Ch 20: Yearning For The Exile Lands

Twenty minutes later, Bal returned to the lakeside carrying the firewood he had gathered. At that time, two birds were standing by the fish, watching the two of them warily. Phia nodded, put down the tree fruit she had picked, and held up two fingers, indicating that they could eat two fish. Seeing that the two showed no hostility, the birds picked up the fish and flew to the side to enjoy them. Bal then arranged the firewood, he reached out and gathered magic, a flame sprang from the pile of firewood, and he took out a few twigs, cleaned the fish’s entrails, and then strung the fish with the twigs.

“Bal, what should we do next?”

Phia picked up the strung fish, grilling them over the fire while asking Bal about his future plans.

“Good question. I’m thinking that we should leave this country immediately and go to a remote town to live in seclusion. Do you have anything you want to do?”

“I want to go to school, you promised me before.”

“Okay～Then I can also apply for a teaching position.”

“Can you teach? You don’t look like it.”

“Just kidding, when I was studying, many people came to me for help with their lessons.”

“Wouldn’t they all be sisters?”

Upon hearing this, Bal broke out in a cold sweat. Although he did not pursue romantic relationships while studying, he did not refuse those who asked him for help with their lessons, so those junior female students relied on this advantage to gather around Bal every day, trying to win over this wooden fellow. At that time, the senior female students were both anxious and angry when they saw the junior female students sneaking around, but this wooden fellow didn’t know about it, or perhaps he pretended not to know, so as not to spoil the harmony.

“Th-there…were also boys.”

Bal stammered in his rebuttal, but it held no credibility in Phia’s ears.

“I guess those boys were either physically weak or good-looking, and they all had one thing in common: they were all shorter than you.”

“How do you know?”

Hearing Phia’s words, which seemed to be able to probe his memory, Bal’s movements slowed down.

“Are you really unaware or are you pretending? Let me tell you, there’s something in this world called same-sex love, haven’t you heard of it?”

“What do you mean? You mean those boys liked me too?”

“…What kind of wood were you when you were studying?”

Bal sighed inwardly. Thankfully, at the time he had only treated those male classmates as friends and had not gotten close to them, otherwise he might have gotten a bad reputation; he really didn’t want to open this new door.

“So where are we going to settle down?”

Phia propped her head up with one hand, turning the grilled fish with the other, and asked Bal boredly. At this moment, she had a sudden idea and asked.

“Bal, would you like to come back with me, to the place where my Cat Demon Tribe lives?”

“You want to go back to your Demon Race home?”

“Not really, it’s just that I’m thinking about the situation of our tribe within the Demon Race, and I hope you can come back with me to protect everyone.”

Bal fell into deep thought. Regarding his fiancee’s proposal, he only had one question: his identity. He didn’t know the Cat Demon Tribe’s customs and social interactions, and as a human, if he were discovered by other members of the Demon Race, the Cat Demon Tribe’s treatment would likely be even worse. He didn’t want his presence to cause Phia and her family to suffer unfair treatment.

“What if my identity is exposed? The title of Hero can be hidden, but my human identity is still a ticking time bomb. I don’t want to cause you and your family to suffer criticism because of me.”

“Hmm…then where should we go?”

Phia pouted, thinking about their future direction. At this moment, the grilled fish strung on the twigs emitted a fragrant scent, and she had a sudden inspiration, thinking of a place, a place where humans and the Demon Race would not mind.

“Bal, Bal! I know of another place we can go. It’s a bit far from this country, but our races will definitely not be discriminated against there.”

“Oh? What place?”

Hearing that there was such a place, Bal became interested. He wanted to know what kind of city would allow humans and the Demon Race to live together.

“You should know the Death Mountain Range in the Northern Border, right?”

Bal certainly knew. As the top student, he was familiar with the geography of the entire continent. The Death Mountain Range in the Northern Border was a continuous range of towering snow mountains. From the mountainside up, it was windy and snowy all day long. Many climbers had attempted to reach the summit, but all had disappeared without a trace. Some said they had discovered the hidden treasure at the summit above the clouds and then lived in seclusion, others said they had been killed by dragons, but most people believed they had simply failed and were buried under the thick snow. Furthermore, not only was the mountain extremely dangerous, but the foot of the mountain was equally perilous, with extremely dangerous demonic beasts frequently appearing at the foot of the mountain, so the forest at the foot of the mountain was also called the Death Forest.

“What about the Death Mountain Range?”

“Humph, it seems you don’t know. Near the Death Mountain Range, there is a town, inhabited entirely by exiled humans and Demon Race members. Those people, to survive, have actually cultivated a large area of land.”

“There’s such a place?”

“Yes～How about it, let’s go there and start a new life!”

“It’s fine, but isn’t that place very far? With our current financial situation, the only way to get there is to earn money while we travel. Although we have plenty of time, the longer we stay in the Kingdom, the greater the risk of being discovered…”

Bal worriedly told Phia about their current predicament.

“What’s so difficult about that? I can take you there directly using teleportation. I’ve been there before.”

Phia puffed out her chest, her tail sticking up from under her skirt, her expression extremely confident. But Bal was very surprised, because the Death Mountain Range in the Northern Border was not exactly close to the Demon Race territory, but it was far away. The Demon Race territory was located on a peninsula in the southwest of the continent, bordering only the Ferenti Kingdom and the Wallybell Duchy. To reach the Death Mountain Range in the northeast of the continent, one would have to cross the entire continent diagonally or go around by sea. The Demon Race couldn’t have such a seafaring method, otherwise the several coastal countries wouldn’t be so peaceful. But if the Demon Race could go to the Death Mountain Range without the knowledge of humans, it would mean that the Demon Race could launch an attack from another direction of the continent. Thinking of this, Bal broke out in a cold sweat.

Phia saw the doubt in Bal’s heart and quickly spoke.

“That…don’t be nervous, the Demon Race will not launch an attack from there!”

“Hmm? Why do you say that?”

“I said before, that place is a town built by exiled Demon Race and human members. This means that the Demon Race members there are all exiled, and the method of exile is to use a one-way teleportation formation. Because almost no one can return, the Demon Race members don’t know the specific situation of that place.”

“Then how did you know?”

“I am the only one in a thousand years who has returned from exile. I found my Demon King Armor in the Exile Land.”

“I see, then it’s no wonder, I believe you.”

Bal had long been accustomed to his fiancee’s omnipotence and quickly accepted this explanation.

After a while, the grilled fish emitted a fragrant aroma. Phia picked up a twig, puffed out her cheeks and blew hard on the grilled fish, hoping to cool it down quickly, after all, cat tongues are sensitive to heat. After Phia blew the grilled fish to a suitable temperature for eating, she took a small bite, then propped her face up with her free hand, revealing a happy expression.

“So delicious!”

“Hehehe, if you like it, eat more.”

“Hmm!”

Bal looked at Phia, whose eyes were sparkling, and felt happy. Then he saw Phia’s arm pushing her 36D breasts together, his old face blushed and he turned his head.

The two enjoyed the delicacies, admired the beautiful scenery, and decided on their future.