Chapter 4
Alipheese Fateburn the 16th
The sun of high noon shone at its full splendor in the sky as Alexander walked under it, towards the northern road of Iliasville. His next destination, Iliasburg, is situated right at north from here, around one day of walk.
As Alexander arrived at the meeting point he set up with Luka, he noticed that the purple-haired boy wasn't present yet. Was he busy setting his things in his bag? Was he busy talking to his acquaintances for the last time?
It didn't matter to Alexander, as he already gave his salutations the day before. Since he had time to kill while waiting for Luka to arrive, Alexander started to look at the unfolded map of the whole world in his hands.
Not counting the small pieces of land around the ocean, there were three official continents in the world: Ilias Continent, Sentora, and Hellgondo.
Ilias Continent is the one where he currently is, of course, and it is situated at the south of the world. This continent has been blessed by the frequent presence of the Goddess, which turned it into a sacred land that ward off evil. Following that, any monster entering the Ilias Continent will be weakened by a great degree.
In complete opposition to Ilias Continent is Hellgondo, the land that the Monster Lord owns. It is at the north of the world, and it is populated exclusively by very powerful monsters. It is said that legendary monsters also live there, such as the nobles of the night, the Vampires, or the incarnation of destruction, the Behemoth.
But of course, Alexander has no business there, at least not yet. Unless he can't find his father anywhere else, he won't have any other choice other than to travel to Hellgondo.
The last continent, Sentora, is situated between the Ilias Continent and Hellgondo. It is the largest continent between them all, and it is further split into four regions that are still individually bigger than the other two continents: Natalia Region, Safina Region, Noah Region, and Gold Region.
As the name of the region of 'Noah' suggests, its capital city is Grand Noah, Alexander's hometown. Grand Noah was a city where monsters and humans also lived together, which is why Alexander didn't feel any prejudice against monsters in general, unlike other people in Iliasville… Well, Luka is a particular exception, but normally, many people in the Ilias Continent hate monsters.
Anyway, as mentioned before, Alexander doesn't have to go to Hellgondo. So, for now, he has to search around the Ilias Continent and Sentora, starting with the former.
In the Ilias Continent, there are 8 locations to check, they are all human settlements spread around the continent, both big and small. He currently lives in Iliasville for years, and he knows the place like the back of his hand, so he can take that off from the eight locations, leaving him with seven.
The closest location to Iliasville is Iliasburg, the capital city of Ilias Continent. Since it was very close, he already went over there more than a few times, both to look for his father and for some different personal business, so he can also remove that from the list.
That leaves… Pornof, Rostrum, Happiness Village, Midas Village, Iliasport, and the slums between the western mountains. They are a bit more far away, so he didn't go there yet, but these are the only key locations where his father could hide… Unless he has decided to camp in the wilderness. But that will be something he will think about when he is done looking around the towns and cities of both the two human continents.
If he can't find any trace of him even after looking far and wide… He can only pray to the Goddess Ilias and hope for a vision from her.
Alexander's eyes suddenly pulled away from the map as he quickly glanced further at north. For the third time today, he felt a gaze observing him from a blind spot.
At the immediate north of Iliasville, there was no forest covering the sight, just a road that extended to the horizon, with a few mountains in the distance. However, there was absolutely nobody in the direction from where he felt the gaze coming from. In fact, as soon as he turned around, the feeling that his instincts warned him about disappeared.
"You've got quite the great perception for a human." A familiar voice came from behind him, making Alexander jump in surprise as he instinctively clutched the world's map on his chest while looking behind him.
"Holy-" He was about to let out a swear before he noticed the person who spoke to him, and immediately shut his mouth as soon as he saw who it was. It was a tall and beautiful young woman that was just standing there, near him, wearing so little clothes that he almost thought that she was a new prostitute who recently came here in Iliasville to work here.
However, as soon as he saw the woman's white-platinum long hair and an orange minimalistic vertical eye symbol on her frontal bangs, he threw that silly idea aside as he began to associate this mysterious woman with the Lamia monster he and Luka encountered in the forest a few hours ago.
After a small pause, Alexander felt his mouth move again and spoke in a small whisper. "You're the Lamia we saw in the forest?"
"That's correct." The woman merely answered his question, without providing further explanation such as why she was here and what she is seeking from him.
"So… Why are you here?" Since she wasn't talking, Alexander tried to ask first.
"I will be joining you two humans in your journey." The Lamia who has been disguised as a human replied, surprising Alexander. "I've had a talk with the boy, Luka, and it has been decided that I will partake in your… endeavor to achieve coexistence between monsters and humans as a simple spectator."
Alexander started to frown, trying to make any sense out of the woman's words. Wasn't she the one who openly berated Luka for having a 'stupid' dream? Why does she want to join their group now?
"...Why?" Alexander voiced his curious thoughts in a simple question.
"I just want to see how long you both last before giving up." The disguised woman casually replied.
"So you just want to be entertained?"
The woman didn't reply to that, but at this point, Alexander has listened to enough information to understand where this conversation is going to end. If she wants to follow them, who is he to refuse her? It's not his issue as long as it doesn't become his issue.
She wants to watch Luka's goal fail, but that's not the same as his goal, so the two of them shouldn't even be related at all.
"Anyway, you still didn't answer the question I asked before." The woman suddenly changed the subject. "I can see why Luka didn't take that opportunity to kill me, but you ran away before answering me by yourself."
"Hmm? Well, I came from Grand Noah."
"Grand Noah…" The woman mused under her breath. "That was the capital of the Noah region, in Sentora. I've heard a bit of it."
"That's right. There are plenty of monsters living in Grand Noah, along with humans. I've been there for 12 years since I was born, so I don't really care about whether you are a monster or a human. Frankly, the whole deal with the church and the Monster Lord hasn't interested me at all, it's not like neither of them did anything to me."
"Then, why do you want to become a Hero? If you don't care about the Monster Lord, why would you get yourself baptized?" The woman asked with a curious tone in her voice, and in response, Alexander casually shrugged.
"I just wanted the perks coming along with being a Hero… Oh, hey Luka." Alexander took notice of the familiar purple-haired Apprentice Hero approaching their location. His attention had been brought away from his own thoughts as he looked back at Alexander.
"Oh, Alex." Luka greeted back before his sight shifted to the white-haired woman at the side. An intense blush spread to his face as he saw the way the woman was dressed, basically wearing only a pair of black bras and a black short skirt, eliciting an amused smirk from the woman and complete passiveness from the man.
"Uh… Alex, who is she?"
Alexander blinked once upon being asked that question. "She said that she talked to you before."
"She talked to me…?" Luka frowned a bit upon hearing that as he observed the woman's face carefully, but as he saw that, Alexander couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. "Don't tell me you really can't recognize her."
"Uhhh…" As Luka raised his gaze to the familiar orange mark on the woman's hair, he suddenly realized who the woman was. "Alice?!"
"It took you more than a dozen seconds to notice it. You're horribly slow, aren't you?" The woman, whose name seemed to be Alice, rudely commented at Luka's attempt to identify the woman in front of him.
"B-But you're a human!" Luka exclaimed in surprise, and at this point, Alexander explained this part through his own experience in Grand Noah.
"There are some monsters who are capable of changing shape so that they live among humans without any issue. Although, I've heard that only humanoid monsters with talent in magic like Succubi and Elves can pull this off, this is the first time I've heard of a Lamia doing the same."
The disguised monster simply scoffed at that claim. "That's just among average monsters. For someone at my level, this is child's play."
"I see… Well, since we're all here, let's start walking." Luka said with a casual tone as the group of three began to walk further away from Iliasville.
Upon reaching a certain distance, the tall woman suddenly morphed into her original shape, throwing away her pale skin and her human legs for purple skin and her long, red snake tail. At the sight of her original form, Alexander couldn't help but say something. "So… Alice, was it?"
"My real name is Alipheese Fateburn the 16th." She corrected him, before she relented a bit with the follow-up elaboration. "But yes, you can call me Alice. What is it that you want?"
"Well, from what I know, only weak monsters live in the Ilias Continent. Not to sound offensive, but the idea of a Lamia slithering around this continent is quite… weird. Did you perhaps come from outside of the continent?"
"Yes." That was the only answer she gave to Alexander, without elaborating. Thinking that this situation may be like before, when he tried to make her explain the reason she was here, he decided to ask another question.
"Why did you come here then?"
Unfortunately, she didn't deign to answer his question, and instead threw out a "That's none of your business" at him while showing a hint of anger, although that anger wasn't aimed at him or Luka. He guessed that the reason behind her presence in the Ilias Continent must be the target behind her anger.
Trying to change the subject, Alice asked out. "Speaking of places, where are you two headed first? I don't think you're that stupid to directly go to the Monster Lord's Castle."
Luka was the one who answered her question. "Well, I was thinking about going to the capital of Iliasburg first. It's the heart of the Ilias Continent, so there are a lot of things in there sent from various towns and villages around the continent.
We can rest and restock our stuff there before heading further north, in Iliasport, to take a ship to head to Sentora. Is that alright with you, Alex?" For some possible suggestion, Luka asked Alexander, who stared back with a raised eyebrow.
"...Did you forget already?"
"...?" For a moment, Luka didn't understand what Alexander was talking about, before he remembered a particularity about him.
That's right, Alexander's goal isn't to achieve coexistence between humans and monsters like he wants, but it's to find his lost father.
Long before now, they had made an agreement that they would help each other all the way to Iliasburg. After that, they will split on their ways.
"Oh, right." Luka was slightly saddened at the thought of splitting apart with his good friend, but he couldn't do anything about it. Who is he to stop Alexander from chasing after the shadow of his own father?
"Is there a problem?" Noticing the strange atmosphere between Luka and Alexander, Alice curiously asked.
"No, it's nothing important." Luka simply shook his head. "Actually, the dream of coexistence was only mine alone. Alex doesn't have anything to do with it, we had just agreed to accompany each other at Iliasburg before splitting off."
"Hmm…" Alice merely hummed in understanding before she looked at Alexander, knowing that she will get more answer from him. "So, what is your reason to travel out of home?"
Alexander spent a few seconds coming up with the right words to say, before he calmly explained his work in this place. "Well, in summary, my dad disappeared from home four years ago, and up to this day, I still don't know where he is, how he is, and why he left home. All I got from him was a letter telling me to stay at home and wait for him, but I got tired of waiting and decided to look out for him."
"I see… Then, what about the baptism? If you aren't interested in the Monster Lord, why would you become a Hero?" Alice asked again, bringing back the argument they were in before Luka's presence interrupted them.
"Oh, you see, Heroes have a lot of benefits. First of all, the Goddess blesses us with her divine power, so that Heroes can fight better against monsters. Since I'm going to travel to a lot of places, I thought that having more power will aid me whenever I have to act in self-defense.
Even though I don't have anything against monsters, there are some of them that can be stubborn. Against people like them, you have to show a bit of your strength…"
"It's a lie."
Before Alexander could continue to explain, Alice interrupted him all of a sudden with a calm tone. "The baptism doesn't grant any greater power to humans, it simply makes their semen unsavory to our tastes. However, even if some monsters won't try to rape you, the carnivorous kind still won't change their mind about eating you whole."
She threw a glance from the corner of her eyes in Alexander's direction. "The reasoning behind that is correct, you will have to face less wild monsters that are prone to attack humans. But you got everything else wrong."
"Huh…" Luka and Alexander looked at each other in surprise upon hearing Alice's words before Alexander commented: "Well, that explains why most Heroes aren't doing anything great."
As mentioned in this morning along with Hans the lumberjack, Heroes aren't truly good people, and every week, more news about the wrongdoings that some Heroes have done appeared on the newspaper. Good news coming from them is particularly rare, which can be attributed to the fact that the supposed divine power that the Goddess lent to the Heroes may be all bogus.
This was the first time Alexander heard about such a thing from a monster, but considering that this argument never came up with the other monsters in Grand Noah, he was willing to believe Alice rather than the 'legends' spoken among the clergy in the temple which had no substance. Of course, he wasn't completely certain if he should believe Alice either, since they just met in less than a few hours.
"Anyway…" Pushing that subject aside, Alexander continued to speak. "That isn't everything, of course, or I may as well just train myself for the whole time instead of spending four years here waiting for the fateful day.
The next benefit Heroes get are great discounts from stores and inns, some of which are even free. Although, they aren't 'completely' free. It's just that the rest of the bill is paid by the church with their money, since Heroes are obviously part of the church as their vanguards against the Monster Lord."
Then, Alexander shrugged as he continued: "They can also freely seek an audience with the royalties in our kingdoms, but the perk I like to have is the former. It would be great to not have to worry about your own financial status in your travels, after all."
"So you want these perks to have an easier time finding your father?" In response to Alice's conclusion, Alexander nodded in confirmation.
"Actually, it is harder than you think. I've asked for support from the Information Broker Guild, but even after four years, there is still no trace of my dad. I don't know what happened on their side, but I thought that getting support from the church would help me in some way."
"So, even after four years, you still don't know anything about your father's whereabouts… What if he is dead, then?" Alice wondered, although those words made Alexander stop on his steps for a bit.
Both Luka and Alice looked at Alexander, one with worry while the other with expectations, curious about the way he would react. Much to Alice's disappointment, though, Alexander didn't show much of a reaction except for a shrug.
"If he is dead, there is nothing much I can do. At least, I hope I can find his body, or the reason why he died. My dad is very strong, so I doubt any average monster or human can deal with him." After saying that, Alexander continued to walk forward, facing ahead.
"At the very least, I want to know why this happened to begin with…"
Nobody in the group said anything about it, each for their own reasons. Meanwhile, Alexander started to think about his future.
Now that he left Iliasville, will he ever find a trace of his father's shadow around the world? The Information Broker Guild, which specializes in discovering any kind of legal or illegal information, couldn't even find a comma about his father after he mysteriously disappeared four years ago, so how is he supposed to find something by himself?
Alexander didn't have much hope in regards, but it was worth trying, at least. He got the whole time of the world to do anything, so he may be able to find his father in places that not even the guild will venture, such as the eight danger zones spread in the world.
If he has to, he will enter those eight territories if he has to find his father there. Of course, he isn't that stupid to go there blindly, it's way too dangerous to carelessly go there…
The Lost Woods of Ilias Continent, the Spirit Forest of Natalia Region, the Safar Ruins of Safina Region, the Taboo Spring of Noah Region, the Poison Swamp, the Gold Volcano, and the Nightmare Wastelands of Gold Region, and then there is Hellgondo as a whole.
These eight locations are the famous eight danger zones where the risk of mortality is way higher than the average, whether it is because of the unusual activity of monsters in the area, or because of the hazardous zone that caused the place to be inhabitable for humans.
He will have to make a great deal of preparations before heading in these eight places, but it won't be impossible to come out alive. That's what he believed. Although, it would be really nice if he didn't need to…
Well, only the future can tell.