[Travel Log] | Entry no.72: 'Journey to the Southern Region!'
- Ding ding ding! Welcome to—
Petra P Poppy's Travel Log!
- Insert Party Shakers~!
—Hello, dear readers! Welcome to my little interlude! With the year-long vacation finally over, and the seaside storm swiftly approaching, it's time to return to the road!
Here's how it went!
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[Travel Log] | [Leaving the Green Wind Forest!]
Leaving home this time felt very different! We wouldn't be back for a very long time, if at all, and although this was a bit sad, all things had to eventually come to an end.
While traveling, the road was deserted.
The atmosphere this time was… Mm, very different!
The beasts had completely taken over the forest, but instead of becoming more dangerous, they seemed to have turned into belligerent hooligans…
Yikes! What kind of lunatic caused that?
Mm! We'll never know!
Hopefully…
On our way, several of them even blocked the road and tried to 'charge a toll', claiming weird things like, 'this road was dug by me' and 'these trees were planted by me!' Therefor…
They wanted us to pay!
Ridiculous!
Seriously, who taught them this damn Earth slang!
Mm! We'll never know!
Hopefully…
Near the end of the ride, we even ran into 'Goldilocks and the three bears', er… or at least the fantasy version of them!
It was a small yellow mouse, that little bitch, and three massive bears, each as big as a house!
They tried to rob us, too!
What the hell!
Cough-cough!
Anyways…
They walked away completely naked. They'll probably spend the rest of their lives like that too…
Hump! Serves them right! I consider it a public service!
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[Travel Log] | [Revisiting Sevensen!]
This was our fourth visit to Sevensen! Fourth? Mm, one, two, three, four. Yeah! I think it was four…
The city was extremely lively! They were currently restructuring the entire city, and almost everything had changed! Apparently, the 'scruffy idiot' was disposed of, er… the 'City Lord'. He was replaced by the Mercenary Alliance, the new big bosses of the northern region!
It's a shame we're moving out. I would've liked more time to play with them...
Alas!
In this short year, the Mercenary Alliance had already built an enormous headquarters directly in the center of the city, replacing the City Lord's mansion entirely. The old authority was gone, scrubbed clean and trampled almost as easily as swaggering into a new home.
It was quite impressive, thought Petra…
Yeah, I did think that!
Mm…
Surprisingly, the people of Sevensen loved the change very much! Especially since there were still thousands of slaves lurking in the shadows of the city.
Remember the Underground Black Market? Well—! Only a small portion of those slaves were actually 'owned' by the Black Chain. The rest were imprisoned and sold by outside forces, so when we passed through, many of the slaves had become mercenaries, replacing what was lost in the Second Calamity.
They even held a large festival!
Not for the slaves, er, no… but for the new City Lord, Hexfill, the self-proclaimed 'Lord of the North!'
We ended up participating as we passed, mostly by accident…
The timing was a bit, er… you know, 'fate' and all that bullshit! Nyahahaha!
Overall, the city felt lighter, almost happier in an imperceptible way. The oppressive veil that had smothered the city over the past two years was gone, replaced by construction and rebirth! It was a refreshing contrast to the old city!
Just before we left, we also took a quick trip back to the 'Old Owl's Books & Pens Bookstore!' It was now up and running, like nothing had ever happened! (The Fire)
After meeting the scholarly gnome, we moved on…
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[Travel Log] | [Passing Through the Solarin Castle!]
The next stop on our journey was the Solarin Castle.
Unlike Sevensen, the Solarin Castle had a much heavier atmosphere.
It was a bit like mourning…
We only stayed for a day, but the level of surveillance was incomparable to the previous visit. Apparently, something had happened to the Castle Lord.
He didn't die, I don't think…
His mood had apparently been kinda down lately, you know, with his half-dead son and all, and the entire city reflected his mood.
On a not-so-side side note—
There was a massive reward posted for anyone who could 'cure' his son's condition!
So—!
We decided not to get involved...
Such a setup sounded too much like a side quest, and as the anti-protagonist, I naturally had to avoid any triggers, or at least—
I tried to…
- Grumbles
That damn old lady we met during our first visit found her way to me again! She even interrupted me in the middle of my sleep!
Damn granny!
Oh, and wouldn't you know, she also had a special identity!
Damn it! It's so frustrating just thinking about it! Back then, when I met her for the first time, I bet she left the store all cool and stuff, acting like an important character!
Hmph!
As for now—
I poisoned her to death!
Mm, no, no I didn't…
I just put her to sleep and avoided the quest giver. Some side quests are meant to be skipped.
Then… we moved on!
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While on the way to the next stop, down the southern road, we ran into a strange trio heading north.
It was a small girl with bright blue hair. She rode on the back of a large blue rhinoceros beetle, using it like a mount. To her side was one of the top competitors of the Grand Gathering, the strange bug, the insect clan one, you know, the fast and sharp one! Mm, what was it again… Ah! Yes, the 'Sword Bug!'
This trio was just swaggering down the road…
The sharp one, er, the sword bug, seemed to be some kind of 'mentor to the small girl, so it was often waited on by the little disciple.
It was quite a cute interaction.
The small girl used a huge hammer, but the way she used it produced the same effect as a sword cultivator. It was really odd…
Anyways, it was just a passing glance, so we didn't inquire!
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[Travel Log] | [Journey in the Blackstone Mountain Range!]
Traveling through the Blackstone Mountain Range was much more leisurely this time. The number of travelers had dropped significantly, and the mountain path almost felt as deserted as the Green Wind Forest during the Green Tide.
We encountered many magic beasts during this period. Unlike the freaks in the forest, these guys were leftovers from the massive migration that had happened throughout most of the year!
As for how these encounters went…
Well—
Most of them were 'generously modified' into very delicious dishes!
I must say, Luna's really gotten good at cooking. From not knowing at all, to becoming a little master, she's undoubtedly the most important member of the team!
It's a shame she's not a boy, or I might really have turned this into a romance novel!
What was the saying, the stomach's the portal to the heart?
Something like that…
Ahem!
Honestly, this part of the journey was just a monstrous buffet. It had gotten so bad that even the magic beasts had started to avoid us…
Smart little bastards…
While taking a break to relax, we were approached by a noble youth and his friends!
This kid's name was Cross, or Crossal? Mm, something like that…
He was some noble brat from Imai.
Anyways, this idiot seemed to take an interest in Luna, so I made him 'impotent' and sent him on his way after crippling both his legs and beating him up! Ha. Ha. Ha…!
Although, it did seem like we were going the same way…
Sucks to be him…
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[Travel Log] | [The Stupid Castle - Luna Castle!]
To reach the south, we had to pass through Luna Castle.
Like the Solarin Castle and the Laton Castle, it was one of the three castle cities that served as gateways between the central region and the other regions.
We had passed through here before…
Unlike the Solarin Castle to the north and the Laton Castle to the east, the Luna Castle led to the south and the west, respectively. This was for a geographical reason, so only one castle was built at a very specific chokepoint to encompass both directions. It was capable of funneling the majority of travellers, but at the same time, this also came with an enormous downside.
Because of the massive migration and constant stampedes, the city had to undergo some large changes to prevent the unimaginable number of high-level magic beasts from trampling it to the ground. This was mostly done by creating special roadways that funneled the magic beasts directly through the city's center and away from its core infrastructure.
It was a bit like—
The 'Running of the Bulls…'
Even after a full year, the castle city had still retained this strange state, and occasionally you would see large magical beasts swaggering through the streets unimpeded.
It was quite fun!
You may ask yourself, well, Petra, what if the beasts got hungry and ran off the beaten path? Wouldn't that endanger the city?
Well!
Let me tell you—!
Yes, but this made the magic beasts far less dangerous, like a fish out of water. Any beast that left the pre-prepared trails would just be slaughtered and cooked up. It was a pretty fun system, and the city seems to be planning to keep it.
Also—
We ran into the four adventurers again, you know, the ones that Wind and Soryn were familiar with? Mm, who were they… Rogan, Brenn, Iven, and Lyra. They survived the Second Calamity and seemed to be doing very well.
It was nice to see!
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Moving on…
While traveling towards the southern border, we found a strange inn to stay at for the night.
Even if we didn't need to, we still stayed, looking for a spooky encounter along the way. We didn't get one… but we did meet a gloomy girl with big black bags under her eyes, pale purple hair, and a white cowlick! It was such a tease!
She really did look like a ghost…
That's…
That…
Um…
Petra—I didn't mean to punch her! She really did—I really did think she was a ghost! How awkward…
Anyways, this gloomy girl foreshadowed something about the 'Ghost King' or something like that… it didn't really matter. We skipped the plot, and the gloomy girl slinked away with a resentful, no, a bitter expression. Petra felt that she was a bit tsundere…
Oh well, it's unlikely they would ever meet again anyway!
The next morning, we just left.
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Before we reached the southern border, there was one last surprise waiting for us… er, Petra—me!
One day, after a long nap, I discovered a golden light flying around outside. Being the inquisitive little child that I am, I naturally went outside, unaccompanied, and carelessly sought out this strange phenomenon! After following it into the forest, I continued to casually leave all my maids behind, and was then led into the heart of the forest. It was there that I confirmed something that I—that Wind had been suspecting for a very long time!
And that was—
I seem to be the mortal enemy of all hummingbirds!
Yes…
Those hummingbirds, the little rainbow things with long beaks. Those freaks that can move almost as fast as a dragonfly. The golden light turned out to be a golden hummingbird, and it had led me into an ambush. Classic! From the forest, thousands of fist-sized hummingbirds emerged, like a gang, holding tiny spiked clubs and gang memorabilia, like little black hats and tiny bird-shaped shoes… One of them, the Golden Hummingbird, was even smoking, with black shades he had slid on at some point.
And just to be clear…
That's not me breaking the fantasy atmosphere, these little things were like fairies! They were clearly intelligent, almost like little humans!
The whole thing had a strange sense of dissonance!
Cough-cough!
Ahem!
Where was I, oh yes—
I then heroically escaped from the small chickens completely unharmed. You can quote me on that… I was not beaten up by a cloud of living blurs!!
- Petra, with two swollen black eyes, instructed Wind to write…
Anyways—!
For some reason, I have become the eternal enemy of all hummingbirds… What's up with that?
I really don't know…
No, wait…
Now that I think about it… Could It be 'that?'
No way, right? How embarrassing would it be if 'he' was one of those pint-sized birds!? Hahahahaha!!
I guess we'll never know…
Hahaha… Hopefully! Mm, moving on, we finished the journey!
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[Travel Log] | [Reaching the Southern Border!] We reached the southern region!
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