Chapter 519: To the North

Rather than returning to the Royal Capital through [Dimensional Corridor], Tauro and the rest of Black-Gold Wings decided, for the first time, to leave the Dragonfolk Village on foot and travel around the northern region.

Needless to say, the Dragonfolk Village lay deep within the largely uncharted Antas Mountain Range. It was exceedingly rare for ordinary humans to traverse the mountains and reach it on foot.

On very rare occasions, lost adventurers might be taken in by nearby dragonfolk and temporarily guided to the village, but Tauro and his companions were about the only people who had ever visited more than once.

That was how difficult it was to reach the Dragonfolk Village directly from human-inhabited lands on foot.

Knowing this full well, Tauro and his companions still decided to cross the Antas Mountain Range and adventure through the north.

At first glance it seemed nothing short of reckless, but Chief Ryuga and the other dragonfolk didn’t stop them, believing that Tauro and the others in their current state would be fine.

“As for directions, Ragune is with you, so you should be all right. You descended the mountain once with the senior dragonfolk before, right? Do you remember the route?”

Chief Ryuga asked Ragune just to be sure.

“Of course! I worked so hard to remember the way back then, so it’s fine!”

Ragune thumped her chest and answered with full confidence.

And so, with the dragonfolk seeing them off, Tauro and the others began their descent.

“…Ragune. We’ve been walking through the Antas Mountain Range for almost two weeks now. Are you sure this is the right way?”

Tauro was beginning to think it might be better to return to the Dragonfolk Village through [Dimensional Corridor] and start over. It had been a grueling two weeks.

During that time, they had encountered and defeated powerful monsters unlike any they had faced before, and as a result, they had accumulated quite a few drop items.

“I-it’s fine! —Ah! Look, that huge rock shaped like a wolf over there’s the landmark showing that we’re entering human-inhabited territory!”

Sure enough, a huge wolf-shaped boulder stood where Ragune pointed. It was the landmark she had repeatedly said they would eventually reach, one made by the dragonfolk.

However, the direction of that rock bothered Tauro.

“Isn’t it strange that the landmark rock is to the north of us?”

Aeris seemed to think the same thing, as she nodded at Tauro’s words.

“Yeah, that’s true. The mountain weather made it hard to check the sun’s position, but it’s definitely strange for the marker to be north of us. It should be to the west. If it’s north, that would mean we were already inside human-inhabited territory.”

Ankh also confirmed their position by pointing at the sun, which had finally peeked out from behind thick clouds for the first time in days.

“…Ragune, did you get us lost?”

Zion pointed it out bluntly.

“…Uh… b-but look! We made it safely to human-inhabited lands, so isn’t that what matters…!?”

Ragune was clearly trying her hardest to bluff her way through. Tauro and the others exchanged glances and smiled wryly.

“Then let’s just say we successfully crossed the mountains.”

With that, Tauro brought the matter to a close and continued toward the wolf-shaped boulder.

After passing the base of the wolf-shaped boulder and descending pathless slopes for several hours, Black-Gold Wings encountered more powerful monsters that were difficult to defeat. Eventually, they reached a small village surrounded by a fence.

“Don’t tell me you folks came all the way from the Antas Mountains?!”

The first villager they encountered—a man chopping wood outside the village—noticed Tauro’s group and called out in surprise.

“We seem to have gotten lost and taken a strange route. What village is this? If possible, could you also tell us roughly where we are?”

Tauro didn’t really answer the man’s question and instead asked to confirm their location.

He felt that admitting they had crossed the Antas Mountains might pose a problem in itself.

“What, you’re lost? …Yeah, figures. There’s no way ordinary people could just cross the Antas Mountain Range! —This is Nor Village. It lies at the western foothills of the Antas Mountain Range, right along the border between the Kingdom of Sart and the Empire. You know where that’s, at least, right? Hahaha!”

At the villager’s explanation, everyone turned their gaze toward Ragune.

Ragune had indeed gotten them lost, and without realizing it they had gradually been heading north.

If things had gone badly, they might have followed the mountain range straight across the border into the Empire.

“Ragune, care to explain this?”

Tauro asked with a gentle smile.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Ragune realized what a major blunder this was and bowed deeply in apology.

“But hey, we didn’t actually cross the border, so it turned out fine. And we’re not in a hurry anyway.”

Aeris spoke in Ragune’s defense as she bowed repeatedly.

“Yeah. We made it back to civilization safely, and we got to confirm how much everyone had grown along the way. All things considered, it wasn’t bad.”

Ankh backed her up as well.

“Let’s think of it as a good journey!”

Zion chimed in with the others.

“…All right, then let’s leave it at that. Um, excuse me—does this village have an inn?”

Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Tauro chose not to press Ragune any further and instead asked the villager about lodging.

“An inn? Nah, nothing that fancy. Visitors usually stay in an empty house or at the village chief’s place. Are you adventurers?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, the chief’s been saying he could use more hands, so this might be perfect. I’ll take you to him—follow me.”

With that, the villager led Tauro and the others toward the village entrance.