The group decided to continue their journey at Pauline’s word.
There were many problems, but for the time being, let’s raise a toast to everyone’s safe return, so we headed to a nearby eatery.
“Cheers!!”
With the feast spread before us for the first time in a while, everyone naturally smiled. As soon as Kubaiá finished his toast, he drank his fill in one gulp.
“Ugh, what is this? It’s juice, isn’t it? I thought it was fruit wine.”
“Haha, it’s for you.”
I specifically made it juice out of consideration for her. Plus, Piyo and Pauline are here. They’d probably prefer this, so it’s killing two birds with one stone. While we were getting carried away, the Unicorn Man looked displeased. I wanted to ask him something, so I had him come along.
“Speaking of which, we were saved by that boy, um, what was his name again? Hypnos, right? Has anyone heard of him?”
At my words, everyone exchanged glances. It seems I’m not the only one who doesn’t know him. Besides, how did he save us by himself? At that moment, I was so tired I passed out, so I didn’t see what happened. Then Elana spoke up.
“Hypnos is one of the famous demons. The demon who governs sleep. He’s said to be basically always sleeping himself, but I can’t believe he actually existed. No wonder we suddenly fell asleep then.”
I see, that’s why the Unicorn Man was flustered when he saw him. As Elana said, he’s a demon strong enough to fight a swarm by himself. He didn’t look like it, but he must be incredible when he gets serious. The man next to me sighed.
“That’s right, which is why the Dark Elves backed down. They didn’t have to help you guys, but they probably didn’t want to cause a fuss. He hates disturbances the most. Speaking of which, young man, what’s your name?”
“Ah, I’m Arisugawa Hiroaki.”
I realized I hadn’t asked his name. After I introduced myself, he introduced himself as Exam.
“Mr. Exam, how do we get to Another World? How did you get here?”
Everyone’s attention focused on him at once. Piyo and Kubaiá, undeterred, were eagerly eating meat.
“Hmm… You’re really going, are you? Let me see the map. I told you this map only shows half the world, didn’t I? That there’s Another World to the east of the Zetsuky Ground.”
“Yes, so should we head this way?”
When I pointed to the right, Exam shook his head.
“No, this way is a vast sea. So no one can reach it. We don’t even know what’s on the way. I came from the opposite direction. You should go back to Kubaiá and go around through the deep forest. But it’s not easy to get through the deep forest, and the voyage from there is also extremely dangerous.”
It seems no one would risk their lives to go through a deep forest where you don’t know what lurks on the other continent.
“I was lucky enough to reach the edge of Kubaiá. But even then, I was in tatters. Avoid the deep forest. Take a detour through the desert.”
“If we do that, the Dark Elves will overtake us!”
Nina interjected at that. Indeed, she was right; we might need to hurry more than we thought.
