About forty minutes after our departure, we heard an announcement while we were killing time by playing cards.
[We will momentarily be breaking through the dimensional wall. We will momentarily be breaking through the dimensional wall.]
“Try looking outside.”
Buchou said this to me, Asia and Xenovia. Originally, Buchou seemed to have had to sit in the front train car as a high-class devil, but she seemed to have been lonely by herself and had passed the time in our car instead.
Following Buchou’s words, I pushed my face against the window along with Asia. And then—.
The scenery changed from the darkness of before, and a landscape appeared! Ooh! A purple sky! And also—.
“Mountains! And trees too! Hahahaha! Amazing! Amaziiiiiiiing!”
I unintentionally babbled excitedly in a loud voice. But next to me, Asia was also feeling excited with her cries of “Amazing, amazing!”! Because! We’re having fun, naturally!
Because there was the landscape of a world we didn’t know there!
“It’s fine if you open the window now.”
Buchou had given permission, so I opened the window. Wind came in! I had also breathed in the air of the Underworld last time, but it was somehow different from that of the human world! Rather than a slimy kind of feeling, I felt something peculiar! However, the temperature outside was just right, I felt. Neither hot, nor cold.
When I took my face away from the window and looked back, it seemed that the train had come out of what appeared to be a black hole.
That’s the dimensional wall? The dimensional tunnel? At any rate, that seems to be a hole that connects to the human world. We came out from there. And now we’ve entered the Underworld!
I could see the landscape of the Underworld from my seat. There were mountains and rivers as well. Trees also grew in abundance, and there were even forests. Ah! A town! There are houses too! They had a peculiar shape, but devils lived in them, right?
Amazing! Thinking about it, I hadn’t gone abroad before. This might be my first time coming in contact with a foreign culture and country.
It’s hard to believe that my first cultural exchange is in another world. My life really is strange.
“This area is already within Gremory territory.”
Buchou spoke proudly.
“Then, is everything including these train tracks we’ve been running on until now on the land of Buchou’s family!?”
Buchou nodded at my shocked question. Seriously!? What a shocking thing! So the mountains, rivers the town we passed before are part of her family’s territory? Then, were the people living in that town the vassals of this fiefdom?
I once more looked at Buchou with a look of respect and envy.
Amazing! My master was really rich! The scale was so different!
“How large is the Gremory’s territory?”
That was my question. To be honest, I was very interested in how big it was. About the size of the district of Tokyo?
Kiba suddenly showed his face over my seat and answered my question.
“If I remember correctly, it’s about the size of Honshu in Japan.”[4]
………Eh? I couldn’t believe my ears for a moment at that unexpected answer. But, I soon understood.
“H-Honshuuuuuuu!?”
I shouted out in a loud voice! Both Buchou and Kiba nodded.
“The Underworld has the same amount of surface area as the human world, but the population here isn’t the same as the human world. Even with Devils, Fallen Angels, and other races, it isn’t that high. And since there are no oceans, the land is also spacious.”
Buchou explained that.
Seriously!? Wait, just how many times have I used the words “seriously” and “amazing” today!? When hearing such information, it’s only natural to be shocked!
I-In other words, if it was in my world, the Gremory’s territory would engulf almost all of Japan…I-It must be because Buchou is a “princess”! She really is that super-rich!? The scale is also amazing!
“Even if you say it’s the size of Honshu, isn’t it mostly unused space? It’s mostly just forest and mountains.”
B-Buchou, even if you say that, it already exceeds my imagination and I don’t know how to react anymore…
Next to me, Asia was also in a state of “?????”. As for Xenovia, she had stopped considering her surroundings and had started talking about the swords of the Underworld with Kiba.
Buchou clapped her hands together as she remembered something.
“That’s right. Ise, Asia, Xenovia. Since part of my territory will be given to you all later, please tell me what places you want.”
“W-We can have our own territory!?”
“You’re all the servant devils of the next family head. Living in my territory as part of the Gremory group is permitted. Akeno, Yuuto, Koneko, and even Gasper possess land within my territory.”
With a “PON!” sound, Buchou made a map appear in the air with magic and then expanded it and showed it to us.
It’s geography that I don’t know, but it seems to be a map of Gremory territory.
Buchou spoke with a pleasant smile.
“The red areas are places that have already been taken, so they’re no good, but anywhere else is okay. Now then, please point at the land you like. I’ll give it to you.”
Father, mother, I’m having an amazing time in this strange new land…
Part 4
For some ten-odd minutes after that, the train continued through this world that was unknown to me.
In the end, an area that was abundant with nature such as mountains and lakes was my personal territory. Well, since management of my land was still some time away in the future, I finished with just choosing it for now.