Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Toward the Borderline
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Rennel was undeniably sharp and a quick learner in all sorts of ways.
After I'd spent a full day glued to her side teaching her, she was handling the carriage like it was no big deal.
The Saintess—no, Arwen—was the exact opposite, painfully slow on the uptake.
She was getting lessons from Rennel, who had already become a skilled coachman in just one day.
"Saintess, loosen up a bit. Look at how white your knuckles are."
"Don't call me Saintess... Whoa! Stop that. Ohh."
"Yes, yes, Lady Arwen. Wait, if you yank it like that..."
"Eek!"
"That's an emergency stop."
Chris, who had been sitting across from me, came flying my way thanks to the inertia from the sudden halt.
I kindly dodged out of the way.
Once he barely managed to steady himself, Chris said,
"Here, catch."
"If the roles were reversed, would you have caught me?"
"...Of course."
"That answer came a beat too late."
Up on the driver's seat, Arwen was huffing and puffing nonstop.
Rennel rubbed her forehead and spoke up.
"Want to switch?"
"Just a sec. I think I'm getting the hang of it now."
"You've been saying that for five hours straight."
"Five more hours, and I should have it down."
"Sigh. These roads are narrow and poorly maintained—way too tough for a beginner."
"But you're a beginner too, right, Rennel?"
"Ancient history."
It had literally been just yesterday.
Rennel turned to look at me and asked,
"Why'd you pick this route? There are plenty of other ways to Henet Territory."
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Who said we're going to Henet Territory?"
"You said we're heading out for the next job. Henet Territory's the closest one from Bardlin in this direction. Weren't you planning to hit up the Adventurer's Guild there?"
Nope.
I kindly corrected our destination.
"We're going to Kamu Territory."
Silence fell over the carriage in an instant.
Chris, who was keeping quiet just like the others but for entirely different reasons, finally spoke up.
"Where's Kamu Territory? Never heard of it."
"Never disappoints."
"Hah. It's nothing."
"..."
"Were you teasing me?"
I nodded, and Chris flushed red as he protested,
"Even if I look like this, I never slept through geography class. That's why I memorized the name of every territory on the continent. There's no Kamu Territory."
"What academy did you go to that let classes turn out like that?"
"Academy?"
"...Don't tell me you had a private tutor?"
"Yeah. Doesn't everyone?"
Rennel muttered under her breath.
"Some of us pore over dusty old tomes to study, while others doze off during house calls from professors..."
"I didn't doze off."
"Then how do you not know Kamu Territory? Oh, do you know the place called the Borderline?"
"The Borderline? Yeah, super famous spot."
"That's what used to be Kamu Territory."
"Ah! One of the stolen lands. No way I'd know it by its old name."
"Most people would."
"Kamu Territory—the Borderline, one of the stolen lands. Wait a sec."
Chris whipped around to face me.
Arwen, who had pulled the carriage to a stop, and Rennel, looking uneasy, were staring at me too.
After a brief silence, Arwen asked in a trembling voice,
"You're really going to the Borderline? That land ruled by an Arch Demon King?"
As I mentioned once before, there isn't just one way to classify Demon Kings.
The most popular method is by danger ranking.
Demon God—Arch Demon King—Regular Demon King—Lesser Demon King—Quasi Demon King.
Another is by number of lives.
Original Body. Reincarnated. Possessed.
There are various other classification methods, and one relevant right now is...
"The Demon King of Immortality. You're saying we're heading somewhere with an Arch Demon King tier?"
"Yeah."
"You know that guy's a Lord-type Demon King, right?"
This one's based on the Demon King's habitat.
Wanderer-type Demon Kings.
These are Demon Kings who roam the continent freely without a fixed residence.
The Deception Demon King and Disease Demon King fall into this category.
The most infamous Wanderer-type—and my target—is the Erosion Demon King.
The Absence Demon King, who'll soon join our party, counts as a Wanderer-type too.
Since they constantly change locations, we have to update info via oracles and such.
Fortress-type Demon Kings.
Instead of wandering, they set up bases in remote areas humans can't easily reach.
They build dungeons or labyrinths to create their own hideouts.
Unlike Wanderers, we know their locations, but assaulting them means massive casualties.
The Illusion Demon King from my previous regression was a prime Fortress-type. This time, she died before she could even build one.
Finally, Lord-type Demon Kings.
They seize lands humans once ruled and make them their domains.
These are Demon Kings who brute-force their way into stealing established human territories.
While Fortress-types hole up alone in useless wastelands or jagged mountains, Lord-types are obsessed with "ruling and dominating humans."
Naturally, humanity prioritizes subjugating Lord-types, and sixty percent of all Demon Kings felled so far were Lords.
In other words, the surviving Lord-types are mostly untouchable.
That makes them the category packed with the strongest—the Arch Demon King tiers.
All the territories stolen by Lord-type Demon Kings are collectively called the "Stolen Lands."
Places once under imperial control but surrendered to Demon King rule.
The spot I was heading to, Kamu Territory, was ruled by a Lord-type Arch Demon King: the Demon King of Immortality.
"The Demon King of Immortality ranks twentieth! That's Arch Demon King level!"
I calmed the worked-up Rennel.
"Relax. It's just twentieth place."
"Gahhh... How many times have we been through this routine?"
"Kidding. I have no plans to throw you guys at an Arch Demon King. Not yet."
"That 'yet' is super suspicious."
"We have to face Arch Demon Kings eventually, right? You've been gunning for one from the start, Rennel, and Chris has to take down the Demon King of Despair."
Rennel and Chris shut their mouths.
Arwen timidly raised her hand.
"What about me?"
"Arwen, you've got ties to the Sloth Demon King. Through the Disease Demon King as a medium."
"Feels kinda forced compared to the other two..."
"Our ultimate goal is the Erosion Demon King, called a Demon God. We can't chicken out over one Arch Demon King."
Everyone nodded blankly at my words.
But Rennel suddenly snapped to and yelled,
"Don't just smoothly segue into the Erosion Demon King like that!"
"Saw you nodding earlier. A few more reps, and you'll be fully on board."
"Ugh."
"Anyway, no need to worry. Like I said, no Arch Demon King fights for now."
Chris asked cautiously,
"If we're not fighting the Arch Demon King, why head to Kamu Territory? It's been cut off from the outside world for over three hundred years."
"..."
"No Adventurer's Guilds or quests, and who knows if they even speak the same language."
Instead of answering, I gazed out the window.
My eyes took in the scenery, but my mind was dredging up memories from before the regression.
I murmured softly,
"Someone I need to find."
Before the regression.
Our party was unprecedented—we'd taken down four Arch Demon Kings.
By the fourth, it felt routine, but the first? Total chaos.
"We did it! We actually took down an Arch Demon King!"
"Father, we did it."
"Cheers, everyone! To us!"
"Saintess, more booze? That's begging for divine punishment."
"Blasphemy."
Of course, I couldn't make sense of any of it.
When voices overlapped in the racket, the garbled Quad wrangle speech drowned out completely.
I was always the loner in those moments.
Best I could do was hang back, scan the group, and guess the vibe.
That day, we'd rented out a whole tavern for the party.
After slaying our first Arch Demon King (seventeenth rank, I think), someone suggested celebrating. Probably Arwen, but can't say for sure.
Anyway, as I brooded in solitude, a voice came from behind.
"Mister."
I turned.
Predictably, a figure shrouded in Quad wrangle stood there.
I gripped my sword lightly and said,
"Who the hell are you?"
"You took down the seventeenth-ranked Arch Demon King, right?"
"What? Can't hear you."
"Hard of hearing? Yeah, it's noisy as hell here."
Swoosh.
The Quad wrangle seemed to gesture.
Suddenly, everything went dead quiet.
I looked around in shock—party members frozen, unmoving.
Couldn't see their faces through the Quad wrangle, but they were all slumped over tables. Passed out.
Shing.
I drew my sword, aiming it at the sudden intruder.
"What'd you do to my comrades?"
"Just put 'em to sleep. They were interrupting. Made a quiet spot for our chat, since you're hard of hearing, mister. Got a favor to ask."
"Put them to sleep? You?"
How?
By then, our comrades were S-rank Adventurers, at least.
Nowhere near endgame strength, but top-tier anywhere.
And this thing knocks them out with a wave?
I strung my nerves taut and demanded,
"First off: who are you?"
"You're weird, mister."
"How?"
"Most adults bend over backward to be nice to a kid like me. Never seen one pull a sword right away."
"Not out of nowhere. You harmed my comrades."
"Just sleep, I said. And comrades..."
The Quad wrangle hit me where it hurt.
"If they're comrades, why're you off by yourself?"
"..."
"You're lonely too, huh, mister."
"Two things for you to do. One: wake my comrades. Two: reveal yourself."
"..."
"Anything else, and you're dead."
It called itself a kid.
But kid or adult, it was all Quad wrangle to me—no difference.
Someone who could gesture-sleep a whole party? Looks meant nothing.
It fell silent a moment, then spoke.
"Fine."
"What?"
"You said you'd kill me. A guy who offs Arch Demon Kings might actually do it. That's exactly what I wanted to ask."
The Quad wrangle continued calmly.
Somehow, from that flat, emotionless mush of sound, I felt raw desperation.
"Please... kill me."