South

South... farther south.

We traveled on.

Of course, our journey wasn't entirely smooth. For the past year, I had kept teaching Eris and Aisha the Demon God Language, and these two troublesome little tyrants often flew into a rage and rushed over to beat people up after understanding that they were being mocked.

Actually, it was mainly Eris who rushed over to beat people up, while Aisha shouted encouragement from the side. If they ran into someone who was truly furious and tried to draw a blade for a fight to the death, Aisha would immediately use magic to blast that person's sword away.

On this point, I had to emphasize it once again: my little sister was a genius.

She was six years old now, and at that age, her shortened magic incantations were already almost on par with Master Roxy's... It was truly hard to imagine.

Similar problems happened several times. At first, every time something went wrong, I felt a little worried and anxious, but gradually I realized that those people didn't seem to think about taking revenge after getting beaten. Eris also never drew her sword. She only used her fists to beat them up.

They were all minor problems and never developed into major ones. Maybe precisely because of that, before I knew it, I stopped worrying about them.

About a year and a half after this journey began, Eris and I had somehow risen to A-rank adventurers.

Actually, we didn't need to take jobs on the road at all. We had more than enough money to spend. But Eris seemed extremely excited because she had learned the Demon God Language and wanted to take jobs herself, complete them herself, and then turn them in.

In any case, just like that, we arrived at the southernmost part of the Demon Continent, Wind Port.

Wind Port was the only port city on the Demon Continent.

It had a cityscape made up of many slopes, and from the entrance, you could take it all in at a glance.

The houses were all built from earth and stone rich with the Demon Continent's distinctive style, though their interiors more or less included some wooden structures.

It was probably timber imported from the Millis Continent.

There was a shipyard on the outskirts. Perhaps because it was a port city, there were very few open-air merchants near the entrance, while the area close to the harbor was packed with people.

Compared to other cities, it felt like a somewhat unusual city.

Opposite the port, in other words beyond the city's outer edge, was an endless expanse of ocean.

In my previous life... I didn't think I had ever seen the sea. During the most stressful period of high school, I often relied on watching ocean documentaries until I fell asleep, so I had a strange sense of familiarity with the ocean.

The blue sea, the sound of the waves, birds that looked a bit like seagulls, and sailboats... It really was nice.

Though I had occasionally seen them in movies, actually seeing small wooden boats with their sails raised still made me feel excited, even at my age.

As expected, no matter the world, there were techniques for sailing against the wind.

No, in this world, it was probably nothing more than having a magician send out a favorable wind to move the boat forward.

"Rudeus! Look!"

"Big brother! Look!"

"It's the sea!! x2"

The two of them shouted in the Demon God Language in perfect unison, then looked at each other and smiled.

I nodded.

"Anyway, why don't we find an inn and rest for a few days first? We have enough money on us, so let's rest for a few days before taking a ship to Zant Port."

"Okay! x2"

These two had become even more in sync over the past year and a half...

After all, there had been plenty of times when Eris heard Aisha being mocked and immediately went over to hit the offender, so it was only natural that their bond had deepened.

Incidentally, on the road, Eris and I had both been teaching Aisha. I taught her how to use magic, while Eris taught her some practical combat techniques and swordsmanship.

I had to say... Eris's way of fighting was entirely aimed at winning. No matter what the method was, she could use it.

Should I say that she really was Ghislaine's disciple? Ghislaine had once said, "As long as you win, any method is glorious."

I very much agreed with that view of hers.

Speaking of which, Eris was already fourteen... and Aisha was almost six... Had two years really passed? It didn't feel real at all.

"Eris, Aisha."

"Here! x2"

"What are you two doing..."

I handed two gold coins to them.

"Aisha can do the accounting. Eris, take Aisha around and have a look. Buy whatever you want to eat. I'll go rent a room first, then go to the Adventurer Guild and see if there's any information."

"Leave it to me, Rudeus! I'll protect Aisha!"

"Don't worry, big brother! Big sister Eris will protect me!"

I waved a hand.

"Then I'm off. Come meet me at the Adventurer Guild before sunset."

"Got it! x2"

In any case, I first went to rent a room large enough for us, then went to the adventurers' guild.

Of course, I had not come to check the requests. We had enough money for now.

I looked over the Adventurer Guild's message board.

I had kept up this habit ever since we left Rikarisu Town.

I had seen quite a few missing-person notices in other guilds before, though all those names had belonged to people from the Demon Continent...

I scanned the message board from top to bottom and found no notices looking for me or Eris...

To be honest, even someone as dense as me could sense something was wrong. Paul and the others might have met with an accident...

But this was the Demon Continent. It was only natural Paul could not leave messages here. Once we reached Zant Port in a few more weeks, there was a good chance we would learn Paul's situation.

Paul was strong. He would never die so easily.

After leaving the Adventurer Guild, I found someone at the harbor calling out for passengers.

Only after asking him did I learn that traveling from Wind Port to Zant Port only cost ten silver coins per person!

What kind of joke was that?! Did that mean I had wasted at least three months in Rikarisu Town?

Although the time had been wasted, we had undeniably ended up with more money...

I returned to the Adventurer Guild and sat there until the sun was about to set, and Eris and Aisha came back too.

"Shall we go back to the inn?"

"Yeah!"

After returning to the inn, I had the innkeeper bring food to the door of our room.

"Brother, is something wrong?"

"What do you mean, something wrong?"

"You look like you're in a bad mood."

"I do not..."

Eris planted her hands on her hips, pulled my head into her arms, and said, "Rudeus, aren't we family?!"

"We are family."

"If we're family, then you should tell me and Aisha what's bothering you! We'll help you think of something! Even if we're stupid, we can still worry together with you!"

I smiled and sighed.

"You remember that pillar of light, right? It was far too huge... I suspect our families might have been caught up in it too, maybe even lost their lives..."

Aisha and Eris both froze. Clearly, neither of them had thought of that.

They had probably figured that since they themselves had only been teleported, everyone else should be fine too.

But many people had no ability to fight... What if they died without even realizing it after being teleported, eaten by monsters? Or what if they were captured and sold as slaves?

Like Lilia... like Zenith... and what if Norn, a child, had been teleported all alone...?

"Don't worry, Rudeus! Uncle Paul is really strong! And my grandfather and the others have Ghislaine protecting them too! They'll all be fine..."

As Eris spoke, her voice grew much quieter. It seemed she had realized how serious the situation was.

Aisha, meanwhile, looked as though she was thinking hard. Making her think so much at such a young age was my failure as her older brother.

I pulled both of them into my arms.

"Thank you. For now, let's rest first, okay? You must both be tired after traveling for so long."

"I-It's okay...! Because we're family..."

"I want to sleep together with Brother and Eris!"

Eris and I looked at each other and smiled, then pushed the two beds together.

"Then let's sleep together. Get a good rest. I plan to take a ship to Tezan Port in two days."

"Yeah!"

In any case, I felt like I had made a mistake.

What kind of person poured his worries out to children...?

Forget it. I should hurry up and sleep... We were about to board a ship.

With those feelings in my heart, I drifted off to sleep.