Nemu and Trewy were on their way to the road that led from Tempest to the Sorcerer Kingdom Sarion. The road was not finished. Actually, it wasn't even half finished, but with the frightening speed of the orcs who could build several kilometers of road a day, it wouldn't take much longer. Maybe a few months. They didn't even have to wait for more supplies. The organization was close to perfect and since the entire supply chain were named and evolved monsters there wasn't a building team in this world that was even close to them. But there was one place that would definitely stop them. Removing trees wasn't much of a problem. All of them had evolved into high orcs after they got a name. 

Physically they were strong and sturdy, surpassed only by their endurance. But the place that would keep them from moving quickly were the Kusha Mountains. A mountain range that separated Tempest and the Sorcerer Kingdom. What they would have to do was dig tunnels. Obviously, it was easier to remove a few trees on the surface than to dig a stable tunnel through an entire mountain range.

However, for Trewy and Nemu the place was interesting. On their whole journey so far they had only been in the forest. Although they had been on their journey for over a month by now. Even before Nemu reached Tempest, he never left the forest. They both had never seen a mountain or even a mountain range. Unfortunately, neither of them could climb well. For Nemu it was already annoying to climb stairs, his climbing skills were lacking even more. The same was true for Trewy and also her sisters. Dryads were not born to climb, so even though the mountains were part of the Jura Forest, the dryads avoided the area.

So even though it was close to the route Nemu had planned, they had decided not to visit the area for the time being. However, they will definitely do it someday. Why? Because nobody knew what was at the top of the Kusha Mountains. And of course, this aroused Nemu's adventurous spirit. The unknown was his territory! There were still many places that were almost undiscovered. The Barren Lands, Dragons Peak, the Frozen Continent, large parts of the Jura Forest and many more places. Legends said that there were even hidden civilizations in the deepest ocean. The perfect time for adventurers! 

Rimuru had once told him that there were no more unknown places in his world. Every place on his planet was already populated by people, the highest mountains climbed, the deepest oceans visited and even on the moon were already people. Would he ever get to the moon? Was there anything up there at all? Nemu was not sure. The time of adventurers in Rimuru's world was over. However, Nemu was happy that in his world there were still many unvisited places. Anything else would be boring, right?

A day before they were to hit the road, they arrived at the edge of the mountain range. No matter how high they looked, they couldn't make out the peaks. And these were only the comparatively small mountains at the edge of the range. The highest mountains were much bigger and not even visible from the outside. Some of them were even higher than the clouds. Nemu really wanted to know if anyone lived up there. It was quite possible. In this world, creatures lived in the most unreal places.

For many people, the mountains might look boring. But imagine this. Every place you ever entered was surrounded by trees. Of course, there were big seas and rivers, but even there you could see the trees on the other bank. And then you come to a place where there is nothing but mountains in front of you. Not a single tree. That makes even rocks interesting. 

"I'd really like to climb up there." Said Nemu after looking at the mountains wordlessly for some time. 

"I know. Me too." Said Trewy who had the same thought. Well, dryads were avoiding this place. But not all dryads were the same. Trewy was different. An unknown place that even belonged to the Jura Forest? She had to see it! But it was not the right time. Still, for the first time she had the feeling that they might be missing something. She was very much looking forward to Tempest, but this joy she forgot now for the first time in days. 

There were other reasons for her to return. Not only did she want to see Tempest, she also wanted to get stronger. Nemu and Trewy were in agreement. They had run into many situations they could not have solved themselves. And they didn't want to do that again. Trewy thought about making a list too! Like Nemu! And climbing the Kusha Mountains would definitely be on it. But getting stronger was the priority at the moment. And visiting Tempest was also high on her list.

They would continue along the edge of the mountains until they were near the road. The high mountains brought cold air to the ground. Nemu couldn't even be bothered, as long as it wasn't harmful to his body, the cold didn't affect him. However, for Trewy it was slightly uncomfortable, but bearable. 

Nemu thought about his new skill. Slime Pocket. Would it also absorb the cold if it was harmful to him? He was unsure, since the cold air was already so cold down here, that the cold on the mountains themselves could be harmful to his body. Or was he already completely immune to cold because of his slime body? There was probably ice magic that could be harmful to him, but whether the weather would harm him, he didn't know. Well, eventually he would find out. But all in good time. And he had time.

From time to time they heard a loud rumbling coming from the mountain. They didn't know if it was just stone falls or if monsters were fighting there. There were reports that there were ice golems even on the edges of the mountains. Monsters even Dryads were aware of. Another reason why dryads avoided this area. They were not afraid. But the monsters on the mountain could protect themselves, which made their job as protectors of the forest obsolete.

After a while they heard a big boom from the mountains. The echo of the sound resounded through the mountains for a long time, so it could have come from very far away. So Nemu and Trewy were not very worried. However, they both stopped and looked up at the mountains. Trewy took a short glance at Nemu. If there was something near them, he would be able to sense it, but being aware of Trewys’ glance, Nemu shook his slimy body. There was nothing close.

"You know, there are reports of some brave adventurers who ventured into these outer areas of the Kusha Mountains. They had reported that they had seen ice golems fighting there. All of them left the mountains immediately because they were afraid." Nemu said and paused, still looking into the mountains because they heard another rumbling. Only after it was quiet again did he continue speaking. "But that's not the interesting part, some of them returned years later, thinking they might find something valuable there if they avoided the ice golems. But when they reached the place again, two ice golems were fighting there again. It could just be coincidence and they were different, but as they watched for a while they noticed that each injury healed almost immediately. So they assumed it was the same ice golems, still involved in the same fight after many years."

Trewy swallowed. Her eyes were still fixed on the mountains. The Jura Forest was considered one of the most dangerous places in the world. For Trewy and Nemu it wasnt that dangerous because they were fully adapted to it. However, for adventurer groups that were not experienced and they had not proven themselves many times, they wouldn't even get a mission close to the forest if they were part of the adventurer guild. But it seems like there were places in the world that were far more dangerous.

"I don't want to go there anymore." Trewy said and sighed in resignation.

"Me too." Nemu agreed. He still wanted to visit that place, but as they were now, it would be close to suicide. If monsters at the edge of the mountains were so strong, what dangers awaited them on the highest mountains?

The tunnel that was built would be a blessing. It had to take weeks to bypass the mountains and still be a dangerous journey. But if they built a tunnel.... they could easily bypass all those dangers. Nemu respects Rimuru even more now. This was a plan only he could implement. No one had an army of high orcs capable of such a thing. Even this project would change the world because it would allow trade between nations that had rarely contact with each other before. Not only would Tempest and Sarion be connected, but the Sorcerer Kingdom would be able to visit other countries like Dwargon much more easily. The tunnel and roads would shorten the journey by months.

They continued walking along the mountain range. They still often heard loud noises coming from between the mountains, but it never came close to them, nor were they so worried. Only the night was exhausting. They had their tent that protected them from monster attacks, but if big stones fell on it.... Well, they decided to go back to the forest, at least for the night. Ironic that Nemu and Trewy sought shelter in one of the most dangerous places.

This time, it was finally no problem to find the place they wanted to go to. Nemu could not get lost with the help of Guide. His maps were always completely accurate. And also the road was exactly where it should be. When they thought back to the slime cave and the rabbit village.... They were really happy about not having to search this time.

Just before they got to the road, they were spotted. The road and the construction party were protected by the goblin riders. The high orcs were strong without question, but they were there primarily to build the road and wore no armor, only their weapons were always with them. So to protect them from monsters, the goblin riders were responsible for keeping the area clear. Obviously, Nemu sensed them long before they were sighted. So they just waited patiently. That a friendly group would emerge from an almost unknown part of the forest should be rather rare.

The goblin riders sat on their wolves. Before they saw Trewy and Nemu, they had drawn their weapons. Ready to attack. Aside from being goblins, they were strong. They had all evolved into Hobgoblins, and despite their rather weak appearance, they were capable of fighting most of the monsters in the Jura Forest. An impetuous attack could be dangerous even for Nemu and Trewy. Especially if one of the leaders of the goblin riders like Gobtu was present, who was able to defeat monsters that even experienced adventuring groups had trouble with easily.

But... they were all well trained, so they didn't just attack mindlessly. When they saw who was part of the group, they immediately put away their weapons. But then they stared at the strange duo. A red slime and a young dryad. From the outside, there were many strange things in Tempest, but even for the inhabitants of Tempest, Nemu and Trewy were something... Special. There was silence as they looked at each other. 

"Um... Hello?'' said one of the goblin riders. He was standing in front of three other goblin riders, probably the leader of them. Obviously, he was talking to Trewy. The people around Rimuru were used to a talking slime by now, but Tempest was a big country, and most people probably hadn't even spoken to Rimuru more than once. Nemu knew that Rimuru named them, all goblin riders were named by Rimuru, so they had to talk to each other, at least once, but they weren't used to talking to slime anyways. So they assumed that Nemu couldn't speak.

"Hi." Trewy smiled and waved her right hand in greeting. Was she enjoying the situation? "I'm Trewy and he's Nemu. We're on our way to Tempest."