Salamander Furnace (3)

To solve the incident of the mana disappearing from the entire village, Ethan and I moved to the opposite side of the mountain.

With one rather noisy companion who wasn’t originally part of the investigation plan.

“You didn’t really need to come along, Salamander-nim.”

‘No way! I feel like you’ll just run away if I don’t follow you!’

“……”

It seemed I’d lost her trust after our conversation at the forge earlier.

Fortunately, Ethan couldn’t understand what the salamander was saying, so it wasn’t a big deal.

“You seem to get along well with spirits, Lillith.”

“Huh?”

‘Not at all?!’

“Seeing how she’s been sticking with you ever since we met at the workshop, I guess that fire spirit really likes you?”

“No, not really…”

‘That’s not it at all~!’

Judging by how casually he was talking, it was clear Ethan couldn’t hear the salamander’s words.

Moreover, to him, she probably didn’t appear as a girl surrounded by flames like she did to me, but just as a ball of fire, so he couldn’t read her expressions or actions to gauge her emotions.

It was a relief that I didn’t have to explain the salamander’s anger to Ethan.

After all, we’d only be seeing her for today, so there was no need to tiptoe around awkwardly.

And in the end, bringing her up the mountain turned out to be a good thing. Finding our way through unfamiliar mountain paths was something the salamander, who had lived in this area for a long time, was better at than me.

“Are we still far, Salamander-nim?”

‘Just follow quietly! I’m following the path where the mana flows!’

“I can’t really sense any mana around here either.”

‘Hmph, of course not, you’re human. Dull-witted beings like you can’t detect subtle mana flows like we can!’

Her way of speaking was subtly infuriating, but since she looked like a little girl, it was somewhat bearable.

It’s a good thing the spirits in this world are cute. If they weren’t, they’d have gone extinct long ago.

With that thought, after about 30 minutes of climbing the mountain with the salamander, the mana in the air began to grow strong enough for even me to sense it.

The salamander, excited by the increasing mana leading to the source of the problem, started flying quickly in that direction.

‘This way! It’s this way!’

“W-wait! Don’t go ahead alone!”

The salamander effortlessly flew through the rugged mountain terrain, leaving Ethan and me stranded on the path.

If we didn’t hurry, we’d lose her, so we quickly followed the flying fire spirit.

“Young Master Ethan, this way!”

“Ah, right!”

Thankfully, the mana was now strong enough for even us to sense, so we managed to follow the salamander without getting lost.

Thinking we’d encounter a high-ranking demon using mana drain, Ethan and I slowed our pace as we approached.

But contrary to my expectations, what we found wasn’t a high-ranking demon-just a group of low-ranking ones.

“Bro, shouldn’t we move locations soon? It’s been three days, and nothing’s biting.”

“Shut up, idiot. I told you, I can still smell spirit traces around here.”

“If there were any, they’d have shown up by now. We’ve pretty much caught everything in this area, right? We should leave before the ones we’ve caught start getting weak…”

‘You evil bastards~!!’

-Thump!

“See? I told you there were still some left.”

“Whoa, as expected of you, boss!”

“This one looks way bigger than the ones we’ve caught so far. Heh, gonna make some money off this.”

‘Let me go~!! You stupid low-ranking demons~!!!’

The atmosphere felt off, so while hiding in the bushes to observe, the salamander recklessly rushed out and got caught by one of the demons.

The low-ranking demon holding the fire spirit sealed her inside a glass cage.

‘Aah! No~! Open this~!! Hey~!!’

“How much do you think this one’ll go for?”

“Dunno. But since it’s a fire spirit, it’ll sell for way more than the others. Fire spirits are in demand not just by mages but also by regular folks as ornamental pets.”

‘Open up~! Where the hell are you taking me?!’

Spirit hunters.

Judging from their conversation, they were definitely that kind of demon.

Demons who roam uninhabited forests and mountains with high spirit populations, capturing spirits to sell at high prices to demon mages and the like.

They must have come all the way to this remote human village because spirits don’t live in demon territories.

And of course, only demons could physically grab a salamander and shove her into a glass cage like that.

From the strange magic tool nearby, I could sense something sucking up the surrounding mana.

Seems like they set up a trap to drain all the mana in the area and lure in spirits with the faint traces left behind.

‘So, these guys were the ones who drained the mana around here…’

Spirit hunters or not, demons were demons-reason enough to eliminate them.

If left alone, they’d eventually become a major threat to the empire. 『Luminor Academy』 didn’t end with some half-baked conclusion where humans and demons lived happily ever after.

And more than anything, I didn’t like the idea of that salamander being taken away.

Without her, the half-dwarf’s furnace in Grainstone Village wouldn’t work, and receiving her blessing would be impossible.

Especially since spirit blessings could affect luck stats-something I desperately needed right now.

Somehow, I had to take care of these demons and get the salamander back.

“To restore the village and rescue the salamander, it seems we’ll have to resort to force, Young Master Ethan.”

“They all look like low-ranking demons to me… What do you think, Lillith?”

“I agree, Young Master Ethan. I was certain they’d be high-ranking demons, but it’s a relief they’re just low-ranking ones in many ways. Will you start with a surprise attack?”

“Yeah. That’s the most efficient way.”

As expected of Harold’s son-he didn’t discriminate in his methods of winning.

>

A truly commendable mindset, so I nodded at Ethan’s suggestion.

Before Ethan stepped forward with his swords, I used triple casting to create three mana arrows.

“I’ll start first.”

“…Are you sure? Your mana arrows usually don’t hit very well, right?”

“…Today, I think they’ll hit a bit more.”

“Alright. I’ll trust you since you say so.”

…Him saying he trusts me makes me nervous-I might actually miss now.

But I couldn’t just cancel the mana arrows like some timid girl, so I aimed the three arrows at the neck of what looked like the leader.

The three mana arrows flew toward the demon, who was celebrating his latest catch and completely off guard.

“Alright! Let’s pack up! We need to get out of this stinking human place as soon as-“

-Thud! Thunk!

“Guh, gah?!”

“Boss!”

“Who the hell-?!”

Two out of three shots. I could definitely feel my accuracy had improved.

Back then, hitting even one out of three was considered lucky.

While I was thinking that, Ethan rushed into the midst of the demons with his twin swords, matching my ambush.

With two horizontal slashes, he took out two of the underlings panicking over their dead leader.

-Slash! Slice!

“Guh!”

“Ugh…!”

About three demons remained.

If I took one and Ethan handled the other two, we could wrap this up.

With that thought, I charged at one of the demons with my dagger.

Just then, a sharp sound cutting through the wind reached my ears.

“Protect us!”

Instinctively sensing danger, I used double casting to create an arcane shield.

Fortunately, the shield activated just in time to cover Ethan’s and my faces and necks as two arrows flew toward us.

-Twang! Thunk!

“……!”

“Young Master Ethan, archers!”

“I noticed!”

Thanks to the reflexive arcane shield, neither Ethan nor I ended up with arrows through our necks.

Sparring with Luke before was a blessing in many ways. Without that experience, I wouldn’t have been able to instinctively cast the shield.

Silently thanking her in my mind, I charged at the remaining demon again.

With the heavy dagger in my right hand, I swiftly exchanged blows with one of the demons.

-Clang! Cling! Clang!

“Wh-who the hell are you?!”

“Not ‘who,’ you idiot-‘what’!”

“What the hell are you?!”

“Like you need to know!”

-Stab. The dagger pierced the demon’s throat horizontally, silencing his noisy protests.

Soon after, I confirmed the remaining two demons fighting Ethan 2v1 also met their end.

“Lillith, let’s hide first! There might still be more in the forest-“

“…No need for that.”

“…Huh?”

Picking up the short dagger from the demon who’d just been beheaded in front of me, I used ‘Dagger Throw’ to hurl it toward where the arrow had come from.

-Thunk!

“Guh, ugh…!”

Shortly after, the sound of metal sinking into flesh and a demon’s cut-off scream came from between the trees.

Only one arrow had flown from the forest, so I took another dagger from a different demon and threw it into the opposite side of the woods.

Again, the sound of flesh being pierced and a scream signaled the disappearance of the presence I’d sensed.

No other presences remained… At least, none that I could feel.

“That should be it for now.”

“…Y-yeah…”

The area was littered with demon corpses and bluish bloodstains.

Considering the cleanup needed for this mess, it seemed unlikely we’d make it back to Blackwood today.