Chapter 240: Escape
As we emerged into the open air, we found ourselves in a corner of the grounds. A towering stone wall, about thirty meters high, loomed before us, and when I turned around, I could see several large stone buildings scattered about. The ground was bare, with not a single blade of grass in sight.
The sky was overcast, appearing as if it had been painted with a uniform gray hue. The temperature felt warm, but the low humidity made the air crisp and dry.
“First things first, let’s get over that wall,” I suggested.
“Woof!”
At my words, Nil reacted, transforming from her recent favorite puppy size to a form about three meters tall. Ivan, with Phonia in his arms, climbed onto her back, and together they soared into the sky. We floated up as well, landing atop the wall alongside Nil. The wall was thick, around three meters, so even the enlarged Nil had no trouble landing.
“Wow, it’s spacious up here,” I remarked.
“I can’t see what’s on the other side,” Ivan noted.
The horizon was lined with massive buildings stretching far into the distance. Here and there, structures rose to the same height as the wall, but none surpassed it. All of them were made of stone, giving the impression that, without any inhabitants, this place could easily be mistaken for ruins.
“There’s a lot of height behind us too,” Ivan said, glancing back at the buildings on the inside of the wall. A castle loomed majestically on the slope of a mountain. There seemed to be nothing particularly noteworthy at the peak above the castle. I wondered what lay beyond.
“Now, which way should we go?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Towards the city,” I replied, pointing at the street that stretched toward the horizon.
The area near the wall was a moat, but it was dry. Across the moat, about twenty meters wide, there appeared to be alleys, with a few figures moving about—though—
“It looks like everyone we can see is from the Majin Tribe. There’s a chance that all the humans in the city are enemies,” I cautioned.
“Ah… I see,” Ivan replied, his brow furrowing.
“I doubt they’ve publicly announced the large-scale Summoning of otherworlders, so I don’t think anyone would be hostile right from the start…”
“Is that how it works?”
Ivan tilted his head at Rio’s prediction, but he generally agreed with her.
“It’s hard to announce that you’re borrowing the power of outsiders, right?”
“Huh… Is that really the case?”
“It’s better to prepare for the worst, just in case.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“On the flip side, we might say that this is our only chance to experience the culture of this Otherworld before we become wanted criminals.”
“Culture?”
Now it was Phonia’s turn to tilt her head in confusion.
“Exactly. I mean, I’m already done with food, but I’m curious about how the people here live and what kind of clothes they wear.”
“Clothes!”
“Equipment would be interesting too,” Ivan added, as Phonia perked up.
“Then let’s head toward the city. We can always visit the mountain later.”
“Sounds good.”
“Yeah!”
“Woof!”
“It doesn’t seem like there are any people flying around, so let’s look for a place to land that won’t draw too much attention.”
“Right. Let’s remember this location for now…”
If we needed to escape, we could always fly away or Teleport back here. With that decision made, we soared higher into the sky, searching for a suitable place to descend. Oh, and by the way, we took all the wooden crates from the warehouse as compensation.
Gently landing in a quiet alley, we began walking toward the Main Street. The path here was unpaved, with bare earth beneath our feet. I had noticed while searching for a landing spot that there wasn’t a single patch of weeds in sight.
“It’s pretty messy here,” I commented.
“It’s dirty,” Phonia added.
While there were no signs of filth scattered about, trash littered the alley. I wondered if it was due to the lack of foot traffic, but it seemed that wasn’t entirely the case.
“Even the busy paths don’t look much better, do they?”
“Looks that way. Still, I wonder if there are any other races besides the Majin Tribe around.”
Peering into a somewhat busier street, we only spotted four-armed giants. Moreover, they all wore hoods that covered their heads, leaving no bare skin exposed.
“Staring at them won’t get us anywhere. Let’s move on,” I decided.
With determination, we stepped into the bustling alley. Nil maintained her size, carrying Phonia on her back as the three of us and one creature walked forward. The first passerby who spotted us froze in shock, eyes wide.
“Wow, they’re really surprised…”
Just then, a Majin who had been walking toward us did a double-take before dropping the load they were carrying with a thud.
“What in the world…”
Ivan looked just as unsettled as I felt.
“GYAAAAHHHHHHH!!”
This time, a scream erupted, and the Majin bolted away in terror, their height nearly double mine.
“Wait, hold on… this is way more than I expected!”
“Over there! Run!”
“We’re going to be killed…!”
“Help!”
As one person screamed and fled, it seemed to draw the attention of everyone around us. Suddenly, we were the center of attention, and chaos ensued.
“…We haven’t done anything wrong, have we?”
Watching the Majin flee in panic, Phonia looked like she might cry.
“Ah, yeah. We haven’t done anything. It’s okay, Phonia. You haven’t done anything wrong, so don’t worry.”
Before I knew it, the foot traffic around us had completely vanished, leaving only the distant sounds of commotion echoing in the air.