For several hours, he had been investigating things in the library. Somehow the library was closed when the sun was a little high in the evening. When Shin confirmed it with the menu screen, the time showed 4:50. Even though he didn’t know whether the time was accurate, Shin thought that every city hall and post office had their own way to keep track of the time. Rather, he was amazed to learn that they had about the same closing time.
He thought about returning to the south district for the time being, but his stomach was grumbling while looking around the stalls. It was early, but he bought yakitori* for dinner which he saw was barbecued nicely in a stall he found by chance. It could be said that a similar yakitori wasn’t sold in Japan, as they were 30 cemels long skewers stuck into hearty chicken meat. (TL note: *a bite-size marinated pieces of beef, seafood, or chicken on skewers)
“This yakitori tastes good even in a different world…but did I buy too much?”
He took out a freshly cooked skewer from a bag while smiling wryly. He bought four yakitori. It was a quantity that could be said was too much to eat before dinner.
He sat down on the edge of the fountain in the center of the square to relax after walking and eating. He stuffed his mouth with meat while looking at the passersby for no particular reason.
After all, there were still many appearances of adventurers since the information regarding the Skull Face was published.
Although information regarding the subjugation completion was also made public, the adventurers seemed to be still on guard.
“…Tsu…tsu”
While looking at the hustle of the town and chewing on the yakitori, after he had investigated, he organized the information he had acquired in his head. There were three noteworthy things that he understood for now.
First, the book that had written about the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’ was rare.
Besides that, there was also a possibility that the book was banned or that it was stored in a place with reading restrictions. For now, Shin couldn’t enter that place, so it was put on hold. In the future, he couldn’t help but to feel prepared to visit villages of long-lived species such as Elves or Dragons. Either way, he still didn’t have the intention to sneakily search for it.
Second, the geography of this world.
Originally, four continents existed in the world of THE NEW GATE, the 1st three continents were for beginner, intermediate and advanced level players. And the 4th continent became the area for players who had lost interest in the common fields.
Of course, Shin had almost conquered all four areas that were displayed on the map, but now the map function was no longer recognizable. The reason was simple, it was because the continental shape itself had changed due to a natural phenomenon that took place after the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’. Through movements and ground upheavals, the 4 continents turned into 5, and a lot of small island nations were scattered. This might be one of the causes for there being no documents about the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’.
By the way, the continent where Shin was currently at, was called the Continent of Eltnia.
Third, the big city that was formerly the headquarter base of adventurers.
Each continent had two or three big cities that became the headquarter base for the players. Each city featured an enhanced defense and the city’s trades were lively, it was also crowded although there was prejudice in certain races and jobs. One of the reasons why people gathered there was only because big cities have temples that could be used for reincarnation.
Those big cities were now called the ‘Sacred Place’, and were also seen as targets to be recaptured. Though the big cities that existed were mostly the same without being affected by natural disasters, after the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’, each city turned into a demon city dominated by high-level monsters. The investigation committee was sent on countless occasions, but the lowest level of monsters exceeded 500, and it was said that anyone who entered the ‘Sacred Place’ would never return.
For some reason, the high-level monsters of the ‘Sacred Place’ never came outside the cities, and the overflowing magical power caused the surrounding land and plants to mutate. In addition, the current conditions had also caused sudden mass outbreaks of low-level monsters.
“Then, the problem is?”
He contemplated while putting his hand on his chin. If the topography itself had changed, then his memory from during the time of the game was unreliable. The locations of Elf’s garden and the Pixie’s fairy village or the other places with long-lived species, were different from his memory, too. Information collection was likely to be difficult.
“Hmmph…?”
Just when he thought about asking Tiera and Els, Shin looked up because he felt someone’s gaze. Shin turned his face to the direction of the gaze and saw a cat-eared girl, probably at elementary to primary school student age, who was staring at Shin from 2 mels away.