Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari, Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life. - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Demonfolk Port Town

In order to go to the new continent, we had to go to the demonfolk continent first.

There was the human continent, demon continent. And the new continent.
These three were the only continents that we knew of.

While we traveled on the human continent, it was peace itself.
And the journey between the human continent and the demon continent was only a few hours by ship.

We were blessed by fine weather on the way, and we reached the demon continent without any trouble.
The journey across the demon continent would be through horse drawn carriages. Of course, nearly all of the other passengers were demonfolk.

“Old man. Want some of this?”
“Oh, you don’t mind?”
“Here!

An adorable demon child who was in the same carriage offered me some sweets.
The demon continent was also very peaceful.
And while it made me very happy, it was a reminder that the roles of Adventurers really were coming to an end.
It made me just a little bit sad.

Ten days since our departure from the royal capital, we reached the town of Cariari, which was the town closest to the new continent.
It was a small port town. Well, more like a fishing village, I suppose.

Once we entered Cariari, we were approached by an intimidating demon man.

“Ah, a human. Are you also going to this new continent?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I see. You humans have courage, I’ll give you that. It’s so far away.”

The demon man was a fisher in Cariari.
And the fisherman here knew about the continent.
However, none of them had any interest in going there.

“We can catch plenty of fish here, so I don’t see why I should take any risks?”

The voyage would take weeks, and there was no reason to risk your life in order to go there.
There was much conviction in his voice.

“Well, we humans tend to be very curious about things.”
“I commend you.”

The fisherman looked impressed as he nodded understandingly.

In spite of what many people thought, the demonfolk were not very ambitious when it came to land.
However, they put a lot of importance into strength, and so they tended to fight a lot.

The reason that the demonfolk fought was more to ‘test their strength.’
Of course, that didn’t really make it any less terrible for us, but it still wasn’t an invasion over land.

But humans were ambitious, and just assumed that demonfolk were the same.
That had caused many misunderstandings.

The reason that we were able to have peace after the defeat of the Demon King, was because of their culture and personality.
The Hero party had realized it, and negotiated for peace, saying that it had all been a test of strength, which they had won.

Since I knew about their ways now, I could understand why the fisherman felt this way.
He probably assumed that I was going to the new continent in order to test my own strength.
The demonfolk would not even want to head over there until they knew that there were strong people there.

“I’ll be praying for your safety.”
“Aye, thank you.”

I left the fisherman and headed towards the dockside.
There was a large ship offshore, that was likely the one I would be sailing in.
Normally, there would only be fishing boats here, and so large ships could not get too close to the docks.

As I gazed at the ship…
“Ah, Theo. I’ve been waiting for you.”
It was the master of the Adventurer’s Guild in the royal capital. He was the one who had suggested I come here.

“…Guild Master. What are you doing here?”
“I’m going to the new continent too.”
“Were you demoted? I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“Not at all! I volunteered.”

Upon further questioning, I learned that he had volunteered to be the captain of the expedition.
Not only that, but it had been he who created the plans for it.

“I’m so grateful that you’ll be participating, Theo.”
“Thank you. I’ll work harder after hearing you say that.”

The Guild Master was a dwarf who was over seventy years old.
Dwarves had longer lifespans than humans, and aged slowly.
That being said, seventy was still not very young. But he was stubborn.

“I can’t let you go walking into danger alone, Theo.”
“…What’s the real reason?”
“Well, not just my children, but even my grandchildren are all grown up. And so I want to go out on adventures again.”
“I see.”
I didn’t have grandchildren, let alone children, so I didn’t really know how that felt like.

“Yes. That’s what it is. Also, I’m no longer the Guild Master, so you can just call me Victor.”
“Alright, Victor. I look forward to working with you.”
“Aye, Theo. I’m happy to have you.”

Victor was the Guild Master of the guild in the royal capital.
It was special among the numerous guilds that existed.
You could say that he was one of the most powerful leaders in the entire organization.
Not only that, but Victor was a nobleman by birth.

And yet he never acted like he was important. Not towards other Adventurers or guild workers.
Even when he talked to me, he was polite and modest.

However, he had the title of ‘Dragon Slayer,’ and was a great warrior who they called Bloodwind Victor.
It was because everyone knew this, that Adventurers, who were often the rough sort, never underestimated him.

“I’m not so old that I would lose to the young ones.”

Victor said as he stroked the long beard that he was so proud of.
There was no doubt that even now, Victor was a first-rate fighter.

“I’m counting on you.”
“Yes. I’m counting on you too, Theo.”
Victor said with a grin.

After that, Victor introduced me to the other members of the research group.

There were fifteen B-rank Adventurers. And three brilliant, young scholars.
Along with Victor and I, we made a team of twenty.

You were a first-rate Adventurer once you hit B-rank.
There was A-rank above that, and also S-rank. Though that was a rare rank that had only been given to Hero and his companions.
Victor was an A-rank, and I was an S-rank by virtue of having traveled with Hero.

The Adventurers that were part of the team came in a variety of races.
Some were humans like me, while others were dwarves, elves and even demonfolk.

The three scholars were a geologist, climatologist, and monsterologist respectively.

“I wanted to bring some craftsmen with me as well… But it’s too early for that.”

The plan was to bring such people after they had finished their research and determined that the place could be inhabited by humans.

“Until then, we will just have to rely on your crafting skills, Theo.”
“Aye, I will do anything that I can.”

I said, and Victor laughed happily.

And then I asked him something I had been thinking about.

“By the way, what about the shipmen?”
“We weren’t able to bring dedicated shipmen with us…”

Apparently, the Adventurers here were capable of manning a ship.
They didn’t have enough food and water for people who would only keep the ship sailing.
Even Victor was going to take the place of captain of the ship.

“We do have a magic bag…but there are limits.”

They had borrowed a magic bag from the guild, and so we had two in all.
Magic bags were not only rare, but also very expensive.
The fact that even one had been lended to them showed how serious the guild was about this business.

I then introduced myself to the other members.
“We know who you are. You’re the famous Theo. The guy who does anything, right?”
“We’ve been waiting for you. It’s very reassuring to have you with us.”
They received me warmly. I was grateful for that.

And then three days later, the research team departed for the new continent.