Greatest Alchemist? Chapter 245

Touring Countries

After visiting Atropolis, governed by the Lionkin Beast King Ryvar, and Accuros, governed by the Succubus Queen Fraal, Sophia, Marnie, and I were going to head to the remaining four city-states in the Demon Continent.

The remaining four city states are: Varguard, governed by the Bearkin Beast King Guzhr. Rebinstan, governed by the Tigerkin Beast King Deega. Rhodes, governed by the Devil Clan’s King Gandalf. Schmihazaar, governed by the Oni Tribe’s King Jairu.

I heard from a tavern in Atropolis that King Guzhr of Varguard was a largely built 3 meter tall Beastkin warrior, but his disposition was that of a gentle, wise king. Perhaps because of that gentle disposition, the rare Humans and Dwarves in the Demon Continent reside there as a minority group. The only places in the Demon Continent where those besides Beastkin and Mazoku live in are Varguard and Accuros which possessed a port that trades with Samandour Kingdom.
On the other hand, the Tigerkin Beast King Deega who governs Rebinstan has a violent and hostile personality, and they apparently do not have a very good relationship with other countries. Majority of their citizens were Tigerkin and Wolfkin, and 100% of their warriors were Beastkin.

Rhodes ruled by the Devil Clan’s King Gandalf and Schmihazaar ruled by the Oni Tribe’s King Jairu were fundamentally monoethnic countries, but given how the six countries of the Demon Continent are minutely connected by trade, merchants, soldiers, and guards of other races regularly stay for a number of days.

「The so-called “Mazoku” is simply a term consolidating a group of people which consisted of the Succubus Clan, Devil Clan, and Oni Tribe, so this must never, ever be spoken of, yes?」
「Looks like it.」

Having infiltrated Varguard, where the racial minorityー which included Humansー resided, we listened carefully to the conversations of all sorts of people in the tavern.
We called them Majin or Mazoku, but these were apparently discriminatory terms in this continent. The Beastkin have many tribes, so generalizing their race and calling them Beastkins isn’t considered derogatory.

Incidentally, the taverns of Accuros import alcohol such as wine and ale from Samandour Kingdom. It becomes more expensive, but Atropolis and Varguard procure alcohol from Accuros by trade. What was off putting to us was Rebinstan’s taverns. Kuchikamizake[1] was too high of a hurdle. I’m so glad for Varguard.

「Kuchikamizake is just impossible.」
「……indeed. It’s practically the women’s job, but…… while that may be true, what is impossible is impossible.」
「Even in the village I was born in, the alcohol we spoke of was kuchikamizake. However the women in our village could not drink it.」

Who would have thought, the village Marnie was born in had kuchikamizake. Similar to the life of the people indigenous to the Amazon and the wilderness as shown on TV in my old life, there were many small villages rarely visited by merchants that craved primitive kuchikamizake. Of course, there were also races that possessed the technology for simple alcohol brewing, so it couldn’t be declared absolute.

「Considering this, that’s two reasons not to go to Rhodes too.」
「Indeed. Those two countries are practically monoethnic nations, so it would be difficult for us who are not even merchants to blend in.」
「Nor would I like to drink kuchikamizake at their taverns.」

The blue-skinned Devil Clan which possesses two screw horns, high groundings in magic as well as physical prowess. A trait shared by the the long-living races, they have weak desire and faculty to leave behind offspring. As such, the city-state with the least population was Rhodes. We, who were of different races, gave up infiltrating that place this time. Even with our presence inhibiting coats and Stealth skills, the risk of being detected was higher in comparison to the other city-states.
Meanwhile, the Oni Tribe had few attainments with regards to magic. However, they were a race specialized in physical prowess which, if pushed to say, was close to the Beastkins’, but they had red skin, have 2m-3m tall large builds, and two horns protruding from their forehead. We abandoned the infiltration there because there was too much of a difference in size. Though, perhaps the Oni Tribe would not detect us with our coats and skills.

「Ou, did you hear?」
「Hm? What about?」
「It’s looking like more monsters are streaming in from the southwest of the continent.」
「Hmm, but monsters increasing a bit ain’t rare though?」
「Well, that’s what they’ve been sayin’ though.」

We stealthily eavesdropped on a conversation between a Bearkin man and Wolfkin man drinking alcohol at slightly distanced table.

「Takumi-sama, the increase in monsters is now unmistakable, is it not?」
「Yeah, timing-wise, the probability of it being influenced by Sydnia’s Pope and the Evil Spirit is very high.」
「Master (Husband), will we be searching in the southwestern direction?」
「Hmm, hold on. Let’s examine all the city-states first. After that, let’s search from the sky using Ouranos.」

We will check the situation of the city-states and the impact of the increase in monsters.

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Footnotes:
1. Kuchikamizake- a rice-based alcohol chewed before fermentation.[↩]