Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Puchi Suri 

To this mouse, it was a world of survival of the fittest. Born small, gigantic creatures would often exploit them for their size. Even when they were lucky enough to find a place to sleep, that was taken away from them as well. They had little to eat, and water was difficult to access. That was life for this mouse from the moment he was born. But even so, he never abandoned his feelings. Maybe it was because of his instincts. The mouse thought that sometimes. 

By living in a hellish world and depending only on himself to survive, he grew larger and stronger than the average mouse. But of course, he was still no more than a mouse. Only in his wildest dreams could he hope to compete with humans and large monsters. Searching in the darkness of night for scraps of food and unguarded pantries was all he could do to survive. 

Sometimes humans found him and chased him away. When it was only one or two of them, he was big enough he could fight back. He was technically a monster, not just a mouse, so he had some means of combating them, however small. But when there were four or five humans, even if they weren’t the frightfully powerful ones called adventurers, he had no choice but to flee. The mouse had no pride, as the gods didn’t bestow pride upon mice. Survival was all that concerned them. 

But because this mouse grew big and strong, other mice gathered around him for protection. There were only about three or four of them. Not only that, but they were all exiles from other colonies. 

Puchi suri colonies had extremely rigid hierarchies. Anyone who challenged the boss and lost was forced to leave. It was akin to sentencing that puchi suri to death by starvation. It would be easy to call them harsh, but to mice, this world was hell for everyone. Whether a part of the colony or not, it would be hell all the same. 

As such, the big mouse had little sympathy for the others, and he didn’t care to make them obey him either. Regardless, they followed him each day without fail. They searched for food and water and even fought humans alongside him. They shared their food with others who belonged to no colony and sometimes took small children into their care until they grew up. 

Puchi suri could reach adulthood within a week of being born. They had the potential to live long lives the way other monsters did, but most of them died right away. Either they failed to find food or they were hunted by humans. That was life for mice, so worrying about the lives of others was abnormal. Only these mice were different. But there were some things that they could never forget. They knew that they would always be exploited, and they knew that humans were so terrifyingly strong that they could exterminate mice effortlessly. 

But one day, while the mice had made their homes underneath a human building, a strange being came down to them from above. There were two humans, one of whom was an ordinary girl, but the other was a masked man in a robe who seemed something more than human. 

When the mouse saw this, he thought his life was over. He knew this day would come eventually. This man was probably a human, the mouse thought. He had powerful abilities beyond any regular human, so a mouse would be nothing to him. Some adventurers could even destroy giant monsters with ease, so a mouse stood no chance. 

However, the mouse refused to go down without a fight. He was more than just a mouse now, after all. He had henchmen. If nothing else, he had to buy enough time for them to escape. Even if it killed him, that was the least he could do. The mouse had never intended to be anyone’s boss, but followers gathered around him anyway, so this was the time to put his life on the line. The henchmen stepped up to fight before the mouse could, but he gave them orders in a voice that only mice could comprehend, telling them to hide for a while. Then he leaped at the adventurer. 

The mouse was strong, for a mouse. If he were up against a normal human, then while he couldn’t incapacitate them completely, he would at least be able to harm them a little and buy time to run away. He was sure that this would work on the adventurer too. But the adventurer was stronger than the mouse thought. He had no trouble keeping track of the mouse, as was clear from the way his eyes moved. No ordinary human was able to do that. 

The human’s knife swung faster than the mouse’s eyes could see. Before he knew it, the knife sent him flying. Life drained from his body. Never before had he been so outmatched. But the mouse refused to die here. He got back up, hoping to at least bite back at the adventurer. He headed toward the adventurer again, displaying his obstinance. 

The adventurer still stood on guard, but unlike before, he showed some brief hesitation. The mouse wondered why but didn’t have the energy to think much of it. Either way, his wild charge was no particular threat to the adventurer. Rather than a knife, he used his fist this time. It hit the mouse right in the teeth and launched him away yet again. The mouse felt his teeth scrape the adventurer’s fist a little, but it seemed that was all he could do. 

Now that the mouse thought about it, his life never amounted to much. He thought he could do something, but he couldn’t. It was too hard to even stay alive. But he didn’t want to die. And just as that thought passed through his mind, he felt something grow hot deep within his body. 

His body was reconstructed. The intense heat from deep within reshaped his insides anew. It didn’t take long for him to understand that. He didn’t know why it happened, but in any case, he didn’t want to die now. He had other mice to protect, and he still hadn’t managed to do so. If he died here, that adventurer would get them. 

He continued to resist the pain and the heat, and eventually, the mouse found that he had changed. He was now connected to this man. Maybe he should have hated this fate, but the feelings and memories he received through this connection didn’t necessarily inspire disdain. 

It was true that this adventurer was here to exterminate the mice, but only because they threatened the lives of this building’s inhabitants. The mice began to dwell in this building without knowing exactly who lived there, but from the man’s memories, it seemed this place was meant for children without parents. In other words, much like this mouse protected young mice, some human built this place to protect young humans. It was only natural to drive out any outsiders from this place considering that. As such, the mouse felt no anger toward the adventurer’s motives. 

And their newfound connection told the mouse about the man’s personality too. He had always thought of adventurers as weapon-wielding demons who hunted his brethren, but this man seemed different. He did make a living out of hunting monsters, but not more than necessary, and he even spared monsters that didn’t threaten the lives of humans. Of course, he would also callously kill those that harmed humans, whether they were children or not. He was like other adventurers in that way, but he didn’t go out of his way to hunt innocent monsters, even if they could be sold for a high price. 

Many such memories flowed into the mouse. He didn’t know if the man also received his own memories, but he seemed to recognize that they were connected now. Their eyes met, and the man looked surprised. They understood each other without words and knew each other’s thoughts, so the mouse told the man that he had become something that lived to serve him. The man confirmed by giving him some orders, and he obeyed. But he didn’t act like he was forced to listen. Rather, he treated it like a request from a superior, as if he could still refuse if he wanted to. Maybe the man could force him to listen if desired, but the man didn’t. Instead, the man’s first order was to protect the basement. The mouse and his henchman obeyed. 

From that day forth, the mouse’s life changed dramatically. Now that he served the man, his power greatly increased. According to the man, the mouse had received his blood and had become his vampiric servant. As a result, he had ascended into a more powerful being. If he tried hard enough, he could actually use the man’s vast mana, spirit, and divinity for himself. Of course, he couldn’t take that energy by force, but he could if the man allowed it. The mouse received a little energy from the man to help protect the basement, so in addition, he decided to place every puchi suri in Maalt under his control. The mouse figured that this would contribute to the man’s objectives. 

The man seemed to have a dream. He wanted to become the greatest of all adventurers. As a means to that end, access to all possible information was desirable. Thankfully, the mouse could sneak all throughout a human building without being noticed. He could also listen in on human conversations and tell the man about them. The man gave him those abilities. The other mice were still just ordinary mice, but the big mouse could communicate with them just as he had before, so that didn’t pose a problem. 

Sometimes the mouse attended the adventurer, whose name was Rentt, on his adventures. They fought together and gained experience in battle. They fought a gigantic creature called a tarasque, something that could have instantly killed the mouse in the past, but he managed to retaliate. Rentt landed the killing blow, but the mouse did his part. He felt bad about all the energy he borrowed, but he was confident that this monster couldn’t be dealt with otherwise. And as the servant, he felt he should be first to risk his life. Rentt was half-appalled and half-impressed by the mouse’s actions, but he ultimately accepted his choices and petted him. 

The mouse was even given a name. He was called Edel. Names, the mouse was learning for the first time, were some sort of code that humans used to distinguish one person from another, but it also seemed to mean something. The woman that was Rentt’s mate came up with the name, and it was synonymous with noble. The mouse knew himself to be more powerful than other mice, and he intended to take command of all of Maalt’s mice, so perhaps this name foresaw that future. He liked it. 

A lot had transpired since he began to serve Rentt, and it was fun. He had taken over about thirty percent of the mice in Maalt and expanded his information network. Now he would be able to greatly assist Rentt. As a vampiric servant, the puchi suri was given a new lease on life, so he wanted to try his hardest to collect any information possible to pay him back. 

Rentt had most recently been interested in a fellow adventurer named Nive, and about vampires. Both were dangerous topics that seemed difficult to research, but not for Edel. He utilized his henchmen to eavesdrop all around town. 

Eventually, Edel saw something through a henchman’s eyes. At some point, he had gained the ability to see what they saw, even when they were in a separate location. By using this power, he saw a suspicious figure entering a dungeon. The henchman pursued this person and came across a cloaked individual biting a bloody adventurer. 

“Oh, it’s not nice to peep,” they said before shooting flame from their hand and blinding the mouse. Edel was watching from elsewhere, but even he felt the force of the blast. Edel got a throbbing headache and fell unconscious in the basement of the orphanage. 

I was training in the forest with Capitan again to improve my spirit abilities when I suddenly came down with a headache. The occasional headache wasn’t typically unusual, and this was pretty brutal training, so maybe that was all there was to it. But I hadn’t felt such human pain since I became undead. My shoulder aches, backaches, muscle aches, and toothaches had all disappeared, so it seemed impossible for me to get a headache now. There had to be a reason for this. 

“What’s wrong?” Capitan asked. Even he thought something was strange. 

After the pain passed, I felt like I was connected to something, as if something inhuman was calling me. I guessed from that as to what caused the headache. “Something probably happened to my familiar. I got a little headache,” I answered. 

“Your familiar? Oh, the one that’s gathering information in Maalt? But can familiars communicate with their masters from such a long distance? A monster tamer I know used to tell me it’s not that convenient.” 

That was likely true of a monster tamer’s monsters. The way they tamed monsters was highly secretive, but it was easy to assume it wasn’t like what I did. The effects of their taming would also have to be different. If a monster tamer wanted to, they could decline to let their familiar take any mana or spirit. I could try and do the same if I put a limit on my energy, but Edel took what he needed when he needed it. It could make me somewhat fatigued, but it wasn’t worth making him stop. Sometimes I would ask myself who was really the master and who was the servant, but I was joking, mostly. 

I wasn’t aware that Capitan knew a monster tamer. He had a crazy number of connections. There was no need to ask about that now, though. 

“The way it works for me is completely different from a regular monster tamer,” I answered. “We’re connected in a different way. But most of the time, he can’t get in contact with me from this distance. If we’re maybe one city apart, he can just barely manage to tell me something, I guess.” 

“Then maybe you’re just imagining things.” 

That was possible, but I knew I felt something. Something that was connected to me had lost consciousness. I doubted that he was dead, but I couldn’t say so for sure. In any case, I wanted to check if he was safe. As much as I tended to complain about him, he was still my precious familiar. It might have happened by coincidence, but we had a bond with each other. I didn’t mind if he wanted to stop serving me, but I didn’t want this to be how we parted ways. 

“I’m not imagining it,” I said. “But I won’t know what happened to Edel without going to Maalt.” 

“I see, so you’re going home now?” 

“Yeah. But it’ll take five days by carriage at the earliest. I have to get ready right away.” 

I hated to end our training early, but this was serious. If I took too much time before I went home and found that Edel was already dead by then, he probably wouldn’t be able to rest in peace. 

“There’s a way you can get home in about half a day, you know,” Capitan said as I was preparing to return to the village. 

“A teleportation circle?” I asked. If there was one that led to Maalt, then I could presumably get back in an instant. 

But Capitan shook his head and said, “No, there’s another way.” 

“Another way?” 

“Best to just go back to the village for now so we can talk about it. You’re in a hurry, right?” Capitan said as he walked off. I frantically followed after him. 

If there was a faster way, then by all means I wanted to use it. I was worried about Edel. 

“What, something happened to Edel?” Lorraine said with surprise. 

The first thing we did when we got to the village was come to the mayor’s house, where Gharb was teaching Lorraine. Unlike us, they weren’t training in the forest. All magic started from theory, and that theory was best learned in a classroom setting. Alize and I had learned the basics from Lorraine in a similar fashion. Even with more advanced magic, the basics presumably remained the same. 

“Yeah, I don’t know exactly what happened, but definitely something abnormal,” I said. “This has never happened before.” 

“What if he’s just sleeping?” Lorraine suggested. 

If so, that might technically explain why I couldn’t sense him at all, but I shook my head. “No, if he were just sleeping, I wouldn’t have gotten a headache. He doesn’t seem to need much sleep after he became my servant anyway, but he does sleep for about two hours a day out of habit. When he does, it’s like my connection to him goes quiet, but this time it was more like the connection was ripped apart by force.” 

I couldn’t explain it well. Few humans would have ever had that experience. Maybe a monster tamer would get it, but I didn’t know any monster tamers. 

Lorraine nodded and said, “In that case, we’ll have to get back to Maalt quickly. Our friend is in danger.” 

I thought she only treated Edel like a pet, but apparently he was pretty important to her. I felt similarly, so I was kind of glad she agreed. 

“Yeah,” I answered with a nod. 

“But a carriage will take five days to get there. If only there were a teleportation circle that led to Maalt, but we don’t know if there is one yet.” Lorraine immediately thought about how we would travel there as well. 

“Well, there is a way,” Capitan answered her. 

“What way could that be?” Lorraine asked and cocked her head. 

Capitan looked away from her and toward my foster father, the mayor, Ingo Faina. “Can you take care of this?” he asked. 

I couldn’t fathom how Ingo would be able to help. Maybe that was mean of me to think, but nothing came to mind. He had some power within the village thanks to being the mayor, but I didn’t know what else he could do. 

Ingo seemed to see what I was thinking from how I looked at him. “Rentt, I’ve inherited some of this village’s history just as Capitan and Gharb have,” he said, disappointed that I doubted him. 

He seemed somewhat saddened that his son wouldn’t depend on him. I felt kind of bad about that. It wasn’t that I didn’t respect him, but I didn’t think he could do anything to help in this situation. 

By the way, Ingo, Capitan, Lorraine, Gharb, and I were the only ones here. Gilda was out gossiping with the other village women, while Riri and Fahri were training to be hunters or medicine women. Capitan and Gharb were supposed to be teaching them, but Capitan’s subordinates took over for him, and there was some prep work to be done for the medicine woman training that could be taken care of solo. That meant that everyone here already knew about the village’s secret, so we could talk about it freely. 

“You were supposed to be the king, right? But that doesn’t necessarily mean you inherited special abilities like Capitan and Gharb,” I said. 

Gharb and Capitan held the roles of the chief magician and knight captain, positions that would naturally come with some magic or combat skills. But I didn’t know what similar ability would be passed down from king to king. I suspected he was taught knowledge and history beyond what the other roles received, but that was about it. 

However, Ingo said, “It’s true I can’t use spirit or magic the way that Capitan or Gharb can. But I do have my own special skill. It sounds like you want to return to Maalt as soon as possible. If so, then my skill can help with that.” 

“What is it, then?” I asked. 

“You’ll see. Anyway, are you ready to go?” 

“We can go to Maalt already?” 

“Yes. You’re in a hurry, aren’t you? Just try not to leave anything behind.” 

“Is this really the right place?” I asked as we walked through the forest. 

“Yes, no doubt about it,” Ingo answered. 

“But there’s nothing here.” We were far from the ruins with the teleportation circle too, and I had no idea where we were going. 

Lorraine walked alongside me, and she looked confused too. “He’s your father. We’ll just have to trust him,” she said. 

I didn’t see any reason why Ingo would lie to us anyway. But even so, I couldn’t predict what would happen next, and that made me uneasy. Either way, all we could do was quietly follow him. 

“All right, this should be a fine spot,” Ingo said when we suddenly came to a stop. We were in the forest to the north, but it was a spacious area with few trees. There were a few such areas in the forest, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but I didn’t know what we could possibly be doing here. But then Ingo put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. 

“What’s he doing?” I asked Lorraine. 

“I considered that this might be it, but I didn’t think it was possible,” she said like she knew what was going on. 

I looked around to try and find out what it was. Suddenly, a gust of wind hit me from up above. 

“What?” I said and looked up. “A dragon?” A creature with large wings descended toward us. 

“No, this is a demidragon, much like tarasques. It’s a lindblum, the comet demidragon,” Lorraine remarked. 

Lindblums, as Lorraine explained, were a species of demidragon. But they were not to be underestimated. They were as difficult to take down as a tarasque and were best left to Gold- or Platinum-class adventurers. 

I didn’t know why such a monster was here, but Ingo explained. “As king, I inherited the ability to tame lindblums, among other monsters normally impossible to tame. I suspect that the intended purpose of this ability was so the king could flee if worse came to worst, but I do regret how much less valiant this ability is than Gharb’s or Capitan’s.” 

“So you’re a monster tamer?” I asked. 

“In modern terms, yes.” 

Capitan mentioned knowing a monster tamer, so presumably he was talking about Ingo. If he was that close with a monster tamer, he probably would have heard all about them. But I had never heard of anyone taming a powerful demidragon like a lindblum. It didn’t sound possible. 

“It’s said that humans can’t train anything bigger than a small wyvern, but it appears that isn’t the case,” Lorraine said, looking at Ingo and the lindblum. 

After the lindblum landed, Ingo started petting it on the nose. The lindblum pleasantly nuzzled its head against Ingo in return, so it seemed to be completely loyal. 

“But with this, we can certainly get back to Maalt in half a day,” Lorraine continued. “What would take five days by carriage will take no time at all if we can fly. A lindblum’s flying speed is even compared to that of a comet or lightning.” 

If we could ride the lindblum, then that was likely true. The only question was whether we could ride it at all. 

“Dad, does this mean it’ll take us to Maalt?” I asked. 

“Yes, it will do anything I say. Are you ready?” he asked in return. We nodded. 

I was happy to ride the lindblum to Maalt, but when it came time to actually get on, I was tense. My father had already gotten on its back and familiarly pulled some reins out from somewhere. 

“There’s no use being nervous,” Lorraine said. “If this were a wild lindblum, we would have to be cautious, but Ingo has this one completely under control. There shouldn’t be any issues.” She approached the lindblum before I did, stroked its scales, and got on its back. She had a hundred times the guts that I did. “Rentt, there’s a great view up here! Hurry up and get on!” she shouted down to me. 

Now there was no way I could refuse, so I walked up to the lindblum. When I got close, I could clearly see it in more minute detail. It had glistening scales, vertical pupils, sharp teeth with fangs that peeked out of its big mouth, and robust wings that resembled that of a bat. Every part of it was gigantic. It was hard to see why it would obey a human, but clearly it listened to Ingo. I didn’t know how they did it, but ancient humans must have had techniques that made it possible. It was a mystery as to how they were destroyed, then. 

In any case, I needed to climb on. I got even closer to the lindblum and put my hand on it. It felt rough, but its rugged texture made it easy to climb. Even as I did, the lindblum was docile. It was probably used to this. 

Once I got all the way on, I could see a great view just as Lorraine had said. I was, after all, seeing from much higher up than normal. But there was nothing around me except forest, so it didn’t feel that impressive. We were about to start flying, so I knew that view would be much better anyway. 

“All right, you’re on,” Ingo said. “Hold on tight so you don’t get flung off. We’re in a rush, after all.” 

When Ingo tugged the reins, the lindblum began to flap its wings. Its hulking body gradually rose into the sky. The view around me grew higher bit by bit. Once we were above the trees, I could see the entirety of the northern forest. Eventually, I could even see Hathara in the distance. 

“Oh, right,” Ingo said like something occurred to him. “Lorraine, can you cast a spell that prevents us from being seen from below? You can do that, can’t you?” 

Lindblums were a rare sight, but you could sometimes spot them flying through the sky. However, you would never see one with reins attached and several people on its back. Of course, it wouldn’t normally be possible to see a lindblum that clearly from the ground, but some adventurers had unthinkable abilities. It was safe to assume that at least a few people had frightfully powerful eyesight. That being the case, we needed a way to avoid attention if we were seen from below. 

“I can, but how do you tackle this problem normally?” Lorraine asked as she began to set up the spell, finishing it a moment later. 

“I don’t ride the lindblum often, but I ask for Gharb’s assistance when necessary,” he said as he checked out Lorraine’s spell. “But Gharb said you’d be able to do it.” 

“Making me do the job so she doesn’t have to, is she?” Lorraine muttered, but that was about what to expect from Gharb. 

“It’s hopeless to question Gharb. Nobody in the village can defy her,” said the mayor, theoretically the most powerful person in the village. She was a walking encyclopedia and one of the people who knew the village’s secret, in addition to being a powerful magician and a medicine woman. If the village defied her, it could doom them in many ways. 

“It’s about time to speed up,” Ingo said. “The lindblum’s mana can protect us against wind resistance, but there’s still going to be some turbulence. Hang on tight.” 

When Ingo tugged on the reins, the lindblum flapped its wings and began to advance. 

The scenery passed by at an insane speed as the lindblum raced through the sky. I had never seen anything like this, and it was mesmerizing to watch. Maybe you could see something similar by riding an airship, but I wasn’t important enough for that. Well, rather than importance, money was the real problem. But even if I wanted to ride one, there weren’t any in Yaaran. The Empire had them, so maybe Lorraine had been on one before. But even Lorraine seemed exhilarated by the view from this lindblum. 

“This is magnificent,” she said. “You wouldn’t be able to fly this high on an ordinary wyvern. This is an experience few people would ever have.” 

Wyverns could fly pretty high when nobody was riding them, but even then, they couldn’t do it for long. They were susceptible to changes in temperature, and if they flew too high, they would fall. By contrast, the lindblum seemed to have no such problems. Ingo said its mana eliminated any air resistance, so maybe it solved any temperature issues in a similar manner. Either that or it was highly resistant to changes in temperature to begin with. I was no expert, so I couldn’t say for sure. It had no trouble with high altitudes, and that was what was important. 

Actually, I didn’t feel that cold. To be fair, I didn’t feel a lot of things after becoming undead, but Lorraine didn’t look that cold either. She was also an adventurer and might have been more tolerant of extreme conditions, but even Ingo didn’t appear cold. The temperature seemed to be fine. Ingo may have possessed the ability to tame the lindblum, but he still had the body of an ordinary middle-aged man. That was easy to see from the way he carried himself. Even when he got on the lindblum, he moved like a man who was getting on in years. 

“We’ll get to Maalt in half a day,” Ingo said. “In the meantime, enjoy the scenery.” He gripped the reins hard and looked straight ahead. 

“What’s that?” Lorraine asked when the lindblum was almost to Maalt. 

Lorraine’s perception-blocking spell had kept anyone on the ground from seeing us on the way here, but it was also getting dark, so that probably helped. Perception-blocking wasn’t all powerful, so a particularly perceptive magician could have spotted us. But to notice something out of the ordinary in this darkness and then to cast their own spell to break through our illusion while we were flying at such a high speed would have been an impossible feat. Considering all that, of course we weren’t found. That meant we got to enjoy our trip through the sky. 

But now the party was over. When I looked at where Lorraine was looking, I saw the city glowing bright. And not because of the magic lamps. This wasn’t the color those gave off. Magic lamps looked warmer and fainter. The light we saw in Maalt was red bordering on scarlet. It could only be one thing. 

“The city’s on fire?!” 

Yes, it was the color of a blazing inferno. It didn’t cover all of Maalt, only certain areas, but there were quite a number of them. Many of the buildings in Maalt were made of brick or stone, but there were a fair number of wooden buildings too. If these fires weren’t put out, they could spread throughout town. Magicians who could use water magic were likely running around with mana potions in hand. 

“What in the world is going on?” I asked. 

Lorraine shook her head. “I don’t know, but we have to help extinguish the fires. Rentt, you can’t use much of any water magic, so go gather information around town. It looks like we have to assume something happened to Edel.” 

I could actually use some water magic, but certainly not enough to put out a fire. An amateur like me would probably only make things worse. I couldn’t do much to help. But Lorraine was a perfectly competent magician, and I knew how she could handle situations like these. The way she’d divided up our roles was the correct one. 

Lorraine was right about Edel too. Assuming he wasn’t just asleep, it was still possible he wasn’t in serious danger. He could have just overexerted himself and passed out. However, upon returning to Maalt to check on him, we did find a pretty big disaster. It seemed safe to guess that he’d gotten himself in some sort of trouble. We still didn’t know the circumstances, but we needed to find him as soon as possible. Thankfully we were close enough that I could faintly sense Edel’s presence. It didn’t seem like he was dead, so I at least didn’t need to worry about that. 

“Right, got it. Dad, can you drop us off near Maalt?” I asked. 

“Yes, but considering the situation, they may suspect you of something if I put you down too close to town. How about around there somewhere?” Ingo pointed to a forest near Maalt. 

The perception-blocking spell would be easier to see through the closer we got to the ground. If someone saw us riding this lindblum in the middle of this disaster, it could cause quite a stir. Fortunately, the forest wasn’t that far from Maalt, so we nodded. 

“It’s up to you!” I said. 

Ingo tugged the lindblum’s reins hard. 

“I wish I could help somehow,” Ingo said apologetically after Lorraine and I got off the lindblum. But we didn’t mind much. 

“Dad, you brought us all the way here. That’s plenty. Besides, we don’t really know what’s going on, so it’s hard to say how you could help.” 

Those were my honest feelings. Maybe Ingo had great talent as a monster tamer, but he was in no better shape than the average middle-aged man. He couldn’t fight any better than one either. If he tried to do anything in the blazing city, he could die. He possessed rare abilities that could be vital in other situations, so there was no sense in him risking his life here. But now I regretted not bringing Gharb or Capitan along. 

“I see,” Ingo said. “Well, come visit the village again sometime after things have settled down. I’ll be heading on back now.” 

Lorraine and I nodded. There was nothing more he could do here, so that was probably for the best. If he stuck around and somebody found him, that could get ugly. 

Lorraine cast the perception-blocking spell again. It lasted some time after each cast, as long as nobody broke the spell, but the trip here already took a while as it was. It was best to be cautious. 

“Thank you, Lorraine,” Ingo said, bowing his head. 

“Oh, I don’t mind. Take good care of the village.” 

“Right, and you take good care of my son.” 

“Of course.” 

“I’m not a kid, you know,” I said, but they both looked at me dubiously. I guess I was more childish than I thought. 

“At any rate, let’s hurry to Maalt,” Lorraine suggested. 

“Right. See you later, Dad.” 

“Yeah, don’t go dying on me now,” he said. Then he flew off on the lindblum. 

Once he was gone, Lorraine and I ran toward Maalt. We had no idea what was going on, but we needed to find out. 

When we entered Maalt, it was pure pandemonium. The blazing heat was roasting the town. We were hit by a hot gust of wind as the townspeople ran around everywhere. 

“Hey, what happened?!” I asked one strapping man among the crowd. 

“What?! How should I know?! The town just caught fire out of nowhere! There’s a bunch of adventurers scrambling around, maybe they know something!” he shouted, brushing me off. As far as the civilians knew, this was an abrupt calamity, apparently. 

“Let’s look for adventurers, then,” Lorraine said. “There must be some trying to put out the fires.” She ran off in search of them, so I followed after her. 

“We need water over here! Don’t let this fire spread!” said the leader of a group made up of what seemed to be adventurers. We finally found some when we got to a particularly fiery area. I looked to see where the water magic was coming from and saw some magicians. I was relieved to find anyone who might be able to answer some questions. 

“Hey!” I shouted. 

“What?! I’m busy! Don’t talk to me!” the adventurer snarled back, but both Lorraine and I were used to it. All adventurers were like this when lives were on the line. There was no use being intimidated. 

“We’re adventurers!” I said. “She’s a magician, and she can help put out the fires! Just give us a brief summary!” 

The adventurer looked at us differently now. “The whole city’s short on help at the moment! We’re managing to scrape by here, so if you want to contribute anywhere, try near the main gate! If that collapses, nobody can evacuate! I should also mention that monsters did this. Monsters started the fires!” 

“Monsters?” 

“Yeah, but if you want to know more, go to the guild. They should be doing something to deal with the monsters. Hey! Not over there! Spray the water more to the right!” 

Lorraine and I looked at each other. Any more questions would probably just get in the way. 

“Sorry about that. Thanks!” I said to the man and then ran off in the direction of the guild. Lorraine, of course, went to the main gate. There weren’t that many magicians around there. That was due in part to how the fire wasn’t so bad in that area, but it was starting to grow and become a concern. Lorraine could at least manage to keep the place safe. I instead did what I could to understand the situation. 

“You still haven’t found them?!” I heard someone shout as I entered the guild. I knew by the sound of his voice that it was Guildmaster Wolf Hermann. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen him on the first floor before that. He was surrounded by guild staff and shouting orders at them. Adventurers were rushing in and out of the building. If I didn’t already know there was a crisis, I would now. 

“Wolf!” I said and ran up to him. 

He looked at me with shock. “Rentt! You came at a good time. Come with me for a second!” he said and dragged me along. 

We went to his office. Once he confirmed nobody was outside the door, he slammed it shut, took me to a corner of the room, and whispered into my ear. “Hey, so you’re not connected to what’s happening here, are you?” 

“What do you mean? I only just got back to town and saw this disaster! Tell me what’s going on!” 

My reply seemed to relieve Wolf. “Right, makes sense. Well, the guild doesn’t know exactly what the deal is either, but there are vampires. A group of vampires are rampaging around town. They’re setting fire to the place.” 

I was surprised to hear that. Then I understood Wolf’s question. He asked if I was involved because I was a vampire. I wasn’t involved, of course, but only I would know that. He trusted me anyway, and for that I was thankful. I probably hadn’t fully cast off any doubts, but as long as he was willing to explain what he knew, it didn’t matter. I tried to imply my innocence as I asked a few questions. 

“So you found vampires in town? I don’t know any vampires.” 

“Well, can’t imagine what you’d stand to gain from this anyway. I already knew that. Anyway, the vampires we found setting fires were the lowest level of vampire. Thralls, in other words. There are around ten that we know about so far, but at the rate these fires are starting, there could be hundreds. Where the hell could they all have been hiding?” 

I was a thrall myself until recently, but thralls were generally humans who had their blood sucked by vampires and got a little of the vampire’s blood inside them in the process, causing them to mutate. They looked like decrepit humans. Not quite as rotten as ghouls, but as you could imagine from how I looked before, they were like corpses compared to a normal human. 

“They’re starting the fires?” 

“Yeah, all over the place. But they just looked like humans at first. Seems like they were using magic to disguise their faces. They covered their bodies with long-sleeved clothes, so you wouldn’t be able to tell. Who knows how long they’ve been in town? Just thinking about it is terrifying.” 

“Thralls, unlike lesser vampires, shouldn’t need that much blood.” 

“Guess so. They’re supposed to drink blood too, but they’ll eat a lot of things. Whether dogs, cats, bugs, or corpses, they’ll eat it. As a result, they have the easiest time multiplying in cities. Lesser vampires would need a lot of blood, so if there were a lot of those around, we’d know it right away.” 

Here was an example of how there could be benefits with weaker monsters. Benefits for the thralls, I mean. It was very bad for us. 

“Anyway, the guild’s doing everything in its power to find the thralls and whatever vampire’s probably making them. You should join in.”