The Kingdom of Shirone

[Give me power stones!!]

The Shirone Kingdom was a small but ancient country with a history of two hundred years.

This was notable because all the human countries except the Asura Kingdom and the Holy Country of Millis had been annihilated in war four hundred years ago.

The southern part of the Central Continent had been rife with conflict until the Dragon King Kingdom took control of the entire region about three hundred years ago. Even now, the land north of here was a vast region of discord.

The Shirone Kingdom was close to the Conflict Zone. Given its precarious location, how had this kingdom endured for two hundred years? The answer lay in the alliance it formed with the Dragon King Kingdom shortly after its founding, an alliance in name only.

Like the other two countries we had to cross to get here, the Shirone Kingdom was basically a vassal state of the Dragon King Kingdom.

That said, it had very little interest in national politics.

And besides, it's been two months since we left the Dragon King's Kingdom.

Hilda and Lilia looked healthier than ever now that they'd finally gotten back to their ideal weight, and with that came some...unexpected problems.

Like how Hilda now has enough self-esteem to mess with me when I'm taking a shower, and I can barely control myself from letting her out.

Apparently, puberty was already hitting this body, and I realized this when I had my first wet dream, remembering the kiss Flute stole from me...

Ugh! Going through this process a second time is more uncomfortable than I thought, and I even thought it was too early, considering this body is barely ten years old.

But let's leave that topic aside for now.

After two months of traveling by carriage, we had finally arrived at this kingdom, which, according to my calculations, was 40% of our journey. We still had to avoid the conflict zone and pass through the lower jaw of the Red Wrym, which would take us approximately seven months.

Along the road were scattered rice fields and grazing livestock.

There were also idle plots of land and pastures filled with plants that looked like clover. I wasn't well-versed in agricultural practices, but the people of this world seemed to be thinking about how to grow their crops.

Although supposedly a vassal state of the Dragon King's Kingdom, the Kingdom of Shirone didn't have the feel of a colony, unlike the two countries we had passed through before.

Perhaps it was because it was so far away, or because it was used as a buffer between the conflict zone and other countries. In any case, such was the landscape that greeted us as we arrived at the capital, Latakia.

...

"Okay, you know the protocol... we'll rest for two days in the capital and then resume our journey... who's willing to stock up?" I muttered with a smile as we passed through the city walls.

This had been our way of operating for the past few months; we traveled nonstop and then rested for a couple of days in the big cities. Since no one had objected, I decided to keep it that way.

But one thing is always up for discussion...

As I uttered the last words, only the sound of the carriage wheels could be heard, and my smile instantly vanished.

"Are we really going to do this in every city we don't stop at?" I asked in exasperation as I looked at my companions.

"...I can help you if you want," Roxy muttered with an apologetic smile.

Of course...

...

As always I ended up buying the supplies and Roxy came with me to my embarrassment.

In addition, she has finally been able to cast intermediate-level spells without enchantments and has learned advanced-level healing magic.

For some it might not be much but casting spells without even enchantment would be an impossible feat, I plan to have her learn up to the advanced level before reaching Ars.

Besides my own I have already created a couple of new spells...

But the ones I've paid the most attention to are my pillar of Light and the self-proclaimed gravity magic.

I feel like I'm getting more and more powerful and that sincerely relieves me. I know that Millis's influence includes everyone so I won't be safe even in Asura.

But that's why I'm inventing new spells, is it?...

I've even had some not-so-moral or shitty ideas like that, recently I even managed to control the density of the air which would practically immobilize my opponent much easier.

But the mana cost is just massive...and you know what else is massive?...

the looove i have for Roxy...

Just with the raging hormones in this body due to puberty and the closeness I've developed with her... I just considered myself one of those guys who With just one look from her I can already imagine a lifetime together...yes, that's how in love I am with her now.

But having so many things on my mind makes this feeling not overwhelming.

"...aul...Paul?" Roxy's voice immediately pulled me out of my thoughts and I turned to look at her only to find those blue eyes and her typical confused face that made my heart skip a beat.

"Y-yeah, I was just remembering what's needed," I mumbled, blushing.

Roxy looked more confused but eventually a small smile formed on her face.

"I see, let's go get some meat and you use ice magic to freeze it for the road" she said with a smile and so we continued.

...

After finally gathering supplies, we met up with the others near the city center and together we looked for an inn to stay for two days.

We rented a total of three rooms.

In one would be me, Hilda, Lilia, and Flute; in another, Gesse and Roxy; and in the last, Laws and his wife, Anna.

The divisions were for obvious reasons, and money wasn't an issue.

I spent the day doing nothing much, just practicing my sword swinging and my barrier aura, and then night fell.

When it was time to go to bed, I fought with all my might not to touch Hilda's breasts and after a few minutes I fell asleep.

I thought it would be a normal day of rest, but then I felt a severe headache, and when I opened my eyes, I was in a completely white room.

"Hello... what do you want now?" I muttered, scratching my chin.

"Oh? I thought you wouldn't like seeing me, my friend!" Hitogami's voice was just as irritating as ever, but I just nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't want to see you, but I don't have any other choice, right? What do you want now?" I asked as I looked around. Everything was white, and I couldn't see the ground because of a kind of fog that covered it.

That was this whole place.

"Hah! And I already had a speech practiced in case you were in a bad mood! I got upset over nothing!" the faceless man said in a dramatic tone while hugging himself.

"Don't push your luck. I'm just calm because your last piece of advice didn't get me into trouble and it did help me. But if the next one doesn't, I'll never trust you again," I declared as I stared at him.

"So you trust me now?!" he said hopefully as he approached me.

"I wouldn't say it like that. I'm just giving you the benefit of the doubt. Now tell me quickly, what's your advice?"

"Aha...ahem! Listen carefully, Paul Notos Greyrat..."

Eh?

"you're in great danger in Shirone! And if you don't act quickly, you might regret it!" Hitogami said in a dramatic tone as he looked at me.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" I asked confused

"Millis's soldiers in shirone at the embassy of Millis have found out what you did and now they're after you, friend! You have to leave Shirone today at noon if you don't want them to catch you and your friends!"

"But why should I worry? I'm now a Triple Saint, and my new spells can take care of swordsmen and powerful magic!" I said, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Don't underestimate them, friend! Even though it may not seem like it, Millis is too powerful! Information among them spreads like wildfire, and coincidentally, the most fervent believers are very powerful warriors! Leave at noon if you don't want to regret it!" Hitogami's voice echoed in my ears like a distant echo, and before I knew it, the guy had disappeared from my sight as I tried to process the information.

...

"Gah!" I jumped out of bed, sweating profusely and my heart pounding.

"Paul? Is something wrong?" Hilda murmured sleepily beside me as she sat up in bed.

"Nothing... go back to sleep... I just had a nightmare. I love you," I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, which finally woke her up, and she buried herself in her blankets, her cheeks burning.

"How cute..."

I slowly got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom where I vomited until my stomach was empty.

Why does this always happen when Hitogami talks to me?!...Maybe I'll ask him when I talk to him again.

No, on second thought it would be better if I dont went back to talk to him.

But then we're in grave danger, huh? And why at noon?...

Given my limited experience dealing with this type, I don't know if I can trust his advice. It might benefit me in some ways, but it might hurt me in other ways...

Ugh! This is all so confusing! What did I do to deserve this!!...

Oh yeah...sure.

I left the bathroom after washing my face and left the inn to train a little.

I decided to avoid trotting in case something happened so I just limited myself to simply swinging the sword until I couldn't do it anymore.

"twenty...twenty one...twenty two..." With each sway my body got hotter, now that we were in the central continent and as the first month of the year K401 It was already winter, despite the warm climate of the region, there was still some cold.

"Hitogami's advice" had made me raise my guard in one way or another so I kept looking around in case someone was spying on us.

(open)

The sound of one of the inn doors slowly opening brought me out of my thoughts.

Normally I wouldn't have cared since anyone can come and go from their room whenever they want but this wasn't the case.

Since the person who had come out of the inn was Gesse...and he was wearing a black robe that covered his face.

The guy wasn't stealthy at all, and when he saw me with my sword in hand at the entrance, he froze instantly.

"P-Paul! W-what are you doing here, buddy!!" Gesse stuttered in shock as he approached me.

I could see that on his hip he carried a small bag with money and a dagger but nothing else.

"What am I doing here? You know I always get up at this time to train," I muttered with a raised eyebrow.

"Y-yes...o-of course it's true! How could I not have remembered that before!" The monkey face muttered to himself as he clenched his fists.

"And now may I ask where you were going?" I said with the same raised eyebrow as I leaned slightly on my sword.

"W-well...I...I was going to a brothel!!, if that's the case..." The monkey muttered, looking to the side.

"Oh..." The sound involuntarily escaped my lips "I see... but wait a minute, don't brothels close precisely at this time? You should have gone at night," I told him with a mocking smile.

"a-ah...w-well, even if you don't know it, many escorts would let you do it during the day with enough money..." Gesse said while licking her lips and rubbing her hands together like that Sonic meme.

"Ugh...I see, but don't take too long...I changed my mind and we'll leave at noon" i declared and the smile was wiped off Gesee's face.

"Why this sudden decision?...I had things planned to do!" Gesee said in an impatient tone which confused me.

"I'm sorry... but what I'm going to tell you, you shouldn't tell anyone in our group, okay? I don't want them to panic," I said seriously, looking him in the eyes.

A serious look came over Gesse's almost always carefree face and he nodded too.

"Okay, tell me what's going on."

"Well... you know that I'm always gathering information, right? Well, I found out from a reliable source that Millis guards have been following us since we arrived on the central continent, I don't know how powerful they are or how many there are, but the point is that not even I with my current skills could take them all on, So we will leave at noon when there is more traffic to throw them off" I explained while looking into his eyes, this was the best way to make someone believe you.

"..."Okay, I won't be going to the brothel anymore, but I still need to do some things quickly before we leave in that case," the monkey face told me while looking me in the eyes.

"Okay, be careful then, stay away from the alleys and walk where there are people," I muttered.

"I'm not a little boy either! Who do you take me for?" Gesee replied as if I had offended him in some way.

"Hehe, whatever you say," I said with a smile and continued swinging for half an hour.

The sun was giving its first rays of light so I decided to return to the inn and take a bath.

Now it was time to tell my colleagues about the change of plans and hope they didn't suspect anything.