I was planning on doing a ‘I Quit’ joke two days from now, but with how things are going, I can’t really do that without a winking smiley face even on April Fools, so never mind.

“Well, I’m going ahead.” (Hiiro)

He already got the book, and shared his meal. There was no more reason for him to be here, so he started off towards the mountain he had set as his destination. But Silva immediately stood in Hiiro’s path.

“.. What?” (Hiiro)

“Could it be that.. you plan on treading into that mountain?” (Silva)

“Yeah.” (Hiiro)

“I would not recommend it, sir.” (Silva)

“What do you mean?” (Hiiro)

Silvan started coughing, and corrected his posture before speaking.

“That mountain is 【Venom Mountain】. It’s also called the 【Mountain of Poison】.” (Silva)

“Mountain of.. poison?” (Hiiro)

As Hiiro furrowed his brow, Silva lightly nodded.

“Hiiro-sama is my life’s savior. So I thought I had to warn you.” (Silva)

“Hmm. I see.” (Hiiro)

Upon saying that line, Hiro signaled Mikazuki to walk forward once more. Of course, in the direction of the mountain. Upon seeing him, Silva opened his eyes wide, and hung his mouth open. He was sure that Hiiro would turn back upon gaining that knowledge.

“P-please wait! Were you not listening to my words?” (Silva)

“What about them?” (Hiiro)

“W-what about them..?” (Silva)

Silva began matching Mikazuki’s pace as he spoke.

“Do you understand? All of the life forms inhabiting that mountain carry poisons, you see. And all of them can prove to be quite lethal.” (Silva)

“..” (Hiiro)

“From what I’ve seen, I do not believe that Hiiro-sama has a body with poison resistance. But because you are traveling alone, I assume that you have some confidence in your skills. However, I greatly advise you to avoid this route.” (Silva)

Seeing Silva desperately try to dissuade him, Hiiro assumed that he was telling the truth. But he had no intention of slowing down or turning back.

“Okay, I’ve heard your warning, but if you say any more, it’ll just get annoying. No matter what you say, Gramps, I’m still going forward.” (Hiiro)

Hearing those words, Silva stopped. As if he had given up, he let out a deep sigh. But suddenly, he let out a loud voice.

“Then I!” (Silva)

Silva leaped high into the air, and spun his body around and around. He once again stood in Hiiro’s path. Mikazuki seemed dumbfound by the scene, and he stoped walking.

“.. Quit it. Don’t hinder me any further.” (Hiiro)

After recovering his voice, Hiiro contemplating getting rid of the butler. But Silva lowered his head once more.

“Favors must be repaid in kind! Life must be repaid with life! If I, Silva, were to heed your words and draw back here, if something were to happen to you, then I would never be able to get over that regret. I’ll carry that regret for the rest of my life!” (Silva)

It probably wasn’t anything that great, but Hiiro concluded that the man before him had a strong sense of duty.

“But stopping you seems next to impossible. Then I, Silva, will use this live to honor my duty! Let me accompany you!” (Silva)

“No, I’m fine.”

Hiiro immediately shot him down.

“See here. That past exchange was the end of our negotiations. You exchanged your book for my food. That’s the end. I do not wish for any more from you.” (Hiiro)

More importantly, he didn’t really want to travel with someone who was just collapsed in the middle of the road. The chance that he would just hold him back was high, so he wanted to deny him by all means.

With his ability to see through lies, perhaps Silva would be useful. But that could also prove to work against him. Hiiro’s appearance was that of an 『Evila』, but he was a proper human.

If that fact came out, then he would be surrounded by trouble. He didn’t want to make any careless decisions here, so it was safest to refuse.

“Don’t follow me, Gramps. You had a reason for coming here, right? Shouldn’t you be taking care of that?” (Hiiro)

Mikazuki starts moving again, and he passes by Silva.

“Then that’s what I shall do.” (Silva)

He said something troublesome again. And this time, his voice carried more resolution. Feeling a shiver run down his spine, Hiiro turned his eyes to Silva.

“Listen to this! The Butler Silva’s true objective was this mountain!” (Silva)

Hiiro’s eyebrows twitched. Sensing danger, Mikazuki stopped, and turned around.

“What do you mean?” (Hiiro)

“The truth is..” (Silva)

And it somehow ended that Hiiro was to listen to Silva’s story.

According to him, he was definitely collapsed due to hunger. But he was no adventurer. He was, as he looked, a simple butler in the service of an estate.

On the other side of this mountain was the household he served, and his master ordered him to retrieve a certain item. The item could be found only within 【Venom Mountain】.

For a butler, the master’s will is absolute. Using all of his power, Silva thought it was his duty to completely devote himself to his master’s will. So he planned on carrying out his job regardless of the danger.

“My master has a bit of a twisted personality. They always give me impossible request. Nofofofofofo!” (Silva) (TL: Laughing sound)

Hiiro wondered if he should retort at Silva’s description of his master, but he kept quiet, and listened.

“But I am a skilled butler. No matter the problem, I have succeeded in resolving them all. But my master thought that that wasn’t interesting enough, so the requests became more severe.” (Silva)

Hiiro concluded that the man had his share of grief.

“Anyways, the impossibility has started to become interesting for me too.. It’s stimulating. And the master who keeps shoving impossible requests onto me is also cute, and lovable, you know. Nofofo.”

(I take that back. He’s just a masochist.)

He wasn’t suffering at all. He has the mentality that converts his own grief to joy. Hiiro found the old man in front of his eyes to be scary

The pervert set out for the mountain right away. But then a problem emerged.

“The truth is, my Sky Carriage didn’t want to listen to me.” (Silva)

“Hmm? What’s a sky carriage?” (Hiiro)

“.. You don’t know of them?” (Silva)

(TL: This is a bit of a pun. An unbridled horse is made of the Kanji for Sky and Horse, but in this case, it’s a sky horse carriage.)

Dammit. Perhaps that was supposed to be common sense here. Since Hiiro was stopping by the 『Evila』’s continent for the first time, he never learned of the existence of Sky Carriages. Perhaps his current behavior had given away his identity.

But Silva’s next words cleared away Hiiro’s unease.

“Is that so? Hiiro-sama appears to be of the 『Imp Race』. I’ve heard that they don’t interact much with other races, but perhaps that has lead you to be a bit unaware of the affairs of the world.” (Silva)

It seems he came to an understanding on his own. By the way, the 『Imps』 were a race of 『Evila』, and with dark skin, and pointed features. They’re great in numbers, but possess a cowardly nature. Apparently, they avoid interactions with other races.

“The Sky Carriage is a service managed by couriers. A form of business.” (Silva)

They charge money depending on the distance, and carry cargo and people to designated locations. Of course, they transport living things as well. As their names implied, Sky Carriages carried things through the sky.

(Like a Taxi, I guess)

Using the system, Silva set this mountain as his destination, and asked to be brought there.But as he approached the mountain, a problem occurred.

“It suddenly became impossible to control the carriage, and while it was planned that I would be dropped here, I was dropped far, far to the east..” (Silva)

He pointed his finger. In that direction was a sea of trees.

“The Eastern Forest.. Also known as the 【Beguiling Woods】. I fell into that place.” (Silva)

“How unlucky.” (Hiiro)

“Yes.. But I am a butler. I can’t give up because of such things. No matter how irregular the situation, it is my duty to follow my master’s orders. So I wandered around the forest alone.” (Silva)

“And you had used up all of your strength by the time you got here?” (Hiiro)

“It was a great dishonor to me.” (Silva)

Silva lowered his shoulders.

“If you were hungry, why didn’t you hunt, or forage?” (Hiiro)

“Unfortunately, the 【Beguiling Woods】 do not contain anything edible. There are things that look like food, but once you put them in your mouth, you get status afflictions strong enough to change your personality entirely.” (Silva)

That was the scary part of the forest. In it were devilish edibles. All of them have confusing side-effects, and their strong effects crumble’s one’s personality and purpose.

(A plain swarming with Rank S Monsters, a Mountain of Poison, and a Beguiling forest.. I’ve come to an incredible place..)

There wasn’t a single safe-haven. Hiiro decided that he would have to be more wary than he could imagine.

Silva himself took severe damage as he finally exited the forest, but he was constantly attacked by monsters, and there was nothing to eat. After desperately clawing his way here, he gave in to his own hunger, and collapsed.

“But I digress. Anyways, I have a reason that I have to enter this mountain.” (Silva)

“..” (Hiiro)

“If you plan on crossing this mountain no matter what, then I think it best if I were to accompany you.” (Silva)

Silva had to cross it to return home as well. Their destinations were the same.

(But..)

The problem was whether one not he wanted to bring along someone who may be a burden to such a dangerous place. It’s not like they were comrades or anything, and he didn’t have any particular attachment to him. And seeing the old man in front of him get beaten up and poisoned was not a good sight for the eyes.

Mikazuki was enough of a burden to him, but then he remembered something.

He survived the 【Beguiling Forest】, and the monsters that attacked him up until now. Perhaps this old man had a little bit of skill. Even though Silva was collapsed from hunger, he had nothing that resembled a serious injury.

Hiiro immediately cast doubtful eyes on Silva. No, perhaps they were appraising eyes.

(This guy.. could it be..)

As he thought that, Hiiro secretly tried to write 『Pry (覗)』. He concentrated magic on his finger. But the next instant, Silva’s eyebrow’s twitched, and he glared at Hiiro’s face. Hiiro immediately stopped writing.

“.. What happened?” (Silva)

“.. Meaning?” (Hiiro)

“No, I just felt a slight flow of magic.” (Silva)

“!?” (Hiiro)

It was truly a shock. It seems that Silva was able to sense that Hiiro was trying to do something.

(I definitely let out magic, but no one’s been able to sense that until now..)

Perhaps the 『Evila』 Race, which specialized in magic, were all sensitive to its flow. He would have to be careful not to use magic in excess from here on. In the end, Hiiro was unable to check Silva’s 《Status》 screen..

“No, it’s nothing.” (Hiiro)

That was all he could say. And Silva didn’t press any further.

“About that, Hiiro-sama.” (Silva)

“.. What?” (Hiiro)

“How about it? I think my knowledge will prove useful to you in some way.” (Silva)

It was true that Hiiro knew nothing of this land. It’s always better to have information than to not. But this Old Man’s aura made it seem that he would be hard to deal with.

(Is he weak or strong.. I still don’t know. I might be able to get directions from him, but..)

If he accidentally used 《Word Magic》 and got found out, a problem might emerge. It wasn’t a magic he wanted to flaunt to others, so he wanted to refuse, but as their destinations were the same, and as Silva still wanted to return the favor, it may end up that they would be travelling together regardless.

(If I can skillfully draw out whatever info I need, and take out monsters with just my Katana..)

Thinking that, Hiiro made up his mind, and turned back to Silva.

“Fine. However, don’t do anything unnecessary. We’ll just be traveling together, got it?” (Hiiro)

“Nofofofofo! Understood. I’ll repay my debt in all sincerity! Nofofofofo!” (Silva)

He respectfully bowed.

(It seems I’ve made a companion I have to be wary around.)

Hiiro gazed at the mountain, with doubts swirling around his head. But this was merely another part of travelling. He hit Mikazuki’s back again, and proceeded forwards.