Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Two days passed since Allen's party split into three.

Allen's group were all riding on a larger Bird B summon.

Allen had used Command on the Bird B summon, making it bigger and stronger to carry him, Dogora, and Cecile at the same time.

He also had the option to fly himself with the Blessing of a Bird A summon, but activating that skill would consume his mana, and there were other things he wanted to focus on while traveling.

They were sitting in a triangle formation, and in the center they had a patch of dirt to generate healing medicine. While they moved, Allen was constantly letting a Grass C summon create Aromatic Vegetables.

There had been four streaks of light in total, counting the one in the Holy Land.

According to Sophie's progress in the Dark Elf Village Fabraze, the city next to an oasis nearby, Luqoack, was a trap set by the Demon King's Army to create a large number of Pagan Worshippers.

They created an oasis, and waited for people to naturally gather around it. The plan had been going on for more than a decade, maybe multiple decades.

Kiel's team had not reached the end of the southern light streak yet, but so far it seemed like there the Demon King's Army had instigated a civil war to tear a country into two.

It was hard to say what their ultimate objective was, but it was clear that the Demon King's Army had been hard at work in the shadows of the Confederation.

There was still the possibility that the plan involved many more streaks of light that had not been activated yet.

It was a painful thought to imagine more streaks of light appearing, so they needed as many Aromatic Vegetables as possible.

Allen focused on activating his summon, letting it grow, and ordering it to activate a Skill, while Cecile and Dogora kept throwing the completed Aromatic Vegetables into the Grimoire's Inventory that was kept open next to them.

"It's starting to get pretty dark. Should we camp around here?"

Dogora looked at the sun, disappearing behind the horizon, and asked to call it a day there.

"I think we should."

Cecile was of the same mind, so Allen ordered the Bird B summon to descend.

They were in a place with a lot of swamps nearby.

There was a lot of water trapped beneath the ground around there too, so rather than being a grassland or forest, it was more like a wetland.

"This should be good enough."

Allen tried stepping on various places, making sure the ground was dry enough to camp on it.

Once he found a place that did not feel like sludge, he began taking out firewood from his Inventory.

Because of the humidity, there were a lot of bugs flying around and burrowing in the mud, so Allen took out a bug repellant magic device together with the one to make fire.

The bug repellant magic device consumed a magic stone and produced a thin smoke that stopped bugs from getting close.

It only worked on bugs though, so they would still need to use a Gold Bean to stop monsters from approaching them.

There were many Insect A summons around them too, so there was no need to keep a night watch.

After piling many logs, their campfire was burning bright and tall.

They made meat skewers with branches and placed them next to the fire.

"Tasty!"

Munch munch

No matter what he ate, Dogora would always shout Tasty! and eat happily.

They had been flying to the east the entire day, so he had not moved his body much, but he still seemed to be really hungry.

He was devouring the piece of meat with a bone in it that Allen had gotten out of his Inventory.

Dogora's body was in a growth phase, so his body was becoming bigger both vertically and horizontally, his muscles getting thicker as well.

With every passing day, he was going from a swift and quick warrior, into a heavy and robust armored warrior that relied on his weight and stature.

"I wonder how the other teams are doing. Was Kiel just traveling today like us?"

Cecile asked how the other teams were doing.

"From what I've seen, Kiel's team was just traveling."

Kiel's team was on its way to the southern side of the Confederation.

Kurena had caught a Horned Rabbit and was very proud of herself.

And there were suspicions that the Demon King's Army had infiltrated a country that was already weak after a civil war.

"So Kurena is the same as always."

(You're the same as always too.)

Allen retorted in his mind as he watched Dogora looking around trying to spot a Horned Rabbit in the darkness.

"Sophie's team in the west have already started working on rescuing the cities in the desert."

He had also obtained an update from Sophie's team.

They had arrived at their destination faster than Allen or Kiel, so he told them what was happening on her side.

Allen had not been able to see or hear the conversation between Sophie and King Arbus, but he was later filled in through the Wraith A summon.

After gaining the help of the Dark Elf Village Fabraze, Sophie had arranged the construction of a shelter near the village before heading out to the city next to the oasis.

One day ago when Sophie returned to check on the shelter, a dark elf elder introduced her to a group of dark elves that would help with hunting down Pagan Worshippers.

Sophie was taking care of hunting down the Pagan Worshippers, helping the city next to the oasis, and rescuing those who had managed to escape into the desert.

The elf princess was taking care of all that, while the dark elves merely built a shelter outside their village.

Seeing that, the dark elves felt like their reputation would be marred if they let things remain that way.

So they gathered the strongest warriors of the village and assigned them the mission to help hunt down Pagan Worshippers.

Sophie accepted those reinforcements with a bright smile, saying "That'll be a great help."

There were around a hundred of them, so they easily fit inside Tam-Tam Mode Eagle.

Today they fought together to start liberating the city under the attack of Pagan Worshippers.

"I guess Sophie is also still the same as always then."

Cecilia frowned slightly as she voiced her thoughts hearing what Allen said.

She was starting to understand why Sophie had agreed to take the role of leader.

"Yeah, she can be a good strategist, unlike me."

"I guess so. Though you're like that too."

Allen chose to use the word strategist instead of scheming.

Cecile knew what he meant though, and sighed as she pointed out Allen was like that too.

The reason why Sophie accepted the help from the dark elf warriors was probably to show off just how much stronger she was.

The Wraith A summon let Allen see how Sophie and Merle's Tam-Tam were going all out, their overwhelming at full display in front of the dark elves.

There were many times when channeling all her mana into a spirit seemed like an unnecessary expense.

(But I'm sure King Arbus is no slouch either. He probably decided to cooperate from the start anticipating something like this. I wonder how their conflict will continue considering their intellect? It could easily wage on for thousands of years.)

King Arbus was willing to cooperate from the start, building the shelter and giving them the map.

Allen believed that was no mere charity, it was a deliberate and strategic choice to make sure the dark elves had a reputable stance going into the future.

King Arbus probably believed Sophie could rescue those cities on her own if she really wanted.

If that were to happen, the dark elves would no longer be able to offer their help without being seen as opportunists.

Refusing to help was not an option.

Not to mention that the areas surrounding their village were supposed to be managed by the dark elves themselves.

They could not allow the elf princess to clean up their front yard.

While the dark elves could not care less about the inhabitants of the oasis city, trading with them was an important part of their livelihoods.

If they let the elves do all the work for them, it was possible they would refuse to trade fairly in the future.

As the ruler of the dark elves, King Arbus had to foresee such situations, even if the chances were slim, so it was best for him to be cooperative from the start and avoid all that. Or at least that was Allen's take on the events.

Considering Sophie's and King Arbus' intelligence, it was hard to say what would happen with either side in the future.

"And so, aren't we getting close to the eastern shores too?"

Dogora brought back the conversation to their team.

For both Sophie and Kiel, the streak of light had continued until the border of the continent.

That meant it was likely Allen's team would also have to get close to the eastern shores.

"I think the country ahead of us is that country, right? The Clebeur Kingdom?"

Cecile seemed slightly bothered about the place they were headed to.

She seemed to know something about the country, referring to it as that country.

"Yes, the kingdom of mermaids, Clebeur. The supposed location of Princess Shea."

The group was already in a rather humid place, but that country was known for having many swamps and wetlands.

The priests from Theomenia had been told Princess Shea had gone there, at least according to Nicolai's findings.

"It's been a while since she left. Do you think she's still alive?"

Since the streak of light also pointed there, there was a high likelihood that the place was already overrun with Pagan Worshippers.

"She's accompanied with excellent beastmen warriors, so I'm sure she must be alright."

According to Nicolai, Princess Shea was accompanied by a group of strong beastmen warriors, and they had left Theomenia roughly one month before.

So far every place with a streak of light had been under attack by Pagan Worshippers, so her group might also be fighting them.

In monster terms, Pagan Worshippers were around a C or B Rank.

Though there were A Rank monsters mixed in amongst them.

Regular people without a Talent would be unable to fight back, but Shea was known as the Warrior Princess, and she had strong warriors with her too, so Allen believed she was still alive somewhere.

Then again, he had never met her or seen her in action, so that was all his own wishful thinking.

"I wonder what she wanted to do there? She's a princess so maybe she's actually looking for Makris' Sacred Bead?"

They had heard her name a lot from her older brother Zew, but never met her.

They had already missed her when they went to the Holy Land.

Allen felt like he had played a game in his past life where he constantly chased after a character that he had never seen.

"Well, she might be a warrior but she's still a princess after all."

Allen was still not fully convinced, but he decided to go along with their idea.

"Yeah! I'm sure she thought she could find Makris' Sacred Bead in Clebeur."

Cecile seemed convinced of it.

"Hey, can you say that in a way I can understand too?"

Dogora was struggling to understand the conversation.

There were things Allen had learned after working as a servant in a noble's house.

"There's a world of things men are better off without knowing."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'll explain whenever we're alone. Or just ask Kiel. I'm sure Kiel must have heard of it too."

(One must never talk about the Prostia tale or the Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris in front of a woman.)

"Huhhh?"

Allen tried to explain to Dogora that certain topics had to be treated with tact and reserve.

Men should never mention the Prostia Empire or the Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris to a woman.

That was common knowledge in that world.

Every noble house possessed a picture book called The Tale of the Prostia Empire. Every mother would read that book to their children, and they would dream about it.

If Allen had to draw a parallel to the memories of his past life, the Prostia Empire was similar to the land of a certain mouse character, where every girl always dreamed of going. He had never gone there himself though.

Granvel's library had many books of dubious origin and it was hard to determine whether they were true or just fiction.

When Allen went to the Academy, he found out the Prostia Empire was actually a real place.

Also, the last page of the picture book depicted the Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris.

It was a story that brought tears to one's eyes when talking or hearing about it.

"I heard Makris' Sacred Bead costs many millions of gold coins. I'm not buying it."

Allen heard that object cost more than all the gold the party saved up together after struggling in the S Rank Dungeon.

There was a country that sold off all their territory just to buy one such bead. That was how the mermaids obtained a country for themselves, which now was called the Clebeur Kingdom.

The Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris was actually a gemstone known as the Makris' Sacred Bead, which was traded between nations.

"Wha-?! What are you talking about? I do know how to have restraint, okay! Anyway, have you heard about any issues happening there in Clebeur?"

(Liar. Your eyes were all shiny just thinking about it.)

Cecile had gotten red with anger, so Allen had to soothe her.

At least she understood that Clebeur might be under attack, so she decided to steer the conversation back to that.

Cecile wondered if anything was going on there as well, similar to the bizarre creation of the oasis city, or Carvaluna's split into two countries.

"Apparently things aren't the best there either. There were some issues with Clebeur being part of the Prostia Empire, and some people even think it might lead to an internal conflict."

Allen relayed the information Nicolai had given him.

(It sounds really fishy though.)

Allen also knew that sometimes unstable countries would try seducing someone influential to bring them to their side.

"So you think they might have tricked Princess Shea to make her go there somehow?"

Dogora frowned, that did not sound good.

"At least that's an easy conclusion."

According to Nicolai, she had left with all her warriors the instant she heard of the situation in Clebeur.

Exactly why she did that was anyone's guess, and the only way to know was for Allen to ask her directly.

"Well, maybe a Demon General is also acting behind the scenes there then. We really have to get rid of all of them."

Saying that, Cecile turned her crimson slanted eyes at the campfire, the childish desire from earlier completely gone.

She seemed to be focusing her emotions to carry her through the inevitable battle that awaited them.