Chapter 323 (Patreon)

Chapter 323

Sophia and Aura noticed a couple dozen demons with their detection magic, and the group began sailing in that direction. They eventually arrived near a large island that seemed to be inhabited by the demon folk and decided to visit them so the girls could finally meet their first members of the demon folk.

“Welcome to our little island.” The group arrived at the little dock and was promptly approached by two of the demons, a tall, broad-shouldered male with light blue skin and dark hair, a long, smooth tail, a set of thick horns, and a female even taller than Anna with light red skin, white hair, and just an arrow-tipped tail. The others on the island decided to keep their distance for now. “I don’t even know where to start. There are so many questions I have.” The man scratched his cheek as he mustered the group.

“How about we start with introductions, dear?” The woman eyed the male demon before smiling at the group on the boat. “My name is Igis, and that's Errol. We weren’t expecting to meet up with a group of beastfolk explorers. Especially not from that direction. Not to mention that there’s something quite curious about you all.” Naturally, she had already noticed that all of them had way more magic than they were supposed to have.

“Well, nice to meet you. I'm Sophia, nothing more than your friendly neighborhood tiger, and those are my friends." The blonde took charge, introduced herself, and everyone else in the group.

“Aura?” Once the introductions were over, the male demon stared at the wolf with a confused expression. “It’s different, but it reminds me of our national hero Aurora. She was a lot taller than you, though. Is it a common naming scheme amongst wolves?”

“…” Every one of the group simply stared at the hero.

“Fascinating.” She feigned ignorance. “Unfortunately, I don’t know many other wolves like my partner and me, so I don't know if names like that or mine are common amongst us.”

“I see.” He sounded rather disappointed. “Although, speaking of the warrior hero, you, no, all of you feel significantly stronger than what fellow demons claimed her to be. More importantly, why are all of you that powerful? I’ve met my fair share of beastfolk members, and they’re all good people, but they’re usually on the weaker side when it comes to magical power. Yet, here you all are, stronger than even demons could ever hope to be.”

“Also, where did you all even come from?” The female demon also had a question. "You came from the completely opposite direction of the mainland. The only thing that way is the abyss, and that’s a dead end. Did you get lost and sail around the island first before finding it?”

"No, we actually came from the beast folk continent and crossed that little trench before ending up here by chance.” Sophia was still doing the talking.

“You came from the other continent? In that?” Igis gestured at their little boat. “Also, the trench is impassable. Countless attempts were made in the past, and nothing ever worked out.” She couldn’t believe her claim.

“With enough magic, nothing is impassable~.” The blonde’s expression turned smug.

“Now we’re back to my question.” Errol took over. “Why do you have so much magic? For a moment, I thought I was sensing it wrong, but you just confirmed you’re that powerful. If you really are from the other continent, has the beastfolk evolved differently there? Did they find a way to drastically improve their magic far above us demons? This is most fascinating!”

“It’s my first time meeting a member of the demon folk, and I haven't even set foot on the actual continent to meet any beast folk, so I have no reference on whether or not they evolved differently.” The blonde responded with a shrug. After all, Aura wasn't the only one able to reply to a question with something that sounds correct and isn’t technically wrong but actually dodges the topic entirely. She was a master of it.

“Mhm.” The demon had obviously hoped for more, but it was not enough to make him suspicious because it made perfect sense. “With that much power, especially if you all band together, I can imagine that the abyss would be crossable, but still… It feels like each and all of you have more magical abilities than should be possible. Are you all really regular members of the beast folk? If you are some sort of special elite, that would explain a lot. Including the part where you are the first group to ever come from this direction.”

“It would take out all the fun if I were to confirm or deny that, wouldn’t it?” Sophia smirked at him. “The unknown is way more interesting, isn’t it?”

“For someone claiming to never have met a demon before, you sure know how to deal with us.” Errol let out a sigh. “You’ll make a lot of people incredibly curious about you and your group, though.”

“We’re used to that already…” Ari only whispered those words to herself.

“Anyway, we can talk about that some more later.” Igis lightly clapped her hands to get their attention. “Regardless of where you came from, I’m sure you all would like to stretch your legs after a long boat ride, right? Would you be interested in a quick tour of our little island before we get somewhere more comfortable to chat?”

“That would be great!” Sophia liked the idea.

“Let’s go!” Steph did, too, and energetically jumped off their boat and onto the pier.

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"By the way, what kind of place is this?" As they were walking towards the wooden huts with straw roofs, Chloe wanted to know more about it. “When we were approaching this island, we thought it was something like a holiday retreat. Being here right now and seeing everything up close only increased that feeling.”

“True!” The other girls agreed with her.

“Glad to hear that our theme was understood.” The female demon let out a chuckle. “Many of us here came to explore and map the Abyss Trench, and we used this island as a base of operations. We've spent a lot of time here during our breaks or when the sea was too rough to sail. Over time, people got a little homely and started turning the island into a retreat to make the breaks more worthwhile and, well, here we are.”

“Fair enough.” The fox-girl could follow her reasoning. “A break should be comfy!”

“Are you all still exploring the trench?” Sophia got curious about that.

“Not really.” Igis shook her head. “Every now and then, we go and check if anything changed there and report our findings to the mainland, but most of the time we just enjoy our off-site life on a resort island as a paid vacation if you catch my drift.”

“Living the best life, huh?” The blonde understood her pretty well.

“Exactly~.”

“I’m kind of confused that you just accepted that we crossed the trench if you all are explorers and mappers of it.” Anna was surprised that they weren’t surprised. “The water around it is rather inhospitable, and the thing itself is like two kilometers wide.”

“Well, when I said it’s impassable earlier, I meant with reasonable means. A group of reckless demons could fling themselves over it. Many of us can fly, so that would be an easy solution, too. Getting a boat to the other side is a different topic, though. That would need considerable magic power and is simply not feasible. However, magic power does not seem to be a concern for any of you. That's why it would be foolish to be surprised that you can cross it with relative ease. After all, the combined magic of you eight easily surpasses that of over a 100 to 200 demons, if not even more.”

“Hah.” People not being completely flabbergasted by their authority, especially after all the boosting, was a surprisingly refreshing feeling. “I guess so.”

“Though, that being said, how exactly did you get to the other side?” Errol ended up being curious after all.

“We simply sailed over a temporary water bridge.” Sophia conveniently left out the fact that said bridge was made by the creator of the trench himself.

“Yeah, that sounds plausible.” It seems like the demons were a lot more okay with ridiculous-sounding magic compared to the beast folk.

“By the way, a few of the huts are empty right now, so if you all want to rest up and recover for a couple of times, that’s no problem at all.”

“That would be nice!" It wasn't like the group needed any rest, since they visited the domain multiple times during the journey, but Sophia still appreciated the offer. Not to mention that staying with the demons on a holiday island didn't sound like a bad idea at all.

“Oh, by the way, that’s our fight club over there.” As they continued their tour, the male demon eventually gestured toward the roughly two-meter-deep circular hole, with a diameter of roughly 25 meters, in the middle of the little island village. “That’s where we’re going to have a nice fight with each of you tonight. I’m going to challenge you first, dear jaguar.” He then smiled at Ari.

“H-HUH?!” She instantly raised her voice. “WHY?!”

“It’s in the nature of every member of the demon folk to challenge strong individuals, so your group especially gets our blood boiling in the best kind of way.”

“WHY ME, THOUGH?!” That was the only thing she cared about.

“I sense a deep affinity to fire in your magic power, and that's my favorite, too." Errol gave her a thumbs-up. “I’d love to see what you’re capable of.”

“…” Ari was at a loss for words.

“I love the demons already.” Sophia was trying hard to hold back her laughter.

“And I want to have some fun with you.” Igis locked eyes with the blonde. "Something about your magic as a whole feels odd, and I can't wait to test and find out what it is." The demons were a lot sharper when it came to these things.

“Wasn't there a rule that says to not talk about the fight club?” Steph joined the conversation while tilting her head.

“Why would we not talk about it?” Errol looked confused. “Every village has at least one fight club, you know? It’s customary for every demon settlement.”

“Yeah, how would you set up matches if you don’t talk about it?” Igis also couldn’t follow her.

“Mhm, I guess I was mistaken there.” The dog-girl reacted with a slight shrug before her tail started wagging stronger again. “Anyway, I want to fight someone, too!”

“Of course.” Both demons smiled at her in return.

Afterward, once that topic was over, the group resumed the tour to learn more about the island and the customs of the demons they met.