Published: March 21, 2026
Demon Clan territory. Ten days had passed since we left the Volcano Continent.
On the way there, it had been planned to reach the Demon Clan territory from the Beastmen territory safe house of the previous hero party in three days at best. But we’d been attacked by wyverns and by Darion Synk during the trip; the hull was damaged, so we had to slow the ship down. That added two days, turning the journey into about five days.
Five days to the closest point from the Volcano Continent meant it would take even longer to reach the Human territory, which is farther away, but still—ten days by air is too long. Noah said that if the hull hadn’t been damaged and the ship had kept its original speed, we’d have arrived in roughly half the time. Damn wyverns...
They had used leftover materials and wyvern skins from the Volcano Continent to repair the hull while we were gone, but they kept the ship at reduced speed just in case. Nobody could afford to complain—if they’d increased speed and the ship had broken apart in the middle of the ocean, we would have been wiped out. Even if some had survived that, it would have been an ugly repeat of the people who starved to death at Morte. It was safer to arrive late and whole.
That said, nothing having happened during those ten days wasn’t true either.
Like on the way there, we were harried by hungry wyverns and flocks of flying demonic beasts; it wasn’t exactly peaceful. Around the seventh day, one of the Beastmen we rescued in Morte woke up.
The seven people Sato and the others saved at Morte had been put to sleep by Amelia’s “forced sleep” after they returned to the airship, to keep them unconscious until their psychological wounds healed. I know that effect firsthand. So waking up meant they were at least somewhat recovered. I can’t even imagine how badly the hell of Morte scarred them, but waking up in such a short time was a miracle. I hoped everyone else would wake up like this—dying after surviving would be a terrible fate.
Everyone who’d been at Morte had heard an urgent onboard broadcast from Hosoyama (the voice coming from Usako No. 110 units distributed throughout the ship) and rushed to the room that had been turned into a makeshift infirmary by knocking down three rooms and lining up beds.
“Ah...”
He was still lying in bed, but his eyes were open and wandering about confusedly. Hosoyama and Amaryllis were beside the bed, apparently explaining the situation and where they were.
His gaze passed over our faces in turn, and when he found Sato his eyes went wide.
“Yu—yuusha—sama.”
He moved slowly, trying to sit up; we supported him so it wouldn’t strain his body. Sato, who’d rushed over, took his outstretched hand.
The Beastman’s warm, living hand made him tear up.
“Yuusha-sama, I—I...!”
At first Sato looked bewildered at having his hand gripped and someone crying on it, but with his free hand he gently patted the man’s shoulder.
The man stayed like that for a moment, then suddenly snapped his head up and frantically looked around.
“D-did any of those rescued include a rat beastman like me!?”
Of the seven rescued, three were humans and four were Beastmen. He was the only rat beastman among them.
When the hero told him the answer, the man’s shoulders sagged.
“If it was family, I’m so sorry. Those we couldn’t save that day—those not here—we held a funeral for them. There were no belongings, not even bones left.”
“N-no. It’s not family—I don’t even know his name...”
Sato bowed his head in apology. The man shook his head gently and began to speak.
He said he’d gone to the Human territory for a relative’s wedding and, on the return ship, they’d probably been caught in a monster-caused storm and the ship was wrecked. He’d been separated from his family and alone made it to the Demon Clan territory barely alive. He had arrived with nothing—no valuables—so he couldn’t buy a weapon to earn money in the labyrinth. Even when he begged for credit, shopkeepers laughed at him, and other adventurers kicked him out of shops. Only then did he notice he’d landed not in Human territory but in Demon Clan territory.