Though Kuudai has as good and refreshing character, Canaan is incompatible with him.

  Well, it was bad that Canaan imposes her ideals on Kuudai. But it seems that Canaan thought that it’s the right thing to do.

  Ever since Canaan was a child, she already continuously trained herself to be a follower of the apostle of god. Therefore, she might have felt insulted when her feeling was held in derision when she finally became an attendant of the apostle of god.

  However, it is not necessary to deny Kuudai’s opinion.

  I asked Kuudai to guide us to the king of beastkins for the time being.

  「I understand. Even if you didn’t say that you’re the apostle of god, there is a king of humans, elven royalty, and elder of dark elves among you. It would be natural for us to guide you to our king.」


  Kuudai said so and began walking towards the upper stream of the river.

  I called Kuuda in a hurry to stop him.

  「Ah, Kuudai. We’re going to fly using a group flight magic.」


  When I said so, Kuudai wondered so with a strange expression but when Canaan casted the group flight magic, he became popeyed and raised a voice of admiration.

  「How…no chant. I thought that there would be a good magician because there are elves but to make everyone fly with no chant…」


  Kuudai muttered so while groaning. He pointed the upper part of the river.

  「I can’t help but be surprise. Now, head upstream. It’s about 5 kilometers away.」


  「Understood.」


  When I replied to Kuudai, Canaan nodded and pulled us up.

  The children who were playing in the riverside cheered and the surrounding beastkins were looking at us curiously.

  Because of the width of the river, we moved considerably easy.

  However, I was more surprised at the population of beastkins. Houses are lined up along the river without continuously. When I asked Kuudai about it, Kuudai answered like it was nothing.

  「There should be 200,000 beastkins now. Perhaps it has already been increased by 10,000.」


  This is surprising.

  Even though it has been over 1400 years, how can several people increase their population to 200,000? What is their population growth rate per year?

  No, it’s even more surprising that that number of people are living in this forest where there are monsters.

  「Amazing. It is a well-established country. Are you attacked by monsters? What about your food situation? 」


  When I ask it so, Kuudai nodded shallowly.

  「In the beastkin’s country, when you turned 10 years old, you’ll fight monsters with adults. You’ll be grouped in a party of 10 and you’ll be assigned to hunt from morning to night or from night to morning near where he lives. The monsters defeated becomes food.」


  Kuudai says so as he looks around the vicinity and points at a certain direction.

  Although it is visible from the riverside, there is a humanoid monster with 3 meters height standing there.

  It is a monster that is almost as high as a two-storey house with a head of a cow. It also has thick long horns on its head, a minotaur.

  It has a thick body and is walking with two legs with joints reversed compared to a human being. It is also holding a huge club with both hands which is as large as a person.

  If I compare it to the game, that would be the first dungeon’s boss. It is a monster with moderate strength and you can also find it in a high ranked dungeon as a mob monster.

  But after thinking about the minotaur that appeared, it fell on its knee.

  Three swords are stabbed in its back and there are a lot of blood gushing out from its neck and the back of its knee if you look closely.

  As soon as the minotaur fell, five beastkins surrounded the minotaur. The minotaur became vigilant.

  The beastkin warriors around it look wary.

  「It seems like that minotaur has escaped using its physical strength. It should have been defeated before being able to invade that much.」


  Kuudai was a little frustrated when he said that then looked at me.

  「Minotaur, orc, one-eyed worm, ogre….sometimes sphinx also come out. The most frightening one would be cockatrice. When one comes out, warriors and trainee sometimes die. Therefore, the head of each group will form a group in order to subjugate the cockatrice. 」


  When Kuudai says so, Sherahamira rounded her eyes in surprise.

  「All of those monsters are pretty strong. In our country, warriors alone will not be enough and needs to be accompanied by at least two mages. How many mages do you have here?」


  When Sherahamira asked, Kuudai shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth.

  「Hmm, there are some beastkin mages here but they are those who came back from the outside world. Those who learned magic from the outside teach their children but there is not even a single mage that can be considered strong. However, using magic is convenient for daily lives so only women aim to be mages.」


  When Kuudai explained so, Alicequiteria smiled like she was in trouble.

  「I must restore the status and trust of mages. Even beastkins can be a famous mage, why is the evaluation for mages that low?」


  When Alicequiteria says so, Kuudai looked at Alicequiteria with a difficult face.

  「Though it might sounds bad for elves who have god given magic power, magic is somewhat inefficient. It is convenient but if you want to defeat the enemy quickly, one should raise their physical ability and beat, kick, cut, and tear it.」


  Kuudai said that in an apologetic way but I could see a hidden anger floating on Alicequiteria and Canaan’s face.

  「I-it seems that we have to settle it once…against each other.」


  Canaan said that to Kuudai while trembling in anger. Kuudai laughs cheerfully and nods.

  「Ah, I like competitions. Please show us the essence of magic.」


  Kuudai said so and laughed again and turned his gaze to the river.

  「Mou, we are already at Chubu. We will arrive at Sh*tamachi, the capital, soon.」


  「Chubu? Sh*tamachi?」


  I instinctively asked back when I heard Kuudai.

  Central and downtown?

  TN: Chubu and Sh*tamachi are written in kana while central and downtown in kanji

  When he heard me, Kuudai turned around.

  「What? Have you ever heard of it?」


  「No, why Sh*tamachi? I’m just anxious about the origin.」


  When I asked him, Kuudai crossed his arms. It seems that he got accustomed to flying that he also crossed his legs like seating in the air.

  Kuudai opens his mouth and groans.

  「The origin of the name of Sh*tamachi…I never cared about it so I can only tell that it has been called that way since long ago.」


  Kuudai said that while he tilted his head.

  There is certainly a trace of the apostle of god but there is one thing that bothers me.

  Like the country of elves, the country of beastkins is built in a quite wide area but unlike the country of elves, the country of beastkins doesn’t have monster prevention scheme.

  However, the south end of the country of beastkin also got its name from the southernmost part of Japan.

  Did the apostle of god really decide the name of this place when the population of the beastkins is small? Or did the apostle of god live considerably long?

  Will I be able to solve this mystery when we arrived at Sh*tamachi? This is interesting.

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