Chapter 65: Toward the Recovery Road

The sprawling town appeared through the mist just after midday.

It was larger and more populated than the roadside village they had left that morning, though still far from a fortified city. Sturdy stone buildings stood between cramped wooden houses. Merchants shouted from covered carts along the muddy main street, selling their wares. Armored adventurers moved between the shops, carrying rusted weapons, heavy canvas packs, and the severed pieces of defeated monsters. A bustling Guild building anchored the center of the settlement, its carved wooden sign swinging and creaking in the biting afternoon wind.

Lyra relaxed at the sight of the busy town.

Kōya stopped at the edge of the muddy road, lingering in the shadows of the trees.

Lyra stopped beside him. “What?”

Kōya scanned the crowds, marking the alleys and rooftops. “Nothing.”

“You’ve been doing that a lot today.”

“Doing what?”

“Stopping in your tracks and staring at normal things.”

“I am observing the tactical environment.”

“You are staring.”

“I am observing.”

Lyra smiled, a small, knowing expression. “Fine.”

Kōya ignored the smile.

He looked past the town, tracking the winding eastern road. It continued beyond the settlement walls, past the cultivated fields, leading straight toward the jagged mountains. Toward the Demon-controlled regions he had seen inside Zeref’s fractured memories.

Mizuki was somewhere beyond those peaks. That thought tightened his chest. He had spent too much time recovering from the fallout of Zeref’s fortress. Every hour he remained here was another hour his mother remained chained.

Kōya adjusted Stormfront and started walking toward the town.

Lyra hurried to follow his long strides.

They crossed through the settlement. Kōya moved through the crowds, avoiding contact. He stopped only to purchase supplies from an anxious merchant.

Dried food. Clean water. Fresh bandages.

He stepped into an alleyway and counted his remaining currency. A few meager coins.

Lyra noticed the small pile. “You really don’t have much money left.”

“I noticed.”

“You should probably earn some.”

Kōya looked down at her, confused by the concept. “Earn?”

“Yes. Money.”

“I know what earning money means, Lyra.”

“Do you?”

Kōya stared at her, his expression flat.

Lyra looked away, studying the muddy alley wall. “I was just asking.”

“You were insulting me.”

“Maybe a little bit.”

Kōya sighed, running a scarred hand through his damp hair.

He had spent most of his recent life fighting or training to fight. He had never needed to worry about expenses like food or lodging. The corrupted fortress had provided what he needed. Before that, he had lived a sheltered life at the Academy, where someone else handled the practical details of survival.

Now he had two legendary weapons, incomplete tactical memories, dwindling currency, and a road leading directly into territory controlled by a demonic army.

Lyra looked back out toward the busy street, her eyes settling on the Guild building. “We could take a request from the board.”

Kōya followed her gaze to the armored mercenaries entering the building. “Adventurer work?”

“Yes.”

“You have done it before?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know how the system works?”

“I’ve seen other people do it.”

Kōya looked at her, deadpan.

Lyra shrugged. “That is how most normal people learn about how things work in the world.”

“Fair enough.”

They left the crowded main road and stopped beside an abandoned building, sitting in the shadows beneath a rotting wooden awning. Kōya pulled a rough, hastily drawn parchment map from his coat and placed it flat on the wooden table. He had bought the cheap copy from the merchant.

Several trade roads were marked in faded ink, alongside prominent mountain ranges and fortified human settlements. Vast regions in the east were left completely blank.

Kōya looked down at it. “This intelligence isn’t enough.”

Lyra leaned over the table, tracing the lines with her finger. “It isn’t supposed to be comprehensive.”

“Why?”

“Because most ordinary people who travel that far east don’t come back to draw one.”

Kōya tapped the blank eastern portion of the parchment. “What is located here?”

Lyra studied the geography. “Several minor, dangerous routes.”

“Which specific one should we take?”

She pointed to a winding, thin line. “This one.”

“Why?”

“Because the other main road crosses directly through established Demon territory.”

Kōya looked closely at the alternate route. “Controlled territory?”

“Partly.”

“Then why avoid it? It’s faster.”

Lyra hesitated, biting her lip. “Because passing travelers disappear there.”

Kōya’s expression hardened. “Demons?”

“Sometimes humans.”

Kōya’s mind connected the dots. “Slave traders.”

“Yes.”

He traced the dangerous road slowly with one scarred finger. “How widespread is this operation?”

Lyra took a slow, deep breath. “It is more widespread than you think.”

Kōya said nothing.

Lyra’s voice remained calm, but her pale fingers gripped the splintered edge of the wooden table. “There are wealthy places out there where slaves are legally traded in the town squares. There are also other places where the people in power pretend it doesn’t happen right under their noses. In one place, they honestly call it trade. In another, they politely call it employment.”

Kōya’s eyes narrowed. “And the ordinary people accept that reality?”

“Some do.”

“Why?”

“Because they don’t have a choice.”

Kōya remembered the broken people huddled in the dark cells of the fortress, staring at the open cage doors. Freedom meant nothing to them. For someone systematically controlled for long enough, an unguarded exit was just a new kind of terror.

Lyra stared at the map, lost in memory.

Kōya didn’t ask her about her past. The heavy expression on her face told him the answer would not be painless. Instead, he pointed farther east on the map, past the known roads. “What about this blank region?”

Lyra traced the edge of the parchment. “That is incredibly dangerous.”

“How dangerous?”

“I don’t know.”

“You have never been there?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know it’s dangerous?”

“People talk.”

Kōya waited.

Lyra dropped her voice to a whisper. “Terrified travelers talk in taverns. Merchants talk. Refugees talk. The few who manage to escape spread what they know.”

“Escape from what?”

Lyra looked toward the mountains. “Many terrible things.”

Kōya understood the conversation had reached its limit. He folded the parchment map and returned it to his coat. “Fine.”

Lyra looked at him in surprise. “You’re not going to ask?”

“Ask what?”

“Why a girl like me knows so much about this.”

Kōya looked deeply at her. “You will tell me when you are ready to.”

She stared at him, disarmed.

He stood up, adjusting his sword harness. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Food.”

Lyra blinked. “Now?”

“You have been talking constantly for an hour. You haven’t eaten anything.”

She looked down at her hands. She hadn’t.

Kōya stepped out from under the awning and started walking. Lyra quickly followed.

They ate at a cramped roadside restaurant near the edge of town. The stew tasted of salt and old vegetables, but it was hot. Kōya finished his meal quickly, eating like a soldier.

Lyra ate much more slowly, savoring the warmth. Halfway through her bowl, she stopped and looked at him.

“Do you always eat that fast?”

“You do when you are hungry.”

“You are always hungry.”

“I fight a lot. It burns calories.”

“That isn’t how biology works.”

“It is for me.”

She slid her wooden plate across the table, pushing her remaining food toward him.

Kōya looked down at the offered plate. “What are you doing?”

“You said you were still hungry.”

“I have my own food.”

“You finished it.”

Kōya looked up at her, his expression serious. “You need the calories more than I do.”

“I am not that hungry.”

He stared at her. She stared back, refusing to yield.

Finally, Kōya slid the plate back across the table. Lyra pushed it right back toward him.

They remained like that for several seconds, locked in a standoff over a bowl of stew.

The tired restaurant owner glanced over from the counter, raising an eyebrow.

Kōya sighed, rubbing his temples in defeat. “Fine.”

Lyra smiled triumphantly.

He ate the rest of the food.

Lyra possessed nothing in this world. Yet, she still offered a piece of what little she had to someone else. He didn’t fully understand her psychology, but he cataloged the detail.

They left the town late in the afternoon.

The eastern road narrowed into a rutted dirt path. The cultivated farmlands gave way to the dense tree line. The jagged mountains looming ahead grew larger.

Kōya walked steadily, maintaining a forced march, but his pace slowed as the miles passed.

“You should stop and rest,” Lyra said from behind him.

“We have barely walked.”

“You have been severely injured for days, Kōya.”

“I am fine.”

“You are not fine.”

Kōya stopped and looked back at her. “How do you know?”

“Because you are actively limping.”

He straightened his stride.

Lyra smiled. “That didn’t help your case.”

“I was not limping.”

“You were.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“You are terrible at admitting when you are hurt.”

Kōya stopped in the middle of the road. Lyra almost walked directly into his back.

He looked toward the looming mountains, calculating. “How far to the next safe settlement?”

“Two days if we keep this pace.”

Kōya frowned. “That is too long.”

“Not if we stop and rest properly.”

“I don’t want to stop. I need to find my mother.”

Lyra met his dual-lit eyes without flinching. “I understand exactly why you want to keep going. But that does not mean you tactically should.”

Kōya said nothing, his jaw locked.

Lyra pointed a finger directly toward his heavily bandaged, bleeding side. “You cannot save anyone if you collapse in the mud before you even reach them.”

The quiet words struck Kōya harder than he expected.

He looked away, staring at the dark trees.

He hated the fact, but she was right. His fight with Zeref had pushed him to the edge of endurance, and cleansing the fortress had drained what remained of his reserves. If he encountered another Demon Peer in this state, he would fall. Zeref’s fragmented memories had shown him massive armies and ancient demons waiting in the dark. Mizuki was trapped there. He couldn’t afford to arrive weak.

He exhaled a long breath, surrendering to logic. “Where can we stop?”

Lyra pointed toward a specific valley in the mountains. “There.”

Kōya followed her finger. A faint, overgrown dirt trail disappeared between two steep, forested hills.

“What’s located there?”

“A small, hidden settlement.”

“How big?”

“Not very big at all.”

“Is it safe?”

“Mostly.”

Lyra nodded, unfazed by his skepticism. “There are natural healing springs there.”

Kōya looked at her, his interest piqued. “Healing springs?”

“Yes. Geothermal ones.”

“Do they possess arcane healing properties?”

“Desperate people travel there for that reason.”

Kōya looked down at his own bleeding wounds. It was worth attempting the treatment.

“Then we are going.”

Lyra smiled brightly. “I knew you’d agree.”

“I didn’t agree.”

“You literally just said we’re going.”

“That is making a command decision, not agreeing.”

She laughed, the sound carrying into the trees. Kōya shook his head and started walking toward the hidden trail.

The sun set behind the mountains, casting long shadows.

The dirt road steepened. They walked through a narrow valley surrounded by ancient trees.

The air grew colder and cleaner.

Kōya sensed faint, natural mana in the air, clean and untouched by the corruption of Zeref’s fortress.

For a brief moment, he felt something he hadn’t experienced since before the burning of his village.

Peace.

Then the weight of his mission returned.

For a brief moment, he felt something he hadn’t experienced since before the burning of his village.

Peace.

Then the weight of his mission returned.

Warm, flickering lights appeared between the dark trees.

Kōya stopped on the ridge.

Nestled in the basin below stood a peaceful settlement of sturdy wooden buildings. Clean stone paths wound between large, natural pools of steaming water. White vapor rose into the evening air, catching the lantern light. Mountains surrounded the valley on three sides, hiding it from the main roads.

Lyra smiled, exhaling. “We made it.”

Kōya looked down at his own body. He was exhausted. His wounds burned. His clothes were shredded and stained with blood. His weapons felt heavy. The warm sight ahead brought him a rare sense of relief.

“How long do we stay here?” he asked.

Lyra looked up at him critically. “Until you can walk properly without pretending you’re not severely injured.”

Kōya frowned. “That could take a day.”

“Maybe.”

“Two.”

“Probably.”

“Three?”

Lyra smiled. “Now you’re negotiating.”

Kōya looked away toward the steam. “I am establishing a timeline.”

“Of course you are.”

They walked down the path toward the settlement. Kōya had spent days moving from one battle to another, thinking only of Mizuki and the next enemy. Now, he was deliberately stopping. He had finally accepted that his mortal body needed time to heal. Perhaps his fractured mind did too.

At the bottom of the long hill, as they reached the first stone path, Lyra glanced toward him.

“Kōya.”

“What?”

“Thank you.”

He looked at her, confused. “For what?”

“For stopping.”

Kōya didn’t understand. He looked at the peaceful settlement ahead. “I didn’t actually stop,” he clarified.

Lyra smiled warmly. “You did.”

Kōya said nothing.

They entered the settlement side-by-side. Warm steam drifted through the cold evening air. Kōya allowed himself to believe that resting did not mean abandoning his mission. Mizuki was still waiting. The Demon-controlled regions lay ahead, along with the mystery surrounding Zeref’s orders. Somewhere beyond these mountains was the territory he had witnessed in those fragmented memories.

He still didn’t know its name or what waited for him there.

He would find out. After he recovered. After he was strong enough to continue the hunt.

Kōya looked past the steam, toward the imposing eastern mountains.

“Mom.” His voice was a whisper in the mist. “I am coming.”

He walked deeper into the settlement. Lyra followed close behind.

The long road ahead did not demand that they run. It only asked them to keep moving.