Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[OP: ]

(Somewhere on the eastern continent: )

The east is the land of nature, swords, cultivation, factions, sects, and trade.

Being even larger in trade compared to the west or the most resourceful north, the east is the connective point that connects all three of the continents with each other through various sea, sky, and land routes.

The east is larger than the north but not as much as the west. While the eastern continent does not contain a forbidden zone like the Great forest of the west, it still has more forests and old trees than the other two continents.

Just like the southern region of the western continent, the eastern continent also contains deep forests and special places and ancient sites… the east actually possesses the most ancient sites to have been discovered until now.

There are countless attractive things about this continent, countless things that one cannot help but admire. Many of the adventurers also wish to visit this continent at least once in their life and go against the strong monsters that appear in the forests of this continent.

Thanks to the denser Mana on the entire continent, the clean nature, as well as the relatively more preserved nature of the continent, the creatures there have stayed relatively unchanged as well.

They are strong and they pose a great challenge to the adventurers of all around the world. There are many strong teams famous around the world that come from the east.

The east, despite being divided into nations and empires, is not governed solely by these powers. There are sects, there are orthodox and unorthodox factions, and then there are royalties who have preserved their ancestral lineage.

In some areas, the sects and factions exert more influence than the crown while in places like the central empire, the influence of the crown is above even the authority of the existing factions.

The east, thus, is a diverse place where all kinds of things happen and all kinds of people gather.

The markets of the continent, whatever city or state one chose, were always bustling, filled with tourists and natives searching for new things.

The eastern theme, the tall buildings of the rich and the smaller houses of the poor, the packed neighbourhoods where many people live in smaller houses, families of a dozen living in a one floor house wasn’t new in this continent either.

The continent boasted a higher population than both the west and north. There were simply a lot of people, just like how there were a lot of beasts and monsters on this continent.

‘Perhaps their population was the reason the cultists chose to operate mainly in this place.’

Demons were an inherent part of human society. They lived within the humans to gain something precious, something they could only get from the humans– a pure lifeforce filled with a life’s worth of emotions.

However it may actually seem like, the demons were simple beings. They lived for themselves, enjoy, for pleasure, for fun, and for their own goals.

They did what they wanted, even going against the natural laws sometimes, doing things that they should not. It was a pretty common thing within the low ranking demons that had been roaming the world since ancient times.

Even for the Rakshasas, the demon that they have contracted with needed something in return for providing their power to these mortals.

While they might have given themselves to their demons, they were not demons themselves. The Rakshasas were dumb bunch of people that did things for the supremacy of the demons.

They wanted the demons to prosper with all their lives, so they gave what they had to the demons and moved for thor lords.

The cultists, on the other hand, were nothing like that…

***

A well lit room with shiny things all around.

With a bright magical chandelier hanging on the ceiling, illuminating everything present in the room, the shiny things like the golden frames of the paintings, the pure silverware that was definitely not used as utensils, even the pieces of jewels that were simply being used as a paperweight.

The things present in this room were all eye-catching, and unique, as well as somewhat unusual for a simple noble house.

And yet, all of this was present in a small kingdom’s viscount’s house.

House of a lord that did not even have any kind of unique land or specific speciality.

“Haha, exactly! Those maggots know nothing~. Grass also has value!”

Sitting at his throne, before a pile of jewellery pieces, with two men sitting right before him who, just like him, possessed a smile that was simply filled with greed.

“The business is growing… they were right…”

Just beside the pile of jewellery, there was also a pile of unique purple grass, something that though seemed very normal, did not have a normal origin.

“My lord, we are expanding at an unprecedented rate. I’ve never seen something becoming popular so quickly.”

The viscount of this small region, while going through a bad famine, was approached by a group of hooded people who showed him a way to get out of the predicament that they were facing.

“This is THEIR grace. We have to show our gratitude when we get the blessed chance to meet them once again.”

The thin viscount of the distant land of Hula.

Being a small territory’s lord who had received this position after his father suddenly passed away in an unexpected accident, he had inherited this land, as well as all the responsibilities that he had.

His father was no famous lord, he was decent in his work as well, nothing too great.

In their entire family which had grandfather had built as the sole pass out of the Great academy, perhaps his father was the most incompetent individual.

He only had one son, he also did not have many wives like his only son did right now, and he wasn’t smart enough to use what he had either.

Due to his negligence throughout his life, which he had lived with unfathomable neglect to his territory and his people, a lot of people had suffered greatly.

The food that they had and the water that they could get thanks to the mages that they paid with the money that the people of their land were barely making with their hard labour all went to the entertainment, gambling, and a strange hobby of purchasing useless things.

The man, though now a piece of unwanted history, was neither a good lord, nor a good enough father.

“We shall pack up for the day.”

“Yes, my lord. We shall look through the books first.”

His wife ran away with a knight since she did not want to deal with him anymore in this forsaken land, and the son who was barely an adult was left alone…

“Right. Let us complete the work.”

When the famine hit them, even the small source of income that was coming to them through the people of their land stopped.

He had looked after the territory as the new lord till that point, he was older at that point and had some experience of this world and how harsh this world was, but he knew pushing the people and extorting them when there was no source of income was going to make them nothing.

He had nine wives and twelve children. He at least had to feed them and if there was no money, he would not be able to do that…

There were a few things that he could have done, starting a slave trade in his land was also a profitable option, but, in this difficult situation, a group of three individuals apprcohed him… and showed him the way out of that great predicament.

“Yes, everything’s alright. Let us-.”

“My lord. I hear a strange noise…”

“Hmmm?”

Purple grass.

It was a strong toxin that, when prepared right, had the effect of taking down even a [Bishop] ranked knight.

It was a potent poison… preparing it was simple, so it was mainly famous among the noble and rich people.

Especially thanks to the unique purple and the attractive yet simple look of this grass, there were many who preferred this thing over most of the other poison cheaply available on the market.

-Ooooooooooong.

“Some rat must have sneaked in.”

When used correctly, it was an alchemical ingredient, but when used in a way that wasn’t advisable, it was a potent weapon that many would wish to have in their hands.

And, since there weren’t many suppliers of this rare thing, there was nearly no competition in the market either…

“I’ll check things. Please stay there.” One of the three men, the mage who also knew how to wield the sword, stood up and closed all the windows with his skill.

He had already created a barrier around the remaining two, so he walked around the place carefully and even used a detection spell, skill, even an item.

But, he found no one.

Which was strange.

But that too, from only his perspective.

“Rats are becoming increasingly annoying. No one wants to see the success of an Honest person.”

The only place this grass, this unique purple grass was found until now was around the Demonic plains.

They certainly had some connection to the demons and the demonic energy, perhaps, to the evil cultists that were causing chaos all around the world.

Anyone who knew about this grass, about its origin and about how it came to life would know how demonic energy was the only thing that could birth something so sinister.

It wouldn’t be strange for someone to suspect that the viscount of this land that had grown in wealth in such a short time would be connected to the demons, Rakshasas, or even the Evil cults.