Approaching the camp without making any attempt to hide himself, a short-haired girl keeping watch nearby immediately noticed them.
However, halfway through shouting at them, she seemed to have seen a family member she hadn't met in a long time and came running over with a delighted cheer.
Although he had rescued quite a few people during this rescue operation, so he didn't remember many of them clearly, Ash still had some impression of this girl.
Her name was Vierra. She had been out adventuring together with her younger sister as an adventurer, but because they had been transferred to the Millis Continent without any preparation or equipment, they had been captured by bandits just like her sister.
Originally, after the sisters were captured and brought here, what awaited them would have been the fate of becoming outlets for that group of bandits. But before the busy bandits could lay a hand on them, Ash discovered and rescued them before they suffered any harm.
Vierra had been all smiles when she saw Ash, but when she saw the two children, her expression also became somewhat pained, "These two children are also..."
"Yes, they're also victims from the Fittoa Region. I'll leave them in your care for now. Take them home with you when the time comes."
"Okay, please leave them to me!"
As the number of people in the camp grew larger and larger, when Vierra took the two children, she kept nodding in agreement, her face filled with undisguised admiration.
She even wanted to keep him around a little longer, but Ash directly refused... After all, he had no intention of using this favor to ask for something in return, or of being pressured into sending them back himself.
Although he could easily open a teleportation gate and send all of them back, all the countries in this world were doing their best to prohibit teleportation arrays. To avoid unnecessary trouble... he also had no intention of revealing for the time being that he could use space magic.
In the end, there was actually no point in them going back, because everyone and everything, even the foundations of their houses, had all been transferred to different places around the world. Their homes naturally no longer existed.
As for what the two little girls who kept waving at him when he left were thinking, no one was concerned about that at the moment.
———
The next morning, when sunlight fell upon the earth, Ash also quietly returned to Eris's side.
At that time, Eris was sleeping soundly. Her peaceful sleeping face, illuminated by the light and shadows, showed a completely different kind of innocence from when she was awake, making it hard to bear disturbing her.
Ash first carefully dispelled the barrier, then gently shifted his body so that Eris could continue leaning against him, using his leg as her pillow.
After doing all this, however, he stared at Eris's cute sleeping face, struggling inwardly with what he should do next, especially... how to tell her that her father had already died.
And just as Ash was immersed in these worries, Eris, completely unaware, groggily opened her eyes.
She first blinked those large eyes that still held a little sleepiness several times, as though she were still in a dream. Only after quite some time did she gradually wake up and slowly understand the situation she was in.
Although she was on an unfamiliar continent, she lazily stretched, gave a big yawn, then rubbed her eyes. After that, she raised a smiling face and greeted Ash, carrying the muddled air of someone who had just woken up.
Then, after Ash used magic to summon water, took out the toothpaste and toothbrush from this era that he had prepared long ago, and after she simply washed up and ate the food he had prepared... this overly energetic little girl strode ahead with great enthusiasm.
She then stood at the edge of a cliff, putting her hands on her hips and raising her head to look at the boundless sky. Her face was full of excitement and anticipation. After taking a deep breath, she shouted loudly toward the sky:
"Demon Continent~! Our adventure starts today!"
"...Haa."
"Ash! Don't look so lifeless! Hurry up and shout with me!"
"No, it's too embarrassing," Although Ash's face was full of resistance, Eris didn't care whether he was willing or not. She grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the edge of the cliff, "Hurry up and come over!"
Not wanting to argue with her, Ash reluctantly followed and shouted a little from the side.
Although she complained that he wasn't energetic enough, Eris happily continued walking ahead. From time to time, she turned around and waved at Ash, "Ash, hurry up! Why are you walking so slowly, like some little old man!"
"...You're just too energetic."
Ash had no intention of paying attention to her at all. He could only mutter quietly as he followed her.
The Demon Continent was covered with rocks and gravel, and the differences in elevation of the terrain were also very drastic, giving people the feeling that it was almost turning into a desert.
However, even in this seemingly harsh environment, a considerable number of monsters lived, and the competition for survival here was also particularly fierce.
Precisely because of this, as Ash and Eris traveled along, they would encounter surprise attacks from monsters almost every half hour or so.
At first, when those monsters suddenly appeared, Eris was caught off guard and was somewhat frightened.
Originally, Ash thought she would immediately run to his side, but after realizing what was happening, she instead directly entered killing mode with the sword she used to practice swordsmanship... After all, most monsters weren't as strong as that lizard they had encountered at the beginning.
Even after successfully driving off the monsters each time, she would drag their corpses to Ash like a little warrior returning victorious, her small face filled with pride. It was obvious that she wanted Ash to praise her, leaving Ash helpless and forcing him to reach out and pat her head from time to time.
"Very impressive, very impressive. Very good, very good~ As expected of Eris."
"Hmph-hmph! See?"
Although his tone carried a little perfunctory feeling, Eris didn't notice it at all. Instead, she found it particularly pleasing, and every time she heard his praise, she would excitedly run ahead again to lead the way, as though she had endless energy.
Of course, when they occasionally encountered a more powerful monster, Ash still needed to step in and protect her.
In this way, the two of them walked and stopped along the way, and before long, it was already noon.
After a whole morning of this, even Eris, who was extremely energetic, was somewhat tired by now.
She was walking slowly when her eyes suddenly lit up, as though she had discovered a new continent. Excitedly, she ran onto a high rock and stood there, rising onto her tiptoes and pointing hard toward the distance as she shouted:
"Ash, Ash! A village! It's a village!! Hurry up here!!"
"Yes, yes..."
Ash walked slowly behind her, his eyes still fixed on his book. Hearing Eris's shout, he merely answered absentmindedly before jumping onto the rock as well.
Following the direction of the girl's slender fingertip, they could see a uniquely shaped village inside a small valley not far away.
Of course, calling it a village was a little much. There were actually only a dozen or so low buildings. Calling it a settlement would be more accurate.
———
On this barren land, beneath cliffs made of rock walls, the outskirts of the small settlement were surrounded by a very crude fence.
Looking through the fence, one could see several not very large fields inside. Sparse, unknown crops had been planted in them. Ash examined them carefully for quite some time, but still had no idea what exactly they were growing. However, the harvest didn't look very good.
"Come closer and take a look!", Eris was like a cheerful little bird, excitedly walking ahead. Even as she walked, she kept turning around and waving at Ash, her clear voice full of novelty and excitement, "Most of these buildings are made from the shells of those turtle monsters you killed! Amazing! So demons use turtle shells to build houses~!"
After Eris finished those words, despite not being able to stop marveling, a strange expression unconsciously appeared on her face. Her footsteps also stopped involuntarily, and she even took several steps backward, shrinking directly beside Ash.
"...You're not just brave at home, are you?"
"I am! It's just... demons. They won't all be like that uncle, with green hair and red gemstones..."
"That's hard to say. We'll have to see for ourselves," Ash smiled and shrugged, then held out his hand, "If you're scared, want to hold hands?"
"I'm not that timid!", Eris immediately slapped his hand away and turned her face aside forcefully, acting haughty.