episode_0079

In the land without an owner, the bodies of demons piled up.

Mireia, even in the land without an owner, brought Cain to a place close to the demon realm, deliberately blocked by a large cliff.

Cain wanted to escape from this crazy woman, but there was no way out in the place she had chosen.

The only exit was blocked by Mireia.

And that exit was also the entrance through which demons from the demon realm came to kill the hero.

Mireia, preventing Cain from running away and drawing her own longsword, sat in front of it and waited endlessly for the attacks of demons and monsters.

And when the monsters aiming for the hero Cain appeared, she picked up the sword in front of her and swiftly cut down the monsters.

At first, the number of incoming monsters was small, but the news that a hero was waiting here in the demon realm was spreading.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to die with me here? That crazy woman…”

“…”

In this situation where the position of the hero was useless, Cain was powerless.

He felt like a piece of meat thrown to lure wild beasts.

Even with the Holy Sword, even with the power of a hero, Cain, who had strayed from the path of a hero, could not stop Mireia.

Mireia was waiting.

For the enemy of her homeland, and the enemy of Yunoa, Bloodstain, to come back.

If she brought the hero here, he would definitely lead the monsters back.

The frequency of monster attacks was increasing.

The hero was truly a good bait.

Just by making his presence known in this land without an owner, the monsters came looking for him without moving.

The bodies of the monsters that Mireia had killed were piling up at the entrance in a gruesome sight.

As time passed, the smell of blood and decay vibrated, but they paid no attention.

Cain watched Mireia from behind as she did this.

No matter how strong Mireia was, they were better off together.

Right now, only random monsters were coming, but it was too obvious that the Lord-level demons directly under the demon king would attack with proper preparation.

In that case, neither Mireia nor Cain could endure.

Cain felt pushed into a corner where he had to die one way or another, and this situation was incomprehensible to him.

There was no hope of survival if they just stayed still.

So, he thought he had to seize the opportunity to harm Mireia and escape to the capital.

Finding a way to defeat the demon king could be considered later.

Of course, with Cain’s current strength, there was no chance against Mireia.

But what if stronger monsters or demons attacked while she was fighting the monsters?

If a slightly stronger monster or demon attacked, Mireia’s composure would decrease.

Cain tightened his grip on the Holy Sword and decided to wait for an opportunity.

***

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”

In front of Belafork Mansion.

I was thinking about the past while looking at my mansion.

Sharie, who had been sticking to my head, suddenly popped out and looked at the mansion with me.

Since then, the mansion had not been maintained at all, and there were cobwebs everywhere.

The reason I suddenly came here was that a magician who wanted to buy this mansion contacted me.

The buyer introduced by Algot said he would come here today to see the condition of the mansion.

“Hmm… still not here…”

The promised time had passed, but there was no sign of him yet.

Well, he’s coming from far away, so he might be a little late.

He was willing to buy this seemingly haunted mansion for a whopping 5,000 gold, so I could wait as long as I needed.

Meruru safely returned to the guild as a receptionist after completing the request prepared by Algot, which felt like an amusement park ride.

I should meet my sister before the rare energy I found dissipates and turns into melancholy.

Algot also agreed with my opinion and was regularly checking the situation at the demon shelter.

The latest news was that Aruru was adapting well, but it was hard to imagine her losing that hostility she had when she looked at me as if she wanted to kill me.

But the buyers are really late…

Maybe I should clean up the mansion a bit.

I can’t repair it myself, but I can at least clear the debris or trim the grass in the garden as tall as a person.

If it looks tidier on the outside, maybe we can get a better price?

While thinking about that, I suddenly heard a strange sound from above.

Crackle… crackle!

It sounded like electricity arcing in the air.

I looked up and saw a blue light-like current flickering in the empty air.

And then, as if tearing paper, the air split open and suddenly a person’s leg popped out.

“Wh-what the…!”

Upon closer inspection, it was a woman’s leg.

It looked white and soft.

The unidentified woman’s leg popped out of the torn gap in the air, wriggling around as if stuck.

It seemed like something was caught in the gap.

“….”

Crackle! Crackle!

As I watched, the other leg popped out of the gap.

The two white legs crossed in the air, kicking back and forth.

“Yunoa was admiring the two legs of the magician Mariel that appeared in the air.

In this situation, anyone who doesn’t look at a woman’s white legs like this is not of this world.

But Mariel’s situation was more urgent than expected.”

Well, what am I supposed to do when I see that?

Who in the world wouldn’t look at such a sight?

But it seems that the owner of those legs wriggling in the blue gap was the magician who decided to buy the mansion.

Magician Mariel… I heard she’s a weird magician.

What kind of magic did she use? She could have just taken a carriage here.

“Yunoa was leisurely admiring the legs, but in reality, this was a very dangerous situation.

It was the result of an incomplete spatial magic opening a dimensional gap that her body couldn’t fully exit.

If all the magic power used in the spell was exhausted in this state, her body could physically split around the gap as the reference point.”

Wait, so if the magic power is exhausted in that state and the gap closes, she’ll die from being split in half.

Listening to the narration, the legs kicking desperately in the air seemed to be struggling to survive.

I didn’t want to witness a person being split in half, so I decided to help.

Since she seemed stuck in that dimensional gap or whatever, I just needed to grab her legs and pull her out with all my strength.

I grabbed both ankles of the wriggling legs in front of me and pulled downwards with some force.

Crackle… crackle…!

With a loud crack, her body started to come out little by little.

As she came out a bit, her whole body came out at once.

Magician Mariel, completely out of the dimensional gap thanks to my strength, rolled on the ground and dramatically fell.

Thud!

“Cough… cough…! Ah! Thanks for saving me! This magic is indeed quite unstable.”

She got up, dusting off her buttocks, and thanked me in an old man-like manner.

Half of her hair was split into a unique pink and white two-tone, and despite her youthful appearance, she had a very peculiar way of speaking.

“Are you Yunoa? Algot has told me a lot about you. By the way, where is the Panda Mansion located?”

She casually stood in front of me, as if the tremendous event that had just happened had never occurred.

What’s with this strange, nonchalant human with an odd way of speaking?

I’ve heard she’s eccentric, but there’s something unsettling about her.

“Um… You’re Mariel, right?”

“Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! I am Mariel, a wandering magician and magic researcher from the northern city of Arunheim.”

“You came all the way from the northern city?”

The northern city was located at the northern tip of the continent, far beyond the capital city of Pifnel.

I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard people talk about it being a cold region from time to time.

But her attire seems too daring for someone who came from there.

Mariel was dressed in a short outfit that exposed her white legs up to her thighs.

She wore a thin coat with strange symbols engraved on it, giving off a magical vibe, but it was an outfit that looked cold.

“The distance was quite far, so I used teleportation magic to get here in an instant! It may be a bit unstable, but think of the time I saved! Thank you for earlier! I almost had a hard time!”

“That… was almost a near-death experience, wasn’t it?”

“Haha! Don’t worry! I have confidence that no one can defeat me in terms of magic power! Even if I failed a bit, I would have managed to escape after struggling for a couple of days!”

I recalled the image of her struggling with her two legs stuck in the dimensional crevice earlier.

Is it really okay to struggle like that for two days?

“Anyway! Oh! Is that the mansion! It looks so eerie and it seems like a ghost might come out at any moment, which is really intriguing!”

“….”

“The garden seems sturdy enough to withstand most explosions! I like that there are no broken windows! Can I go inside?”

Mariel looked at the mansion as if she was pointing her index finger in the distance, and asked for my permission as if she were listing the mansion’s flaws as if they were advantages.

It’s only been a few minutes since we met, but for some reason, I feel dizzy.

It seems like she genuinely likes my rundown mansion, so I guess the introduction went well.

“Well… do as you please.”

“Great! I might use this place as a magic research lab in the future, so I want to explore every nook and cranny!”

Mariel pointed her index finger at the entrance of the mansion, then walked up and opened the door.