“On top of that, the gas burns incredibly viciously, so the area is constantly shielded by pillars of fire.”
“So it’s essentially telling you to stay away.” It scored full marks in terms of isolation, but zero in terms of habitability.
“We can see them, but can’t approach them. Whether they’re really the demon generals or not, whoever is living there must have terrible personalities.”
“I can agree with that.”
Hephaestus XIV was clenching his fist as he explained the situation in an unsavory tone. He must have gotten incredibly frustrated at knowing where the possible demon general hideout was, yet remaining unable to do anything about it.
“Well, make sure you keep away from it as well.”
Hephaestus XIV asked about Hadesopolis after that. When I explained that the former kingdom was essentially in ruins with sand raining down from its skies, he looked solemn, as if he had pictured the ruined nation in his mind. We talked for a while longer, then the king took his guards and left. As we watched the carriage leave, Clena suddenly muttered from beside me, “Hey, Touya.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“About that demon general hideout...”
“Oh yeah. The poison gas is a real bother... Do you think we could blow the gas away if I had the blessing of the Goddess of Wind?” No matter how flammable the poison gas was, pillars of fire wouldn’t be a problem if only we could remove the gas itself. That was the only method I could think of.
However, Clena had come up with something even more clever than that. “We could cross over that gas barrier if it were me and you.”
“...How so?”
“There’s a spell called Water Veil among my spirit magic. It’s a spell that creates a water shield around people. It’s supposed to be used as a bubble of air so that you can breathe inside water, but it can shield against fire and gas, too.”
I see, so this spell created a wall of water around someone. It should be able to shield against fire if it can do the same for water, and gases probably couldn’t permeate through as well. However, Clena’s spirit magic operated in a way that she had to have a source of fire to draw from if she wanted to use fire spirit magic. The water veil would need a large amount of water to work, and there was no way water would be present around a volcano. However, I could provide a solution to that.
“You can draw water from your Unlimited Bath, and I’ll conjure up the water veil. We could cross the gas barriers like that, right?”
I’d have to draw water from the Bath over and over again, but the plan seemed doable.
“Do you want to try? It’ll be hot in there.”
“Oh, didn’t you know? It’s actually quite nice and refreshing inside the water veil.” Clena said, then showed me a mischievous smile.
And so our next target was the demon general hideout, surrounded by fiery, poisonous gas and deadly cliffs.
Third Bath – Beyond the Laconium
“Hyaaah!” I yelled out, then sliced a red lizard’s body in two.
The monster looked like an oversized red iguana with the way its large spikes ran down its body. It was over one stuto in length, giving it a pretty frightening appearance.
I had a new weapon in my hands. It was one of the magic weapons we had recovered from the demon lord’s castle, a one-handed, double-edged battle axe with a unique shape. It sported a beautiful golden color on the outside, but was in fact made of a sturdy metal. The right and left sides of the blade weren’t perfectly symmetric, and the blade itself drew an upward-facing arch. It looked like a hollowed out semicircle. The edges of the blade were decorated not with accessories, but with craftsman spell inscriptions carved using crystal magic. Rium told me that many spells had been cast on the blade, Rustproofing being one of them. Spells were cast by inscribing the name of the spell onto the blade. The larger the blade, the more spells you could place. There was a magic conductor in the middle of the blade, which was the deciding factor in me choosing this crescent moon-shaped axe. I didn’t know if the axe already had a name, so I decided to call it Crescent Moon. Yes, I know I wasn’t very creative.
When I told everyone the name I had chosen, Rakti cheered in joy. Apparently the Goddess of Darkness had often been called the Goddess of Night, so she was glad I had picked a name related to the night. That was probably one of the reasons this axe was in Hadesopolis in the first place, too. And to no one’s surprise, the Goddess of Light showed up incredibly annoyed in my dream that night.
I mustered up all my strength and swung my Crescent Moon downward to decapitate another red lizard. I didn’t forget to offer my prayers after killing it. We’d be able to absorb some of our opponent’s power like this and slowly raise our levels. The rest of the party lined up to offer their prayers as well. Thinking about it, this must have looked like the scene at the end of a battle in an RPG where everyone struck a victory pose.
I looked beside me to see Rakti trying her hardest to offer a prayer. She had been prayed to a countless number of times until now, but had never done the praying herself. She didn’t have her own way of praying from Hadesopolis and was trying to imitate me instead. Well, the intent was the most important part of it. How exactly you prayed didn’t matter.
We were now traveling on Mt. Lemnos. Our goal was the demon generals’ hideout, of course. Stifling air surrounded us on this pure red mountain. Needless to say, it was hot. And though it was, we hadn’t reached the area with poison gas yet, so we hadn’t brought out the water veil.
Rakti’s temporary body was hardly any different from a human’s, so she was being overwhelmed by the heat. My Magic Eater should have been treating the heat as damage to deflect in exchange for my MP, but even then it was hot. The air I could see beyond my helmet’s narrow vision was blurry, but that wasn’t the only problem.
Mt. Lemnos never had any large-scale eruptions, but smaller eruptions happened frequently in exchange. Getting close to the volcano meant being exposed to the ash falling from above. Rulitora was the only one who could travel through all this without batting an eye.
Clena and Roni had learned from their last incident in the void and were wearing light clothing under their leather tunics and armor. The leather was made from red lizard skin to protect them against the heat. They were also wearing thin veils to shield them against the volcanic ash. Roni had a particularly large veil on to cover her frizzy and abundant hair.
Unable to take the heat anymore, Rium stumbled over to me and rested herself against my back. My armor was cool and soothing, as it had been deflecting the heat in exchange for my MP. She couldn’t use her flying disc among all the smoke and sparks of fire, so she had no choice but to walk this whole way.
We had asked for permission from both the temple and the Hephaestus royal family to do this investigation. They had been tormenting themselves over this issue for a long time, so they gladly welcomed any chance to finally make progress.
“Meow then, time to skin it!”
“Mark, come help!”
“Yeah, yeah...”
The cats pranced over from behind me. Pardoe, Shakova, and Mark were all present. The three of them had come along with us on this investigation.
Since this was viewed as the country’s problem, it would have been an issue for just my party to conduct the investigation, so the ketolts volunteered themselves, as they already knew about my Unlimited Bath. Mark was supposed to be mending that old sword, but for some reason he had joined us. He was probably trying to show off to Crissa.
I was worried about taking them to a place the demon generals might be, but Mark said that it wasn’t uncommon to come across monsters in the mines anyway. He looked pretty reliable shouldering his large battle hammer with his tiny body and breastplate. They were using umbrellas to shield against the ashes.
On that note, making your own weapons and armor to wear into the mines was considered a rite of passage to becoming a professional blacksmith. Apprentices would borrow ones from their
masters to wear, but were expected to start practicing making their own immediately. They normally equipped a breastplate and a battle hammer, and occasionally gauntlets. The make of the breastplate would signify that blacksmith’s skill, style, and even their personality.
Pardoe’s breastplate was the very definition of “plain and simple.” It looked sturdy and had no bells or whistles. Shakova’s was a little more complicated, achieving a fine balance between being gaudy but still practical. You could tell that Pardoe had the upper hand in pure skill. Lastly, Mark’s equipment conveyed how inexperienced he still was. I didn’t have an eye for craftsmanship or artistry, but according to Clena, he was still only halfway there. He was aiming for the plain and simple look, but hadn’t been able to keep himself from making it a little gaudy either. He was probably trying to become a blacksmith that catered to Crissa’s tastes. I see, so even his personality shone through in the make of his breastplate.
On another note, the red lizard that Mark was currently skinning was an indispensable resource to the people of Hephaestusopolis. They utilized every part of this monster. Like I had mentioned before, the skin was resistant to fire and made into gloves for the blacksmiths to use. The meat was edible, and the teeth and bones could be made into various tools.
There was one more unexpected use for them. The image of a lizard in my mind included their signature thin tongues sticking out, but these red lizards actually breathed fire. They possessed an organ inside their mouths that secreted a certain fluid, which acted as the fuel that allowed them to breathe fire. That certain fluid was, in fact, their blood. The flammable blood looked like oil, and was indeed used by the citizens of Hephaestusopolis as their oil source. These lizards would still be fine even if they started bleeding and their blood caught on fire. They really were monsters. And above all, they lived by consuming fire spirits and fire itself.
Red lizard meat couldn’t be fried, so it was boiled instead. I had eaten it several times during our stay in Hephaestusopolis. It was light, tender, and tasted like chicken. It was especially tasty when flavored with spices to give it a little kick.
The blood of the red lizards hardened quickly unless it was extracted immediately. It would also explode if it touched volcanic ash, but there were tools to keep that from happening. The ketolts must have rushed over immediately after I killed one and started dissecting it for exactly those reasons.
Shakova shifted his umbrella over to keep the ash from falling on Mark. Looking closely, he was making sure the umbrella was protecting his son more than himself. Shakova mainly watched over Mark and gave him a few pointers as he extracted the blood. Mark had done this plenty of times before, but there were still some tricks only veterans were aware of. This must have been one way of passing the family trade down the generations. Pardoe was watching the two of them from a ways off.
Maybe it was just because I came from another world, but I was feeling rather emotional while looking at this ordinary scene. So this is how they live in this world, I thought. It was affecting me on a deeper level.
And then I thought... I really was just a stranger in this world, feeling so much emotion from something the others considered so commonplace.
I suddenly wanted to see Haruno again. We were far from each other right now so I couldn’t go see her right away, but I’d at least send her a letter.
They finished dissecting the red lizard while I was lost in thought. We put everything in my Unlimited Bath, then went on our way again.
Some time later, another red lizard appeared before us. There sure were a lot of monsters here, even though Mt. Lemnos was so close to the city.
“Leave this to us, meow!”
“Come on, Mark!”
“You don’t have to tell me!”
Before I had even budged, the ketolts ran forward with their hammers in hand. Their arms, which had been forged through their blacksmithing work, slammed their hammers down on the red lizard’s jaw right as it tried to shoot out fire. Their strength as warriors definitely rivaled that of the red lizard’s. I kept alert around us, making sure no more monsters were coming as I watched over the fight.
This was the total opposite of the idyllic countryside scenery outside Ceresopolis. Over there, the guards just needed to make their rounds once in a while, but this volcano was in a constant state of danger. Not to mention the monsters here ate fire spirits as food or were made up of fire themselves. This was essentially their paradise. The monsters had the advantage in this environment. This was their territory, not ours. I imagined that the residents of this blacksmith capital were all pretty courageous for being able to live right next to all this.
The ketolts had managed to defeat the red lizard without any particular trouble and dissected that one as well. After we walked for a while longer, Shakova suddenly stopped in his tracks and pointed at the sky, which looked foggy from all the smoke gushing from the craters.
“Grr...! The birds of Lemnos are coming!”
“The birds of Lemnos?” I looked to where he was pointing and saw several dancing flames within the thick, ashen air . The flames were undulating in the air, then burned up into a large fire. It wasn’t such a strange sight in this environment.
“...Are those birds?”
“They look more like spirits to me...”
Clena and Rakti commented, and I stared at the bundle of flames one more time. The flames kept swaying up and down, showing no signs of dying out. I kept peering, and finally realized that they were pure red birds flapping their wings.
There were five of them. It looked like they had noticed us and were spreading their wings, approaching us. I finally grasped their full forms as they drew in closer to us.
The birds of Lemnos had wings made of fire. No wonder I mistook them for dancing flames from a distance.
They were a rare species of bird that lived exclusively on Mt. Lemnos and consumed fire to survive. They were very large, and with the way their wings were spread out, could have been even bigger than an eagle. They had keen eyesight and were extremely aggressive. No matter if the target was a human, ketolt, or red lizard, the birds would undoubtedly swoop down for an attack. That must have been the case now too, since they were flying toward us.
“Hide under a boulder, hurry!”
“Have your backs to the rock and strike them down once they approach!”
“There’s no boulders anywhere near!”
“Then face your backs to each other!”
Pardoe, Shakova, and Mark formed a circle, each of them covering the others’ blind spots. Since arrows wouldn’t be able to pierce those wings made of fire, this was the best plan of attack. Clena, Roni, and I also formed a circle so that we protected Rakti and Rium within. I was positioned so that I was directly facing the birds. Now was the time for some magic.
“Rulitora, come over here!” I called out to our only party member who hadn’t grouped up.
“No need... I can handle this myself!” However, he didn’t bother joining the circle with us and instead gripped his glaive, faced the birds, leaned forward with his tail outstretched, and dashed off. Before I could say anything, he let out a roar and leaped up toward the birds of Lemnos. He shot forth like an arrow with his glaive in his hands. Not just like any arrow, but like a giant missile fired from a ballista.
He pierced one bird that was right in front of him, then used the glaive’s hilt and a swing of his tail to take down another two. He landed and finished off the two birds that were still squirming on the ground. The remaining two used the opportunity to swoop down behind him, but he quickly spun around and swung his right arm with the glaive in hand. The heavy blade slashed one of the birds right in half, but the other one narrowly dodged the attack. It then flew right at Rulitora’s chest, but didn’t make it in time. At the same moment, Rulitora’s left hand swung around right in tune with his right and grabbed a hold of the bird. He gripped the bird’s head and raised it up high, then using his thick fingers and sharp claws, crushed it
right inside his hand. The bird of Lemnos squirmed around for a moment, but eventually fell limp, and its wing-shaped flames died out as well.
I looked at him from behind, his thorny armor made from the shell of a giant scorpion filling my vision. My Magic Eater may have looked daunting, but his armor was no better. I had thought I’d gotten pretty strong recently, but I was still nowhere near a match for him.
“...Wait, you were grabbing something that was on fire!” I finally realized, then ran over to him. “Rulitora, is your hand okay?”
“Huh? Oh, that was nothing.”
“Let me see.”
He showed me the hand he had used to grab the bird of Lemnos, but the amber-colored scales that covered his hands only looked a little sooty. It had no burn wounds at all.
“...That’s amazing.”
“The void was still hotter than this,” Rulitora said, then let out a big laugh. The sand lizardmen were yet another species highly resistant to heat.
We progressed farther, battling the occasional monster along the way, until we gradually stopped seeing signs of life.
“Sir Touya, there’s a strange scent in the air.”
“I haven’t noticed anything, but... I’ll take your word for that, Roni.”
Roni was the first one to notice the scent. We were finally nearing the region with the poisonous gas. Roni had picked up on it with her sharp sense of smell.
“Clena, shall we get started?”
“Alright. I don’t want to breathe in any of that at all.”
I agreed. Since Roni was the only one who could notice the scent, we were still far enough from it to be affected at all, but poison gas was something we wanted to avoid at all costs.
“Everyone, gather ’round!”
I opened the door to my Unlimited Bath, filled a large barrel with water, and had Rulitora carry it. Clena would use the water from this barrel for her water veil. We had proactively kept Clena away from battles for this purpose, and Roni as her guard.
The Chaotic Stone Sauna Page 16
