12. Endless World
Every city had a barrier. That was general knowledge.
There were various forms of barriers, and although I had never seen them, it seemed that the Imperial City had a glass-like barrier made of magic surrounding the city. Others were simply surrounded by tough tall walls or trees that gave off odors that monsters didn’t like.
Even if it was such a man-made wall or a natural wall, anything that functions to protect the city was called a barrier.
The barrier of <Distall> was a poisonous fog.
The fog was scattered around the city. Of course, it was artificially made. It contained poison that worked only on monsters and was harmless to humans.
It was designed so that if monsters were to enter the fog, they would wander inside it, and die from poison by the time they reach the city.
As the matter of course, there were monster corpses around <Distall>, and travelers hated the eerie fog. Cleaning was done once a day, but since cleaning was done at midnight, during the daytime like now, there would be a lot of corpses.
In the fog, I and Ash headed south while avoiding the corpses.
A signpost stood on the borderline where the fog cleared.
“Welcome to Distall”… It was a sign with letters that I had never thought of.
I stopped in front of the sign.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just that since I was born…. I’ve never crossed this sign.”
There was a time when I walked around in the fog for fun before, but I didn’t cross the border.
And now, with just one more step and it would be a different world for me.
Scared by something unknown… I didn’t know what would happen after I passed the sign.
While denying boredom, I was actually afraid of change.
It was a wall that I couldn’t overcome.
Anxiety and uplifting feeling…
Two opposing emotions swirled inside me.
As I wasn’t taking a step, Ash wrapped my right hand in both hands.
“It’s okay… nothing to be scared of.”
Ash tried to comfort me as if I was a kid.
It was soft, but a little cold hand.
I got out of the fog while being pulled by Ash.
“Ah……”
―― The sunlight greeted me.
From the pitch-black fog, the dazzling light dominated my field of vision.
Just one step… It was just one step away, but I could see the vast forest and the sea in the distance spread out. I looked down on nature from above.
<Distall> seemed to have been a city in the highlands… I knew it for the first time… Perhaps, everyone didn’t say it because it was common knowledge.
“Oi, this is amazing…!”
I ran involuntarily and went to the top of the cliff.
From there, I viewed the beautiful green and blue scenery.
“Somehow… I feel like, ‘Something has started’.”
I felt like I could hear the sound of fanfare.
I felt that more air was being sent to my lungs than usual.
I felt that the sunlight was warmer than usual.
That beautiful lake,
The flower field where red and blue flowers are in full bloom,
A valley with a gorgeous river,
A white town on the seaside,
And the sea that shines with the reflection of the sun――
―― I can go to all of them.
There are countless choices…
The past me might have stopped at the signpost and got stuck.
I’m really excited now. Everything in my view is reachable.
“You… did you want me to see this view?”
I’m still dreaming about ‘it’ from time to time.
…the old man is alive, and I’m traveling around the world as a disciple of the old man.
Even now, I still hope that he could put his hand on my shoulder next to me and laugh.
…Well, it’s not the time for me to be so sentimental.
After all, an adventure must begin with a smile.
“From now on, we will go down a zigzag path and go through the forest to the port town…You can see the white town on the side of the sea, right? “
“Yeah, is that the Port Town <Crow Port>?”
“That’s our first destination. I think it will take a day.”
“Roger, I understand…There’s a lake in the forest… when we reach there, let’s take a break and have a meal.”
“Yeah!”
I stepped into the slope that connected to the cliff.
Without looking back even once.
————————————-
When I got off the zigzag path, of course, there was ‘that’.
I’d seen the corpse many times before, but it was the first time I’d seen it alive.
“[Gugu ―― Gi !!!!]”
Red-eyed Wolf-shaped Monster.
“That’s {Fang}. A monster that likes human skin…”
“What a bad wolf.”
Ash held the cane and I picked up a talisman with “獅” written on it.
“<Lion Spear>―― ‘OPEN’ “
A blue spear popped out of the talisman.
I took the spear in my right hand, turned my wrist around, spun it, and pointed the spear at the enemy.
“…”
Seeing me doing all of that, Ash was squinting.
“I thought of this when I was watching from inside my sister, but… That technique is very strange.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Really… it has an unpleasant Mana Movement… it’s strange that the technique isn’t a failure.”
“Oi, oi, what a terrible evaluation.”
There were seven enemies brazenly looking at us.
“Your elder sister is without a doubt an infighter, but what are you good at?”
“Magic attack using Green Mana, the Mana of Creation.”
“Mana of Creation, huh… Ah! Then, can you do that? Fireball!”
“I can do it―― Wanna see? “
“Yes! Please…I really want to see it!”
I mean, it’s a man’s romance!
“All right… I’ll do my best…”
And I regretted what I said not long after.
“Hmmm――Ash-san…?”
As declared, Ash raised her cane and created a mass of fire over her head.
Poured in more Green Mana and made the mass even bigger.
The fireball I imagined was at best about the size of the bag I was carrying. Even if it was big, I thought maybe it would be about the size of a human.
However, the lump of flame produced by Ash was big enough to swallow a cabin.
“Wait, wait, wait! I’m not asking for that size!… I mean, a wildfire may occur! Also, it’s over the level for a small fry!… Look at those {Fangs} over there, I’m sure they’re stuck and can’t properly move!”
“It’s okay. I’ll extinguish the fire immediately with the Water Magic.”
The ruthless flame burned all {Fangs} to death.
————————————-
Unlike Shura, Ash seemed to be a Support-type Magician.
If Shura was good at physical strengthening with Red Mana, Ash was good at Magic Attacks with Green Mana. The two were well-balanced sisters.
I and Ash, even after defeating that group of {Fangs}, encountered more monsters several times. I had Ash take the role of attacking with large firepower, meanwhile, I went forward to attack directly with the <Lion Spear>. The opponent that I failed to finish off was burned with an appropriate size fireball.
The monster was much weaker than I thought, and most were fragile enough to be punched through with a fist covered with Red Mana, I didn’t even need to use my Magic Items.
I was pretty scared at first, but when I thought about it over again, I realized that even those guys, who couldn’t handle Mana, at <Distall>, were able to get rid of monsters, so I was wondering if we, the Magicians, were too strong for those monsters.
“Oh, by the way, you don’t chant when you use magic, huh…”
“Chant…”
“I mean, in a Hero Storybook when someone used Magics, they would chant the spells, right?… Or maybe… you’re a great magician? That’s why you can use magic without chanting?”
“It’s the other way around. Controlling Magic after you put Mana in the words is a high-level technique… Chanting is a really difficult Technique… I’ve been practicing it for a long time, but I still have a long way to go.”
Chanting is a high-level technique?
I thought that to be able to cast Magic without a chant is, more advanced?
…I just don’t understand.
“I see. The opposite, huh… Hey Ash, can you teach me how to control Green Mana, the Mana of Creation, during the journey? “
“Okay. But, before that, let’s go faster!… The sun is setting!”
After that, we killed out more monsters, and finally, I and Ash reached the lake.
It was a green lake. The scent of flowers around calmed the mind. We settled down with the lake in front of us.
I didn’t notice it because I kept moving, but it seemed that time had passed, and the sun was about to set.
“Seal! fast, make it fast!”
Perhaps Ash was afraid of the shadows that falling, she rushed me to cook.
Oh right, she was careful not to get in the shadow of the tree as much as possible when we were moving… Did she hate to be replaced by her sister before eating the bean sprouts?
“All right… Collect dead trees and light them with Magic… I’ve a frying pan with me, so I’ll start cooking right away.”
The menu was stir-fried bean sprouts with garlic and soy sauce.
First, I washed the bean sprouts and squeezed them to remove water. On the way, we hunted a wild boar, an edible creature (a creature that wouldn’t emit miasma when it died), so I proceed to dismantle it too.
“Seal! It’s ready!”
“Roger.”
I put the frying pan that I bought at the tool shop right after I was released from prison, on the fire that was made by Ash.
First, I put butter on the frying pan and let it melt… Then, I put bean sprouts and lastly, the boar meat. When the scent of fragrant butter rose, I seasoned it with garlic and soy sauce.
To be honest, I wanted to make two more dishes, but I didn’t have much time.
After tasting it, I put the finished stir-fried bean sprouts on a wooden plate.
Yeah, what a nice scent.
The animal odor of wild boar meat was balanced by the scent of herbs added as a secret ingredient when I fried it.
“It’s done.”
I carried the finished stir-fried bean sprouts in front of Ash.
Ash sat on a stone, and held a fork with shining eyes.
“Looks delicious…..!”
“Well, the taste is a little stronger than I expected…”
“It’s okay. The strong taste means that it’s delicious.”
Ash procced to take the fried bean sprouts with the fork…
――I’ve a bad feeling.
It was just then.
The sun set and the shadows dominated the area.
The moment Ash stabbed the bean sprouts and brought them to her mouth ―― Ash disappeared.
The next thing that appeared was a brown-haired girl who moved her mouth in a boring manner.
I put my hand on my waist and sighed.
“… Huft. As I thought, it would end like this.”
“I’m feeling guilty even though I haven’t done anything wrong …”
It’s really a troublesome curse. Somehow, I can understand why they hate it.
“Hey, is your stomach connected with your sisters? Will Ash be hungry after you switch with her?”
“Well, that area is pretty vague, I guess…? We don’t take over the injuries, but it seems that we share some of the energy that we got after eating. And both of us aging at the same time.”
Well, if you don’t share the age, even if you had lived for 20 years, both of you will only look like 10 years old… right?
Does the fact that Shura looks so young like this has a hidden meaning too?
Hmm, I think it’s not good to dig the information too deep.
“Well, maybe I should eat now too.”
I turned my foot to the frying pan where the remaining stir-fried bean sprouts were.
At that time, I glanced the clothes that Shura was wearing.
The clothes weren’t the correct size because she inherited the clothes worn by Ash, who was taller than Shura.
Black long sleeves with shorts pants. When Ash wore it, it looked like slightly loose clothes, but when Shura wore it, I felt a strong sense of a kid wearing adult clothes from her. The sleeves were too big, and half of her palm was hidden.
Is this the truth of why Ash was wearing tight clothes in the back alley?
Contrary now, probably the next time she switches with Ash, Ash will take over the clothes that Shura is wearing.
…Yeah, I’ll say it again. It’s really a troublesome curse.
I put the stir-fried bean sprouts on the newly prepared wooden plate.
With the lake in the background, eating in front of the bonfire while surrounded by the wilderness, it was like ‘This is it’, what they called ‘Adventure’.
I took a plate with stir-fried bean sprouts and walked toward Shura. But then, I heard something crawling on the ground from behind Shura.
“――tch!… Who? Come out! “
Shura laid down a wooden plate and held the cane.
The grass swayed.
A monster?
…The thing that crawled out of the shade was a man.
The man was around thirty years old and looked so pale like he was about to die.
Another picture of Shura & Ash
Why it’s Shula and Ashu, because that’s if you directly converted literally from Japanese pronunciation to English Alphabet, that’s why, it’s L instead of R, and there’s U behind Ash’ name… But I’ll keep using Shura & Ash,
TN: Join my discord channel if you want.
They both have golden hair in the illustration? wasnt one of them brown haired?
Thanks for the chapter!
I keep wanting to call Shura Akira…
That’s quite the sexy pic indeed. A troublesome curse with some perks for the reader.