World of Women-Chapter 33Volume 5 –

“This is as far as we can safely go,” Angela spoke up. “You’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.”

I looked out onto the foreboding and desolate base of the mountain. The area was covered in snow and the air outside of the airship was thin. Everyone had to retreat into the ship, but a few of us bundled up and were on the deck, surveying the area. The wind was powerful and threatened to toss someone off the edge of the ship. Each gust carried an icy sharpness that cut through every layer of clothing.

“It wouldn’t be easy for Lilith and Mia to get through here,” I spoke quietly.

“There might be a trail we missed.” Angela looked uncertain. “We could go back.”

“No… they’re heading to the Demon King’s castle.” I shook my head. “So should I.”

We tried to head in the direction indicated by the images, but we found that mountain peaks were blocking every direction. The airship couldn’t get high enough to bypass it anywhere. If we tried to force it, there was a good chance we might end up crashing on the other side, and then we’d all be trapped there with no way out of a hostile country.

In the end, if this location was easy to reach by airship, then it would have been discovered long before now. It was only because of its complete inaccessibility that it had remained a hidden gem for all of these years. It was only thanks to a rather new high-altitude spy plane that Dia was able to get to the location in the first place.

“Shall we go?” Ash asked.

“You’re coming?” I raised an eyebrow.

I had only barely managed to convince Lexy, Kemala, and the rest that they really ought to stay behind. Thankfully, all it took was a peek outside for them to be convinced.

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“You didn’t think you were going to go alone, did you?” Rebecca snorted. “The pair of us are most suited to join you. We still have some loose connection to the demon realm.”

“That’s all the more reason you shouldn’t go.” I sighed.

Ash looked a bit hurt. “Do you think we’d betray you after all of these years?”

I smiled gently, stroking Ash’s hair. She had let it grow out and it was now quite long. It had long been since she had kept a short boyish crop of hair, not that in this world, men naturally wore their hair short or anything.

“It’s because I don’t want you to be hurt. There is a lot you two did in the past when you were demons. Do you want to be reminded of all of those negative things? Plus, what if this demon king could somehow reactivate it? What if you became demons again?”

“That would never happen,” Rebecca responded sharply, but then her expression softened. “I mean, even if we were demons, we’d still stay with you instead of him.”

“Is that so,” I responded dubiously.

“Mm!” Ash nodded. “Except, if we were demons again, we wouldn’t let you bully us. We’d tie you up and bully you!”

“Is that so…” I smirked.

The girls both wrapped their arms around me. They had both changed greatly from the girls I knew in high school. Rebecca had once been a conflicted extremist, and Ash was a tragic noble. Now, they were both far more confident with their desires. Ash had seemingly reconnected with her family, while Rebecca had found a new lease on life. I held them both tightly. Despite the cold, they still felt warm.

“Daddy!” Lexy and Raven came out from below and ran to me at that moment.

“Girls, you should stay down below where it’s warm.”

The pair had both been somewhat traumatized only a short while earlier. They had quickly fallen to sleep once we brought them below, but they must have felt the ship stop. Ash and Rebecca backed away, giving the girls the chance to approach me. I lowered myself slightly, so I was at their eye level as they stopped in front of me.

“We heard you were leaving!” Lexy cried out. “We’re going with you.”

I was already shaking my head. “This is something your dad has to do on his own. I can’t take you this time.”

“Are you… are you going to fight demons?” Raven asked.

Just a short time ago, Raven would have laughed at the idea of demons. She had thought all of my stories were just tales the grownups made up to make me seem more important than I was. However, they had both seen me use magic countless times now, and they had also seen things they never should have had to see. To Lexy, it was only confirmation that everything she believed was true, but for Raven, it was like she was waking up for the first time. I knew it wasn’t either for her to admit that such things might truly be true.

“This is the last time,” I told my girls, gently stroking their cheeks. “After I’m done here, we won’t have to worry about demons ever again.”

“Do you have to go?” Raven asked with tears in her eyes.

I thought about her words for a moment. In all reality, my presence wasn’t that necessary. I hadn’t been brought to this world for that purpose. The only reason I came was to spread my seed, the kind that rejected demons. Stopping the legacy had been Lilith’s mission. Lilith and Mia were already on their way, and whether they succeeded or not, my blood was already spreading across the world. Yet, at that moment, a certain girl’s face flashed in my eyes. It was Charlie.

Although I had only met the girl for a brief time, she had left a deep impression on me. I still didn’t know who she was, or who her counterpart Jenji was. If I didn’t go now, I might never learn. Taking a deep breath, I nodded.

“I do. I have to see this to the end. If I don’t…” I left it there, straightening it back up.

If I didn’t go, I would live the rest of my life with regret. Of course, I wanted to know what happened to Charlie, but it was more than that. Besides Lilith and Mia, who I cared about, there was also an inexplicable drive to be the one who finished this.

“Daddy…” Both girls were crying.

I looked at both of them and then I looked up at everyone else. There was Kemala, Brianna, and Syph. Kemala was sitting at the door, remaining out of the biting cold, while Brianna and Syph were preparing to follow me. They wouldn’t leave me even if I begged them. Brooke would never forgive them if they abandoned me, even on my order. However, as I looked past them, it was almost like I could see everyone else back home too. There were all of my children, all of my lovers, my mother, and her sister, my sisters, and all of my friends.

I let out a sigh and then nodded to myself. “Let’s go.”

I turned around and then grabbed the rope thrown over the edge. Just as I was about to throw my feet over the edge, Angela called out. I looked up, and she tossed me something. I caught it. At first, I thought it was a coin, but as I looked at it, I realized it had an intricate runic pattern carved into it.

“What’s this?” I asked, looking up.

“Just a feeling.” She chuckled. “If you need some rescuing, it will signal me.”

I nodded. Although I could probably create something similar on the fly, there was always a chance that I couldn’t. I threw it in my pocket and then started to slide down the rope carefully. It was somewhat difficult with mittens on, but I did my best to keep from getting rope burn. The girls started to follow me one after another. Rebecca and Ash came first, but they were followed by Syph and Brianna, who were carrying weapons and equipment and thus had to move slower.

Once we were all down in the snow, I took one last look up at the airship before turning and heading off into the icy cold of the mountainsides. Briann pulled out a high-tech-looking device.

“This should locate the coordinates.” She explained, scrambling up to the front of the line and showing me the device in her hand.

It looked like a radar, but it seemed to have a distinctly industrial feel to it. I took it from her, and she showed me how it worked. I could see it worked like a compass. An object lit up in a certain direction every time the green light cycled around screen. That was the location we needed to head to. However, saying that was easier than doing it.

We walked for some time. The expanse of white seemed almost infinite. I couldn't help but imagine the story of the founder of Zoskar. How desperate would she have been to run off into these mountains without any certainty. Even I, knowing where the demon castle was thanks to the radar device, saw how daunting the task was. I felt a bit of respect for her. It was too bad her descendants ended up being intolerable.

The walk was slow and tedious. It didn't take long for the landscape to get rough and hard to navigate. There were hills and rocks to climb over, and snowdrifts to wade through. I could hear the women grunting and panting behind me as we went but I was probably making just as many noises. At first, I had been hoping to reach it in a single push, but didn't it take the Zoskar lady weeks to find the demon castle and return? Would this journey be weeks? How could Lilith and Mia even survive?

They'll be fine. They have magic.

As soon as I thought that, I realized that it was pretty much the same for me. I turned back to the girls, calling them to stop. Even though two of them were former demons and two were bodyguards, they couldn't help but let out sighs of relief when I finally called for a break. We had been walking for nearly four hours straight on an icy incline.

The girls didn't waste any time digging out the snow until they reached the ground and then ignited a fire. With the help of magic, they had a camp prepared in only minutes. Despite my foolish plan, Brianna and Syph had thankfully brought camping stuff. With the fire warming our hands, I was finally able to get my brain working. After resting for a few minutes, I stood up and removed my glove. I started drawing in the snow with my finger.

"What is he doing?" Brianna asked.

"Shh! Can't you see he's calculating a spell?" Syph hushed her.

Despite Ash and Rebecca still having lingering memories of their lives as demons and a fairy comprehensive spell-casting ability, especially from Rebecca, they both seemed content to remain near the fire and watch as I planned out a new spell. When I was finally done, I stepped back and admired my work.

Finally, one of the girls, Ash, spoke up with a subtle grin on her face. "What does it do?"

"Glad you asked!" I responded like I had been waiting for such a question, causing some of the girls to snicker. "I realized that just because an airship can't move through this terrain doesn't mean there is no way to travel. Although it would have been best if we brought the ideal equipment, magic can substitute for what we lack. We might as well take advantage of the terrain. Cast!"

As soon as I finished my explanation, I put out my hand and started to spread magic into the form of the rune. The snow began to rumble and melt as the flowing magic increased the heat of the area. There was a reason snow wasn't typically used as a medium for magical spells. However, I didn't need the outline. After doing the calculations, I could already perfectly put the spell in my mind.

As it completed, a sled began to rise from the ground as if it was being summoned. Although it looked to be made of wood, that was only a surface-level appearance. I couldn't create matter, so what I did was pull the carbon out of the ground and use it as the material. If anything, it was more like a 3D-printed sled. It was a single piece with no joints, and probably didn't have the same strength as a real one and wouldn't hold up. Thankfully, we only needed to use it once.

"Let's get on." I gestured to the girls.

They put out the campfire and then packed up and joined me in the sled. The sled had just enough space to fit all of us, although the girls needed to be pretty close to me. I put my arms around a girl on each side and then grabbed the reigns.

"Who's going to pull it, smart guy?" Syph asked, pressing her large chest against my back from behind.

I smirked, lifting the reigns and snapping them. Suddenly, in front of us, a dozen wolves seemed to emerge from the snow. The girls let out cries of surprise as they moved forward, causing the sled to burst into motion. I wore a satisfied smirk as they grew flustered and clung to me. They had been humoring me before, but this time I had genuinely surprised them.

That said, other than Brianna, they all had sharp enough eyes to see the wolves were stark white and a close look showed they were slightly transparent. In other words, they were spectral beasts. It was a complex type of summoning, and what I had to spend the majority of my calculations on. The spectral wolves pulled as they ran, causing the sled to move faster and faster. Soon, we were heading across the mountains at an incredible rate.

"Where did they come from?!" Brianna exclaimed, looking at me with her mouth agape.

Syph quickly whispered to her, explaining the nature of the spell, but Brianna still looked dumbfounded. However, as we progressed, the once daunting path started to look quite beautiful. I could feel the girls snuggling up closer, although whether that was to get comfortable or to remain warm, it was hard to say.

"Don't get too comfortable," I said, looking at the wolves. "These guys won't last long."

Spectral beings were composed of magic. They weren't powerful and were only as strong as the master feeding them. I didn't want to use my mana to exhaustion in case I needed it later, and besides making so many of them at once was quite taxing, not to mention they were currently exerting effort by pulling the sled. In short, it wasn't that much less tiring for me, even if the girls did get a break, but I didn't mention that part out loud.

We continued for about thirty minutes, but the spectral wolves continued to fade the longer we went. As they finally disappeared, the sled continued, rumbling over its reigns before coming to a stop. It was a shame it couldn't last longer, but we had to have traveled at least a day’s journey in those thirty minutes.

"Do you want to rest and then we can do it again?" Brianna asked hopefully.

Before I could answer her, Syph called out. "Wait, I can see it."

She had a pair of binoculars she was using. I borrowed them from her and then looked in the direction Syph had been gazing. There was mist blocking some of my vision, but beyond the next mountain, rising out like a looming shadow, appeared to be the tops of a gothic-looking building. This architecture was very familiar to me. It was the same as the previous two demon castles I had encountered.

In other words, we had located it, the Demon King's castle. The five of us exchanged glances and then continued the walk. Although we could see the castle in reach, it was still quite a distance away. As we drew closer, my steps became more assured. If anything, I became certain I had taken this path before. I truly had, in my dream. It took until the day broke for us to finally come upon the valley overlooking the Demon King's castle. I half expected to see Lilith and Mia approaching from the side like I had seen in my dream. However, they weren't there.

"Footprints!" Brianna pointed, having come in possession of the binoculars earlier after bugging Syph enough.

That meant that Lilith and Mia had already arrived at the castle. Even after I had taken an airship and the sled, they had somehow gotten here first. Of course, there was another possibility. Someone else had arrived first.