Chapter 133: Let's Look Down on the Fortress City of Liheid

Let’s Look Down on the Fortress City of Liheid

* * *

“Oh, there it is, there it is!”

“Lucky! It seems no one has come this way today yet!”

“Hurry and pick them up! It’ll be a pain if monsters show up!”

While saying such things, some bearded old men wearing strange iron hats with wide brims were gathering fallen nuts at my feet far below.

I was currently standing on a large branch of a Kirkree tree, watching them intently while using 【Presence Concealment】.

Well hello there. It’s me, the traveling girl Emi.

Now then, after fleeing from Grounoddka Village, I headed straight westward across the nameless prairie.

The reason was because Extra-sama remembered there was another demon realm beyond the Kaise Forest over there.

Thanks to watching various isekai broadcasts, Extra-sama has become quite knowledgeable about the world’s geography.

I needed a demon realm.

Or more accurately, to satisfy my insatiable hunger, I needed the plentiful meat inhabitants dwelling within a demon realm.

Thanks to that chattering black lizard, my current self is tormented by such ravenous hunger that if I let my guard down, I’d want to snatch and devour even humans.

So from the start, I couldn’t choose to go down among human settlements.

In that case, a demon realm was my only choice.

“………”

Oh, on the branch one level below where I’m standing.

An assassin kirkree worm about as long as my arm was attempting to pounce on the old men gathering nuts below.

This is a monster.

Named the Assassin Kirkree Worm.

Its favorite food is human flesh.

In any case, without delay, I leapt over and grabbed it, crushing its head while it squirmed curled up, and took a bite of its twitching body.

Quite delicious.

munch munch

But you see, Extra-sama.

They’re probably locals who gather nuts for a living, right?

If attacked by a monster, they’d be startled, wouldn’t they?

Eh, really?

Not nut gathering workers?

Oh, I see.

As should be clear from our conversation, I’ve already arrived and entered this demon realm.

The name of this demon realm is the Ranrananga Mountains.

It’s definitely an immense mountain range since it’s been visible for a long distance ever since I was running across those distant prairies.

Probably even bigger than the mountain where I stayed with my master.

I only arrived yesterday, so I’ve only explored a small part around the mountain’s base, but if asked about the defining characteristic of this demon realm, it would be the kirkree trees covering the entire area.

Ah, about what kind of tree the kirkree tree is, to put it simply, it’s a stupidly huge nut tree.

Not just the tree being huge, but the nuts are massive too.

Looking straight ahead from ground level, there are nuts about as big as a human head covered in prickly shells.

If the shell is that huge, it means the actual nut inside is massive too.

I’ve been eating quite a lot since yesterday, and it has a pretty satisfying texture, which I’m grateful for.

I did get directly hit yesterday, but I was perfectly fine.

Ah, while we were talking, a kirkree shell fell from the branch and scored a direct hit on one of the old men’s heads below.

“Oww!? Ouch!!”

The old man cried out and crouched down for a moment, but it seems he’s used to it.

He immediately stood back up and resumed gathering nuts.

Huh?

Scary. What a bloody mystery.

“Alright! We’ve got plenty now!”

“Yeah! And for some reason, monsters didn’t show up much today too. Lucky us!”

“Let’s head back to Liheid!”

After a while, the old men who had filled the baskets on their backs to the brim with kirkree nuts too large to hug with both arms began heading back toward their town.

Hm?

Then the ground behind the old men began wriggling.

What appeared after shedding its camouflage was a Tezonka burrowing rat.

A huge rat that can grow as large as an adult man.

Its favorite food is human flesh.

Of course, it’s designated as a dangerous monster.

The rat must have been lying in wait for an opportunity while the old men were gathering nuts, not making a sound.

They’ve let their guard down and still haven’t noticed the rat behind them.

The rat starts slithering silently, about to pounce on the old men’s backs.

“………”

…But I won’t allow that.

Those old men don’t seem like bad people, and it wouldn’t be fun watching them die right in front of me.

I lightly use 【Stone Throw】 with a pebble from my pocket toward the rat.

The pebble whistles through the air and gets sucked into the rat’s head.

With its head pierced, the rat collapses dead.

Despite the large rat falling behind them, the old men are so engrossed in chattering that they don’t notice.

They simply continue noisily heading back toward their town.

……………………

Those old men are far too careless, aren’t they?

Causing such a ruckus in a demon realm, the dwelling of monsters.

Are they really adventurers?

Or just local nut gathering workers after all?

I wonder why.

Now that I think about it, didn’t they say something earlier like “Monsters aren’t showing up much today”?

So they let their guard down because of that?

Why’s that?

Eh, then that’s dangerous for me too, isn’t it?

But I already explored the area yesterday and hunted down and killed any considerably large, formidable-looking monsters I could find.

I don’t recall encountering any dangerous monster like that.

Hm? What’s wrong, Extra-sama?

Regardless, it means I need to stay vigilant instead of getting careless too.

I’ve become stronger.

But there are still beings above me.

There could be an overwhelmingly powerful existence in these mountains that I can’t handle.

I can’t let my guard down.

Why are you being so evasive, Extra-sama?

If you say so.

Well, whatever.

A warm gust of wind blew from the mountain base in the south.

The kirkree trees rustle their large leaves in a swaying chorus.

On a whim, I look down in the direction the wind came from.

A river flows outward from deep within these mountains, and stretching along it are vast fields.

Towering over those fields, protecting them, is the town the old men referred to as the fortress city of Liheid.

According to Extra-sama, that town serves as a stronghold to halt the monster invasions spilling from this Ranrananga Mountain Range demon realm.

Simultaneously, it’s a base for adventurers gathering the mountain’s bounties like kirkree nuts and monster materials.

Apparently a very lively, vibrant town.

“…………”

Well, not that it really matters anyway.

It’s a town I’ll never be able to enter.

If I went, the townspeople would dislike me, and I’d hate being treated that way too.

It’s best if I avoid contact with humans as much as possible.

That’s why I was concealing myself up in this tree earlier when those old men passed by.

If discovered, I’d just get yelled at as the “cursed child” again.

It can’t be helped.

A small feeling of loneliness welled up for a moment.

But I shook my head to drive away such selfish thoughts before leaping down to the ground to eat the rat.

Author’s note: Emi has appeared too, so the cast of characters is now assembled!

Well, strictly speaking, the cast was already assembled with just the hero’s party and Deogandai.

Emi is simply an extra.

Truly, she is “The Reincarnated Extra.”