Chapter 269 (2/2)

As for Hikaru, he was just overwhelmed.

「As long as these ruins remain, the people of Dream Maker will never forget what happened 500 years ago.」

Less than an hour had pa.s.sed when the ruins eventually disappeared from sight and the fleet began approaching land.

「From here, we're going up a river.」Deena said.

「A river? I thought Dream Maker was near the sea.」

「This area is near the Roots.」

「Roots…?」

「A place where monsters gather.」

Dungeons immediately came to Hikaru's mind. But they wouldn't use the word Roots for that.

「Do you know where the Roots are?」

「We have a magic item that can find them. We mark them on our map and stay away.」

「So the settlers 500 years ago built a city near these Roots.」

Deena silently nodded. Monsters stayed away from the sea. Yet monsters destroyed a city built near the sh.o.r.e. A clear contradiction. But with the Roots added to the equation, it now made sense.

「I see. If they had the same magic item that detected Roots…」

They wouldn't have died, Hikaru thought. He didn't say the words out loud. There was no need to. The natives who had lived here for a long time should have known these things.

「We are scheduled to arrive in Dream Maker early morning tomorrow. You will be shown to the king's residence right away, so please get ready.」Deena left.

The next day, Hikaru and the girls woke up as soon as the sun rose and started getting ready to disembark. They had grown attached to their room after staying there for two weeks, but if possible Hikaru didn't want to travel for a while. It was just too boring.

He would've loved to use a Drakon Pa.s.sage, so he asked Drake about it, but this was the first time he learned about this continent. He had no knowledge about this place whatsoever. There was one thing, however.

『It stinks.』

Drake wore a frown ever since the continent came into sight. That most likely meant many evil creatures dwelled here. Hikaru couldn't really see any monsters, even with the max range on his Mana Detection.

「Hopefully we see it soon… Hmm?」

It was noisy out in the corridor. Soldiers scurried towards the deck. At first Hikaru thought they were just overjoyed to have returned to their hometown, but he could hear angry voices.

「Sounds like something happened.」

「Yeah.」

「I think so too!」

『It stinks.』

「Let's check it out. Drake, you stay with Paula.」

Hikaru and the girls left their room and made their way to the deck. They could hear a loud voice. It didn't take long for them to realize where it was coming from.

Up ahead was a city surrounded by woodlands. Smoke was rising from it. A giant humanoid monster was attacking the city.

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