We returned to the inn where the beaming proprietress was waiting for us. After fetching our key from her, we went up to our room.
A pretty potted flower had been left by our windowsill. This seemed to be something the inn did for newlyweds on their honeymoons.
That’s awfully thoughtful of them. No wonder this inn is so expensive.
It really was a nice inn. So I didn’t think anyone would blame me for agonizing over my situation.
I mean, my “partner” here was another guy. If he’d been a cute girl instead of a man, and maybe if he’d been less of a prince and more of a peasant, I might’ve seriously considered proposing to him.
Prince Wald was honestly incredibly precious. He was commendable in anything he did, and he poured the utmost effort into every endeavor.
Well... In this world, no one seemed to bat an eyelash about same-sex relationships. And—at least when it came to Wald—I was starting to feel like maybe gender didn’t matter to me so much.
But of course, His Highness the Prince was off-limits.
Our stations in life were just too different. He’d also straight up said that sex was completely forbidden.
While I was entertaining my idiot brain, the prince had unfolded the map he’d borrowed from me and had spread it atop the table. He placed a sheet of thin paper over it and began to write. The look on his face was terse.
“Kariya, come look at this,” he called to me after a moment of writing, so I approached the table.
Wald had drawn in the borders between nations and added their names. He’d also made note of the names of provincial cities.
Helenna, our current location, was marked in the bottom right corner of the 02:03 cell.
“Your map is quite accurate in terms of topography, but I estimate the political information is about nine hundred years out of date,” he explained. “There are also some differences between your knowledge as a transmigrator and the actual history of this world, so I took the liberty of adding information that reflects the current state of affairs in the Central Nations.”
As I looked over his new notes, I noticed that the name of the Yuliana Empire, which had been located just about dead center on the map, had been erased. In place of that lost empire, lines demarcating several small countries in its southern half had been drawn—including Khrasiel and the northern parts of the Croway Plains.
The northern part of Yuliana was now outlined in black and labeled “Land of the Dead.”
“What’s this place here?” I asked, gesturing to it.
“The area around the former capital of Yuliana isn’t a place the living can simply enter. It was the location of the final battle between the Yuliana Empire and the coalition of countries rebelling against it. Now, the ‘Land of the Dead’ is all that’s left,” Wald explained. Lowering his voice, he muttered, “That land has been cursed.”
That must’ve been the culmination of the fifty-year war against transmigrators that Sakita—who was a transmigrator of Khrasiel himself—had mentioned.
Now that I thought about it, in Golden Dawn, there had been an area near the edgelands where the undead roamed. Maybe they’d recreated it here with Yuliana. Doing so would’ve been the work of the depraved. It had been a completely foul, tasteless event area in the game. Had their enemy here been equally as depraved, necessitating such tactics?
I’d personally never gone there myself in Golden Dawn. It had been an area recommended for SS-tier or higher players. A fallen god could be found there, and according to an article I’d read on a strategy site, it was one of the locations players would traverse during the questline to attain Godslayer status.
But I digress.
“The countries the couple were discussing are this one and this one here,” Wald said, pointing at two locations on the map. “Tiuccia must also be aware that war will be breaking out there soon—we’d been monitoring the situation in the Northern Bloc.”
Using a red colored pencil, he circled two countries—the country on the eastern border of the one Helenna was in and the country on that one’s eastern border. Then, he drew a line through both of them.
“If war is on the horizon between the country we’re in right now and these two others, we’re better off not going through them. The two royal families are deeply connected, so any fighting here could easily spread farther east.”
More red lines appeared on the map as he crossed things out.
I mulled over our options. “If that’s the case, we’d have to choose between cutting through a war zone during the height of combat or taking a massive detour to the south.”
Wald interrupted me there. “Oh, by the way, could you show me which places you think we’d best avoid? Areas you think would be difficult or even impossible to ferry me through. You can mark them off with another color.”
Nodding, I picked up two pencils—one blue and the other green.
I marked locations I considered downright unfeasible in blue. The places I marked in green were those I thought might somehow be manageable, but I’d still rather avoid them if possible.
“Ah, you’ve marked the entire Gaelius mountain belt green,” Wald quietly remarked after watching me work for a moment.
“I was born and raised there, after all. We’d probably be fine crossing the region, but only outside of winter.”
I explained that, given that my physical stats were S-tier, I’d be able to handle the biting cold. However, the prince would almost certainly freeze to death in the winter.
He nodded, the edges of his lips downturned in a grimace.
As we continued marking the map, we found that the viable routes open to us were limited.
If we were to avoid the impending war, we would first need to head south before curving around northeast. But that would mean passing through the area outlined in black—the former Yuliana Empire—which would prove to be a massive obstacle.
Next to it was the Terrestrial Sea, which was the largest lake in the Central Nations. Wyverns sheltered there during the winter. And adjacent to the Terrestrial Sea was the Grand Weald, the home of the elves.
These three areas, outlined in black and blue, formed an impenetrable wall.
If we tried to pass through that barrier, we’d escape the Northern Bloc and their sphere of influence, but the prince would probably die before we could even make any headway. The Grand Weald was a massive forest, and a barrier had been erected around its entirety. Setting a single foot on their lands would be impossible.
But we had to find some way of escaping the Northern Bloc, no matter what. I was going to see Prince Wald safely returned to his homeland. And when the time came, if Tiuccia were still embroiled in war with Khrasiel, I’d settle our score.