Several days had passed since we left Monroy.
We had now come close to the Demon Zone.
We might be able to enter the Demon Zone as early as tomorrow.
"Welcome back."
Seras looked up while washing clothes at the water source.
I had just returned from shopping at the nearest village.
We were currently camping lightly in the forest.
"I am sorry, Touka-dono. I left all the procurement to you."
I was basically in charge of procuring supplies.
"My face is not known. If I pretend to be a traveler, no one will suspect me."
Seras gave a wry smile while shaking the water off the clothes.
"I am not as good at acting as you are."
"I am good at blending into a crowd by becoming part of the air."
Leopard people and dark elves stood out.
Seras had a transformation ability.
However, her beauty could still draw attention.
The power of transformation was not all-powerful.
It could not greatly change facial features.
It could not alter age or gender.
It could not change physical characteristics below the head.
The reason it could not change other parts much was apparently because most of the power was focused on changing the ears.
I handed over the things I had bought to Seras.
"Once we enter the Demon Zone, you will no longer need to use the transformation ability. With my [Sleep], you will eventually be able to sleep normally without it."
The price Seras paid now was practically nothing.
When she used spirit power, she would not be able to sleep for a while.
However, she could get sleep if I used my [Sleep].
It was a bit of a cheat if you thought about it.
But so far, there had been no complaints from the spirit side.
"Where are Eve and Liz?"
"The two of them are taking care of the horses over there."
We headed toward where Eve and the others were.
"You are back, Touka."
"Touka-sama, welcome back."
It seemed Eve and the others had also just finished their tasks.
"Pinyi~♪"
This time Pigi-maru had stayed behind.
Pigi-maru was being held in Liz's arms.
They had become quite close friends.
"Well then,"
"Shall we eat?"
The sun had already set and the sky was dark.
The weather had been favorable lately.
Today had been clear as well.
The temperature was moderate and comfortable.
We sat in a circle.
Today's dinner consisted of the following.
Grilled meat.
Fruit.
And the main dish was a pot stew.
We decided to use up the ingredients that did not keep well today.
Liz had been left in charge of the seasoning.
"I hope it suits your taste..."
I sipped the broth.
It was delicious.
"It looks like I can leave the cooking duties to Liz from now on."
"Ah... thank you very much!"
"Pimmu~♪"
It seemed to suit Pigi-maru's taste as well.
However, the way it absorbed soup was always a mystery to watch.
The colors mixed in without blending and simply disappeared.
Liz crouched down and stroked Pigi-maru.
"Fufu... thank you, Pigi-maru-chan..."
"Pi~♪"
I called out to Seras, who had quickly started cleaning up.
"Seras."
"Yes."
"I will handle the cleanup, so can you help Liz change her clothes?"
Today I had also bought clothes and equipment for Liz.
Because of the size issue, I could not lend her anyone else's clothes.
So Liz had been rotating the same single outfit until now.
Above all, we would be entering the Demon Zone soon.
Liz could not keep wearing unprotected clothes.
She needed armor that could protect her in case of emergency.
"That said... when I looked for something that would fit Liz's build, this was pretty much all I could find."
There were almost no options when it came to children's armor.
By the way, I had lightly measured Liz's size during our journey.
"It seems some noble had his daughter wear it just once and then threw it away. It was supposed to be a gift for his daughter, but she did not like it at all."
So he had discarded it in the village where he stopped at the time.
Seras carefully checked the equipment.
"It feels like a full set of equipment. It seems to prioritize appearance, but the items themselves are good quality."
It would definitely protect Liz better than her current clothes.
I glanced at Liz.
"...Is this okay, Liz?"
"O-of course! Thank you very much, Touka-sama!"
"...If you do not like it, you do not have to force yourself."
"N-no, not at all. Rather, I am happy that Touka-sama went out of his way to buy clothes for me."
She was too honest...
"Seras."
"Yes."
"For that full set of equipment, you can take apart the pieces or add cloth as you see fit based on your judgment."
Seras chuckled softly.
"Understood."
As far as I was concerned right now, I could only resent that noble with bad taste.
▽
The journey to the Demon Zone had gone quite smoothly.
We had probably managed to avoid most prying eyes.
Previously, Eve and Liz had traveled together as just the two of them.
It had been a journey while hiding from people.
So they were used to this kind of travel.
Seras Ashrain had been a fugitive.
She had also continued traveling while concealing herself.
And I myself was traveling while hiding my identity.
In short, everyone here had experience with traveling while avoiding people's eyes.
Eve's ears that could sharply detect sounds.
Eve's night vision that allowed her to see even in darkness.
These things had also contributed to the smoothness of our journey.
"It took a bit of a detour, but it seems we have managed to arrive just before the Demon Zone."
From the top of a gentle hill, Eve gazed into the distance.
If we followed the path leading down from the hill, we could enter the Demon Zone.
The reason it had taken a bit of a detour was to avoid castles and scattered forts.
The people in the castles and forts hunted monsters that came out from the Demon Zone.
The numbers were not large, but monsters occasionally burst out.
That said, they could not cover the entire area.
There were many places that were under-defended.
Therefore, some monsters slipped through.
In fact, we had encountered several golden-eyed monsters on our way here.
Well, they had not been any match for us.
By the way, we had released the horses in the forest just before the Demon Zone.
We could not take them into the Demon Zone.
That had been Eve's judgment.
Now our luggage had been reduced to the bare minimum.
I stood next to Eve.
"It feels like a sea of trees."
The scenery visible from the top of the hill.
What spread out was a pitch-black forest.
The other side of the forest could not be seen.
There was probably also mist hanging over the distant forest...
From the range visible from here, the Demon Zone now appeared quiet.
"What is that?"
A single massive tree came into view.
It was clearly abnormally huge compared to the others.
"That is a Blight Tree."
Eve answered.
"A Blight Tree?"
"It is also said to have originally been a sacred tree. Now, if there is a symbol of the Demon Zone, that might be it."
"The other name for the Golden-Eyed Demon Zone was the 'Great Ruins Zone,' right?"
"Yes."
Had there once been a civilization here?
Considering the ruins in various places...
Had this world been destroyed at some point?
▽
We decided to take a rest before entering the Demon Zone.
We would depart tomorrow morning.
We wanted to face it in perfect condition after all.
Once we finished preparing the camp, we took a breather.
"By the way, Eve, do you have the location of the witch in your head?"
"I do not."
"Huh? Oh, then you have a map."
"No, I do not."
Wait a minute.
"――――――――"
No, it was fine.
Eve knew the location of the witch.
That had already been confirmed with Seras's lie detector.
"Do not worry, Touka."
Eve stood up.
She looked down at me and held out her hand.
"You stand up as well. And pour it into me."
I stood up too.
"Pour what?"
"Magic essence."
"Into your arm?"
"More precisely, into this right hand of mine."
"...Understood."
There was certainty in Eve's voice.
She would probably show the location of the witch through some special method.
I took Eve's hand.
Her claws felt a little beast-like.
But her hand had the feel of normal skin.
"I just need to pour magic essence into your hand, right?"
"Yes. We leopard people, like the elf race, are not good at infusing magic essence. It takes time. But for you, a human with knowledge of magic, it should be quick."
Well, I did not actually have knowledge of magic.
But I understood.
I could see how this worked.
"Here I go."
"Yes."
I poured in the magic essence.
I recalled that.
The door of the Ruins of Disposal that opened and closed with the injection of magic essence.
My hand glowed with a pale blue light.
The faint light moved toward Eve's palm.
"Nn... mm... the sensation of having magic essence poured in is a strange one..."
"Oh?"
Something like a crest floated up from Eve's palm into the air.
It was about at the height of my eyes.
It was a holographic image.
That was it.
It felt similar to a status display...
Seras and Liz also had their mouths open.
Pigi-maru also seemed impressed somehow and let out a sound.
"Pumi~..."
The crest changed shape.
"This feels like a simple map?"
It looked that way.
"Yes. The green glowing point here is probably our current location."
Another glowing point could be seen.
It was north of the green point.
"So this red point to the north is—"
"The location where the Forbidden Witch is. That is what I was told by my father."
"I see, so this is how it works."
"It is impossible to create a map of the Demon Zone. But with this, we just need to move so that these two glowing points get closer."
"Did the witch set up this crest map?"
"That is what I heard."
"Huh? Have you never met the witch, Eve?"
"No."
I heard that only a limited number of people inherited this crest.
It was passed down only to the tribal chief and their children.
Eve explained it that way.
So Eve was the daughter of the tribal chief.
"..."
Well, I would not touch on that right now.
The location of the Forbidden Witch.
The means to reach it had become clear.
This was enough for now.
We were steadily drawing closer to the forbidden spell, even if slowly.
"All right, let us rest for today."
We turned our backs to the Demon Zone.
"Tomorrow at last, we enter the Demon Zone."