The Western Demonic Territory, Gaon
A full week had already passed since the day we entered the Western Demonic Territory.
"...Hey."
I called out to Huey, who for some reason had grown drastically quieter over the past few days.
"We're going the right way, right?"
At that, Huey turned his gaze from me and Lucy back toward the distant horizon, looking unsettled.
"...Probably."
And that answer carried not even a speck of confidence.
"We're screwed."
"Yeah."
It was certain.
That bastard had gotten us lost.
"I haven't completely lost the way, okay!?"
So he had lost the way, then.
"We're still heading in the right direction. It's just that the surrounding terrain has changed a lot, so it's a little confusing."
"...If you're that unsure, should I go up for another look?"
His face still didn't look convinced no matter how I sliced it. We'd come this far—surely something ought to be visible by now—so I offered. But—
"I get that you're restless, but just hang on a little longer."
"Is it really that much of a death sentence?"
"Ugh."
Both of them stopped me with the kind of urgency that said they'd grab my wings the second I tried to take off.
And they had every reason to.
"Come on, if I just take a quick look and come right back down before anything spots me..."
"You think that would work?"
"You haven't already forgotten what nearly happened the moment you went up, have you?"
"...How could I forget that."
Three days ago, was it?
I'd thought maybe things would start showing from the air, so I'd flown up—only to nearly get eaten by a swarm of flying magical beasts that came pouring in.
...They were enormous.
"Anyway, I think we'll arrive if we keep going for about three more days."
Unlike when he'd left this place alone, he said, there was no need to hide or sneak around, so we were making relatively good time. Huey took the lead, examining the trunks of trees that towered high into the sky as he went.
"...Found it."
Before long, he seemed to have discovered something. With a sigh of relief, he pointed somewhere ahead.
"What did you find?"
"Claw marks... it looks like?"
"They're trail markers."
Trail markers?
"The country sends out hunting parties on a regular schedule, and they carve these marks so they don't lose their way each time."
Seeing the confusion written all over my face and Lucy's, Huey gave a short laugh and added an explanation.
"See here? The way the base of the tree is gouged out like claw marks."
At a glance it looked rough, like some beast had scraped past. Looking closer, though, it was clearly the work of human hands.
"Huh."
"Someone who didn't know would have a hard time even noticing them."
"They carve a new one every time the path turns, so we just follow these."
And so, with Huey striding ahead far more confidently than he had these past few days, we set off once more into the dense forest.
That night.
"Speaking of which, it's strange."
"What is?"
As usual, we'd set a watch and built a campfire in a suitable clearing. With one wing lifted to cover Lucy, who had already fallen asleep, I gazed up at a night sky thick with stars and spoke.
"I mean, we're lighting a fire this openly and nothing's coming after us."
Ordinarily, lighting a fire in the middle of a forest at night would draw wild animals or magical beasts sniffing around. In this forest, though, there was a strangely complete absence of anything like that.
"It's nothing special. Around here, fire and lightning are proof of an apex predator."
Over the course of more than several hundred years, he said, fire and lightning had become symbols of terror to every living thing in this forest.
"...Well, it's not like it's any different for us, either."
As if something had come to mind, Huey finished speaking with a distant look and turned his eyes to the sky.
And so, aside from a few encounters with brown bears and other creatures of the forest, we pressed on without any major trouble for about three more days.
"It's just ahead."
In the direction Huey's finger pointed, we could take in the sight of a great city visible far in the distance.
"Oh, so that's..."
"Is that the place Master said he lived?"
With a great river spread out before it.
"Yeah. You wouldn't be wrong to call it my hometown in this world."
A fortress and city built in a style completely different from anything we'd seen so far, protected by walls that looked crude at first glance but, on closer inspection, were nothing short of impregnable.
"Welcome. To Gaon."
Gaon.
That was the name of the nation said to have been founded by people from another world who had fallen upon this land called the Demonic Territory.
Roughly half a day later.
Around the time the sun began to sink and the sky started to turn red.
"How long has it been since we just walked like this?"
"Right?"
"Haha. Hang in there a little longer. We've really arrived now."
Before long the castle gate came into clear view right in front of us.
And then...
"Oh, looks like they recognized us."
"Seems so."
We could see the soldiers atop the walls beginning to bustle about as if they'd spotted us.
A short while later.
"Well now, who do we have here? If it isn't Young Master Hwi!"
"Would you please drop the 'Young Master' already? It's been a while, Uncle."
A man dressed in clothes similar to Huey's but far more voluminous—red robes layered with armor—came out as the representative and began exchanging greetings with Huey, a broad smile on his face.
...I couldn't understand a single word of what they were saying.
"And those two?"
"Companions I met on my travels."
Before long the man turned his gaze toward me and Lucy, who had been standing there blankly watching. From the way Huey was pointing with his hand, he seemed to be introducing us.
"This is Ren. And this is Luciella."
I couldn't follow the content, but he called our names, so I gave my wings a casual wave.
Of course, the eyes of the people behind him going wide at the sight of my wings was a free bonus.
"Hmm, Young Master Hwi. Living the good life, aren't you?"
"...Uncle?"
"A flower in each hand! Hahahaha!"
"W-wait, it's not like that!"
Judging by the situation, the man who seemed to be the soldiers' captain was teasing Huey. After shouting a few times with a thoroughly flustered face, Huey finally sighed and came over to us.
"Sorry. You didn't understand a word of that, did you?"
"You got that right."
"Let me introduce you. This is General Seo Jiseon—he's in charge of the wall defenses."
One of the few people in this country who could speak our language, Huey said.
Following Huey's gesture, I looked at the man who was smiling good-naturedly with his helmet lifted.
"Pleasure to meet you. Just call me Jiseon."
A little awkward, but the man—Jiseon—greeted us in a way we could understand.
"I'm Ren."
"Luciella."
After that brief exchange of greetings—
"So, what brings you back?"
"I need to see my master about something."
"Then you'll have to wait a bit."
"Ah, so he's out hunting, then."
Following Jiseon's guidance into the city—
"Oh, who is that! Isn't that Chan-hui!"
"Everyone, look over here! Young Master Hwi is here!"
"My goodness, my goodness! Really?"
"Haha. It's been a long time, everyone."
We could see people greeting Huey warmly.
People with black hair and black eyes, just like Huey.
"...Looks like the whole city knows him."
"No kidding. At this rate a king might show up next."
Of course, once the greetings for Huey were done, it was our turn.
"A bird...?"
"She's pretty... pretty, but..."
"She still looks so young—what's with that outfit?"
"Young Master Hwi. You said you weren't interested in our daughters, but this was your type all along?"
...For some reason it felt like more eyes were landing on me than on Lucy. I had no idea what they were saying, but one look at Huey's thoroughly awkward face told me it wasn't anything complimentary.
"Sorry. Just a little farther!"
I couldn't understand them anyway, so it didn't particularly matter—but Huey still went out of his way to apologize.
And so, after cutting a long path straight through the city—
"While we're here, we'll be staying in this castle."
A massive building of a scale completely different from the structures around it. We stopped in front of a great gate guarded by doorkeepers in uniforms similar to the wall soldiers'.
"Well then, I'll come find you later, Uncle."
"You do that."
After seeing Jiseon off as he waved and headed back toward the walls, saying his guidance ended here—
"We need to meet my master, but he's away from his post at the moment."
He'd sent a letter ahead before we set out, so a place for us to stay should at least have been prepared.
"Looks like we crossed paths with him, so we might have to wait a few days at most."
Saying that, Huey waved and approached the doorkeepers. And the moment he did, the doorkeepers stiffened completely and shouted something. Watching the gates swing wide open, a thought occurred to me.
"Hey. Doesn't this seem a little off?"
"What does?"
I nudged Lucy's shoulder with a wing and whispered quietly.
"Look at the reactions from the wall soldiers earlier, and those doorkeepers just now."
"Indeed. Their attitude was exactly like they'd just met a superior far above them."
The townspeople's reactions, too, had been the kind of delighted welcome you'd give a famous person returning after a long absence.
"This way!"
Watching Huey stroll through the wide castle grounds that opened beyond the gates as if he owned the place—
"...Right?"
"...Indeed."
Lucy and I locked eyes and nodded together.
And so, after moving for a while to avoid the strangely busy people inside the castle—
"Ah, Cheonyu!"
A woman came into view, dressed in black robes identical to Huey's.
"...Chan-hui?"
She seemed startled to see Huey calling her name loudly and waving. Her eyes went wide as she approached us.
"What is the meaning of this? Why are you here... Ahem. Forgive me."
The woman who had come over started to speak to Huey as if scolding him about something—then, catching sight of us behind him, she composed herself and bowed her head.
"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Lee Cheonyu. I serve, however inadequately, as Deputy Taoist Master of Gaon."
Then the woman—Cheonyu—spoke fluently enough for Lucy and me to understand as well.
"Luciella."
"Call me Ren. But you speak our language pretty well, huh?"
"If one wishes to rise to a high position, one must at least know the language of the outside world."
Having said that, Cheonyu volunteered to guide us and took the lead.
"That aside—what is your relationship with Chan-hui?"
"Chan... you mean Huey?"
I lifted a wing to point at him as I asked.
"Yeah. Seo Chan-hui. That's my real name. Outside, nobody can pronounce it properly, so I go by Huey."
I'd been hearing the word "Chan-hui" here and there since earlier and wondering about it. Huey grumbled that he hadn't realized his own name was that hard to pronounce.
"Just companions."
"The same for me."
Anyway, there was nothing to hide. When we told her the plain truth, Cheonyu nodded with a face that somehow looked relieved.
And so, under Cheonyu's guidance, we made our way for a while through the tangled, complicated paths.
"Here we are."
In front of a building that, unlike the others we'd seen inside the castle, gave off a somewhat modest yet mysterious atmosphere—
"This is where we Taoists reside. The Taoist Hall."
There were empty rooms to spare, she said, so we should make ourselves comfortable.
"You must be tired from the long journey. Let's leave any unfinished conversation for tomorrow, and rest for now."
She still had work left to do, she said.
"Ah—I don't know how long you'll be staying, but for now: welcome home, Chan-hui."
"Yes. I'm back, Cheonyu."
With a bright smile directed at Huey, Cheonyu took her leave. And with that, we spent the night in a guest room of the building they called the Taoist Hall.
...That aside.
Huey's real name was seriously a pain in the ass to pronounce.