Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

Chapter 147 The Journey Home

The horse-faced demon looked terrified. He wanted to say something, but his mouth was wide open and his arm unconsciously reached for his neck, yet he couldn't utter a word. It was as if his vocal organs had suddenly changed, and he could only look at Yue Ren with a look of fear.

The Yue man smiled, but in Nokbara's eyes he was like a demon. He raised his hand and pointed a finger at the demon's arm. The next moment, to the centaur's incredulous expression, his arm shrank, withered, and eventually became a lifeless, dead branch.

Fortunately, because the other people were behind the two, the lizards and insect demons from the other squad didn't see this action.

"As you can see, I know some novel little tricks," or, in other words, things like curses.

"These kinds of tricks can easily prevent someone from expressing any specific information, or even make them disappear silently in some corner. So, as a smart person, you know what to do, right?"

'

""

Nocbara nodded frantically, his expression pleading, as if he wanted to kneel down on the spot, a stark contrast to his arrogant demeanor when he threatened Rudeus and the others not long ago.

Rudeus, watching from behind, felt a great sense of satisfaction, as did Alice, while only Rigelrud frowned slightly.

Yue Ren nodded, and the next moment, Nokbala felt he could speak again and hurriedly begged for mercy.

"I'm so sorry to have bothered you. I swear, I'll never appear in your sight again!"

However, her eyes darted away, clearly indicating that she didn't actually think that way.

The Yue man saw this but didn't pay it any mind. Instead, he continued, "I'm very pleased, so let's just consider this all a misunderstanding!"

As he spoke, he tapped the other person's arm with his finger again, and to the other person's astonishment, the arm, which had been as thin as a withered branch, miraculously returned to normal as if time had reversed.

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

"Go."

"Thank you, thank you...."

"7

Terrified, the horse-headed demon staggered away, but Yue Ren spoke up once again.

"By the way, we're heading to the next city soon. If I find out that our adventurer status has been revoked when I arrive at the next town, I can't guarantee that the suppressed curse won't go out of control."

Nokbara nodded repeatedly, indicating that he understood.

The crisis was thus averted.

But when he turned his head, Rudeus and Alice instinctively took a step back in fear.

"Hey, I was the one who solved this problem, this kind of reaction is really hurtful."

"Because curses and such sound evil."

"So we should lie to him."

"Is this a scam?"

"Otherwise, how could I possibly possess the ability to arbitrarily decide the life or death of others regardless of distance?"

The three of them looked incredulous.

Not necessarily. The impression the Yue people gave them was that it wouldn't be surprising if they had any other amazing abilities.

"Brother Yue mentioned before that his profession is a sorcerer," right? So it's related to curses, isn't it?"

This kid is surprisingly shrewd.

"You guessed right. My previous opponent was something called a cursed spirit, and these monsters are manifestations of negative emotions known as 'curses.' We use curses to fight curses, so my methods are similar to wizarding abilities. You two had better not resist me, or else... hehehehe."

"6

""

"Hahaha.

""

Seeing the "ferocious" smile of the Yue people, coupled with their exaggerated performance, Alice couldn't help but laugh, and the fear that had just arisen vanished.

"How could a Yue person be a bad person? The acting is so unconvincing."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Your expression is too exaggerated!"

He even received feedback from Rijkaard, who said that he really didn't have the talent in that area.

Ultimately, however, the crisis was successfully resolved, and their journey was able to continue.

According to the picture book, the so-called Demon Realm is ruled by the Demon King, with small villages inhabited by demons, forgotten shrines, and places where powerful demons roam.

However, this demon continent is different; firstly, the Demon King does not rule it.

It's not that there aren't any demon kings; there are currently about thirty, each ruling over different regions as a monarch.

However, they did not rule; at most, they called themselves demon kings and put on a grand facade, but they did not actually do what a ruler should do. Some even went missing, making them a group of powerful but willful and inactive forces.

Powerful monsters roam the Demon Continent. In the Adventurers' Guild, the lowest-level monster-hunting quest is Rank C.

Conversely, this continent only has enemies of C rank or higher, which, according to open-world rules, constitutes a red zone that newbies should not enter.

That being said, in terms of race, the demon race is stronger than the human race. In addition, each demon race has its own characteristics, so they are also very good at group battles.

Even though it's not easy to reach B-rank, B-rank adventurers on the Demon Continent are still of a higher level than adventurers on other continents.

Three days have passed since we left Licaris.

After three days of living outdoors in the wind and rain, the two children in the group were somewhat dispirited due to the desolate environment, while only Yue and Ruijie Lude remained as capable as ever.

Even now, the Yue people are holding a bone object that resembles a flute and tentatively playing it.

He bought these at the town market before leaving, and the stall owner also gave him a few popular storybooks as a bonus.

Since he was going to be a bard, he should at least know how to sing and play accompaniment. So, taking advantage of the boredom of the journey, he decided to learn this new skill.

The sound at the beginning was really not very good, which may be one of the reasons why the two little ones were so listless.

Perhaps the reason the two little ones didn't complain was that with repeated practice, Yue Ren's progress was obvious to all. Now even the most irritable Alice could listen patiently.

As expected of the eldest brother of the Yue people, there really isn't anything he can't do. ... But there's one thing Rudeus still doesn't understand: the four of them are all in similar condition, so why does he not look like he's in the desert at all? After all, even Rijrud can tell that he's enduring the scorching heat.

Rudius asked the question during a break and received this answer.

"Although I really want to say something like 'a calm mind brings coolness,' I'm sure you don't believe me. So why don't you try covering your body with ice magic, or you can continuously release ice mist magic to cover a small area around you?"

"Doing that would not only consume magic power, but also require constant concentration."

"Yes, perhaps this is a good way to train, to practice concentration and even more advanced multitasking."

"6

""

Don't make it sound like this is some kind of simple thing.

Rudius was convinced. As expected, the other party relied on sheer strength to cool off. Even if Yue Ren didn't mind telling them the method, they wouldn't be able to learn it in a short time.

One evening, Rudius decided to hold a meeting.

Although they were not fully prepared, the journey had already begun.

Therefore, it is essential to summarize the gains and losses of this period and to clarify the goals.

"First is the destination, and the final destination is the Kingdom of Asura, located in the western part of the Central Continent. Is that alright?"

All three nodded.

Alice was going home with Rudy, and Rijrud was escorting them out of honor of his tribe. The "Holy Land of Swords" that the Yue people wanted to go to was also in the northwest corner of the central continent. In other words, they were all on the same path all the way to the Kingdom of Asura.

The problem now is that in this world with underdeveloped transportation, it's impossible to travel directly from the Demon Continent to the Central Continent.

Because there are no flight routes.

In this world, the ocean is dominated by sea creatures, and no place can be traversed except along the established routes.

"Mr. Rigdl, where can I get to the continent of Milis?"

"Wen'en Port, the southernmost port city on the Demon Continent, has ships departing."

During the First Great War between Humans and Demons, the Demon Dragon King Laplace self-destructed, splitting the once-connected central continent into two separate continents: the western continent, which became the main inhabited area for humans and contained several powerful human kingdoms, and the eastern continent, which became the Demon Continent.

Currently, the two continents are only relatively close at their southernmost points, and there is normal navigation between them.

This means that if Rudeus and his companions wanted to go home, they would need to travel from the southern part of the Demon Continent to the continent of Milis, cross Milis, and then travel from the western part of Milis to the southeastern part of the Central Continent. They would have to traverse the two largest continents. In this era of underdeveloped transportation, even disregarding the dangers along the way, the journey on foot would take years.

However, there is actually a route that's like a secret technique.

That's the route from the northwest of the Demon Continent to the Heavenly Continent, since it's not just connected to the south, but also to a part of the north.

By following this route, one can reach the Central Continent without passing through the continent of Milis.

If you only want to go to the central continent, you can theoretically shorten the journey by several months.

However, this path is not as simple as it sounds. The Heavenly Continent, which connects the two continents in the north, is located on a precipice. Unless you have wings and can fly, you can only climb up the cliff.

There are no ready-made roads, no stable footholds, and a large number of monsters. It is said to be a harsh route with a survival rate of only five percent.

Moreover, even if they travel through the Heavenly Continent, the destination they would reach is the harshest northern land in the Central Continent. Therefore, in reality, only wanted criminals being hunted by bounty hunters would take such a risk, and their groups often include children, making them easy targets.

The idea that this could shorten the time by several months is ultimately just theory; in reality, it will probably take even longer.

In the end, the number of days of the trip will not differ that much, so there is no need to take special risks.

Based on the above, Rudius's intended destination is the south.

"Do you know how much the boat ticket costs?"

"have no idea."

"So, how long will this journey take?"

"If we travel without sleep or rest... it would take about half a year."

Even traveling non-stop for half a year, should we marvel at how far they have gone?

"Is there any means of movement? For example, a teleportation magic circle or something like that?"

Rudeus was still not giving up and asked a constructive question. After all, there was magic here, so it wasn't impossible for teleportation arrays to appear, right?

Yue Ren, who was standing to the side, nodded in agreement. He also wanted to learn magic similar to this, not just long-distance teleportation, but it would be even better if he could learn magic like "Blink" from World of Warcraft.

Unfortunately, there are hardly any books on the market that teach magic, let alone such advanced magic. This medium for gaining power is, unsurprisingly, strictly controlled.

"I heard that teleportation magic circles were classified as forbidden magic during the Second Human-Demon War. Perhaps there are still some teleportation magic circles left somewhere, but it would probably be difficult to actually use them."

Rudy was surprised that there actually was one, but it didn't solve the real problem.

"So, does that mean you can only move around on the ground?"

"Um.

So it seems we need to move little by little, from this town to the next, and just follow this pattern.

This is what is meant by "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

Rudius praised himself for his cleverness.

"If we take Winnport, the southernmost port city, as our current destination, how long will it take to reach the next town?"

"It should take about two weeks to reach a major town."

Two weeks is enough time to circle the Earth several times over, given the way the Earth moves in modern times.

"Are there any adventurers' guilds there?"

"Probably."

In the past, each race in the Demon Continent would form its own settlement, and towns were places where information was exchanged and goods were bartered between the settlements.

Therefore, small towns do not exist, and large towns naturally have adventurer guilds that gather warriors of various races.

Furthermore, there was no adventurers' guild before; it seems that representative warriors chosen by various races were responsible for protecting the town.

Moreover, it is said that for races that do not often fight, races with more combat members will send warriors on their behalf. The relationship between the Spelud and the Migrud seems to be similar.

"Then I think we should move around to the towns where there are adventurers' guilds."

After arriving in town, stay for one to two weeks. As long as your adventurer status is not revoked, use this identity to take on commissions and promote the reputation of "DeadEnd".

Once we have saved enough money to travel to the next town, we will set off immediately.

"Is this the procedure? Do you have any questions or comments?"

"have!"

"Please speak, Alice."

This atmosphere reminded Rudy of the time he spent taking classes at Alice's house.

"Don't we need to check store prices like we used to?"

"You mean market research?"

Well, speaking of which, he was lazy and didn't do any research when he was in Licaris Town.

Looking back now, in that town, everyone really just went wherever they felt like, without any plan. For example, with the lizards used for transportation, if we had known the market price beforehand, we might have been able to buy them at a cheaper price.

Indeed, nothing concerning those around us is insignificant; I can no longer be so negligent.

"Let's do some research, because knowing the market trends is the first step to using money wisely. Is there anything else?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Rudius glanced one last time at Yue Ren, who had been watching silently, and saw the other nod gently with a familiar smile. He breathed a sigh of relief.

He seems to be gradually mastering the right way to get along with others, and that feels pretty good.

"Then, starting tomorrow, I will need your guidance and support."

And so, the journey officially began.