Part 1
Two weeks later.
Lifelia Kingdom Calendar, Year 164, Month 7, Day 20, Midday──
Receiving wind on the sails, the sand ship sailed.
It was a small wooden yacht that had about 10 people onboard, but the location wasn’t the sea, but a desert.
The hull that was strengthened by magic cut through the waves of sand and advanced forward.
With this being her first time, Shera was extremely excited. Rem was nervous. As for Lumachina, she prayed to Kami-sama the whole time.
This was something that Diablo experienced in the MMORPG Cross Reverie but……
──This feels super good!
He crossed his arms and sat down looking massive like a Demon King, but he had trouble keeping the ends of his lips from grinning.
The ship’s captain that wore a black cloth on his head pointed straight ahead.
「There’s Zircon Tower!」
「Umu!」
In the horizon that was nothing but light brown sand, a warped tower could be seen.
Surrounding the tower, there were several tents.
There was a lake in the middle of the desert.
It was one of those so-called oasis things.
And then, at the center of the lake, a sand colored tower was erected. Looking closely, rather than sand, it was stone──Or rather, it was precious stone.
It was faintly transparent, and light was complexly reflected on the interior and dispersed.
It wasn’t a structure of the Races. It was said that this as a tower that the Demonic Beings created.
This was former Demon King territory──
Up until just 30 years prior, this was a land where the Demon King reigned, Demonic Beings lived, and Demonic Beasts crept about.
As the speed was slowing down, Rem was finally able to regain her composure.
「……I thought I was going to die.」
「Kuku……You are surprisingly a coward.」
Her cheeks blushed a bit.
「……Diablo, you might not understand this since you are able to fly as far as the sky but……I am not good with travel where I do not use my own two feet. Both carriages and ships……」
「It is something you get used to.」
「……Yes. Nevertheless, we arrived here quite easily.」
「Would you have preferred if we went through more hardships?」
「No, of course not……Diablo, you talked like you were familiar with the Demon King territory, didn’t you? Isn’t this your first time coming to the former Demon King territory?」
「Mu……」
Diablo had introduced himself as a “Demon King of another world”. It was a bit strange for him to be familiar with the Demon King territory of this world. Frankly speaking, the setting was half-hearted.
「That is……in other words……th, though I have not come here before, I know about it. For I am a Demon King.」
This was agonizing.
It was an agonizing setting that would warrant a tsukkomi on the BBS.
Rem nodded.
「……Demon Kings do have that sort ability, don’t they.」
What a good girl. He ended up feeling like he would reflexively pat her head.
Diablo hid the turmoil of his mind, crossed his arms and reclined back looking self-important.
「Umu, as I am a Demon King, it is only natural that I am familiar with the Demon King territory.」
Though they had some surprising hardships like getting lost on the road, having the weather go bad on them, and not being able to find the ferryman……
The map was fairly different from the one in MMORPG Cross Reverie.
In any case, it was vast.
That was also the case with the distance between Faltra City and 《Starfall Tower》 , but it was much more vast when compared with the game.
Because of that, he had mistaken the road several times until he became familiar with it.
Even with a dungeon that was a straight line in the game, in this world, it swerved quite a bit. Though, that was natural if it were a natural cavern.
Also, the fact that Diablo forgot a portion of the map was also a reason for their hardships.
Since he traveled by nothing but 《Transfer》 after becoming high leveled, it had been a staggeringly long time since he had passed through the area that they immediately entered from Faltra City on their way to the Demon King territory.
If it were a normal Player, they might have gone along with some newly made companions, and passed through this area many times over but……
Diablo pretty much never joined a party with other people.
──Ah, I guess I’m doing that right now.
For Rem and Shera, this was their first time coming to this place. Though, Lumachina was more of someone they were escorting than a companion.
「I guess it was something like this……」
The voice that he accidentally muttered was drowned out by the sound of the ship pushing the sand out of the way.
When they entered the town, the sand ship approached the pier.
Though it was called a pier, it was different from the ones that project out to sea from the shore.
Right now, the place that it crossed over was the desert, but the sand ground continued on even into the town. There weren’t any particular differences.
The pier was a slope for the sake of getting down from the sand boat’s tall gunwale to the ground.
Just as he carried some large luggage and was about to jump down──
Shera yelled 「We’re hereー!!」 and jumped down from the boat.
*Zuboh* Landing on both feet, her legs were buried in the sand. It went up to her knees.
「Fugyaa~!?」
「…………We’ll leave you behind you know?」
「Are, are you alright?」
Rem and Lumachina got down using the pier. Diablo also did the same.
「Wait, wait, I can’t get outー!?」
When she struggled about trying to break free, she was buried further into the sand. When a large amount of sand gets on top of one’s instep, it’s surprisingly hard to get the foot out.
Diablo grabbed onto the nape of Shera’s neck, and pulled her up. Going *dosa~~~っ*, the sand fell down. Even the inside of her boots were covered in sand.
Because there was a difference in their physique, Diablo ended with only sinking a little bit.
「Hmph」
「Th, thank you, Diablo~」
*Gyuu* She clung onto him.