/
Erez straightened once he finished drawing the magic circle.
Erez: “One more caveat before we move on.”
Keira: “There’s more?”
Erez: “It’s only a one in a million chance… but we can fall in different places. It’s a very slim chance, so don’t worry.”
Falling alone in an unknown world? She was a woman who hadn’t been afraid of anything but couldn’t stop the goosebumps from appearing on her body.
Keira: “Your hometown is a pretty dangerous place, isn’t it?”
Erez: “Hmm, compared to here? But don’t worry. It’s very rare for such accidents to happen.”
It wasn’t comforting at all. Perhaps aware of her anxiety, Erez continued cheerfully.
Erez: “But if you’re separated from me, prioritize your safety. Don’t do anything that stands out, and stay quiet. I’ll find you soon.”
Even without saying that, Keira had no intention of attracting attention in the middle of the Demon Realm. She narrowed her eyes and nodded.
Erez: “Okay then, let’s get going.”
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Erez flicked his fingers through the air, creating a spark. Blue flames fell on the oil-slicked straw, and the warehouse was engulfed instantly.
Keira couldn’t help but frown at the heat that pricked her skin. Cough, cough–.
She raised her voice to Erez standing opposite her. She couldn’t see him properly because of the smoke.
Keira: “Not yet?!”
Erez: “It’s done.”
The next moment, a light flashed under her feet. The black dot in the center gradually expanded.
Just before the black circle touched her feet, Erez raised his voice as if he had just remembered it.
Erez: “Ah! I forgot to mention.”
Were there any other caveats? Keira’s head snapped back.
He quickly said.
Erez: “You might get a little dizzy since it’s your first time!”
As he finished speaking, the black hole reached where she stood, and she felt a slight sting on her feet.
And for a moment, Keira lost consciousness.
Keira: “Ugh…”
As soon as Keira woke up, a throbbing pain enveloped her whole body.
She could smell a faint hint of greenery, a scent specific to plants. Keira raised her body and opened her eyes carefully.
‘…Where is this place?’
The scenery in front of her was disconcerting. There were trees so large that she couldn’t hold them all when she stretched out her arms, and vines wrapped each other on the ground. She thought it was quite soft when she was lying on the ground, but it seemed to be thanks to these.
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When she listened closely, she could even hear the faint crowing of insects.
There was no doubt about it– she was very deep in the mountains.
‘Did I fall off a horse while hunting? Why am I here…’
Then she remembered why she was here.
Keira: “I was going to the Demon Realm.”
She even remembered standing on the magic circle Erez had drawn and a bright light enveloping her body.
‘Then, is this the Demon Realm?’
She raised her head and looked carefully around her.
She didn’t notice it when she first saw it, but the trees seemed to have a slightly different shape.
Keira got up and approached a tree. Upon closer inspection, a small mane like a cat’s tongue had sprouted from the ear of a leaf.
Keira: “Ah!”
She felt a stinging pain when she touched the leaves. It was obviously not fluff.
There was a rustling sound from behind. When I turned around, the vines on the floor slowly moved.
“…”
A chill went down her spine.
‘So, this is the Demon Realm?’
Her goosebumps became more pronounced when it sunk in that she was here. She looked around and opened her mouth.
Keira: “Hey, Erez Shore… No, Yurr.”
She lowered her voice to avoid attracting the attention of demons that might exist. No one answered.
Keira: “Yurr, if you can hear me, answer me.”
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No one still answered even when she raised her voice a little more.
‘D*mn it.’
Maybe the coordinates were slightly off right before the magic was activated.
It looked like Keira and Erez got separated and fell into different spots.
Fortunately, she still had her weapon on her. Keira took the hilt in her hand and cautiously moved.
She could feel the vines moving under her feet, the feeling eerie and unpleasant.
‘I’m glad it doesn’t seem aggressive, but…’
How long had she wandered in the woods?
The blue sky was getting darker and darker.
‘It might be bad at night…’
She looked up to see a four-winged bird flying above her.
Gyaaaaah, gyaaaah–.
“…”
It was a bird that made the same sound as a human scream. Keira felt even more desperate to contact Erez as soon as possible.
‘First, I need to find something to drink.’
She didn’t know if it was possible to drink the demon realm’s water recklessly.
Keira closed her eyes and focused on her hearing to hear a faint sound of water in the distance.
‘Over there.’
She figured she should quench her thirst before thinking about what to do next. She almost jumped to the source of the water.
There, she found a small creek flowing peacefully. At first glance, it was a peaceful landscape just like in the mountains of the human world.
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Thanks to the setting sun, the water looked red. Keira lowered her head and scooped out a handful of water.
‘I don’t see anything wrong with the color or smell…’
After tasting the water a few times with the tip of her tongue, she didn’t notice anything off. So, she drank to her heart’s content then walked down the water’s edge.
The creek was supposed to flow downwards. If she walked along the path of the creek, she’d be able to get out of the mountain.
However, if there was one thing that she didn’t expect, it was that the mountain had become darkness itself after sunset.
Since she was in the mountains, the sun was setting quickly. The moon didn’t exist in the sky of the demon world.
As the sun went down, darkness came. If she had been an ordinary person, she would sit there and do nothing; it was so dark that one would find it difficult to do anything.
She could faintly see if she focused, but she could barely move.
‘I’d rather take a break now and move on again when the sun comes up.’
Fortunately, she didn’t find any traces of demonic beasts that could be a threat while coming here.
Keira leaned against the tree, her hand wrapped around her scabbard.
She wondered if she could sleep in this state, but she closed her eyes when drowsiness unexpectedly hit her.
Thankfully, she was able to sleep well.
But it was then.
Thump, thump–.
“…!”
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Footsteps echoed through the quiet mountain, the steps getting closer.
When Keira opened her eyes, there was a light flashing in the distance.
‘What is that?’
It wasn’t like a beast’s eyes. It felt more familiar than that–like a lamp that humans often used.
As the sound of footsteps approached, the figure of the person holding the light gradually became apparent.
Keira: “Oh.”
The other person was a slender woman with brown hair.
She had heard that the higher the level of the demon, the closer they looked to humans. But Keira couldn’t even feel a hint of a menacing aura on her.
She was like a real country girl.
‘W-what the?’
Had she mistaken this place as the Demon Realm?
Perhaps Erez’s teleportation magic had failed so badly that she had fallen into a strange place in the human world.
While Keira thought of the possibilities, the woman spoke first.
“Are you… human?”
She was clearly speaking the Empire’s language, her pronunciation precise.
“D-did you also fall here through the gate?”
Keira: “Gate?”
“Yes! There are often cases like that. If you are near the gate and accidentally get caught up in it and fall into the Demon Realm. That’s what happened to me.”
Keira: “Demon Realm?”
“Yes, that’s right. Um, it’s hard to accept, but you’ve fallen into the Demon Realm.”
Come to think of it, people would often go missing whenever the gate was opened. Keira thought the demonic beasts ate them, but maybe some of them fell into the Demon Realm through the gate.
‘…Is that even possible?’
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If it was possible to travel from the Demon Realm to the human world through the gate, then the reverse was also possible. In fact, some scholars have argued that.
There was no way to prove it, so it remained a theory.
Keira asked cautiously.
Keira: “Then you mean there are more people like you?”
“Yes, it’s a bit small to be called a village… but we live together.”
Keira would be lying if she said she wasn’t surprised.
Many people who fell into the Demon Realm were still alive.
‘Maybe the Demon Realm isn’t as dangerous as I thought…’
At that moment, Erez’s warning came to mind. He said that Keira should move cautiously and not attract as much attention as possible if she got separated from him.