"Boss Yano, are you really not coming back with us?"
At the entrance to the swamp forest, a four-person adventurer team stood by their carriage, their gazes fixed on the figure disappearing deep into the swamp.
Yano waved without looking back, uttering what he thought was a cool line.
"Kids, head back. The swamp is nothing to me."
His figure gradually vanished beneath the tree shadows, leaving the adventurer team sighing with admiration.
"Truly worthy of being 'Miracle' Yano, the man who became my boss."
"I heard Boss Yano previously attended knight training camp. Those training grounds were either deep mountains and old forests or dangerous mana environments. A mere swamp is as easy for him as going home."
"This is the composure of a veteran adventurer."
...
To be honest, after each needle-pricking ritual, although his back would burn with pain, his body felt progressively lighter each time.
It was like shedding dozens of pounds of stones from his body, a sensation he couldn't get enough of.
Yano had to admit that he seemed to have become addicted to the pricking.
As he trekked through the forest path, his gaze lingered around the swamp, where suddenly erected ruins stood like giant dark shadows quietly resting in the dim swamp, seemingly waiting for adventurers to discover the treasures hidden within.
"There really are ruins."
Yano couldn't help but stare a bit longer at those pitch-black ruins.
When the Boss first told him to return to Ironboot Town to distribute information about the swamp ruins, he had been quite skeptical.
After all, he had traversed this swamp several times. There were settlements left by lizardfolk, but he had genuinely never seen any swamp ruins before.
In the past, the swamp outskirts were so barren that adventurers couldn't be bothered to glance at them.
How could such earth-shaking changes happen after just a few days away?
Is this the power of demons?
To actually affect reality, projecting hell's ruins into the real world.
Truly terrifying.
Yano shook his head, trying to dispel the distracting thoughts.
So what?
Thanks to the Boss's gifts, he had already earned enough inheritance to leave for Lola and the children.
Even if the Boss now wanted him to sacrifice his life, he would do so willingly.
His life was already stone-bound anyway. Without the Boss, he would have long collapsed in the filthy, decaying swamp, sinking into the pitch-black, bottomless mud like a giant rock.
Without the family's breadwinner and spendable inheritance, it was hard to imagine how much hardship Lola would endure raising Emily and Little Arno alone, suffering from disdain and bullying.
Nothing could be worse than that.
Now, each passing day was better than the last.
He was already quite satisfied.
Of course, compared to the seemingly harmless slime demon, he hated the petrification curse inside him more, not wanting to coexist with it for even a second.
Thinking this, his pace unconsciously quickened.
Soon, however, he encountered a slime leisurely making its way along the forest path.
At first, he wasn't sure.
Until the slime turned to look at him, then was lifted by tree roots raising its round body, dropping into his arms.
"Perfect timing, take me back to the castle."
Chen Yu lazily bubbled. The forest path was so long that he had nearly fallen asleep traveling it.
The swamp territory was still too vast. Perhaps he should consider practicing an escape technique or catching a swamp puppy to use as a mount.
That could wait for later.
Coincidentally, Yano had returned. With a human-shaped mount available, he could summon the castle guard within the day to investigate the Death Swamp situation.
"Okay, Boss."
Yano didn't dare delay, his pace unconsciously quickening again.
If the adventurers who just left could see "Miracle" Yano being so respectful to a slime, their jaws would probably drop in shock.
"By the way, Boss, where is this castle you mentioned?"
"Haven't you been there before? It's at the end of the forest path."
"End of the forest path?"
Yano hesitated to speak. There was indeed a demon territory at the end of the forest path, but that primitive oak land could hardly be called a castle...
Never mind.
If the Boss says it is, then it is.
He gradually broke into a run, reaching the end of the forest path shortly after, only slightly out of breath.
"See... seems the physique trained at knight camp hasn't been lost..."
Of course, if not for this curse-like petrification having faded significantly, forget about running freely, even moving like a normal person would be difficult.
"Come in."
Chen Yu jumped out of Yano's arms, hopping into the mist.
Yano couldn't help but reach forward to feel around. This thick fog seemed alive, churning with his movements.
Every attempt to penetrate deeper gave him a suffocating feeling of being devoured alive by an invisible giant beast, falling into a cold stomach sac, making him shudder.
Before, he would likely have gotten lost here, going in circles, unable to enter no matter what.
But this time, with the territory owner's permission, his arm passed through the mist without any obstruction.
Yano entered the Oak Territory.
A dark shadow suddenly enlarged in his vision. As the mist receded like a tide, a towering, completely black city wall appeared before him.
Looking up, the familiar tall oak tree from his memory had also changed, tightly wrapped in dark vines and wooden staircases, becoming a tall swamp watchtower.
"Huh?!"
There really is a castle!
Yano felt like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world, his eyes widening in astonishment.
Anyone unaware would think he had been away from the swamp for ages, but he had only left for three days.
In just three short days, how had they even managed to build a castle?
Is this the mighty power of demons?
He didn't understand it, but he was greatly shocked.
"Rumble..."
As Chen Yu approached, the heavy oak gate was pulled down by vines.
Yano followed dazedly behind, his view suddenly opening up.
The former simple stone camp... had disappeared.
In its place was a camp with several tents arranged around a fire pit.
These tents weren't made of canvas or leather, but woven and entwined from thick vines, cleverly braided around sturdy tree trunks.
They were arranged in an orderly fashion around the camp. If not for this being demon territory, it would look like a camp left behind by some adventurer team.
Further away, rows of burrowing beetles with shells resembling rough rocks stood in exceptionally neat formation, creating a sizable square formation.
The "training instructors" standing on a protruding tree root before them were unmistakably several poison-stinger wasps, their wings vibrating at high frequency, emitting low buzzing sounds.
Their slender stingers glinted in the light as they conducted some kind of training over the beetle formation with an undeniable authority.
Even if these magical creatures were replaced by humans, and this place was considered a fortress garrisoned by knights, there would be no sense of incongruity.
If he had seen this scene before, Yano would have thought himself insane. As for now...
He could only say, better get used to it.