Chapter 57

Was this the properly completed Spirit of Fire? Turan picked up a small pinch and carefully rubbed it between his fingers, sniffed it, and lightly touched it to his tongue to learn more about the substance.

'Something is... different.'

The first difference he noticed was the texture. Although he had ground all three ingredients into fine powders just moments ago, the grains were now larger and coarser. Stranger still, the stench of urine and rotten eggs had vanished, leaving only a faint burnt smell. Rather than a simple chemical change, it felt as though someone had switched it for a different substance midway through...

After looking down at the powder, Turan placed it in a bowl and ignited it with magic. At the same time, he accelerated his thoughts to observe how it reacted to the flame.

Flames appeared over the black powder, followed by an astonishingly rapid combustion reaction... and an explosion. With a deafening bang, the bowl shattered, sending up a haze of smoke.

"Oh."

All that power from applying a tiny flame to such a small amount. Of course, it fell far short of harming a noble of his caliber, but producing this much force with almost no mana expenditure was a considerable advantage in itself.

The first use that came to mind was what Orville had done: leave it somewhere disguised as an ordinary object, then detonate it when someone approached. Spreading it out appropriately so that one explosion triggered another could produce an enormous blast at little cost in mana.

He could imagine several other uses as well. He might scatter some beside himself and detonate it to propel himself rapidly with the blast, drop large quantities onto the ground while flying and set them off, or carry the powder toward an opponent on the wind before detonating it.

Nor did its uses have to be limited to combat. In mountainous places such as the Gray Zone, where roads wound around the terrain, large quantities could blast apart rock to open new roads, or aid excavation in mines. At the very least, it would clearly be far more efficient than breaking rocks directly with magic to make a road.

Of course, all of that came with one important condition: he needed a steady supply of this black powder, the Spirit of Fire, in large quantities.

'I can get sulfur at the hot springs to the east, and make as much powdered charcoal as I like as long as I have wood... So saltpeter is the problem.'

He had only three lumps of saltpeter in his pouch, each a little larger than his fist. Ground into powder, that would hardly amount to a great deal.

Hadn't the merchant said saltpeter came from the South Sea? As it happened, heading east from Shiraf Marsh would bring him there. It might be worth a visit.

* * *

After turning the remaining half of his sulfur into Spirit of Fire as well, Turan headed east with Vije. Once again, he went on foot, concerned he might accidentally fly past the hot springs.

Of course, the walking pace of a powerful noble was nothing like a commoner's. By late that night, he had covered a distance said to take three or four days or more and reached his destination.

"This must be it."

According to villagers he had asked nearby, the hot springs lay at the foot of a mountain the locals called the back mountain. They repeatedly warned him not to be rude to the Monkey King if he intended to bathe there. Though the king never harmed humans without cause, he would not forgive anyone who behaved rudely or hurt his fellow monkeys.

'The Monkey King?'

That Dark Elf, the Wraith King, had been too powerful for Turan to face alone, even if Maysa had ultimately slain him. Yet a monkey monster out in the countryside was not merely a king, but a great king? Wasn't that an awfully grand title?

Turan took hold of Vije and flew straight up the mountain, circling around in search of sulfur. At the same time, he extended the Holy Relic's senses. It would be safer to find out just how powerful this so-called Monkey King was before approaching. But then—

"Huh?"

At his startled voice, Vije tilted her head as she flew above him, as if asking what was wrong. But Turan could not even spare the attention to reassure her.

'A monster and a human... They're both unbelievably strong!'

The monster, which he judged to be a monkey from its shape, astonishingly possessed more mana than Turan, though less than Maysa. Even if it fell short of a mythical-class monster, it would rank just below one—a creature capable of laying waste to several small cities whenever it appeared. That was probably the Monkey King.

Opposite the monster sat a wizard of roughly Turan's caliber. Judging by the height and outline of the body, it seemed to be a woman. Her head hung limply backward, suggesting she had lost consciousness.

Although the villagers at the foot of the mountain had told him the Monkey King did not harm people, he felt uneasy about simply leaving her there. Perhaps, as with Asiz and tilly before, the monster was merely guarding her, not knowing how to help.

"Vije, I'm sorry, but could you go up and wait for a bit? I think I need to check this out alone."

Vije cried in protest, but apparently sensing the seriousness in his voice, she nodded. Releasing her legs, Turan immediately cast flight magic and stealth, approaching the spot he sensed through the Holy Relic.

'This is...'

They were deep in a valley partway up the mountain, in a place where the smell of sulfur was particularly strong. As he approached, his night-piercing vision revealed the monster and the human.

The Monkey King had a black face and bright red fur, with a body as large as three or four people combined. Its build and appearance differed not only from the monkey monster Turan had seen before, but also from the ordinary monkeys pictured in the monster encyclopedia. It sat immersed in steaming water, its eyes quietly closed.

The woman opposite it likewise had her lower body submerged in the hot spring. She wore nothing above the waist, leaving her brown upper body fully exposed. With both arms resting on the rocks and her head laid back, she looked more like someone reclining at leisure than someone unconscious.

'She was just taking a bath...'

Realizing his mistake, Turan tried to halt his slow, wind-driven advance. Just then, a shrill beep suddenly rang out all around him.

The sound came from a small mirror beside the water. Judging by the mana he sensed in it, it was a magic tool, apparently one that sounded an alarm when someone meeting certain conditions approached.

Startled, Turan retreated, and the sound stopped. The reclining woman stirred awake and looked around.

"Hmm? What's this? Has someone come near?"

As she spoke in puzzlement, the Monkey King leaped from the water and let out a mighty roar. Its booming cry echoed all around them, prompting the woman still in the water to chide it.

"Don't be so ill-tempered, Aicul. These hot springs aren't here for our use alone. You there! Come out, we won't hurt you! This old woman won't get angry over someone seeing a little of her body!"

Neither the glimpse he had caught of her nor her voice seemed particularly old, yet she spoke like a woman of seventy. When Turan still failed to emerge after a short wait, she clicked her tongue and rose from the spring.

"Oof. I suppose that's enough for today. I won't be able to come here often anymore. How am I to bathe in peace with some stranger peeping at me...?"

At her words, the monkey monster snorted and stamped its feet. Was it pleading with her not to do that? Turan knew monkeys were fairly intelligent, but this monster seemed capable of understanding human speech, just like Vije.

Watching from afar through the Holy Relic's senses, Turan hesitated briefly before dropping his stealth some distance away and approaching them.

"My apologies. I meant no harm. I sensed a person in a place inhabited by a monster, so I only came closer to see whether someone might be in danger."

Since the woman was still unclothed, Turan lowered his gaze. Of course, he could still read their mana through the Mimic Holy Relic, allowing him to react immediately if they launched a surprise attack.

Rather than growing angry at the sight of him, the woman burst into hearty laughter.

"Well, what a handsome young man! No need to apologize—I'd say I'm the lucky one. Now, now, Aicul, stop scowling. So you meant to help this old woman?"

"Yes."

"What a kind heart you have. People like you are rare these days."

To his astonishment, the woman strode over without a stitch on and patted his head. When Turan flinched at her defenseless manner, she glanced down at herself and burst out laughing.

"So you're not just young-looking—you really are young! No need to avert your eyes. I'm over three hundred, and I've had twelve husbands. What does it matter if a child younger than my great-grandson sees a little of me?"

At that, Turan raised his head and looked directly at her. Despite her words, neither her face nor her body looked any older than her late twenties or early thirties.

"This old woman's name is Lida. Lida Ravistas. And yours?"

As he had expected, she was a noble of Ravista. Otherwise, why would someone so powerful be here?

"My name is Turan. I come from Kalamap."

"Kalamap? Isn't that way off in the Gray Zone? You've come a long way!"

Though Turan had given his place of origin rather than his house, Lida merely laughed instead of questioning him and reached a hand behind her. The Monkey King tossed her some clothes, looking for all the world like an old friend.

"Elder Lida... have you formed a soul bond with that monster?"

"Hmm? No, nothing like that. We're simply old friends. I've enjoyed bathing here since long ago. This fellow must have lived here for a thousand years. My grandfather's grandfather said he was here even when he was a boy."

They had left a monster of that caliber unhunted for a thousand years? His surprise quickly gave way to the realization that, considering its strength and its unusually mild nature for a monster, it was not such a bad approach.

Absorbing power from magical creatures was hardly an efficient process to begin with. Even if four people absorbed it, they would gain only twenty to thirty percent of the monster's original power. By contrast, maintaining friendly relations like this meant they could expect help from a creature as strong as a powerful noble in an emergency. Of course, since it was merely a friend and not soul-bound, they could hardly ask too much of it.

"So, my kind young Turan, what brings you here? If you've come for a soak, this old woman has had plenty, so I'll leave you to it. Though I wouldn't mind joining you!"

Her cackling laughter made it plain that she was teasing him. Faced with what seemed like a grandmother amusing herself with her innocent grandson, Turan shook his head and explained his business.

"I heard there was sulfur here, so I came to get some."

"Sulfur? Have you a use for such a thing?"

"Yes. I heard it could be used as an antidote..."

"Has someone you know been poisoned, then?"

"No, nothing like that. I just thought I might sell it somewhere far away and do a little trading."

Unable to reveal that he wanted it to make Spirit of Fire, he found his excuses growing rather long. Lida tilted her head as though she did not quite understand, then smiled.

"In that case, I know a place with plenty! People sometimes pick up pieces where it's exposed, but if you're planning to trade, you'll need to dig up more than that. Come along."

Lida beckoned Turan deeper into the valley, then led the way. The Monkey King gave him a suspicious glance before following her.

The place she led him to lay deep within a maze of terrain that would have been difficult to navigate alone. His excellent nose could not tell him which path to take, after all. A little later, Turan let out a quiet sound at the sight of a yellow expanse of ground deep in the valley.

"Ah."

He approached and picked up a yellow stone, discovering that it was a solid lump of sulfur. Remembering the gold coin he had paid for that tiny amount in Slop City, he felt a fresh pang of regret. To think the stuff was simply lying all over the ground here.

'No, that purchase is how I learned this place existed. I can think of it as paying for the information...'

While Turan struggled to justify the expense, Lida, who had been watching quietly behind him, posed a question.

"Didn't you bring a basket or something to carry it in?"

"It seems I'll have to make one now."

He had originally intended to use the High-Capacity Pouch, but felt somewhat uncomfortable revealing a Holy Relic before a powerful Ravista noble. Turan felled the largest nearby tree and hollowed out one entire side, making a basket shaped like a dugout canoe.

"Oh, can you carry that?"

"This much is well within my ability."

Turan used telekinesis to move the lumps of sulfur scattered around them. As hundreds of kilograms of sulfur neatly piled themselves into the basket, Lida clapped her hands.

"You're remarkably skilled at magic for your age."

"You flatter me."

"Flattery? At your age, I couldn't do a thing besides heal people!"

Lida rambled on like a true elder, saying she wished the youngsters of her house were as polite and humble as Turan. He listened quietly before gently slipping in a question.

"Are all Ravista nobles like you, Elder Lida?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, do they look much younger than their actual age? Despite what you've told me, you don't look even a hundred to me..."

Before Turan could finish, Lida burst out laughing and smacked him on the shoulder. The blow sent the sulfur tumbling out of the basket.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry. But you shouldn't say things like that with a face like yours! How many young ladies have you charmed that way?"

"I only said what I saw."

"And now you're trying to charm this old woman, too."

Lida stroked her face, leaving him unsure whether she was joking.

"Once nobles with the Healer and Purifier bloodlines grow powerful enough, they stop aging altogether. By using healing and purification together, we can freeze the body's time."

"Then..."

Turan was about to ask whether that meant they could live forever when he remembered the memorial he had seen that day. Hadn't he just learned that not merely a member of Ravista, but its very House Head, had died? As though she knew what he had meant to ask, Lida grinned and answered.

"The reason we cannot live forever is that when nobles die of old age, it is actually their souls that have grown old, not their bodies."

As she spoke, Lida wore a mischievous smile, like a grandmother sharing a secret with her grandson.