CH 252

The Devil Continent is vast

「My sincerest apologies, Iruma-dono, we have shown you something so disgraceful.」

「No, not at all, it is I who should say so. Our Kaede here had frightened you.」

「N-no, it is alright.」

It seems Ryuka-san was still slightly scared of Kaede. Was it bad that Kaede was still hugging my waist?

「S-so, here are the locations of the city-states in this continent. The nations we would like you to be cautious of are these two, the nations governed by the two Beast Kings, King Deega and King Ryvar.」

「Ryvar is the ruler of Atropolis, isn’t it?」

「Yes, there are… how to say…」

In short, the two Beast Kings were muscle-brains down to their very core. Additionally, the rulers of the Oni Tribe and the Devil Clan were fighting factions, to the point that words won’t get through to them.

「As such, they are extremely unlikely to cooperate with the search.」

「As expected, searching down to the nooks and crannies of the continent would take a long time with just us.」

「Yes, in the monster nests as well.」

Ryuka-san said that it would take time to explore the inside of monster nests. Well, normally, one adventurer party wouldn’t be able to search the entire continent.

Still, we have Ouranos, so compared to the searching capabilities of a normal person, we would be able to cover a far wider range much faster. It might be harder to find it from the sky though.

Either way, we must find the remnants of the old Sydnia while paying careful attention to the territories of the two Beast Kings. This might be more trouble than I expected.

「Takumi-sama, this continent may be smaller than the one we live in, but it still much larger than Valkyra Kingdom, so it would still take time even with the Ouranos.」

「You have a point. ……the two Beast Kings huh. Atropolis’ city gave off a normal impression though.」

「The Beast Kings aside from King Guzhr are battle enthusiasts. Even as they thin out surrounding monsters, they like to fight head on. Just in case, they have an pact to not fight with the other five nations, but Iruma-dono, for your company……」

「It would turn into a brawl, no questions asked, wouldn’t it?」

「Yes.」

It was decided that Ryuka-san’s group would take charge of searching the surroundings of Accuros. The Bearkin Beast King Guzhr known as the Clever King was apparently going to search the surroundings of Varguard, which he governs, with his subordinates. Similarly, the Devil King Gandalf[1] would personally investigate the area around Rhodes. As for Schimihazaar, which is governed by King Jairu of the Oni Clan, they would propose a conference once King Jairu comes back from his expedition.

Afterwards, I wrote down a rough map with the locations of each nation and their approximate territory lines.

「Hmmm, it looks like it would take more days than I thought.」

「Indeed. Particularly because you are unaware of the usual number of monsters, identifying places where monsters have increased would be difficult in itself.」

「……so we have no choice but to look for places with dense magic power.」

「That is so. Ah, in case you discover a stray dungeon, please report it.」

「A dungeon, huh……」

There is no reason for those guys who made a large-scale dungeon in the capital of Divine Empire of Sydnia to not turn their base into another dungeon this time either.

「Yes. There is a way to search for stray dungeons.」

When Ryuka-san said so, she filled out the map with the locations of the dungeons managed by each country.

「Whether or not it was influenced by the abnormal phenomenon, we would like for you to report it when you discover a stray dungeon.」

「Even the unrelated stray dungeons?」

「Yes, the stray dungeons would let out the monsters inside when left alone for too long.」

It was the so-called monster flood. However, Ryuka-san explained that since there were only city-states in this continent, if several floods were seen as a whole, it would be a large problem.

「Even so, it must be judged whether a stray dungeon should be managed, or if it should be destroyed.」

「Whether it is useful or not?」

「Yes. For example, if it was a dungeon with only undead monsters, there is no profit in leaving it behind.」

In the ensuing discussion, it was decided that Ryuka-san would be contact person when we make our periodic reports as we narrow our search. It was also decided that we would do the same when a new dungeon is discovered.

「Then let’s meet at Accuros next time.」

「Yes, please take care on your way back.」

Sophia and I ferried Ryuka-san’s group across the river using the ship and escorted them until the forests’ edge.

「Those raptor-like beasts are cool.」

「Tsubaki would pout if she heard that.」

We watched Ryuka-san’s group run off at considerable speeds. I made a comment about the dinosaur-like monsters that caught my attention, and Sophia brought up Tsubaki. Since there were few chances to use a carriage in the Demon Continent, I was aware of the stress building up in Tsubaki.

「I’ll have to ask Kaede to relieve her stress, won’t I?」

「Yes, it may also be a good idea to bring her in the search.」

「Yeah. She wouldn’t fall behind even against the monsters of the Demon Continent.」

Sophia and I began making preparations to search based on the map we received from the Accuros.