Early next morning.

Early next morning.
We flew out of King's Landing.

As usual, Aleria and Aina are clinging tightly to my arm.
But I think Aina is less afraid than before.

I'm not sure why she's clinging to me when she's not scared, but I've decided that it's nothing to worry about because there's no real harm .......

The flight speed of Sui is quite fast, and it will soon reach the elves' village, which is about 300 kilometers away.

'Master, it seems quiet and eerie.

'If you say so, it certainly is. Aren't there originally few demons around here or something?''

The number of demons around the capital is decreasing as we get closer to the elf village.

''No, that's not right. Of course people live in places where there are few demons, but it's a bit abnormal to see so few.

Since Aina, an elf, said so, it must be so.
But that doesn't mean there are no demons at all.

'Aren't the demons just sleeping at this time?

'Yuki, demons are more active at night and at dawn. There should be more of them than during the day.'

'Oh, that's right.

I don't know why, but demons are more active at night. I stayed up all night for a boss that only appeared at night. No, I'm talking about the game.

'Oh, by the way, the receptionist told me that demons have been increasing around the capital lately. Isn't it possible that the demons that used to be around here have moved on?'

'It's not impossible in the long history, but it's an abnormal phenomenon in itself.'

Sui said seriously.

'Is that so? But if we don't know the cause, we'll have to go to .......'

After all, we don't know anything at this point.
It might be a problem that can be easily solved by asking the elves in the village when we get there.

''Sui, please get off here at once.

We still have a few kilometers to go to the elf village.
Sui replied with a bit of surprise, as if she was planning to fly to the end.

'Are you sure this is the right place?

'Yeah, the elves would be surprised if a legendary pterosaur suddenly descended on them, right? I think I'll walk from here.'

'Master Yuki is a wise man after all. We'll land in the wide open area in front of the bridge.

With that, Sui descended.
We landed with such a light touch that we could hardly feel the vibration on our backs.
This is more comfortable than flying. --I don't know about the others, though, because the cheapskate company only took us on LCCs.

'Well, Aina can take us from here?

'Okay, sure. We'll go over this bridge first, and then it's just a straight shot. There's no need to get lost.

He knew that he had brought Aina along as a guide as a ruse.

'Okay. I'll walk in front of you, deploying the warding spell just in case. Follow me.

I made sure that Sui, now the size of a small stuffed animal, was floating near my shoulders in position, and put my feet on the bridge.

I step on the bridge a few times with a thump.

'What are you doing, Yuki?'

'It's not impossible that it could suddenly break, right? I'm just checking to make sure.'

'You're worrying too much .......'

'Yuki has a pretty troublesome personality. ......'

I checked and didn't find anything wrong with the bridge.
It seems to be passable as usual.

'It's better to act carefully. If you die in this world, it's not just a despena.

'What's despena?

'Oh, it's a word from my hometown. Don't worry about it.

Death penalty--a penalty that reduces experience by a certain percentage when a character dies. It was a game where leveling up was hard, and once you died, you lost three days' worth of effort, so you had to be very careful.

Thus, I finished crossing the bridge safely.
However, I felt something strange.

'...... Isn't the air different?

'It's true that the air is delicious, isn't it?

'Hmm, it's the elves who live in harmony with nature.

No, it's not.
The air is delicious, as you say, but there is a more fundamental, qualitative difference.

'I remembered...'

'Remembered what?

Neither one of you has noticed it yet.
It's well hidden, but I remember it clearly.

It's a smell that works on your intuition rather than your sense of smell.

'There are demons nearby. Quite a few of them.