We continue where we left off st time, we are going to the Nation of Monsters' main city, if you could call it that.

  “I think we should stop and rest for a little bit. I am tired”- The carpenter stopped in front of us

  “Well, I guess we can stop for a little bit. We are so close to the city tho”- We stopped and made a campfire.

  I know exactly what this man wants, he wants food, he is hungry.

  He is right if he were to say that we walked a long distance here. We didn’t take breaks that often but what can we do, we need to complete our goal as fast as possible.

  “What are you guys cooking? Until now we ate food that was ready-made. It smells wonderful”- Hana is the one this time, I need to hold off until I arrive at the monster city. I learned how to do more nutritious dishes from Fumiko and Ayame, a detail I forgot to mention but will come in handy while we are there. We will need to make a lot of food for the workers.

  “Sia, scan the area for any threats.”- I let my shadow tendrils run wild, I expended enough mana to let them extend in all 4 directions. I am searching for any predator or monster that might be a threat to us. But I doubt we will find monsters that are a threat to us here

  !Understood. I detected 3 monster presences coming from the direction of the Nation of Monsters' main town.!

  “Hmmm. I will go and investigate to see what is happening there”- I linked the message to Hana via the telepathic network.

  “Understood. I will keep guard just in case”- Hana looked at me and nodded.

  I went deeper into the forest to meet with these monsters that Sia detected.

  I meet 3 Elves not far from our campsite.

  “Halt there, who are you?”- 1 elf is wielding a sword, the other is wielding a staff and the st one is wielding a bow.

  “I am Hikaru Tanaka. I mean no harm. Are you from the Nation of Monsters?”- The 3 elves dashed backward.

  “Yes, but what in the hell will a named demon of all monsters come here? Don’t you have a master? Did a new demon lord emerge?”- The elf with the bow began asking me.

  “Well, no. There is no new demon lord. That’s just my name. I come here on the orders of Ayame, I have a carpenter with me that will help you build houses in the city. If you don’t believe me you can come and see him for yourselves”- I slowly raised my hands in the air.

  “Well, as protectors is our duty to see if you are truthful. Lead us to him!”- The 3 elves followed behind me, they looked weary and worn out, like they have been on patrol for a few days now and hadn’t slept or eaten in a long time.

  We arrived at the camp. Hana already heard the conversation, I was broadcasting it in the telepathic network, well that network is open almost 24/7 so I should stop mentioning how Hana knows things.

  “Well, welcome. I made servings for you three as well”- Hana gave them a warm smile, she pointed with her left hand at a spot where the 3 elves could sit.

  “Thank you. But, where is the carpenter?”- They looked to their left seeing the carpenter.

  “That will be me. I am coming to your nation to build houses and teach you the craft. You seem to be exhausted. Maybe rest for a bit. We will be here for a while so why not sleep for a little bit”- The carpenter smiled at them as well.

  “Maybe you are right. We haven’t slept in 3 days. You know what. We will escort you there. If you 2 can guard us while we sleep here we will be grateful”- I was handing them things Ayame gave me that they will recognize, they seem to trust us more this way.

  “Fine. We won’t let anything bad happen to you 3”- Hana smiled at them.

  We waited for 8 hours until they rested. We got back on the road with the elves. We are walking deeper into the forest, and they are guiding us through a byrinth made out of trees and moss that is hard to navigate even for them, but luckily Sia got us out of trouble a lot of times while we were in the byrinth.

  “Wow, you have useful skills. I envy you, Hikaru. Having an analyst skill like yours is a hot commodity around here.”- The elf pointed ahead, there is still 1 more challenge that we have to face to get to the Nation of Monsters and that is crossing another forest. This time is a dark forest, it looks like in that forest there is perpetual night and there is no way to make day in there.

  “We will have to cross through there. That’s AGhoul territory. They are one of the races guarding this Nation. It will be smooth sailing with us. We will have to stop at a checkpoint to identify the 3 of you, but nothing more than that. After the forest checkpoint lies the Nation of Monsters.

  We entered the dark forest. It’s the same feeling as the mist forest, but this time we have locals guiding us here.

  We reached the checkpoint pretty early, we walked for around 1 hour and we were already there.

  “Hey, got the carpenter we were needing. Special delivery from dy Ayame”- One of the elves spoke to a person behind a tree.

  “Yup, we are clear to pass. Let’s go”- Was this easy? Well, I guess the elves are locals and they will let us go while we are with them.

  The six of us continued to walk through the dark forest. I now understand why the checkpoint is so early on in the forest, even if someone sneaked past they will never be able to get out due to its yout. It’s a trivial task for Sia but this will sure confuse everyone that comes here