Salamander Furnace (1)

“Go back, we’re not open right now.”

The blacksmith’s shop was located at the innermost part of the village, reached by crossing through Grainstone Village.

That was the first thing I heard from the Half-Dwarf who saw Ethan and me entering the shop.

“Huh?”

“I said we’re not open. Come another day, or just leave.”

“……”

“……”

The Half-Dwarf Blacksmith scanned Ethan and me once, then responded with a curt reply.

At first glance, it seemed as if he was speaking because he didn’t like something about Ethan or me.

However, a Dwarf living among humans, not in the Obsidian Rocky Mountains, wouldn’t particularly dislike humans, and besides, he had already forged the Twin Swords Ethan was currently using last year.

I could, therefore, conclude that he wasn’t refusing to work because he didn’t like Ethan or me.

“It’s not a difficult request like last time. This time, you only need to forge a single dagger. If money is the problem, I’ll pay as much as…”

“Money isn’t the problem. We’re not open right now.”

“If it’s not money, but something else you want…”

“…It’s a situation where you can’t make weapons even if you want to, isn’t it, mister?”

“…Lilith?”

“What can we help you with so you can make a sword for us, Dwarf mister?”

“……”

Ethan looked at me with a slightly flustered expression, seeing me speak, while the Half-Dwarf fixed his gaze on me without a word.

I had somewhat expected it since entering this strange village, but this seemed to be an ‘extra story’ that corresponded to a quest.

Of course, as I couldn’t possibly know all the extra stories of 『Luminor Academy』, I couldn’t be certain that this story was a quest story.

If it truly was that kind of incident, resolving it as quickly as possible was the way to resolve Ethan’s and my business.

In the game, I mostly progressed through the main story, and rarely bothered with side stories unless they centered around a heroine.

It would probably be reasonable to assume I’d encountered one of the hidden quests I didn’t know about.

“…The Furnace.”

“Huh?”

“The Furnace won’t light. It’s been like that for two weeks.”

“The Furnace?”

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

With those words, the Half-Dwarf Blacksmith opened the shop door and headed towards the mountain workshop with waddling steps.

Instinctively realizing that the quest had officially begun, I quickly followed behind him.

Ethan merely followed behind me, with a still bewildered expression.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“This is the Furnace I just spoke of.”

In the workshop, which I reached by following the Half-Dwarf, there was indeed a Furnace that appeared not to have been used for several days.

There was no hot air or dry feeling typically associated with a Dwarf’s workshop, only the impression of a cold space.

As if to confirm that he hadn’t refused the request because he simply didn’t want to work, the Half-Dwarf briefly pointed outside the workshop and spoke to Ethan and me again.

“Now you understand, don’t you? I can’t do it even if I want to, not until the Furnace returns to normal. So, come back when it does.”

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

“How would I know that? Probably when the Fire Spirit residing in the Furnace feels better.”

“Huh?”

“Anyway, just know that I can’t accept your request until it returns to normal.”

With those words, the Half-Dwarf mister watched Ethan and me as we headed out of the workshop.

Leaving Ethan, who had been flustered and unable to follow the conversation for a while, aside for a moment.

I wondered if I might learn something by examining it up close, so I approached the Furnace, which was made of cast iron and bricks.

“Do you think anything will change by looking at it up close? I’ve already tried everything I could for two weeks.”

“Still, if there’s a spirit in the Furnace, shouldn’t we ask what would make it feel better?”

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

-Click.

While the Half-Dwarf was muttering, looking displeased, the lid of what appeared to be the Furnace’s fuel input opening suddenly opened on its own.

Immediately, something mixed with red and orange suddenly shot out towards me from inside.

-Whoosh!

“Kyaa?!”

“Lilith!”

I turned my body to avoid the unidentified something that had suddenly rushed towards me, but the bright red something that had shot out from the Furnace’s fuel input opening had already vanished from my sight.

Soon, as soon as I shifted my gaze to the faint heat I felt on my right arm, I could confirm that something the size of a fist was clinging to my arm.

‘Mana, it’s mana…! Maaaanaaa…!’

“……”

Wait, could this be….

While I was flustered by the small flame-like entity that had suddenly clung to my right arm, Ethan had already drawn the sword from his waist.

This time, the Dwarf, the owner of the workshop, showed a flustered reaction to Ethan’s actions instead.

“Lilith, stay still! I’ll get that off you right now!”

‘Maaanaaaah…. H-Hyaak…?!’

“E-Ethan Young Master! Just a moment!”

“S-Stop right now! What are you trying to do to the Fire Spirit?!”

“Spi…rit?”

I calmed Ethan down while holding the flustered Salamander, who was clinging to my right arm, in my hand.

After hearing the Half-Dwarf mention ‘spirit,’ Ethan seemed to calm down and quietly lowered his sword.

“Did you say ‘spirit’?”

“Don’t you even know that Fire Spirits reside in Dwarf Furnaces and light the fires?!”

“Salamanders are basically harmless spirits to humans. There’s no need to be so flustered, Ethan Young Master.”

“…I apologize. I’ve been rude.”

Honestly, what was he in such a hurry for, to swing his sword as soon as he saw this small spirit?

Of course, a Salamander is a simple spirit, so a mere ordinary sword wouldn’t have harmed it, but Ethan had unconsciously imbued his sword with mana and tried to cut it down just now.

Depending on the situation, there was a possibility he could have ‘really hurt’ the Furnace’s spirit. Even if it wouldn’t annihilate a spirit.

‘S-Scary! That human is scary!’

“It’s okay. He just got hasty because he didn’t recognize you as a spirit, but he’s not a bad person.”

‘You seem easy to talk to! You have a lot of mana, and it’s delicious!’

“Mana?”

‘Yeah! I’ve been starving for two whole weeks, so I’m incredibly hungry!’

Two weeks, huh.

Come to think of it, the Half-Dwarf Blacksmith also mentioned that the Furnace hadn’t been working for about two weeks.

It seemed the reason the Furnace hadn’t been working until now was that there was no mana left in this Salamander’s body.

A small girl, as if wearing clothes made of burning flames.

In a way, it was an obvious fact, but most spirits in this world took on such forms.

As I always say, 『Luminor Academy』 was a dating sim game disguised as an academy game. It was bound to cater to male demands even in such minor details.

“Then, what just urgently clung to my body was…”

‘Because I felt mana from you! A huge amount of it, too! It just leaks out even when you’re still!’

Well, my maximum mana capacity had already exceeded 2,000 a long time ago.

When maximum mana capacity increases, self-mana regeneration rate also naturally increases, and mana generated this way would naturally leak out from the body unless consciously sealed.

While I was talking to the Salamander, who was clinging to my right arm and absorbing the mana leaking from my body, Ethan cautiously began to ask me something, as if he didn’t understand the situation.

“Um, Lilith.”

“Yes, Ethan Young Master.”

“…Just in case, are you perhaps talking to a spirit right now?”

“…Can’t you tell by looking?”

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

…Come to think of it, only Archmages could talk to spirits in this world.

To be precise, it wasn’t necessarily Archmages, but rather mages with a lot of mana, but since a lot of mana was essential to become an Archmage, it wasn’t much different.

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

Those with less mana couldn’t properly recognize the spirits’ forms and couldn’t understand their language either.

Of course, thanks to the protagonist’s buff, they could understand spirit language perfectly even at low levels with low mana.

“Just in case, may I ask, how do I appear to you right now, Ethan Young Master?”

“…You look like you’re talking to a fireball stuck to your right arm.”

“……”

“I-It just looks that way! It’s not that I don’t believe Lilith is talking to a spirit!”

…If I talked to spirits in a crowded place, I’d be perfectly set up to be treated like a crazy woman.

Anyway, it seemed the reason this Furnace couldn’t be used right now was that this Salamander hadn’t been able to eat mana and had starved, so if I just fed it plenty of mana, it should be resolved somehow.

With the thought that I might be able to solve the problem faster than expected, I posed a question to the Salamander clinging to my right arm.

“Mister Spirit. Do you perhaps need more mana?”

‘Huh?’

“The reason this Furnace isn’t working properly is because Mister Fire Spirit was hungry, right? How much mana do I need to feed you for you to make it work again?”

If it was something that could be resolved by just feeding it some mana, then it would be the easiest possible solution. After all, it meant I wouldn’t necessarily have to solve the unidentified lethargy that had befallen the village.

And unlike the other people in the village, that Half-Dwarf didn’t seem particularly tired or sluggish, and he would undoubtedly start his work once the Furnace was working properly.

With that thought, I was preparing to fully channel mana into her, the Salamander, but unfortunately, the answer I received from her was not very positive.

‘Hmm~ I can’t make it work!’

“What?”

‘Even if I’m full, there’s no mana in the air~? I light fires by gathering the mana in the air~!’

“……”

“…What’s wrong, Lilith? Is your mana alone not enough? If you need my mana too…”

“No, it’s not that kind of problem…”

She can’t operate the Furnace because there’s no mana in the air, huh…

To quote the Salamander, it essentially meant that I would have to resolve the abnormal phenomenon occurring in Grainstone Village itself to get the Furnace working.

It seemed it would be a bit difficult to ‘do nothing’ and just move on from here.