Chapter 248 To the Demon Lands (III).
Chapter 86: To the Demon Lands (III).
Kein's POV
The two Sato sisters were getting along after bonding through their memories of being with their father, quoting "He wasn't a perfect man but he was a decent father."
"From the hero's words we have newfound information that the demon lord would often take naps from her treasure room which is located right here." (Iyashi) points at the top floor of the dungeon right next to the throne room.
"Any other layout that will lead us to the treasure room without using the front? Hidden secret doors or tunnels?" (Kazari) asks seriously, looking over the map. "If the dungeon has something like that we can use it to our advantage and even plan a surprise attack."
Iyashi shakes her head, holding her chin thinking about the layout of the map for any hidden areas. "There should be seeing that it's a treasure room but unfortunately there is only one way, and that's the front door."
"...A shame."
"Indeed a shame."
Avery and I looked back and forth towards the two sisters working together in complete sync. It was as if they had never been separated for years. They all put the map and routes together that we'll take explaining it to Avery and I.
"We'll go through each entrance and defeat what we call a floor boss. Each floor has them and they won't let any adventurer pass, they are guarding their lord after all." (Iyashi) slides in different eight coloured folders to which we all picked up curious to what they contain. "I have folders detailing all their skills, strengths and weaknesses. Some personal background profile if you'll need to know our enemy for a guaranteed win."
"So there's how many floors?" I asked, looking at the blueprint of the map, getting a little confused about the layout of the dungeon- it was certainly like a maze and I needed to make sure that when we're actually there… I mustn't get separated from any of these three.
I have no special skills or knowledge when it comes to navigating buildings.
Iyashi and Avery are experienced dungeon explorers while Kazari has the magic to teleport to anywhere she's been in. Meaning I'm useless if I get separated.
"There are seven generals of the demon lord's dungeon, we have to get past them, so eight in total." (Iyashi) explains to me showing the eighth floors at the very top being the throne room as well as the final boss battle place. "Each general comes from a different demon race, hired to guard and protect the demon lord who welcomes all adventurers to challenge her."
The seven generals huh… so they're from different races of the demons.
"You've always been one to be great at detail, nee-san. It is expected of you to have folders containing each background of the demon lord's seven generals."
"It is what would've father would have done." (Iyashi)
"I figured." (Kazari)
We all sorted through the folders and memorized each one. It was mostly me who was taking everything seriously because I have no idea what to expect in a dungeon.
"Oh cool you even got what favorite food they have! That's amazing." (Avery) was holding a yellow folder that labeled #Floor 1 boss.
She seemed really happy ignoring the needed information like the weakness part and went straight for the personality or hobbies section of the folder. "Floor boss number three likes brownies, floor boss number five likes to go for a walk with his demon dog pet and floor number six is into traditional painting. How did you manage to get all of these?"
Avery checked all the folders, as Iyashi- well I could tell that she was squeaking from happiness and tried not to show how soft she was getting compliments from a legendary hero like Avery.
Iyashi cleared her throat and happily answered.
"A-Answering the hero.. I-I interviewed some of the demons I captured and made sure to get any information possible." (Iyashi) breathes, looking confident and proud, seeing that her interrogation skills benefited her and all of this information could fetch a good price in the guild market. "My father once taught me to know each one of your enemies."
"For example: You can sneak into the demon cafeteria to poison their favorite food, catch them off guard and kill them." she smiles widely, waiting for another praise from Avery. "In short, the more information you gain the more advantage you can have."
"..." (Avery) on the other hand looked uncomfortable and laughed nervously in return. "Neato on that- but um… did you let the demons go after you got what you needed? I mean you got the information you need so…"
"I killed them as my father taught me, demons are the world's corrupt race. He taught all of the Sato Clan to hate demons after what they did to human societies." (Iyashi) smiled widely, hearing she gave no mercy towards the demons means we have an ace in our team.
She's just what we needed.
To balance out Avery's kind hearted nature- because there is a high possible chance where she'll bail out on us. At the same time, I don't think I would want Avery to change, her kindhearted nature is what draws me to her.
"Do you not kill the demons when you fight in the dungeon, Lady Avery?" (Iyashi) asks to which the blonde girl fiddled with the hilt of her sword.
Avery scratches the back of her neck confessing, "I am a pacifist… so I hope you understand."
"A pacifist?" (Iyashi) asked, not recognizing the meaning of the word.
"A person who opposes the use of war or violence to settle a dispute is called a pacifist. If you are a pacifist, you talk through your differences with others instead of fighting." (Avery) explains, continuing. "I agreed to kill the monsters- but not the demons. I um… spare them, each one."
Iyashi straightened her back hearing Avery spout what would've been nonsense. "You… A hero who spares demons?! You're summoned by the three kingdoms to kill them yet what you're doing is-!"
"Obviously! Even if I'm a hero I'm also a real life human being with a conscience that feels bad every time she kills something! I already have enough heavy baggage from seeing dead monster bodies and now you want me to kill an innocent race that hasn't done anything to me?" she told all of us, sitting down on the sofa continuing to eat her food. "As much as possible- I avoid killing demons, I don't know- they can talk, they are capable of emotional capacity and I even…"
"But your goal- going home. How will you achieve it if you do not have the will to kill?" (Iyashi) asks, looking concerned. "If you cannot kill a demon- then you are not a true hero."
"Calm down, Iyashi let the girl finish. I don't know what kind of nonsense your father has been feeding you with but one can be a hero without spilling blood." I stepped in between and urged Avery to continue. "Go on Avery, continue."
Avery nods in thanks, "Thank you, whew. I won't hurt any other innocent demons. Our only goal is the demon lord. I will go through with the killing but if it is other innocent weak ones I may not agree with it."
Iyashi couldn't stomach seeing that a hero like Avery exists. One who tries not to fight when it's not necessary, especially when from the looks of it all the descendants of the Sato Clan knew how to fight and kill demons for business.
"I see…"
"Nee-san I know you may not see eye to eye but Avery Williams… is a good hero. Perhaps your father and her are different but they all pose a duty and she's not failing it." (Kazari) places a hand over her chest, defending Avery on her pride and duty. "I have not seen her fully in action but through word of mouth, it seems that the people of this city are very fond of the hero and thanking her for saving their home every chance they got."
"You should see the line of admirers and gifts when we go out. I don't think I want to anger Avery's list of people she saved by telling her she's not a true hero or else you might see a sprivanian grandma pulling her bag to hit you with it." I chuckled, joking around and Iyashi looked guilty.
"Avery saved them from a huge octopus apparently or was it a squid." My memory was rather hazy, I couldn't remember what Avery saved them from.
"It was a Kraken- and that thing was eating so many boats it was considered a menace to society. I didn't like the vibe it was giving the place- so I rented a boat and killed it."
"And you say that so casually." A drop of sweat ran through my face and remembered how casually she was when it came to killing monsters- she was merciless when she knew it was alright to kill. "Avery you're a real one."
My first memory of meeting with the puronian hero resurfaced, when she followed me inside the wyvern's stomach without any hesitation. No fear, even making casual talk with me and finding out I was a reincarnated person from another world.
Never ever underestimate Avery just because she's kind and an airhead sometimes.
We're lucky she's kind- if she turned out into a merciless killing machine I don't think we'd ever get along. Now that she has a divine weapon now too that she borrowed from me, she can kill anything with ease.
"It was tasty on the stove. We had a whole party just eating fried calamari all day when I killed it. You should've been there, Kein. It was great! I got kissed by so many people and they called it a good greeting!"
"...do sprivanians have that kind of greeting?" I shaked my head, waving it off. I turned to Iyashi who stayed quiet placing a hand on my waist, I told her.?"You don't know Avery, so best to be careful of what you say towards my friend."
"F-Friend?!" (Avery) sniffled, carefully getting close to me before interlocking my arms with hers. "I'm your friend! I'm so happy you said it!"
"Don't push your luck." I patted her head and waited for the other person to respond. "So do you have anything to say?"
"My apologies, I have overstepped." (Iyashi) lowered her head before apologizing. "We have our own beliefs and I will respect how different they are. I will not get this in the way of our mission."
The four of us finally found peace and went back into talking about how to get to the demon lands first.
…
"Well now that's over we should talk about what kind of boat we'll be taking. We have our adventurer IDs so we can take the public transport funded by the kingdom to get to the demon lands." I took out our adventurer IDs and showed them to Iyashi.
"Hai, we can take that and have ourselves landing in the demon lands in a day and a half. I hope none of you get dizzy easily on a bumpy ride. The ocean is vast and it would take us a while." (Iyashi) tells us and I looked at Kazari who showed signs of getting easily dizzy when she was on a fast ride with the blonde hero.
"..." (Kazari) looked dreadful but said nothing.
"Please meet me tomorrow in front of the guild entrance, buy some desert gear and food rations. A lot of water, medicine and potions. Do stock up because the demons in the demon lands would refuse to give any human adventurers any help. They will not be willing to barter anything so best to be prepared." (Iyashi) instructed and stood up from her seat, taking the map blueprints and folders with her.
Tomorrow it is.
Iyashi holds the knob of the door of the V.I.P room before bidding us goodbye. "Good day to everyone." she opens and closes it leaving only the three of us inside.
Avery gives a sigh of relief, "Kazari, do you think you'll be fine on the boat?"
Kazari stiffened and I could hear her swallowing the lump that was on her throat. "I have not ridden a boat in years. I… remember vomiting very badly as my mother held me close to the ship."
"B-Best if we buy some medicine in the nearest apothecary shop, yeah?" (Avery) held her hand pulling her towards the door. "Come on, Kein. We still have to buy some other things-! Let's go!" she calls out to me and I follow behind.
"Ungh… boat." (Kazari) mutters weakly, clearly not excited that we have to ride a boat to get to where we need to go.
"Hang in there, Kazari. I'll pack you a brown paper bag for you to vomit in."
"..."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l