Salamander Furnace (2)

After encountering the fire spirit salamander in the half-dwarf’s workshop, I quickly grasped the gist of what had been happening.

Recently, to be precise, about a month ago, the mana in the atmosphere began to gradually decrease, and two weeks ago, it completely dried up.

Along with that, the wind and light spirits that had been floating around in the atmosphere also disappeared.

And this salamander explained that it had jumped out when it caught the scent of mana flowing from my body, as it was on the verge of disappearing with only the faint mana left in the furnace.

That much explanation was enough to guess what was happening in this village.

‘Is it a wide-area mana drain spell…?’

Based solely on what this spirit said, that seemed the most likely possibility.

Moreover, through the salamander’s explanation, I could also understand why the villagers had looked so exhausted.

‘There’s no natural mana in the atmosphere. It’s only natural they’d look like that.’

One might mistakenly think that in a world where only nobles can use magic, commoners or animals don’t have mana flowing through them, but that wasn’t actually the case in this world.

Basically, all humans have mana flowing through their bodies. Of course, the maximum mana capacity of commoners is negligible compared to most nobles, but the important thing is that it flows at all.

And the humans in this world have a constitution where they constantly circulate the mana generated in their bodies and the natural mana in the environment to maintain vitality.

With no mana in the atmosphere now, it was only natural for everyone in the village to look utterly exhausted.

Without the mana they usually absorb from nature, they could only continuously produce and release their own mana, so ordinary people would naturally run out of energy quickly. In my case, since I generate more mana than I lose, it didn’t affect me.

And dwarves, by nature, are less affected by mana fluctuations, so they’d be relatively fine. Even a half-dwarf would still inherit half of those traits.

‘But… why did Ethan suddenly become gloomy as soon as we entered the village?’

He’s a noble, so his mana capacity is higher than that of ordinary humans. He shouldn’t be the type to slump over just from this kind of environment.

I guess I’ll have to look into that separately later.

Anyway, gathering mana from the atmosphere isn’t a skill ordinary humans can use. Normally, it’s a type of magic only demons or spirits closely related to mana can use.

However, spirits generally don’t descend into human society to cause harm, and among spirits, only a spirit king-level entity would be capable of absorbing mana on the scale of an entire village.

It’s unlikely such a being would descend upon a small village like this, so it’s reasonable to assume it’s a demon.

And not just any demon-one of considerable rank.

“……”

As soon as the idea of a high-ranking demon being involved crossed my mind, my internal danger sensor went off.

A gut feeling told me that further involvement here wouldn’t end well, so I bid farewell to the salamander.

“I’ve heard enough, Salamander-nim.”

‘Do you know what’s going on? Can you help?’

“Yes. I’ve roughly figured out the cause.”

‘Yay! So you’ll help?! If you follow the faint flow of mana, it’s probably gathering somewhere on the other side of this mountain…’

“Young Master Ethan, I think it would be best to return to Blackwood Manor as soon as possible. Something suspicious seems to be happening around here.”

Like I said before, I didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters.

Defeat a demon dangerous enough to drain an entire village’s mana and relieve people of their inexplicable fatigue?

That’s clearly a hero’s job. Not something a mere maid should eagerly volunteer for.

‘Why, whyyy?! You’re not going to help?!’

“What’s wrong, Lillith? Did the spirit say something dangerous?”

“Yes. The salamander said it might be dangerous to stay here, so we should leave the village immediately.”

‘I didn’t say that! Why are you lying?! Why are you just leaving?! Whyyy?!’

“The disappearance of all the mana in the village is undoubtedly a sign of an anomaly. It’s not something we can recklessly intervene in. We don’t even know the source of this phenomenon.”

‘Liiiar!! I told you it’s on the other side of the mountain~! The mana is flowing that way~! Help me, please~!’

Ugh, so noisy, seriously.

No matter how much you cling to me and beg, it’s no use. I’m not the kind of person to risk my life in battle for someone-no, some spirit-I just met today.

Honestly, even saving Liz, who almost died in the original story, was more of a whim, and it was closely tied to my own survival.

I only intervened because it bothered me that someone I knew from the game might die. If it had been some other noble lady I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have gotten involved.

And now you’re asking me to risk my life for a spirit? A being that will resurrect in a few decades even if it disappears?

No matter how I look at it, there’s no justification or reason for me to intervene. On the contrary, there are plenty of excuses to run away.

‘Humans are mean! I told you everything thinking you’d help! Traitor! Liar!’

“If I saved you from disappearing by feeding you mana, you should at least be grateful instead of clinging to me like this…”

“…Lillith? What are you whispering about with the spirit?”

“…Nothing, Young Master Ethan. It seems this spirit-nim likes my mana and doesn’t want to let go.”

‘I didn’t say that! Though your mana does taste good!’

I brushed off Ethan’s question about my conversation with the salamander.

Just as I was forcibly prying the salamander off my arm and trying to shove it back into the furnace, the half-dwarf blacksmith’s voice reached me.

“Didn’t you say you figured out the cause just now?”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s already been two weeks since the furnace stopped working properly. In just a month, it’ll be harvest season, when farming tools are in high demand. Though our village is small and I’m the only half-dwarf here, this place is like a second home to me.”

“Ah, yes…”

“If you can fix it, I’ll forge you a sword first. From the blisters on your fingers, it seems you mainly use daggers.”

“……”

“If you know the cause, you must know how to solve it, right? Or is it something beyond your abilities?”

…Ugh, seriously.

Why is this guy suddenly pouring out his heart like this?

Looking at me like that makes me feel like the bad guy.

Of course, a dagger forged by a dwarf blacksmith isn’t something you can easily get, and if this were the game, I wouldn’t have hesitated to accept the quest. But in a situation where I might have to risk my life, thoughtlessly accepting the task would be incredibly foolish.

Especially since, unlike in-game quests where you can accept them and complete them at your leisure, quests in reality come with time constraints in many ways.

Accepting this suspicious offer would feel like entering a binding contract… or so I thought, but…

‘Me, me too! I’ll help make the sword!’

“…Huh?”

‘H-humans like it when we bless their weapons, right?! I’ll add my blessing to that dwarf’s weapon too! So please, help me~!’

“……”

A flame spirit’s… blessing…?

On a dagger forged by a dwarf…?

‘Holy… That’s practically epic-grade equipment…’

Even I couldn’t help but hesitate at the half-dwarf and salamander’s offer, and my heart was torn.

Barely suppressing the greed in my heart, I cautiously asked for Ethan’s opinion.

“What do you think, Young Master Ethan?”

“Huh?”

“Do you intend to help this dwarf blacksmith restore the village to normal, despite the potential danger? Or would you prefer to leave this village to avoid facing an unknown threat?”

“…What do you think, Lillith?”

“I will simply follow your decision, Young Master.”

“……”

Ethan stroked his chin thoughtfully after hearing my answer as his exclusive maid.

With not just me but also the half-dwarf and salamander’s eyes fixed on him, Ethan cautiously gave the answer everyone wanted, albeit defensively.

“…For now, just investigating.”

“Pardon?”

“Let’s first investigate the cause, and only if it’s something we can handle will we solve it. If it’s beyond us, we’ll retreat.”

“Understood. If that is your decision, I will follow it.”

‘You’re helping?! Really?!’

“So you’ll cooperate?”

“First, we’ll investigate the cause. Whether we can solve it or not will be decided after we understand the problem.”

“…Alright, understood.”

‘Yesss~!’

This event might be a bit dangerous for just Ethan and me to investigate alone, but…

Turning down epic-grade equipment without a second thought was just too tempting to pass up.