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Volume 1 Chapter 3 Part 8

Aishela breathed a sigh of relief while hugging Siluca.

 

「N-No,you were clearly the one in more danger a moment ago…. 」

 

「Aishela… my face… can’t… breathe… 」

 

Siluca groaned as she tried to free her face, which was currently getting buried in Aishela’s armored chest.

 

「Ekhem! Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the inconvenience of interrupting the fun that you are clearly having, but please take a look over there. 」

 

Irvin spoke in his usual tone, pointing to the burning roof of the house. Flames are erupting from the roof that Aishela broke through. An unusually intense flames were burning all around it. Even if they were serious about putting out the fire, they wouldn’t have made it in time.

 

And also…

 

「There is something in the flames… 」

 

Aishela said while narrowing her eyes.

 

「Probably a Salamander born in the  Spirit World of Ether. 」

 

Siluca muttered to herself.

When she was still a student at the Magic University, one of the things that Siluca learned that in the Spirit World of Ether, which is inhabited exclusively by the incorporeal life forms, there lived a creature named Salamander, which was essentially a lizard made out of fire. She even witnessed one of the professors summoning a Salamander once when she was studying at the Blue Summoning Magic Faculty. It was a really troublesome monster that could create wildfires simply by existing, which caused it to be regarded as one of the natural Chaos disasters. It normally hides its flames, but whenever it feels threatened or needs to create a more comfortable habitat for itself it explodes with them and burns violently, turning everything around it to cinders.

 

That being said, as long as it does not feel directly threatened or somebody tries to extinguish its flames, it will usually not attack and remain relatively docile.

 

「Will a spear work on this thing? 」

 

Aishela asked, holding her weapon at the ready.

 

「No, it will not. 」

 

Siluca shook her head.

 

「Normal weapons will not work on it. 」

 

「Huh? 」

 

「It is made out of ether, so do not ask for the impossible. 」

 

「Tch! That’s exactly why I hate etheric projections! 」

 

Aishela said sullenly.

 

「Can you change the tip of your Lucerne Hammer to something else right now? 」

 

「Yeah, I can do that. 」

 

「Then go and change the tip into an axe and cut down nearby trees so that the fire doesn’t spread. 」

 

「And then what? 」

 

「Then we will have to wait for the salamander to be satisfied with where it is now and wait for the fire it is emitting to weaken. If there is going to be no things that can be burned nearby, it will not move. Finally, when everything will be ready, I will extinguish it with a water-based magic attack. 」

 

「You truly are a genius, Siluca! Such a genius that it makes me want to kiss you! 」

 

When Aishela said so, she kissed Siluca on the forehead. Then she turned to the darkness behind her and summoned the mercenary captain Grak. From the darkness, a giant mercenary appeared soon after, and everyone present saw that he was carrying a large box with him. It was a box belonging to Aishela, the one that contained all of the replacement tips for her favorite long-handled weapons.

「Why the captain though? 」

 

Siluca was more appalled than surprised.

 

「Because we have hit it off and  became friends. 」

 

Aishela said calmly.

 

「He is both durable and strong, so having him around is very convenient for me. 」

 

Aishela  then opened the box and removed the Lucerne Hammer’s head attached to the long handle.

 

「Poleaxe, it is your time to shine. 」

 

Aishela put away the Lucerne Hammer, took out a large poleaxe head, and attached it to the hilt of her weapon.

 

「I’m the lumberjack and I’m okay~~ 」

 

With a beautiful voice, Aishela started singing a song that was pretty famous among the lumberjacks near Elam, cutting down trees around them one after another.

 

「Was… was she always such a… peculiar person? 」

 

Theo asked Siluca while feeling more than a bit overwhelmed by what he just witnessed.

 

「Uhm, yeah, since a long time ago… 」

 

Siluca said with her face down. When it came to Aishela, she was not only mysteriously beautiful, but whenever she was around other people, she was always light-hearted and cheerful towards all. She was very popular with both men and women when she and Siluca were still at the Magic Academy, and everyone who managed to get to know her a bit better absolutely adored her.

 

Aishera quickly brandished her poleaxe and she felled all the trees around her. The felled trees were then carried away by Mercenary Captain Grak, who took them as far from the area as possible so that the Salamander could not use them to make more fire for itself anymore.

 

In the meantime, Siluca confirmed the location of a nearby well.

 

「Water flows from high to low, but it sometimes goes the other way. 」

 

Siluca imagined the scene of raising a wall of water in her mind and then she chanted the spell.

 

「Aishela, raise the Chaos concentration! 」

 

「Leave it to me! 」

 

Even though she failed to enter the Magic University together with Siluca, Aishela did attend the Magic Academy together with her, and ever since those times, she excelled in her ability to perceive and manipulate Chaos. The only thing that she was never good at was the activation of magic, because she was lacking the necessary sensibilities in that field. That was also the reason why many students failed at Magic Academies.

 

Instead of using a magic wand, Aishela waved her right index finger, increasing the Chaos density around her.

 

What Siluca intended for her to do here is to have a wall of wooden logs higher than the roof of the house erected all around them. What she was trying to activate is considered to be elementary magic, but since she needed to do it over a wide area and height, she needed to increase the density of the Chaos in the area to enhance her magical capabilities.

 

The house, which had been set on fire, was now crumbling down, and the fire was growing weaker and weaker. The Salamander was lying comfortably in the flames up until now, but it had just gotten up and started to move again.

 

The color of the red flame is about to change from yellow to white, meaning that it raised its combustion temperature. Siluca sensed that yet another explosion was about to occur, and so she ordered everyone to get away from the house.

 

「Everyone, please step down! 」

 

Siluca warned Theo and the others, then activated the magic she had prepared over time, swinging her magic wand down.

 

At that moment, water burst violently from the well, leading it into an invisible channel, rising around the circular wall and encircling the makeshift nest that the Salamander has prepared for itself.

 

Whether by virtue of its intelligence or by pure instinct, the Salamander saw the wooden wall and reacted violently to it.

 

The color of the flame changes from white to blue. This meant that the explosion was imminent.

 

「Crash down!!! 」

 

Siluca shouted as she swung her wand down once more. The wall of water lost its shape and crumbles inwards. A huge amount of water engulfed the flames created by the Salamander  in an instant. A large amount of steam also rose from the center of the house with a loud hissing sound.

 

And then an explosion occurred.

 

「Siluca! 」

 

Aishera raises a voice that resembles a scream.

 

「Don’t worry, I am fine! 」

Siluca replied.

The heat was so high that the water instantly turned into steam. A large amount of water was also thrown backwards towards them due to the resulting shockwave, but thankfully it was not all that hot, even though the explosion managed to heat it up to a certain extent.

 

Siluca confirmed the location of the Salamander. Violent steam was still rising from the house, and the inside of it was still dyed in the shade of red. That meant that the Salamander has not disappeared just yet.

 

「What a tough bastard. 」

 

Siluca felt very tired.

But if they allowed the Salamander escape here, it  would have fled somewhere else to create more fire and flames. Siluca focused her attention as she spotted a small stream of crumbling wooden walls.

 

She casts spells to manipulate the pressure of the water stream.

 

「Escape! 」

 

The flow of water suddenly changed and erupted into the air with ferocious force. It pierces the salamander that was wrapped in red steam like a cocoon. The moment it was hit by it, Siluca felt as if she heard a roar that sounded like the last dying breath of a wounded beast.