World Map/Quotes

WN 10-3 - Two days after we set off Kirik Earldom, we arrive on the sea near Taltumina the trade city. If I entered the port just like this, I'd have to anchor the ship there, so we disembarked on a beach with no life sign on the evening, and decided to advance with the horse-drawn carriage. (...) There's no human habitation around this area, probably due to the many monsters here, but there's a desolate highway beyond the nearby mountain, so I'll go to the trade city via it, and continue to the labyrinth city from the main highway after that.

We could see Taltumina the trade city on the evening of that day. This city is in direct control of the king, just like the labyrinth city.

After we've crossed three mountains, barrier pillars begin to stand out more. It's probably the kingdom's grain-producing region around here. This is the first time in this world I see fields extending as far as eyes can see. Since the climate is warm, they've already begun the planting it seems. After passing through several towns, we came across Kelton, the intersection city that connects the duchy capital, the labyrinth city and the royal capital. There wasn't any place or event worth mentioning in this city, but it was selling clothes, and cloth that were in fashion in the royal capital, and the soft white bread. Unlike the royal and duchy capitals, there wasn't plentiful enough water to cultivate rice, so their staple food seemed to be wheat, or rather bread. Since there are villages that have windmills for milling the wheat, the scenery is pretty idyllic. If there were tulips growing, it would feel like we were lost in Holland. After we've passed through a city called Furusau that's between Kelton and the labyrinth city, the number of villages start to decrease, and the wastelands gradually begin to stand out. Although the villages that we sometimes came across have windmills and barrier pillars, the soils were obviously barren compared to the villages before. And then, after we crossed the last mountain before the labyrinth city, it could finally be seen. Of course I'm the only one that can see it from this distance. Even though the area beyond the mountain is big enough to fit a (Japan) prefecture, there isn't any village until the labyrinth city. Looks like there are several rest areas that looks like bus stops built on the highway, one every few kilometers. I stopped by one of those rest area once, but it was just a simple building to keep out of rain and wind with an almost dried-up water well nearby. From the area after the mountain, the wind has yellow sand-like small sands mixed in. Since there's a vast desert beyond the mountain range that's beyond the labyrinth city, it's probably blowing from there. Although it's a wasteland, it's not like there isn't any plant growing. Not only weeds, there are also short bushes growing sparsely. There's also an unusual one among them. It looks like a cactus, but I wonder if it's really a cactus? According to the AR, it's called labyrinth cactus, so it seems to really be a cactus. When we've come closer to the labyrinth city, I can see several holy stone monuments like the ones I've seen near the Seryuu city labyrinth, built on regular interval. Countless number of them are built perpendicular to the highway. I see from the map that the holy stone monuments are built until the mountain range before the desert in semicircle shape. It's written in the traveler's journal that the labyrinth is restricted and unable to extend to the kingdom thanks these holy stone monuments. I can see a jet black mountain beyond the labyrinth city. According to the traveler's journal, there seem to be a labyrinth below that mountain. On both sides of the city's gate, there are stone golems in the shape of Nio (the two guardian deva kings) with grim face standing. Either of them is a level 40 strong golem. They look like marble golems from outside, although it's probably not because they're matching it with the marble gate.

WN 10-4 - Looking at the map that I've photographed from the Marquis Lloyd's mansion back then, Norooku kingdom seems to be further north of Eluett Marquisate that's directly north from here. It's acting as the buffer zone to the Saga Empire.

Just like the other cities, there is a 100 meters wide open space right after the gate. But, the one thing different is that's there is no main street that goes through the city. According to the traveler's journal, this city is build with monsters invasion in mind, and the streets of this city are configured like a maze in order to prevent the invading monsters reach the downtown. Due to that, there are a lot of people who get lost, even the ones who have lived here for a long time.

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 10-37 - I take the five freshly named girls to the hiding place that I've prepared on the nearest town to the labyrinth city, Furusau.

Next, I take the slaves to the hideout on the junction town of Kelton located beyond Furusau town.

WN 10-38 - I've also installed a carved seal board on the outskirt of the town in Zettsu Earldom that neighbors Lesseu Earldom.

WN 11-6 - Who was Duke Bishtal again? I check Toruma Memo after a long while since I couldn't remember it. According to it, he's a family member of the Labyrinth Army's general, and a lord of a big territory north of Marquis Eluett territory that's north of the Labyrinth City itself.

According to her, it seems [Light of Liberty] has a headquarter in Parion Holy Land located on the west of the continent.

WN 11-7 - The lower layer of the labyrinth is apparently slightly different than the upper and the middle layer. If I liken it to plants, imagine there are eight gigantic bump-shaped rhizomes, connected to several hundreds mesh-shaped small rhizomes. These rhizome parts are what you call 'Area' in the upper and middle layer. The smaller parts are only as small as 1-3 average area, but any one of the eight larger parts is big enough to put the whole Selbira city inside it.

WN 13-8 - If I remember right, Sera's oracle points to another continent, the others are on the Holy Kingdom Parion on the western part of this continent, Weaselkin Empire on the eastern part of the continent, and the Ratkin Principality on the northeast part of the continent--If I'm not mistaken, that one should be close to the [Maze of Trazayuya] where Zen was hiding. The last one is the Kingdom of Yowok that has occupied Arisa's kingdom. Yowok Kingdom.... I feel like I've heard something about it from a rumor. It should be on the neighborhood of Bishtal Dukedom that revolted. And also, the younger brother of Marquis Kelten who's under suspicion of doing coup d'etat should be the prince consort of Yowok Kingdom.

WN 13-11 - "Do you know where the demon's base is?" 『Back then it was hiding in Biroho Kingdom, but it was destroyed along with the city by Ten-chan's breath, so it should be in another place right now maybe?』 "The present location of that?" 『Umm, I don't have a map now so I don't know. It's around the west-northwest area from the Labyrinth city.』 Around the western part of Marquis Eluet's territory--the tip of the desert huh.

WN 13-13 - The prime minister probably wants to prioritize securing the highways of Lesseu Earldom. Moreover, Earl Lesseu pays the expense himself. Considering the location, it'll be difficult to secure the supply line for the forces that are going to quell the rebellion in Bisthal Dukedom if the highways in Lesseu Earldom aren't safe. Furthermore, it would have disturbed the circulation of money and goods from the various northern territories, especially from Marquis Eluett's territory to Royal Capital.

It seems the neighboring nobles, particularly Earl Zettsu and Earl Kuhanou whose territories adjoin Lesseu Earldom want to loan magic cores for him.

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 - Additionally, that Dragonflame Orb was used at the final stage of the war between Furu Empire and Orc Empire, creating a vast desert to the west of Labyrinth City.

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]

WN 17-13 - When its family head passed away, a family quarrel broke out in Jizaros Earldom, one of the four great nobles who posses Orb Wands and hold great powers in Makiwa Kingdom, and then those who had taken over Jizaros Earldom declared their independence, raising a revolt against Makiwa Kingdom.

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.

LN 5-2 - After a while, the trees thinned out, and we entered into a wasteland of stones and bare soil. Beyond this wasteland, I could see a fortress city that appeared to be carved into a gray mountain, belching white smoke from an array of chimneys. Similar hazy streams billowed out from several openings in the side of the mountain.

I’d heard at the forge that there was a big incident in the gnomes’ homeland of Boleheim, though. Why hadn’t these two gone back with them? Out of curiosity, I pulled up the detailed information in the AR display, where I learned that these brothers were from a clan called Braiheim. It was only the gnomes of the Boleheim clan who were having problems.

Yorschka was a town in the southeast of this territory, a major stop on the highway that led to a group of small countries beyond the eastern mountain range.

LN 5-3 - It was early morning, a few days after my magical experiment session. We’d made it through the mountainous region and were getting very close to the main road that went along the river. “Master, I can see where this road meets the highway now,” Lulu remarked from the coachman stand, and I came out to have a look. There was a lighthouse-esque watchtower set up near the point where the roads met, along with a collection of duchy soldiers. A forest behind the tower obscured my view of the river.

It was early morning, a few days after my magical experiment session. We’d made it through the mountainous region and were getting very close to the main road that went along the river. “Master, I can see where this road meets the highway now,” Lulu remarked from the coachman stand, and I came out to have a look. There was a lighthouse-esque watchtower set up near the point where the roads met, along with a collection of duchy soldiers. A forest behind the tower obscured my view of the river. and skinny, though, so it was probably about half the length. Despite its size, there were only seven cities altogether. The capital had a population of 210,000 people, far larger than any city I’d seen so far. I suppose that was why it was the capital. The fluvial transportation was probably what supported the locals. There were countless villages along the river, many of which were populated only by demi-humans. However, 80 percent of the total population was still humanfolk, so it was no different from other territories in its human majority.

Ln 5-6 - The old capital was almost two hundred miles downriver, but with the viceroy’s special vessel, we would get there in a scant two days. On a normal ship, it would take three or four days with all the stops in the four other cities and towns on the way to the old capital.

Because traveling on the river after dark was prohibited, our ship entered the harbor of Zurute City near sunset. Still, the journey was going quite smoothly. We’d gone a hundred miles downriver today alone, so we should reach the old capital as early as tomorrow.

LN 6-2 - The river was over half a mile wide, so it didn’t look like a very big gap, but in reality, it was similar in scale to the Tower Bridge in London. The architecture of this world was impressive, too.

“It’s said that this bridge was created by the gods a thousand years ago…” She went on to inform us that the bridge pier included barrier posts so that aquatic monsters couldn’t approach the outskirts of the old capital. Downstream, I could see ten or more barrier posts erected in addition to the bridge. As the guide talked us through the sights, our ship traversed a harbor docked with numerous boats, traveled up a tributary along the edge of the city, and entered a harbor for the exclusive use of nobles.

As soon as we passed through a large set of gates near the harbor, we were in the middle of the aristocratic quarter of the city.

The streets of the aristocratic district were paved with stone, and the buildings resembled concrete.

On the map, I saw that other high-ranked nobles like marquises and counts lived near the duke’s castle. Each of the mansions was as big and spacious as Tokyo Dome. If anything, it might be more apt to describe them as “palaces.”

I hadn’t seen any signs of a demon attack in Zurute City, where we stayed on the way here, but that could have been because it was nighttime and our stay was short. At the request of the duke, the consul elaborated. “Gururian and Sutoandell are the only two cities where damage was minimal. The rest may take years to fully recover.”

LN 6-6 - Word at the banquet had been that the king was here to attend the wedding of Tisrado, the duke’s grandson and eventual successor, and the granddaughter of Marquis Eluette, whose territory was on the western edge of the kingdom.

LN 6-9 - We had just finished investigating the Wilde Labyrinth in the Gray Ratfolk Emirate when Meriest brought up the topic.

"I’d imagine it would be somewhere like the Living Labyrinth in Shiga Kingdom’s Labyrinth City Celivera or the Illusion Labyrinth in the Weaselman Empire."

LN 7-1 - "I am Menea Lumork, the princess of a small kingdom to the east of the Shiga Kingdom."

"An evil dragon?" Ringrande repeated doubtfully. "This is the first I’m hearing of any such thing in the Lumork Kingdom." "The black dragon appeared about half a year ago, as I am told. It lived in a forest at the crossroads of the main road connecting the royal capital to the neighboring kingdoms, and it began devouring the people living in the nearby villages and traveling on the road,"

"If it’s a stray lesser dragon from the habitat between the Weaselman Empire and the small kingdoms to the east, that’d be one thing. But if it’s a full-grown dragon from the Black Dragon Mountains, we mustn’t get involved."

"Are coffee beans cultivated in the Saga Empire?" "Yes. The blend you’re drinking now is a special product of the Kilimanjaro Marquisate in the west of the Saga Empire. Bluman County and Mocha Viscounty are also known for their coffee beans."

Since the road through this valley connected several small nearby kingdoms, including the Lumork Kingdom, to the Shiga Kingdom, this village must have flourished as a rest stop for travelers. As for the Tree of Healing Rest, I’d heard about it from Mr. Kikinu, a magic-shop owner in the old capital. I believe his hometown was located at the foot of the far-off Black Dragon Mountains, so these nomad elves must have planted similar trees in several places.

LN 7-5 - “An escort for an auction?” “That’s right. I’m told it will be held in the black market across the God’s-Crossing Bridge.” (...) The God’s-Crossing Bridge was a large bridge across the big river near the city. (...) “The black-market district, Muraas, is a rather dangerous area..."

LN 7-6 - Bolenan Forest, in the southeast of the Shiga Kingdom, was the site of Mia’s hometown, the elf village.

As the ship started to head down the main river, Arisa approached me. “So are we taking the land route over the mountains to Mia’s hometown? Or the sea route?” “Viscount Emerin told us not to take the sea route.” “Oh, right. His fleet got destroyed near the Seadragon Islands, didn’t it?” “Yes, and that’s the only way to get to the Bolenan Forest by ship.” (...) “But is there a highway through there?” “It’s probably better to assume that there’s not.” I’d actually asked the traders who sold me coffee in the city, but they said it had been over a hundred years since anyone had traveled across the Black Dragon Mountains to the Bolenan village.

By the next afternoon (4 days after leaving Oyugock Dukedom by ship), we arrived in Couka, the southernmost town aside from the port city Sutoandell, to switch to a ship that would take us upstream on a branch of the river. The only place with ships big enough to hold a carriage was in Kuuche, upstream of Couka, so we started our land travel from there.

The town of Puta came into sight beyond the trees. It was sandwiched between two mountains, with the constable’s castle built on the slope of the western mountain. There was a mithril mine site on the mountain to the east, where they were now mining small amounts of tin and lead. The population was a little less than the average around here, with slightly more beastfolk, like lizardfolk and ratfolk, than humanfolk.

According to the info I got in the old capital, the Siruga Kingdom was close to the Black Dragon Mountains, with Makiwa Kingdom to its northeast. Princess Menea’s home of the Lumork Kingdom was farther north, with two smaller countries in between. Incidentally, our destination, the Bolenan Forest, was just beyond the Black Dragon Mountains to the south.

LN 7-7 - Meanwhile, the black dragon didn’t slow down. In an instant, we left the Ougoch Duchy and entered a new area: the Black Dragon Mountains. I used my long-neglected “Search Entire Map” skill to gather information about the place. There were a few small villages among the mountains. I added markers to the villages so I wouldn’t hit any by accident, along with the flag icons for quests. I’d never used them before, but they worked just fine. When we arrived at the snow-covered peak of the tallest mountain, I could see an enormous forest on the other side of the range. I couldn’t say for sure, since it was on a different map, but it was probably Bolenan Forest, the location of Mia’s hometown. I could see a thread-shaped World Tree in the center, like the one we’d seen from a distance before.

LN 8-1 - We had just entered the Bolenan Forest, a huge forest in the southeast of the Shiga Kingdom.

According to my map, this forest was so large that it was four or five times the size of the vast Ougoch Duchy, but with teleportation, it was possible to travel from the outer edge of the forest to the center in an instant. We found ourselves on a small hill in the middle of the forest, where we could see the mountain-like roots of the World Tree and the forest of MountainTrees growing around it. It was amazing. Almost too much, really. I looked up in awe at the overwhelmingly huge World Tree. Clouds clung to its branches like snow. High above the clouds, it spread out into more branches and leaves, but above that, its thick trunk alone extended beyond where the eye could see. The Mountain-Trees, which were indeed the size of mountains, looked like ordinary shrubbery compared to the World Tree. Honestly, the scale was so insane that I almost doubted my eyes. “Satou.” As I stared dumbstruck at the World Tree, Mia tugged on my hand, leading me down the hill. “Treetop Village.” Her slender finger pointed at a plaza built around a fountain. The elves’ houses were in the giant trees that surrounded it. The mushroom-like formations growing out of the trunks formed the roofs of the houses and were connected to one another with something like suspension bridges. The AR display simply labeled them as tree houses.

Checking the map, I saw that there was another elf residential district in a semi-underground area near the roots of the World Tree. I wasn’t sure what the difference was between the neighborhoods, so I decided to find out during our stay.

An instant later, we were standing atop an open hill overlooking a town in a different part of the forest. This town bore little resemblance to the tree houses that were built in harmony with nature. Smooth roads led up to the hill at even intervals, lined by perfectly spaced one-story houses. It was systematically designed and constructed, almost reminiscent of a modern Japanese town or even city. If the place we just came from was the home of the elves, then what in the world was this? I let my eyes wander as I contemplated this puzzle. Above us was a transparent canopy, supported by what seemed to be tree branches. It was large enough to cover the entire town. No, those weren’t branches. They were the roots of the World Tree. Feeling a tug on my sleeve, I looked down to see Mia, whose eyes held a mischievous glint. “Real town,” she explained simply.

The boy seemed friendly enough. According to his explanation, the village we were just in was constructed purely for visitors, intended to have “that elf-like touch.”

LN 8-2 - This was just the size of the structure we were in, too. The World Tree’s roots went even deeper and expanded even farther out than the forest itself. Mia’s house was more than six miles away from this part of the World Tree. It probably seemed relatively close only because of the absurdly huge size of the World Tree itself.

LN 8-6 - I wasn’t sure how accurate it was, but there was indeed a desert that took up nearly 20 percent of the continent, from the middle to the western part.

LN 8-8 - This was a finfolk port town at the edge of the Bolenan Forest

LN 9-1 - “Master! The color of the sea is different up ahead, I report.” Nana called out from the prow. Sure enough, there was an arc-shaped line dividing this part of the ocean from a differently colored section. According to the map, this was the end of the Bolenan Forest area.

As the ship approached the line, the barrier above the water opened like a gate. Of course, it was transparent, so it was only possible to see it faintly with the help of the ship’s blue light. “Master, the ocean on the other side appears stormy, I report.” “The elves told me they deliberately keep the currents strong here to protect Bolenan Forest.” Our ship was buffeted about by the raging waves, strong even by ocean standards. Once we passed through the barrier, it closed soundlessly behind us. According to the map, this area was called the Fairies’ Lost Ocean.

Checking on my map, I saw that the area name had changed from Fairies’ Lost Ocean to Seadragon Islands.

Since I hadn’t asked about the details, this was only my assumption, but I thought that must have been the Wandering Ocean spell that was in the elves’ spell book. So the Bolenan Forest was protected by a spell similar to the Wandering Forest spell that kept the old spriggan’s store hidden back in the old capital. “Forced teleportation? That’s pretty rough. Do you know where we are now?” “Yes, it’s fine. We seem to be in the Seadragon Islands, so if we go north from here, we’ll reach the Shiga Kingdom.” Once I explained this, everyone finally looked relieved. This area passed around a large empty space on my map and connected to the Ougoch Duchy area. I needed to set more seal slates for the Return spell anyway, so we could go north along the Seadragon Islands, pass into Ougoch Duchy waters, and head west along the continent. The Seadragon Islands was a curved archipelago spanning nearly two hundred miles and containing over a hundred islands of all shapes and sizes. All the islands were uninhabited, so there wasn’t a single resident of the area.

The biggest of the Seadragon Islands must have come into view. Before long, we were close enough that the island could be seen with the naked eye even from the deck. “Hey, doesn’t that look more like a sideways city than a rock?” Just as Arisa said, the large rock in the center of the island almost looked like a city that had fallen from the sky.

Opening my map, I saw that I was receiving new information again. As I thought, the city-rock was the wreckage of the city called Nonolie.

LN 9-2 - “Sir Pendragon, might you be willing to take us to the trade city of Sutoandell on your ship?..."

“Your Excellency, from here, we should be able to reach Sutoandell within less than ten days.”

As we ate lunch, I decided to find out if the captain or any of his men happened to know anything about Lalakie. “Lalakie? I feel like I’ve heard of it.” The baron stroked his beardless chin thoughtfully. “…Ah, I remember. I heard about it at a festival in the Kingdom of Sorcery, Lalagi, which is in the middle of the sugar route.” According to the baron, the royal family of Lalagi were said to be descendants of the skyfolk, and the Skydea Festival was exhibiting something called a “Lalakie Box.” If I remembered correctly, “skyfolk” referred to the people of Lalakie. Perhaps the descendants of Lalakie were secretly living in this Kingdom of Sorcery called Lalagi. “Thank you very much, Your Excellency.” “Not at all. I’m glad I was able to be of some assistance.” I thanked the baron and later asked a navigator to tell me the locations of the sugar route and Lalagi. Getting to Labyrinth City would probably take a little longer than expected, but if we traveled at full speed with the flying ship, the detour should amount to only a week or so of lost time.

“It’s the water gate to the port!” Back on our ship, we heard a shout from the baron’s ship. Seven days since the battle against the rock-head bass, we were about to safely enter Sutoandell.

“Wow, now that’s a big gate.” “They have so many big cannons and towers…” Arisa and Lulu gazed at the gate and its fully armed defensive towers in surprise. The towers also seemed to be staffed by birdfolk soldiers, archers, and mages. Defense must be very important to them. “They use the gated entrance to the bay there to keep out monsters.” There were large pillars placed inside the gates for warding off monsters, too, like the ones we saw on the huge river near the old capital. The flow of water coming through the narrow gates was as fast as a river. That was probably because the water from that same river let out into the bay. Checking my map, I saw that there were other gates and channels for routing out excess water. One particularly large channel even doubled as a place to cultivate seaweed.

LN 9-3 - Waving good-bye to Viscount Emerin, Baron Jeetbert, and the others who’d come to see us off, we left Sutoandell behind us. They had offered to send gunboats along to escort us to the border of the neighboring Ganika Marquisate, but that seemed inappropriate, so I politely declined.

LN 9-4 - “Where are we going next?” “We’ll head west for a while, then go south by southwest to Ishrallie. After that, we’ll head to Lalagi.”

We were heading west first to give the impression that we were going to the Ganika Marquisate. Once we passed the border between the Ougoch Duchy and the Ganika Marquisate and kept going for a little while, we would change course and head straight for Ishrallie.

The normal route would be to head toward the long peninsula at the western tip of the Ganika Marquisate, then pass from one small island to another until reaching the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi, until finally heading northeast from there to Ishrallie.

An entrance to a bay that enclosed a few small towns and fishing villages had come into sight. It had been only about half a day since we left Sutoandell, but it would be a long while until we reached the next bay, so I’d decided we should stay the night here. Like the entrance to Sutoandell, this place was equipped with a water gate. This one, too, had some anti-monster pillars, but the gate was more primitive, with a crank device like the gates of a city wall. Instead of Magic Cannons, it was equipped only with catapults and large crossbows.

For the next few days, we continued traveling like a normal sailing ship during the day and staying in port cities and towns at night. Fortunately, by the time we reached the border, the Saga Empire ship that had been tailing us turned back toward Sutoandell, presumably convinced by our act. There were a great deal of islands of all sizes not far from land in the vicinity of the border and a lot of reefs, meaning the route forward was fairly narrow unless you took the long way around through open waters. Because of all that, we wound up passing a lot of other ships throughout the day. “Reminds me of the Seto Inland Sea,” Arisa remarked. “That’s true.” I nodded. “The water’s pretty calm, and there are a lot of small islands.” Since we’d passed over the border, I used “Search Entire Map.” Just as it said on my chart, the Ganika Marquisate was a lengthy territory that continued for a while. If I had to compare it to anything on Earth, I might say it was like Chile but stretching to the east and west instead of north and south. The Fealty Mountains to the north and the long peninsula surrounded by the sea made up the borders; most of the population seemed to live in cities and towns that were in bays or otherwise close to the ocean. Most of the fishing villages were in the bays as well. It was difficult to compare, but I thought it was between the Ougoch Duchy and the Muno Barony in terms of surface area. Its population was less than half that of the Ougoch Duchy.

We’d been traveling south for about two hours after running into the plesiosaur when we came across an island covered in blooming flowers.

A few days after we saw the flower island, Arisa noticed some ash drifting on the breeze. Since we had magical Air Control, it didn’t land on the deck. As far as I could tell, it was coming from an island near the center of the area. Unlike the previous monster territory, this area contained a few islands with human settlements.

LN 9-5 - “Is that Ishrallie?” Arisa pointed at a structure up ahead that looked like an island. The Kingdom of Ishrallie was in the next area after the volcanic island. It was an island nation consisting of several hundred islands of various sizes, centered around an island about the size of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. The biggest island contained a lakelike inlet, at the center of which was the capital of Ishrallie. Unlike the subtropical climate of the previous area, the weather here was light and summery. The climate seemed to be controlled with a City Core. “I think so, yeah.” I answered Arisa’s question vaguely as I looked at the map. The place Arisa was pointing at seemed to be a settlement on the edges of a donut-shaped island. Including the ocean, Ishrallie was about the size of the Ougoch Duchy, but its population was barely a tenth of the duchy’s. Most of the inhabitants seemed to live on the bigger islands.

Tama, Pochi, and Mia were gazing at the island that held the capital of Ishrallie. It was a multilayered city, bearing a resemblance to a carved seashell.

“It is written in our history books. In their battle against a demon lord, that empire sent a large fleet east of Lalagi to seek the ancient weapons.” I checked the location in question on my map as I listened. The Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi was to the southwest of our current location, Ishrallie, so maybe this area was to the southeast?

“They say that Lalakie undoubtedly sank somewhere in the wide expanse of the Kraken’s Domain, but to venture into that area would be suicide. Steer clear of that place, I tell you.”

We were about to leave the Ishrallie area. As soon as we did, I used “Search Entire Map” to investigate the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi. The area was about the same size as Ishrallie, but its population was about 30 percent larger. The island that housed the capital was fairly large, about the same area as Hokkaido. Like Ishrallie, it was primarily populated by humans, with very few demihuman races; a small amount of sea-dwelling demi-humans lived around an island in the far-off reaches of the area. Though Ishrallie was swarming with pirates, there were hardly any in Lalagi. They appeared to stay in the part of the sugar route that connected Ishrallie to Lalagi. The City Core here in Lalagi seemed to be set to a higher temperature than the one in Ishrallie; the closer we got to the capital, the hotter it became.

Documents on the ship indicated that this was the flagship of a Shiga Kingdom trade fleet belonging to a man called Duke Vistall. I wasn’t familiar with the name, so I checked my notes from Tolma, which were full of information about nobles. It read that he was one of the three dukes of the Shiga Kingdom and the political opponent of Duke Ougoch. His territory was in the northwest of the Shiga Kingdom, separated from the Saga Empire by several smaller nations.

The capital of Lalagi was deep inside a bay around the size of Tokyo Bay. Unlike the Shiga Kingdom, instead of having a physical water gate at the entrance to the bay, there was a magical invisible barrier. It was similar to the Bolenan Forest barrier that protected the home of the elves. No wonder they called this place the Kingdom of Sorcery.

LN 9-6 - The Sealtower Islands, the Skeleton King’s likely destination, were said to be somewhere in the Kraken’s Domain.

LN 9-7 - I used the Light Magic spell Illusion to display the map information of the Kraken’s Domain, which was next to the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi. “This is where we are now, and these four points are the Sealtower Islands.” The Skeleton King was likely planning to place a gem similar to the one from the Crimson Cane at one of these four islands to raise Lalakie.

“The middle of the four islands? But there’s nothing there, is there?” Arisa frowned in puzzlement, so I zoomed in on that part of the map. “Another island?” “That’s right. We could go to each of the islands, but they’re all pretty far apart. It seems likely that there’d be something important on the center island, right?”

A subtropical-looking island had come into view, with a little inlet and a small mountain wreathed in trees.

The entire island was surrounded by a whirlpool-like current, as if to prevent ships from entering, with sharp reef outcroppings hidden in the water.

LN 9-10 - After this very Lalagian exchange with the king, we departed from the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi. Our journey went fairly smoothly from there: We visited various small nations and port cities and towns, sampling their local delicacies, and while we occasionally got caught up in little incidents and uproars, we all made it safely back into Shiga Kingdom territory. We passed the Ganika Marquisate on the route, entered a port in the neighboring Ukeu County, and crossed the mountains to reach the port of Kiriku County on the other side of the peninsula. This was a very large peninsula, so many travelers used this shortcut to pass through. When we reached Ukeu County, we switched to a normal small ship, and I put the flying ship away in Storage. Both Ukeu County and Kiriku County were small, rustic counties that centered around the fishing industry.

“Tartumina’s in sight now, mister. This harbor’s terrible crowded-like, so d’you mind if we take a detour to the next one?” “Of course—whatever you think is best.” Sure enough, since this was the heart of foreign trade in the Shiga Kingdom, there were big trade ships from all over in the harbor, with countless smaller ships moving haphazardly among them. When we arrived at the next harbor, it was still far livelier than any we’d seen on the sugar route or even in Sutoandell.

A few days later, I used the Return spell to go back to Bolenan Forest and retrieve our horses and carriage, much to the delight of Tama and Pochi. Liza and Nana seemed happy to ride on a runosaur again, too. We could have used my DIY airship to take a shortcut to Labyrinth City, but we decided to enjoy the trip in our horse-drawn carriage instead. Besides, I wanted to test out the electric bicycle–like contraption I’d attached to the new magic carriage. The journey wound up being fairly relaxed, without too many monster or bandit encounters. Along the way, we stopped at the crossroads city Kelton, which was a major land-based trading point situated between the trade city Tartumina, the royal capital, and Labyrinth City Celivera. There was an incredible variety of both goods and people there. Next we came to Furusawa, a small city halfway between Kelton and Celivera; after that, there were less and less villages, until we eventually started passing through a wasteland. The intervals between the villages along the road grew ever larger, and it was clear that the land was far more barren out here. “Labyrinth City is just beyond those mountains, right?” Arisa, sitting next to Lulu in the coachman’s stand, opened the hatch to talk to me. “That’s right. We’re almost there.” Finally, the carriage crossed over the mountains, and the wide basin containing Labyrinth City Celivera came into sight. The part of the basin closest to us was covered in cactus-like plants called “veria,” dotting a wasteland that was basically a desert. Far in the distance in Labyrinth City was a hill that contained the entrance to the labyrinth; the basin beyond that, leading up to the mountains on the other side, was populated with all kinds of plant monsters. Beyond that mountain range was apparently a desert.

LN 10-1 - From what she told me later, Nolork was located near the center of the continent with a bunch of other small nations; to the west was a large, inhospitable desert, hence the phrase edge of the west. Nolork was even farther north than the Eluette Marquisate, which was just north of Labyrinth City.

LN 10-2 - This place is huge. It was bigger even than the labyrinth ruins under the old capital. Comparing it to my aboveground maps, it seemed to extend all the way underneath the enormous desert in the west of the Shiga Kingdom. The map called the location Celivera Labyrinth: Upper Floor. That meant on top of it being wide, this wasn’t even all of it. There was definitely at least one floor below this, maybe even more.