Greystone Town

Most Kobolds couldn't speak human language, and Caelan had only automatically learned some common languages when he was summoned; Kobold language was naturally not among them.

However, both Panhu and Fu could understand what Caelan was saying, and after hearing Caelan's question, they howled and gesticulated wildly.

Miraculously, Caelan could even deduce some of their meaning from their movements.

"Are you saying... something is chasing you?"

"Awoo!"

Panhu excitedly flapped his arms.

"Hmm..."

Caelan rested his chin on his hand, pondering for a moment.

Whatever could cause such a large-scale migration of monsters must be no ordinary threat.

Previously, with the Previous Demon King guarding the city, there might not have been any problems, but now there was only a bunch of old, weak, and sick individuals here, and Caelan couldn't guarantee that the danger wouldn't threaten them.

So, first, he needed to figure out what kind of problem was appearing.

It was impossible to just wait here for information to be delivered; Caelan decided to make a trip first—to the Town closest to the Demon King's City to see.

"Stone—"

Caelan cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. Not long after, a grey-brown sphere came rumbling from the other side of the mountain, kicking up dust as it sped along and stopped in front of Caelan.

Caelan's face was covered in dust, turning his face gray.

"...Go wash yourself first."

"Awoo!"

Stone curled into a ball again and rumbled as it rolled towards the river.

Leaving Caelan, Panhu, and Fu covered in mud spatters.

...

Riding on Stone's back, Caelan traveled through the dense jungle.

This was outside the Black Earth, a place locals called the Cloudy Mountain Range.

To be precise, the Black Earth was within the Cloudy Mountain Range, and the origin of this place name was due to the large magic array set up in the Demon King's City, which caused the area to be constantly cloudy and rainy.

This behavior was like marking a big red dot on a map, telling others, "The BOSS is here; come and fight; you can get equipment."

According to the Previous Demon King's records, although there were no heroes, there were always some Adventurer teams who, having nothing better to do or wanting to make a name for themselves, would go through immense hardships to overcome obstacles and come kill him.

Although they all failed, it was indeed a nuisance.

Caelan's eagerness to turn off the great magic array was partly for this reason.

Without the lingering clouds, finding the Demon King's City hidden deep in the mountains would not be an easy task, not to mention that the Black Earth was also about to lose its blackness.

But I've strayed too far.

Such a large mountain range certainly couldn't only have the Previous Demon King and his Demon King's City here... Just outside the Black Earth, about half a day's journey away, there was a Greystone Town.

Of course, it was a Demon Realm Town.

This Town was built two hundred years ago by a group of demons who came to the deep mountains to escape war, and out of fear of the Demon King's City's clouds, they could only stay in this not-too-deep, not-too-shallow place. They then settled down and multiplied.

It was quite interesting that the safest place in the entire Demon Realm was actually near the Demon King's City.

From their appearance, demons and humans were basically indistinguishable, at most, both males and females would be slightly taller.

This was because, as Chaos species, their Chaos Adaptation talent made their bodies more susceptible to changes due to Aether.

Caelan had previously gazed at this Town from afar but had never entered.

Mainly for safety, as he had just arrived then and didn't know the ins and outs of the surroundings.

Now that it was confirmed to be just an ordinary Town, there was nothing to fear.

The Town was surrounded by a wooden wall, with only one large gate facing away from the Demon King's City for entry and exit.

The direction of the Demon King's City was completely sealed off, and the surrounding forest had been completely cleared to ensure visibility. From above, the area was shaped like a colander.

To avoid attracting unnecessary attention, Caelan had Stone wait in the forest, telling it to come if anything happened.

After confirming that he had nothing conspicuous on him, Caelan pulled the hood of his robe over his head, picked up a relatively straight branch from the ground to use as a staff, and walked along the main road towards the main gate of Greystone Town.

This was his first attempt to interact with outsiders in this world—Tina didn't count, that was an accident—and he was a little nervous.

Normally, if he pretended to be a traveler, there wouldn wouldn't be any problems, but to be honest, he wasn't very familiar with the normal ways of interacting with others in this world.

Tina was quite normal, but she was human, and might not be the same as a demon.

Through the high walls, he could see many arrow towers set up inside the walls, with the Town guards standing on the high towers, vigilantly observing their surroundings.

From a distance, they noticed Caelan slowly approaching. Travelers were clearly uncommon in this area.

So, before Caelan even reached the gate, he saw a group of people rush to the entrance and, without a word, close the Town's main gate.

Caelan: "..."

Were they that vigilant?