Chapter 29: Anomalous Convergence in the Steel Forest

Just when I thought it’s getting boisterous deep in the forest, I met Mai, Mei, and Merdie, who was carrying Leaffa.

Behind them, the forest was enveloped in a raging fire, and they were running from the fast-approaching flames.

They reached the spot where Youko and I were sitting. As Merdie was catching her breath, I asked her about Leaffa’s condition. Apparently, Leaffa refused to escape, so Merdie hit her, so she’ll pass out.

If it’s just fainting, it’ll be easy to revive her. So I prioritized stopping the looming fire.

I released magic and formed a summoning circle. Because of that Evil God’s curse, I can’t consume more than 10 points of mana. However, the most basic summoning of spirits requires at least 30 points. In other words, I can’t summon with the usual methods because my mana is not enough.

Since that’s how it is, I just devised my own method. I cast magic then transform each clump into characters and letters. I do this until I have enough symbols to arrange into a summoning circle.

Each symbol consumes 10 points of mana, and since the magic circle I use is made up of about 1000 characters, a single summoning consumes a considerable amount of magical power.

I was cursed, but my magical power isn't reduced at all.

The magic circle is completed.

If I were to extinguish the blaze, then I’ll summon her.

“Aqua Lance!”

I pictured the image of a woman holding a water-attribute trident and activated my magic.

"Halt, it's been a long time."

"Ah, it's been a while. Have you been well?"

It’s been three years since I last summoned Undine, the water spirit.

"Just so so. Hmm, lately, I've been lonely because you didn’t summon me."

"Sorry, Sorry."

Three years is just a tiny span of time for Undine who lives eternally, but I used to summon her every day to partner with me for training, so I can somewhat understand her feelings.

After that, Undine started to talk to Mai and Me, so I started reviving Leaffa and Merdie. By the way, Undine already manipulated the water with just one hand, and she extinguished the forest fire.

As usual, she’s a spirit that can really work.

“Ugh… w, where is this?”

“Oh, you’re awake. Ah, don’t force yourself, is there anywhere that hurts?”

I cast Recovery Magic to Leaffa, and she gained consciousness.

Since I can only use Level 1 Healing Magic, I have to layer up hundreds of spells to elevate the spell in order to revive her.

“Halt, thank you very much. I am fine now.”

“Hoh, that’s good. How about Merdie, are you okay?”

Merdie, who joined us earlier, apparently forced herself to move so they’ll be able to escape. So she realized the danger was finally over because of Undine’s magic, she collapsed to the ground.

She couldn’t stand because of the fatigue, so I also divided some of the Recovery Magic and applied it to her.

“I’m good, my magic’s full to the brim.”

That’s good to hear Seems like they recovered just fine.

“Sorry for earlier, Leaffa.”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize; I did not keep my cool. Thank you for carrying me all the way here.”

"It's great that both of you were safe. By the way, what kind of monster did you meet that caused the forest to catch fire?”

I finally asked the matter that’s been bothering me. If I’m not mistaken, there should be no demon in this forest that could be the source of that fire.

“It’s probably this, right?”

Undine-sama brought the ball of fire trapped inside a water chamber from who knows where.

“Ah!!! Yes!! That’s it!!!”

The thing Leaffa pointed to was my magical mass of fire.

"This, this guy attacked Leaffa!?"

"... Rather than saying I was attacked, it came towards me so aggressively. I was shocked, so I attacked."

“But the truth is, it just wanted to exterminate the Goblin Archer hiding in the thicket behind Leaffa.”

The [Flame Knight] noticed the Goblin Archer targeting Leaffa, so it tried to attack it. Unfortunately, the knight startled Leaffa and was attacked instead.

Leaffa’s wind magic and the knight’s flame magic’s compatibility is too good.

The dense and compact wind was absorbed by the knight, causing the flames to explode and spread towards the forest.

── so it was an accident.

I felt relieved to know that my magic didn’t deliberately attack Leaffa.

Ah, but I think I still need to apologize to everyone for putting them in danger.

“…This guy’s my spell.”

“EHHH!?” (All)

“I’m deeply sorry for inflicting danger to everyone because of this.”

I bowed my head towards the four of them.

“Do you have any proof that this is truly your magic, Halt-sama?”

Mai asked me. I dunno why Mai suddenly addressed me with honorifics, but that’s not important, so I gave her the evidence.

“Undine, take out that guy.”

“I got it. This fire doesn’t disappear even in my water chamber, so what kind of mechanism does it have?”

Undine asked me while she was releasing the [Flame Knight]. After being released, the knight became full-grown. Well, that’s to be expected since it’s my spell, after all.

“I’ll show you now.”

I drew closer to the knight.

The knight went down on one knee as if to swear loyalty to me.

“So, is this okay? Or would you like me to create another one?”

“No, no need! Thank you very much!”

Mai and Mei didn’t speak that much.

Mai looks like she’s interested in my magic, so I hope we’ll have more opportunities to talk in the future.

“Is everyone safe?”

Tina came running towards us, with Luke, Luna, Ryuushin, and Ryuka on her heels.

Luke’s four-man group seemed really shaken when they saw the knight of flames kneeling in front of me.

“Professor Tina, we were all safe, thanks to Halt.”

Leaffa explained the situation to Tina. She said it’s thanks to me, so I was a bit shy.

“Leaffa, you blew the whistle, right. I am truly sorry I was not able to come to your side immediately.”

“Did something happen?”

I wanted to know the reason why Tina didn’t come to Leaffa’s rescue right away.

“… Yes. First, for some reason, a large number of Maho Gnomes live in this forest, and a herd attacked Luke and Luna.”

“Eh?”

“However, when I came, the Maho Gnomes were already subjugated.”

“Luke did that?”

“Nah. You listen to the rest of Teacher Tina’s story, will ya.”

“As soon as I reached Luke’s place, I suddenly sensed the presence of a considerably strong Warlock near where Ryuushin and Ryuka were.”

“Warlock!?”

“Yes, but the Warlock was also defeated.”

“Y, you’ve beaten the Warlock?”

“No, it wasn’t me.”

Leaffa asked Ryuushin, but apparently, he was not the one to do it.

Somebody managed to vanquish B-ranked Maho Gnomes and a Warlock.

This forest is more dangerous than we thought.

“When I listened to the four of them, I understood that the one who subjugated the Maho Gnomes and the Warlock were the [Flame Knights].”

“EHHHHHH!!?”

“…”

Mai, Mei, Leaffa, and Merdie shouted in surprise.

“Halt-sama, do you have any idea on this?”

Tina's gaze is fixed on the knight of fire in front of me.

Ahhh... So it really is this guy.

“…Yeah. This Flaming Knight is my magic.”

“So it really IS Halt!!”

Luke and Ryuushin screamed simultaneously.

Hmm... I just assumed defeating C-rank monsters would be easy-peasy… but it seems that these guys (Flame Knights) were stronger than I thought.