Published: March 21, 2026
We disembarked from the ship and walked along the coast following the continent, not toward the center of Demon Clan territory like yesterday.
We could have gone to the demon town we visited yesterday, but since we were going to go again later I wanted to see somewhere different. Also, I couldn't predict how the heroes would react if we went to that Slum District Morte — that place reeks of death. I was almost pulled in a little too, but Crow's voice snapped me back. Still, keeping an eye on four people including Amelia by myself is exhausting. Before we head to No.7 I’ll have to subtly urge them to return to the ship.
At first the heroes chatted excitedly, looking around at everything with curiosity, but as the unchanging scenery dragged on their voices dwindled. The landscape never changed; they must have gotten bored. There were no animals, no people, not even demonic beasts.
We took breaks as needed, but because our stamina rose so much after coming to this world, it wasn't physical exhaustion but mental fatigue that forced us to stop.
“This journey is…”
A few hours after leaving the ship, Nanase grumbled that we hadn't moved at all from the same spot. Even though we were walking along the coast, the ground was jagged and stony, making each step uncomfortable. Night, perched on my shoulder as always, suddenly murmured.
“Something wrong?”
It didn't look particularly different to me, but to Night the scenery was starting to look familiar.
“No, I… The Demon King erased a lot of memories from the Demon Clan territory, so I'm not certain, but this road… feels like somewhere I've seen. Especially those rocks over there — they make me feel… itchy.”
Night pointed with his fluffy forepaw at a seemingly ordinary rock a little ahead.
In the Beastmen territory, Night had fought Mahiro, the Demon Clan’s second-in-command, and Aurum, the third, to protect me after I was gravely wounded. Because of that, perhaps the Demon King considered Night dangerous and gradually erased Night’s memories of the Demon Clan territory. The erasure was so gradual that Night himself noticed it late; by the time he realized it, most of his memories were gone. Until then, Night had refused to guide us to the Demon King's Castle out of loyalty to the Demon King who created him, but now he couldn’t even recall the castle’s internal layout, so he couldn’t guide us. That loyalty also seemed to be fading since he heard from Lord Lattice Nail that the Demon King was about to commit a taboo. The way Night started calling him “Demon King” instead of “demon lord” probably began around then.
Putting Night in the boss room of a labyrinth — a room you couldn’t leave without defeating the boss — and ordering him to deliver a message meant that at that point the Demon King was prepared for Night to die. Night, who understood that, had seemed eager for death after fighting me. I didn't like that, so I formed a familiar contract with him. I don’t know what the Demon King was thinking to send a creature he prized as his right arm to certain death, but it makes me suspect that erasing memories was his way of punishing that loyal demonic beast who even tried to return to him as a hated Human’s familiar.
“…Itchy?”
I stopped and stared at the rock, wondering if Night's odd phrasing meant something. Looking closely, the rock was slightly different in color from the others. The difference was so slight you'd miss it unless you really looked.
“What's up? Want to take a break?”
Nanase called from behind when I suddenly stopped.
Because I at the front halted, Amelia and the others in back stopped as well.
“No, it’s nothing…”
I started to say it was nothing, but the words died on my lips.
The rock moved. Literally, it wriggled.
“Huh?”
The hero at the rear must have seen it too; he looked at the same spot, eyes wide.
Night on my shoulder clasped his forepaws together with practiced ease.
“I remember now, Master! This is the Dragon's Nest, where dragonkind live!”