Tolgue City
Githal Region
Gledea Continent
April 10th
531st Divine Year
Gledea was a massive continent. Even bigger than the Alpha Continent Evan knew back on Aidos, which was a lot considering the Alpha continent had an area of 150 million square kilotres.
It seed that having huge continents was a staple of Pri Worlds.
Such were Evan's thoughts, completely unaware of Super-Planets like Gozon where a single continent was larger than the entire surface area of Aidos.
Returning to Gledea on Aramis, the reason why Evan was thinking about its size was because of his destination with Beatrix and Artemisia.
It was in the 'North-North', but despite it being 'North', it was about two dozen thousand kilotres away from the Elven territory where he and Arthur had t with those Dryads a few days ago.
Take note, Evan was in the 'North-East', a completely different geopolitical zone entirely.
"How long is it gonna take us to get there?"
"A few hours if we use the waypoints.
Well, actually less than an hour to get to that part of the continent, but the issue now Is our final destination is not sowhere any teleportation waypoints lead to."
Just as Beatrix responded, she seed to rember sothing and raised her gaze to Evan before asking.
"You don't have an ID on Aramis, do you?"
Evan fished his hand into his inventory and pulled out the rcenary Guild Card that he had gotten when he was with Arthur and asked.
"Would this suffice?"
He had been able to use this to access the waypoints, and his SS Tier rank even afforded him a small discount.
At the sight of the card, Beatrix nodded and responded.
"Perfect. I'm assuming Arthur had you get that."
"Yeah. In sowhere called Sloklens or so?"
The na of the city where he had t with the girl called Rachel crossed his mind and he glanced at the map spread out on the table, trying to spot it.
When he finally found it, the boy just sighed and shook his head, as Sloklens, while still in the Githal Region, was nearly a thousand kilotres away.
Beatrix didn't seem to know where Sloklens was, nor did she care. She just refocused on the map and used a marker to circle a spot.
"That's where we're going to."
Evan saw images of a long mountain range and they were marked the 'Desolate Mountains'. Even further intriguing, was the fact that everything behind the Desolate mountains, down to the end of the land was black, with no form of marker or identification.
Written in red with a white background, was 'The Forbidden Outlands'.
"Forbidden? Are the Aramisians daft?"
"…"
Such was the question Artemisia heard as she stepped out of the restroom, looking towards Beatrix for an explanation, however, the white-haired goddess was equally lost.
Noticing this, Evan elaborated on why he said that.
"They are in a war and are actively losing territory to the Demons. Soon, they wouldn't have space for the billions of people displaced by the war, and I'm assuming so Regions already have an overpopulation issue.
Yet, there's an entire country's worth of land…"
He paused, using the map's scale to calculate the size of the forbidden outlands, his eyes widening in shock as he exclaid.
"A whopping 1.4-million-kilotre squares of land! And they tagged it 'Forbidden'? Do they have the luxury for that?"
Beatrix raised an eyebrow as Evan's outburst subsided, her fingers tracing the edge of the red circle marking the Forbidden Outlands. She tapped it lightly, considering his words before she offered her thoughts.
"There could be plenty of reasons why it's labelled 'forbidden', you know? Ancient curses, malevolent spirits, hostile magical creatures, or maybe so kind of divine restriction from the gods of this world.
You know, sothing from the old days—before the war—that they never bothered to explain or overturn."
Evan shook his head at this, his eyes narrowing at the massive stretch of untapped land on the map.
"Even if there are curses or spirits, in the face of a full-scale war and the displacent of billions of civilians, that sort of nonsense shouldn't be a reason to leave all this land untouched."
He leaned forward, his voice growing more incredulous.
"Unless the ground is made of fucking lava or sothing, then it doesn't make sense. And even if it is, that's a problem one decent Transcendent with ice powers can fix in a day!"
Beatrix chuckled softly but didn't push back and Artemisia, who had been listening quietly, stepped closer to the map and studied it for a second.
"I agree with Evan. They're losing a war, and their people are suffering. If they're so desperate for space, then leaving over a million square kilotres untouched—especially land as large as this—is foolish.
Even if it is dangerous, desperate tis call for desperate asures. And I'm sure the Aramisians can spare so Transcendent forces who can scout and secure it, especially now as the Demons aren't pressing the attack like they did in January. If there's a threat, it can be handled."
The war in January she spoke of was a battle with hundreds of millions of soldiers involved, with casualties in the millions as well.
Evan didn't care for that, he focused on the fact that Artemisia agreed with him and threw up his hands, looking almost triumphant as he turned toward her.
"Thank you! Finally, soone who gets it!"
He gestured toward Beatrix, who still had a contemplative look on her face.
"Look, I get it—mysterious and spooky stuff is cool and all. But in the middle of a war? Co on. This isn't so arcane relic from the past. It's common sense."
Beatrix sighed, folding her arms.
"Evan, did you forget that I just told you that's the place we're headed? A Place that was most likely a Fake Divine Factory?
Need I also remind you that the creation process of Fake Divines is top secret for the Aramisians? So Fake Divines don't even know that they're 'Fake'."
"And might I ask, is this Fake Divine factory so large that it needs an entire country's worth of space? Unless it is, then I see no reason why they couldn't have just restricted only the city or state where the factory is."
"Maybe it's not about the factory itself. Maybe whatever's involved in making those Fake Divines has effects that stretch beyond the facility—effects that no one wants leaking out into the rest of the world.
Considering the things Arty and I found when we were in the area, that's probably the case."
Just after Beatrix spoke, Artemisia glanced at a nearby clock and raised a brow, before turning back and cutting into their little debate.
"We're already heading there, so we'll find out whatever it is soon enough."
Pointing at the clock, she continued.
"The next teleportation at the Waypoint is scheduled in five minutes."
The teleportation waypoints did not operate on demand. They operated very much like trains and planes.
One made a booking, and they waited until the allotted ti before entering together with everyone else who made bookings.
Said allotted ti was in a few minutes, so the three of them had to start rushing over or they'd have to wait 3 hours.
Beatrix swiftly grabbed the map and stashed it in her inventory. With a snap of her fingers, she activated her teleportation magic, using her Unique Skill to swap their positions with three items she had left at the rcenary Guild earlier that day, instantly transporting them to their destination.
The trio stepped into the guild waypoint, and within seconds, they were whisked away to their first destination.
After a series of teleportation jumps, each requiring a short wait at various waypoints, they finally arrived at the last location they could warp to: a city known as Resgar often called the 'Last City.'
Beyond it lay the Desolate Mountains and the Forbidden Outlands, places no Aramisian dared to enter.
With over a thousand kilotres left to cover to reach the mountains, Artemisia, Evan, and Beatrix headed to a well-known bar-shop favoured by rcenaries and explorers.
Inside, the place was bustling with rugged adventurers, and the sll of strong ale wafted from the bar in the corner. Artemisia and Beatrix had co here before and seeing them again, the barmaster raised a brow in surprise.
"You two are back? And you got company."
"Yeah. We ca for your monster horses."
Beatrix responded as she jumped onto the counter seat while Evan silently looked in the direction of the nearby stable, with buff, muscular horses that could indeed, be called monster horses.
'Oy, ain't that a Unicorn?! And it's not just one, there are nearly a dozen!'
Evan didn't expect to see a fantasy creature from Earth V here, and he was mildly surprised.
anwhile, Beatrix discussed with the barmaster who was also the owner, passed him so coins and he tossed her the keys to the stable section where the horses she and Artemisia used last ti were.
These Monster horses were the favoured creatures to cross the rough terrain around the Desolate Mountains, the Dark Winter forest at the mountain foot which was filled with all sorts of monsters that adventurers and explorers hunted for money.
Each was larger than typical steeds, with sleek, scaled hides and sharp, intelligent eyes.
Beatrix selected a midnight-black stallion with a silver-tipped horn, while Artemisia chose one with deep blue scales and glowing eyes.
As for Evan, the fiery red one that snorted steam from its nostrils caught his attention. It almost seed as if the horse was excited for the adventure ahead.
After they finalized their purchases, a group of rcenaries lounging by the bar caught sight of them. One, a burly man with a patch over his eye, raised his tankard.
"Huh? You guys aren't with the other guy this ti?"
He spoke to Artemisia and Beatrix, clearly familiar with them and Evan didn't need to think too much to know that the 'other guy' they spoke of was Arthur.
"Yep, yep. He's rather busy this ti so we brought his friend over."
An understanding look flashed in the man's eyes after hearing them before looking at Evan and speaking with a light laugh.
"Good luck with that, kid. The path's not for the faint-hearted."
Evan simply offered him a nod, before joining the other two to mount their horses outside. As they began riding through the city's gates, Evan glanced at the dense, snow-laden forest stretching ahead.
The thick trunks and dark snowflakes gave it an eerie, silent beauty. It was April, yet the snow fell as if it were the depths of winter.
It was for this reason it was called the 'Dark Winter Forest'.
Suddenly, Evan had an idea and turned to the two girls.
"How about we make things interesting? The first one to reach the base of the Desolate Mountains wins."
"Really? A race?"
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