"Mariana..." Jhed said.
Outside Mariana, a light appeared — pure white in color, glowing from somewhere between the trees. Within moments, the light vanished.
From that light emerged the four of them: Jhed, Shine, Daichi, and Silia. That light had been the teleportation.
They now stood in the forest just outside Mariana city. Ahead of them, the great walls of Mariana came into view. Those towering walls reflected in Daichi's eyes as they all stared up at them.
"The teleportation card really is something incredible. We got here so quickly." Jhed said. Since this was his first time experiencing teleportation, it felt like an entirely new sensation to him. All around them stood Mimor trees — they were standing right in the middle of a Mimor forest.
Mimor trees had leaves the color of yellow.
So this city sits nestled among these strangely colored trees. And its walls are already this massive — imagine how huge the inside must be. I can barely wait, Silia thought to herself, tucking the card into her pocket.
"Let's get going then," Shine said. They had all been staring at the walls for a while now, and Shine finally snapped them out of it.
Daichi remained completely silent — not a single word had left his lips. Perhaps something was weighing on him. Worry was written plainly across his face; his mind was restless.
What will I even say to Master Ro-Ro once I see him? Will he scold me? I wonder what he looks like now. I'm afraid to face him. It's been so many years. I just know he'll scold me. He'll say — "you fool, Daichi, your town had such a huge problem, and you didn't even tell me," Daichi thought to himself. He was overthinking things quite a bit. Still, he was genuinely eager to meet Ro-Ro. And Jhed was just as eager — he wanted to learn more about who Ro-Ro really was.
"Yeah... let's go," Silia said. They all made their way toward Mariana. Within a few minutes, they stood before the gates of the city.
"That's quite a crowd..." Daichi said. The gate was packed with people — a long line of horse-drawn carts loaded with merchant goods stretched out, and right beside it, another line of adventurers and ordinary people waiting to enter Mariana.
If every city is supposedly ruled by the Demon King's generals and adventurers loyal to the Demon King's side, then where are all these merchants, adventurers, and ordinary people coming from? Jhed wondered to himself. His reasoning made sense — if every city, big and small, was under the Demon King's control, with the townsfolk enslaved, then where exactly were all these merchants and people coming from? It was a rather strange thing to consider.
"This is the first time I've seen a crowd this size outside any city," Silia said. There was a great deal of noise and commotion around them; the line stretched on and on.
"This line is so long. By the time our turn comes, it'll probably be evening," Jhed said.
"Standing here will just waste more time. Let's get in line," Shine said.
News of Mariana's liberation had spread across the entire world — or rather, it would be more accurate to say that the prophecy itself had been heard throughout the whole world.
They all took their place in line. All sorts of strange people stood in that queue. Some had long ears — those were called elves — and they stood waiting in line too. There were monsters among them as well — some with lizard-like faces, some resembling wolves, some looking almost human but with tails, and some even had dog-like ears.
All of this was new to Jhed. He had been in this world for fifteen years now, and yet none of this was familiar to him.