Published: August 15, 2025
Eckhardt Brother quickly tied the leather pouch he received from the high priest to his waist belt. The sound of mana stones clashing—a slightly high-pitched noise—reached my ears.
“As soon as Ferdinand captures that Idelord, we move immediately,” Eckhardt Brother said in a low voice.
Everyone nodded in agreement. I gripped the handle of the mini bus tightly.
Ahead, the high priest pulled out his stave and pointed it at the Idelord.
The moment the weapon was aimed, the Idelord opened its mouth wide and spewed out flames.
“Yikes!?”
“Gettilt.”
The flames belched from the Idelord’s mouth looked like those of a street performer’s fire breath—neither large nor far-reaching—but were sufficient as a threat.
Instinctively, I raised one arm to shield my face and squeezed my eyes shut.
In the next moment, a sharp metallic sound rang out, followed by a low, monster-like scream: “Gugeh!”
When I lowered my arm and opened my eyes, the Idelord had been blasted back several meters and was hastily recovering its stance.
It seemed it had planned to intimidate with flames and then attack with a body slam, but the high priest was faster, conjuring Shutzelia’s shield. Using the shield like an inverted barrier, the high priest caught the charging Idelord.
It was exactly like when I captured Golze during Shutzelia Night. But unlike me, the high priest was skilled and experienced with mana manipulation, gradually shrinking Shutzelia’s shield.
“Go!”
We hurriedly ran past the high priest maintaining the shield, alongside the struggling Idelord trapped inside, heading toward the spring deeper within.
“High priest, there’s another one coming!”
I spotted another Idelord in the rearview mirror. I shouted backward, and a firm reply came: “No problem.”
We dashed through a narrow passage and emerged into an open space. The scene was completely different from the caves we had traversed before.
The surroundings were bathed in a dim orange light like eye drops, but the spring alone shimmered with a pale blue glow. Wisps of white steam lazily rose from the highly saturated blue water’s surface, hazing the view and making the scene appear even more ethereal.
I could hear faint bubbling sounds—boiling water gushing up from underground. The water’s surface rippled complexly, as if multiple springs were feeding it.
Peering into the gently wavering surface, I could just barely make out the faint outlines of eggs. Nearly ten eggs seemed clustered together.
“Those are the Reesfalke’s eggs,” Eckhardt Brother said, pointing at the spring. I nodded in agreement, seeing the same thing.
“We can’t mix other people’s mana, so Lady Rosemine must retrieve them herself. It’s the same for all materials. Understood?”
“…Yes. But do we have to enter this? It looks really hot.”
Without a thermometer, I couldn’t check the exact temperature, but the surrounding heat alone made it clear this was hotter than any bath I normally take.
“There’s no way we can enter as is.”
Eckhardt Brother gave a wry smile, removed his gauntlets, and firmly put on leather gloves designed to sever mana. Then, from the leather pouch the high priest entrusted him earlier, he pulled out a net shaped like a drawstring bag.
Inside the net were many mana stones. Perhaps they were the mana stones the high priest described that had been drained of mana. It reminded me of oranges packed in nets for sale back in the Reno era.
Hooking the drawstring over his wrist, Eckhardt Brother took a mana stone slightly larger than a fist from the pouch and threw it toward the area where the eggs lay.
Still with the net hooked on his wrist, he entered the spring wearing armor.
“Eckhardt Brother?”
“The mana stones are absorbing the heat, so it should be safe to enter soon. Come, Lady Rosemine.”
Following his instruction, I gently dipped my fingertips into the spring. It felt about as hot as a comfortably warm bath. Mana stones are amazing.
“The temperature will drop only while the mana stones are absorbing mana. Once filled, the spring’s temperature will rise again.”