“This obviously isn’t a village.”

As he stopped in the middle of a crowded intersection, Zefrael complained with a pout. Some passing people glanced towards his way in confusion, some threw him a disapproving gaze, but most of them didn’t even care even a bit and just sheered away passed him.

Having no other choice, Alexia followed him to a stop. There was no other way to say it, she was irritated. “It’s not," she snapped, "Are you by any chance blind or something?”

Naturally, she didn’t want to be blamed for her sarcasm. Really, how could she wasn't cranky if the shitlord complained at the obvious blatant fact?

There was no way she could call her surrounding a ‘village’, not with the vast amount of people and the big building which was standing around them.

The place was no village. It was a city, and a big one at that.

Two or three stories tall brick buildings neatly lined up on the sides of the spacious main road. The road itself extended through the whole city with an organized three-color combination concrete pavement. Boxes of plants, bushes, and even flowers are orderly placed in the center of the road, in between ball-shaped lamp post.

The main road opened in a cross intersection where the number of people passing was never exhausted. Some walked in a hurry crossing the intersection to the destination they had in mind, and some walked more leisurely around the lush and spacious garden, right in the middle of the intersection.

No one in their right mind would want to stop in the middle of the endless people stream, but the shitty demon lord clearly didn’t have a right mind.

“No, but—” Zefrael shrugged his shoulder in puzzled manner, “Well, I thought our destination IS a village.” He glanced accusingly at the dragon boy who also moved to stop, “Enna said so.”

“Yeah, I did,” Ennario replied with sullen face. He didn’t seem to like the nickname Zefrael gave him, but at the same time he looked resigned as if the demon lord would never correct them. With a sour face, he puckered his mouth, “But I did say that the village is in the eastern part of the continent.”

Zefrael looked surprised. “You did?”

“He did.”

Alexia instantly replied with spite. Beside the probability of blindness, it seems the shitlord also had a probability of deafness. She got a weary look from the demon lord, but she immediately ignored him. She definitely had more pressing matters which needed her immediate attention.

“More importantly, when will your stupid brain is going to realize that we’re being a disturbance to people passing through?” she pointed with annoyance.

There was nothing more problematic than being idle in the endless wave of passing people. The girl felt so many eyes on her, uncountable by number already, and it felt very awkward like she was in a wrong time and place. The tension she felt in the middle of the crowd stiffened her body in anxiety, and she didn’t like it. Really, really didn’t like it.

“Let’s just talk while walking,” Alexia finally ended her sentence with an unshaken determination and took the first step forwards.

A second later, the dragon boy followed. While taking a pleased glance towards the demon lord, he added, “What she said.”

Ennario patted Zefrael’s shoulder twice, as if to comfort him, before he resumed his nonchalant walk.

Honestly, that gesture looked weird in Alexia’s eyes, because Ennario’s built was smaller than Zefrael. She felt a little itchy watching someone shorter like him patted the demon lord who was obviously taller, but of course, she chose to stay quiet. After all, who was older between them was still debatable.

Heeding Alexia’s wish—and also Ennario’s, Zefrael finally nailed off his feet from the ground. He took his place beside the girl and started to walk with the group in the same speed.

“So,” he started, throwing his question towards his dragon friend who was walking by the girl’s opposite side, “If the destination is the eastern village, why are we here then?”

Ennario peered him with doubtful look, as if Zefrael wasn’t suppose to ask him that, but nevertheless, he answered him, “That eastern village is pretty far from here, considering the distance, we wouldn’t be walking—”

“Huh?” Zefrael interrupted with dubious look, “We’re not walking there??”

“Nuh-uh,” Ennario shook his head, “It’s not recommended.”

The demon lord seemed surprised by the answer. His eyebrows were wrinkled in confusion. “B-but I thought, adventure is done by walking throughout the world.”

“Hah! And spending years to reach a single destination?? You amaze me, shitlord.”

Alexia couldn’t help to cynically intrude the argument which was passing through her ears. They literally talked between her that she just couldn’t listen quietly. All the more when the weird demon lord was spouting nonsense again, at the very moment she felt so uncomfortable because of the crowd.

But, Zefrael only stared her with a dumbfounded look.

“It took years to reach that eastern village??” he repeated in surprise. His purple eyes glinted with amazement and excitement. “Wow, I never thought this continent is extending that far.”

Alexia instantly rolled her eyes, feeling too bothersome even to retort at his nonsensical remarks. She admitted that she didn’t know which eastern village Ennario had been talking about. There were too many settlements in the east that she was unable to pinpoint the exact place. Still, in her visualized estimation, the edge of the continent would only take a year, tops, there was no way the dragon boy’s eastern village would go over it.

She was being sarcastic and had coaxed her words in annoyance, yet Zefrael actually believed her nonsense. She didn’t even care if it was true or his usual faking act, but it seemed the dragon boy did care.

“Is this supposed to be a joke?” Ennario asked warily. “Or you really don’t know?”

Zefrael shrugged his shoulder. “Sorry if you guys had high hopes for me,” he answered with a mumble and showed a disappointed look, “I would want to joke around, but sadly, it’s the latter.”

Ennario breathed a long sigh. “Yeah, no wonder. You holed up in your castle all the time,” he commented. “Seriously, do you ever get out? Don’t tell me this is your first?”

“First…well, probably,” Zefrael said quietly. His violet purple eyes glanced towards his dragon friend, before they moved to Alexia with a tinge of amusement. “You guys know why I can’t leave,” he said haughtily while placing his hand on his own chest, “I have a duty to wait, you know. If I’m not in my castle when the Chosen Hero arrived, that would be my blunder. So,” he continues with a smile, “In that case, I would rather stay at home, don’t you think?”

Ennario sighed wearily while shaking his head a few times. The short tassels of his bandana are swaying vaguely. “Why don't you say that you are a standard shut-in, huh, Zef?”

“Well, duh, because I’m not, Enna. Evidently, I got out, didn’t I??” The demon lord protested while discontentedly staring at Ennario, but not for long, he shifted his eyes through the crowd of people, far into the distance with a contemplation look, “but really, I never needed to get out in the first place. At home, I could know everything.”

The demon lord was muttering to himself, but his voice was delivered clear enough to Ennario’s place that it was impossible for Alexia to pretend that she didn’t hear it.

The city’s hustle bustle finally became her background music as she spouted her mockery, “Why you left, then? What a pity to leave the ability to know everything.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

She only has one word, bullshit.

Alexia obviously didn’t believe him about the ‘know everything’ part. Firstly, she didn’t want to admit that her enemy was that almighty, and secondly, he had ruined that very part when he stupidly believed her sarcasm lie just now.

“Well, reason is simple!” Zefrael answered vibrantly and glanced at the girl with a grin, “I left for you, Alex. Be grateful.”

That was kind of unexpected, but expected answer from the shitty demon lord. It maxed out her irritation that she snarled immediately, “Over my dead body! You forced me into this!”

Yet, the demon lord only giggled quietly at her snarl. As he darted his eyes from her to his opened palm of hand, he continued as if he hadn't heard any of the girl’s irritation. “Well, I do know every place which was connected by roots of the World Tree in this continent, but it’s kinda like an overview, I never knew the real distance.”

Alexia half-heartedly listened to the demon lord’s excuse. She wasn’t interested in hearing them. To be honest, she didn’t even care. Completely ignoring his bullshit, she swept back her vision to the surrounding which was getting quieter by the second.

As they went east, the cross intersection ended with a stone-arc gateway which draped with blue-colored vertical flag at the sides. The twin flag with golden lines was embroidered in gold thread to shape the crest of an eagle with spreading wings. It was the crest of the Regalia Kingdom.

Regalia Kingdom was a sole kingdom in this world, the main capital in the continent. It was the very kingdom which has given Alexia her Hero title and ordered her to defeat the demon lord, to save the World Tree from his grasp. The famous Hero School was built there, within the capital, as the starting point of every individual who sought to become a Hero.

Regalia Kingdom was actually the place where her first journey had begun. During that first journey, Alexia already had the chance to visit this city—which was stood between the Kingdom and the Demon Lord's castle.

To tell the truth, the city landscape was nothing new to her. Instead, she could say that the familiar scenery was somewhat soothing for her. Besides that, there was one more positive point. As she walked towards the eastern direction, the wave of people was starting to diminish in number. Soon, the tension she felt within the crowd waned, and she finally felt quite comfortable.

Then, Ennario’s voice entered her eardrums again.

“Just leave it at that, Zef,” he said curtly, “You could make up any reason which wasn't true at all, and we would never know the validity. More importantly—”

“Hey, that’s exaggerating!” Zefrael interrupted with a pout. “What do you think I am??”

“A liar who likes to make fun of people,” the dragon boy replied accusingly. “Isn’t that right, huh, Alexia?”

Ennario threw the question at her, but the girl didn’t even need a second to come up with an answer. “Yeah, an asshole who lies all the time, to be exact.”

“See?” the dragon boy happily giggled while nodding in satisfaction.

Clearly, Alexia couldn’t agree more. Considering everything that had happened so far, and how she had deceived in some of the occasion, her straight conclusion couldn’t be wrong. It would never be wrong.

“Aww, you guys is so mean to me…”

Ennario shrugged in contrived astonishment. “Stop playing the victim, would you? You just look like faking.”

As she glanced at the sulking demon lord, Alexia couldn’t hold a victorious smile to appear at her face. It seemed, as the dragon boy said before, he was indeed her brother in arms, even if it sounded so bizarre.

To tell the truth, she still couldn’t fathom Ennario’s decision to accompany her in this journey and becoming one of her party member. Why would he if the closing act in this insane journey was obviously killing the demon lord, his own friend—or acquaintance??

He had said that he wanted to beat up the shitlord, but killing him? It should be another story.

Nevertheless, Alexia couldn’t retract her decision anymore. It was too bothersome to find another person and repeating it all over again. She would rather just go with it, and tackle the next quest of party member (made by Zefrael) and let it over with.

Besides, there was a chance that the other replacement wouldn’t be as easy to deal as Ennario. She felt it sometime before, that the dragon boy was actually quite nice to her. After he realized her stranger anxiety problem—he had guessed when he saw her fidgeted nervously every time they met people in the way, and the shitlord had also confirmed it—he didn’t try to make fun of her. He even helped her with the small talk like Zefrael did before, but in a much better way—which meant, no teasing included.

Alexia did feel grateful, but at the same time she couldn’t help to feel a little discouraged, because Ennario acted towards her quite differently compared to how he acted towards the demon lord. With her, he kept this assuring expression with a slight smile plastered to his face, more like a courtesy smile for customers.

Well, he is a merchant, it can’t be helped.

Inevitably, it just gave her a feeling that there was an invisible wall between them, which was obstructing her to know the real purpose he had for joining the adventure.

Alexia couldn't even guess Ennario’s reason to hide his dragon identity by transforming into a human. Was he the only dragon in this world? Or there was more like him? That was another mystery she couldn’t solve.

Her knowledge only reached out to a few facts. Like how he loved rice vinegar too much, and how he had a bad sense in naming things. Of course, she knew those traits from his argument with the demon lord, certainly not something she had found out with her own power.

All of the fact actually told her that she and Ennario weren't actually ‘friends’ like the bond between him and the demon lord. Still, she stopped herself from hoping too much. During this insane journey, probably she would know Ennario better, or she wouldn’t. Who knows?

When the final day finally came in the near future, probably the dragon boy would be a help to her, or he wouldn’t. Well, whatever it was, she wouldn’t keep her hopes up too high.

If push really came to shove, she would definitely still ready to fight the demon lord by herself. In any way, she should really think some way to overcome his strength before the day came.

As she snuck a glance towards her sworn enemy, Zefrael was letting out a short sigh with a defeated expression.

“You’re such a killjoy, Enna,” he mumbled in a sulky tone. Yet, a moment later—as if he never sulked at the first place—he stared blankly at the dragon boy, “So? What’s the more importantly thing you’re want to say?”

As she was watching the sight, another perplexity popped up inside her mind. It was a confusion enough to veer her curiosity from Ennario’s mystery, to Zefrael’s.

Actually, the sight of the demon lord’s fast-changing expression was really disconcerting to her. Moreover, he had done it many times already. He had said that his cold expression from before was only an act, and Alexia immediately assumed that his fast change in attitude was because he had faked it, but what if she were wrong?

His change was very unnatural, and it just suspiciously blurred the personality of the shitty demon lord within her mind. Honestly, she would be lost if she had to guess which one was the real him. Was it one of them, or actually all of them??

She had no answer for those mysteries, whether if it was the demon lord, or even the dragon boy. Obviously, she needed more time to delve deeper into them. It was her next agenda, but really, she shouldn’t be too hasty.

Alexia stopped herself for thinking too much and shifted back her mind into the conversation happening in front of her.

“Huh?” Ennario seemed confused by Zefrael’s words for a second, before he let out a gasp, “Oh, yeah, about that.” He darted his silver draconic eyes to the approaching stone-arc gateway with blue flags, “I’ll answer your first question, straight to the point. We’re here to catch a ride to the eastern village.”

“A ride?” asked Zefrael.

“Right, do you know this place?” Ennario continued as they passed below the stone-arc gateway, entering the Regalia Kingdom territory.

“A—city—?” The demon lord answered with a baffled look, “Alex said it’s not a village.”

Alexia held herself not to retaliate. The shitty demon lord cutting her name short inappropriately wasn’t anything new anymore. Ennario was another example which had proved the shitlord wasn’t going to yield about the nicknaming thing. It just tired her to be angry at his remarks every time.

“This city is called the World Intersection,” the dragon boy continued with a slight mocking tone. He extended his hand towards the surrounding and added, “To go across territories, people must’ve passed this city. Did your so-called overview tell you that, Zef?”

“Well, yes, I’ve heard of it. I’m not that ignorant,” the demon lord muttered quietly. He looked a little displeased with Ennario’s contemn, but soon his nonchalant mask was returned as he darted his eyes toward the girl, “You knew about it as well, aren’t you, Alex?”

Ignoring the fact that Zefrael had cut her name again, Alexia buried her annoyance in the deepest corner of her mind. She tried not to care, even for a bit, because she would definitely lose if the stupid shitlord would have fun again with her irritation. Instead, she forced herself to answer him without any irk. Luckily, she managed to sound a yes with disinterest.

The World Intersection, it was the common sense for everyone who lives in this continent.

The city of Zalende, this city, was more known as the World Intersection. As the name dictates, Zalende was a place where all of the four territories intersect. Built with high walls and big gateways, this city acted as the only connection between all territories. The only way to go across the territory was passing through Zalende.

Alexia had learnt it before in her school about the continent geography. From Zalende to the east was the biggest territory where Regalia Kingdom stands tall with many major cities spreading around it, while to the west, the smallest one, was the evil Demon Lord’s territory where the gigantic World Tree soars into the sky. Those two territories were quite familiar to Alexia, as she had been there before, but she couldn’t say the same for the two other territories. Northern territory had been said to be a cold territory with an unending snow while southern was supposed to be a hot blazing desert, but that was only a textbook knowledge, she never verified them with her own eyes.

“Good, that would make things simpler,” Ennario said in satisfaction, calling Alexia back to her present situation.

Zalende’s eastern gate which led into the Kingdom territory appeared in sight as they walked. Buildings and houses thinned out into an open area with an opened wooden-golden-hinged gate door. Exactly near the gates, dozens of carriage coaches pulled with horses, parked neatly at the pavement road sides.

In front of the scenery, Ennario stopped and glanced towards both Alexia and Zefrael with a bright smile. “This is what I meant for a ride. It's a way to brought us east in a faster method.”

Without waiting for a reaction from his two companions, he stretched his arms open in excitement and gestured towards the coaches with his hopeful silver draconic eyes, “Now, let’s haggle!”