2 First of all, help me.

I'm awake.

My body hurts so bad. It's not muscle pain, it's more like lactic acid in my legs.

But I get up. There's no one I can talk to, so I can't pamper myself.

It's almost noon. There is something that looks like the sun, but is it even called the sun in this world?　If you eat the konnyaku of a certain robot, I'm sure you'll be OK with the sun.

I can't see that fantastic forest anymore even if I look back.

Slime aside, bears may appear again, so we must proceed with caution.

In addition, I'm looking for nuts. I'm starting to get hungry.

Fortunately, I found a raspberry-like fruit early on. We took a mouthful and looked at it for a while.

They were sweet but sour, and to be honest, not very tasty, but my tongue was not numb, so I could eat them.

As a precaution, I refrained from taking a large amount and proceeded to taste it slowly.

The difficulty level is increasing rapidly.

"Pfft, here we go again: ......

Let's call the first place we were in the slime zone. Unlike there, this area has bugs. In short, there are spider webs everywhere, and the discomfort is unbearable.

The gradient is getting steeper and steeper, and it's starting to feel like a normal descent.

As I focused on the spider webs, my feet slipped and I was in danger.

Waving a piece of stick I had picked up, I swept away the cobwebs and continued on. Naturally, your fatigue accelerates.

You scramble through the branches. It hurts to get caught.

Thank God I was wearing long sleeves. If I'd been wearing short sleeves in summer, I'd have been miserable by now.

It was like being told to get off the trail while climbing. I am very thankful for the road.

If I can conquer this mountain, I'm sure I can climb Mt. I need to build up my strength, though.

To be honest, the slime field was several times better than this. I want to go home. I'm not going back because I'm afraid of slime.

While I'm thinking about this, a new sound enters my ears.

......, what's that sound?

Yes, that's the sound I've been waiting for.

I hurriedly walked toward the sound.

And what I see is a river.

Shallow and narrow, but a real river.

I was so moved that I rushed to the riverside and scooped up some water.

You want to drink, but you can't. If it were a spring upstream, I'd be worried about this point.

I washed my face and hair and swept away the cobwebs.

Now that the discomfort is gone, I feel much more relaxed.

So I rested in the river for a while.

Afterwards, as I walked along the river, hoping to catch some fish, I found something that shocked me.

It was a piece of rope.

Oh, wow!

That's an exclamation, sensei. I've only felt that I've been transported to another world, and I've been wondering if there are people in this world.

It looks like that's about to be solved. This is proof of civilization.

If there are traces of human presence here, then there must be a trail or something, right?　So, I took a walk around the area.

And there it was. It's not a trail, but there are some branches that were intentionally broken!

I suggested that it might have been broken by a beast, but I also found one that had been cut with some kind of blade. This is so exciting!

I felt my mouth start to grin as I continued on my way.

After a while, you'll enter an area where you can see some rocks. And then you find a cave.

Next to the entrance, there are a pair of platforms on which torches can be placed, and there are signs of recent use.

I think we've finally found the first villagers!

...... No, wait a minute.

Let's think about the race of people who live in this place.

There was a slime.　I don't know, maybe there are goblins?　Even if they're human, they're probably bandits.

Pattern 1: Goblins.

"Ningen, Kuu. "Ningen, kou.

"Gee!

Pattern 2: Bandit

"Oh, you're wearing something unusual. Give me everything.

"Gee.

Pattern 3: Hermit.

"Practice.

Geez.

Oh no, this is something I need to figure out. So, I looked around for a place where I could see this entrance and hide.

I leveled the floor at a convenient place, found a spot, and got down.

We'll wait here for a while.

After an hour of waiting. I'm not asleep.　I was out of it, but I wasn't asleep, was I?

I hear voices talking, so I hide in the grass at the cave entrance and peek.

There are two people there, dressed very roughly and muscularly.

I hold back my joy at finally meeting someone. They look like bandits, don't they?　They have swords and axes on their hips.

But don't judge them by their looks. They're actually really nice guys, and we might call each other "Brother" in the future.

Oh, no. Something just took out a man's arm. He's laughing. You're a barbarian!

And I have no idea what he's saying.

It's not the dialect that's harsh, it's the language.

At least it's not a popular language, and you probably don't speak Japanese.

Before barbarians, there are otherworlders who don't speak our language. We'll just get attacked.

I don't even want to look at it, but we'll see. There's some kind of jewel on a metal chain wrapped around his arm.

I'm imagining that when they robbed merchants or rich people, they took the jewelry off their arms because it was hard to take off.

It reminds me of a story in some countries where people cut off their arms when they steal watches.

If you look at the bandit too much, he might notice you, so you should hide back and wait for him to enter or leave the cave.

After a while, the bandits went into the cave.

But the path they took seems to lead to a good place.

I'm afraid that I might run into other bandits, so I don't know what to do.

At any rate, I found a human path near the cave.

You decide that it's too dangerous to go straight ahead, so you decide to stay hidden.

I suppressed the feeling that there was an easier path right there.

I'd rather take the hard way than encounter bandits in the mountains.

Yes, you were right.

While I was hiding, I passed bandits and bandits passed me.

I passed about ten of them. I mean, I almost got noticed once.

I broke out in a cold sweat when I saw them with their hands on their axes, yes.

But thanks to you, I didn't lose my way. Thank you very much for that.

And finally, we finished our descent!

Well, in the woods, anyway.

But we found the road. It's not a paved road, but it's a road that some kind of two-wheeled wagon must have taken many times. If I just follow this road, I'm sure I'll find a place where people live. I am so happy that I don't care about hunger.

This feeling is immeasurable.

I was attacked by a bear, and the bear ate me before I could get to him. After being attacked by a slime and struggling down a steep mountain path, I arrived at .......

Ugh, I'm moved to tears. I'm going to write a scribble on a tree with a stone I picked up to commemorate this experience.

I've given up on the kanji.

I've given up on the kanji.

Now, let's decide which way to go with this wooden sword of my ally, the Spiderweb Cleaver. Now let's see which way it falls.

"......, fall down!

He shoved his ally upright, knocked him down, and moved on.

At the cave entrance.

--At the entrance of the cave　

"Well, this time it's a good thing, too!

"Oh, look at this armoire. "Oh, look at this armoire. I couldn't tear it off, so I brought the whole arm with me.

You didn't get any blood on the rest of the treasure, did you?

It'll wash off in the river anyway. Where'd I put the rope?

Where did I put the rope?

--On the way.

Wait, I just saw something move.

It's a beast.　It's just a bear. We'll just take it out.

I'm going to use my detection spell. Take the seal stone and get out of here.

Hey. - Hey.

Nothing's showing up on my magic locator. The beast.

What are you talking about?

Let's just make sure we bypass it and get back to the safe house.

Yeah.

◇

"Finally ...... Finally ......!

Yes, I have finally found it.

In front of me was the castle wall that stretched from left to right.

At the end of the road is a huge city gate.

At the end of the road is a huge castle gate, and behind it is a fantasy world castle, mainly white and blue-green.

It is quite a large castle in terms of distance, and the castle town seems to be of a certain size.

I approached the castle gate with joy.

"Hey!　Help!

And then I remembered. And then I remember that I can't speak the language.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, yes.

The guard who was guarding the gate of the castle pointed a spear at me, shouted something at me and caught me.

Of course they would catch a trespasser who doesn't speak their language. Nice to see a civilized society.

After that, I was taken to a hut next to the castle and thrown into a cell inside.

Oh, but it's covered with rush mats. I'll sleep well.

I've been faking my fatigue, but I only took a nap in the forest. I'll sleep for now.

There's nothing worse than being attacked by bandits. I'm not flagging.

"Good night, sunshine.

But I was woken up a few minutes later.

At the gate.

--At the city gate.

Hey, stop. I don't see you dressed like that.

Hey!　----!

What are you talking about?

Kuro hair and unintelligible words. ...... Hey, you're not a demon, are you?

What?　Hey, don't move!　Don't you dare!

Don't move! -...

What do we do with him, sir?

Let's just throw him in the cell in the barracks. I'll leave the rest to Mr. Iliad.

Ilias.　

Ilias Lazzell was troubled.

The other day, he was summoned by his boss, Lord Ragdoll, and given the task of defeating bandits.

He respected Lord Ragdor, who valued his abilities regardless of gender, and understood that he had high expectations of him.

However, I have heard rumors of this bandit attack. A number of knights have already been assigned to the task, but they have failed to make a mark.

It's not that they are incompetent. In fact, from the reports I've heard, the Iliad itself has taken measures that would have done so.

But the bandits surpassed them.

They appeared everywhere, disappearing into the woods and mountains.

They never challenged knights of great ability, but attacked only helpless people.

The other day, Ilias was in charge of guarding a merchant when he was attacked and killed a second after they had passed.

His arm was cut off and he was left to bleed to death in order to steal his valuables. I wonder how much pain and terror he must have experienced.

But we must live up to Lord Raggedy's expectations. ......

My predecessor has already exhausted all good ideas. I wonder if I can do it.

If I were asked to slay all the bandits by myself, I am confident that I could do it. It is not a matter of pride, but a fact.

My father, who was a knight, was killed in battle against the demons. My mother, a priestess, died with him at the time.

Despite his sorrow, Ilias chose to become a knight, having seen the bravery with which he fought.

She trained and trained, and her skills were recognized and she was included in Sir Ragdor's troops.

She made up for her disadvantage as a woman with her abilities alone, and demonstrated her excessive power.

However, this was only with her skill with the sword.

If I fail to produce results, my position will become even more constrained.

There are only a few people who will appreciate you.

Men will be jealous of your loss of face, and women will be afraid of you for wielding extraordinary strength.

What I want is a life as a knight, not a reputation as a knight.

But still, I had my thoughts.

His anger at the bandits, the pressure of his position as a knight, and other mixed emotions made him restless.

"You're not trained enough. ......

Laughing at his own wavering mind, he continued his patrol.

Then a report came in.

"Mr. Iliad. The gatekeeper at the castle gate wants you to come to the barracks. He says he's captured a demon.

"What?

The sudden addition of a problem made him shout out in an absurd voice.

I hurried to the barracks used by the gatekeepers.

The barracks were built right outside the castle gate. There is also a prison, albeit a simple one, and not a few travelers are taken care of in case of trouble at the gate.

"So, is he?

There he was, a young man with dark hair.

He was sleeping very comfortably in his cell.

Kuro hair is rarely seen in this area. And it's a color often seen in humanoid demons.

For a moment, I was alarmed, but when I looked at him calmly, I could tell. I don't see any threat from this young man.

I did some magic detection just to be sure, but the inherent magic was very small. I've never seen anyone with so little. The clothes were dirty, but on closer inspection they were elaborate, and the shoes were made of a material I had never seen before.

According to the gatekeeper, he was speaking in a strange language. .......

I took my sword and asked him to open the cell and let me in.

"Hey, wake up.

No reply. He's sleeping peacefully.

"Hey.

I shake his shoulder. He won't wake up. Sleeping very well.

"Wake up.

I give him a quick tap on the cheek. He responds, but stays asleep.

"Wake up.

I tap him harder. Oh, he's awake.

She looked at me with a sleepy face, muttered something, and went back to sleep.

"......

He finally woke up after making a good sound with the handle of his sword.