After leaving the Second Dungeon town of Dahrill, we headed straight north without taking any detours.
That meant crossing the contested border between the Northern Alliance and the Southern Alliance—right through the heart of the war zone. But with Dimension, it wasn’t much of a problem. I’d passed through similar battlefields a year ago, and besides, this time I had two reliable allies.
Rouge was from the Northern Alliance and Snow was from the Southern Alliance. By cross-referencing the information these two possessed, we could avoid dangerous areas. Though we passed through military encampments and checkpoints manned by soldiers along the way, we weren’t detained once thanks to them.
Traveling through the battlefield in a single carriage was unsettling, but it turned out to be a journey with surprisingly few obstacles. It only took us a few days to reach the heart of the Kingdom of Viaysia, and it was only a little farther yet to Viaysia Castle, where Ide waited.
From the driver’s seat of the carriage I was in, I gazed out at the highway and the vast plains of the country. Unlike the ravaged battlefields we had traversed up until yesterday, the road we were now on was a beautifully paved highway built for trade. Perhaps because we’d moved away from the battlefield, the plains themselves seemed even more stunning. The deep hues of the vegetation, contrasting with the road’s pale beige, were a welcome sight for the eyes. That view confirmed we’d successfully bypassed the fiercest combat zones.
Rouge, sitting beside me, seemed to sense this too, and she let out a deep sigh as her tension eased. “All right, I think we’re past the worst of it now. Aikawa Kanami, you don’t need to keep casting your detection magic.”
“Got it. We got through the checkpoints smoothly thanks to you. That was a big help.”
I thanked her for using her connections during the journey and then scaled back Dimension, which I’d spread out to avoid running into third parties.
Viaysia was mostly flat, and the roads were easy to remember. From here on, I’d rely on the map in my hand and focus on recovering my MP. Having made it this far, just following Rouge’s directions as a local should get us to the royal capital.
I’d been handling the carriage driver and reconnaissance duties the whole way, but it finally looked like I could take a break.
But just as I was about to relax, a voice came from inside the carriage. “Hey, hold on! Are we really out of the war zone? You’re not lying to me, are you?” Titee peered out the carriage window with a worried look, scanning our surroundings and double-checking everything meticulously.
Rouge and I couldn’t help but look puzzled.
“We’ve already passed through all the dangerous areas. Didn’t we get through several checkpoints yesterday? That was the end of it,” I replied.
“Um, sis, is something bothering you?” asked Rouge.
That joint response made Titee settle her scanning gaze and take a breath. “Oh, right. So that’s the war ‘now,’ isn’t it?”
From her reaction, I realized there was a gap in our understanding. Come to think of it, the war I had seen when recalling Titee’s memories in the Dungeon was only the period when she had been overwhelmingly victorious as an Essence Thief. I hadn’t actually seen the true nature of the war from a thousand years ago.
“Ever since we started moving, we’ve only passed through nice towns and villages. Even in the same country during wartime, it’s like night and day compared to a thousand years ago...” Titee seemed relieved, yet she smiled faintly, her expression still holding a hint of dissatisfaction.
“Is it really that different from back then?” I asked.
Honestly, every town and village along the way seemed filled with unease and a palpable bloodlust. Some villages were completely destroyed by the war’s devastation. We’d been passing through places that felt anything but nice to us.
Even so, Titee nodded. “Yeah, very different. Frankly, with quarrels of this scale, a single Essence Thief could settle them instantly. They’re that weak.”
She was probably the most battle-hardened person in this land. If she said so, it must be true.
“This...scale?” Rouge gaped in astonishment at her remark. While I could rationally understand Titee’s words, she clearly couldn’t.
“Mm-hmm, at this scale. There’s far too little hatred. Honestly, while passing through the warzone, I even doubted a real war was happening. Though wars come in different forms, you’d do well to understand this situation is abnormal.”
“I only know this war, so it’s hard to process. But if my sister who lived a thousand years ago says so, I guess it must be true?” Rouge couldn’t argue strongly against someone so much her senior in war experience, and she muttered as much with a hint of disappointment. It was as if she’d just been told their own war was nothing but child’s play.
“I recall Ide mentioned he was active in the Allied Nations and the Southern Alliance at first...” Titee mused.
“Ragne said that, right?” I responded.
“Then, Ide’s influence undoubtedly reaches the top echelons of the South. They’re waging a war calculated to perfection, with mutual consent from both sides. But will this half-hearted war really result in humanity’s so-called sorcererification? If they’re trying to select the talented ones, it should be a far more brutal slaughter...”