It twitched a few times before dying.
With the three of them working together, they took down five of the twelve Water Nymphs in a little under two minutes. That was impressive. Combat against a group normally took longer because it took time to kill each enemy, and it was harder to kill one enemy when multiple enemies were attacking at once. Despite these three not being familiar with each other’s fighting styles, they were able to work together well enough against these Demon Beasts to defeat all their opponents.
Earland, Geirolf, and Mykkel were fighting the remaining seven themselves.
I could see now why they were allowed to take regular trips into the Demon Beast Mountain Range.
Earland was acting as the defender, his Spiritual Aura burning furiously as he defended against three Water Nymphs at once. Sparks flew from his sword as he blocked a series of clawed hands. He raised his blade and swung, countering attack after attack from three different angles at what seemed like the same time. However, despite the three Water Nymphs pressuring him, he didn’t budge a centimeter.
Mykkel and Geirolf were the ones fighting up close. Geirolf’s gauntlets were encased in wind as he slammed them into a Water Nymph, crushing the creature’s chest and sending it flying. His attack was impressive, but it was Mykkel, using his own water element to disrupt a Water Nymph’s ability to breathe on land, who really impressed me. He waved his hands in mesmerizing patterns, which did something to the Water Nymphs, making them gag and rasp, giving Geirolf the chance to kill them with precise strikes.
It looked like Mykkel didn’t have Earland or even Geirolf’s skill with actual combat, but his ability to use his Spiritual Powers exceeded those of his two brothers.
By the time I arrived, all twelve Water Nymphs were taken care of.
“Seems like you didn’t do much,” Geirolf said when I arrived. There was a smirk on his face. “Don’t worry. I took care of them for you.”
I said nothing, but Mykkel once more elbowed his younger brother in the torso. “Do not mind him. He knows that without you launching that Spiritual Water Technique of yours, we wouldn’t have even been able to fight like we did.”
“Tch! Whatever.” Geirolf rubbed his sore left rib and looked away.
“You guys did good.” I acknowledged their words with a slow nod. “You can leave getting the bone marrow and monster cores to me.”
“We will,” Mykkel said with a grin. I guessed he wasn’t a fan of cutting open something that looked human.
The three brothers walked away from the lake shore, and I made my way over to Kari, Fay, and Lin, who stood a little ways from where the brothers’ battle had taken place. None of them looked the worse for wear. Fay seemed a little green in the face, but Kari and Lin looked fine.
“Are you three okay?” I asked.
“I’m doing fine,” Kari said with a smile.
“This princess is also in perfect health.”
“I think… I need to rest a little bit,” Fay admitted, though she sent me a look that was only somewhat reassuring. “I will be fine once I’ve rested.”
“This is your first time killing anything, right?” I said.
“Yes,” Fay admitted. “I guess I’m not quite accustomed to killing.” At this, a frown appeared as she sent her eyes over to Kari. “To be honest, I am surprised you don’t seem to be bothered by it.”
At this, Kari rubbed the back of her neck as her face took on an awkward expression, like someone who’d been caught stealing cookies.
Trying to play off how killing these Water Nymphs didn’t bother her, she said, “I already killed Grant Leucht. I might have done so because I was enraged by what he did to you, but it doesn’t change what I did. I think… maybe because I’ve already killed a person, the idea of killing a Demon Beast that looks somewhat human doesn’t really bother me.”
I sensed that she wasn’t quite being honest, but everyone had the right to keep some secrets. If she wanted to tell us, we would listen. That said, I wasn’t going to pry if she didn’t feel comfortable saying something to us.
“In the Endless Desert, there are many Demon Beasts that won’t hesitate to kill you,” Lin said. “Lamia learn very early that in this world, it is either kill or be killed. Those who are afraid or hesitate to kill are often the first to die.”
“Yes, I realize that,” Fay admitted. “It is just a little shocking to me since I have never killed before.”
“If you wish to take comfort in this princess’s arms, this princess will comfort you.”
“I think she’d rather be comforted by Eryk,” Kari said with a grin.
“Hmph!”
I chortled just a bit as Lin’s cheeks swelled up in an adorable pout and Fay blushed to the roots of her hair.
Leaving the girls to their banter, I began the process of removing the monster cores and bone marrow from the Water Nymphs’ bodies. I grabbed all of the corpses and lined them up in a row. Since I didn’t have a knife, I used the lightning element to create one (Water Nymphs had an innate resistance to the water element), and then slowly cut up the area around their chest. A monster core was like the heart of the creature. While this sometimes meant the core was in someplace unusual, on a human-shaped Demon Beast, it was always located where a heart would be in a human.
The Water Nymph monster cores were small enough to fit in my palm. An almost unnaturally pure blue, these monster cores were highly prized by alchemists as a powerful catalyst for pills that had healing properties. Of course, what I was after was the bone marrow, but I figured there would be no harm in taking the monster cores as well.
As I was cutting open the Water Nymph’s, removing their cores, and pulling out their bones, I felt a pair of eyes on me. Looking up let me know who was watching me. Dyr stood about a meter away, staring down at the corpses, her face containing a sadness that caused her lips to tremble.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Huh? Oh, um, yeah. Everything is fine.” Dyr seemed startled when I addressed her, but she quickly reassured me that nothing was wrong.
“You know you’re a bad liar,” I told her as I finished cutting out the monster core of my sixth Water Nymph. After placing it in a pouch, I glanced back up at the girl. “Does what I’m doing bother you?”
“It isn’t necessarily that what you are doing bothers me,” she said in a quiet voice after several seconds. “I guess… I just feel kind of bad for these Water Nymphs, you know? They weren’t doing anything to hurt us. They were just minding their own business when we attacked and killed them.”
This girl’s thoughts were incredibly idealistic and naive, but I couldn’t fault her for them. Had my circumstances been different, I might have shared her opinion, though thinking about that was a moot point now. With what happened during the Demon Beast Invasion in my previous life, I didn’t think I could ever feel bad about killing a Demon Beast.
“I get where you are coming from, but there is something you have to understand about these creatures.” The eighth chest was cut open and the monster core retrieved. I carefully removed each bone that could prove useful. Some were cracked, but most were intact. I could feel Dyr’s eyes on me as I continued to work, prompting me to continue. “Demon Beasts are not human, Lamia, Werefolk, or Catfolk. They do not have human thoughts, emotions, or feelings. They are monsters, pure and simple. Right now, these Water Nymphs might have been lounging around and relaxing, but had we arrived earlier, we would have seen them casually slaughtering whatever Demon Beasts had inhabited this place before they claimed it.”
I finished cutting open the last Water Nymph. After storing the monster core in my pouch and placing the bones in a bag, I stood up and glanced at the others. Kari, Fay, and Lin had walked closer to me and Dyr as though they also wanted to hear what I was saying. Mykkel appeared to be listening to me as well, but Earland and Geirolf were too far away to hear me with any clarity.
Focusing on Dyr again, I continued. “Water Nymphs are nomadic, so the
y often don’t stay in a single lake for more than a year—two at the most. I believe they get bored after a while and seek other places to live, but in either event, after staying in a lake for so long, they will travel to another lake. If there are already Demon Beasts living there, the Water Nymphs will brutally slaughter all of them and claim the lake for themselves. Of course, this is provided the Demon Beasts are not stronger than they are. Like most Demon Beasts, these ones are exceedingly violent, to the point where they will kill anything that moves, including Water Nymphs that belong to other tribes.”
When I finished speaking, Dyr, Fay, Kari, and Mykkel appeared to contemplate my words. Lin, on the other hand, was nodding along as if she completely agreed with everything I said. I studied the expression on Dyr’s face. She had scrunched up her nose a little and seemed to be struggling, unlike the others who slowly seemed to be accepting the idea.
“So, what you are saying is that it’s okay to kill them because they are evil?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t call them evil so much as vile,” I replied. “All Demon Beasts act on instinct, and their instinct appears to be a strong desire to kill and maim humans and other Demon Beasts. They don’t see anything wrong with killing each other or us, so I don’t think it is wrong for us to kill them in return.”
“I see,” Dyr said softly. “That’s kinda sad.”
“I suppose it is at that,” I agreed.
With the monster cores and bones now in my possession, we no longer had a reason to stay there. At Dyr’s request, I buried the Water Nymphs, and then our group left Water Nymph Lake and set off. Our last destination for this journey was the cave located about one day’s travel from here. It was already midday. I wanted to make as much progress as possible before we had to set up camp again.
Chapter 3
Return Home
We didn’t want to spend much time in the room after washing up, so Kari and I got dressed and walked over to the door, which slid open as we came near, almost as though it had expected us. Both of us were rather astonished. We’d seen this yesterday, but the two of us had been far too exhausted to really pay attention.
“I wonder how this door works,” Kari mumbled as we stepped outside.
“Who knows,” I replied with what I was sure was bafflement. “It looks almost like the door was activated with Spiritual Power, but…”
“There’s no Spiritualist.”
“Right.”
As we exited the door leading into a hallway that was smaller than the large ones we’d been led through on the way to see Hreidmar, a guard standing just outside our door turned toward us. He was stout, had a head full of brown hair, a large nose, and wore the same gleaming armor as the others. I really wanted to know what that armor was made of.
“Excuse me,” Kari said with a polite smile. “Would it be possible for us to take a look around the city?”
“Ye can wander all ye want,” the Dweorg said. “Just know tha’ some areas be off-limits. Don’t be wandering around the forges either. It disrupts the smiths.”
“We understand.” Kari gave the Dweorg a polite bow before grabbing my hand and pulling me forward.
“He seems rather gruff,” I muttered as we wandered down the long hallway.
“The Dweorgs as a race seem to be gruff,” Kari answered me. “All of them have the same mannerisms. I think it’s just how they are as a people.”
I gave her a noncommittal nod as we left the hall, which widened out into another, much larger hall. This one looked a lot more decorative. There were several branching paths for us to take, so we chose one of them at random. While I wasn’t sure why these Dweorgs built such large halls, I couldn’t lie and say they weren’t impressive. I also did not fail to notice how these hallways looked almost identical to some of the ruins Kari and I had explored. They even had murals of what looked like various races being led into battle against what I now recognized as the Sekbeists.
Our wanderings eventually took us to a wide space that looked like…
“Is that a town?” Kari was blinking rapidly as if trying to decide whether or not her eyes were deceiving her.
I wasn’t much better. “Seems like it.”
What stood before us was indeed a town, but it wasn’t just a town—it was a massive, multi-layered city that had been built into the very rock of the mountain itself. Rocks carved in the square shape of houses jutted from the walls. There must have been thousands of them. We were only on the first floor, but it looked like there were six floors after that, which could be reached via a series of ramps that, like the buildings, appeared to have been carved out of the mountain. Everything appeared so intricate and artistic that it left me breathless. I’d never seen anything like it.
These were amazing craftsmen.
“This place is incredible!” Kari exclaimed. When I looked over at her, I saw that her eyes had already begun twinkling like the dazzling stars at night. She was in full-on explorer mode now. “Come on, Eryk! Let’s go!”
I wasn’t given much choice in the matter as Kari dragged me into the city, where we spent several hours looking at everything. We journeyed into the buildings, which seemed to consist mostly of shops and taverns, and traveled around to the other floors.
It seemed only the first two floors were shops and taverns. The floors above that were houses, which Kari and I discovered when we walked into one and got yelled at for invading someone else’s place. We were chased out after that and decided not to enter any more buildings that didn’t have signs on them.
“This place really does resemble those ruins in our world,” I said. “The designs and architecture are more or less the same.”
Kari was nodding to my words, but then she said, “Except this is far larger and more grandiose.”
“That’s probably because the ruins in our world are just temples used to transport people from one of the other eight realms to our realm.”
“Probably.”
One of the things I noticed as we walked and talked was the attention we got. Everyone stared at us when we passed them, their eyes bulging and their heads turning to keep us in their sights. That was only natural. It seemed there were no humans in this world, so these people must have been seeing our kind for the first time, and it wasn’t like we had been any better after meeting our first Dweorg.
While walking around on the third floor, Kari’s and my stomach chose that moment to rumble. We looked at each other. Kari was blushing and wore an embarrassed smile.
“Shall we get something to eat?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m starving. Let’s go down to the first floor and visit one of those taverns.”
As we traveled to the first floor, I did have a minor worry about currency, which I had only thought about now that we were going to eat something. Our world used valis—copper, silver, gold, platinum, and jade coins—but that didn’t mean this world had the same currency. This was another realm entirely. Would our valis even be accepted?
Those thoughts left me when we entered a tavern. The bright glow of lamps hanging from the ceiling and the walls lit up the interior around us, revealing the numerous wooden tables and chairs filled to bursting with Dweorgs as they drank mead and ate a type of meat I’d never seen before. They were making a lot of noise. I could barely hear my own voice and had to shout in her ear just so Kari could hear me.
“Let’s find a table!”
“Okay!”
We wandered further into the tavern, drawing a few stares on our way, but then, just as we were wondering where we could sit, I spotted Erica and Tungsten out of the corner of my eye. They were sitting at a place further removed from the tavern’s main floor, quietly sipping some kind of frothing ale from copper mugs. I tapped on Kari’s shoulder, then gestured toward the two. She nodded and we changed direction.
“It looks like you two had the same idea as us,” I said as we sat down at their table.
Erica smiled while Tungsten took a large swig of his d
rink. I didn’t know what kind of beverage it was, but the scent of alcohol hung strongly around the mug. Frothing liquid threatened to spill over the sides. I assumed this was a kind of Dweorg ale.
“We didn’t want to remain cooped up in our rooms, so we decided to explore a bit after getting some sleep. It’s good to get a feel for our surroundings in case something goes awry,” Erica said.
“Which is likely to happen.” I nodded along with her.
“Certainly, given how much has already gone wrong.”
“What do you two think of this city?” asked Kari.
“It is certainly impressive,” Tungsten grunted. “These Dweorgs are great builders and craftsmen. Nothing we humans have made can possibly compare. Even their weapons far exceed what our current blacksmiths can make.”
“I noticed that as well.” Taking a moment, I hailed down a Dweorg who was serving ale and ordered some for Kari and myself, then refocused on my companions. “I wonder if I can get a weapon made here. I really should get one.”
“You’re still searching for something that suits you,” Kari added. “I remember we tried several, but none of them really felt right…”
“Or they broke,” I added.
“Broke?” Erica made a face at my words.
Giving her a wan smile, I said, “Every weapon I’ve ever used has been unable to withstand my Spiritual Power. It was fine at first when I just started out, but even weapons back when I began training would eventually break. These days, even weapons made by the best blacksmiths in our world break after a couple of uses.” Pausing as our drinks arrived, I took a quick swig of the frothing ale and almost coughed. “Th-this is strong stuff.”
“Right?” Erica grinned at me, and even Tungsten looked like he was amused. “Don’t worry. We both reacted the same way.”
“That so?”
I didn’t feel much better hearing that, but now that I knew how strong this stuff was, I would be more cautious while drinking. I took a smaller sip this time. A warm liquid that was slightly bitter, slightly sweet, and with a strong kick traveled down my throat. I sighed after the first sip, then took another, slightly longer sip. Beside me, Kari, who had been forewarned by my own mistake, didn’t cough as I had after her first sip.
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