The Second Day

“Aooooh!” “Roar!” “Ge—ge-ha-aaaaah!”

Shut up.

Even if I complain in my heart, it doesn’t reduce the surrounding noise in the slightest.

Leaning against the corner of the cage closest to the door, my gaze swept across the sight before me.

Oil lamps flickered, and various screams rang out incessantly.

In every cage that held a living creature, the prisoners were baying as they pressed against the iron bars.

Those with intelligence were speaking languages I couldn’t understand, desperately stretching their hands outward.

The most chaotic time of each day was the “night” when the oil lamps were lit.

As for whether it was actually night, I wasn’t sure.

I only said that… I assumed so, because this messy warehouse wouldn’t have a single spark of light except during this time period.

It was fundamentally impossible to accurately distinguish day from night.

Judging the time could only rely on my biological clock.

Leaning against the edge of the cage, I sized up this chaotic scene.

Including my cellmates, they were also grasping the iron bars and howling with all their might.

It seemed that if they were ignored by the crew, they wouldn’t receive their food.

Though calling that stuff “food” was a bit… an insult to the word “food.”

After my peripheral vision swept over my cellmates, it unintentionally brushed past the wall I was leaning against.

On it, there were two clear scratches carved there.

The second day.

It had only been a short two days since I was captured onto this ship.

My hands and feet were still bound by thick rope.

Added to the fact that this cage was located in the corner of the entire warehouse furthest from the exit, it was simply the worst possible situation for me, who knew almost nothing about the current state of affairs.

But even so, my thinking never stopped.

Carefully observing this warehouse was something I had been repeating for these past two days.

Watching those monsters I had no memory of snarling and fighting each other through their cages.

Or some people in rags with strange ears whispering as they looked toward my direction.

Especially the cellmates imprisoned here with me.

In short, it could basically be confirmed.

This is “over there,” the other side of the mist.

That is to say—the Demon Realm.

Although I was unwilling to admit this, the fact that I could not communicate with anyone around me…

No, perhaps the fact that they couldn’t even be called “human” made it possible to basically conclude that this was definitely not the world I once stayed in.

I had once doubted whether a so-called “Demon Realm” truly existed on the other side of the dense fog.

Having lived with this kind of scenery for two days, I had no choice but to believe it.

I have drifted to the “Demon Realm.”

And judging by this scene, the Demon Realm is vastly different from the barren wilderness described in the Divine Oracle.

Just the size of this ship meant it was absolutely not something that could be born from a primitive land without civilization.

In other words… the races here also possess technology.

If I had become a Hero, what kind of fellows would I have fought…

Such thoughts would occasionally pop up, but they were of no help.

Whenever I looked at the lightless back of my hand at such times, I could only once again accept the fact that I was unrelated to being a Hero.

Yes, I am no longer a Hero now, and I have no companions.

—You must die here.

And… I will never believe anyone again.

“Tch.”

Her voice echoed in my mind, making me lower my head and click my tongue in resentment.

I will absolutely never stop thinking for even a moment.