["Hey~ Flareeeee, where are we going, stop and rest for a while"]
In the middle of a forest with old trees over ten meters high, the sun shines through the thick foliage on Noel's shiny platinum hair.
["I told you we were going to Demonic - Realm Academy, didn't we just go for a few days? Are you that kind of Gladiator?"]
Flare replied with an annoyed expression, she continued looking at the map and pointed forward.
["Try a little more, just a little more and we'll be there"]
[" How far is your 'little more'? We've been gone for 2 days without a break~~"]
Noel let go of her hands and walked with heavy steps
["Perhaps it will take until tomorrow to get there"]
Flare said it like it was the most normal thing she'd ever said
Noel collapsed - ["I can't walk anymore, sit down and eat something"]
Flare had to helplessly go back to where Noel was sitting and took out some food from the huge backpack that Noel was carrying on her back.
["We only have enough food for one more day, so we have to move faster after the break or we'll both have to starve for a few days"]
["I know~"] - Noel said in a tired voice - ["But what are we going there for, Flare?"]
["Are you kidding me, I said we were there to meet Shion - a powerful mage, we need her help to be able to fight that annoying dragon"]
Still that expression, Flare said while putting the last piece of bread in her mouth
["Ahaha, I'm sorry"] - Noel smiled at Flare, took out the water bottle and passed it to Flare - ["Here's yours"]
["W...that....did you just drink it...?"] - Flare blushed a bit.
["Yes, is there a problem with it?"]
Noel stared intently at Flare's face and asked
["Do you have a cold or something? Your face is red right now"] - Noel leaned over Flare's face and raised his forehead to check the temperature.
Taken by surprise, Flare's head blew out all the smoke in an instant, she pushed Noel away and took a few steps back.
["You...why are you suddenly so close to your face??"]
["Ouch...why are you pushing me, I'm just worried about you catching a cold, we're in the middle of a forest, if you're sick now, what should I do?"]
Noel slowly stood up, brushing off the dirt on her armor
["I...I'm sorry...because of you...I....surprised..."]
With her face red, Flare turned around and walked in the direction the two of them were walking just now and said.
["T...that's enough rest, let's move on"]
["Ehhhh, I just finished eating, it's okay to just sit back and rest a little longer"]
["No! We have to move as fast as possible, if you should remember we only have enough food for one more day"]
["Okay~ Then let's move on..wait Flare! There's a.....Uh..yes"]
["What's that? You mean dinner- you mean the wolves I shot down?"] - Flare still holding the bow in hand, turned to ask Noel
["Uhhhhh, I won't warn you next time"]
-----------Tomorrow-----------
["Is that....?"]
Noel pointed towards two huge doors in the distance
["Looks like we got there earlier than expected"]
["That's the gate to enter the Demonic Realm, right Flare?"]
Noel said in an eager voice, she looks like a child now.
["Yes, stepping through it will enter the Demonic Realm"]
["I've noticed since looking at this place from afar, but isn't the wall here a bit low?"]
["You don't have to worry about that, the walls you're seeing are actually just built for fun"]
["What do you mean, I still don't get it"]
["It's a long story to talk about, since the time of the war between humans and non-humans, there were 3 extraordinary people called otherworldly humans, they were human but they were not human. They weren't on the side of humanity but decided to protect other races so they decided to go against the rest of humanity, setting up this academy for non-human races as a way to fight discrimination and also to allow races including humans who oppose the war to live peacefully without participating in it"]
["Then why are the city walls in this place so thin? I still can't understand"]
["You're in such a hurry, didn't I say this story is very long, just concentrate and listen to it. The story continues about more than 1900 years ago when humanity had run out of patience with war and attacked this academy, they gathered the strongest humans at that time with the determination to overthrow this place, At the most stressful moment, when humans began to enter the city, one of the three founders of this place decided to use an ultimate magic, sacrificing himself to build an invisible magic wall and the giant gate he saw, it had the ability to examine the past, abilities, and goals of the person passing through it and make its own decision whether to allow that person to pass through or not, in other words only those who have with good will can able to pass through the gate and enter the Demonic Realm, humanity then has no choice but to make a peace agreement and accept other races as a part of humanity"]
["So there's an invisible magic wall around here that can prevent all those with bad intentions from entering? But I still don't understand why humanity would accept that deal so easily, wouldn't they just have to wait for the population to explode inside, since it's just a small city, not soon It's got to happen later, isn't it?"]
Flare was surprised by Noel's thought, she thinks that Noel is just an idiot who can only wave her mace around.
["Ah...about that, there is actually another reason why humans surrender to non-humans, it's because of the difference in strength, in the first place the non-humans were superior to humans in many ways. already present and this is also the reason that war broke out, humanity is afraid that one day non-humans will rule the whole Alternative, but non-humans have never had such thoughts, they were just like humans, expecting a normal life without war but the Church was so developed that it almost controlled the whole of humanity,The pope was even able to change the minds of all mankind with just one sentence: "Non-humans are the enemies of our God." and thus all believers are completely convinced that non-humans are enemies, only a few know the truth has just moved to Demonic - Realm Academy and some people stay out of the war and don't take in any sides."]
Noel was still listening attentively, a surprised look on his face.
["So everyone in Demon Realm Academy is strong right?? Umuuuuuuuuuu, I'm so excited!! What are the residents like inside the Demon Realm?? Is the food there good? Aaaaaaaa! I'm so excited"]
Noel jumped up with a series of questions towards Flare.
["You also asked these questions at the departure and I answered them all right then"]
Flare sighed helplessly at her companion's childishness
Noel and Flare approached the gate and touched it, right at the moment when they touched the gate, the other two doors slowly opened, welcoming the two on the other side of a bustling city with all sorts of races from humans, elves, dwarves to beastmen with cat ears, rabbits, foxes,...
["This place is still as lively as ever...."] - Flare said unconsciously
["Still as ever....? Haven't you been here before, Flare?"]
["Of course i had, this is even the place where I was born......"] - Flare's eyes closed slightly
["I see, so now let's go find a place to rest, it looks like it's getting dark"]
["You... urgh.... okay, let's go find a place to rest anyway, I don't think we'll be able to meet Shion as soon as we get here-"]
["Did you two just mention me?"]
Appearing out of nowhere, a girl with long ash gray hair, wearing a small witches hat tilted to the right inexplicably appeared behind Noel and Flare.
["Ara~ Isn't that cute little half-elf Flare? What brought you back here after 100 years?"]
["Sister....Shion!?"] - Flare almost screamed out of surprise
After teasing Flare, Shion turned to look at Noel who didn't know who the person in front of her was and could make her Flare like this.
["You brought a girl home too, where's my good-natured Flare~"]
Shion started to move closer to Noel and stroked her cheek lightly.
["Oh...this girl"] - Shion began to focus on looking deep inside Noel's beautiful emerald eyes
["Shion - senpaiiii! Can you stop joking with(my)Noel please!!"] - Flare, even after 100 years of not seeing her face, still easily recognized the little witch as her senior.
["Come on Flare-chan, I was just curious about the girl my cute little sister brought back~"] - Still with that joking tone, Shion turned to Noel's side - ["Sorry since I haven't introduced myself, I'm Shion, your wife's Senpai cum her Onee-chan"]
While Flare and Shion were having fun together, poor Noel still didn't understand what was going on and what these two were talking about.
["Uhm....I'm sorry but is this the great witch we're looking for Flare...?"]
["Great witch, huh Flare? You flatter me too much, I've only lived for over 1400 years, and you're only 22-"]
While Shion is talking, Flare suddenly rushes over to cover her mouth.
["Ah...yeah, it's getting dark, we better find a place to rest before it gets dark"] - Flare suddenly stammered inexplicably while still holding her hand on Shion's mouth
["Whoa...what are you doing all of a sudden, Flare, suddenly rushing over to cover my mouth like that."] - Shion removed Flare's hand from her mouth - ["Mah, whatever it is, I'm here to pick you two up, what business did you two have to come all the way here to find me?"]
["It....it's a long story, let's find a place to stay for the night"]
["If it's a place to stay, you can come to my place"] - Shion pointed towards a large building - ["I am currently a non-permanent teacher in the Academy but I also own a house"]
After a few minutes of walking, all of them are now standing in front of Shion's house, this is a wooden house with quite old architecture, not too big but not too small compared to the houses that they passed on the way here.
As soon as they stepped inside, the atmosphere was so gloomy that Flare and Noel were startled.
["Welcome to my own home, feel free like at home~"]
["I know it's rude but is this the home of a real person....?"] - Noel clung to Flare with a trembling expression on her face.
["I understand how you feel.... even though it's been 100 years, this place still has such a scary atmosphere, even though I've been here many times, but I still can't get used to it"] - Flare said while still standing there not moving at all
["What's wrong with you two, come in, if you guys are worried about it collapsing, don't worry because I've reinforced it with some magic I created so there's no need to worry"]
["Um...we'll be right in"] - Flare gradually regained his composure - ["But after 100 years, it hasn't changed much"]
["Of course, since I mostly live in the academy's teacher dormitory, however, I still come here every time I want to try a new recipe so there's a bit of a smell here. I'm sorry for the strangeness of the potion bottles, please forgive me"] - Shion said while pointing at a large jar containing some kind of water that looked extremely suspicious and clearly shouldn't be touched.
["Uh...we got it...."]
Flare just calmed down, but shivered again when she realized that the water had the ability to kill a normal person, of course it wasn't enough to harm her and Noel but still better be careful with it.
Shion sat down on the chair that looked like it was about to break in the living room
["So what made you come all the way back here to find me?"]
["Uhm...actually the reason is-"]
["We want to ask you to conquer a dragon with us!"]
Jumping straight into Flare's throat, Noel spoke in a more blunt way without even telling the story at all.
Flare froze, partly because she was surprised by a frank Noel she had never seen, and partly because she didn't expect to be interrupted in such a ridiculous way.
["Oh, a dragon?"] - Shion ignored the frozen Flare and thought only of Noel's words - ["Tell me more about it"]
["We received a report that a very large dragon is currently nesting in an ice canyon in the Magical Forest"] - Noel continued and didn't seem to care that Flare was still frozen next to her. - ["We also witnessed the power of that dragon with our own eyes when we watched a group of soldiers who wanted to conquer it before"]
["I understand the story roughly, do after watching that dragon slaughter the soldiers, Flare remembered the sister who was alone here?"] - Now, She glanced at poor Flare
["I didn't-"]
["You're not wrong...it's just....uhm....that group of soldiers didn't die at all"] - As Flare was about to be defrosted, Noel regained Shion's attention again make Flare speechless again.
["Hmm? Nobody died? You got me interested in this dragon"] - Shion smiled lightly - ["Okay, I will go with you, but before that, I need permission from the Academy first, tomorrow you guys will you go to the academy with me, it will be interesting~"]
["Really sis?? Can I visit the academy? I'll definitely go!!"] - Still childish, Noel jumped up and down making the ground seem to shake a little
Shion had a hint of a smile on her face as she looked at Noel but she erased it from her face as soon as Flare regained consciousness after being ignored.
["So are we going to stay here tonight Senpai? I don't want to mention it, but I don't think this house has enough beds for three..."]
["Of course not, my Flare, we will stay somewhere else"]
As soon as he finished speaking, Shion snapped her fingers, a door appeared on the empty wall.
["This is the gate to the teacher's dormitory is created by me, no one knows about its existence so please help me keep it a secret, now let's go"]
Shion go in first, after that Flare and Noel follow her
<To be Continued>