Chapter 301: From Waking Up to Going North (3)

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“Your luggage and transport are ready. Would you like to leave now?”

Loren was rescued from the room that had begun to have a rather delicate atmosphere by a maid coming to inform them that preparation for their trip had finished. The party, already prepared, was ready to leave immediately and decided to depart after informing the Great Demon King.

“Lapis, I await your glad tidings.”

“I think it would be better if you shut your mouth, Your Majesty, so that our meagre allegiance would not be further eroded.”

The Great Demon King decided to see them off. Trying to keep himself out of the King’s sight as much as possible, Loren followed the maid’s lead while dragging Lapis, who had a stiff smile on her face.

After being made to walk a considerable distance inside the huge castle of the Great Demon King, they were able to leave through one of the exits.

“I’m the only human who’s ever set foot inside the castle and made it out safely, aren’t I?”

“Usually, they are dealt with before they even set foot in the castle.”

As the party had this disturbing conversation, they were greeted by Emery, the Ancient Dragon who had previously helped them to get to the castle.

“I’ve been waiting for you. Now get on my back!”

Emery, who was waiting for them in a crouch, hurried them along. But Loren did not immediately climb up on her back. He looked up at her face with narrowed eyes instead. Not understanding the meaning of his gaze, Emery unintentionally locked eyes with Loren, and her body stiffened slightly at Loren’s words, which sounded somewhat resentful.

“Don’t you have something else to say first?”

Loren said this because Emery had thrown Loren and his companions right in front of the Great Demon King while he was taking a bath. Although the Great Demon King himself had said that he would not hold the dragon responsible, Loren, who was suddenly thrown into the bath and then had to encounter such a being as the Great Demon King, felt that he would not be satisfied without voicing his complaint, so he thought that a word of apology would be acceptable.

“I think it was a pretty good surprise. Don’t you?”

“We could have died.”

“You climbed onto the back of an Ancient Dragon and met the Great Demon King. Such an incident should be a given, shouldn’t it?”

“Is that your answer?”

Loren crossed his arms in front of his chest and kept his eyes fixed on Emery. The dragon returned his gaze, thought for a moment, then bowed her head slightly.

“My prank went too far. I’m sorry.”

“Be careful next time. I can’t keep up with you dragons’ way of thinking.”

As soon as Emery uttered her apology, Loren stopped glaring at her and scratched his head.

Behind him, Lapis and Gula were whispering to each other.

“The dragon apologized.”

“She probably felt that she had gone a little too far. The fact that she didn’t use brute force at this point is proof that dragons are decently intelligent.”

“If you’re going to apologize, you shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

“You see, it was all in the heat of the moment.”

“The two guys in the back. I wish you would stop saying it so that I can hear you. You are probably right, and that’s why I apologized.”

Lapis and Gula stopped talking after they witnessed the rare sight of a dragon being embarrassed, more by a shift in the atmosphere than by facial expression.

Emery made a sort of coughing sound, and then spoke to Loren and the others again.

“Now get on my back. I’ll take you to the place where you can get out of the demon realm.”

“By the way, how much will your debt be reduced because of this?”

Gula asked Emery as she watched Loren, who had been urged by Emery to climb up onto her back, lend a hand to Lapis, who was trying to climb up after him.

The dragon was also looking at the two of them, but when she heard Gula’s words, she instantly turned her head away and looked in the opposite direction.

“Can’t tell us?”

“I don’t want to. It’s a matter of pride for me.”

Gula’s face became quizzical when she was answered with such a vague term like ‘pride’, but her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Loren reach out his hand to her from above Emery’s back.

Gula could climb up Emery’s back without Loren’s help. But on second thought, Lapis should also have the same physical ability, and would not have needed Loren’s assistance. Still, considering that she had held Loren’s hand and had him pull her up to the top of the dragon’s back, Gula thought she should ask him to do the same and obediently took Loren’s hand.

“Don’t tease her too much.”

Loren said to Gula as he took Gula’s hand and pulled her up.

Gula tilted her head to see what he was talking about, and Lapis, who had already sat on Emery’s back, continued as if to add.

“Dragons usually don’t carry someone on their back, but she is carrying us on her back in exchange for a reduction in her debts. If we asked for the amount of the debt reduction, that amount would be the price of Emery’s pride, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s right, but… Can you stop having that kind of conversation on my back?”

Emery said in a somewhat resigned voice to the party, who looked at each other and stopped talking about the topic. After all, she was the one who would be transporting them from now on. If they upset her, there was a risk that they would be thrown back into the castle. But more importantly, Emery’s voice, which sounded like a plea, was a little pathetic.

“Take care on your way, everyone. We look forward to seeing you again.”

With these parting words of the maid, Emery slowly jumped up into the air.

Loren, while feeling the floating sensation that he didn’t think he would ever get used to, waved his hand as a goodbye to the maid, who was looking up at them and waving her hand.

“The maids seem to like Loren quite a lot, don’t they?”

“It proves that I have a good eye for men, doesn’t it?”

“Isn’t it just because they’re curious? And Lapis, say those words when I’m not around.”

As they talked, the party enjoyed the unusual experience of air travel.

On the way, they passed over several cities of the demon tribe. If an Ancient Dragon were to pass over a city of the human tribe, it would surely cause a huge commotion as a beehive was poked, but from the air, Loren was amazed that almost no commotion occurred.

“Isn’t an Ancient Dragon a threat to the demon tribe?”

“We can talk to them, and we know that they are not so senseless as to attack a city for no reason.”

“What about ordinary dragons?”

“If a dozen of them flew in, they might be a threat, but if it’s just one or two, then tomorrow’s meal will be more luxurious.”

If it were a country or city of the human race, just one ordinary dragon would be enough to destroy it or cause a great deal of damage. The fact that Lapis answered so casually made Loren realize once again how the demon race was compared to humans.

Meanwhile, Emery continued her flight smoothly, and just as Loren was thinking that it must be almost lunchtime, judging from his empty stomach, they arrived at the mountainous area that separates the territory of the demon tribe from that of other races. The dragon easily flew over the high mountains and landed on the edge of the forest on the human side of the mountain range.

“You seemed to fly a little slower than when we came in?”

“I thought you might enjoy the scenery more that way. You have time to spare, don’t you?”

According to Lapis’ estimation, it would take about two days to reach their destination, the Empire, on foot from the break in the mountainous region to the north. However, even if those two days were taken into account, by the time Loren and his team arrived in the Empire, the people who were supposed to have left from Kapha would still not have arrived in the Empire territory. If they arrived too early, people would wonder how on earth they had managed to get there in such a short period of time, so there was plenty of time to spare.

“Be careful. There are disturbing signs in the north. We will see each other again when the time is right.”

After lowering Loren and the others to the ground, Emery said her farewells, soared high into the sky, and flew away again toward the demon territory. After watching her figure disappear beyond the mountains, Loren and the others put their packs back on their backs, checked their surroundings, and began walking north.

“If we hurry, we should be there in about two days, but let’s move a little slower.”

The food and water they had from the Great Demon castle was more than enough for several days, if Gula’s binge eating was not taken into consideration.

Loren agreed with Lapis’ suggestion, although it was not without thought that it would be better to arrive at the destination somewhat earlier, considering the situation where the Empire and the Kingdom were at war.

“Our side trip was horrible. We should settle down and rest somewhere.”

“I agree. The climate here is quite different from Kapha, so it might be better to take time to get used to it.”

When told, Loren noticed that the wind caressing his skin was indeed different from what he had felt when he was in Kapha.

“The air is a little drier and… a little cooler?

“It’s not chilly yet, but it’s a lot further north than Kapha. And we’re going even further north, so it’s going to be that way.”

Loren had been told that once you reached the northernmost point of the continent, you would find a land covered with ice that never melted.

While temperatures in other parts of the continent might vary somewhat, the northern part of the continent was said to have a climate where the temperature never reached a point where ice melted at any given time. As they moved closer to the north, the temperature would naturally become cooler and the air drier, depriving their bodies of moisture.

“It would be nice to have someplace like an inn town where we can relax and gather information as well. Oh, you can leave the payment to me.”

“At this point, I’m not even worried about a dozen silver coins or more in debt…”

Loren wondered if it was a good idea to leave the payment to Lapis, but there was no way he had enough money in his pocket to pay for lodging for all three of them.

“I’d be happy if the food was good.”

“What is the best food in the North? You don’t get to eat well on the battlefield, so I’d like to try something tasty before we go.”

Gula and Lapis chatted light-heartedly as they walked on. The atmosphere was so light that it was hard to believe that they were going to a battlefield, but considering their races, it was probably nothing to get worked up about, and Loren didn’t feel the need to warn them to brace themselves. When Loren noticed that Nig, who usually clung to his shoulder, was trying to crawl under his jacket, perhaps because of the cold, he loosened the collar lightly to make it easier for the spider.

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