CH 79

“Lain nii-chaaan!”

“Ooh, welcome back Reno.”

Reno raised an energetic voice as she approached us.

Everyone knew she was returning, so they weren’t on their guard like before.

“Did you find any ruins?”

“No. I don’t know. But, there was something weird over there.”

“Weird?”

“Like a weird thing, or a weird place.”

Reno’s explanation made no sense.

I thought she had finally found a house, but it doesn’t seem that that’s the case.

Could there possibly be some strange ruins?

“Did it seem dangerous?”

“No. It felt more safe than anything.”

“Safe? Inside the Demon Forest?”

Aria made a bewildered expression.

She seems to have gotten well used to this forest.

Normally it’s not possible for something to be safe in the Demon Forest.

Although, there’s nothing ‘definite’ inside this forest, so there’s no saying that there couldn’t be such a place…

“Well, let’s check it out for now. I’m curious to see this as well.”

“If Lain thinks that, then let’s do it.”

We all head out together to the place which Reno found.

***

“It’s weird alright.”

“Indeed.”

The place we were guided to by Reno was a little different from the surroundings.

Only in that place were the trees sparsely growing, and there was a paved road for people to pass through.

There were also flowerbeds growing along the road.

To summarize, it was a park.

“This is a safe area.”

“Safe area?”

It was slightly eerie to have a park in the middle of a forest, but I have encountered places like these in the past.

During the age of the ancient magician civilization, there were places to evacuate to in case a disaster took place, or a large monster appeared.

For the unthinkable case, these places were also cast with an automated barrier.

Places like parks and schools were supposedly picked for such spots.

Due to the barrier that hindered the progress of monsters, places like these had a chance of surviving being swallowed by the Demon Forest.

As such, they are now safe areas within the forest.

Although, the only people making use of such places would be us anti-demon aristocrats.

“And that’s why, this is a safe place where monsters can’t attack us.”

“””””Oooh.”””””

At my explanation, the five exhaled in admiration.

We were inside the safe area.

I didn’t find any problems when I entered alone, and since this was everyone’s first time in this area I could see the exhaustion on their faces due to having their guard up the whole time so taking a break won’t be too bad.

“I see. I was sure that this was another ruin, but too bad.”

“It’s not that bad, you know?”

Seeing her slump her shoulders at finding this place instead of a ruin, I lightly stroke Reno’s head.

“Lain nii-chan, what do you mean?”

“Look at the map.”

I take out the map we found in the previous ruins.

“Shelters like these are usually marked well in maps like these.”

Most commercially available maps show shelters.

Since this was a commercially available map with few markings on it, of course it would have a shelter on it as well.

“This evacuation shelter is unusually wide. Since this is a park, it’s probably here.”

I point at a park sandwiched between two main roads connecting to our targeted ruins.

That park was also marked as an evacuation center.

“Lain nii-chan!”

“Based on where the previous ruins and this park are located, you can tell where the next ruins will be, right?”

“Yeah!”

Reno looks up at me with sparkly eyes.

At this pace, we’re set to find the ruins by the end of this day.

I think of such things while casually holding Reno, who was about to run off at any moment.

***

“Man, to think we would find it this quick.”

“You’re right.”

After resting for a bit in the safe area, Reno set off early to look for the ruins, but ended up finding them quicker than expected.

Like before, the ruins were shaped like a normal residence.

Unlike before, the residence was entirely exposed to us this time.

Last time I couldn’t confirm it because it was buried in a cliff, but this time I can confirm the appearance of the house.

Its appearance was like a bungalow.

Based on its size, it seems to be another 2 LDK house.

Though decayed, it resembled a medieval European brick house with a red triangular roof and a chimney.

Were houses like these trending at the time?

Well, while there are no traces left of the surrounding houses, this house alone remains as ruins, so it’s highly likely that this place was also a hiding place for the witch cult.

Though, if it’s a miss then it’s a miss, and we can consider ourselves lucky at just finding another ruin.

However, to find it on the first day.

Reno’s directional capabilities and detection skills are what are truly terrifying.

“Lain nii-chan! Am I, amazing? Amazing!?”

“Yeah! You’re amazing~”

I patted Reno’s head, as she was stood close to me clearly looking for praise.

Seeing her in a euphoric state, I could almost see her non-existent tail wagging with its all might.

“So, what do we do? Shall we check inside once?”

“Let’s see~”

I crossed my arms and thought about the future.

This ruin has one clear difference from the previous one.

Its doors were wide open.

In other words, there was a possibility of finding monsters inside.