Volume 6 - CH 6

Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

「Transfer Record」

After four days on the ship, the rescue party reached Doranto’s coastline in the Rouen Forest.

Based on what I could make out from the ship’s deck, Rouen lacked the massive trees of Great Canada Forest.

As the ship gently settled near the coast, I could see that there was a sandy beach between the sea and the actual forest.

Several long piers that extended into the sea had been built along the sandy beach.

Only small fishing boats were anchored to those piers, and the arrived of our magic tool powered ship caught the fishermen’s attention.

Even from this far out I could see they all had the green-tinted blonde hair and long ears of normal elves. They also wore the same traditional clothes the villagers in Canada wore.

It must have been deemed impossible for the ship to go any further inland since we dropped anchor a little bit away from the closest pier, while a small boat was prepared to be lowered into the water.

Dylan and several of the warriors under his command boarded the boat and sailed towards the coastline after being lowered into the water.

“Until Dylan-dono returns with permission from the elder, we won’t be allowed to dock.”

I held my hand to my forehead and kept an eye on the small boat while talking with Ariane next to me.

She was following my example and blocking the sunlight with her hand while narrowing her eyes to watch Dylan interact with the elves that came to greet him.

“They aren’t being very welcoming about this whole affair.”

With her enhanced visual prowess as a dark elf, Ariane was capable of making out what was happening on the coast, she even muttered her displeasure about it in a hushed tone.

Next to her, Chiome observed the coast before asking a question.

“Is it normal that there’s very little contact with Doranto??”

“I guess, from what I hear we trade maybe once every four or five years……”

The thought of the intervals between the Olympics crossed my mind as I folded my arms.

It was trade in name only, a token exchange meant to maintain the status quo.

“Canada is firmly against a purely elven society, and this group is too prideful to join forces with other races……”

Ariane’s words were laced with barely contained anger, but I asked her about something that bothered me.

“Speaking of other races, are there others besides the dark elves involved in this?”

Ariane gave me a questioning glance when I asked her that question.

“Ah, since you’ve officially become a villager I guess you’ll learn about it eventual, Arc.”

I nodded in response to her vague answer.

Based on her reaction, I could guess that the Great Canada Forest was allied with powers I was unaware of.

At the moment, I was aware that elves and dark elves were the main residents of Great Canada Forest, with beastmen involved in trade having temporary stays.

I’ve never seen any other races, but they could live in villages in the eastern regions.

While I was lost in thought, there was movement around Dylan’s landing party.

Several people appeared from the  forest and exchanged greetings with Dylan once they reached the pier the boat was moored to.

The elves that arrived were probably the leaders around here.

A male elf surrounded by guards stepped forwarded and gave the small boat and our ship a once over before shaking hands with Dylan.

One of the people Dylan took with him started making hand signals towards the ship, causing the crew to jump into action.

“Permission has been given! Begin preparations for landfall! We don’t have enough boats so we’ll be making round trips!”

The crew members sprung into action as soon as the commands were given.

As instructed, the twenty members of the relief team, the sailors in charge of resource replenishment and the baggage were transported to the pier.

However, when we reached the pier I heard the harsh voice of one of the village warriors.

“You don’t have permission to enter the village! Don’t stray too far from here!”

Another warrior cast his gaze over us and proceeded to snort and arrogantly talked down at us.

“Not only a dark elf, those from Canada even brought a beast along……”

His words seeped in contempt and Ariane started emitting a dangerous aura.

“You, in the metal armor, show your face!”

The man’s shout echoed through the area and naturally attracted everyone’s attention.

I obliged to his demand, to Ponta’s dismay since she’d been sitting on my helmet, and revealed my face.

“Kyun!”

“What? Just what are you?”

The man grimaced as he took in my crimson eyes, brown skin, and black hair.

As a precaution, I drank the restorative water which I had collected from the spring near the Dragon King’s Tree before we landed.

“The three of us will be entering the Salma Kingdom through the forest, may we pass?”

While putting my helmet back on I informed them of our intentions, but he frowned and gave me an exaggerated shoulder shrug.

“That is not allowed! To allow outsiders to enter Rouen forest──”

Dylan, who’d been watching the scene unfold, said a few words and the village elder sent a messenger to whisper something into the warrior’s ear.

The warrior who had been giving us trouble ‘til now turned on his heel and muttered curses under his breath as he walked away. Dylan seems to have settled the matter somehow.

The messenger who just arrived looked back towards his leaders and waited until he nodded before he opened his mouth.

“The elders have granted you permission to traverse the forest. By taking the road on the other side of the coast, you should reach the human territory in half a day. While you can enter the forest, permission to enter the village has not been granted.”

Having completed his task, the man turned around and returned to his place next to Dylan.

Dylan gave us one last look before he and the relief team were escorted to the village.

After Chiome and I offered him a slight bow, I tried to plan out our course of action with Ariane, but she was still looking in the direction the warrior walked off in.

“Ariane-dono, since permission has been granted we should leave immed──”

“What was with that attitude!? Why do the elders support people like that!?”

Ariane’s outraged shout and foot stomping cut off what I was trying to say.

Chiome let out a small sigh beside me.

“Everything’s alright as long as we can pass through the forest.”

I nodded in agreement with her statement.

After being stuck on that cramped ship I’d like to get going as soon as possible.

Though it was possible to secretly slip through the forest using 【Dimensional Step】, the problem was not knowing how long that would take, so the official help was appreciated.

“We should get going” “Alright” “Yes”

“Kyun!”

Ariane, Chiome, and Ponta all responded to my suggestion.

Since we’d be entering the human territory, Chiome took out an oversized hat to hide her cat ears and hid her tail inside the inconspicuous clothes she was wearing, while Ariane put on the gray cloak she wore whenever we snuck into human towns.

Once preparations were complete, we headed down the path the messenger had pointed out a while ago.

The path rose along a gentle hill before long and three massive trees which soared into the sky came into view.

Spiraling staircases had been carved into the trees trucks, and while not as dignified as the Dragon King’s tree, they still towered over the average trees in the Great Canada Forest.

A town had been built between the roots of these massive trees.

That was probably the village.

There were a few differences between it and Canada’s villages. The wall that surrounded the town village was built from wood and stone.

From here, the buildings looked similar to those of human towns.

While the trees gave the village an overwhelming aura, the walls of Canada villages were defiantly taller than the ones around Doranto.

I could see a group of people heading towards the village from here. It must have been the relief time.

Ariane looked down at the village with dissatisfaction before suddenly turning towards me.

“By the way, Arc. When did you collect the hot spring water? I was a bit surprised when you showed your face back there……”

“Ah, that.”

Recall that exchange, I reached into my bag and took out a booklet of paper held together by string.

“I committed the cabin layout to memory and then drew it on this.”

I began turning the pages of the booklet for Ariane as I spoke. Chiome’s ears twitched as she looked at booklet as well.

“This is what you bought from the vendor in Landfria back then. ……You copied the interior of the cabin with it.”

A near photographic replication of the cabin was drawn on the piece of paper they were looking at.

It was a scene for an early morning aboard the ship.

My long distance transfer magic 【Transfer Gate】 was only limited by my ability to recreate the location I wished to travel to from memory.

This meant that I had difficulties transferring to non-distinctive locations, or places I’ve never been. Regular rooms left thin impressions on a person and weren’t all that memorable, making it impossible for them to clear the transfer condition.

While exceptions exist for rooms a person lives in for an extended amount of time, not a lot of people remember the layout of the hotel room they stayed in once.

In order to keep important locations clear, I created this booklet to keep track of places I can transfer to as we traveled.

Currently the booklet contained every location I’ve visited so far, and I’d be able to transfer all over the world as my travels continued.

As I imagined my future traveling plans, Ariane’s golden eye widened for some reason and she snatched the booklet out of my hands.

“Arc! This! Is that me!?”

Ariane pointed out her own gently sleeping figure in the cabin drawing as I spoke.

“Yes, it was a pleasure to draw a beautiful woman, what do you think?”

I puffed out my chest in pride of my work, but she opened and shut her mouth several times like she was struggling on what to say before violently shoved the booklet back to me.

“It’s nothing special……”

While Ariane ears took on a vermilion hue Chiome gave the drawing another once over and muttered something.

“……I was asleep on the top bunk, so only my tail is visible.”

Chiome seemed saddened by that fact and Ponta hit my helmet in protest.

Because the drawing was from the point of view of the bed I slept on, Ponta was not in it since she slept on the same bed.

The next time I stopped to draw out a transfer location, I’d be sure to include Ponta in it.

“Before we enter the human territory, can I have an hour or two for myself? I’d like the draw this location as well.”

On the off chance we may have to return to this place, the ability to instantly get here with transfer magic would be a great help.

While Doranto was distinctive on its own and shouldn’t be that hard to remember, but enough time away from here would cause my memory to fade…… a bit of insurance would help.

There might be some benefit in including this location on my list.

“I understand. It’ll be troublesome getting wrapped up in this, so do it somewhere away from me.”

Both Chiome and Ariane agreed to my request and resumed our trek.