The Great Empire of a Distant Land (14)

On the road to Yellow Ancient Province, Jizo and the Earthfolk with their mineral scales—in other words, their warriors—would serve as our escorts.

Jizo alone would have been more than enough in terms of fighting strength, but the warriors had eagerly volunteered to come along as well.

The Earthfolk, and Ouki Genjo too, had apparently been delighted by the well I dug.

When I asked for more details, I learned that Ouki Genjo was good at combat, but not at delicate arts such as finding water.

She could locate a flowing river, but apparently searching for a water vein deep underground was beyond her.

As an immortal, I couldn't help wondering how that worked, but everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

Incidentally, Ouki Genjo's specialty was martial arts, while Byakubyo Roukun of White River Province was apparently skilled in mystical arts.

Byakubyo Roukun was also deeply versed in magic, and the Yellow Ancient Empire's guild of mages, known as the Shikishiren, had its headquarters in White River Province.

Oubo of Red Mountain Province was apparently skilled at cooking and compounding medicines, while Chodako of Azure Sea Province excelled at making money.

An immortal being skilled at cooking did make me a little curious about Red Mountain Province, but unfortunately, I had no plans to detour there for now.

For that reason, Ouki Genjo also seemed to have high hopes for crops that might be grown in Black Snow Province.

Apparently, there was some reason—whether particular to her or common to the immortals—that they could leave their own provinces but not the Yellow Ancient Empire.

In other words, Ouki Genjo probably did not think my journey would end in Yellow Ancient Province.

That was somewhat reassuring.

I also talked with Ouki Genjo about Yosogi-ryu and magic swords, as well as many other subjects concerning the world outside the Yellow Ancient Empire, and she listened to all of it with great interest.

She was particularly taken with the subject of magic swords, and said that if I ended up staying in Yellow Ancient Province for a long time, she would invite Byakubyo Roukun of White River Province and come to see me.

Magic swords would certainly catch Byakubyo Roukun's interest, and Ouki Genjo herself wanted one very badly, so she said with a smile that if I had the time, she would like me to forge her a magic greatsword.

It wasn't an urgent journey, so that sounded fun in its own way.

When I promised that I would stay and accept her request unless I encountered something in Yellow Ancient Province that made me want to leave immediately, Ouki Genjo nodded silently, still smiling.

Ah, so I could lose my temper after all.

Well... yeah. It can't be helped.

So the journey to Yellow Ancient Province was very lively.

Jizo wasn't particularly talkative, but the Earthfolk warriors were unexpectedly cheerful.

They took turns coming over to me and striking up conversations.

But their skill was the real thing. Since there were so many companions, more monsters sensed our sounds and presence and came attacking, yet the warriors struck down every one before it could get anywhere near me.

As far as I could tell, none of them individually stood out as much as Jizo, but they understood their own strengths well and worked together to destroy their enemies.

Normally, people couldn't confront a large monster head-on.

But Earthfolk warriors were strong and heavy, so several of them together could even withstand the charge of a large monster.

A group of warriors holding large shields stopped the monster in its tracks, while the others finished off the immobilized creature all at once.

I had heard that there were fewer than five thousand Earthfolk, but... that was probably fortunate for the races living in the other provinces.

If there had been tens or even hundreds of thousands of them, they could have invaded the other provinces in search of richer lands and seized them through sheer strength.

The Earthfolk warriors were that strong.

And so we reached the boundary of Yellow Ancient Province: a tall, long wall encircling the entire province.

Nothing at all could be seen beyond the wall, and of course it had not a single breach. Apparently, the only way in or out was through the gate.

The north gate of Yellow Ancient Province depicted a huge, pitch-black turtle.

It was probably the black-shelled spirit turtle worshiped in Black Snow Province.

Yet I had been certain it was meant to represent Ouki Genjo, but there was nothing about the depicted spirit turtle that brought her to mind.

Eisa, be well.

Jizo said those words to me at the gate.

A farewell far too simple—just like him.

It was probably our final farewell, but even if we had dressed it up with flowery words, they would not have meant much between us at this point.

Yeah, you too. Stay healthy. And thank you all for accompanying me this far.

When I stuck out my fist, Jizo pressed his against mine, then smiled.

All the Earthfolk warriors were smiling as they saw me off.

The gate opened.

I mounted Sire and rode straight through the gate.

The moment I passed through the gate, I felt a faint sense of wrongness.

At the same time, the view before me changed into something entirely different.

The open gate had shown me a road stretching far into the distance.

Yet now I was looking at a vast forest whose trees rose higher than the wall encircling Yellow Ancient Province.

Yet that strange change and the unease I felt when passing through the gate were both familiar to me.

And the dense natural energy I sensed from this forest... it was just like the deep forest of my homeland.

Yes, the unease I had felt moments earlier was exactly the same as what I felt while passing through the barrier in the depths of Pulha Great Forest, which had been formed with the aid of spirits and spirit trees to protect the deep forest.

I had heard that Forestfolk—in other words, elves—lived in Yellow Ancient Province, but this place was unmistakably a sanctuary for elves.

It was nostalgic, yet somewhat unpleasant.

No, of course I thought this forest was wonderful, but the fact that Black Snow Province and this place could differ so drastically after crossing only a single wall seemed a little too much.

The elves' lack of interest in the world beyond their forest had been true in the central region as well, but...

What bothered me even more was the wall surrounding the forest.

That was clearly something built by other races, and there was nothing elven about it.

Were the elves of this land being confined by the other races?

Or had they made other races build the wall, then played at being nobles within the forest behind it?

Could those who were content with that truly be called elves?

No, it was too soon to think that way.

There was probably some reason.

There had to be.

I couldn't judge anything until I met Ryusui Teikun, the emperor who ruled the Yellow Ancient Empire.

I truly wanted to know why.

The lingering aftertaste of our farewell had long since vanished.