episode_0140

“Go back, we’re not open right now.”

At the innermost blacksmith shop in Grainstone Village, we were greeted by a gruff dwarf as soon as we entered the shop.

“What?”

“We’re not open. Come back another day, or just leave.”

The dwarf artisan gave us a cold response after giving me and Edan a once-over.

At first glance, it seemed like either me or Edan had said something that didn’t sit well with him.

But dwarves who lived among humans in the Black Obsidian Mountain didn’t really have a reason to dislike humans, and besides, Edan had a history of having his current pair of swords forged by him last year.

So, I could conclude in my own way that it wasn’t because he didn’t like me or Edan that he didn’t want to work.

“It’s not a difficult request like last time. This time, we just need a handle for a dagger. If it’s about money, we can pay as much as you want…”

“It’s not about money. We’re not open right now.”

“If it’s not money you want, then…”

“…even if we wanted to make weapons right now, we can’t, sir?”

“…Lilith?”

“If we help you with something, would you be able to make a sword for us, Mr. Dwarf?”

The dwarf looked a bit flustered when he saw me speaking up, and he fixed his gaze on me without saying a word, while Edan followed behind me with a puzzled expression.

I had expected something strange since we entered this town, but it seemed like this was an extra story that corresponded to a ‘quest.’

Of course, I couldn’t possibly know all the extra stories of the Luminaire Academy, so I couldn’t be sure if this was a quest story.

If it really was that kind of event, the best way to solve it would be to resolve it as quickly as possible to deal with our own matters with Edan.

In games, we mostly focused on the main story and didn’t progress much with sub-stories that weren’t centered around the heroine.

It would be reasonable to think that I had stumbled upon one of the hidden quests.

“…Salamander Forge.”

“What?”

“The forge isn’t lit. It’s been like that for two weeks.”

“The forge?”

“It’s up on the mountain in the workshop, follow me.”

With those words, the dwarf opened the shop door and led the way to the workshop on the mountain with a limping gait.

Realizing instinctively that the quest had officially begun, I quickly followed him, and Edan, still wearing a puzzled expression, followed behind me.

***

“This is the forge I mentioned earlier.”

In the workshop where I followed the dwarf, there was clearly a forge that hadn’t been used for several days.

There was no sense of the usual heat or dryness that one would associate with a dwarf’s workshop, just a cold space.

As if to confirm that he hadn’t refused the request because he didn’t want to work, the dwarf pointed outside the workshop and said a few words to me and Edan.

“Now you understand, right? Until the forge returns to normal, even if we wanted to work, we can’t. So come back when it’s back to normal.”

“How long will it take for it to return to normal?”

“How would I know? Probably when the fire spirit trapped in the forge is in a better mood.”

“What?”

“Anyway, just remember that we can’t take your request until it’s back to normal.”

With those words, the dwarf watched as me and Edan left the workshop.

Edan, who had been confused and unable to follow the conversation, was left alone for a moment.

Thinking that I might be able to find out something if I investigated closer, I approached the forge made of iron and brick.

“Does it make any difference if we look closely? I’ve already tried everything I can for the past two weeks.”

“Still, if there were a spirit of the furnace, shouldn’t we ask how to appease it?”

“If that were possible, then I would have…”

-Clang.

As the half-dwarf glared at me as if displeased, he suddenly muttered to himself, and the lid of what appeared to be the fuel inlet of the furnace opened on its own.

Immediately, something red and orange mixed together suddenly sprang out towards me from inside.

-Whoosh!

“Eek?!”

“Lilith!”

Suddenly, something unidentified rushed towards me, but I managed to dodge it, and the bright red object that had sprung out from the furnace’s fuel inlet had disappeared from sight.

Soon, as I shifted my gaze to the faint heat I felt on my right arm, I could see a fist-sized entity clinging to my arm.

‘Magic, it’s magic…! Itchy…!’

“….”

Wait, could this be…?

Suddenly taken aback by the small flame-like entity clinging to my right arm, Edan drew his sword from his waist.

This time, the dwarf, the owner of the workshop, reacted with surprise to Edan’s actions.

“Lilith, stay still! I’ll remove it right away!”

‘Itchy… H-hurts…?!’

“E-Edan, wait a moment!”

“Stop right now! What are you trying to do to the spirit of fire?!”

“S-Spirit?”

While calming the bewildered salamander clinging to my right arm, I managed to calm Edan down.

“Did you say spirit?”

“Do you not know that the forges of dwarves are inhabited by spirits of fire that fuel the flames?!”

“Salamanders are inherently harmless to humans. There’s no need to be so alarmed, Edan.”

“I-I apologize. I have been rude.”

Why was he so hasty to swing his sword at this small spirit?

Of course, if the salamander had been a simple spirit and the sword had been just a regular sword, it wouldn’t have caused any harm. But Edan had unconsciously infused magic into the sword, intending to strike.

Depending on the situation, there was a possibility that he could have ‘hurt’ the spirit of the furnace. Of course, he couldn’t make it disappear, being a spirit.

‘S-Scary! That human is scary!’

“It’s okay. You just got agitated because you didn’t recognize that you’re a spirit. You’re not a bad person.”

“Your words seem to resonate with him! He has a lot of magic and he finds you tasty!”

“Magic?”

“Yeah! I’ve been starving for two weeks straight!”

Two weeks.

Come to think of it, what the half-dwarf artisan mentioned earlier was that the furnace hadn’t been working for about two weeks. It seemed that the reason the furnace hadn’t been working until now was because the salamander’s body still had some magic left.

Like a small girl dressed in clothes made of burning flames.

It may seem obvious, but most of the spirits in this world took on this form.

Always saying, the ‘Luminor Academy’ was a dating game disguised as an academy game. Even in these small details, they catered to the demands of men.

“So, the thing that clung to me suddenly was because…?”

“You emitted magic, a lot of it! It just gushes out from you even when you’re still!”

Well, I did exceed the maximum amount of magic to over 2,000 earlier.

As the maximum amount of mana increased, the self-regeneration rate of mana also tended to increase, and usually, the mana generated in this way tended to flow out of the body automatically unless consciously locked.

While conversing with the salamander that absorbed the mana flowing out of my body while hanging on my right arm, Edan began to cautiously ask me as if he didn’t understand something.

“Um, Rilis.”

“Yes, Lord Edan.”

“…I’m just asking in case, but are you currently talking to a spirit?”

“…Do you not know by looking?”

“Well… I can’t really tell just by looking….”

Come to think of it, in this world, only high-level mages could converse with spirits.

More precisely, it was not just high-level mages but mages with a lot of mana, but to become a high-level mage, a lot of mana was essential, so it wasn’t much different.

Since these spirits were life forms closely related to mana, only those with a lot of mana could recognize their form and understand their language.

Those with lower mana couldn’t recognize the true form of the spirits and couldn’t understand their language.

Of course, thanks to the protagonist’s buff, even with low mana, he could understand the language of the spirits and carry on.

“Just in case, may I ask how I appear in Lord Edan’s eyes right now?”

“…It looks like you’re talking to the fireball attached to your right arm.”

“….”

“It, it just looks like that’s what’s happening! It’s not that I can’t believe Rilis is talking to a spirit!”

…Talking to a spirit in a crowded place would definitely make you look like a lunatic.

Anyway, the reason why I couldn’t use the blast furnace right now seemed to be because this salamander couldn’t eat mana and was starving, so if I fed it a lot of mana, it would somehow be resolved.

With the thought that I might be able to solve the problem faster than I thought, I asked the salamander attached to my right arm a question.

“Spirit. Do you need more mana?”

‘Huh?’

“The reason why this blast furnace isn’t working properly is because the fire spirit was hungry, right? If I feed you more mana, can you make it work again?”

If all it took was feeding it mana, it would be the easiest way to end it. Anyway, it seemed like I didn’t need to solve the mysterious lethargy in the village, so I didn’t have to do anything about it.

And unlike the other people in the village, the half-dwarf didn’t seem tired or sluggish at all, so as long as the blast furnace worked properly, I would definitely start my work.

With that thought in mind, I was preparing to send mana to the salamander in earnest, but unfortunately, the response I received from her was not as positive as I had hoped.

‘Um~ It doesn’t work!’

“What?”

‘Even if I’m full, there’s no mana in the air~? When I light a fire, I gather the mana in the air to light the fire~!’

“….”

“Why is that, Rilis? Is it because your mana alone isn’t enough? If my mana is needed too….”

“No, it’s not that….”

Unable to operate the blast furnace due to the lack of mana in the air, huh….

Quoting the salamander’s words, ultimately, it meant that in order to operate the blast furnace, the anomaly that occurred in Greystone Village had to be resolved.

It seemed a bit difficult to just ‘do nothing’ and move on from the situation that had occurred in this place.