The trade which began with the request of Queen Fraal of Accuros, was a great joy for the large companies of Valkyra and Lomaria as well. Of course, Papeck-san was also so delighted he danced around in joy. The cause were the spices. Having had no choice but to buy from Samandour Kingdom for large sums until now, they will now be able to procure it at far cheaper prices, so it may have been unavoidable. However, the kings of those countries were at their wits end about the Oceanus. Papeck-san smiled wryly when we talked.
「I would like to survey the surroundings of the Demon Continent.」
「Why? That is sudden.」
Yeah, I thought so too.
Recently, we’ve gotten a bit tired of investigating monster nests without getting any results, so it couldn’t be helped.
Our prospects weren’t looking too good. To think that searching the monster nests within the entire continent to find the remnants of the old Sydnia would be this much trouble……
「It’s a bit of a breather. We’ve just been fighting monsters here.」
「And so, it will be around the Demon Continent?」
「Yup, if you really think about it, we know there’s the continent where Valkyra Kingdom is and this Demon Continent, but are there are other continents? Uninhabited island? We know nothing, right?」
「I think no one knows.」
In this world which has limited means of transportation, the existence of the Demon Continent was known, but only a handful of people have actually visited it. Even Sophia and Maria don’t know if there are other continents or inhabited islands aside from the two we know. Because of the large aquatic monsters, ships have a difficult time sailing here, so it was normal to not know of other places.
「I considered surveying around the continent with the Oceanus, but as expected, it would be scarier than shocking if the Oceanus were to approach all of a sudden.」
「Certainly, if, say, we do discover a different continent, the people inhabiting it would tremble in fright more than they would be in shock when they see the Oceanus nearing.」
「Hmm, I think they would still be scared even if it’s the Ouranos though.」
「It’s okay, Maria. In addition to perception inhibitors, the Ouranos has a feature to disappear and sail with illusions.」
While I was chatting with Sophia and Maria, Laeva called out to say that the preparations for the Ouranos’ departure was done.
「Takumi-samaaa! Preparations to depart are complete!」
「Gotcha. Is everyone on board already?」
「Yes! You’re all that’s left!」
「Okay. We’re on our way.」
Since Laeva called us, we also boarded the Ouranos.
It’s for everyone who was unable to relieve stress and gain recognition, so our entire party is coming this time. The base has a barrier so there won’t be any trespassing monsters. Monsters don’t approach the purified area around the base no matter how dense the mana there is either.
We climbed the ramp and boarded. I sat in the cockpit, and when I pushed the lever, the Ouranos released from the ground.
Stowing the landing gear as it ascends vertically, I then switched over from the suspension magic device to the wind propulsion magic device, and the Ouranos began gliding in the sky.
「Activate perception inhibitor, engage stealth cruise with illusions.」
Laeva, who was sitting in the copilot seat next to me at the cockpit, managed the gauges and operated the Ouranos.
Gradually increasing speed, the Ouranos first took a course to the north before altering towards the east once we left the vicinity of the continent.
The speed increased as we headed east, then changed course for the south.
「The horizon is as far as the eye can see, isn’t it?」
「Yes. We have not seen a continent or an island in the adjacent seas at the east of the Demon Continent so far.」
The northern side has the continent we live in. Its size might be comparable to the Eurasian continent on Earth. With that line of thinking, even the continent we live in has very little living circles, and we know that there’s still a lot of land that’s unexplored. In comparison, the size of Demon Continent in the South might be around the size of Australia[1]. There were only six fortress city-states in the Australia-sized continent, so this speaks of how harsh the environment there is.
「How much will we explore the east side?」
「Let’s see…… how about we return to the Demon Continent after cruising for another hour?」
The cruising speed of the Ouranos is roughly 700km/h, so we decided to explore much of a distance.
「When we’re this far from the continent, we wouldn’t find traces of flying monsters, huh.」
「True. Perhaps the lower ranking monsters do not stray too far from the shore.」
It would be difficult for even the flying monsters if they fly long distances without any rest. I think this would be possible for dragon types and high ranking bird type monsters at the very least.
Behind Laeva and I, Akane and Lulu-chan were relaxing on the sofa. Sophia, Maria, and Marnie were creating a simple map.
「That’s enough for the east for now, let’s alter the course to the south next.」
Having investigated 700km from the east side of the Demon Continent, we turned and headed south.
Footnotes: Chapters fırst released on 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅✦𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾✦𝗇𝖾𝗍
1. Raw typo Austria for Australia