopy, and it was a great spot to look out at the scenery below. You could see everything from the cradle of the tree.

"Wow...so this is the floating continent," I murmured.

"Are there clouds down there?" Lucy asked, her voice filled with

wonder.

There were no clouds...but the ultramarine expanse we could see below us must've been the ocean. It really felt like we were flying, though not even Fujiyan's airship could come this far up. This was definitely the highest place in the world, and viewing the scenery from here was awe-inspiring.

We just stared out at it for a while.

"Hey, Makoto?" Lucy said, wrapping her arm around mine.

"Wh-What is it?" I asked.

"You know exactly what it is," she replied, looking at me through her

lashes and pressing herself into me. I remembered what the avian

girl had said. Then, Lucy giggled. "You're shaking for once." "I-I am not," I protested, even as I felt my heart pound.

She looked up expectantly at me with bewitching eyes, arms sliding around my shoulders as she drew closer.

Will you propose to Lucy? Yes

No

RPG Player was cutting off my escape here. I wasn't going to get away with playing dumb.

Takatsuki?

Just then, I had a sudden vision of Sasa with a knife and a smile.

 "Hey, you're thinking about Aya!" "No, I'm not," I denied flatly.

"Liar! It's written all over your face." "Am I seriously that transparent?"

Apparently, Calm Mind didn't come with acting skills.

The words floating in the air helped me make up my mind. "Lucy," I said firmly, putting my hands on her shoulders. "Makoto..." she replied, looking at me through misty eyes. "Would you ma—"

Suddenly, my question was interrupted by a keening screech that sliced through my head.

Sense Danger? It'd been a while since the alarm had sounded so

strong. The ground...well, tree, shook under our feet.

Lucy screamed and I turned toward the source of the tremors.

"Geh!"

My face twisted. There was a huge—almost ten meter long— caterpillar. It was almost like one of the monsters in a sentai series. Unlike a blight monster, it at least seemed to belong in this world, but the size... The tentacles writhing around made it look even worse.

"M-Makoto! What is it?! So gross!"

"A bug monster, I guess? It doesn't look like it's going to attack us."

The massive caterpillar was munching on the leaves of the world tree. I didn't particularly want to watch, but before I could decide whether to leave it alone or not, someone came up to us.

"Th-This is awful. That's a dragon wyrm—a monster that feeds on

the world tree!"

"You're that girl..." I recognized her as the avian who'd told us about this spot. For a moment, I wondered why she was here, but then I realized... "You were peeping, weren't you?"

"Eh, no way!" Lucy yelped, reddening.

"Tee hee," she giggled, sticking her tongue out. Well, she looked

around the right age to be interested in romance.

"M-More importantly," she said, moving the conversation back to the wyrm. "If we leave it alone, it'll eat all the leaves, build a nest, and lay eggs. When they hatch, there'll be hundreds of them!"

So things were more dangerous than I'd thought.

"I'll go get Rosalie and the adults. Can you keep watch?!" she asked.

She raced off before waiting for our response.

Meanwhile, the huge caterpillar—the dragon wyrm—was munching away at the leaves. It wasn't interested in us, so maybe it was a herbivore? The response from Sense Danger meant we couldn't let our guard down, though.

"Well that killed the mood," I remarked.

"Why'd this have to happen?" Lucy griped. I dropped my hand on her head and patted her. Our current view wasn't the most pleasant, so I really hoped someone would come soon.

Then, the monster suddenly stopped eating, and its lower stomach began to glow. I saw countless red spheres, all pulsing ominously.

"Eggs..." I whispered, remembering the girl's comment.

If they hatched, the situation would be pretty dire... Rosalie and the

villagers still weren't here.

"Wh-What do we do?" Lucy stammered. "Can we really just keep

watching?"

I hesitated. If we wanted to attack, magic was our only choice. But, could I really blast magic all over the world tree? Lucy's fire magic would probably be effective, but she wasn't great at detail work—I didn't want to even think about possibly burning down this important place.

While I was thinking, the glow from the eggs was growing stronger. At this rate, one of the places linked to Anna the Holy Mother would be destroyed...

We'd have to do something.

"Lucy, I'm going to use elemental magic." "What?!" she cried. "Will water magic work on it?"

I shook my head. "I'm going to use both water and fire. Lucy, I'll need your help."

She looked blankly at me for a moment until it hit her. She gasped. "Fire elementals... R-Right, I get it." She caught my signal and closed her eyes.

Lucy and I had fairly incompatible mana, so I couldn't just use

Synchro with her. But... I kissed her.

Red lights appeared around me—fire elementals. My Contract with Lucy let me see them. The water elementals I could already manipulate were around us too. I could now borrow strength from both types at the same time.

As a huge swell of mana gathered between the two of us, the caterpillar made a threatening noise. Apparently, it saw us as enemies now.

How to deal with it?

That was when strands, silken like those of a spiderweb, came fwipping through the air toward us. Guess the bug had taken the initiative.

"Water Magic: Ice Barrier," I said, blocking the strands just before they hit. The deflected threads bubbled where they hit the tree.

What the hell?!

Its silk is poisonous, Noah informed me. If you touch it, you won't

be walking it off.

Poison? That was annoying. I offered a few words of thanks to the goddess as I tried to decide how to deal with this new threat.

Phoenix or Yamata no Orochi were both powerful, but they also damaged my surroundings, so I didn't really want to use them atop the world tree. What should I do?

Lucy's worried eyes were fixed on me. "Makoto..."

That was when one of the dragon wyrm's threads touched a fire

elemental.

It burst into flames.

Will that...?

I'd been focusing entirely on borrowing their power, but maybe the elementals themselves could attack. In fact, perhaps I could just ask them...

"×××××××××× (Fire elementals, will you attack that monster, and only that monster?)"

Leave it to us! came a harmonious response.

The water elementals were watching and fidgeting—they were

probably sulking that I wasn't talking with them. I'd have to ask them to do something too.

"×××××××××× (Water elementals, can you make sure the poison doesn't touch the world tree?)"

Right!

Now that was an energetic response.

The dragon wyrm keened in pain. It was currently burning, surrounded by fire elementals. However, the wood and leaves of the world tree were uncharred. The fire elementals were doing well with their attacks.

It's going great... So this is another way of using elemental magic,

I thought.

People...used to use it this way, Noah said.

They did? I was surprised—no one had ever mentioned anything like that before.

You need the elementals to really like you, though, she added.

Guess they're fond of you.

There was more to elemental magic than I'd thought...

By now, the wyrm was nearly dead. Its fruitless poison threads were being frozen by the water elementals, and the thing let out an unintelligible screech, breathing its last before thudding down sideways.

Phew, it was dead.

"Makoto...that's amazing," Lucy gushed. "You defeated a calamity

level monster on your own."

"No, I defeated it with you," I said, trying to play it cool.

She just sighed, half-glaring at me. "All I did was get kissed by you." "Uh..."

But then, she wrapped her arms around me. "That was so cool." She

pushed me down and kissed me once more. "This man, so

shamelessly stealing kisses." She had a sharp expression, but her voice wasn't angry at all. "You're taking responsibility."

"Yeah, of course," I replied after a dazed second.

"Shall we carry on the conversation from earlier? Go on, say it."

"N-Now?" She wanted me to propose while she was straddling me? I

could foresee a long future of getting bossed around.

"Say, Lucy..." I said, putting my arms around her to match her body

language.

"What is it, Makoto?"

"Oh?" interrupted a familiar voice. "Someone came to warn us about a monster, but here I just find my daughter playing around in public."

"What?!"

"Mama?!"

Rosalie appeared right next to us and Lucy jumped away.

So...what was I supposed to say here...? "Rosalie, we defeated the

monster," I stated.

"They said it was a calamity...and you defeated it? Not bad. I guess I

can trust you with Lucy!"

Then, the avian villagers joined in.

"You took down an adult dragon wyrm?" "That's amazing, mister!"

"Wow..."

After that, the young avians started dealing with the corpse. They seemed to know how to handle its poison too.

"Makoto, Lucy, well done," said one of the avians. "Thank you for defeating the dragon wyrm."

"I cannot believe we didn't notice such a large one..." "We need to strengthen our guard rotations."

"The village owes you both, so please allow us to thank you."

The mood was even more of a party than it'd been before. But, since we couldn't stay too long without worrying the others, Lucy and I begged off early.

◇

Rosalie teleported us back.

I'd only meant to get out of bed for a while and go for a walk, but Lucy and I had ended up going on a real adventure. Before she left, Rosalie said she was going drinking again. Maybe she was headed back to the avian village?

Sasa soon appeared in front of us.

"Where. Were. You. Two?"

Yeah... Upon seeing my empty bed (where I was supposed to be),

she'd gotten angry.

"R-Rosalie took us sightseeing. She used teleportation, so I didn't even push myself."

"Th-That's right," Lucy said, backing me up. "Makoto needed a change of scenery."

"My knight was fighting a calamity on the floating continent," Furiae

added.

"Princess?!"

"Fuuri?!"

How did she know?!

"I used Postcognition," she answered. "It's not something I'm

particularly skilled in, but it seems like I was right." Ack... She'd baited us.

"Let's chat then," Sasa fumed.

"Aya! I'm not going to run, let go! Also, don't grab me there!"

Sasa had a firm grip on Lucy as the elf squirmed.

"I want to hear this as well," said Furiae. "You're supposed to be my

guardian knight, and yet you're gallivanting off to who-knows-where.

I want to know everything." She grabbed my arm. So tight... I

couldn't shake her off at all.

"You're not getting away," Sasa trilled.

"You can't even just remain silent," declared Furiae. "My fate magic will tell me everything."

I didn't even have the right to remain silent?! At their mercy, Lucy

and I ended up in a particularly tough interrogation.

That night, Princess Sophia appeared after finishing her meetings with the leaders.

"I heard what happened. You were told you needed rest, and yet you slipped out instead and got scolded for it. Really, you can't sit still?

You defeated a demon lord, so why not take a break?" "I just went out for a walk."

"You can hardly call going to another continent and fighting a

calamity 'a walk.'"

Well...guess my boss had found out all the details... I considered trying to claim that Rosalie dragging me along had been an act of god...but I found myself pushed back into the bed. Eyes like chips of ice stared me down.

"I want you to go to Great Keith next. Yet, I cannot shake this worry...so I will be joining you."

"S-Sophia? Are you mad?"

"I am not. I am a priestess, after all."

I scratched my cheek. That wasn't really a reason... She was definitely

mad.

"What's Great Keith like?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

"It borders Roses, but our climates are completely different. It has wide swathes of desert, and its towns are built around oases. Water is a valuable resource. The people there also mine precious stones and ore, so they do a lot of trading."

"They're a military country, right? Even the royal family is in the army."

"That's right. Great Keith is a hard land and climate to live in, so the monsters are commensurately stronger. The military is indispensable in the protection of the people that live there."

"A harsh climate... So it doesn't rain much?"

I knew some of those details since I'd seen quests in Great Keith offered while adventuring in Macallan. To me, the most important fact was about rainfall—there wasn't much of it, which meant few water elementals.

"Without the water elementals, I'm not going to be able to do much," I warned her.

"I won't ask the impossible of you, so don't worry," she replied with

a smile.

Great Keith was our next destination, and it was the worst country for my specialty.

So you're heading to a place without elementals... Noah said in my mind. I'm worried.

Be careful, Mako. No dying☆

Thanks for the encouragement, goddesses...but that feels like tempting fate.

I'd just pray for a peaceful journey