10 Forest where elves live (1/2)

Rouse the Traveling Merchant

'd*mn it, I can't believe this Rouse-sama is going through this: ....... We're almost in the Kingdom of Pthea.

He was walking along the road to the Kingdom of Pthea to do business when he encountered goblins and ran for his life into the forest.

I'm tempted to complain about one of them.

'What are the knights of Pthea doing here?

A knight is supposed to protect the street and other areas outside the city walls. It's dereliction of duty for such a monster to come out.

But there's nothing you can do to get angry.

”Where are we, I don't think we're that far from the street ......

The forest was the domain of the demons.

We could also be attacked by demons like the goblins we saw earlier.

I have to get back to the road as soon as possible. When night falls, more demons will come out.

We had to get inside the walled city before then.

Keep walking.

But he couldn't go back to the city streets.

'I'm thirsty ......'

My throat is parched from running as fast as I could while running away from the goblins.

'And yet you suddenly stopped chasing, what's wrong with you?

The goblins were fast for their short legs, and I didn't think I could get away with it as a small, over-40-year-old fatty.

But oh well, I suppose it's good. My life had been saved, and now I was thirsty for more than that.

'The song ......?'

As I was walking, I heard a song.

As I walked through the forest towards the song, I saw a large spring.

In the middle of the spring, there was a naked woman with her lower body in the spring.

The song seemed to be sung by the woman.

She was a beautiful woman. I couldn't help but admire her.

As I walked up to her, I stepped on a tree branch and made a sound.

'Is someone there?'

The beautiful woman looks at me as if she noticed the sound.

'More!　I'm sorry!　I didn't mean to peek!　I just heard a beautiful singing voice: ......

I excuse myself in a rush.

'No, it's my fault for bathing in such a place. How about you, would you like to join me for a dip?

A beautiful woman smiles at me without hiding her nakedness.

When I see her smile, I can't think of anything else, as if a haze has formed in my head.

''No, no, no, bathing in the water with someone as beautiful as you is outrageous!　But I'm thirsty, so if you can just give me some water to drink: ......

I approach the fountain myself.

'I see. 'I don't own this spring. I think you should feel free to drink from it.

Okay. Then be my guest.

I guess it's good that the beautiful woman says go ahead.

And I'm just thirsty. It's not out of a guilty heart that I just want to look closer. I tell myself that.

The beautiful woman is smiling at me.

When I get to the edge of the fountain, I crouch down. But I can't take my eyes off her.

She scoops up some water from the spring with her hand and puts it in her mouth. The water feels very sweet, perhaps because Beauty is immersed in it?

I try to take another sip. But then I feel something wrong with my body.

'My body is ......'

My body is numb and I can't move my hands. So I finally look into the fountain.

'Nah......!

There was a huge beast's face in the fountain. Its eyes are looking at me.

The moment I look at the eyes of that beast, the haze in my head clears.

That's right, why is there such a beautiful woman in a place like this? In a forest full of demons like this.

Why didn't I notice this kind of abnormality?

I forced myself to sit up and look at her face.

She was smiling happily.

The head of the beast comes out of the fountain. The head of the beast opens its mouth wide.

Ah, ......

I couldn't help it anymore.

The head of the beast is coming towards me.

And then it would be enveloped in darkness.

Dark Knight Kroki

'Ha, you didn't get in today after all: ......

It was the fourth day since we left Nargol.

The city we stopped in earlier still didn't let us in.

I'm continuing my journey to the St. Renaria Republic where Rage and the others are.

It seems to be quite a distance from Nargol to the St. Renaria Republic, but since I in this world can travel faster than a horse, I've already traveled more than two-thirds of the way to my destination in just four days.

I didn't measure it, but I would have been able to reach more than 200 kilometers per hour with room to spare.

I am a superhuman in this world.

They were also moving superhumanly in the video, so if the people from the world I was in came to this world, they would be superhuman.

I saw how the people of this world live during my travels through the land where humans live.

People in this world live in terms of points, not surfaces.

There are countless city-states, just like Greece in the past.

And outside the cities is not a world of people, it is a demon world overrun with demons.

Humans build walls and live only in and around the city.

And the cities are connected to each other by roads.

City-states can be as small as a village, or as huge as a satellite city.

The system of government also varies from monarchy to republicanism.

In short, there is a difference between hereditary and elected mayors.

In some countries, not only the mayor is hereditary but also the deputy mayor and the section chief are hereditary, while in other countries only the mayor is hereditary. Of course, there are also republican states with aristocrats.

Religion is still, or rather, the gods of Elios.

According to Nat, there are people who do not believe in the gods of Elyos in the frontier, but they are called barbarians.

Incidentally, the city I stopped in is called the Kingdom of Putea, a city-state with a population of about 20,000.

However, that's only about 20,000 people who have citizenship, and if those who don't have citizenship are included, the population will increase further.

Those who have citizenship are citizens of the city-state and those who do not have citizenship are foreigners.

Therefore, those who do not have citizenship will not be easily allowed inside the city walls.

So what are we going to do about distribution? Sign treaties between nations to free the entry of persons with citizenship in each other's countries. By concluding several such treaties, the traffic of people is made free.

Of course, I've heard that there are closed nations that are completely self-sufficient economies that have no treaties with anyone at all.

By the way, as a non-citizen of any city-state, I could not enter any city-state by any official means.

Then, how have I been able to eat and drink?

First of all, the forest was rich in food, and fruit such as pomegranates were a great source of food.

There were many other fruits as well. If only there were no demons, ordinary humans would have been able to live here.

If you wanted to get something to eat that went through the fire, you had to go inside the city walls.

I would sneak in with my flight magic and steal one of the meat skewers and eat it while apologizing to the shopkeeper.

It would have been nice if they had money, but Modes didn't have any money in circulation in the human world.

Instead, he was given a jewel that could be obtained in Nargol, but he and Nat didn't know how to convert it to cash and ended up not being able to use it, so there was nothing he could do about it.

'Well, what shall we do today, Nat?

I ask Nat, my companion on the trip.

'Do you want to sneak in with your cloak of shadows, Yasu?'

It is not possible to enter by proper procedure from the front, but if you use the cloak of shadow that is a tool of magic given by Modes, you can sneak in.

This cloak of shadows with a hood, called the cloak of shadows, was able to become the same state as using the magic of concealment by wearing a hood to completely hide the face.

The hidden magic is a spell that eliminates the presence of the person, and once the spell is activated, the person becomes unaware of the person.

But the hidden magic doesn't work on those who have detecting abilities or those who use detecting magic, and once they are recognized, the hidden magic is broken.

It was the same even if you used the cloak of shadow.

''No, let's not do it this time, the information from Rage and the others was generally all the same.

Since the goal is to gather information on Rage and his friends, we're heading to the St. Renaria Republic through the cities that Rage and his friends stopped in as much as possible.

The stories of Rage and his team were all similar.

It seems that Rage and his friends are saving people by defeating many demons.

Of course, many people are grateful to them.

But some people seem to be afraid of them.

It's a fear of those who are so powerful that they can't even be considered human.

Also, there are people who have been harmed by the rage and others.

That's why I don't think the story of the rage will be any different if you enter the Putea Kingdom, and I can't even stay at the inn because I don't have any money, so there's no point in entering the Putea Kingdom.

''Nat, let's stay in the field near here today.

So why don't we find a place to sleep and some food?

Yes.

Soon, it will be time to rest as the sun is about to set.

Fortunately, the forest near here seems to be plentiful, so there will be no shortage of food.

If you use magic to ward off the demons, they won't come near you unless they are very strong.

I'm going to walk through the forest in search of food and water.

It was when I walked for a while.

A song can be heard from the depths of the forest.

Song ......

I nodded my head.

This is in a forest overrun with demons, and it was unusual for someone to be singing in a place like this.

''You have a beautiful voice, Yance. ......''

Nat said in a rapt voice. He didn't seem to question anything.

'Master Dihardt, would you like to go?'

Nat says, wanting to go towards the voice.

From the voice, Nat's condition is strange.

Apparently, hearing this song has caused this to happen.

'Okay, let's go.'

I wanted to see the Lord of this song again myself.

I walked for a while and found a large spring in the middle of an open forest.

In the middle of the spring, there was what looked like a naked woman with her lower body attached to the spring, the song seemed to be sung by this woman.

'Who's there?'

A woman looks at us to see if we've noticed them.

'Oh no ......, I'm sorry to interrupt your singing. I was just wondering who was singing.

I bow to myself. I'm glad I came to see it because I was actually interested in it. Thanks to this, I was able to see something rare.

'No, don't worry about it. What do you think, would you like to take a dip with me?

No, thank you. We'll just go away. Just keep singing.

I turn to leave.

'Master Dihardt. ”Master Dihart, we have clean water, Yance. Why don't you spend the night in here?

Nat says, as if he wants to stay here.

'Nat, you can't drink the water from this spring. It's poisoned.

What, you're gonna f*ck it up with poison?

Nat is surprised by the words.

The water in this spring contains a magical poison. It's probably some kind of paralyzing substance.

I didn't know it was such a poison ....... I suggest you take your time.

The woman says.

The words were slightly offensive.

This woman sees herself as a predator.

I've become more sensitive to hostility and gazes that harm me since I came to this world.

Even if they are tens of meters away, I can recognize hostility if it is directed at me. It seems to be an enemy-sensing ability according to Lugas, but being exposed to unpleasant gazes doesn't feel so good.

Besides, this woman has been using fascination magic on themselves since earlier.

That's another source of discomfort. Perhaps it had a similar effect on the song earlier, which must have been the reason why Nat went crazy.

This woman must be a demon, I don't feel anything when I see this woman naked.

She's a demon who preys on her prey as it approaches, deceiving them with her songs and her human-like appearance.

Of course I don't intend to be eaten.

But I didn't feel like fighting this demon either.

We're going to leave in peace. Let it go.

I'm trying to intimidate it so it won't turn any more hostile. I was often targeted by demons along the way, but most of them ran away when I threatened them.

However, the demons in the form of women will turn more hostile to you.

''You!

The woman's face turns to rage and suddenly a huge beast's head comes out of the spring. The beast has six heads, and it stretches out its neck to attack me.

I didn't see it coming, it wasn't going to give up eating me. And it's faster than I expected.

'Ha!

I avoided the heads of the beasts as I drew my sword and slashed off one of them.

''Guuuuuuuu!　You're human!

The woman has a look of anguish on her face. There is nowhere near the gracefulness on her face as she did earlier.

''Eat this, too!

The water from the fountain floats in the air in a large mass.

'Water splash!

The demon shouted and a large chunk of water shattered and came towards him.

''Magic Shield!''

As soon as he screams, a circular shield of light is created in front of him. The spray of water is blocked by the magical shield.

The water spray stops and the demon comes up on land.

The lower half of her body, hidden by the fountain of demons, is exposed to the light of day. The upper half of the body was a human woman, and the lower half of the body was writhing with the heads of six huge beasts and multiple tentacles.

The figure was very ugly.

The demon tried to come towards us.

It wasn't very fast, perhaps it couldn't move fast on land.

'Nat, are you okay?'

'Yes and Yance ....... My eyes are about to roll, Yance managed.

Nat didn't seem to be able to keep up with the sudden turn of events.

'Nat stayed back,'

I lower the nut to the ground and the nut drops backwards behind me.

'Yo, how dare you do that to one of your heads!

The demon is looking at me with eyes filled with rage. Black blood is spilling out onto the ground in a ragged manner from where the sliced off head was. White smoke is coming out of the ground where the black blood flowed. The plants around where the blood fell are dying. The demon's blood must have poison in it.

Since it didn't seem to be able to move fast, it would be saved if it escaped, but from the demon's appearance, it seemed like it was going to chase me everywhere if I left it alone.

That was a bit of a hassle. And if we fight it, we can probably win.

''You humans!

The demon is coming towards us. Its movement is slow.

The head and tentacles of the beast attack me.

I turn my body and jump up as I slash off the beast's head, two and tentacles.

''Nonsense!

The demon's surprised voice.

I myself jumped straight into the demon's upper body, slashing and ripping and landing behind the demon.

''Ba...... stupid ......!

The demon falls down as it is.

The demon looks at you as it turns its head upside down.

You will find that it is a very good idea to have a ...... that you are a god. You're a human being ...... and you're a mistake ......

The demon said, and then crumpled down with a gulp.

'I'm not of the god race, though: ......

But I didn't feel like correcting my mistake.

The demon shrank with a cloud of white smoke. Apparently, I was able to defeat it.

''Dihart-sama~. Are you alright Yans?''

Nat bypasses the demon and runs towards us.

''I've never seen a demon like that before, and it's a pretty powerful enemy.

I've seen only ogres and goblins along the way, and I've never seen a monster like this before.

I've never seen a demon like this before,” he said.

I was surprised that even Nat had never seen one before. It seems to be a very rare monster.

Then it would be better to ask someone else about this demon.

I look into the forest.

There was someone watching them, and their gaze showed no hostility. They don't seem to be goblins or orcs, but who are they?

'Is there anyone there?'

I ask in passing.

When I call out to her, a girl appears from the shadow of a tree.

She is a beautiful girl with white skin and blue hair, who is probably the same age or a little younger than me when she was a year old.

Why is there a girl like this in this place, is this girl a demon like the demon from earlier?

However, I didn't feel any hostility from the girl, and her gaze wasn't as unpleasant as the demon from earlier.

''Dihardt-sama. It's an elf and yans.

The elf.

If you look closely, your ears are long and elongated, just as I was taught as a characteristic of the elven race.

As I recall, from what Lugas told me, the elven race is a far longer-lived race than humans, and there are only women. In addition, all of the elves are users of spirit magic and are far stronger than the average human, and because of this, they are able to live without relying on the walls of the forest, even in a forest full of demons.