Remy looked out of the window. It was a brand new day, and he expected an exciting adventure waiting for him. Yet, the sights that greeted him were far from cheerful. Instead of clear skies, outside there were nothing but gray clouds.
Rain poured down on the land, thunder roaring far overhead.
“Looks like no adventure today," Atilia said. She had just woken up, evident from her still sleepy eyes.
“Just a question out of curiosity, but can you push the rain clouds away? Not asking you to, obviously.”
“Hmm… Me? No. Mimiyat? Maybe she could.”
“Yeah, that’s expected.”
“I’m not a god.”
“You are my wife.” Remy did a quick attack and kissed her, her cheeks reddening the next second.
“I- I’m not letting you get away with that!” she leaped out of bed and chased after Remy’s lips, keen on taking her revenge.
“How many more times do I need to wake up to this shit?” Mimiyat stared at the couple. The pair looked away, quickly preparing for the day ahead… only to remember about the intense rain outside.
“... You’re kidding.” Mimiyat stood up and walked straight toward the window.
“Oh no… oh no… I’m not stuck with you two for the entire day, am I?”
“No different to usual.”
“I’m out of here.”
And with that, Mimiyat left the room. Remy exchanged gazes with Atilia before going after her.
* ••
“So, what are our plans? For real this time.” Mimiyat asked. Remy sat in the inn’s tavern. Unlike the tavern in Purwa’s guild, this one was located underground. Torches gave light into the enclosed space. The chef said that usually, there would be fireless magic light orbs, but the outside air was cold from the rain, thus the use of regular fire.
Remy took a sip out of the hot chocolate in front of him, warming his body up. He looked around, finding few people around him.
“It’s raining. We can keep dry with magic, but that takes a lot of concentration, preventing us from fighting. An umbrella or raincoat will limit our movements. Anything on your mind?” Atilia asked as she took a drink.
“I’m heading for the receptionist,” Mimiyat answered. Atilia tilted her head.
“But it’s raining outside?”
“I’m going regardless.”
“I’m going with you.” Now it was Mimiyat’s turn to look confused. She observed her for a moment, not saying anything. Atilia shrugged and took another sip from her hot coffee. Things finally clicked in Mimiyat’s mind as she let out a sigh.
“... No, idiot. I’m not going to ask for a quest.”
“Don’t call me that! Besides, what would you be doing anyway?”
“Asking for a separate bedroom, because this is the last time I will wake up to that scene. Next time, I don’t care what you do in your room, how many babies you make, just don’t do any of that in front of me.”
“Fine, fine, whatever. Go book your room.”
“I will.” Mimiyat rose up, walked away, and headed out to the receptionist. Remy stared at Atilia.
“... You’re not going to deny the babies thing?”
“You don’t want any children?”
“... Forget I ask.”
They had a mission, so having children wouldn’t be the best idea for now. Besides, Remy would rather have the world in peace before he brought any more souls into this world. He wanted to have his children grow healthy and happy.
“Actually… where do the people that got born here come from?”
Atilia glanced at her surroundings. She inched closer and whispered, ”Sometimes souls come here for the first time as babies. Others are those who came from another world, but without their memories. Those… sinners… didn’t get to choose.”
Atilia pulled away, finishing her mug.
“I see… must be sensitive information.”
“I would rather have no one hear about this.”
After not long, Mimiyat returned to the tavern, looking dejected. Her eyes landed on the couple, and she let out another heavy sigh.
“That was quick,” Atilia commented, hiding a mischievous grin underneath her cup. Mimiyat stared back at her.
“The inn’s full.”
“... Bad luck.”
Mimiyat sat back down and smacked her head onto the table.
“Guess I'll keep up with you two for a little longer.”
“... Yeah.”
With that answer, the three of them did their own things. Atilia enjoying her drink, Mimiyat drowsing off, and Remy watching the other bored patrons, not too many of them, do nothing in the tavern. They did all that as they waited for the rain to pass by.
* ••
With the rain showing no signs of stopping, they finally came to a decision. They would soon need to depart into demon territory to look for Mimiyat’s missing friend, which meant that they needed to grab some supplies.
Using magic to bend the pouring water above them, the three made their way down the streets of Forforza. Remy noticed that most of the people here wore a normal umbrella to shield themselves, but they didn’t have one. There were some others that used magic to keep themselves dry, but an umbrella did seem a lot more convenient, especially considering the intensity of the rain.
Atilia's magic was only strong enough to protect herself, partially, so Mimiyat was the one forced to take the duty. She held her right hand in front of her, a small light green orb floating above her palm. It counted as wind magic, and blew most of the rain away from them, causing their surroundings to be ridiculously wet. A testament to Mimiyat’s ability, although some droplets still manage to go through. Remy didn’t dare complain, though. He wasn’t doing anything, he felt grateful for just being dry.
“What should we buy first?” Atilia asked.
They had several things on their list. Mimiyat knew about many basic survival supplies, as she still remembered her training from back when she was a knight. They needed food and water, obviously. Mimiyat said that the demon ransacked the region up north, making searching for food almost impossible. Many of the water sources had been contaminated as well. They could create water with magic, but the two girls preferred using magic for more important things, like attacking a demon, for example.
The area up north was a hostile environment with some very hostile enemies, after all. While Atilia knew of Barett’s exact location, the journey into the land from the sea was treacherous. Any mistake may get them all killed, thus they need to be as efficient as possible. Use as little magic as possible. That way, they could reserve their life force for self-defense.
The second thing would be medicine. Medicine required a combination of magic and science, and while Mimiyat said that she could use healing magic, its difficulty and the toll it took on her life force made it a last-resort option.
They also needed extra weapons. Mimiyat was nice enough to lend them some cash. Remy decided to place an order with the local weapons shop, taking a magic handgun. Apparently, an outworlder couple back in Lasabinka made it. Remy still couldn’t use magic, so he would still need to rely on Atilia to do the recharging for him. But he hadn’t had the chance to learn any physical weapon yet, thus it was his best bet. Having a couple of extra shots in his sidearm would be better compared to having none, after all.
After buying the gun, they decided to split into two groups. After dropping Remy and Atilia in a shop on the third floor, Mimiyat went off to look for medicine, while Remy and Atilia shopped for the food and water.
“Anything you want?”
“Hmm…” Atilia looked around at the items for sale. She picked a box of bottled water, sealed in some kind of plastic-like container. There were 20 bottles in total, each storing 1 liter of water. Their mission would take them in and out, assuming everything went according to the plan. Any more could be considered overkill. They were leaving most of it on the ship anyway, and carrying more than two or three might slow them down.
"How about food?"
"Anything caught your fancy?" She returned the question to him.
"Since we would be out and about, I think picking something simple like these bananas would be good." Remy took a piece of banana and showed it to Atilia. Atilia nodded in approval, and they put it in their basket.
Next, they looked for heavier dishes for lunch and dinner. Ideally, something easy to eat, fulfilling, and long-lasting. This world had various kinds of magic items. They could be found inside complex magic machines or weapons or equipment, but also in everyday things like food preservation.
Some foods already had magic preservation added to them. Some used the usual salt, but since modern canning methods weren't invented yet, a lot used these magic preservation techniques. Remy didn’t actually know how it worked, only that their containers had special markings to show that they had been preserved. They tend to cost more, though.
“That reminds me, can you make a refrigerator?”
Atilia tilted her head. “Refrigerator? As in, ice magic?”
Remy nodded.
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“I can. If someone like Mimiyat made it, then it may last even longer.”
For a split second, Remy caught sight of the shopkeeper, who had kept silent so far, grimacing. The shopkeeper quickly turned away, pretending he didn’t hear anything. Remy found it hard to believe that the shopkeeper’s reaction had anything to do with the mention of Mimiyat’s name. Heck, he wouldn’t, had Atilia not told the story to him.
I probably misunderstood something.
He tried to be positive. Mimiyat wasn’t that bad of a person. There was no way everyone in this place thought negatively of her. For one, the people in the Outworlders’ Guild didn’t act any different. This must be a coincidence, that was all to it. He took his mind off the shopkeeper’s reaction, thinking about something else.
“Ice cream? Can you keep ice cream fresh?” Remy asked. He saw someone eat it back in Purwa, but he didn’t have money to afford it, nor did he want it in particular. Atilia raised her eyebrow.
“Where did that come from?”
“Just feeling like eating one.”
"We're going on a rescue mission, Remy, not a camping trip."
"So no ice cream?"
"No."
Well that's unfortunate.
With his faint hopes so thoroughly crushed, Remy searched for another possible food option to fill his stomach during his time north.
"How about this?"
Atilia showed him some cookies. Since they seemed like the default choice, he approved and put a box of them into his bag. They looked for some other types of food. Bread, biscuits, cheese, dried meat, and various other kinds of food that they could store on the ship and bring along for their trip inland.
“... It really does feel like we’re preparing for a camping trip.”
“If you want to camp for fun, I’ll take you somewhere else, just not in demon territory.”
“Yeah, I know.”
He never camped for fun before, not counting the time he went with his school. He watched camping scenes in anime after graduating high school. Ever since then, he found himself wanting to go camping. Sitting around the campfire, singing songs, enjoying a warm hotpot underneath the sea of stars, with the faint sound of hooting owls filling his ears. Then someone decided to tell a horror story and no one could sleep that night. A fun night, something he couldn’t do before.
Atilia elbowed him lightly, bringing his thoughts from the faraway land to the issue in front of him, the mission.
They bought several more essentials, and after they finished shopping, they made their way back to the inn to plan their next move.
* ••
The next day, they loaded all their belongings onto the ship, checked the ship for any damage, and prepared to set north. The Outworlders’ Guild was surprised when they heard their plans to head north. Atilia explained that they had leads on Barett’s position, and would be picking him up. The guild staff was doubtful, to say the least. Atilia did come from nowhere and suddenly said that she knew where Barett was. Their ranks didn’t make it any easier for the guild to accept.
Still, what Mimiyat said was true. The guild, despite with reluctance, still let them go. They gave the team some extra supplies and permission to cross into demon territory. The procedure went smoothly. It was six in the evening when they boarded their ship.
“Everything ready?” Atilia looked around.
“I’m ready.”
“Ready.”
Remy and Mimiyat answered. Remy stood at the rear with his sniper in his arms, while Mimiyat stood on the ship’s bow. Atilia signaled the port staff that was with them. The staff traded codes with the port authority and began sailing the ship out of port. Once they sailed into the clear, she let go of the helm and stopped the ship.
“Thank you very much.”
“No problem. Stay safe.”
The staff got off the ship and boarded another one that took her to another ship. Atilia took control of the helm and turned the ship north. Mimiyat moved to the rear and aimed her hands upward.
“Bring forth, wind!” The three massive sails fluttered. The ship began picking up speed. They skipped above the waves, beginning the first leg of their journey into demon territory. One kilometer down, another one hundred and forty-nine waiting for them.
* ••
It was seven thirty-four in the evening when they arrived at Inyuro Beach, their first checkpoint. The area north of Forfoza didn’t have many villages or settlements. Empty plains stretched as far as the eye can see. They couldn’t see far, though, thanks to the darkness. The rain had ended, but there were still clouds up in the sky, blocking the light of the stars and the moon.
Remy looked out the left side of the ship, toward the shore. There weren’t many houses or buildings out there, hardly any light in the far stretches of the land. A train rolled past, heading back to Forfoza, its light shining brightly in the darkness.
“You think that came from Inyuro?” he murmured. Atilia looked toward the point Remy looked at.
“Probably. Or maybe from the front lines.”
Inyuro was the largest and last seaside settlement they would see before they crossed into demon territory. Directly south of the Marzendi Mountains, it was a strategic location for troops heading up to defend the eastern sectors of the front lines. Beyond this point was the warzone. A grueling, unforgiving land that threatened those who dared to set foot in it.
They were about to cross into the North Sea, a no man’s land, or rather, no man’s water. Military vessels from the alliance, a group of countries fighting together to oppose the demons, patrol the waters. Upon their arrival at Inyuro, a military ship approached them and guided them to the port. Mimiyat stayed on the vessel while Atilia went to shore to deliver the documents. Not long after, Atilia returned. They waited for the officials to process their documents.
Time passed, the clouds moving slowly in the skies.
“This is taking so long…” Atilia said in frustration. She had returned a while back, but there were no signs of them getting closer to the approval. Mimiyat sat next to her, already asleep. Remy wanted to say something like ‘be patient’, but in truth, at that point, Remy had already begun losing his own patience. It was already fifty minutes after they arrived. They had installed a clock on the ship, and now he thought that maybe it was a bad idea. He did nothing other than stare at the clock’s hand as it ticked, slowly moving clockwise as the calm waters rocked the ship left and right.
They had originally hoped to reach the demon territory by midnight, before sneaking into Lorta, grabbing Barett, and sailing straight back out. Depending on the delay, they might be forced to add another day to the trip. That meant camping out in the middle of demon territory.
“Are you sure the demons won’t be able to see us?” Remy asked Atilia, not knowing what else to ask.
“... I didn’t say that? I only said that the demons’ eyesight worsened in the darkness, doesn’t mean they’re blind.”
“Ah right, my bad. But I thought hell is dark?”
“With all the fire and magma flowing around, it became blindingly bright sometimes, not that I know the details.”
“Never been there?”
“Nope, a separate division took care of those people.”
Atilia slid closer and rested her head on Remy’s shoulder.
“Hey Remy…”
“Yes?”
“Can we do that as we wait?”
“Out here in the open, next to Mimiyat no less?”
“There are some rooms underneath the ship.”
“We didn’t put any furnishings in there, though.”
The ship had what looked to be a captain's quarters along with several different rooms. Since all of the crew, only three of them, worked on the deck, they were hardly used. They didn’t even have any furniture other than a rugged bed that they threw away after deeming it unusable. Remy wondered where all the original furniture went. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was somewhere in Kilotakia. Atilia pushed his sides all of a sudden.
“I’m just joking, dummy.”
“... I know…?”
“... Still, you owe me a reward when we arrive back in Forfoza.”
“Yeah... By the way, how’s Kilotakia?”
“I asked Cathirina the other day. She said the demons there have been successfully subjugated. Some documents detailed their experiments with mutants, but no one could read them.”
“Demon language?”
“Yeah,” Atilia answered.
“How do they know it got something to do with the mutant?”
“Pictures, probably. Or maybe someone knows a few words?”
“Makes sense.”
The conversation went silent for a brief moment. Atilia slid her head down from his shoulder and rested it on his lap, looking up at the skies.
“Imagine if we have a lot of money and we can build our own fleet…” Atilia brought up a new topic.
“A transport company?”
“Kind of? I was thinking more of a navy.”
“Not sure we can get permission to do so.” Remy chuckled. “Still… a transport company… it would be nice to do that after the demon war ends, assuming it ends by the time we’re still alive.”
“Yeah… This stalemate had been going on for far too long.” Atilia stretched her hand toward the sky, as if to reach for the stars. Yet nothing but clouds filled the skies above.
“The heavens won’t send any more support?”
“We’re sending humans.”
“Angels?”
“You do know what will happen if the angels intervene, right?”
“... Yeah? Actually, no. I just know that it’s bad.”
“Too much intervention might destroy this world, and we can’t just convert the angels into humans. Like in my case, I’m not as powerful as I used to be. I’m not even as strong as Mimiyat.”
They both looked toward Mimiyat, who slept quietly on the side. Remy was impressed by how quick and easy she fell asleep, occasionally feeling a bit envious about it. But he remembered what happened to Mimiyat in the past, and that envy vaporized in an instant. He only heard the story from Kathy through Atilia, and that already filled him with a lot of anger. It didn’t make him want to help Juskon any less, but it did frustrate him hearing how unfairly they treated her.
“... You think we can treat her better than the people in her past?” Remy muttered his thoughts.
“We could always try… Besides, aren’t you also like her? Play games late till midnight, then wake up late the next day?”
“Sometimes… but I guess I could understand her somewhat.”
The two waited for another fifteen minutes before a knight brought back their papers, signaling that they were cleared to enter demon territory. Remy then woke Mimiyat up while Atilia signed the papers. Mimiyat went ahead and pulled their anchor before preparing their sails, while Atilia took the helm. Once the knight left, they set sail into demon territory.
Forty-seven kilometers done, one hundred and three left.
* ••
Remy could feel the rise in tension as their ship sailed into demon-controlled territory. The waters of the North Sea were still under human control, but the land on their left wasn’t. They had passed the Marzendi mountains. It looked magnificent from up close, especially with the light green shield domes coloring the peaks, and the numerous zaps of light flying straight for the demons. The attacks were every minute, every hour, every day. Non-stop, but the demons’s shields were stronger.
Remy would love to be able to visit in peacetime, unclear how long before that period came. He wished he had a camera, as taking a picture was the only thing he could do at that moment. He had a feeling, considering all the technology items that he saw, a form of camera must exist somewhere in this world. He just hadn’t seen one.
Remy watched it as it went by, enjoying the view with his natural cameras, his eyes.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…”
“It’s a mountain,” Mimiyat grumbled. “Have you outworlders never seen one before?”
“I have… but the ones I saw were different.”
“Obviously.”
Atilia glanced at Remy before moving closer, her hands still on the controls.
“I never saw one, actually,” she whispered to his ear. “So thank you.”
She smiled and stepped back toward the helm, leaving Remy with slightly reddened cheeks.
As they sailed further in, the mountains became smaller and smaller, signaling how much deeper they were into demon territory.
They decided to sail close to the coastline. Far enough to not be stuck in shallow waters, but close enough to still see the coastline. Mimiyat had a decent knowledge of the stars of the world, but it wasn’t enough. The clouds didn’t help, either. She still needed to look at the coastline to pinpoint their exact location.
“Remy, I think you should just sleep. Mimiyat and I will keep watch.”
“Are you sure, though? I mean, I am the lookout.”
“Do as your wife said. I won’t be able to keep my eyes open when daylight comes. The likelihood of demons attacking us when we’re on the water is low anyway,” Mimiyat added.
“Well… alright.”
Remy took one more look at the darkness that spanned beyond him. Far in the distance, he could barely make out the shapes of what looked like empty houses scattered around the shoreline.
People used to live there, yet now it was left behind, empty and abandoned.
It filled him with a melancholic feeling. He came into this world to help, to bring change, to bring people home to their land. He would need to do his best to reach that future. Remy then sat down behind Atilia, lying on the wooden floor.
“Good night.”
“Night.”
“Yeah, night.”
Remy closed his eyes and went to sleep.