After spending the whole day shopping and eating in the town, Elliot stayed at the inn for the first time that day.

"Ahh, I ate a lot."

After taking off his armor, Elliot, unable to move due to his bloated stomach, lay down on the bed at the inn. Belhard shared a room for two, and Karna, being a woman, shared the private room next door.

"When do you want to start your journey?"

Belhard asked with a slightly exasperated look on his face.

"I've already explored the town to a certain extent, so I'll start tomorrow. I've got Karna to help and heal, and I want to take this opportunity to see as many places as possible."

And so he spread out the world map.

"I see, then I'll have to go to bed early tonight."

"Yes. It's my first time drinking alcohol, so I'll go to bed early tonight."

While Elliot was looking at the world map in bed, he began to snore in his sleep.

Seeing his face, which still had a hint of innocence in it, Belhard went down to the first floor of the inn, had a few more drinks at the bar there, and returned to his room.

Elliot groaned as he prepared for the journey.

"Ugh... I feel kind of sick."

"Yesterday was your first time drinking, right? You drank quite a bit."

Belhard finished his preparations first and went to call Karna from the next room.

Elliot was looking at the world map that had been carelessly placed on his bed when Belhard returned with Karna.

"Okay, let's go."

Elliot, still feeling nauseous, put on a small backpack and urged them to leave.

With Elliot at the front, the three of them walked through the castle town of the Bilderna Kingdom and reached the west gate.

"The west gate? Aren't you going east?" Belhard asked.

"I can feel the power of the Demon King to the west."

Trasteria was flustered by his words. To the west of the Bilderna Kingdom is the Zalto Strait, with its fast currents, so she didn't think there was a line there. Trasteria had already placed a cage containing a monster at the east gate. Two shinobi sent from the Ittsukuni Democratic Kingdom were with them.

"Can't you somehow get them to head east?"

"It's no use, they're starting to walk away"

Belhard answered in a low voice.

Trasteria told the shinobi accompanying him.

"Let's hurry and head west!"

However, the carriage with the cage, which was carrying a dozen monsters, had poor mobility and gradually moved away from Elliot and the others.

"But still, just like Dad said, no monsters have appeared yet"

Elliot muttered boredly.

"That's right, I wonder what's going on"

There was a walkie-talkie attached to the white robe Karna was wearing.

"It feels like something evil is coming from this direction"

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Elliot and the others walked across the plains and entered the forest area. A little while longer and they would return to Suwari Village.

"We only said goodbye yesterday, so we haven't had a chance to see Dad and his friends yet."

With that, Elliot and the others passed through the entrance to Suwari Village.

"That's right, there's one thing I want to try!"

"Something you want to try?"

"Let's cross the Zalto Strait! I've always wanted to go to the continent on the other side of the Zalto Strait."

"What?! The currents in the Zalto Strait are fast and there are no regular ferries!"

"Don't worry, I have a great idea!"

Belhard's casual words gave him a bad feeling.

Since they walked, the brightness of the setting sun had started to fade when they reached the shore of the Zalto Strait.

"Okay, let's spend the night here. Then first thing in the morning we'll conquer the Zart Strait!"

"Are you going to camp out in a place like this, even though you have a girl with you?"

"It's fine, I brought a tent from home, so you can sleep in that, Karna."

"Is that okay, Karna?"

"Yes, I don't mind at all. I was expecting to camp out, so it's better that we have a tent."

Karna answered expressionlessly.

After confirming this, Elliot began to collect white, rotting driftwood while humming.

Thinking that Belhard and Karna were gathering firewood, he began to help. A lot of driftwood had washed up on the shore, so there was no problem with the number.

Elliot used his knight's sword to cut off the larger driftwood. They had gathered enough branches to survive the night, but Elliot continued working.

"Isn't that enough firewood?"

"No, just a little more."

"Then can you start a fire? You can use magic, right?"

Elliot stopped pruning for a moment, shot a small flame from his hand towards the driftwood that Belhard and Karna had already put together, and resumed his work as if nothing had happened.

"Magic is really amazing when you see it in person!"

Karna was as expressionless as ever, standing so close that Belhard was shocked.

"Okay, this will do."

Elliot stopped working, sheathed his knight sword, and approached the campfire. An apocalyptic atmosphere of twilight was already drifting around them. The Zalto Strait had already become a dark mass, and all that could be heard was the sound of the waves.

Karna took out a small cutting board from the rather large backpack he was carrying and began cooking with the ingredients he had bought at the market that morning.

"I'm glad Karna could cook. Elliot doesn't look like he'll be much help either."

"No, this is about it..."

He answered while cutting the black agas with a knife. He simmered various ingredients with the agas as the main ingredient to create a simple soup.

Belhard took out a bottle of sake, took a sip, then took a sip of the soup.

"It's delicious! When I heard that I was going to travel the world with Elliot, I thought I'd be living off dried meat for a long time. This is really helpful."

"I put in some dried meat too. It makes a great broth."

Karna was slowly opening up to him.

"Now that you mention it, Professor Clare is a good cook, isn't she?"

Karna's expression hardened at Elliot's casual remark.

"Is that so? My sister-in-law can cook too..."

Belhard thought that this was a taboo phrase, but Elliot was eating the food with gusto.

Karna's spoon had stopped, but Belhard continued to speak to her as if nothing had happened.

"Well, our journey has only just begun. Let's have a drink and have fun. Can't you drink, Karna?"

"No, I don't drink. In fact, I've never had it."

Though Karna refused, Belhard felt a little relieved when Karna began to drink the soup again.

The journey had only just begun, but Belhard was unable to get drunk in this strange atmosphere. He couldn't help but look up at the sky. Gazing at the stars that were beginning to appear against the bonfire, Belhard let out a small sigh that he didn't know how many times today.