After meeting the salamander, a fire spirit, in the half-dwarf’s workshop, I quickly grasped what had been happening.

About a month ago, the mana in the air began to gradually decrease, and about two weeks ago, it was completely depleted.

Along with that, the wind and light elementals that roamed the air also disappeared.

The salamander explained that when it was on the verge of disappearing, surviving on the faint mana left in the furnace, it leaped out after smelling the mana flowing from my body.

That information alone was enough to infer the situation unfolding in this village.

 

‘Could it be a wide-AoE spell that drains mana…?’

 

Based on what this elemental was saying, that possibility seemed most likely.

Additionally, through the salamander’s explanation, I could understand why the villagers looked so unwell.

 

‘Of course, it’s natural since there’s no natural mana in the air.’

 

One might mistakenly think that commoners and animals don’t have mana flowing through their bodies in a world where only nobles can use magic, but that wasn’t the case in this world.

Basically, mana flows through the bodies of all humans. Of course, the maximum mana capacity of commoners is meager compared to that of most nobles, but the important thing is that it flows nonetheless.

Humans in this world were constitutionally designed to gain vitality by constantly circulating the mana internally generated in their bodies with the natural mana present in nature.

With no mana in the air now, everyone in the village looked exhausted.

Without mana from nature, constantly producing and releasing it would quickly drain the energy of ordinary people. In my case, it didn’t matter since I generated more mana internally than what leaked out. [Read this novel on Galaxy Translations only! / Axiomatic]

Also, dwarves are a race inherently less affected by mana in terms of their condition, so they would be relatively fine. Even as a half-dwarf, half of their nature would still be dwarf-like.

 

‘But… why did Ethan suddenly become depressed as soon as we entered the village?’

 

He’s basically a noble, so his maximum mana capacity is higher than that of ordinary humans. He shouldn’t be the type to wilt in this kind of environment.

I’ll need to look into that separately later.

Anyway, gathering mana from the air was a type of skill that ordinary humans couldn’t use. Usually, it’s magic that only demons closely related to mana or elementals can use.

However, elementals generally aren’t the type to come down to human society and cause harm, and to begin with, an elemental capable of absorbing mana on the scale of an entire village would have to be at least some kind of elemental king.

Since it’s unlikely that such a being would descend upon this small village, it’s rational to assume it’s a demon.

…And a fairly high-ranking demon at that.

 

“……”

 

As soon as the idea of a high-ranking demon being involved occurred to me, I felt my internal crisis detection sensor activate.

Feeling that further involvement here wouldn’t be good, I bid farewell to the salamander.

 

“I’ve heard your story well, Miss Salamander.”

{Do you know what’s going on?}

“Yes. I’ve grasped more or less what the cause might be.”

{Hooray! So you’re going to help?! If you follow the faint flow of mana, the place where mana is gathering is probably on the opposite side of this mountain….}

“Young Master Ethan, I think it would be best to return to the Blackwood Estate as soon as possible. It seems that something ominous is happening around here.”

 

As I said before, I didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters unnecessarily.

Defeat a dangerous demon powerful enough to suck up the mana of an entire village and resolve the unknown fatigue that has befallen the people?

Anyone can see this is a job for a hero. It’s not an issue that a mere maid should eagerly volunteer for.

 

{Why, whyyy?! Weren’t you going to help?!}

“What’s wrong, Lilith? Did the elemental say it’s dangerous?”

“Yes. The salamander said it could be dangerous for it to stay in this area, so it told us to leave the village right away.”

{I didn’t say that! Why are you lying?! Why are you just trying to leave?! Whyyy?!}

“The disappearance of all mana from an entire village is undoubtedly a sign of an anomaly. We can’t rashly intervene at our level. We don’t even know the source of this phenomenon.”

{Mountaiin!! I told you it’s on the opposite side of the mountain~! I said the mana is flowing that way~! I’m asking for help~!}

 

Seriously, it’s so noisy with all that chattering.

No matter how much it clings to me and begs, it’s useless. I wasn’t kind enough to risk my life in battle for a person, no, an elemental I just met for the first time today.

In fact, even saving Lizzy, who was supposed to die in the original story, was a kind of impulsive action, and it was also closely related to preserving my own life.

I intervened because I felt uneasy about the possible death of someone I knew from the game, but if it had been some unknown noble young lady in danger of being attacked, I obviously wouldn’t have gotten involved.

…And now you want me to risk my life for an elemental, not even a person? For an immortal being that will revive after a few decades even if it disappears once?

No matter how I thought about it, there was no justification or reason for me to get involved. On the contrary, there were plenty of excuses to run away.

 

{You’re a bad human! I told you everything, thinking you’d help! Traitor! Liar!}

“If I fed you mana and saved you when you were about to disappear, you should be grateful… Why are you being so clingy and…”

“…Lilith? What are you whispering about with the elemental?”

“…It’s nothing, Young Master Ethan. It seems this fire spirit likes my mana and doesn’t want to part with me.”

{I didn’t say that! It’s true that your mana is delicious, though!}

 

I vaguely answered Ethan’s question about my conversation with the salamander.

Just as I was trying to forcibly detach the salamander, which was stubbornly clinging to my arm, and push it back into the furnace, I heard the half-dwarf craftsman’s voice beside me.

 

“Didn’t you just say you figured out the cause?”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s been two weeks since the furnace stopped working properly. The harvest season is just a month away, and it’s when farming tools are most needed. Although our village is small and I’m the only half-dwarf, it’s like a second home to me.”

“Ah, yes…”

“If you can fix it, I’ll make you a dagger to use first thing. Judging by the calluses on your fingers, it seems you mainly use daggers.”

“……”

“If you’ve figured out the cause, don’t you know how to solve it, too? Or is it something beyond your power to resolve?”

 

…Hah, really.

Why is this old man suddenly starting to recite his sob story?

When he looks at me like that while saying such things, it makes me feel like I’m the bad guy.

Of course, a dagger made by a dwarf craftsman isn’t something easy to come by, and if this were in the game, I wouldn’t have hesitated to accept the quest, but it was quite foolish to thoughtlessly accept a mission that might require risking my life.

[Read this novel on Galaxy Translations only! / Axiomatic]

Especially unlike quests in games that can be accepted and completed later at leisure, quests that have become reality were time-constrained in many ways, so I couldn’t carelessly accept this suspicious offer that might become a binding contract the moment I accepted it…

 

{Me, me too! I’ll help make the sword too!}

“…Pardon?”

{Hu-humans like it when we bless their weapons, right?! I’ll add my blessing to the weapon that dwarf makes! So, please! Please~!}

“……”

 

A fire spirit’s… blessing…?

And on a dagger forged by a dwarf…?

 

‘Crazy…. That’s almost epic-grade equipment…’

 

Even I couldn’t help but hesitate at the offer from the half-dwarf and the salamander, which was hard to refuse.

Struggling to suppress the desire in my heart, I cautiously asked Ethan for his opinion.

 

“What do you think, Young Master Ethan?”

“Huh?”

“Do you intend to help the dwarf craftsman here and contribute to normalizing the village? Or are you concerned about facing unknown dangers and wish to leave this village?”

“…What do you think, Lilith?”

“I will simply follow your decision, Young Master.”

“……”

 

Ethan pondered with his hand on his chin after hearing my response as his exclusive maid.

Not only my gaze but also those of the half-dwarf and the salamander were focused on him at that moment.

Ethan’s response came back carefully. It was a bit defensive, but it was also the answer everyone wanted to hear.

 

“…For now, if it’s just investigation…”

“Pardon?”

“Let’s start by investigating what the cause is, and if it’s something we can resolve, we’ll do it then. If it turns out to be something beyond our ability to solve, we’ll have to retreat at that point.”

“I understand. If that is your opinion, Young Master Ethan, I will follow it.”

{You’re going to help? Really?!}

“So you’ll cooperate?”

“For now, we’ll start with investigating the cause. Whether we can resolve it or not will be decided after we understand the problem.”

“…Alright, I understand.”

{Yesss~!}

 

It did seem a bit dangerous for just Ethan and me to investigate this event alone.

…But the offer of epic-grade equipment was too tempting to simply refuse without a second thought.