"Master, I believe we can see the next mountain from over there."
I remained silent.
"She is certainly right," Sherry added.
"Ah! I see it! I see it!"
"If we jump to that mountain over there and then circle around, we should be able to make quite a bit of progress," Roxanne continued.
I wondered what was going through their heads. This was Warp magic—Movement Magic. Sure, I could technically teleport to any location within my line of sight, but by that logic, was I supposed to just teleport to the stars in the night sky? There had to be limits.
I could just barely make out the shapes of trees on the distant slope. Even if I could Warp to a tree, I needed to target the base near the ground. If I missed and materialized in mid-air, the fall would kill me.
"I don't know... isn't that a bit high up?" I asked.
"It should be fine," Roxanne said encouragingly. "We can just poke our heads through first to check the footing."
"I see."
"Yes, Master."
If that was the plan, it might be worth a try. I focused on a tree trunk at the very edge of my vision and visualized the Warp. The moment the Black Wall formed against a nearby trunk, Roxanne stuck her head through without a moment's hesitation. Then, she vanished into the void and didn't come back.
She really was fearless.
Then again, there could be monsters on the other side. This was no time for me to be dawdling. I jumped in after her.
"Gah!"
It wasn't a long drop, but there was a significant height difference. Since I hadn't opened the portal perfectly level with the ground, there was a gap of several dozen centimeters. Dammit. My assumption that it would be safe just because Roxanne had gone through was a mistake.
Well, of course it was. Roxanne was Roxanne, after all.
"As I thought, we can circle around from here to the other side. We can cover a lot of ground this way."
Sherry had appeared beside me before I even realized it, already scouting out the next destination. If we were making "progress," it meant we were going further and further away, which also meant visibility was getting worse. I had no idea what kind of mess I’d be Warping us into next.
Still, I had no choice but to follow their lead.
"We came out a bit high this time, so we'll need to jump down," Roxanne warned.
She peeked through the next Black Wall for a split second before vanishing again. I assumed the drop wasn't that bad if she moved that quickly, but I decided to check for myself this time. I poked my head through and looked down.
The ground was about a meter below the exit. If I had jumped through blindly, I could have twisted an ankle. At least Roxanne was being diligent in her own way. Reassured, I followed her down.
We continued this process until we finally reached the coastline.
"So, that's it?"
Once we reached the shore, I could see a chain of islands stretching out into the ocean. It looked like an archipelago. It seemed the plan was to hop from island to island all the way to Grinia.
"Indeed," Sherry said, her voice clinical as she cut through my weary sigh. "Moving along the islands seems to be the most viable path."
"Viable" was one way to put it, but it wasn't as if we had any other options. This was going to be an exhausting trip.
I resigned myself to the task and we began the island-hopping. Whenever we hit a larger island, we would have to perform several short-distance jumps to cross its interior.
"Ugh. We're going all the way over there?"
"It appears so."
Warping between islands was actually more stressful than jumping between mountains, simply because the visibility was too good. We were attempting to cross to islands where I couldn't even see the shoreline clearly. I had no idea if I could even make the distance, but there was no other way forward.
"Whatever, let's just do it!"
I cast the Warp in a fit of desperation. Roxanne jumped in without a word, so I took that as a sign that it was safe and followed her. It turned out fine this time, but I knew that if we kept this up, we were bound to have an accident eventually.
"We can't see the far side of this island," Sherry noted once we landed. "We'll need to trek to the opposite shore."
Even after successfully crossing the water, the work wasn't over. We had to find the next link in the chain. Small islands were easy enough to scout, but the larger ones were a chore to traverse. Behind us lay the island we had just left, and there was no sense in going back.
This journey took far longer than I had anticipated. It didn't end that day, nor the next. For several days, we lived a life of constant island-hopping. Miraculously, we managed to Warp without any major mishaps. If we had encountered a gap where the next island was beyond the horizon, we would have been completely stuck.
Finally, after several days, we reached a significantly larger landmass.
"This place is huge. Did we finally make it to Grinia?"
The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. I felt like I had just raised a flag. No, it'll be fine. Surely we're there.
"Hmm. I wonder," Sherry said. Her cold, analytical tone was actually starting to scare me.
"Well, there's only one way to find out."
We pushed deeper into the island using Warp.
"Wait, Master. Look. There's a path here."
Roxanne had noticed it after a few more jumps. It wasn't exactly a paved road, but more like a worn-down trail or a beast path. I really hoped it wasn't just a track for giant wild boars.
"The branches have been cleared away up to a certain height," Sherry observed. "It's likely a trail used by people."
That was a relief. If it were just boars, the clearing would only be waist-high. Sherry’s pragmatism was actually quite comforting in moments like this. Then again, if it was a trail for human-sized monsters, it could just lead from a labyrinth straight into a settlement.
"It continues that way. Let's follow it."
"Right."
Following Roxanne’s lead, we Warped further inland.
"Master, I see it!"
After a few more jumps, the trail finally opened up into a proper settlement. I could see several houses tucked away at the edge of the forest. Finally! Grinia! And there were people—well, elves.
"Rutina, I'll leave the talking to you."
"Of course, Master."
"We're counting on you."
With Rutina in the lead, we approached the village.
"Excuse me, may I have a moment of your time?"
"××××××××××"
"××××××××××"
"××××××××××"
Rutina engaged the villagers in a long conversation. It seemed the Brahim language didn't work here at all, but she clearly understood their local dialect.
"××××××××××"
"××××××××××"
After a lengthy exchange, Rutina turned back to us to deliver the verdict.
"As it turns out, this is not Grinia."
"It's not?"
"No. Grinia is still quite far, across at least two more relay points beyond this one. However, I was told that the relay points further along have been abandoned because labyrinths appeared nearby. Since contact with the Empire was cut off years ago, there was no longer any reason for the inhabitants to struggle to maintain those outposts. These people stayed here because there are no labyrinths nearby, so the land is still habitable."
So, there wasn't just a single relay point. It made sense; if the locations were close together, losing one wouldn't necessarily end all communication. But because Taricau on our side had been abandoned, the motivation to maintain the outposts closer to Grinia had withered away. Then, when the labyrinths appeared, those points were abandoned too. Once two or three links in the chain were broken, the entire route was lost.
"I see..."
"The people here were born on this island. They told me they are prepared to die here."
"That... makes sense, I suppose."
In such a small, isolated community, it had to be difficult to maintain any kind of society.
"××××××××××"
"××××××××××"
"They say they have no shortage of food as long as they defeat the monsters that attack them. They even boasted that even if a labyrinth appeared nearby, they are strong enough to clear it as long as it's only around the 50th Floor."
They were certainly a hardy bunch.
"××××××××××"
"××××××××××"
"××××××××××"
"Because the next relay points are so far away, it’s impossible to reach them by simple island-hopping," Rutina continued. "There are no adventurers here capable of making the journey to the next point or to Grinia. A few years ago, relatives or acquaintances would visit once or twice a year, but lately, even that has stopped entirely. The villagers suspect that the relay points further ahead have likely been abandoned as well."
If the entire trade route and the flow of people had vanished, it was only natural for the outposts to collapse.
"Understood."
"What would you like to do, Master?"
"Let's head home for now."
"Very well."
There was a slim chance that someone might eventually come from the Grinia side and offer us a way across, but I wasn't willing to bet on it. We didn't know when they would arrive, and we couldn't just live here indefinitely. Besides, there was a high probability that no one was coming at all. I decided this was as far as we could go on this search.
If there were other routes to Grinia, this wouldn't have been a legendary mystery in the first place. Any other path would likely end in a similar dead end.
We made our way back through the labyrinths and finally returned to our house in Quratar.
"It doesn't look like we can go any further," I said.
"I agree," Sherry replied. "If there were multiple ways to reach Grinia, it wouldn't be in this state. Any other path we search for will probably be cut off just like that one."
"Then I'll just have to report to Obaba-sama that we've tried our best, but contact with Grinia is impossible."
"Yes, Master. I think that is for the best."
Rutina seemed to agree. I wondered if she felt bad about failing Obaba-sama's request, or if she secretly felt it served the old woman right.
"Well, that's that then. We'll visit Obaba-sama another time. Let's call it a day."
"Yes, Master."
"Rutina, let's get you out of that equipment."
"Y-Yes..."
To be honest, I didn't really care about Grinia. I much preferred spending my time like this.
Put it on, take it off. Take it off, put it on. Then take it off and put it on again. This was my daily rhythm. Anytime, anywhere, if there was a gap in the schedule, I would be busy with this ritual. That was life.
Life is long. It is long, yet it is short. And it consists entirely of putting things on and taking them off. Putting them on, taking them off, putting them on, taking them off... that is the fundamental cycle.
Putting it on is good. Taking it off is also good. But putting it on again? That is the greatest fortune of all.