The party spent a night in the resting lodge and, the next day, everyone got up in the early morning. After eating the heavy breakfast of Almar meat Yakiniku (seasoned with salt that Kazura brought), they departed from the lodge.
The sky was still dim, so the highway that passed through the center of the forest was still dark like in the night.
Except Kazura, his fellow travelers sometimes picked up edible mushrooms and had a good sight inside the forest. However, even if Kazura had eyesight of 1.5, his could see only to the extent of what is underneath his feet.
Even so, he walked closely to Valetta and moved forward carefully. His eyes gradually become accustomed to the dark while walking, so he could barely see his surrounding after awhile.
He actually wanted to use the lantern that he had brought with him, but in the worst case he could met with people from Isteria, so he couldn’t use it carelessly.
Although he had taken pains to bring it, he couldn’t use it, so it just mere excess baggage.
「To be able to see in this darkness, everyone’s eyes are really good. I can only barely see the surroundings.」
Kazura started to converse with Valetta who strangely became puzzled.
「Is that right? But I think that it is normal....... Ah, but Lodurr-san had a really good pair of eyes.」
Last night, at the Almar hunting event, Kazura had vaguely reached a conjecture: This world’s inhabitants had really good eyesight.
Kazura though that because there only sufficient light for them to barely able to see their surrounding for a long time, if their daily life closely follow the rise and set of the sun since their birth, then someone could obtained hyperacuity like them.
The eyesight of Lodurr was a special case, since he was a hunter.
「Ah, that’s true. The Almar that was inside the pitch dark forest last night, was killed with a single arrow from him. And yet, even if the animal had black fur, he still could be able to see it.」
「That’s true, right? To be able to see a black Almar in the night is something that I couldn’t do.」
Such was the conversation with Valetta while they kept advancing in the forest highway.
And so, the sky became brighter while they were walking, the inside of bleak forest was speared by the sunrays.
En route, they had several breaks, and so they walked for 5 hours inside the forest.
When the surrounding became brighter, Kazura’s group had reached the forest exit.
「Eh? Is it perhaps, we had arrived at Isteria?」
Seeing the scenery that spread out in front of his eyes, Kazura began to ask Valetta who was beside him.
After exiting the forest what greeted him was a view of fields that stretched as far as eyes could see, here and there were private houses that dotted the landscape.
「No, this place is the grain producing area that surrounds Isteria. The city itself was a bit further ahead from this place.」
「Grain producing area..... What a fitting term. I can’t see the end of the fields.」
Kazura search for the fields’ edge, but the fields seemed to continue forever, as it kept stretching out beyond the horizon.
Though he could see people taking care of the fields all around, the plants that grown in it were of small height. Water was insufficient or the plants were sick, he could even see some withered plants between them.
Although there is water channel that had been dug beside the fields, the water that flowed in them was dried-out now.
「Since this area is quite vast, not only there are fields that surrounds Isteria but also villages and towns.」
「Humm, so there is a large scale food production... By the way, how big is the population in Isteria?」
Hearing Kazura’s question, Valetta put her hand in her mouth and thought for a while.
「EttoUmm, I’m sure that some years back, Father told me that there are about 200.000 people at there, but....」(Val)
「Valetta-san, there must be short of 300.000 people by now.」(Lod)
「Hmm, 300.000 people huh?..... Eh? 300.000 people reside in there?」(Kaz)
Lodurr supplemented Valetta’s answer, Kazura unintentionally turn his head behind to him.
「Yes. 4 years ago immediately following the cease-fire, the population of Isteria that was about 200.000 people were decreased, so the Royal Family decreed that a thousand peasants from other Feudal Lords were to be added to Nelson-sama’s fief population every year. If by chance the war occurred again, Isteria as the territory that had the longest border with Balveil[1] will become a fierce battleground.[2]」(Lod)
「I see, so that’s why they gather people in here right?」