Kiel's team was assigned the southern streak of light.
After getting out of Merle's Tam-Tam Mode Eagle, they mounted on summons and moved that way.
Merus took the lead, and Kurena and Kiel rode on a single Bird B summon, to economize on summon slots.
Merus was with them, so there was no need for a Wraith A summon to accompany them and relay messages.
The southern side was quite a distance away from the Holy Land, unlike the eastern and western sides, so whoever lived there probably did not expect help to come at all.
The Insect A summons continued using Spawn and Coronation while they traveled, increasing their numbers.
Two days later, they still could not see the end of the streak of light, and their trip started to feel endless.
"Are we still not there yet?"
Kurena would repeat that same phrase every few hours.
Behind him, Kiel would always reply saying "Not yet."
Some time later Merus stopped in front of them.
'Let's rest here.'
Merus noticed the sun was about to set, so he told the other two to set up camp there.
"Okay."
"Understood, First Angel."
They had traveled for two days already, but the streak of light appeared to be endless.
Kiel's team landed on a grassy plateau as the sky began to darken.
The surrounding scenery looked really pretty.
Merus silently held his hand in front of him.
Then a pitch black mass appeared in front of, and firewood fell from it.
That was Merus' special skill [Angel's Ring], which allowed him to use Allen's Inventory.
Allen had allowed his Angel's Ring to have the highest Administrator authority possible.
That meant Allen's Grimoire's Inventory and its contents were linked, allowing him to take out a variety of items at random just like Allen.
It was also possible for Allen and Merus to exchange items through the Inventory.
Using Bird A's [Nest Transfer] Allen and Merus could go to each other's place at any moment, making that more useful than passing items through the Inventory, so that ability was almost like a solution looking for a problem.
Allen was still investigating other ways to deliver valuable items from one place to another.
Kiel put down the bags with all sorts of medicines Allen made with his summons and joined Kurena in setting up camp.
The reason why they had those bags even though Merus was with them, was because Merus would vanish if he was defeated.
Or Merus could also end up going somewhere without Kurena and Kiel, so they would need a different source of healing items.
There were probably not many people living in those areas, if none at all, but Allen insisted on them carrying those bags, just in case.
"Alright, I'll light the fire and... What happened, Kurena?"
"Shhh!"
"?"
They had all gotten used to camping outside since their time in the Academy.
The chores in their base were already divided between each member, and the same happened when camping inside dungeons, everyone helped with something.
Merus was holding a 30cm long rough-looking rock, ready to strike it and make fire, when Kurena looked alert at something moving in the grass.
He wanted to ask what had happened, but Kiel gestured to keep silent.
The wilderness was usually inhabited by monsters, and they had traveled south chasing after Pagan Worshippers.
He stood completely still wondering what was there, and Kurena slowly reached for the knife she had fastened to her belt.
She seemed to grin for an instant before she leapt forward with the knife in her hand.
She ran towards a small mount of dirt that stood out from the grass, and stabbed at something.
'Squeeee!'
There was a shrill squeal.
"Heheh, gotcha little guy! You'll be tonight's dinner!!"
"O-ohh..."
Kurena smiled happily, holding onto the horn of a Horned Rabbit, which had just expired and blood dripped from its slit throat.
Kurena skillfully butchered the Horned Rabbit, then used a branch that had come out of Merus' Inventory earlier and formed simple meat skewers which she placed onto the fire.
"It smells so goood, heheheh."
Kurena had started developing a more femenine side after she turned 15, but in the end she still was the same wild girl from the countryside. Kiel kept those thoughts to himself though, not daring to mention them.
Even with Sophie nearby, Kurena's primal nature did not vanish.
On the other hand, while Cecile constantly kept Allen on check, she did not behave too much like a noble either.
"You may light the fire now, First Angel."
'Alright. Also, I told you before but you can just call me Merus, there's no need for so much formality.'
Merus would sometimes insist on being treated as simply another summon, instead of as the First Angel.
"It's a lifelong habit as a priest, but got it, I'll try to stop that."
Merus looked rather uncomfortable, so Kiel decided to accept his wishes.
He really seemed to dislike that title.
Maybe it was something Merus did not like to think about.
Kiel had been an apprentice priest of Elmea's Church.
Usually the ones that spoke with Merus the most were Allen, Kurena, and Dogora.
Kurena and Dogora had been born and raised in Kurena Village, without much knowledge of manners in general, so even when they heard Merus was the First Angel, they just said "I see" and gave it little importance.
Next were Merle and Sophie.
Sophie already referred to Allen as Master, so she also used the same prefix for Merus.
He did not seem to really mind that when it came from Sophie.
Sophie had a rather resolute personality, which sometimes bordered on stubbornness.
Kiel had been told directly to stop referring to him as First Angel, so Kiel decided to refer to him more casually.
'At this rate, we should reach the southern shores sometime tomorrow. It's not that big of a continent after all.'
"I see. I wonder what the southern side is like. It doesn't seem to be a desert like on Sophie's side."
Kiel warmed up some Hukama and other food on the fire and spoke about the next day.
He had been appointed as Team Leader, so he wanted to know what he was going to be against the next day.
They had been traveling for two days already, but Merus had informed them that Sophie's team was already in Fabraze, the dark elves' village in the desert.
The Wraith A summon that went with Sophie relayed information to Allen and Merus after all.
If a summon was Shared, it was possible for both Allen and Merus to see and hear what the summon experienced.
But if Allen was the only one activating Sharing, that did not automatically extend it to Merus.
At the same time, when Merus used Sharing, Allen would not see it right away either.
Both had to activate Sharing on a specific summon if they wanted that to work.
To use Sharing on one summon, Merus needed 200 points of Intelligence, just like Allen. After various buffs, Merus' Intelligence reached 22000, meaning he could use Sharing on 110 summons.
Because of that, Merus had already used Sharing on all the summons currently summoned.
'If I remember correctly the countries around here are called Carvaluna or Carvalonea or something like that.'
"Nomnom which one is it though? And Kiel, your meat is gonna get burned. Take it."
Kurena joined the conversation asking if it was Carvaluna or Carvalonea, her cheeks filled with freshly roasted Horned Rabbit.
At the same time, she picked up Kiel's skewer and held it out for him.
"Thanks Kurena. And Carvaluna and Carvalonea? Aren't they two countries?"
Kiel took the meat from Kurena and began eating, while he also voiced a similar question.
Kiel was eating meat. Elmea's Church had no specific rules against eating meat, so even though Kiel was an apprentice priest, there was nothing stopping him.
He also could drink alcohol.
His teachings just stopped him from eating excessively, but not the foods themselves.
Because of that, priests could eat meat and get drunk as well.
'Actually it's both. I seem to remember there were two countries to the south, called Carvaluna and Carvalonea, which don't get along at all.'
Apparently there were two countries on the southern extreme of the Confederation which did not get along.
"Hmpfhhompf."
Kurena decided to focus only on eating.
"Somehow I feel like things will get complicated again soon."
Kiel had heard that the day before, Sophie had gotten into a little bit of trouble with King Arbus of the dark elves, while trying to get a map of the desert.
'I remember now. It was originally just one country called Carvaluna, but it split in two. That split happened around a decade ago.'
They were heading towards two countries that had split up not too long ago.
Kiel stared at the flames in front of him while thinking about the next day, and how they would likely have to deal with some big issues as well.
