Volume 3 - CH 3.1

Act 3-3.1 : Saria Academy

As Chiyuki flew over the Kisonia plains, she couldn’t help but gaze at the creatures running below. The creatures who lived in these plains were centaurs, a unique tribe known for their half-horse half-human traits. Chiuki never could’ve imagined that she would one day see these creatures that had the lower part of a horse and an upper part of a human.

Her gaze lingered on the centaurs down below, who were all running in panic, and she knew full well that she was the source of their panic, her and the Griffin she was currently riding—everyone knew that centaurs were deathly afraid of Griffins. However, Chiyuki couldn’t muster any sympathy or regret towards this particular race.

The great Kisonia plains hosted many different races, one of those races being the one currently fleeing down below her. But, there were many other races that chose these plains as their home, there was even a race that greatly resembled the centaurs in terms of traits, only sporting it in a completely opposite manner. This particular race had the lower body of a human and the head of a goat; they were called Satyrs.

Though Chiyuki was deeply moved when she saw these races that were only mentioned in legends for the first time, that illusion was brutally crushed when she met the real thing. They were not what she had imagined at all. The Centaur tribe, for example, was a lustful tribe who would rush up to any woman the moment they laid eyes on them. Chiyuki was a victim of such a situation, though, naturally, she crushed them all in a mere second. However, other women weren’t so lucky, centaurs would always attack human women to impregnate them since their tribe only consisted of men.

When she found out about such events, Chiyuki’s image of these fantastical creatures was immediately crushed. However, upon giving it more thought, she remembered that they did have such personalities in the stories she read back in Japan. This fact didn’t change when it was applied to other races as well. Dragons were always said to be dangerous creatures in the legends, creatures that could instantly crush the lives of millions of humans in a second—they weren’t any different in this world either.

Chiyuki had gotten used to the different sides of these creatures fairly easily, she didn’t feel disappointed any longer. However, although Chiyuki and her companions could now brush off these creatures with a laugh since they were powerful, there was still no doubt that this world was harsh for humans; she would never forget that fact.

Gryphons were also included in the list of atrocious monsters.

「Even so, they look rather cute up close…」

Chiyuki gently brushed Griffin’s head.

Gryphons were creatures that combined the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. They lived in the centre of the mountain range, their range of activity starting from the west side of the Minon plains until the east side of the Kisonia plains. Among all the flying creatures that lived in the centre of the mountain range, Griffins were no doubt the strongest. And that apex predator of the Kisonia plains was the one now ridden by Chiyuki.

Using Rino and Nao’s abilities, Chiyuki and the others had managed to turn four Hippogriffs and a Griffin as their mounts while once visiting the Kisonia plains. They had then asked the dwarfs to create a magic tool that would help them summon their mounts anytime. Moreover, with Rena’s mediation, they had managed to gain a special permit to fly freely anywhere they wanted as long as it didn’t include Elios’ air territory.

Thus, this Griffin could now fly outside of its habitat. The addition of this creature into their fold had expanded Chiyuki and co’s field of activity, which was now helping Chiyuki reach her intended destination.

Soon enough, a towering mountain came into sight. It was the central mountain range that separated the continent’s eastern and western territories.

Upon approaching the central mountain range, many Harpies living in the vicinity started approaching her.

Harpies were another fantastic creature that had the upper body of a female human, eagle wings as arms, and the lower body of an eagle. They were extremely hostile toward humans and, similar to centaurs, their race only consisted of females as such they would assault male humans to breed.

In regard to marriage between races in this world, the race of the child was decided by their gender, they would become their father’s race if they were male, and would become the mother’s race if they were female. The races composed of only the same sex couldn’t propagate unless they mated with another race, which was why they always attacked humans, the weakest among the races.

The first time Chiyuki heard of this appalling mating ritual, all she could think of was—(If that’s the case, shouldn’t we just pair the Harpies with the centaurs?).

But, both Harpies and Centaurs seemed to prefer humans as their mating partners. Chiyuki hadn’t put much thought into it initially, however, she had once decided to briefly investigate and had found out that humans were the preferred race among all these same sex creatures. Although initially she couldn’t believe such findings, at the end she had no choice but to accept the results of her investigation when she couldn’t find anything to disapprove it.

Just like the Centaurs, the Harpies scattered themselves everywhere the moment Chiyuki approached them. They were terrified of Griffins as well

Chiyuki could finally cross the central mountain range.

On the other side of this mountain range, Saria Academy was located somewhere in the western continent. Chiyuki was currently heading toward that place to investigate.

The Dark Knight’s identity turned out to be Shirone’s childhood friend. Chiyuki couldn’t hide her shock upon facing that fact.

Why was he in this world when he was supposed to be back on Earth?

After thinking carefully, they concluded that he might have been summoned by the Demon King. But, no matter how much they pondered, there was a certain matter that they couldn’t understand.

Why did he work for the Demon King?

While it was true that he was summoned by the Demon King, he still had no reason to obey the latter.

According to Shirone, he was a kind and gentle boy, definitely not the kind of person who would cooperate with the heinous Demon King. If that was the case, then it only meant that he was controlled by some sort of magic.

Thus, Chiyuki had ridden the Griffin and headed toward Saria Academy to investigate the cause.

Saria Academy was the gathering place of mages from all over the world, it resembled a college, a place where you research and study magic. She came to this academy since it was known that there was a precious book that detailed the various spells of this world. She hoped to find information about the spell that could control people.

She had initially wanted to take Shirone with her, but Shirone was currently nothing but a hindrance due to her constant worry and regret after the battle in Holy Dragon King’s mountain. It was decided in the end that Chiyuki would go on her own

After crossing Ariad bay and the Shijuka mountain range, she finally arrived at the city of magic, Saria.

Saria was located in a basin that was surrounded by mountains, it was a one-of-a-kind city in this world.

In this monster-infested world, cities and states were normally part of a country or a kingdom, yet Saria was a city governed by no country or kingdom. It was one of the reasons why there were no actual Sarian citizens, ones who were born and raised in the city.

Saria was governed by the Magician Association, which had branches all over the world. All magicians who belonged to the Magician Association were regarded as the citizens of Saria. The Magician Association had built Saria Academy to train new magicians and research magic.

After arriving at Saria, Chiyuki released the Griffin on the outskirts of the city. As expected, the city didn’t allow Griffins to enter. Though she would have arrived in Saria in moments if she had used teleportation magic, however, she had never received permission from the association, thus she could only fly there.

Chiyuki walked toward the gate of the rampart. She was allowed to go through the gate after she showed a silver card, the proof of membership of the Magician Association, to the gatekeeper.

A magician who belonged to the Magician Association could freely enter Saria. Chiyuki belonged to the branch situated in the Holy Republic of Lenaria, where her silver card was also issued.

She headed straight toward a certain place the moment she entered Saria. This was her second visit here, therefore, she was already familiar with this city and pretty much knew where to find the thing she needed.

She was heading toward the library in Saria Academy.

She passed countless magicians on her way to the library. She also encountered many normal people who lived in the city. It was pretty easy to differentiate between normal people and magicians since most magicians wore robes.

Saria’s alias as the city of magicians wasn’t just for show, there were a few hundred magicians who lived in Saria. But, just because it was called the city of magicians, it didn’t mean that only magicians lived here. Soldiers also lived here to protect the city and were considered the normal people of this city, they were people who couldn’t use magic. Some of them were hired Freedom Fighters from other countries.

There were also merchants who lived here for their dealings of daily necessities and other goods; magician needed to buy their daily necessities from somewhere obviously

The rough estimate of the number of normal people living in Saria was around 60%.

Upon arriving in the library, Chiyuki went straight toward the receptionist. Unlike the gatekeeper, the male receptionist was a magician. Using a magician as the library receptionist showed just how important this library was for Saria.

Just like the gate, any member of the Magician Association could enter the library. Chiyuki thus showed her silver card to the receptionist.

After receiving the card, the male receptionist looked at her curiously. Seeing his expression, Chiyuki started pondering whether there was something wrong with her card.

「Uhm… are you by any chance… the one called the Black Haired Sage?」

The male receptionist timidly asked.