Page | 13 “Oh, I see.” When the behemoth died, bugs swarmed to it. Then they began to reproduce and create nests. Over the course of many years, those insects began to die, the nests began to mutate, and thus the labyrinths were born. So that’s how it happened, I thought. The bit about eating strong monsters and giving birth to powerful offspring, though… That had to be a folktale, no more believable than the tales of how eating a mermaid’s flesh would give you immortality. If it were true, then the people of the Demon Continent, who consumed monster meat on a daily basis, should have been much stronger than they were. Monsters might be a special exception to the rule, but I didn’t buy it. Wait. Actually, could this explain the higher rate of strong people, such as Badigadi and Kishirika, being born there? Monsters themselves were just mutated versions of normal animals. It would make a certain amount of sense if people could also give birth to such mutants… Oh, crap. I’d eaten quite a bit of monster meat myself. What would I going to do if my child with Sylphie was born and suddenly declared, “I am the Emperor of the Demon World!”? I might find sudden kinship with the birds who hatched their eggs only to find a cuckoo’s offspring hidden amongst them. “Adventurers and merchants from all over the world gather here,” Galban continued to monologue. Magic items were churned out in droves. Magical implements and armor flew off the shelves. No matter how many magical crystals—otherwise known as magic stones—or magically imbued crystals you had, there were never enough. As long as your stock was of a certain quality, you could be assured it would all sell at high prices. This was a land where merchants’ dreams came true.