After Erebus had filled the seemingly bottomless pit that we refer to as a stomach off of Yvick’s bountiful mana stones, the quintet left Yvick’s castle.

Who, by the way, looked as if he wanted to run away and possibly cry in some lone desolate corner when Erebus had busted down the back door to his castle. Not only was his front door being destructed, but now his back door, too? Why! Why on Eirlok could they do such a thing to him?

Did they know how much doors costed these days? Especially ones meters tall and made out of fine materials.

He lamented over such things as his supply of mana stones which he had recently restocked dwindled once again.

I am also starting to tear up when I think of the pain and struggle that Yvick has to go through with every visit from Erebus.

And now, the quintet was just exiting [Cockatrice Valley], once again in the [Scorpion Pass].

“Well, first things first, we should buy a rough map of the Lower Continent. Just so that we know where we are going,” Vyne said. “We can go back to that Port City since it’s the only one we know of within less than a day’s walking distance.”

The others nodded at his words. It made sense, and it was also a great waste of time.

Everything for the sake of wasting time!

That was their creed.

They headed out through the [Scorpion Pass] with Vyne (as he was in his true form) unknowingly acting as monster-repellent.

Once again, a truly efficient servant.

So, they made their way to the Port City, Karun, in order to buy a map. Erebus walked with an extra bounce in his step, delighted by the concept of looking around the Lower Continent.

He had visited this place many times of the centuries, but he had never really bothered to go sightseeing, per say.

Erebus was not the only one walking with a bounce in his step, however, Tear, too, was simply ecstatic.

The reason being she was holding Erebus’ hand!

And he could care less about it. The last time Tear had tried to hold his hand he had shaken her off and gave her an irritated stare. He had grown so accustomed to her touch now that he hardly paid it any mind.

She took that to signify she was growing closer to his heart. More or less (mostly less) it was correct.

Just like that, they entered the bustling city.

Since this was a safe area, it wasn’t uncommon to have a large amount of people here. Lots of Questers came here on escort jobs, and the ones who hired them were merchants who were out to get the precious and semi-rare items on the Lower Continent.

Also, plenty of tourists would come and go to see the beautiful cities built on the Lower Continent in the safe areas.

When the quintet entered, they surprisingly did not gain any attention. Despite all of them being an undoubtedly a strange group.

There was a demon, a beastwoman, two humans, and a kid. All of them were dirty and bloody, but dressed in finery and had swollen pouches (save for the kid) attached to their hips. Their weapons looked high-classed and they all had attractive faces.

If it was for the scary aura the demon was giving off, they would’ve been the target of lurking bandits and thieves.

Perhaps the members of this city were used to seeing odd things. They did live in the Lower Continent, after all.

“Excuse me, where do they sell basic maps here?” Vyne asked a woman with her hair decorated with jewels braided into the auburn locks as she sold fresh fruits.

“Down at the Quester’s Guild. It’s a couple of minutes down from here. Go straight until you see Blue Tavern, make a left down that alley, go straight and you’ll be there,” she answered without even blinking at his appearance, she then turned back to her work. “You there! You looking for some nice fruits? They’re fresh and sweet!” she called out to a passerby.

Vyne walked away from the woman and told the other four what she had said, then they all left in the directions she had given them.

The Quester’s Guild here was nothing like the one in the capital of the Milon Kingdom.

It was shabby, had a menacing mana channel, and just looked downright shady. Inside only a few Questers were seated here and there but they looked like thugs more than anything.

A normal person would hesitate to enter such a place with these gruff, violent-seeming people, but as always, the quintet was not at all bothered or worried by such sights.

They made their way to the front desk, ignoring the greedy stares focused on the bulging pouches that they carried.

One man even licked his dry, cracked lips yet he made no move.

Something about seeing these types of people made them hold back, they clearly weren’t newbies who couldn’t hold their own.

They were covered in blood that obviously was not theirs, and none of them were bothered by such magnificent clothing being dirtied. These weren’t rich, privileged brats.

These were fighters.

“Um~ we would like to buy a basic map,” Erebus said to the hefty receptionist. It was a man with a bushy beard and eyes that showed an iron-will. His body, thick with muscle, paired with his calloused hands, gave off the impression that he was nothing less of a combat specialist.

“Just one?” the man asked in a gravelly tone.

“Yep.”

He reached under the counter and pulled out five different scrolls. “These are our most basic maps. There are minor variations in how simplistic they are, though. Starting from here,” he touched the leftmost map, “to here,” he slid his finger to the rightmost map, “goes from highest to lowest.”

“We’ll take the last one,” Erebus said.

“Ten silver.”

Vyne raised his eyebrows instantly, what a rip-off! That man was clearly overcharging them.

An above-average map costed around six silver. The most advanced going up to a couple hundred.

Ten silver for this useless piece of parchment?

Vyne was about to say something, but Erebus easily put down the money without batting an eyelash. He wasn’t an idiot so he knew they were being cheated, he simply didn’t care.

What was ten silver when you had enough to buy the most affluent kingdoms with hardly hurting your bank account?

Heck, even if the man charged Erebus 100,000 gold, he would pay it all with a wave of his hand.

The dizzying amount of extremely rare jewels, mana stones, metals, etc. Erebus had was enough to fund three kingdoms with huge populations for many centuries!

The fearsome economic power of the original dragons.

Being the (greedy) creatures they were, they had collected and amassed the abundant amount of the previously mentioned precious items during the beginning stages of this world.

Damn them.

After buying the map and leaving the Guild, Lilian suggested that they go to an inn to rest and clean up.

Seeing as they were incredibly filthy.

Like seriously, I feel bad for those surrounding them.

So, after checking into another overly expensive in (after all, their master could have nothing less than this), they all took a bath in the hot spring (Tear’s peeping was ended by a very irritated Vyne) that acted as the inn’s claim to fame and outrageous prices.

The girls, much to their sadness, were given a separate room to sleep in than the men were. Even Lilian was upset over not being able to share a room with Lord Erebus. When was the last time she had spent a night without some type of memorabilia of him next to her?

She should’ve brought at least one doll with her!

When the morning came upon them, everyone rose and dressed in new clothes that they had bought the night before, as their only pair had been, well, ruined completely and now unwearable.

They now sat at a table in the gorgeous dining area of the inn. The map that they had bought yesterday was spread before them and they were all huddled around it looking at the areas they could go explore.

It only had a rough sketch of the Lower Continent. It contained city names and area names in the proximate vicinity that they were in. There were also boundaries drawn to show the end and beginning of a place.

There was no drawings of mountains, lakes, roads or paths... Just names. On an old piece of yellowed paper.

For ten silver.

This thing was barely worth a copper!

“[Hungry Bear Caverns] sounds cool,” Weryn supplied, tapping a location located southwest of Karun.

“We’d have to pass through another town and the [Spirited Away Grassland] to get there,” Lilian murmured.

To her, well, anyone really, the name [Spirited Away Grassland] did not sound all too promising in its safety.

Just as the name implied, people mysteriously would disappear in this grassland! One moment they would be walking next to someone, and the next they were gone. The only remnant of their existence was memories.

Their bodies, in whatever state they’d be in, were never found.

Lilian absolutely did not want to enter such a dangerous place! What if one of them got taken?

“Yea, sure, let’s go there,” Erebus said.

Lilian’s head slammed against the table.