To the Great Forest

Sei's party returned to the city of Aqua for now.

They needed to resupply food and fodder just in case, let the horses rest, and decide on their next destination.

"Distance-wise, Istria would be best, but…"

The Kingdom of Istria was vast, but the reach of royal authority was narrow.

This was because it possessed the Great Forest ruled by elves, as well as unexplored demon territory.

The Great Forest was effectively under elven control, and the several invasions Istria had attempted in the past had all been easily repelled.

They now maintained friendly relations through trade, but the impression of elves being exclusionary wasn't entirely wrong.

However, there was definitely one hero there.

A hero with the Immortal gift who had lost their mind.

"For Northern Lemdria, developing the demon territory would be better in the long term, I think."

"That's true, but most people only look at what's right in front of them. Besides, untouched wilderness means resources remain untapped."

Ria joined the meeting via communicator.

"Traveling there is going to be difficult though."

"… I hadn't realized you all weren't using Lavi's teleportation."

Yes, they now relied mainly on Lavi's teleportation for travel.

From the Great Wetlands to the southern edge of the City Alliance. From there, several teleportations brought them to Aqua.

Through repeated use, Lavi's teleportation had improved in precision, and she seemed a little proud of herself… though that was probably just his imagination.

"But you can't teleport into mountains or forests, right?"

At Kukuri's question, Lavi nodded.

To get from the City Alliance to Istria, they'd need to pass through demon territory and the Great Forest. There were no roads there… or so it should be.

"There might have been roads four or five thousand years ago, but any that old would already be buried by the forest."

Indeed, even the detailed map Ria had given them showed no such roads.

"Guess we have no choice but to go along the coast…"

Apparently there were towns along the coast. Though the main means of transportation there was by ship.

"Come to think of it, it's a good thing no hero was teleported over the ocean."

"Normally, teleportation magic has formulas built in to avoid such dangerous locations. So far, no hero has died getting lost in the wilderness, right?"

So that's how convenient it was.

Indeed, most heroes so far had managed to reach civilization on their own… Excluding exceptions like Mako.

"Then we have no choice but to go by ship?"

"That's right. There should be trading ships, so just throw money at them to get on board."

And so they set out to find a ship.

"Found one."

The one who easily found it was, of course, Kukuri.

It was a large ship that would port at a town called Store near the Great Forest. They agreed to take the horses aboard too, though the fee was steep.

It was a ship chartered by a great merchant, and they were charged quite a premium, but money wasn't a problem for this party.

"The sea…"

Gantz was trembling and trying to say something, which was rare for him, but his intent was unclear.

"Oh right, dwarves can't swim."

When Kukuri said that, Gantz nodded vigorously.

"Sorry, but there's no better option. Bear with it."

Summoning what must have been tremendous courage, Gantz nodded.

"The oceaaaan!"

Mako shouted with a sort of obligatory enthusiasm. Well, he could understand the feeling.

Last time they were here, they'd been so focused on dealing with the hero that they'd barely even seen the ocean.

"The sea really is beautiful… or maybe not so much?"

The city of Aqua's sewage flowed into the sea almost entirely untreated.

A city's sea couldn't be beautiful under such conditions, so at best it was about as clear as Japan's oceans.

"So you folks are the passengers? Nothing but kids, huh."

A sailor showed them to their room, and sure enough, that's how they appeared.

He felt a renewed appreciation for having had Chaos with them before.

Five people were crammed into a four-person room, but they couldn't complain. There simply wasn't a better ship available.

"Maybe I should've stored a magic ship in my folder."

"Sei, there'd be no one who could pilot it anyway…"

Kukuri patted Sei's back as he engaged in a bit of escapism.

The sea voyage had its share of complaints and anxieties, but there weren't many real problems.

They'd considered the possibility of seasickness, but they were already used to swaying from the carriage, and they took motion sickness medicine too.

They'd dock at ports at night, so they could refresh themselves there.

Gantz in particular seemed to need ground that didn't move.

"Ah, so that's the demon territory."

Going up on deck, Sei gazed at the forest extending all the way to the coastline.

"I heard about this in Lemdria too—there was a monster stampede, right? I wonder what's going on in there."

"Oh yeah, that did happen. The City Alliance seemed fine though, so maybe it's just a regular occurrence."

Lemdria and the City Alliance had already become places of the past in Sei's mind.

But Kukuri had been thinking about it.

"Hey, what if the evil gods have a hand in these monster stampedes?"

"Huh… no, if they had that kind of leeway, they'd invest those forces locally."

The forces of the evil gods were at an advantage on Dragon Claw Continent, evenly matched on Dragon Wing Continent, and the humans and their allies were winning on Dragon Fang Continent.

Was there any point in diverting forces to Dragon Bone Continent? Dragon Bone Continent was certainly stable, but it wasn't providing military support to nations fighting evil gods on other continents.

"When I think about it calmly, you're right."

When they contacted her via communicator, Ria said as much.

"But wait. Let me search through Valis's memories… right, there are several fairly powerful evil gods sealed in the demon territory."

"Uh, isn't that bad?"

"Evil gods don't really cooperate with each other. The evil gods and demon gods are supposedly quite clever, but they wouldn't go out of their way to resurrect other gods."

Apparently, evil gods often fought among themselves, even with their own kind.

Why? Because they're idiots.

By comparison, the benevolent gods were at least somewhat better. They were reasonably satisfied just being revered by humans.

Even so, there were still incorrigible gods who passed down the hero summoning ritual.

"Well, it's not something for you to worry about. If things get really bad, I'll… no, Rana would probably act first? She apparently made a promise to the lizardmen."

"Are the lizardman settlements safe?"

"Ah, you're worried about your lizardman companions? They're fine. Rana protects the lizardmen. Just as I protect Ogress."

He felt like something was moving behind the scenes of the world.

But that wasn't something for Sei to be concerned with. Sei wasn't a resident of this world. What was asked of him was the return of the heroes.

"Kukuri's going to complain, I bet."

With that murmur, Sei returned from the deck to the ship's interior.

"Ahh, ground that doesn't move…"

On all fours on the ground of Store, Gantz spoke more words than was usual for him.

"Come on, let's go. Stand up."

They left the town and brought out the carriage. The horses were in high spirits after being on solid ground for the first time in a while.

"Alright, let's go."

Riding in the covered wagon, the party traveled along the narrow road toward the Great Forest.

And that night, they reached the village at the end of the road.

"That was short!"

Sei couldn't help but exclaim, but apparently elves occasionally visited this village.

And for trade with the elves, there was a small shop. There was also an inn.

There was no bath, but they used bath magic to create one outside the village. For the first time in a while, they could wash off their sweat at leisure.

"Mmm, paradise, paradise."

Sei could only agree with Mako's old-man-like way of speaking.

Feeling relaxed, he asked the innkeeper's wife about the way to the elven village, and received an unexpected answer.

"Huh? You can't get into the elven village."

Apparently a special barrier was in place, and any human trying to reach the elven village would inevitably get lost and end up back where they started.

"Now this is starting to feel a bit more fantasy-like."

Mako said with nostrils flaring, but was there even a way to navigate a lost forest?

"I hear elves know how, but I don't."

If even the knowledgeable Kukuri didn't know, what about the divine dragon?

"Probably can go."

Lavi tilted her head slightly as she answered.

They prepared to venture into the Great Forest.

After all, this forest was called the Great Forest for good reason—it was enormous.

To give you an idea, it was easily more than ten times the area of Hokkaido. Walking through it normally was simply impossible.

And they couldn't use the carriage either.

It was a forest. It wasn't pathless exactly—there were vague trails—but a carriage couldn't pass through.

And they couldn't use horses either. Neither Kukuri, Gantz, nor Lavi had any horseback riding experience.

That left only walking. Which was impossible.

If they spent several months pushing through, it might be possible. With enough food and water… no, they should face reality.

Realistically speaking, this was impossible.

"So, please help us."

"Well, walking through it is certainly unrealistic."

When Ria had business with the elves, she'd apparently just visited from the sky.

Teleportation was also out. The elven barrier was too powerful, and breaking through it carelessly would cause significant damage.

"How do the elves interact with the outside world?"

"Well, some elves live in the shallower parts of the forest, and they bend space. But we can't bend space because of the elven barrier's effects."

"Then isn't it impossible?"

"That's why I said to just go from the sky."

"I haven't been taught flight magic, you know?"

"Just have Lavi carry you on her back. Young as she is, she should be fine carrying all of you. Just leave the horses at the village."

Riding on Lavi's back. In other words, having her transform into a dragon.

Divine dragons. Protectors of this world's order.

But no one had seen their true forms. Sei didn't even know Ria's true appearance.

"Lavi, so with that said, please."

"Girls are fine, but not boys."

To Sei's request, Lavi gave an unexpected answer.

"Huh, why's that?"

"Just because."

"…"

Lavi was expressionless, but her will seemed firm.

"Ah, I'd also rather not have men ride on me, to be honest."

When they contacted her via communicator, Ria said the same thing.

"Is there a reason?"

"As a former man yourself, how would you feel about a man riding on you?"

"Well… I wouldn't like it, but it's just riding, right?"

"It's still unpleasant, isn't it? Of the dragons famous for carrying people throughout history, almost all carried women. Though there are some like Ouma who don't mind…"

The degree varied by dragon, and unfortunately, Lavi absolutely refused to carry men.

"So, I need you two to wait here."

At Sei's words, Kukuri objected. He objected with every word in his vocabulary.

His reason for objecting was simply that he also wanted to see the elven village, so it could be ignored.

"Look, as long as Lavi says no, there's nothing we can do about it."

Next, Kukuri tried his best to persuade Lavi, but his words went in one ear and out the other.

More than firm will, it seemed almost instinctual.

After half a day of failed persuasion, Kukuri gave up and asked Sei and Mako to at least observe the elven village in detail.

As a bard, that was probably the one line he absolutely couldn't compromise on.