Setting Out

I had absolutely no idea which way we should go.

But I had seen a map of this world before. Since we were on the Demon Continent, we would surely find a town if we just kept heading west.

Before setting out, I tried all the methods from my previous life to determine the cardinal directions, but unfortunately, none of them seemed to work.

The stars in this world differed from those of my previous life, so they could not serve as a reference.

Before we set off at dawn, Aisha pointed in one direction and said that was west.

When I asked how she could be sure, she merely told me it was a feeling.

In any case, since I could not determine where to go either, I followed Aisha's instincts.

"The Demon Continent! Our adventure has begun!"

Though Eris was so excited now, the heat had left her too drained to speak earlier.

Well... after enduring a freezing night, it was only natural that Eris and Aisha could not handle such intense heat all at once.

So as we traveled, I continuously used ice magic to cool them down while cautiously using earth magic to check for monsters lying in ambush.

Aisha was still too young to keep up on foot, so I used wind magic to carry her along.

If only there were magic like telekinesis... Then I would not have to focus so hard on controlling my magic.

Using wind magic to carry Aisha consumed more mana than I had expected, since it required such careful control.

However, I seemed to have an abnormally large amount of mana. Even if I carried Aisha around like this for an entire day, a night's rest restored almost all of it.

"Big Brother! The sun is so strong!"

"Yeah..."

Indeed, even if I lowered the temperature around us, the sun still beat directly down on Aisha and Eris.

I could not think of any way to solve that problem.

Just as Roxy had once told me, "Magic is by no means omnipotent." Now, I fully understood what she meant.

Eris, walking ahead of us, was a little excited, constantly looking around at this unfamiliar land.

"Rudeus! There's a cliff ahead! We can't go any farther!"

"It's fine. Big Brother can use magic to carry us down."

After answering Eris, Aisha looked at me with worshipful eyes.

Of course, it was a simple matter.

So I nodded and used earth magic to slowly lower the three of us.

At the bottom, there was indeed an endless stretch of land.

Since we were inside a canyon, the sunlight did not shine directly on us.

"Big Brother, I want to get down and walk by myself for a while."

"No. It's dangerous."

"Okay..."

Aisha was very well-behaved. Once I refused her, she never brought it up a second time.

It seemed she understood our situation. Eris, on the other hand...

"Rudeus! There are actually trees up ahead!"

Trees...? On the Demon Continent?

I extended my earth magic toward them.

I could sense those few trees moving...

Their roots were stirring restlessly.

"Eris, those trees are monsters. Be careful."

"Huh? Really?!"

Eris drew her sword, preparing to subjugate the trees.

I did not want to dampen her enthusiasm, so I used ice magic to freeze the roots of those magic trees.

"Eris, go!"

"Okay!"

Eris lowered her body and charged forward, cleaving two of them in half with a single swing. The remaining three tried to run, but their roots had been frozen.

Thus, the magic trees gave up their disguises, baring their claws as they waited in place for Eris to attack.

I used ice magic again, freezing the magic trees' claws. Eris seized the chance and cut them down one by one.

After the subjugation was over, I walked over and picked up the branches that had been cut off the magic trees.

They looked like ordinary branches no matter how I looked at them...

"Rudeus! This is that, right?!"

Eris's excited voice rang out beside me.

"This is it! Cooperation between adventurers! Rudeus is in charge of support, and I'm in charge of killing the enemies!"

"That is one way of putting it."

"This feels... even better than I imagined it would! It must be because the one supporting me is Rudeus!"

I smiled.

"Don't get excited too soon. We need to hunt edible monsters. We haven't eaten anything in a long time."

"Yeah! Rudeus can definitely find some, right? Because Rudeus is amazing!"

"Probably."

Eris was right. If I expanded the range of my search, I would surely be able to find monsters.

I turned to look at Aisha, who was floating off to the side in my wind magic. Even I could see the admiration in her eyes.

So I patted Aisha on the head.

"When you grow up, I can support you too."

"Really?"

"Really."

"When I grow up, if I invite Big Brother on an adventure, will you definitely come?"

"Of course, once you grow up."

"It's a promise!"

"Yeah."

By the time we had traveled through the canyon until evening, Eris and I had hunted a monster.

This monster was rather huge... but it was not very strong.

It seemed to be a kind of Land Turtle, a Land Turtle from the Demon Continent...

One of the books Zenith had given me mentioned it before. I think it was called a Great King Tortoise...

I had heard it could be tamed as a mount.

I ate its meat with a grim expression.

How should I put it... I had never expected the meat to taste good, but this was no longer a matter of whether it tasted good or bad. It had no taste at all.

Still, perhaps I should be grateful that it had no flavor. Even Aisha could manage to eat it.

I boiled the meat until it was soft before feeding it to Aisha. She was only four years old, so if I roasted it, she definitely would not be able to chew it.

Aisha chewed the Great King Tortoise meat, and her expression was far from pleasant. Seeing her like that, I could not help feeling guilty, and I made up my mind.

I had to find some other tasty monster... Something nutritious too... Aisha was still young, so I had to make sure she ate a balanced diet...

I knew that such thoughts were somewhat arrogant on this continent, but they were my honest feelings.

As for Eris... she seemed quite happy while eating the meat.

"I've always dreamed of an adventure like this! Filling my stomach with monster meat roasted over a fire!"

It seemed she finally felt like she was truly having an adventure.

Night fell, and I built a campfire and lit it.

Aisha practiced magic for a while before collapsing into my arms.

"Big Brother~ I'm sleepy...~"

"Mm, just go to sleep. Are you cold?"

"No~ This temperature is just right...~"

"Okay. Sleep well."

And so, Aisha fell asleep immediately.

Eris was not in much better shape. At the end of the day, she was only twelve years old. It would be a lie to say she was not anxious.

After Aisha fell asleep, Eris leaned against me too and murmured softly.

"Rudeus... Will Father and the others be okay...?"

Sure enough, after her excitement faded, she began thinking about her family too.

That light... It looked like it could have harmed Roa...

I did not say that aloud. Instead, I nodded.

"They'll be fine. Ghislaine is always by Uncle-Grandfather's side, so she'll protect him no matter what. Your father and mother have personal guards too. They'll be fine..."

"Mm..."

I raised my hand and stroked Eris's head.

Before, even though she would not have resisted, she definitely would have blushed and looked away.

But now, she merely let me stroke her head in silence, as though it helped put her at ease.

Before long, Eris fell asleep too.