The first two days on the street were uneventful, and since no demons that strong appeared on the street, things were going well.
　It was at dusk when they had let their guard down.

　Gogogog.
　At first I thought it was something in my imagination, but gradually the ground began to shake.

'Is that an earthquake?'
　As soon as I lowered myself and regained my balance, the shaking stopped... but this earthquake was causing one serious problem.

　As I was near the fire, I happened to see Dolan in a strange way.
'Dolan, are you okay?'
　Dolan, who I spoke to, had an earthy look on his face and was admittedly sweating profusely.

'Dude, I'm fine,'
　That said, Dolan's eyes were empty.
I approached Dolan and as I chanted the recapitulation, I could feel my eyes slowly coming into focus and the confusion subsiding.


''........As expected of an S-class healer, Luciel-sama will find out.......yes. I wished many times that the earthquake had not happened then.
　If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have lost my arm, and my workshop wouldn't have been blown up.
　Dolan thought it might be post-traumatic stress disorder.

'I see. But you protected Paula in exchange for that arm, didn't you?
That's right. Yes, that's right. And I've got my arms now...
　Dolan was almost excited, but he forced a smile as he said this, and slowly calmed down as he held and opened his hands.

'Dolan, I don't know how Dolan feels.
　But I can cast a recovery spell on you, and I can talk to you about it. Sometimes talking can make things easier.
　If you feel even a little strange, just tell me.
... how lucky I am.
　Dolan looked at me and laughed.

　Paula looked relieved to see a much calmer Dolan.
　I shouldn't think of it as a blessing, but it was a relief that Paula didn't have any of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

'Dolan, as I recall, there have been frequent earthquakes in Rockford for a few years now, haven't there? Should we change our destination to Melatni?
　I definitely have to go to Rockford....I don't have to.
　And remembering that there's a dragon in there, I actually don't really want to go there either...

　But Dolan is not the type of person to whine.
It's okay. I have a mission, like building that thing, and I want their graves to know that I can be a blacksmith again.
　There was the usual Dolan face there.

'Very well then. Then let's get on with it and get dinner ready.
I guess we'll have to kill the demons first.
Meow! This time from underground. Demons are like ants.
"Fore-noir in.
　When I turn the key to the hermit's key, I command him to enter the stables, and he enters immediately.
"I'll let you out again when the battle is over.
　With that, he tightened the lock and the door disappeared.

'How many are there?'
That's about 30.
The ants are vital, and attacks are avoided because their bite and solids spit out dissolved fluid.
　Doran's voice echoed after Ketty.

'Shouldn't you be resting?'
'I'm going to crush it, and I'm going to get the earth magic stone.
　Dolan was back to his usual routine.
'That's encouraging. If you lose your arm, if you don't even lose your life, I'll save you. So blow it up.
Oh.

　Dolan held a large hammer at the ready.
　Beside him, a three-meter class golem was in a fighting pose, ready to intercept the ants.

　The ant demon was........weak.
''Weak, but aren't they growing in numbers?''
　Sometimes I almost forget that the equipment I have is a cheat performance, but whether it's the Holy Dragon Spear that I poured my magic power into or the Illusory Sword, I can slice through an ant's hard back.

''It's gradually increasing, isn't it?''
Pretty solid.
Then I'm going to take it all in stride, Paula.
I get it, Grandpa.
　A three-meter class golem turned into a five-meter class and is stomping out ants with the soles of its feet.
　That was a complete stomping attack.
　 Or maybe the day will come when I'll ask what's going on.
　With that thought in mind, the battle ended.

'If that thing could be used without limit, it would be too powerful.
I certainly don't feel like I can win if I don't know how it works.
'Sounds like a good simulation of anti-giant combat.
　I knew Lionel was a combat fanatic, so I decided to let Lionel's comments pass.

'It's dark, we'll do it tomorrow as far as stripping is concerned. Just make sure it's properly dead, and don't let your guard down.
　I took out the light from the magic bag and handed it to everyone, then cast a purification spell while collecting the carcasses in the magic bag.


''There were at least about fifty ant demons, but are there this many demons around here?''
'The demons have increased since the earthquakes became more active, but I honestly don't know what's going on these days.
"...There are no labyrinths near Rockford, are there?
'Ah. There are a number of mines scattered about, but none of them are labyrinths.
　Is it possible that it could become a labyrinth in the future if it's not good enough?
　Or..........
'Isn't it possible that the mine itself is a labyrinth?
It can't be a labyrinth because it leaves dead demons behind.
　Doran said.

'We'll have three shifts of camping today.
　After I told him that, I burned the incense that I bought from the Medicine Guild to repel demons.
　I just didn't know how effective it would be outdoors, so I took three shifts.


　As it turns out, we weren't attacked by any demons until dawn, but the ants from yesterday seemed to be coming from underground, and there were several holes of fifty centimeters in size.

'It's like a pit. If the wheels of the carriage get stuck, it's possible the carriage could fall over, right?
''Indeed. Considering that there were so many ant demons, we might want to slow down a bit from now on.
It's been going so well so far.

　I took the carriage out of my magic bag, relieved that there were no ant demons in Yenis.
We set off again for Rockford, which we would reach in three or four more days.


'Yesterday's ant demon didn't fly or send dissolving liquid flying, but that was a weak demon... do you think it's a scout type?
'I'm not that well versed in demons, but since there are strong solids, mutants, and other upper class demons that are also of the same species, I thought it was reasonable to think so.
Isn't there a peaceful country, at large?
I heard that in the magical independent city of Nerdal, where the headquarters of the Mages Guild is located, wyverns, gryphons and monstrous bird-type demons sometimes charge in, but since the system is designed to prevent them from entering, I think it's relatively safe.
'I don't feel safe at all when it comes to wyverns, gryphons and monstrous bird-type demons, but are they putting up some kind of wards? And why are there all these flying demons?
"The Independent City of Magic Nerdal is a magical city in the sky, created hundreds of years ago by a group of brave men, wise men and spirit mages who worked together to create a magical city in the sky. I've heard that they made the nations sign a non-aggression pact with each other so that they wouldn't be dominated.
''I didn't expect there to be a pioneer... but wait, there wasn't a book with the phrase "aerial city" in it when I studied it?
'That's probably true. There are a lot of restrictions on Nerdal, and we don't know where we are because we're moving through the air.
　It seems a bit arrogant that it wasn't written down because it couldn't be put on the map........
''.........I like it. Aerial City.
''I'm not much of a fan of it, since I'm not involved in combat, but come to think of it, I'm a doggie with the Healer's Guild.
...why?
I seem to recall that the conflict was over different gods, etc.
　I knew it anyway.
　Life's not as easy as it seems.

Is it practical to have a demon radar built as soon as possible?
If the demons come, I'll protect you, so don't worry about it.
I'm counting on you and I hope you'll take care of me.

　We were in the middle of such a conversation.
　Just as the horses in the carriage were beginning to get excited, there was another earthquake.

''Kook ... good, great, Forenoire.
　Forenoire didn't move slightly when the earthquake hit.
　As for Lionel, he was calm because Lionel was firmly controlling his horse.
　The earthquake stopped after thirty seconds, but he decided that it was not good to let the excited horse pull the carriage as it was, so he decided to have the horse enter the hermit's stables to relax.



'Thank God. This time I made sure I had my hands on me a lot of times, so it wasn't too confusing, but it still made my body shake.
That's just the way it is.
　Dolan was pale, but not as pale as yesterday, and his eyes were well focused.
　He looked somewhat relieved when I covered him up.
　I was hopeful that Dolan's strong spirit would help him get through this.

　Then Keti's voice rang out.
"The demons are coming again, just like yesterday.
Don't take it easy.
You should have seen Paula's face when she got the magic stone.
　After all, Dolan was Dolan.

　The same ant demons from yesterday seemed to suddenly appear and boil out of the hole.

　When the area barrier was put on, they all started running towards the ants at once.
'Gloi if you can see them firmly.
　The demons of the ants that rush in are approaching like a swarm, but as expected, because they can be defeated with a single blow, even I can manage it if I'm not surrounded.
　Lionel was wielding a great sword of fire, smashing and burning the ants with great force, blowing them away.
　Thanks to that, there was no coordination or anything else to keep me on my toes, but I didn't feel like I was struggling.
　As he continued to defeat it, he saw an ant with its wings coming out of the hole, but then a blade of wind flew over it and cut off its wings.
　It must have been Lisian using spirit magic.
''Since I wasn't able to help you yesterday, I'll let you work this time.
　He told me that when his eyes met mine, and then he attacked another ant demon that tried to fly again with his wind blade.

　The battle didn't take that long, but the number of demons was higher than yesterday, and I was concerned that the top of the list was coming out.
''Is an earthquake a sign that the demons are coming out?''
Well it's probably a safe assumption, isn't it?
Is Rockford okay?
We've had frequent earthquakes, but we've never had any demons in the city, including underground.
That's all well and good.

　As I collected the dead ants, I just hoped that nothing would happen in Rockford.
　We were attacked several times by ant monsters, but four days later at noon we arrived in Rockford, a town of craftsmen and engineers.