Druid's Wand

Beyond the Hengduan Mountains lay India.

At the border checkpoint, we underwent immigration inspection and entered the country under the respective classifications of Transcendent, demon, and human.

It was kind of interesting how the items emphasized in the entry and exit checks differed from country to country. Perhaps because Japan had a thriving magic-wand industry, its magic-item inspections were stringent, while the Shinkan Republic, the gateway to the continent, was generally rather slapdash. China was extremely concerned about disease prevention, which made it clear that the country had probably been hit hard by the Shadow-Shedding Disease epidemic in the past.

Every country has its own policies.

The first thing that jumps out at me after entering India from China is a ridiculously huge river. This enormous river, broad enough to be mistaken for a sea or lake, stretches from the Hengduan Mountains all the way to the edge of the horizon. The islands scattered through its course are huge as well, like little islets floating in a bay.

China had been the same, but the continent's natural features were huge enough to overwhelm me at every turn.

After traveling downstream by steamboat from the river's upper reaches, we decided to spend a night in Tinsukia, a city in Assam, India's eastern gateway.

Every one of the houses, with its white stucco walls, had large windows that looked ideal for ventilation. Plump Fukuro Sparrows flew through the gaps in the window lattices with the sternest expressions they could manage, wobbled back out, then sluggishly took flight again.

They were loyal to their owners and hardworking, but clumsiness was their one flaw.

What surprised me was the number of magical beasts. Although the city was incomparably smaller than metropolises like Tokyo and Wuhan, it had not only plenty of Fukuro Sparrows but also a great many Dung...