After a while, they finally arrived at the rocky area.
Joanna got out of the car and started preparing the meal while Lukas refilled the gas tank and took a look around.
“Hurry back. If you take too long, I’ll eat everything first.”
Joanna patted her stomach as she said this, indicating that she was pretty hungry already. Lukas nodded before heading towards the largest nearby mountain.
When he left Joanna’s field of view, he quickly flew up to the top of the mountain using magic.
A cold wind blew over.
This wasn’t the winter season, and it certainly was strange, considering this was Africa. After all, during winter, the temperatures during midday could still reach 20 degrees celsius.
But it was different now. It was the middle of the year, and Lukas was wearing a thick coat. Nevertheless, he didn’t feel hot at all.
This was probably because of the demonic energy.
“…”
He opened the map and looked around.
In Lukas’s mind, two new routes to Egypt were formed.
One on the left and one on the right.
Focusing his eyes, he looked around for the first city to pass through.
A white glow emanated from Lukas’ eyes.
Whoosh!
He instantly caught sight of a city, hundreds of kilometers away. As if he had expanded his eyes hundreds of times, Lukas was able to see every corner of the city.
Clairvoyance!
This was the power he’d gained from the Demigod, Milled, whom he’d fought in the past. A power that he rarely used.
Vast amounts of information surged into his head in an instant. If he were an ordinary person, he might have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from being unable to process all of the information.
With Lukas’ strength, he could easily perceive the entirety of the African continent, but he didn’t have time for that.
Lukas ignored the information about the characteristics and size of the city, and he instead focused on the living creatures in them.
Although he couldn’t grasp complete details, he was at least able to determine the type and number of entities.
‘In the city to the left, there are only Demons. And…”
On the right.
There were both humans and Demons.
It was a strange sight. It felt like they were very close. Almost as though they were living together.
That wasn’t all.
He was also able to sense a large amount of demonic energy.
The Demon was suppressing his power, so Lukas was unable to get a clear view, but he was certain that it was at least a high-rank Demon Noble.
Lukas narrowed his eyes.
If he could have used the full power of his Clairvoyance, he would have easily been able to see just how powerful the Demon was. Unfortunately, that power was beyond this universe’s tolerance. It was a shame, but for now, he had no choice but to be satisfied with using this level of power.
When he first came to this world, he couldn’t use his Demigod powers at all.
‘If a little more time passes, it won’t just be a thousand miles—’ (TL: About 1600km)
Lukas had this thought for a moment before shaking his head.
Then, he stopped using Clairvoyance and headed down the mountain.
When he got back to where Joanna was, he saw her reading a small book with a serious expression on her face.
The wear on the book showed just how many times she’d read it, and now that he thought about it, he realised that she would take out and read this book whenever she had time. He couldn’t tell what was written in the book, though, as there was nothing on the cover.
Despite reading with great concentration, Joanna still lifted her head and looked at Lukas, as though she felt his gaze.
“Why did you take so long?”
He thought she said she’d eat first.
Lukas thought about asking her this for a moment before deciding to give a rough answer instead.
“The mountain was taller than I expected.”
“Hmph… here.”
Joanna snorted before handing him a cold can of food. Even the lid was still on it.
When Lukas accepted the can, she began eating her chicken with a disposable fork. Lukas ate as well.
It was Lukas who placed down his utensils first.
He’d eaten half of the can of food and stopped there.
“Why do you eat so little?”
“It has become a habit.”
To be precise, Lukas no longer needed to eat. However, if he didn’t eat anything at all, people would grow suspicious. Therefore, he just pretended.
Of course, he was still able to taste, and eating delicious food was an excellent pastime.
However, these combat rations would never be called ‘delicious food’.
“Why don’t you eat some more? Men who are too skinny aren’t popular with women. Your face isn’t bad, so you’d look good if you gained more weight.”
“Is that so?”
Despite his rough reply, Joanna still responded enthusiastically.
“Of course. I have a good eye for unpolished gems.”
Then her eyes suddenly lit up.
“Come to think of it, that boy you brought with you is exceptional.”
“Boy? Ah.”
It was obvious that she was talking about his disciple, Leo Freeman.
Lukas nodded.
Even someone like him who had no interest in personal appearance couldn’t help but admire Leo’s good looks.
“His appearance has a strong ambiguity now, but that will only last a few more years. Girls would probably lose their minds if he simply wore a v-necked t-shirt. Seriously.”
Joanna spoke while eating chicken from her can. Lukas glanced at her.
“You eat well.”
“Is it surprising?”
“I didn’t think you’d be able to stomach anything other than gourmet food.”
“Hmph. That’s right. I have really picky tastes.”
Joanna snorted, but she didn’t seem upset.
“But I could still eat almost anything.”
“Anything?”
“Even steamed frogs or fried cockroaches.”
When Lukas froze, Joanna burst into laughter.
“I’m joking!”
* * *
For Lukas, the main priority was to meet Kran, one of the Top Three.
The most reasonable choice to achieve this goal would have been to cut across the wilderness without going to either city.
But Lukas decided to head to the city on the right.
This was because he thought it would be better to figure out the situation now while he still had time than allow it to become a hindrance later on.
He didn’t feel comfortable leaving what was almost certainly a high-ranking Demon Noble unchecked.
By the time the sun began setting, they arrived at the city.
“Huh?”
At the same time, they saw a convoy of vehicles leaving the city.
They were light, off-road vehicles that were perfect for traveling across the wilderness. Buggies.
As they came closer, the buggies honked their horns aggressively.
“Ah. So noisy.”
While Joanna frowned at the racket, Lukas looked over at them before speaking.
“It seems like they’re asking us to stop.”
“Are they humans?”
“Maybe.”
“Well. I’ve never heard about Demons driving buggies before.”
Joanna pulled over obediently.
One of the buggies swerved around and stopped in front of the truck, creating a large cloud of dust.
Joanna coughed, covering her mouth as she glared at the car.
A man stepped out from the left side of the buggy.
It was a black young man with a gun in his hand.
He looked like a mercenary.
“Excuse me. You don’t seem to be from around here. Where are you from?”
“Who are you?”
“Can’t you tell? I’m a hunter.”
Click.
The man answered while cocking his gun.
It was a blatant threat, but Joanna responded without shrinking back at all.
“We’re hunters too. We came to this land on a special mission from North America. I can’t tell you the details of our mission, but we already received permission from the Congolese Branch President.”
“Do you have anything to prove that?”
Joanna pulled a document out of her pocket and held it out for the man to see. The man looked at it for a moment before nodding and smiling.
“If you already got permission, then I have no right to interfere. Well, do you need anything? Food, water, a place to rest?”
“It’s late, so we’d appreciate it if you could give us a place to stay for the night.”
“Hmmm, no problem. Follow me. I’ll take you to our leader first.”
The man turned around after saying those words.
“Who is your leader?”
“You might have heard of him, so I don’t mind telling you.”
The man laughed. Then he turned to look at them and spoke in a slightly prideful voice.
“Our leader is a man called Dragul Phisfounder.”