I would like to say we actually got lost during our trip a few times.

It would make for a more interesting story.

At most it was tiring, and nothing more. The stamina I had just a few years ago seems to have diminished, and both Yenna and I found ourselves taking a break every 5 hours.

I think this is the first time I’ve felt muscle sores like these, ever since I turned six—around the time I discovered my time-stop ability.

It was simply more convenient to move around by stopping time, and even when I didn’t use it, I didn’t really walk for very long distances.

—I guess this confirmed that my ability negated any strain on my body, huh?

I actually considered renting out a horse, but knowing me, I would probably get into some kind of trouble and lose the horse.

So I decided to walk.

It only took a few minutes before Yenna calmed down, and started following me on her own.

With no better destination, I decided to take the main road northward, and pass through some of the nearby villages. On top of that, I thought about visiting a few of the towns in the region.

Going by land-mass alone, the whole of Senilea can be compared to some of the smaller European nations in my old world. The majority of the country is filled with flat fields and grasslands, so agriculture is an important part of Senilea’s economy. There are small woodlands scattered throughout, and the southern quarter of the country is pretty much all forest.

However, mined resources like metal need to be imported from allied nations, which means that Senilea itself has trouble keeping up as a military state.

Before Lein’s attack, Senilea’s position was already shaky, being a good source of food, surrounded by vultures who would like said food. I don’t know the full history of the country, but I think the former Azurian Empire had a major role in uniting much of the region, and carving it into distinct Kingdoms, when at the time there were merely scattered city-states.

After the Empire’s fall, the Azurian nations became loosely related Kingdoms that were more-or-less allied. It’s the only reason Senilea has managed to remain an independent Kingdom, rather than be invaded by its neighbors.

This meant that if one nation ever did try to invade, they would receive push-back from another ally.

Now? Senilea has merely become one of Lein’s checkpoints, that happens to produce a large amount of food.

Just because the king is hiding, does not mean Lein doesn’t control the kingdom and all of its assets. The king and the army that continues to support him, are effectively rebels.

Yes, many of the citizens of Senilea still recognize the royal family, but politically and economically, it doesn’t carry much weight, when you consider this isn’t a democracy.

Lein has the authority to keep the citizens in check for now, and given a generation or two, the populace will barely remember the Senha Royal Family. Of course, to an ageless Spirit like Lein, a human generation is inconsequential, so he probably has enough patience to wait out the people’s discontent.

Until then however, he has sent governors to the various territories he’s acquired in this conquest. These politicians would negotiate with the lords of the region, and came to an understanding—at least most of them have.

After that, the appointed governors began to manage an expanse of territories, and Senilea itself has been split into two or three governing regions (depending on how you count them) for the time being.

It’s a shame people in this era can’t just get along. But in a world of god-like immortals, Empires crop up consistently.

Well, even in my old world’s history, Empires weren’t uncommon, but they didn’t show up at this rate, did they?.

However, observing the villages I passed through, It doesn’t seem like this society has entered anything like an enlightenment age. The advancement in technology has stagnated, and if historical records are to be believed, it’s been like this for quite a while.

The cause is likely the existence of Spirits who are constantly shifting the political landscape, without allowing time for reasonable advancements to form. On top of that, the Central Wall limits trade with the eastern people of this continent, which may also explain the fewer plague outbreaks in this world compared to my own.

The Central Wall—quite a mysterious phenomena, that.

—As you might imagine by the name, it’s a barrier formed at the rift between what you may call Europe and Asia, back on Earth.

I haven’t seen any maps of the continent or where the wall is located, so I can’t get a proper sense of scale of where exactly this barrier is relative to my memories of the continent.

However, you can still bypass the wall by going south, but this still limits the amount of trade, and requires travel through harsh terrain.

Still, I’m quite curious in this “Wall”.

I read about it among Jenn’s library of books.

It’s said to be a magical barrier that prevents all passage, but the first mentions of it began in books roughly six hundred to seven hundred years old.

Before that period, there seems to have been some developing trade between the East and West. I asked Jenn on the matter, and he says the wall doesn’t have any records of who built it, or why, but it sort of just appeared out of nowhere.

It must have been quite a shock to the people of that time, but I can guess the cause.

—A Higher Spirit.

Spirits are roughly split into “Lower Spirits” and “Higher Spirits”, based mostly on the scale of their power.

Sentra and Myself would be classed as Lower Spirits, however my first ability makes me a wild card, that allows me to topple Higher Spirits, given the circumstance.

Lein on the other hand would be considered a Higher Spirit, for his vast control of an army of powerful monsters. On top of that, I don’t doubt that he probably has a powerful body.

The classifications of races and individuals based on power, is completely arbitrary. However, it provides a sense of scale for people. Especially those who aren’t particularly powerful.

—Humans and Fay effectively fall into the same ranking, though Fay usually have some sort of advantage, but not enough that a human can’t reach or surpass them. Generally, these two are considered the Mortals.

Lower Spirits on the other hand, are a ranking that are difficult to surmount by individual mortals. What makes them more dangerous is their capacity for longevity, giving them more experience over mortals, so even Spirits without special powers (Like the Northern Aknel Spirit clan) become powerhouses if they can live long enough.

But Higher Spirits are an opponent that not even nations dare to challenge. Whether it’s because of their ageless experience, or city-crushing power, Higher Spirits can’t be defied by mortals.

Jenn Karmiish was able to fight head-to-head with Sentra, a Lower Spirit with a fair bit of power and the capacity to crush an army. This is because of the vast difference in experience, and the fact that simply being a “Spirit” doesn’t guarantee power.

But Higher Spirits are a different matter. While it’s possible to “upgrade” into a Higher Spirit, natural-born Higher Spirits are monsters beyond compare.

There’s a small clan of Gods-on-Earth in the Eastern side of the continent, whom are a race of near immortals that have existed for eons, and are believed to be without equal.

Scary to think that there are living WMDs in this world.

So I suppose technological progress in this world is unneeded. It might even be trouble waiting to happen.

So, I wonder if the Central Wall was put up due to that?

Quite a powerful being had to have put down that wall. What was their reason?

[/hr]

“Toyaaa—… can we go back now?”

“Denied!”

Yenna once again pleaded with me to return home, but I shot her down.

We’ve only been gone a week, but I can imagine why she’d like to go home. However, I want to at least reach the nearest town before that.

If we skipped the villages, and didn’t stay the night at them, we could have reached the town by now, but at the current rate, we should reach it by tomorrow.

“I’m boooored,” Yenna complained. The two of us carried a bit of luggage on our backs, but naturally I had Yenna carry the bulk of it, to get her use to heavier loads. So I ended up packing clothes I don’t even intend to wear on this trip just to act as training for her.

She seemed to have trouble at first, mostly because of the awkward balance, but now she doesn’t seem to even notice the extra weight.

I wonder if I should have her do this more often, with gradually increasing weight?

“Hey sis, wanna have a race to the town?” I asked.

“No,” She refused. “You’ll just cheat anyways,”

Of course I will…

“So, how about a game?”

“... What kind of game?”

“I think of something that I see, and tell you a color, so you have to guess what I’m describing,” I state.

“... Sounds boring.”

Of course it does…

“Well, let’s try it. Something simple—I see something green!”

“Trees,” She said without hesitation. “That’s all there is around us…”

“Right, right. Ok, how about you try?”

“Orange-red,” She said.

It wasn’t an exciting game or anything, especially when there wasn’t very much around us to begin with, but it helped pass the time.

At least it wasn’t completely silent anymore.

“Orange-red? Err… flowers?” I didn’t see any flowers that color, but maybe Yenna did?

“Nope,” She said with a faint smile.

Ah, wait, is this a trick question? Shifting my gaze about, I wonder if there’s anything that color, until it hits me.

“Me?”

“Yep,” She said with a slight laugh. It felt obvious once I remembered my hair and tails are a very fox-like fiery red.

I decided to take my turn, and quickly took a survey of the surroundings. There weren’t a lot of things to choose from, and there were a lot of colors that overlapped.

But…

“Pink,” I said.

“Pink?” Yenna asked, confused. After all, what could be pink in this road?

The answer to that was—

“—A Person?” She asked.

“No, not a person,”

“No, I mean, look! A person!” She said, pointing ahead of us.

There, laying on the side of the road, passed out, was a person, just like Yenna said.

The two of us exchanged a glance at each other, before hurrying over to the boy on the ground.

I sat my bags down on the side of the road, as I approached the body. The person lay on the ground face down beside a tree. At a glance I didn’t spot any injuries, but I didn’t calm down just yet.

I pulled on the person’s shoulder, and turned him over, revealing a youthful boy. He seemed to be about 15 or 16, but what was really interesting was that he had an oriental face. Was he from the far East?

Wait, why is he out here?

He has a pulse, and he’s breathing steadily. Is he exhausted?

“Hey, wake up, you,” I shake the boy’s body a bit as Yenna comes to my side.

“He has a weird face,” She comments, tilting her head.

“Don’t say something rude at a time like this.” I reached for my bag and retrieve a canteen of water from it.

I splash a bit of water on the boy’s face—and it seems to do the trick. The boy gasps in surprise, as he pulls himself upright, and breathes heavily. He seems to be in shock?

“Hey boy, do you understand my words?” I asked.

The foreigner finally turns his eyes on me, as if finally noticing I exist, and raises his eyebrows, just as his face turns a tinge of red.

Yes yes, I’m a beautiful little lady. Please speak Azurian. I don’t know any other language, you know?

“I-I’m Auden,” He said shyly, as he tried to avert his gaze. That’s an Azurian name, isn’t it? This boy might be a halfy, right?

“I’m Toyaru, and this is Yenna,” I introduced myself and my sister with a smile, before turning serious. “So, what are you doing on the side of the road?”

Once more remembering his predicament, the boy darted to his feet, and looked around in a panicked frenzy.

“M-my sister,” He said in a stutter. “They have her!” He said, looking back into the forest. Just as he looked like he was about to dash into the woods, I placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Who has her?” I asked. I was curious and I had time to kill. Showing a bit of altruism every now and again couldn’t hurt.

However, as he looked back at me, Auden showed a desperate expression.

“I need to go,” He said, shrugging off my hand, and disappearing into the forest.

“Aren’t you going to follow him?” Yenna asked, as if knowing what was on my mind.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, turning a smile to her.

But she didn’t answer my question, and merely picked up the luggage I set down.

“I’ll keep walking towards the town. Try not to promise something stupid,”

Promise something stupid? Like what? I don’t normally make weird promises with people, do I?

Author Notes:

So what can I say?

Well, if you look at the beta version of RRL, you'll notice that I've split the story into two "Acts" so far, with Chapter 26 being the start of Act 2. With that in mind, I actually have a route planned for where to go from here to Act 3's end, so I hope everyone will enjoy the rode.

I don't have anything in particular to say about this chapter, other than it being the start of something else (probably).

Anyways, all feedback and suggestions are appreciated and encouraged!

Speaking of feedback, I often get a lot of comments here and there that have issue with parats of my story—particularly about how unhinged Toyaru is. Honestly, I expected that, and like I say every chapter—your feedback is appreciated and encouraged.

Actually, I find you people who like Toyaru to be the weird ones. Then again, I'm also weird like that, heh...