232: The thing that matters most on a journey is food, right?

Leaving the ash village, we’re heading toward the eastern volcanic region.

When you hear "volcano," you picture something out of a fairy tale—red lava shooting straight up from the peak into the sky. But real volcanoes are a lot calmer.

Occasional thunderous booms. White smoke rising. No lava gushing out.

Still, when those small eruptions happen, the ash just piles up. That’s the real pain.

After leaving the village for a while, Maina had been riding with me on horseback, but now she’s definitely tucked inside the wagon.

I pulled my hood down low, and we kept moving at a steady pace.

Camille, scanning ahead, pointed forward with a tired sigh.

"Enemy again. Probably a Flame Wyvern."

"How many?"

"About twelve."

"Then Persia and Nobuna can handle it alone."

I’m enchanting the two weapons with magic.

Augmentation spells aren’t too much of a drain on mana, so I’m using them.

“Water Column Augmentation”

It wraps water around the weapon.

Heat and fire resistance are already on them—Marilyn did that. No need for more.

Flame Reptiles are red lizards the size of humans. They spit fire sometimes. And they move in packs—real pain in the ass.

Not our current enemy, but regular folks would be screwed. Even adventurers wouldn’t stand a chance unless they were a D-rank party or higher.

Two bipedal birds dart forward.

Then Persia growled.

“You’re not worth eating—come out and die!”

Since we hit the volcanic zone, she’s been taking her frustration out on Flame Reptiles. Yeah. I get it.

Even Evia, keeping watch beside me, mutters, “Would’ve been better if it were Red Bear.”

Yeah. Meat from a Red Bear—Ryuco or Leifan could cook it up pretty tasty.

Jabir, the teacher, takes the flame reptile’s crystal from Camille.

“Hm. Strong fire attribute. Seems like it could be used for all sorts of things.”

Maina peers at Jabir’s crystal.

“Unusual?”

“Not bad. Could be fun to make a Fire Rod activation core.”

“A magic staff?”

“Nah. Too limited in use. Better as a fire-starting device. More practical that way. Better efficiency with magic.”

“I want it.”

“Hm? I’ll make it if I feel like it.”

“Waiting.”

I feel a little warm inside seeing how much Maina’s shyness has improved, when Jitarou suddenly swings his bow in another direction.

“New one! Rockturtled up on the rocks—woke up from all this noise, it did!”

Rockturtles were turtles that mimicked stone, lying in wait to ambush passing prey.

You’d never know they were there until it was too late—surprise attacks could be nasty.

Plus, magic barely worked on them, and their shells were tough as rock. Slow movers, but they’d throw dirt-element spells at you—just like a fixed artillery monster.

Leifan leaps out.

“Leave it to me! ‘Shatterstone Cudgel’!”

With a single, massive swing of his hammer, he pulverizes Rockturtles one after another. Perfect match for Leifan’s hammer techniques. Sword or bow? Would’ve taken ages to bring one down.

The Rockturtles’ attack magic was completely sealed off by Eva and Marilyn’s defensive spells.

But...

"Augh! Not another Rockturtle! You can’t even be eaten, so just stay put!"

That was Leifan’s soul crying out.

Yeah. I want to eat something besides rations, too.

The magic stone quality was pretty good, but we’d long since stopped caring. Collecting magic stones had become nothing more than a chore. What we really wanted was meat!

Just then, a massive bear popped up right in front of us.

Red Bear. A giant, red-furred bear. No special attacks, but fire-resistant. A tough opponent, no doubt.

But...

"Meat! Meat! Meat!"

"This is a feast!"

"Got you! No way you’re getting away!"

"Instant kill."

Yeah. Overkill. Overkill.

Who lunged at it first? Best left unsaid for the sake of dignity. Still, the fact that Red Bear’s barely scratched despite the complete overkill… that’s enough to make you shiver. What kind of gluttony is this?

Of course, we devoured it. Delicious.

Why Red Bear shows up so rarely… nah, better not think too hard about that. Delicious is justice.

And so our journey continued, like this.

◆

Beyond the volcanic region lay the sea.

We stood atop the mountain, gazing down at it.

The volcanic zone itself seemed to form a massive peninsula.

You’d think following the coastline would’ve been easier, but the seafront’s all sheer cliffs, the terrain too tangled to get near.

I’d heard in the Maugaria Kingdom that the coast meant the southern regions, but yeah—this eastern side’s all volcanoes, rocky peaks, and sheer cliffs. You can’t get near it. Outside the peninsula, there’re dangerous forests too.

I’m starting to get a grip on the kingdom’s geography.

We made it to the tip of the peninsula. After scanning the area again, I spotted a big island out at sea.

Just barely visible through “Far Sight,” but it’s massive.

I can see it from up here on the cliff. But if we go down the mountain, it’ll vanish beyond the horizon.

The Dowsing Tear Drop in Eva’s hand points straight at that island.

Looks like it was originally a submarine volcano. The peak juts above sea level. The landmass forms a huge circle, wrapped around the mountain like a ring.

Jabir nods, murmuring.

“Hmm. Looks like a caldera.”

I just asked straight out when I didn’t recognize a word.

“Caldera… what’s that?”

“A massive depression formed by a volcanic eruption. One of its defining traits is the steep cliff surrounding it.”

“Right. So it’s like a giant crater that cooled and hardened over time?”

“Precisely. From here, the circular cliff looks like a mountain range. We can’t see what’s inside, but there’s likely a village nestled within. That’s why it’s gone unnoticed for so long.”

So the mage’s hidden village was actually a hidden island. No wonder it’s been impossible to find.

Still, the real question is how to get to that island.

The sea’s full of large magical creatures. Dangerous, they say.

Nobuna squinted at the island, as if she’d read my mind.

“Just barely visible on the horizon. If we have a ship, we can make it from this distance.”

"Wait. You really think it’s safe to go that far out?"

"I don’t know much about the local ecosystem, but in Mizuho, people used to fish right up to the horizon from land. The sea’s hundreds of times bigger than what Craft’s thinking—visibility’s just a rounding error."

"Can’t picture how big the ocean really is."

"Same with the island’s shape. But they picked that spot for a reason—distance from land, hidden away. Smart folks. Still, big monsters might show up."

"Got it."

Makes sense if it was built by a group of mages who knew something about ancient magic civilizations.

"We gotta figure out a boat. For now, let’s head down to the coast."

The area’s far enough from the volcanic zone that some trees are actually growing. Maybe we can manage something? I think we could build a raft, at least. The problem’s the wood drying—no way around that.

A little way from the volcano, scattered grass and trees sprout. Leaves are big, not tall—still, we’ll make do.

Master Jabil says they’re palm trees. The fruit looks tasty.

“Then leave it to me. I’ve got the formula for drying wood from back in the settlement’s early days. It’s the base for that evaporation alchemy. Normally, you burn the drying agent in a shed or storage for about a week, smoking the wood. But for a raft? I can force the reaction—just crank up the alchemy and dry it in days.”

“Good to hear.”