Dawnwick

I finally got out of that cursed place. It's been a couple of hours since I met that dragon, but I still struggle to understand why he ran away. However, there's one thing I learned from this experience: everything has a reason. I finally understand why people say the northern and southern parts of the country are completely divided—it's because of those damn mountains. It's completely logical why people are scared of going through them.

It's midnight, so I decided to sleep as it was dark. I'm quite lucky the moon was full tonight; it helped me see without any trouble, so I set up my tent in a quiet, flat area. Finding a spot wasn't annoying at all since it's mostly plains. I'll probably get to Dawnwick in no time. At this pace, I feel like I could reach Edward before he escapes. After all, if he escapes, finding him would take years; he could go to any continent with the money he got from demons. I can do the same with all the precious items I have from my hometown. The difficult part is knowing where he went. Instead of overthinking this too much, I'll just go to sleep—and I did.

I woke up feeling refreshed. After all, my mana was near its limits; I was close to running out of mana, which is extremely dangerous in my situation. However, I'm now in an open area, which means I can spot any kind of enemies from afar. Still, there are many dangerous monsters here. This place is another factor that separates the country, but the mountains are the actual reason. Anyone can easily pass through here with good fleeing skills, which I happen to have experience in… for some reason.

After a couple of hours, I managed to pass the dangerous plains. The place I'm in is exactly the same, except I started meeting a lot of pacifist monsters. There were still some herbivorous animals that wanted to make me their lunch, but seeing creatures that don't want to eat me feels really good. Since the Great Forest, I've never met anything that doesn't plan on killing me—except for the insects, of course. The incredible part is that there's a vast amount of insects that also tried to kill me for some reason. It's useless! Can't they realize I'm bigger than them, stronger than them, and just superior to them in every way? It's like me trying to kill the dragon I met earlier. Even though I was desperate, the idea of fighting him crossed my mind. It was a dumb thought, a guaranteed death, but the real question is: why did he run? I can't stop thinking about this, and it absolutely has no explanation. I should just stop overthinking it at this point. I'm going to try to ask people when I get to Dawnwick. Never mind, I'll try to limit my communication with people as much as possible. I've never been good at talking with strangers; I kind of hate socializing. It's not just that I despise it; I'm simply bad at it. I can't hold up a conversation with anyone for more than ten minutes, even if I'm close to the person—unless there's something particularly interesting to discuss.

Multiple days have passed, and I'm getting really close to Dawnwick. I've started seeing signs that humans passed by not too long ago, and I hate it. That wasn't something possible in the Great Forest since no one sane is interested in crossing the largest forest on the continent, which has even more dangerous places beyond it. I may just be going crazy; it's been around a month since I last spoke to someone, and I'm mentally stable enough to avoid talking to myself in the forest.

Today, I saw a human. I spotted him sitting in front of a campfire at the start of sunset, reclining against a tree. I planned to ignore him, but as soon as he came into my line of sight, he looked my way before glancing back at the campfire. His black eyes are terrifying; he's definitely not someone I should mess with. He pointed at me with his finger, then pointed at the ground, silently telling me to come closer. I had no choice but to comply. As I approached him, he said, 

"What are you doing here? It's pretty obvious this place isn't for kids."

His tone was different from mine. I guessed it would be quite obvious that I'm not from this part of the country. Even though this entire world speaks the same language as my last world, the tones sound so different. Maybe I'll understand them, but I won't be like them. People always hate anything that is different, and I don't think the people of this world are any different. After all, it turns out Edward is manipulative, selfish, and uncaring for anyone except himself—unlike what I thought. 

I also felt quite upset because he called me a kid. Even at my current physical age, I'm not considered a kid, but my body makes me look like one, so I can't really blame him for his statement. I replied to him without any change in my expressionless face: 

"I'm going to Dawnwick."

"I can see that much from the direction you're heading. So how did you come from the south? I doubt a child like you could do that alone. How'd you manage it?" he replied after giving me a strange look upon hearing my tone.

"I came on my own from the Frostvein mountains and the Great Forest; is that bad?" I said emotionlessly.

"No, it's just quite surprising—something I wouldn't see every day. Since you did that and you're pretty strong, want to have a simple duel?" he says, his face showing pure excitement.

"No." I paused for a second before responding to his request. I then began walking away because I had no idea what he was talking about. Asking someone you just met in the literal wilderness for a duel is weird. I hope not all people here are weird like this, and I'm pretty sure he would've beaten me easily. I can't sense mana to know how strong he is, and only a small number of people can do that naturally with intense training. But I know that he's powerful just from looking at him. Even if he didn't have a large amount of mana, I'm sure he can control it to an incredible degree. After all, how much a person can control their mana matters more than anything else. Anyone can manage to achieve incredible speed and strength with just a small amount of mana if they have good control. If I manage not to waste any mana, my reinforcement will improve significantly, which will allow me to use fire more precisely. This control comes mainly through fighting and training, just as I did when I first used magic. This is something I've been practicing while traveling since it's always quiet, and I'm surrounded by nature, which is the source of magic.

So I looked back at the random guy, and he appeared disappointed. I remember him saying as I walked away, "It's been a while since I met someone so interesting," sadly. For me, the thought in my mind was, "I've never met someone this weird." But I think I understand his feelings; he clearly loves fighting. I would be disappointed if I encountered something so rare yet so delicious running away while I could do nothing about it. I don't know what he found interesting in me. I also realized that I absolutely love cooking. I never thought it would actually become my hobby when I started learning it, and the great thing is I can perform it anywhere.

So I decided to set my tent away from that guy and then slept. The next morning, I woke up, folded my tent, and set off for Dawnwick. I was determined to reach it today; it's only around three hours of walking from here. I'm quite lucky I have enough money to live for a couple of days. I think I have around 300 gold coins; it's definitely enough for the break I'm planning to take there. It'll be around a week. I still don't know anything about the town, but I'll have to survive out there.

A couple of hours passed, and it finally came into view. It was huge, and just as I thought, everything looked like the medieval ages from my old world. Everything is built of wood and stone, and I can see a giant castle in the middle of the city surrounded by a tall wall. It was quite beautiful. I also met more people throughout the day, and luckily, they weren't like the weirdo I met before.

As I entered the city, I started wandering inside it. There were a lot of people, but that's normal in a city. Some gave me weird looks due to my adventuring clothes since I look like a kid. Their expressions would definitely change if they knew my real age; it's quite common for someone in their adolescence to travel, but they see me as a child. It's such a pain.

After several minutes, I started to feel hungry since I hadn't eaten anything all day, and it was already noon. I was sure there were restaurants around, so I started searching. After a short while, I spotted a sign hanging on a wall that read "Restaurant," so I decided to enter. It was open and had a wide door. I looked around and saw multiple people eating and drinking at various tables. Not knowing what to do, I watched someone enter the restaurant and ask a waiter for a type of food—exactly the same as my last world—so I did the same and asked the waiter for some good quality meat. I wanted to enjoy myself during this break after all.

I sat at a small table and, after a few minutes, the waiter arrived with my food. I took it and began eating. After finishing, I walked up to the waiter and asked him about the price. He said respectfully, 

"Young lady, it's 25 bronze coins."

I pulled out a single gold coin because it was clear gold is worth more than bronze, so it would be more than enough. However, his jaw dropped when he saw the gold coin. I guess it's worth much more than bronze. He leaned in and whispered, 

"Um… Young lady, I probably shouldn't say this to you, but a small, powerless child shouldn't have this amount of money. It's too dangerous. Do you know that one gold coin is worth 50 silver coins, and each silver coin is worth 30 bronze coins?"

My eyes widened a bit as I realized that one gold coin is worth 1,500 bronze coins. I looked at him and asked, 

"Thanks for the advice. Do you know how I can exchange this for silver coins?"

He stepped back a bit and replied, 

"Go to the center of the city, and you'll find a large building behind the castle; you can exchange it there."

"Thanks."

I gave him the gold coin, and he handed me what he claimed were 49 silver coins. Not wanting to count them, I trusted him and started walking toward the center of the city while taking in my surroundings.