A Journey and My Usual Whim (1)

After saying farewell to Scarlet, the immortal bird chick, and to the deep forest that was my homeland, I set out through the Pulha Great Forest.

But my destination now wasn't Vistcoat, the frontier town in the Kingdom of Rudoria on the edge of the Pulha Great Forest.

I'd considered various options, but for now my feet were pointed southeast.

If I returned to the Kingdom of Rudoria, I'd naturally end up heading to the capital.

And surely I'd settle down there for several more years.

That was because the Yosogi-style dojo there was simply too comfortable a place for me.

I might accidentally put down roots.

Not that that would be a bad thing.

I knew there were people there who called me family, and that I could spend peaceful, relaxing time there.

But after spending time in the deep forest, even though it had only been three years, I'd grown hungry for new experiences.

Yes, what I wanted now wasn't to put down roots and settle in, but to see and do something new.

In that case, I had even considered heading to the opposite side of the Pulha Great Forest by crossing it westward.

The western side of the Pulha Great Forest... Had I mentioned this before? It wasn't actually the western part of the continent.

The Great Forest lay almost at the center of the continent, and the regions on either side of it were considered the continent's central regions.

Even though both were considered central regions, the forest made travel between East and West Central difficult; by land, one had to make a wide detour around the rugged northern mountains, or travel by sea.

The West Central Region was apparently a chaotic place where the ideas and cultures of the western part of the continent and those of East Central mixed together or came into conflict.

For example, the Western religion held that humans occupied the highest position, while the church in East Central worshiped the Harvest God, who taught that all people were equal as children of the earth and should live each day with gratitude; the two sides waged a fierce struggle for influence as they sought to gain even a few more followers than the other.

In some countries, the Western religion was the state religion and other teachings were suppressed, while in neighboring countries, the churches that worshiped the Harvest God held great power; the teachings people believed in could be completely different within a very small area.

And once the power dynamics and agendas of the various countries were added to the mix, West Central became a truly bewilderingly complex place.

So if I went to West Central, I was sure I would see something new.

But that was a little different from what I wanted now.

I certainly wanted to see something new, but never the sight of people fighting one another.

Of course, there were plenty of conflicts between people in East Central as well.

Until just seven or eight years ago, East Central too had been caught up in a major conflict centered on the great power of Zieden.

Its scars should still be visible in the form of increased numbers of bandits and monsters.

Well, the aftereffects of the turmoil in East Central were gradually subsiding, so efforts to deal with bandits and monsters were progressing, and the region would eventually regain its peace.

Therefore, if I wanted to learn something new, East Central would be a calmer place to study.

Ah, that's right.

What I wanted to learn specifically was stonework and sculpture—the techniques used to carve stone statues.

If I continued southeast, I would emerge from the Pulha Great Forest into Giathica.

Giathica had once been a poor country called Paulogia; now it was a vassal state of the Vilestrika Republic.

From there, going farther southeast would bring me to the Vilestrika Republic itself.

If I turned east, I would pass through the now-smaller Duchy of Karkoim, and Ladrenia would come into view.

Beyond Ladrenia, headquarters of the Harvest God's church, and farther east than Dolbogarde, which I had visited before, lay Siglea.

Siglea was a country with a strong military that bordered the dangerous Great Man-Eating Marsh, and it was known for producing high-quality marble.

Yes, my goal was Siglea, where I intended to become an apprentice to a skilled stonemason or sculptor.

I was sure I could learn the techniques of carving stone statues in the Kingdom of Rudoria, whether at Warfield, the royal capital, or Vistcoat, the frontier town, or even in other countries.

But a country renowned for producing high-quality marble must surely have many skilled artisans.

If I was going to learn the craft, I wanted to learn from a master who was highly skilled—and, if possible, interesting or stubborn, and someone I got along with.

I was heading for Siglea.

Siglea was fairly far away, but it was still, after all, only a country in East Central.

Compared with the journey I had made to the eastern edge of the continent, it felt like merely extending my travels a little farther.

I could even take a ship from the Vilestrika Republic to Dolbogarde and shorten the journey further.

Naturally, if I devoted time to this journey and my studies, I would never see Shizuki and Mizuha again.

No, there was already a good chance I could no longer meet them.

But I'd already said my final goodbyes to the two of them.

I would probably visit that place again someday—in fact, I would return there—but for now, I had no lingering attachment to it.

And so, after walking for several weeks—no, nearly a month—I emerged from the Pulha Great Forest and set foot in Giathica.

It had been three years since I'd breathed air outside the forest, but even though it had only been that long, it felt like a very long time.

Now then, how much had this land changed since I visited it before?

Surely it couldn't have been only the name that had changed.