Heritage (2)
"Isana. You're getting far too presumptuous. Even by Imperial standards, I am a noble of the second rank, and I stand as an equal trading partner with your master. Given all that, do you truly believe it is appropriate for a mere attendant to take such an insolent tone with me? If that is genuinely what you think, then I'll—"
"Ah, I got it, I got it already!! It was a joke!! You're so uptight about everything..."
The moment she sensed I was about to snap, Isana immediately tucked her tail between her legs. And yet she still couldn't resist tacking on one last unnecessary remark at the end—which, I had to admit, was very much like her.
The truth was, I didn't particularly mind whatever attitude she took with me. The person I was on the inside wasn't a real noble to begin with. I'd only meant to put her in her place because her words had been so thoroughly irritating—but it seemed she at least recognized that she'd misspoken. So even this reckless woman was capable of thinking things through, after a fashion.
"We're here. That's Mount Palana over there."
After entering the Demon Realm and walking for another full day, our destination at last came into view in the distance. In the direction Isana pointed, a modest mountain stood alone upon the plains, not particularly tall.
Would the items I was looking for really be sitting there, exactly as they had in the game? Unease began to seep in, and I could feel my heartbeat picking up speed. Stay calm. I'll be able to confirm it soon enough anyway.
Following Isana's lead, I started making my way toward Mount Palana, one step at a time.
"Isana—why haven't I seen any others of your kind? I was certain I'd heard that this area was your people's home."
A fair amount of time had passed since we'd set foot in this land, and yet, for a place that called itself the Demon Realm, we hadn't encountered a single demon besides her. The question had been nagging at me.
Isana answered without even turning her head.
"Our people migrate deeper into the continent during this season. They'll come back once the moon has filled twice."
From her explanation, it seemed the demons did not settle permanently in one place the way we did, but lived a semi-nomadic life of mixed farming and herding. And from what I remembered, the East Continent was far vaster than the West Continent where the Empire stood, while the demon population was nowhere near as large as that of humanity. In that case, it was only natural we hadn't run into anyone.
I'd been a little disappointed—I'd wanted to see other demons in the flesh at least once—but at the same time, I was relieved. If I hadn't been able to find their hidden settlement, I would have had no choice but to cross into the Demon Realm blindly and search for contact. I could easily have ended up wandering this enormous land with nowhere to go.
"We've arrived. This is the foot of Mount Palana. So what's your plan now?"
After spotting the mountain, we walked for several more hours before we finally reached its base. Isana, who had been leading the way, turned back to ask—but thanks to the sweltering climate of the Demon Realm and my own bloated frame, my stamina had completely given out, and I was lagging far behind her.
"Hah... hah... Like I said earlier, I'm going up the mountain alone. You mentioned you had your own business to take care of, so let's each finish what we need to do and meet back here. But Isana—is your land always this hot?"
"Ugh, you're so pathetic... It's always been a warm climate, sure, but never this bad. It's suddenly gotten this hot over the last few years, and neither the shamans nor the astrologers have any idea why. Wait—do you know something? If you know the reason...!"
"I'm sorry. I genuinely wish I could help, but I don't know anything about that."
"...Tch, whatever... You act like you know everything, but when it comes to the one thing that actually matters..."
I answered her while continually wiping away the sweat dripping down my face. I hadn't noticed it at the entrance to the Demon Realm, but the farther we went, the more the unseasonable heat pressed in, and withered, twisted shrubs became a common sight. Seeing it with my own eyes, I could feel with certainty that something had gone wrong here.
"...But are you sure you'll be all right? If you go alone, there won't be anyone to protect you if a monster shows up."
Isana seemed genuinely worried I might wander off by myself and end up in danger. We had in fact encountered a considerable number of monsters since entering the Demon Realm, but the moment Isana so much as glanced at them, they all fled. Perhaps because they were creatures steeped in magi, the monsters seemed to be terrified of demons, whom they regarded as a higher species.
Wait. Monsters? Terrified? Don't tell me...
"Isana. Just asking—has a troll attacked your village recently?"
"No, how the hell do you even know that? Don't tell me you've been watching our village? You—you told my master you'd never reveal our identities to anyone, and now you're pulling this...!"
"Haa..."
I'd thrown the question out on a hunch. I hadn't expected it to actually be true.
According to Isana, Easthall had been attacked by a troll in the dead of night about ten days ago. They had done everything they could to drive it off while still in human form, but the constraints on their movement had kept them from inflicting a fatal wound. The moment she dropped the transformation to finish it off properly, the troll felt her overwhelming aura, panicked, and fled into the darkness.
The timing matched perfectly, and the approximate size and the location of the wounds lined up with what we had confirmed as well. In all likelihood, a troll native to the Demon Realm had crossed the Wasteland, attacked Easthall, been driven off by Isana, fled as far as the area around Macni, recovered to some degree, and then run into us just as it was about to resume its activity—at which point it had been completely subjugated.
And she had inflicted those wounds while still transformed into a human. Without even bringing her true power to bear.
And later on, things like that would come pouring across the border in droves. And the first to take that wave would be our territory.
It was a future so horrific I didn't even want to imagine it. In that moment, I felt the vast gulf between a demon's physical capabilities and a human's in my very bones.
"...I figured it was too dangerous to keep tracking it at night, so I was going to send the trackers out at sunrise the next day... but it happened to be the season of spring rains, and all the traces got washed away... I'd given it some pretty deep wounds, so I thought it would just die on its own... damn that disgusting regeneration of theirs..."
Perhaps worried that her sloppy handling of the matter might sour our arrangement, Isana's eyes darted about, reading my face after I'd mentioned that people on our side had been hurt.
"Don't worry. I have no intention of holding you responsible. The casualties are unfortunate, but it may well be thanks to you weakening the thing that we were able to hunt it so easily..."
"R-really...? Well, then..."
"But Isana—do the monsters living in your lands often cross the Wasteland into the Western Continent? Judging by the fact that we have no such records, it doesn't seem like a common occurrence..."
"You're right. Most of them live inland, so we barely see them around here, and even the ones that flee from territorial disputes get hunted down by our trackers the moment they're spotted. But right now the entire clan has moved to another settlement, and with Mother Earth falling ill, the monsters' behavior has changed from what it used to be... Still, one coming out this brazenly is a first even for us."
Just as I had suspected, the troll's appearance had been a harbinger of the magi overflow. And if that was the case, there was no guarantee it wouldn't happen again. I made up my mind to recommend to my father, as soon as I returned, that the eastern border be guarded far more strictly than it was now.
Though what excuse I was supposed to give him for knowing any of this was another matter entirely. I could already feel a headache coming on.
"Understood. This is something I'll need to discuss with Pyne. And I can handle a monster or two on my own, so you don't need to worry. Let's part ways here and meet again in three hours."
"...Alright. Don't die, Westerner."
The moment the words left her mouth, Isana turned on her heel and left. I didn't delay either, and began climbing the mountain at once.
I hadn't told her I would go alone without thinking it through. The Holy Water I was carrying could also be used as a weapon capable of dealing severe damage to any species that relied on magi. I had confirmed in the game that it worked without issue even on reasonably high-tier creatures, and besides, our current location was only the outer edge of the Demon Realm—no powerful demonic beasts made their home here. There was no need to worry excessively.
Pyne said there was a cave somewhere around the mountainside...
Once I reached roughly the midpoint of the slope, I stopped climbing and began moving laterally instead. And at last I found it: a great boulder jutting from the mountainside, and behind it, a small cave tucked out of sight.
"It's really... here..."
Forcing down the pounding in my chest, I made my way toward the mouth of the cave. On the surface it looked like an ordinary cavern, nothing remarkable about it—but if this was the place I knew, there was surely a secret hidden here, one that could not be seen.
I conjured a light with magic and pressed deeper inside, until I reached a passage that narrowed until I could go no farther. I stopped there and began searching the nearby cave walls, shining the light across them and rapping them with my fist.
And after some ten minutes had passed, I finally found it—the very trace I had so longed to discover.