Thirty agonizing minutes passed.

“What’s taking her so long?” Ellis furrowed his brow. Although Ena was a magical creature, surely, she still needed to breathe, right? Did something happen down there? Was she okay?

Just as he began to worry, ripples suddenly formed on the water’s surface. He breathed out a sigh. Ena finally resurfaced.

With her head poking out of the water, she looked equal parts tired and equal parts satisfied. The little fox quickly swam back to shore, dragging something along with her in the process.

“What did she bring back?”

Ena was using the legendary technique known as the doggy-paddle. At the same time, she was pulling something through the water using a few of her tails.

Ellis walked over. He noticed that whatever it was that she had brought back, it was big and bulky, more than three times as large as Ena herself.

As the little fox approached, he took note of her current condition. Although she looked somewhat worn-out, Ena did not seem at all troubled by the thing she was carrying. Ellis knew how difficult it was to carry something while you were swimming. It was not at all like in the movies, where you could keep yourself afloat with a light flutter. Ena, that child…

“She’s a lot stronger than she looks,” Ellis muttered to himself.

“Kyu!” Upon seeing him, she excitedly let out a bark. She soon reached the shore and trotted towards him. With a wave of her tails, she threw the item forward. It landed in front of him with a loud thud.

He unconsciously widened his eyes. “What is this?”

It was a box. No, not just any box, but a treasure chest. Dark brown rotting wood and rusted gold that lined all eight of its corners. There was only one opening: a lid held in place with a lock. Judging by how damaged it looked, even if he had the key, it would still probably be impossible to open.

“You seriously fished this thing out from the lagoon?” He raised his brow in disbelief.

“Kyu!” She responded with a nod.

For quite some time, he did not know how to properly respond. This thing, had it really been hiding somewhere in the lagoon this whole time? It was a bit hard to believe, but since Ena already brought it back, he had no other choice but to believe.

In truth, Ellis had been meaning to check the depths of the lagoon properly for quite some time now. He especially wanted to explore the hole near the bottom of the lagoon. Unfortunately, a few complications happened. Between his half-hearted attempts at crafting and all the monsters that attacked the cave, he kept postponing and postponing up until he eventually just forgot about the whole thing.

“How did you know this thing was down there?” He asked her.

In response, Ena simply raised her nose in the air and let out a snort. It was as if she was saying, ‘Of course I know, it’s only natural for me to find it.’

He rubbed her head and wryly chuckled. “Well, in either case, good job, partner.”

Ena wagged all nine of her tails and let out a soft coo sound. She nuzzled her head against the palm of his hand, prompting another bought of laughter from Ellis.

“Well, the chest isn’t that big, but it’ll be helpful as a storage container.” Lugging around a single box was far easier than carrying thousands of individual scales. “And it’ll be even better if this thing actually has real treasure inside.”

He lifted the chest up and inspected it on all sides. It did not seem to be bolted. Appearance wise, it looked like a standard treasure chest, the same ones that pirates usually lugged around in books and movies. He gingerly pulled on the lid. It was firmly locked shut and unfortunately, they did not have a key.

Well, not like it really mattered in the first place. While there were some problems that could not be solved through brute force alone, this was not one of those problems. Ellis grabbed the lid and pried it open.

To his surprise, the chest was a lot sturdier than what he originally gave it credit for. Even after nearly using all of his strength, it still refused to open. Still, Ellis was a stubborn individual. He had a feeling that it would open at any second now. If it was just for a while longer, then he could continue trying. With that sort of roundabout self-hypnotism, Ellis obstinately persisted. It was like an itch that he felt compelled to scratch.

After a while, he heard a loud snap. Something within the chest broke and the lid finally opened.

Ellis gasped out in relief as he collapsed to the floor. His arms were shaking, while his entire face had turned red from exertion. He wiped the sweat on his brow and bitterly said to himself, “Finally… that damn thing is finally open!”

“Kyu!” Ena barked next to him, congratulating him for a job well done.

He recomposed himself and quickly looked inside the chest. The treasure chest was almost entirely empty. Only two items existed; an ancient book and a single brown pouch.

He thought for a moment before he grabbed the pouch. “Is this one of those magical storage items that contain a separate pocket dimension inside?”

Ellis had no basis for such an outlandish guess, but he still couldn’t help but believe. Storage items were a man’s romance, after all.

With a firm belief in his own self-concocted delusion, he gingerly attempted to ‘activate’ it. The only problem was, he did not know how to activate it.

He touched it a few times, feeling the rough fabric brush against his palms and the seams pressing against his fingertips. Usually, in all the novels that he had read, these things were activated with magic, but how does one use magic? In the first place, was he even capable of using magic?

Even after he held onto the pouch for a few minutes, nothing happened.

Ellis let out an awkward cough. “This piece of junk, it must be a defective product. It probably broke due to the passing of time. Rather, it pains me to admit it, but this thing is just an ordinary pouch.” With an attitude of ‘it’s not me, it’s the pouch’, Ellis one-sidedly reached his conclusion.

At this time, Ena jumped up and snatched the pouch away from him. Ellis was just about to say something when his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Ena fished out a dragon scale and placed it near the mouth of the pouch. A second later, and the scale suddenly disappeared.

Ellis was quite literally stunned into silence. He hurriedly took back the pouch and began carefully inspecting it. The insides were empty, the pouch still felt no heavier than a handkerchief. For all intents and purposes, nothing had changed.

He furrowed his brow in confusion. Ena grabbed the pouch again and stuck her paw into the pouch. A moment later, she pulled out a dragon scale that was nearly five times as large as the pouch itself.

“…” Upon seeing all that, Ellis suddenly understood. His face crumpled.

“Ooh, say it ain’t so.” He moaned. “I…I-I can’t use magic?”

“Is it that sort of development? Does my body not have any mana? What the hell kind of shitty cliché is that!?”

“Agh, you damn Demon King, I want a refund!”

In the midst of his rantings, Ena shook her head.

He sniffled and looked at her with a hopeful expression, “So, I do have mana?”

She nodded.

“Really, then how do I use it?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“Let me rephrase my question: why can’t I use it?”

Again, she shrugged her shoulders.

“…”

After staring at her innocent face for a long time, Ellis let out a sigh. “Well, I expected as much. I can’t go around relying on a newborn to solve all of my problems. It’s amazing enough that you can understand me to this extent. Then again, technically speaking, I count as a baby too. A young homunculus just a little bit over a year old.”

For a moment, he wanted Ena to call him big brother, but on second thought, that was a weird request. Also, Ena couldn’t speak.

“Still, if you don’t know how and I don’t know how, then I guess there’s really nothing to do about it. The fact of the matter is, I can’t use magic.”

It was a very bitter conclusion. To be stuck in a fantasy world without the ability to use magic… was there a greater hell than this?

Ena did not quite understand his plight, but regardless, she placed a paw on his shoulders and barked. ‘It’s alright, we’ll make it through this together’ was the sort of sentiment that he saw reflected within her eyes.

Ellis eventually calmed down after a few seconds. He shook his head and sighed. “Since I can’t use it, you’ll be responsible for the magic pouch.”

“Kyu!” She nodded in understanding.

Ena then went to work stuffing all the scales into the pouch. At first, he was worried that there might not be enough room, but luckily, that was a groundless concern.

Soon, all the scales were gone. He checked the pouch once more. Again, the insides were empty and the pouch weighed the same as ever.

As he handed the pouch back to Ena, a thought suddenly struck him. “Was there anything inside the pouch from the very start?”

In response, Ena shook her head.

“Ooh…” He lowered his head in disappointment. Ellis wasn’t expecting anything amazing, like a magical artifact or something. Just that, a shirt or maybe some pants would have been nice to have.

He then redirected his gaze over to the dragon’s corpse.

“The skin and meat are no good, but the bones… should we collect that too?”

Ena looked over at the corpse. She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

“Ena, do you eat bones too?” Since she could eat something like dragon scales, surely bones would be no different, right?

To his surprise, Ena shook her head.

“Oh, you don’t? I was certain you would. Don’t dogs like to eat bones?”

“Kyu!” She angrily barked in protest.

“Sorry, sorry, I won’t compare you to a dog anymore. Or rather, do you even know what a dog is?”

Ena did not respond. She let out a single snort and turned her head away.

“Geeze… was that some sort of taboo or something?” He awkwardly scratched his head. “In either case, bones are probably… no, they should be somewhat useful, right?”

Ellis approached the corpse. He reached inside and pulled out something white and pointy. It was nearly as long as he was tall. Judging by its shape, it was probably a rib bone.

Ellis briefly inspected it. After a few seconds, he exerted some strength. A soft creak filled the air before—

SNAP!

“Er… maybe it’s not as useful as I thought…” Ellis had originally planned to create a weapon out of the dragon’s bones. Unfortunately, judging by the current situation, that was a useless endeavor. Ignoring his shoddy crafting skills for a moment, these bones here did not seem all that sturdy. A weapon that was weaker than his own body was pretty damn pointless.

“Forget it, if we really do take the whole thing, the pouch might really run out of space.” He shook his head and gave up on the idea.

As for the pouch, since Ena was the only that could use it, he hung the pouch around her neck.

Next, he turned his attention over to the book.

An entirely black cover with white text scribbled onto it. The book itself looked ancient, with fading letters and frayed pages. Unfortunately, Ellis was unable to read it. The cover and the rest of the pages inside were written in a language that he did not understand.

It was probably a language native to this world, but it just so happened to be one of the several languages that he did not know. In the first place, Ellis only knew how to read one of Lull’s languages, and even that was courtesy of the Demon King’s efforts.

Although he did not want to sound too greedy, right now, he sincerely wished that Alma had put in a bit more effort when it came to creating him.

Ena was caught in the same predicament. She did not understand how to read the book.

Since it was impossible to read, he decided to just leave the book alone. A few seconds later and Ellis found himself with another unexpected surprise. The magic pouch was unable to receive the book. As a result, he had to carry it with him.

He breathed out a sigh. “This damn thing is way too troublesome. Is it some sort of grimoire or magical artifact?”

Fanciful thoughts once again filled his head. Ellis stared fixedly at the book, but even after a long time had passed, there was still no reaction.

Right now, it really did look like an ordinary book.

Ellis sighed. He couldn’t read the words nor could he store the book. He wanted to just throw it away, but the feeling that it was definitely something valuable was too strong for him to receive. For the time being, he decided to keep it. Once he gets to civilization, he’ll find some way to unlock its mysteries.

He then looked towards his little companion. “I’ve taken care of everything else that I needed to do. Should we get going now?”

“Kyu!” Ena barked out before she hopped onto his shoulder.

With that, the two began their adventure. The first obstacle in their path was a certain rock wall that towered well over their heads.