Their group had two carriages to bring all their equipment, from tents to construction tools. The first carriage was handled by group A and the second one was given to group B.


    In the front, Noel and Ste were sitting in the front, with Ste holding the helm.


    Since Noel had nothing to do, he was staring at the map to see the path they took. "Ehm… If I''m not wrong, we''re going through the Vines Mountain, right?"


    "No, we''re going the other way, through the Leimas in. It''s a in, so we should pick up some speed. If we go through the mountain, we''ll need two weeks to go around it. I mean, that''s not a problem if we''re in our house and don''t have to care about our carriage. But we''re not…"


    "But… Leimas in is…" Noel pointed at the Leimas in that had been marked red. This red mark only meant one thing.


    "Yeah." Ste nodded. "It''s past the border. In other words, we''re going through the demon territory."


    "…" Noel''s eyebrows twitched. He had heard that the area across the border was very dangerous. The demons over there were more aggressive and stronger. Unless they were confident in fighting those demons, they shouldn''t go near the border.


    "Well, it must be scary if you learn it when you''re training. But it''s better to experience it yourself. There aren''t many differencespared to this ce, except for more demons." Ste paused for a moment before a smile appeared on her face. She looked at the sky and said, "Do you know about this story… In the past, humans once conquered the world. We ruled over all living beings in this world."


    Noel fell silent, listening to this story. This was a story about ancient times.


    "Suddenly, the demons started emerging in the world. We don''t know what the cause was and where it starteding from. But the demons soon filled the world. They entered one thing after another. They turned our animals into demon beasts, trees into demon nts… They infected all living beings."


    Noel paused for a moment and asked, "Now that I think about it, is there any record of a human being infected by the demon?"


    "Mhm… I haven''t heard about such a case. The demons were supposed to infect the living creatures with less intelligence than us. From what I''ve heard, the demons have the same intelligence as us, so they can only devour the consciousness lower than them, which is the animals and trees.


    "It might be due to the mobility as well, but the nts are rarely infected. After all, the demons will have to live there for the rest of their lives." Ste exined.


    "Mhm…" Noel thought for a moment. "I mean, if the world was once ruled by humans, shouldn''t there be a record about a rare case like that? I mean, how big the world ispared to our kingdom''s territory or maybe all of the human territory?"


    "That''s a good question. Even I don''t know how big the world is… Though, I''ve heard that if you keep advancing toward the east, you''ll find a ce filled with water. The water expands to the horizon to the point you will be surrounded by water. This is what I heard from my past friend who once lived in Aikuvell Kingdom." Ste exined. "The more amazing thing is that this water is salty and if you evaporate the water, you can get salt."


    "Salt…" Noel widened his eyes in surprise.


    "Yes. Our kingdom uses the salt extracted from the ground called Rock Salt. Even themoners there won''t have any problems with salt. They even imported their rock salt to our kingdom."


    "Mhm. That sounds like a good ce to live…" Noel nodded.


    "Well, we also have our own advantages. We might not be near that waternd, but we have found several mines that we can use to strengthen our forces. Do you know there is another living area that is said to have a living being that is not human?"


    "Yes." Noel nodded.


    "It''s said they''re the product of abination between human and animal. Humans might have good adaptability, but animals have superior strength. In the past, people wanted tobine them to create a strong soldier.


    "They seeded and they''re thriving. However, there was a conflict between humans and this new race, causing all of us to weaken each other.


    "Because their number can''t bepared to the humans, they''ve been expelled and stayed there for generations. But at that time, human territory had been reduced to tenth percent of our original size.


    "ording to the record, it seems we have regained another ten percent, which means, all thebined human territory is simr to a fifth to what we had back then."


    "Oh…" Noel was amused by the story. "Then, is there any record about the past civilization? I mean, we''re reiming our territory, right? There should be some traces out there."


    "There should be some. In fact, the reason why we know there''s a mine or not is because of the previous map. However, only the royal family has the right to see that map, considering it has been controlled by the four great forces…"


    "But if it''s the royal family, won''t they just be sending you to your death if they lie to you?"


    "That''s true. Though, unless they''re aplete fool who wants to ruin the kingdom, they won''t do that on arge scale. Besides, themander should be one of the few people who were given the right by the royal family to see that map, allowing him to make another decision different from the royal family. You should know about the power bnce in the kingdom, right?"


    "Yes. There are three great forces in our kingdom. The Royal Family is the head that directs the kingdom. The Demon Banner Army is the sword that fights the demons and expands the territory. Andstly, the Tower Association… they''re the ones developing the kingdom with their knowledge."


    "Yes. They''re keeping each other in check to make sure the kingdom can still run. If one of the leaders is aplete fool, the kingdom won''t be destroyed because there are the other two. But it''ll be a different case if two or even all of them are fools. I just hope it won''t happen."


    "Well…" Noel nodded in agreement.


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