“O-of course! Please, go ahead!”
Yep, as I expected.
I once again donned my hood, and this time, we stepped over the border into the country.
Right before us lay water, water, and more water.
The lake that looked to be an entire ocean unto itself filled my vision, only broken by the single bridge that stretched from the gate all the way into the capital.
This country didn’t exist back when I was playing the game.
It’s a country without much history, since it’s only been two hundred years since it was founded, and the founder used to be one of the seven people who put Lufas......or in other words, me, up as the villain of the world and led the people to defeat me. He was the “Wise King,” Megrez.
According to Dina, he was currently in hiding but still alive, and even now, he was living in these walls, it seemed.
I thought while we walked.
Megrez was there back when I was playing the game. We went hunting together, and we’d also partied like idiots. Even that battle wasn’t because we stopped being friends; it was just a story thing to liven up the game that we all acted out...... Basically, it was just a play. I just happened to have the evil boss role, and he just happened to side with the protagonist.
Then we all had a great party and built up a story around it. ......Yeah, we did fight, but we were friends who shared joy playing the same game.
But which one is the Megrez who’s living here now, in this world? Is he the same as I am? The player from another world? Or is he someone named Megrez who has nothing to do with me me? If that’s the case, just what happened to the past where we hunted together and talked and all that?
“Sword King” Alioth.
“Beast King” Dubhe.
“Blacksmith King” Mizar.
“Adventure King” Phecda.
“Wise King” Megrez.
“Sky King” Merak.
And the “Vampire Princess” Benetnasch.
My friends whom I once had fun with. The seven high ranking players who represented their races and livened up the game along with me.
I need to meet them.
Four of them have already died, it seems, but the three in the latter half are still alive.
I need to know. Are there others experiencing strange circumstances like I am? ......Or am I alone?
“......So this is the country that Megrez built...”
I raised my head.
If I were to use one phrase to describe the city that jumped into my sight, it would be ‘City of Water,’ I guess.
This entrance gate seemed to have been the subject of someone’s desire for a magnum opus, and thanks to it being taller than everything else in the capital, it had a great vantage point over everything. Added to that, ever since I’ve been in this body my sight’s gotten a lot better, and right now, I could see clearly into all corners of this country.
There was a castle in the center and a lake surrounding it. There were four bridges extending in cardinal directions from the castle to the main city. The city itself was also split into north, south, east, and west areas, with a bridge for each one. Rather than a man-made river in a city, it was more like a huge city, and bridges were built on top of an expanse of water by force. A total of five pieces of land, including the center, stood on top of clear water, with eight bridges connecting them. What an odd capital.
......Ah, it’s nine bridges if you count the one for the entrance.
The water glittered under the sunlight, and artificially planted trees and woods swayed in the wind.
Also, once I started to concentrate closely on what I was seeing, I noticed that everywhere I looked was lit with a strange light. Was that......what’s referred to as raw magic power? Thick clouds of raw magic power suffusing the air were referred to as mana in the game.
The light that was probably mana imposed its presence everywhere it reached, and the effect was overwhelming.
As expected of the country of the Wise King. You’re showing off some pretty cool things there.
“The great magic country, Svel. This country, which was founded by one of the Seven Heroes, the elven Wise King Megrez, is special for its extremely dense mana. They’ve poured their efforts into teaching magic and other academics, and aspiring scholars and mages from all over the world gather here. But due to their dislike of the dense mana, the heaven-winged almost never visit. ......Miss Lufas, are you feeling all right?”
“There’s no problem. We don’t know about others, but to us, this is actually quite a new and fresh feeling. It’s nice,” I said to Dina as I looked around at the mana.
At the moment, I wasn’t feeling any discomfort. I did remember that the game lore said that the heaven-winged hated mana, the power of demons, but right now, I didn’t feel anything of the sort.
Or maybe the heaven-winged’s hatred of it was, unexpectedly, mostly emotional? If that’s the case, then I get why I’m fine, since I don’t really have any opinion on the stuff.
“Now then, as for our plans from now on......where should we go first?”
“Of course, we will be going to meet Megrez. We have a lot to ask him.”
“Straight on, huh? But Megrez is most likely inside that castle. You couldn’t be planning to just barge in, could you?”
I shook my head in response to Dina’s question.
If I were to go boldly punching my way in like that when the monster I raised was raising hell, too, I’d just be adding to the chaos. No matter what I do, whether it’s sneaking in or waiting for him to leave the castle, it’d be better to avoid causing chaos as much as possible.
Then, the first step should probably be some light information gathering, shouldn’t it?
“No, We will be doing things peacefully. We don’t enjoy causing unnecessary fuss,” I told Dina before climbing down the stairs leading off the bridge, aiming to get to know the city first.
Dina said that this place is popular for its academics. Then, I should be able to read more detailed books on history somewhere. I know far too little about the two hundred years that’ve passed. They’re a blank for me. First, I need to fill that hole in my knowledge. For that, this country could be called convenient for how useful it is.
Let’s see......let’s find a library first.
With that in mind, I talked to someone on the street.
“The library? Is this you guys’ first time here? The library’s in the east area.”
I talked to a muscly human man who looked both frank and sociable. He was bald, too, with fat eyebrows and sharp-looking eyes. There was a scar on his cheek and a sword at his hip. And his armor was full of nicks and scratches, while his posture screamed ‘Mercenary.’
The reason I deemed him ‘frank and sociable,’ even with all that, was because of his charming and lively smile. It was bright enough to completely cancel out the effect of his looks. That’s how strong his expression was. He was just that kind of guy.
“The east area...... Which means......”
“This is the south area, so you need to cross the bridge on the right. The east area’s where all the bigwig scholars and passionate students gather. You could say it’s the center of this country. It’s got all the libraries, schools, and museums and stuff...... Well, basically, if you want to find out or study anything, you should probably go to the east area. That’s all you really need to remember.”