I diligently continued my training with 【Monkey’s Arm】 every day, juggling beanbags and swinging a broom around. But the day finally arrived to depart for Mercenal Territory.

My belongings had already been sent ahead through a merchant.

It was the same method I used when Teresa and I stayed at Zelkis’s mansion in the past.

That said, this time, our stay would only be two days—much shorter.

It was just a courtesy visit, and that was sufficient.

Besides, while I could make the trip at any time, Teresa had work here as well, so if needed, we could always return.

“Well then, Sera, Teresa. Please give my regards to Brother-in-law Edgar and Sister.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

We had come to Liesel’s office for our departure greetings, but it was quite casual.

Seriana didn’t seem to have anything particular to say either, just waving her hand lazily.

Yep.

Business as usual.

Once Teresa had also finished her greetings, we left the office and headed for the entrance together.

For transportation, we decided not to use 【Small Orb】 this time and opted for a tandem ride on 【Floating Orb】 instead.

I had visited Mercenal Territory before during a round trip to the royal capital, but back then, I used a water route via ship.

This would be my first time traveling there with 【Floating Orb】, so I wanted to be cautious.

“Now then, Princess. Shall we go?”

“Alright. Just the wind is fine, right?”

Teresa spread her arms toward me, confirming whether she only needed to activate 【Wind Cloak】 for defense.

“Yes, that’s enough.”

She nodded while lifting me up.

Once she activated 【Floating Orb】 and we took to the air, we bid farewell to the servants and set our course south.

It was still early morning, so if all went well, we should arrive before sunset.

◇

“…Whoa. It’s pretty big.”

We had been heading south for a while now after leaving the capital.

Following the road cutting through the forest, we reached a village governed by Luban.

I had come halfway down this road before and seen the village from afar, but this was my first time approaching it this closely.

The village was situated along a large river that extended to the sea, handling water transportation for Riana.

Because of that, many people and goods gathered here, making it significantly larger than a typical village.

The population probably exceeded a thousand.

This world had the troublesome factor of monsters.

If too many people gathered in one place without proper planning, it would also attract monsters.

So, population growth was regulated until a settlement could sustain an adequate level of defense.

Still, at this size, wouldn’t it be reasonable to expand and officially call it a town?

“The population seems sufficient. If you look over there… you can see several small settlements forming. Eventually, they’ll likely be absorbed into this one, turning it into a town,” Teresa commented, pointing west.

Looking in that direction, I could indeed spot some buildings even from here.

The main village leaned toward commerce, but those settlements seemed to be located at the forest’s edge and along the road—probably home to hunters and other forest workers.

With a village of this scale, it was difficult to divide areas by occupation, so they had likely split into separate clusters instead.

“Should we stop by to greet Lord Luban?”

“Hmm…”

I observed the village in response to Teresa’s question.

“No, it looks like he’s not here. Let’s just pass through. His wives would probably be surprised if we showed up unannounced.”

Activating 【Fairy’s Eye】 to scan the village, I couldn’t sense Luban’s presence.

Even from a distance, there was no way I would overlook that guy.

He was probably out somewhere beyond the village.

Instead, there was a particularly grand building in the village where a few strong individuals had gathered.

Most likely, those were Luban’s wives and some of the mansion’s guards.

I had met them before, but we weren’t close enough to engage in casual banter.

Dropping in unexpectedly would just cause trouble.

Since visiting this village wasn’t part of our original plan, we might as well skip it.

“Understood. Let’s hurry on ahead.”

“Yeah.”

We adjusted our course to avoid flying directly over the village and accelerated southward.

◇

Mercenal Territory and Zelkis Territory were connected by land, their borders touching.

However, before Seriana and Liesel’s engagement was made public, there had been no real interaction between them.

The reason was simple: they were separated by mountains.

Nowadays, trade via water routes had become common, but the situation was different for Mercenal.

While we only needed to drift down the river, they had to travel upstream, which was much more difficult.

Although the factions weren’t on bad terms, the East and South regions had remained separate, so there was never a reason to establish relations.

In the end, the engagement was a political maneuver that facilitated exchange between the two.

Anyway, right now, we had reached the foot of those mountains.

Once we crossed them, we’d enter Mercenal Territory.

There was a village nestled at the base—it had a peaceful atmosphere.

“…Huh, it’s not that high. Since there was no overland trade before, I thought it would be much more rugged.”

Rather than a treacherous mountain range, the landscape was relatively gentle, with low elevations.

It was completely different from the rugged mountains stretching west of Zelkis.

“Even though the terrain isn’t harsh, it’s home to a significant number of monsters.

Riding horses into battle wouldn’t be practical, so both Zelkis and Mercenal have kept their hunting activities near the base of the mountains,” Teresa explained.

“I see…”

That made sense.

Monsters would naturally prefer gentler terrain over harsh mountain peaks.

And if there was no real reason to travel across a monster-infested mountain, no one would bother attempting it.

Or perhaps, it was precisely because of the monsters that trade routes over land had never developed in the first place?

Well, either way, it didn’t really matter.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sera・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind Garment】・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・4 cards

Seriana・【Range Identification】・【】・39 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・9 cards