World Map

Since there's no official world map that I could find, I wanted a place to gather quotes with geographical info from the web novel to maybe create a raw map. Obviously this page will be full of spoilers, read at your own risk.

As this page is supposed to gather geography-oriented info, please put additional info about listed locations onto their own respective pages (except for countries where there isn't enough info for a separate article).

Names and events from the Light Novel might differ. I'll also stick to Dukedom/Marquisdom/Earldom from the original translation of the Web Novel instead of the Duchy/Marquisate/County from the Light Novel.

Central Territory
A territory under the direct rule of the Shiga King

Royal Capital
The capital city of the Shiga Kingdom.

Selbira the Labyrinth City
A city under direct rule of the Shiga King, governed in his name by Marquis Ashinen due the strategic importance of the Labyrinth located on the city outskirts.

Notable locations:

 * Holy Living Armor Tomb - Remains of Furu Empire, a base of operation for Holy Living Armors: General and Dynast. Located in a great canyon at the boundary of a territory under direct  control of the king, far south-south-west from the Labyrinth City.

Bisthal Dukedom
(On the way from Hosbed and Suibod villages in Lesseu Earldom to the Zareok, Garuok and Yowok Kingdoms of the Western ??? Kingdoms Group, specialized in monster taming)

Duchy Capital
The capital city of Bisthal Dukedom located near a huge lake, five times the size of Lake Biwa.

Oyugock Capital
The capital city of the Oyugock Dukedom and the former capital city of the Shiga Kingdom causing the city to often be called the "Old Capital".

Muno Marquisdom
A large territory approximately the size of Hokkaido bordering Kuhanou Earldom to the north and Oyugock Dukedom to the south-west???. The territory is relatively flat, although surrounded by mountains, with two rivers coming together in a lake in the middle of a great forest north-west of the Muno City covering about 30 percent of the territory, before continuing on south past Muno City toward the Oyugock Dukedom.

There are 4 cities and 7 towns in total, with 2 cities and 3 towns being currently under Marquis Muno's control, as well as several villages along the borders and the south highway connecting the Kuhanou Earldom and the Oyugock Dukedom.

Several decades ago it collapsed into ruin after the death of the entire extended family of Former Marquis Muno, causing majority of the territory to fall under monster/local rule with mines located on the borders being redistributed to bordering Shiga territories. Despite the fact that only alternative route from Kuhanou Earldom in the north to the Oyugock Dukedom in the south leads north through the Seryuu Earldom and around the Royal Capital, until not so long ago many people chose to take the detour because of the terrible state of affairs in Muno Marquisdom at the time.

In recent years the territory has seen a huge upswing in terms of development, population, general safety, quality of living, and overall renown, causing large amount of people to immigrate to once almost abandoned towns and villages. The control over several monster-occupied towns was also restored, and as a result the territory was able to regain a part of its former glory as well as the status of a Marquisdom.

Muno City
The capital city of the Muno Marquisdom located south-east of the great forest. A medieval european style city with a castle and walls surrounding the entire area.

Notable locations:

 * Brighton City - a city in the mountains near the west-northwest border almost 30 miles from the silver mines in the Kuhanou Earldom formerly occupied by the local kobold tribe, currently populated with various immigrants and governed by Lina Emlin in the name of Earl Pendragon
 * Tagenkoumi Town - a town located atop a large vein of silver, mithril and blue crystals, recently recaptured by Satou and his companions, currently populated with kobolds, former demi-human slaves from Seryuu Earldom and various other immigrants and governed in the name of Viscount Kishresgalza
 * Pendragon Village - a small village on the bank of a river created by Satou and populated by local elders and children (In the Light Novel instead of creating a village, Satou and his companions cleared a ruined fortress on a mountain by the river and invited the elders and children to occupy it)
 * Giant's Village - a village located under a Mountain Tree in the great forest housing a wide manner of fantastical creatures, with varied architecture to accommodate inhabitants of various sizes (only mentioned by name in the Web Novel)
 * Orc Empire Ruins - a group of building in the great forest dating back to the Orc Empire, looking like facilities for astronomical observations (only in the Light Novel)

Kuhanou Earldom
A territory bordering the Seryuu Earldom to the north, the Grey Rat Principality to the north-east and the Muno Marquisdom to the south (and close enough to Lessau Earldom to fall under the local branch office of Echigoya Firm).

Kuhanou City
The capital city of the Kuhanou Earldom located north of the forest of illusions

Notable locations:

 * Noukee Town - a town located along the south highway close to the northern border with Seryuu Earldom
 * Forest of Illusions - a forest located on a source near Noukee Town, guarded by a witch
 * Uke Village - an abandoned pottery village located along the south highway between Noukee Town and Sedum City
 * Sedum City - a castle city located along the south highway close to the silver mines on the southern border with Muno Marquisdom, about the same size as Seryuu City
 * Silver Mines - several mines located in the former Muno Marquisdom's territory, redistributed to Kuhanou Earldom after the collapse of the Former House Muno. In the past they were often attacked by the kobolds living in the Muno Dukedom's territory

Lesseu Earldom
Notable locations:
 * Hosbed and Suibod villages - two villages where the "Blood of Lesseu" is produced

Seryuu Earldom
A territory stretching about forty miles in all directions from the Soldiers’ Stronghold, bordering the Northern Countries to the north, the Dragon's Valley to the east, the Grey Rat Principality to the south-east and the Kuhanou Earldom to the south. It has two cities and multiple villages, none of which are located to the east of Seryuu City (towards the Dragon's Valley).

Seryuu City
The capital city of the Seryuu Earldom located 12 miles from the Soldiers’ Stronghold at the earldom's eastern border. A medieval European style city with a central keep and walls encircling the city's 4 main districts:
 * Central District - a high-end district behind the inner wall with expensive shops and nobility-owned mansions
 * South District - the main trading district with a wide street leading from the main gate to the inner keep lined with mid-end shops
 * East District - residential district where most of the free citizens live with streets lined by various stalls
 * West District - the artisan district housing the meat processing facilities, various workshops and grey-area businesses as well as a slave market

Notable city locations:

 * Monzen Inn - an inn located by the main gate where Satou stayed while in Seryuu City owned by Martha's mother, managed with Martha and Yuni's help
 * Handyman Store - a shop owned by Yusalatouya and managed by Nadi
 * Labyrinth of Devil - a labyrinth located in the West District

Notable locations:

 * Soldiers’ Stronghold - an abandoned stronghold on the border with the Dragon's Valley
 * Mountainous City - a city located in the mountains along the west highway, roughly thirty miles from the Soldiers’ Stronghold
 * Kainona Town - a town located along the south highway leading from Seryuu City towards Kuhanou Earldom
 * Monolith - a broken travel gate in the shape of three toppled over stone Tori gates located by the south highway between Seryuu City and Kainona Town

Orc Empire (Fallen)
An orc empire that existed before the Shiga Kingdom was founded on the territories of the present-day Muno Marquisdom and Oyugock Dukedom.

Saga Empire
Located on the northern part of the continent.

Weasel Empire
Located on the eastern part of the continent.

Notable locations:

 * Parishes - Enclosed outer regions of the Weasel Empire, housing the pious citizens.

Dejima Island
An island on the eastern coast of Weasel Empire. It succeeded from the Weasel Empire not long before its fall and became an independent territory recognized by the Shiga Kingdom ruled by the Weasel Emperor's son.

Notable locations:

 * Phantasmal Labyrinth - located in a volcano on an island next to Dejima Island

Garleon Union
One of the kingdoms located on the western part of the continent. A union of 9 trade cities, the leading Garleok City, two other unnamed trade cities and 6 cities constituting the Gaboz Kingdom.

Garleok City
The capital city of the Garleok Union. A Venice-like city often called "Jewel of the West", situated on the ocean coast and surrounded by rivers. The city is surrounded by monster warding stone monuments engraved with Garleon holy symbols, creating a small sea with a lot of shellfish and fish farms.

Notable locations:

 * Main Temple of God Heraruon - located in Garleok City

Garuok Kingdom
One of the kingdoms located on the western part of the continent located between the Zareok Kigdom and Yowok Kingdom. A kingdom where a lot of wood-works and coals exist, known for the furniture made by master craftsmen of this kingdom are famous even in Shiga Kingdom and Saga Empire.

Kingdom has symbiotic relationship with the neighboring Deer-folk kin offering their military force in exchange for food supply, as well as Squirrel-folk kin working away from home as furniture craftsmen.

Grey Rat Principality
A self-governed dominion of the rat people in the mountains bordering the Kuhanou Earldom to the South, Seryuu Earldom to the north-west and Dragon's Valley to the north-east.

Rat Village
A rat village located between Seryuu City and Maze of Trazayuya

Notable locations:

 * Maze of Trazayuya - (aka. Trazayuya's Cradle) an underground elf training facility created by the elf sage Trazayuya inside a mountain in the north??? of the Grey Rat Principality modeled after a dungeon (in the Light Novel it's located inside a Mountain Tree instead)

Pier Rock
One of the kingdoms located on the western part of the continent, often called the "Country of Transformation". Neighbors Tokiswolk Kingdom,

Notable locations:

 * Main Temple of God Zaikuon - located in Capital City

Sania Kingdom
One of the kingdoms located on the western part of the continent. A desert kingdom located to the west of the Great Desert where Labyrinth City Selbira is, beyond the southern central mountains.

Capital City
A port city surrounded by the "Small Sand Sea" with Arabian-like architecture.

Notable locations:

 * Main Temple of God Heraruon - located in or near Capital City
 * Sandstone Labyrinth [withered] - located in the "Small Sand Sea"

Tokiswolk Kingdom
One of the kingdoms located on the western part of the continent. Neighbors Pier Rock.

Yowok Kingdom
One of the kingdoms located on the western part of the continent. Neighbors Garuok Kingdom. It's larger than other small kingdoms since several years ago it has absorbed the neighboring Kubooku Kingdom in order to take control of the withered labyrinth below the kingdom's capital. There are two cities and seven towns (including the old Kuuboku Kingdom's capital city).

Notable locations:

 * Goblin Labyrinth: Ruin - The partially revived labyrinth under the former Kubooku Kingdom capital

Zareok Kingdom
One of the kingdom located on the western part of the continent bordering the Bisthal Dukedom in Shiga Kingdom and Garuok Kingdom. According to the Tourism Ministry's document, it seems to be an idyllic kingdom that specializes in wool products.

Elf Villages
Villages of several elf clans tasked with protecting the World Trees, usually located at the root of each clan's respective tree.

Boruenan Clan Village
An elf village located at the foot of the World Tree in Boruenan Forest. The forest borders Oyugock Duchy of Shiga Kingdom (separated by Black Mountains) to the ???.

Monster Dominions
Various territories created when a strong monster above certain level continues to rule the local Source, often located between the borders of neighboring countries.

Dragon's Valley
A wasteland 60 miles to the east of the Soldiers’ Stronghold at the edge of Seryuu Earldom (LN) with a landscape reminiscent of the the North American Grand Canyon. The place is surrounded by a barrier preventing human access. It also houses the largest source on the continent, causing it to be populated solely by dragons and dragon-kin tribes.

Other Notable Monster Domains

 * Wyvern Mountain - a monster domain located between the borders of Garuok Kingdom and Yowok Kingdom with a wyvern nest located on a mountain peak, which proved to be a great source of White Dragon Stones (dried wyvern excrement) used to create the all-purpose antidote.

Quotes
WN 10-17 - According to her, it seems that a dragon has nested in the mountain pass that's located in the Zetsu Earldom that's between Lesseu Earldom and the Royal Capital. As the result, the northern highway of the kingdom has been completely blocked, and the circulation of goods stops. That's bothersome.

WN 14-4 - (...)branch office of Echigoya Firm at the handy relay point in Kuhanou Earldom. (...) "No, the villages where the wine is brewed seem to be in danger of annihilation because of monster outbreak. The territorial army of Earl Lesseu only exterminate monsters in the highways and the mines, so most rural areas far from the cities are doing terrible." (...) "The village's name?" "They're Hosbed village and Suibod village." (making Earl Lesseu fall under/be close to Kuhanou Earldom)

I slightly digressed, but since there's still some time before noon, I head toward Yowok Kingdom through the air lane. I inadvertently got near the battlefield when I was passing through Bisthal Dukedom along the way and got chased by the Wyvern Riders. (...) Just in case, I searched Bisthal Dukedom, but there wasn't any demon nor Unique Skill user there. There were unusually many Tamers and Beast Riders but, I couldn't find a particularly suspicious point, so it's probably a territory that offer those kinds of jobs. There was a huge lake, five times the size of Lake Biwa near the duchy capital, I'd like to go visit there with everyone once the war is over. And then, I finally arrived at the group of small kingdoms after crossing the border mountain range. I made a slight error, as I didn't arrive at Yowok Kingdom but at a town of a mountain kingdom called Zareok Kingdom. According to the Tourism Ministry's document, it seems to be an idyllic kingdom that specializes in wool products. (...) Leaving behind the tempting memories of Zareok kingdom, I head toward the neighboring kingdom. For some reason, there are areas that are ruled by monsters in the border or rather the gap between kingdoms. Apparently, when a strong monster above certain level continues to rule the Source, the area becomes its dominion. It's like a grand-strategy simulation game. Passing through such monster domains, I enter the next kingdom. According to the Tourism Ministry map, this is the Garuok Kingdom where a lot of woodworks and coals exist. It seems that the furnitures made by master craftsmen of this kingdom are famous even in Shiga Kingdom and Saga Empire. According to the document, this Garuok Kingdom has symbiotic relationship with the neighboring Deerfolk kin and Squirrelfolk kin. Deerfolk kin offer military force to Garuok Kingdom, and get food supply as the compensation. Looking at the map, it seems there's a lot of Squirrelfolk kin working away from home as furniture craftsmen. There are monster-ruled domains between Garuok Kingdom and my destination Yowok Kingdom too. This one seems to be a wyvern domain.

After finally arriving at Yowok Kingdom, I use [All Map Exploration]. Since this Yowok Kingdom has absorbed Arisa's homeland, it's larger than small kingdoms I've been to so far, there are two cities and seven towns. There's hardly any demi-human even as slaves, it seems to be a kingdom that's mainly of humans. (...) While under [Optical Camouflage] skill, I head toward the ruin of Kubooku Kingdom's royal castle where the Yowok Kingdom's labyrinth is.

The main part of the royal castle has disappeared, and three towers next to the castle wall have collapsed. The only tower remaining is destroyed on its base too and there's no one inside. According to Arisa, it was a greater demon's attack, so the damage might be little considering. Lesseu City was virtually destroyed by a mid demon after all. Dark. It seems that the floor isn't emitting dim light here unlike the labyrinths in Selbira and Seryuu cities. It feels like the ruined labyrinth in the Duchy Capital instead. The labyrinth's name is [Goblin Labyrinth: Ruin] after all. According to Arisa, it seems to be a labyrinth that once lost its Dungeon Core and got revived, there are probably many functions that haven't been restored yet.

WN 14-16 - "There are four cities and seven towns in this earldom. Among them, one city and two towns are under Earl Muno's rule, three towns are under the local clans rule, and the rest are occupied by monsters and savage tribes."

"Before that, we have a problem. The kobolds from the abandoned mine city have begun to meddle with the silver mine located in Kuhanou Earldom to the north-east you see."

WN 14-17 - He's the viceroy of the second city of Kuhanou Earldom, Sedam, that's near the silver mine the Kobolds are attacking.

WN 14-19 - The next morning, we departed while being sent off by the people of Muno Earldom. I thought of stopping by to the Seryuu city, but since I don't want to deal with Earl Seryuu's unreasonable demands, we head toward the eastern group of countries as planned. The first country is Kiwolk--the kingdom of snow and frost-covered trees.

WN 15-I10 - This place is a great canyon at the boundary of a territory under direct control of the king, far south-south-west from the Labyrinth City. (Holy Living Armour ruins)

WN 16-3 - "The smaller countries at the western part of the continent are apparently still in confusion by the monster stampedes from the Divine Punishment." "There aren't many rumours about Saga Empire at the northern part of the continent are there."

Additionally, people believe that the weasel empire at the eastern part of the continent has been annihilated, and only Dejima Island remains. In fact, the parishes on the edge of Weasel Empire are still going strong, but that doesn't seem to be known.

WN 16-6 - After looking around the map for a bit, I found out that wreckages of magic artillery are sleeping not only in Lalakie, but also in the oceanic state of magic kingdom Lalagi that's related to Lalakie, in the territorial waters of Ishlalie, and even in the Sea Dragon Archipelago at the coastal waters of Boruenan. Few survived getting submerged in the sea for 20,000 years, only an ancient ship made of adamantite sunk in the Sea Dragon Archipelago remained.

WN 16-12 - "The talk wandered a bit, and then Lily told me about the countries where the Central Temples are located." "All of them are in the western part of the continent huh." "Yes, it is said that they evacuated to the west for their safety when Furu Empire was collapsing."

WN 16-15 - Apparently many of the countries' cultures on the continent west are left over from Furu Empire era, I'm sure we will find a lot of delicious food and unusual stuff there.

The airship circled the capital's sky once, went over the labyrinth city and advanced above the great desert. The first trial is located in a country where the central temple of God Heraruon resides. The airship we're riding is heading south-west of the great desert, toward a mid-sized country located in a small desert next to the great desert. Our destination is the [Country of Sun] Sania Kingdom--.

WN 16-16 - This place is located to the west of the Great Desert where Labyrinth City Selbira is, beyond the southern central mountains, it's a desert where the sand is smooth like water. It's called Small Sand Sea, but its total area is as vast as three Japanese islands bundled together. It seems there's a dead dungeon called Sandstorm Labyrinth at the place where the black haze the two found is located.

WN 16-18 - "Master, the temple's symbol is that of sun so I inform." "Still, this temple is humongous." "Yeah, it really is." It's a very huge temple for being located at a mid-sized country. According to AR info, the sun symbol isn't only made of coloured glass and gems, it also has Light Stones and Light Crystals embedded inside, emitting mystical lights. This building would have looked even more impressive if we visited by at night. After going up long stairs at the entrance, a Heraruon Temple priest wearing luxurious vestment was waiting for us.

WN 16-23 - Tama and Pochi who have taken refuge behind Nana are looking at the disastrous scene of the port sadly. [Sania Kingdom Capital]

WN 16-24 - I set the airship's route toward the [Garleon Union] on the western edge of the continent in order to take the next trial.

WN 16-25 - "Pretty." "Yes, it's just as you would expect from the so-called 『Jewel of the West』." Mia and Princess Sistina who are accompanying me gave their praises as they gazed upon Garleok City scenery. We have come to Garleok City where the Central Garleon Temple is located.

This Garleok City is enclosed by a river and sea on all sides. There are waterways with gondolas inside the city, making it look similar to Venice somewhat. There are also monster warding stone monuments engraved with Garleon holy symbol surrounding the city, and there's a lot of shellfish and fish farms in the area of ocean inside the monument encirclement. Sea where no monster swimming around seems to be a paradise for fish and shellfish, their outlines reflected on my Radar are quite thick.

The huge Garleon Temple can be seen in the middle of the city far away. Unlike the luxurious Heraruon Temple at Sania Kingdom, this one has this sturdy atmosphere to it. "Is this you first time coming to Garleon Union, Satou?" "Yes, I've passed by it in the sky many times before, but this is the first I visit the city." I affirmed Princess Sistina's question. If I'm not mistaken, the last time I came here was when the neighbouring Holy State Parion waged a war with this country. "There's no king in this country, isn't there? Then who is ruling it?" "It's by representatives of each cities." Garleon Union is an alliance of nine cities, and this Garleok City that we are at acts as the leader. Three of the cities including Garleok are managed by a confederation of merchants, while the other six form a kingdom. Thus, saying that there's no king is not exactly right. Every city is prospering through marine product trades, many of the people are wealthy. "Flowers." "There's really a lot of extravagant houses around." Perhaps it's because of the narrow land, lots of three-story housing complexes here, their verandas facing the main street are adorned with colourful beautiful flowers. Walking around never gets tiring with the colourful houses here.

There should be quite a distance from here to Shiga Kingdom, but it looks like Tama's Shadow Ferry can travel to my shadow just fine. Well, since she used up her mana, the area around here is probably her limit.

"『Skeleton Archduke』 huh.... You think the rumour about Gaboz Kingdom being behind them is true?" "To take over this Garleok City and become the leader of Garleon Union?"

WN 16-26 - "Looking up close like this, it's quite an elaborate temple." "Yes, those are some splendid-looking sculptures." "Nn, gorgeous." From a distance, Garleon Temple looked like a plain gray temple, but when we've gotten closer, it's clearly adorned with unique sculptures, it wouldn't be strange if it were registered as a World Heritage site. Upon further inspections, the building isn't entirely grey, there's also colours of silver and unusual metal called black steel as its ornaments.

WN 16-27 - The Map north of the Garleok City are dotted with mermaid villages, and one of them appears to be the mermaid little girl's home.

WN 16-28 - If I'm not mistaken, Sage Tower is another name for the city where the great temple of God Karion resides.

WN 16-37 - "The Judicial Nation Sheriffald where God Urion's main temple is located." "Religious country?" "Nope, it seems to be a peculiar judicial based country." "Is the social system similar to ancient Greece, where the government is directly ruled by the people?" "Apparently, only people who passed the bar examination have the right to cast votes."

This country is located right between Saga Empire and the western countries. The building colour here being predominantly white is probably because of the building materials taken from a nearby mountain.

In addition, since demi-humans are discriminated against here, Liza, Mia and Lulu aren't coming either.

WN 16-39 - "Rumours going around that their headquarters is at the neighbouring corrupt city Dodobu, but merchants coming from that city denied the rumours, you see~" Corrupt City is the alias, officially it's known as Commercial City Dodobu. It's one of city states, and a place where you can procure grey zone commodity and get some services

WN 16-42 - I set the airship's course toward our next destination, the place where Zaikuon Main Temple is located, the [Country of Transformation] Pier Rock.

WN 16-50 - Not insignificant numbers of Vampire Slaves and Blood Stalkers are still lurking in the two destroyed towns, while one Vampire and several Vampire Slaves are hiding in the subterranean tunnel of the Royal Capital. "I shall immediately go exterminate them if Master wishes so." "Right then..." According to the documents I have on hand, only Vampire class and above have the ability to increase their numbers, I should leave the clean up in the destroyed Tokislu town to Saga Empire's expeditionary force and to Tokiswolk Kingdom's troops who must be hell-bent on getting their revenge.

WN 16-51 - After leaving Tokiswolk Kingdom that had been partially destroyed by vampires, we got out of the long and narrow monster dominion facing north and arrived at Dragg Kingdom. It's a curiously hot country with subtropical-like vegetation.

Rusus's scream echoed in the green dragon's nest the dragon priestess led us to. Its nest is located at the peak of a sacred mountain soaring high to the north of Dragg Kingdom's royal capital.

Now then, next we're heading to the city-state Kariswolk where the main temple of God Karion resides, also known as, the [Sage's Tower].

WN 16-52 - We arrived at the city state Kariswolk where Karion main temple is located. I realized that I was overthinking about [God's Backdoors] from previous trials, and so I went with all members who had times on this occasion. The territory where this city state is located is currently snowing, thus [Sage's Tower], which is also another name for the city, is hidden by the heavily falling snow, we can't see it here from outside the city.

The doors and windows are small so these houses look like private houses, but there are signboards drawn with pictures signifying diner and bar hung on the front doors. I wonder if the fact that there's a lot more rental library than other countries here is due to Sage's Tower? "Is that perhaps the main temple?" "The holy mark of God Karion is carved on the front wall, that must be it." Sera answered Zena-san's question. Karion Main Temple is a building that looks like ice. It's not actually made of ice, the building is built with crystal reinforced with earth magic.

WN 16-59 - "And if we trace that all the way back, the starting point was the 『Dragon's Valley』 to the north of Orc Empire..."

WN 16-73 - These girls are currently in the labyrinth garrison surrounding the [Labyrinth of Devil] located in Seryuu Earldom's capital.

Eastern small country group [Kiwolk Kingdom/Light-snow Princess], [Makiwa Kingdom], [Country of Dragon], [Rumooku], Central small country [Kubooku Kingdom], Shiga Kingdom [Labyrinth City], [Kuhanou Earldom], [Ganica Marquisdom], [Lesseu Earldom]

LN 1-1 - As I surveyed my surroundings, I saw one area where the ground cut off completely. Figuring it was a cliff or something, I headed toward it. Clearly, I was pretty high up: I was standing on the edge of a steep drop-off that went down at least three hundred feet. Similar pillars of high land rose up from all over the wasteland. At the bottom, the same reddish-brown earth stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance, I could see some kind of rift, possibly a canyon. I tried to check it on the map, but everything outside my immediate area was blank. Assuming this dream had a “fog of war” system like WW did, I would only be able to see areas I’d explored. A label in the upper left said Valley of Dragons, so maybe that’s what the rift was? I squinted as best I could, but I didn’t see anything that looked like a dragon.

LN 1-2 - Looking at the map, I found an area called the Soldiers’ Stronghold about sixty miles to the west. It seemed to be devoid of life, and it was on the very edge of my map, so I wasn’t sure what the situation might be beyond it. (In Valley of Dragons)

As I bounded toward the Soldiers’ Stronghold, I felt myself breaking through some kind of membrane. I slowed down to have a look. About a mile away from the Stronghold, there seemed to be a thin force field. As I gazed at the invisible wall for a moment, an AR display popped up with the label Valley of Dragons: Barrier. A barrier… Just one more fantasy cliché, I guess.

Not long after passing through the barrier, I arrived at my current goal, the Soldiers’ Stronghold. It was a compact stone fortress, with a mortar plaza that seemed to be some kind of arena. The outer walls were crumbling; it was even more abandoned than I’d expected. I had known from the map that there was nobody there, but the place seemed like it had been empty for a very long time, as it was overrun with dust and spiderwebs. I searched around the inside and outside of the stronghold, but aside from some gravestones in the shadow of the arena, I didn’t find much of anything. Since this seemed to be the edge of the Valley of Dragons, the scope of my radar was reduced to only a few dozen feet. Looking at the map, I saw that the name in the upper-left corner had changed from Valley of Dragons to Shiga Kingdom: Seiryuu County. Hmm. So this is some kind of monarchy, huh?

Apparently, the closest civilized area was a place called Seiryuu City, about twelve miles away. There was another city, too, but that one was hidden away in some mountains roughly thirty miles out, so I nixed it. I saw plenty of villages, too, but Seiryuu City was still closest, so it didn’t make sense to traipse all the way out there. Seiryuu County stretched about forty miles in all directions. Bigger than Tokyo but smaller than Chiba, maybe? This was stuff I’d learned making models in middle school, so I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my estimate.

LN 1-3 - “Besides, in the six hundred years since the Shiga Kingdom was founded, no one has ever seen a demon lord in Seiryuu City or the neighboring counties. Even if it did attack, it’d start with Labyrinth City, I’m sure. And that’s on the opposite side of the kingdom, so we have no cause for worry.”

“It’s Duke Ougoch’s capital in the south. It was the first capital when the Shiga Kingdom was founded.” “Huh! So it’s like the old capital? I’d love to see it someday.” “Oh yes. It’s said to be a beautiful city on the bank of a large river.”

LN 2-5 - Nadi said the elves lived just south of the old capital

LN 2-6 - The AR display next to the apparent world tree read Cradle of Trazayuya. (...) Opening my map, I saw that this region was called the Gray Rat Emirate. Luckily, it appeared to be the territory right next to Seiryuu County, (...) The nearest populated settlement, a gray-ratman village, was far on the other side of the mountains

After we’d climbed up the mountain, I put Number 7 down on some softlooking ground. As far as I could tell from the map, this area was the border between the Cradle and the Gray Rat Emirate. Mia and the women who’d been teleported with her were at the summit of a mountain on the other side of the basin. They all seemed to be safe.

LN 2-7 - I wasn’t going to give them the exact location, so I just said it was on the border between the Gray Rat Emirate and the Longhaired Rat Emirate. (About Trazayuya's Cradle)

LN 3-1 - In the distance on our left, I could see the mountains leading to the Cradle of Trazayuya, (...) most of (merchants) had gone west at a fork in the road. Down the west highway was Seiryuu County’s mining city, and beyond it the road crossed two more counties into one that was apparently a very prosperous area for trade. (...) There were counties and baronies to the south, too, (...) things were safe enough in the Ougoch Duchy, which was famous for the night view of its canals, (...) There were more villages near the west highway, too. (On the south highway leading south from Seryuu City before reaching Kainona Town)

LN 3-2 - Most of the gossip revolved around the goings-on in Kainona, but other topics included the starfall, a new colony of ant monsters near town, and the increase in damage from wolves in the neighboring Kuhanou County.

LN 3-3 - While I did, I noticed that unlike Seiryuu County, this territory contained several blank areas. Most likely, Count Kuhanou didn’t control these areas. The majority was near the southern border of the Muno Barony, but the blank space south of the nearby town of Noukee sat right near our location. (...) This place was called the “Forest of Illusions.” It appeared to be a pretty normal forest to me, so I wasn’t sure how it lived up to that name. The only people in the area were two female humanfolk in a far-off tower. One was a witch, and the other was her apprentice.

LN 3-4 - On the afternoon of our seventh day since leaving Seiryuu City, we arrived at an uninhabited village. (...) “Hmm. This place is pretty close to Sedum City… I wonder why they left it like this.” (They call it "abandoned village" and "town" interchangeably, so I assume it's a town with a core)

Putting the suspicious matter behind us, we passed the roadblock and arrived at Sedum City. This place was a castle city about the same size as Seiryuu City, but with at least 20 percent more people. There were even fewer demi-humans here than in the last city, though the proportion of catfolk was a bit higher.

I thought for sure she would go to the nearest town, Noukee, or up north to Kuhanou to deliver the magic potions. But since the carriage’s cargo was indeed potions, she had to be coming for a delivery. I didn’t know why they’d go so far out of their way to transport goods in Sedum City, but I was sure there was some reason for it. Since the reason the delivery had been rushed in the first place was the kobolds attacking the silver mines, maybe they’d chosen Sedum City for the shipment because it was closest to the mines.

LN 3-5 - “I  came  ’cos  I  heard  there  were  some  suspicious  folk  in  Uke  Village… The commoner brats and the witch’s apprentice, huh?”

LN 3-6 - (...) our next destination, the Muno Barony. (...) If anything, I wanted to go around it, but in order to get to the Ougoch Duchy without going through the Muno Barony, we’d have to backtrack all the way to Seiryuu County and go around the royal capital. (...) The Muno Barony was a new territory (...) in a condition of near-anarchy. Normally, the lord of the territory or neighboring kingdoms would send in troops, but Count Kuhanou was too preoccupied with the kobolds, and Ougoch Duchy was in the middle of a very tense situation with the weaselfolk empire and the small country to the east, so they couldn’t risk it.

LN 4-1 - I selected Search Entire Map from the magic menu as a starting point to learn about the Muno Barony. I’d known the area was big, but I was still surprised by how vast it was. Its strange shape made it hard to tell, but I’d say it was at least the size of Hokkaido. However, that was a rough estimate, since I didn’t actually remember how big Hokkaido was. The entire territory was relatively flat, and northwest of Muno City was a forest that covered about 30 percent of the territory. The rivers came together in a lake at the center of the forest, then continued on as one large river that flowed past Muno City toward Ougoch Duchy. The main road connecting Kuhanou County and Ougoch Duchy ran along mostly level ground except for a few low mountains. On the other hand, a range of much higher mountains bordered the barony. Like Kuhanou County, this area’s map also had a few blank zones of various sizes. The biggest one was located inside the large forest.

When I searched for giants, I found only one result. It was near the blank area in the large forest, so I guessed that the giants’ village was probably in there. The old witch’s tower in Kuhanou County had been in a blank space, too, after all. We could probably travel most of the way in the carriage, but if we wanted to travel on the side road leading into the forest, we’d have to take individual horses or go on foot. A peek with the map’s 3-D display confirmed this suspicion. The side road was about a twelve days’ journey away. Next, I studied the distribution of people. The population was awfully small. Though the barony was much larger than Seiryuu County, there were far fewer people. Muno City was the only place with over ten thousand people; the other towns and cities numbered only a few thousand at most. There were several villages along the main road and the border, but most of them had only around fifty people.

Among the mountains more distant from the highway, there was a smattering of little settlements with less than a hundred demi-humans of the same variety. In addition, there was an abandoned mine city, inhabited by kobolds, in the mountains near the west-northwest border. They belonged to the same clan as the ones that had hit the silver mines in Kuhanou County. The distance between the two was almost thirty miles, so I was impressed that they’d taken on such an expedition.

LN 4-2 - After another two days of travel, we began our sixth afternoon since entering the Muno Barony. (...) First, we would cross the river ahead and proceed west on the road bordering the large forest on the other side. We’d reach the back road that led into the heart of the forest in about three days. Since the side road seemed too narrow for the carriage to traverse, we’d have to procure more horses in the town near the forest.

In fact, the river was almost completely dried up, with only a few pathetic trickles of water in the middle, so I guess fishing would have been impossible. Since the river looked like it had once been fairly wide, an earthquake or something must have changed its course.

Apparently, monsters rarely attacked near this river, so they were simply waiting here quietly for their lives to run out. They didn’t know why this place was safe from monsters. The map showed the remains of a fort on the mountain behind the riverside camp, so maybe that was why.

“Was this back when the territory was a marquisate?” I asked. “Yes, that’s right. Back then, undead monsters were springing up all over. It was like they were rising from the shadows of buildings.”

To summarize the leader’s somewhat tedious explanation: The ancient civilization in question was an orc empire that had existed before the Shiga Kingdom was founded, stretching from then–Muno Marquisate to present-day Ougoch Duchy to the south. And with the Magic Cannon installed, Muno City was on the front line of the battle between the demon lord that ruled the Orc Empire and the hero of the Saga Empire.

It was still morning when we arrived at the ruins on the summit. The trip up had taken about two hours. This former stronghold was larger than the fort at the border had been; it had probably fit two or three hundred people while it was still standing.

Our carriage took us past the riverbank where the old folks had been encamped and across a sturdy stone bridge. Then, at the crossroads with the main road on the other side, we changed our path to follow the dried-up river.

LN 4-3 - It was our fourth day since leaving the fort and our fourteenth day in the Muno Barony. (...) In addition, though the river along the highway was dry downstream, it provided us with plenty of water once we got farther upstream.

At the moment, we were taking a lunch break on the dry riverbed near the intersection between the main road and the side road into the forest. (...) It was the morning of our fifteenth day in the Muno Barony. After warming ourselves up with some soup, we set off into the large forest, which was shrouded in a chilly morning mist.

On the second day of our journey, the path took us to a sheer cliff, where the stream we’d camped by yesterday turned into a waterfall, creating a rainbow. Inside the forest, we saw a mysterious pyramid-like building, some stone ramps that reached toward the sky like a galactic railroad, and other strange structures. The pyramid looked like it was the ruins of an ancient temple. It was fairly distant, but it contained facilities for astronomical observation, so it might be worth a visit on our way back from the forest giants’ village.

Then came the fifth day. Soon after we set out, we arrived at what I’d noted on my map as the most difficult terrain in the forest. “Now that’s quite a gorge,” Arisa commented. “The river at the bottom of the ravine appears to be flowing at a very high speed, I report,” added Nana. We rode the horses a little way, and a log bridge came into view. (...) It was hard to ignore the charms of Miss Karina’s magic breasts, but I somehow made it through. Then, at last, we arrived at the blank area on the map. “Waaall?” (...) When I stared for a moment at the spot everyone was hitting, an AR display reading Mountain-Tree barrier wall appeared. When I moved my horse forward, I felt a slight sense of discomfort, but I was able to advance without resistance. A lukewarm wind tickled my cheek, but I barely noticed that compared to the unusually enormous tree that had suddenly appeared in the distance.

Firstly, I learned through my menu information that the large tree beyond the barrier wall was called Mountain-Tree. It seemed to be the same size as the Cradle where Mia had been kidnapped. And the village of the forest giants, where I was supposed to deliver the letter, was at the foot of that tree. The population of the area was concentrated in the forest giants’ village. There were only ten of them altogether, the strongest of which was level 39. The average level was 31. There were other giants besides the forest giants, too. There was another race called little giants, which averaged around level 20. The name seemed a little self-contradictory, but I assumed they were just small by giant standards. There were about a hundred and twenty of them. There were also nearly a thousand demi-humans of diverse races living here. About 40 percent were birdfolk, 50 percent were various beastfolk, and the remaining 10 percent were fairyfolk. The fairyfolk were mostly brownies, gnomes, and spriggans, but there were three kobolds, too. I hadn’t gotten to see the ones in Kuhanou County, so I’d have loved to meet one this time. There were a lot of mythical creatures inside the barrier, too. There were several herds of unicorns, plus some creatures called gjallarhorns. The Holy Sword of the same name was probably modeled after these creatures, or made from them. There were more creatures living in the top of the large tree, including several elder sparrows like the one the witch had ridden. (...) The village was about twelve miles away as the crow flies, so it should take only a day or two on horseback.

Outside the tree was a trench-like road to the village, which was almost a mile away. The village was about twice as far from the trunk as the edge of the Mountain-Tree’s canopy was. The lowest branches grew about three hundred feet up, but the tips hung down almost to the ground. A few earthen towers were stationed there. (...) Outside the trench, I could see an earthen wall about ten feet high. According to the map, there were several of these walls forming concentric circles around the Mountain-Tree, at intervals of about six hundred and fifty feet. They were too low to be defensive barriers, and there were periodic gaps in them. (...) So the earth walls weren’t to keep out enemies but to defend against falling fruit.

The little community consisted of about a hundred and eighty houses, but unlike a human village, the buildings here came in vastly different sizes. Not only that, but apparently, each race had its own style of architecture, so it was fascinating to see the variety of roofs, windows, and so on.

With a small cask of high-quality liquor from Sedum City under one arm, I mingled with all kinds of people. I learned the birdfolk language and pantherfolk language, and they told me all about their home on the eastern continent.

LN 4-4 - Muno City was almost twice the size of Seiryuu City, the first place I’d visited in this parallel world, yet its population was only half of the latter. There was a small hill on the southeast side of the city, and Muno Castle stood at its peak. Three layers of walls protected the castle, encircling nearly a third of the city.

Muno City’s main gate plaza was very large. It was about as big as the yard of a normal school. In the center of the square was a dried-up fountain with a statue of an armored knight holding a staff and sword and riding a dragon.

We proceeded to the castle with a group of six soldiers guarding our front and rear. The city’s main street was an impressive thirty feet wide, but since many of the shop fronts on either side were closed or vacant, it felt more like a ghost town than a thriving metropolis. “Is everything on top of that hill part of the castle?” “That’s right, Arisa. In terms of size, our Muno Castle is second only to the royal palace and the castle of the old capital.” As Miss Karina and Arisa chatted, the great bastion loomed large atop the hill. I already knew all this from my map, but looking up at it from the bottom of the slope only emphasized its enormity. When we passed through the castle gates, we proceeded up a winding ramp. There were low walls around it with narrow openings, probably for archers to ward off invaders in case of emergency. When we came out past the second castle wall, we entered an area that was divided into several hundred-foot halls by ten-foot-tall walls. We couldn’t see where we were going, so the identically shaped halls felt like a maze. That would help rob invaders of their sense of direction. The castle itself wasn’t even visible, so soldiers working in the castle would probably feel lost, too, until they got used to it. When we made it out of the series of connected halls, we reached a wide area that could accommodate maybe even thousands of soldiers. There were several buildings nearby, probably soldiers’ barracks. Then, after crossing a dry moat and passing through the third wall, we were able to get a full view of the castle. The real thing was far more intimidating than numbers on a map and imparted a true sense of its enormity. However…it was also a little run-down. I think it must have been a beautiful white castle when it was first built, but the ivy-covered walls were crumbling in one place, and cracks ran all over it. On top of that, there were several places with what looked like scorch marks. This was probably the result of the battle with the Undead King Zen’s troops.

Finally, I exterminated the monsters that had dammed the river near Muno City, restoring the flow to normal.