Each One's Journey
I think first impressions are very important in relationships. They are formed in a short moment, but their influence lasts a long time.
The same was true for beasts.
Perhaps because it had made a bad impression from the very first meeting, Manta had to live every moment carefully watching Coco's mood.
"Squeak."
Coco lay comfortably on its back and flicked its forepaw.
In response to the command, the manticore flapped its wings beside it like a fan.
A cool breeze flowed over.
Satisfied, Coco closed its eyes and began taking a nap.
Manta kept fanning for quite a while. Then, thinking Coco had fallen into a deep sleep, it slowly stopped flapping its wings and tried to rest—
Swoosh.
Coco's tail rose upright, forming the shape of a crescent moon.
Startled, Manta hurriedly resumed flapping its wings.
'It's a little pitiful, but it can't be helped.'
Honestly, it had brought this upon itself, and from Woojin's perspective, the situation was quite convenient. With Coco acting as the disciplinarian, managing Manta had become much easier.
Still, if you only pressured someone, life would become too miserable.
So he helped a little.
"Don't push him too hard. His wings were only fixed recently."
"Squeak."
If they weren't careful, the joints in those wings might pop out again.
When Woojin said that, Coco readily allowed Manta to rest.
Thanks to that, the manticore could finally catch its breath.
Manta stopped flapping its wings, yawned, and then lay down beside Coco for a nap.
Even though the two often bickered… they had become close enough to nap together.
"I should give them some snacks later."
Thinking that, Woojin stepped away so they could sleep comfortably.
He began walking slowly, like someone out for a stroll.
Woojin wandered around the area like a carefree loafer with nothing to do. In truth, that was exactly the reason he was acting like that—he genuinely had nothing to do.
'Isn't there anything interesting around?'
Even hunting magical beasts throughout the Demon Realm was starting to become boring.
Of course it was still fun, but repeating the same thing over and over made it feel somewhat monotonous.
But staying shut up in his room studying magic all day sounded even worse.
So Woojin was simply sightseeing around the city.
Of course, wasting time like this didn't sit well with him either.
'I should start looking for something new to do.'
To escape this sense of stagnation, life needed a little variation.
What should he try?
While walking and pondering for quite a while…
Suddenly, a decent idea came to mind.
'I should talk to the others about it.'
It wasn't something he could decide alone.
So Woojin immediately headed back toward the lodging.
After walking for a bit, he quickly spotted the destination.
A mansion located near the naga king's palace.
The building wasn't particularly large, but its exterior looked quite elegant.
But for some reason—
"W–Wait! Stay back!"
The lodging was unusually noisy.
Sensing something was wrong, Woojin hurried inside.
The scene he encountered next…
was bewildering.
Arwen was struggling while pressed against a wall.
Meanwhile, Claire was lunging at her fiercely like a starving zombie.
It looked almost like some kind of affectionate tussle.
Stunned, Woojin muttered quietly.
"…I did hope the two of you would get along, but not like this."
"What are you talking about?!"
Arwen raised her voice.
"Don't just stand there watching—help me!"
Just what had happened here?
After calming things down somewhat, Woojin heard the story from Arwen.
'I want to research the charm ability.'
That had been the root of the problem.
To uncover the secret hidden in Arwen's bloodline, every ability she possessed needed to be analyzed in detail.
So Claire had made a request.
"Try using your charm ability on me."
"Uh… are you sure that's okay?"
"If you use it very lightly, it should be fine."
Charm pheromones weren't an ability that left lasting side effects, so under normal circumstances there shouldn't be any problems.
After hearing that, Arwen was persuaded.
"Then… I'll try it once."
Arwen moved her left arm and lightly fluttered her sleeve.
Pink particles of light flowed out from inside her sleeve.
Claire inhaled the charm pheromones deeply…
and then tilted her head.
"Hm… I can't really tell."
She couldn't feel whether the charm ability was working.
Hearing that, Arwen looked flustered.
"You're really okay?"
"Yes. I feel perfectly fine."
"That's strange… it shouldn't be like that."
Arwen tilted her head repeatedly in confusion.
Claire then offered her opinion.
"I think you used the charm too weakly."
"Maybe that's it?"
"Yes. Try using it a bit stronger."
"I'll try."
Responding to the request, Arwen fluttered her sleeve again.
This time, the charm pheromones that flowed out were thicker and more intense.
But Claire still looked perfectly normal.
"I still can't feel anything. I'm fine, so please make it stronger."
"Alright. How about this?"
"Hm… maybe a little."
Stronger.
Claire kept asking for more.
And in response, Arwen gradually increased the concentration of the charm pheromones.
At some point, it began to feel like a half-serious contest of pride.
Arwen released the pheromones with all her strength.
"This time it's working, right?"
"…."
Claire stood there silently.
Suddenly, the room fell quiet.
The atmosphere turned strange.
Arwen cautiously spoke.
"Uh… are you alright?"
Claire slowly raised her head.
A faint pink glow flickered in her eyes.
The moment their eyes met, Arwen instinctively stepped back.
A chill ran down her spine.
"S–Stay right there."
But Claire didn't listen.
The mage, blinded by charm, lunged forward.
Arwen tried to restrain her—
'Why is she so strong?!'
Claire's physical strength was strangely powerful.
As a result, Arwen ended up pinned against the wall, forced to wait until the charm effect finally wore off.
"…Thankfully, Jin arrived just in time, which made resolving the situation much easier."
"So that's what happened."
In short, it was an accident caused by Claire's small curiosity.
Woojin turned his head and looked to the side.
On the bed was a blanket wrapped up tightly like a cocoon.
Perhaps embarrassed by having caused trouble again, Claire was quietly hiding under the blanket.
'I should change the subject.'
There was something he had been wanting to talk about anyway.
Woojin lightly tapped the blanket as if knocking.
"Claire. Come out for a moment."
"…."
Claire still said nothing. At times like this, you needed to throw out bait that would get a reaction.
"I want to consult you about an ancient ruin."
"…Go on."
A quiet voice leaked out from inside the blanket. As always, the moment the topic turned to something related to her field of interest, Claire couldn't suppress her curiosity.
Woojin continued speaking as if to himself.
"A new ruin was discovered recently, right? Aren't you curious about what kind of place it is?"
While exploring the Demon Realm, Cecilia, the Saintess of Vegetation, had discovered a massive ruin.
An ancient ruin from a forgotten age.
Apparently judging its potential value to be extremely high, the Church Alliance had even postponed the schedule of the Third Expedition in order to focus on excavating the ruin.
"What on earth did they find… for the Church Alliance to react so actively?"
He was curious.
The moment he first heard the news, the question had lingered in his mind. But back then, the circumstances hadn't allowed him to pursue it. The distance between the port city of Elus and the Demon Realm was simply too far.
Just traveling back and forth would take more than half a year, so the Woojin of the past had quickly erased the ruin from his mind.
'But things are different now.'
If he used the sea route, traveling between Elus and the Demon Realm would be much faster. And recently, he had even gained a flying manticore as a companion.
If he rode Manta westward, they would soon reach the territory of the gnolls. From there, they could gather information about the ruin.
If luck was on their side, they might even get a chance to enter the ruin and explore it themselves.
"You're a mage affiliated with the Magic Tower. You should be able to get permission to enter."
"That's true…"
Before he knew it, Claire had poked her face out from the blanket and nodded. It seemed the idea of going to see the ruin appealed to her.
After thinking for a moment, Claire spoke.
"Wouldn't Cindy feel lonely?"
"I was planning to take her with us. Why?"
"We're living comfortably like carefree wanderers, but Cindy is extremely busy running the trading company. I doubt she has the time to go traveling."
After hearing that, Woojin realized she had a point. Cindy really was living an incredibly busy life managing the merchant group.
"I should talk to her about it."
Since the topic had come up, he might as well go ask her right away.
Without hesitation, Woojin left the lodging. After looking around places where Cindy might be, he soon found her.
At a warehouse set up along the shore.
Cindy was inspecting goods that had arrived from beyond the horizon.
"Cindy. Do you have a moment?"
"Sure. Come sit over here, Oppa."
She tapped the straw mat laid out in the corner of the warehouse.
When Woojin sat down, workers from the merchant group began setting out food.
Bread and stew.
Cindy intended to take a short break and finish lunch as well.
'She looks really busy.'
He wondered if it was even right to bring up the topic of travel.
As he hesitated, Cindy urged him.
"Oppa, what did you come here for?"
"Well, actually…"
What if they all went to get some fresh air and investigate the newly discovered ancient ruin together?
After hearing the proposal, Cindy looked like she was considering it…
but soon shook her head.
"It does sound fun, but I don't have the time. I don't think I can go with you. You and the others should go on the trip."
"Are you sure about that?"
Leaving Cindy behind here alone and going on a trip felt a bit uncomfortable.
As if reading Woojin's thoughts, Cindy smiled brightly and reassured him.
"It's actually good timing. I was planning to return to Elus anyway."
"Really? Why?"
"For trade, of course."
The head of a merchant company couldn't stay in the Demon Realm forever. There was only so much that could be handled through representatives.
So Cindy planned to take a sailing ship back to Elus, visit her business partners, and then return to the Demon Realm once things became quieter.
Hearing that only made Woojin worry more.
"Can you really go all the way to Elus alone?"
"It's fine, Oppa. I'm not a kid… Besides, Lord Veshkan said he'd send a naga general and elite warriors to escort me."
With naga warriors protecting the ship, crossing the sea shouldn't be too difficult.
Cindy added,
"Rachel will be there too, so it'll be fine. She's gotten really strong since drinking the potion you gave her."
"Right… that's true."
After drinking hydra blood, the witch's power had grown significantly stronger than before.
Honestly, that witch still irritated him like a thorn in his side, but every time Woojin examined her with his insight ability, he couldn't find anything particularly suspicious.
'It should be fine.'
It seemed everyone would simply head off on their own journeys.
Ten days later—
The sailors bustled about preparing for departure.
The ship's bow was pointed toward the far south.
Woojin said his farewell to Cindy.
"Oppa, see you later!"
"Travel safely."
After a brief hug, Cindy immediately climbed up onto the deck.
Cindy would go to Elus.
Woojin and his companions would head to the ruins.
After finishing their respective tasks, they planned to reunite here in the city of the nagas.
Flap—
The sails that had been rolled up unfurled.
Filled with wind, the sails swelled outward.
Driven by that force, the sailing ship slowly began to move.
Cindy, wearing a large captain's hat, waved her hand. But she accidentally knocked her hat off and hurriedly bent down to pick it up.
Watching that, Woojin felt a sudden worry.
'She can be a bit clumsy sometimes…'
Her business sense was unmatched, but every now and then she showed an oddly absent-minded side.
Meanwhile, the ship continued moving farther away.
Cutting through the blue sea, its bow pushed forward.
Before long, the vessel disappeared beyond the horizon.
"…Shall we get going too?"
"Sounds good."
They climbed onto the manticore's back.
Claire suddenly muttered nervously.
"If we fall from this height, wouldn't we all die?"
"It's fine, don't worry. There are several safety measures."
The naga tribe had prepared a special saddle, and Arwen had wings.
If something happened, she could act like a parachute.
"If it looks like we're falling, just grab onto Arwen. You won't get seriously hurt."
"What about you, Jin?"
"I don't die even if I fall from the sky."
"…Why do you say that like it's from experience?"
He didn't bother explaining further.
"Let's go."
"W–Wait a second! I'm not mentally ready yet—"
THUD!!
Ignoring the passenger's words, Manta kicked off the ground and leapt high into the air.
Claire's scream was swallowed by the rushing wind.
The manticore flew westward.
Veshkan watched them while chewing on an apple.
"…They fly quite well."
The noisy city would probably become quieter now.
The naga king, feeling a bit disappointed inside, turned and headed back toward his palace.