Chapter 82

“Thank goodness the cooling works well here.”

After sleeping for several hours, I slowly raised my body from the bed.

Still, after a deep sleep, much of the fatigue from traveling had eased.

‘Let me sort things out again.’

We had left the Academy on Wednesday morning and arrived in Muktaba on Thursday morning.

Then we secured a lodging, and I had slept soundly until a little past lunchtime.

‘It really was cool and pleasant.’

I looked around my room.

It was an ordinary inn room, but the inside was as cool as if an air conditioner were running.

Well, technically, it wasn’t an air conditioner but a magic tool.

‘Locals might manage without it, but for outsiders’ lodgings, a magic tool like this must be essential.’

Because of Muktaba’s characteristic extreme heat, an ordinary person—or especially an outsider—wouldn’t last long.

If the room hadn’t been this cool, I would’ve lost sleep too.

‘How did Sara even grow up in a place like this.’

For ten months of the year it was overcast, the air quality was bad, and one had to endure the scorching heat of flowing lava—Muktaba.

No matter how generously I thought of it, it wasn’t an environment suited for a child to grow up in.

“Auuugh… uuuuh……”

Stretching with a yawn, I got out of bed and picked up the water bottle sitting on the bedside table.

It was extremely cold water provided by the inn.

‘Come to think of it, Muktaba had that setting where, despite its appearance, it was overflowing with water. A massive river flowed beneath the city and the groundwater kept rising, or something like that. But all their food had to be imported from other regions…’

Thinking various things about Muktaba, I gradually loosened my stiff body.

As I moved, Siri—who had been sleeping on the floor—woke up as well.

“Woof?”

“Sleep well? Here, you drink some too.”

I poured water into an empty cup and placed it in front of Siri, and she immediately rose and drank.

“Drink plenty. You’re going to have a rough time until tonight.”

“It’s disgustingly hot.”

After finishing my preparations and heading out of the lodging.

I walked toward the southeastern part of Muktaba.

Even though it was midday, the city received no sunlight due to the cloudy weather.

Yet despite the lack of sunlight, it was oppressively hot.

It felt like my body was slowly cooking.

‘Well, lava is flowing like a river right beside us. Of course it’s hot.’

I kept wiping the sweat pouring from my forehead like rain.

The heat was far stronger than I had expected.

‘The people here themselves must just be naturally strong.’

From people calmly mining ores near flowing lava, to people scooping lava into buckets, to those processing minerals using fire—

Such people were the ordinary, average residents of Muktaba.

‘No wonder players called this place the city of indomitable toughness.’

Letting out a dry laugh, I wiped my sweat again.

Just walking made me feel drained, yet the black dog beside me brimmed with energy.

“Hey, hey. Don’t run around so much. Watch the lava. No—hey. Don’t even think about jumping in there.”

“Woof?”

“No. If you’re going to jump in, at least do it where no one can see.”

“Grrr.”

“Still no.”

Siri looked at the lava with regretful eyes, but I drew a firm line.

Even if she wasn’t fully grown, a Hellhound was still a Hellhound.

Even if she fell into that lava, Siri would be perfectly fine.

If anything, she would be even more energized.

But there was another problem.

“Woof! Woof!”

While walking with Siri, she suddenly barked fiercely and briefly glanced behind us.

In response, without turning my head, I spoke quietly.

“Yeah. I know. But just keep walking. Pretend you don’t notice.”

“Woof.”

Just as Siri had sensed, I had noticed early on that someone was tailing me.

But for the moment, I pretended to be unaware.

At the same time, I observed the four people who had been following me since earlier, checking them one by one.

‘Four. Three men, one woman. Dressed like ordinary Muktaba residents, but judging by their muscles, they don’t seem ordinary.’

A sudden tail.

I quickly worked my mind, trying to figure out who could have sent them.

‘First, judging by their appearance, they really are from Muktaba. Then among the people here who have enough authority to order them to tail someone…’

I listed the nobles who lived in Muktaba… no, there wasn’t even anything to list.

Only three nobles lived here.

Two of them had virtually no real power, and only one had private soldiers and the authority to move them freely.

‘Why did Sara’s father suddenly take an interest in me?’

After thinking for a moment, I could roughly guess why.

The soldier I met earlier this morning.

He must have reported about the white-haired traveler to his superior.

That report somehow seemed to have reached the ears of Dilug Isrinbloom.

‘I really needed to do something about this white hair. I stood out too much.’

Muttering inwardly, I quickly thought about what to do.

Right now, I was planning to go hunt the monster located in the southeast of Muktaba.

That monster had been a headache for Muktaba for hundreds of years, and defeating it was something that drew considerable attention.

I didn’t want to cause a stir beforehand.

At the same time, I wanted no one around while I hunted the monster.

So I needed to shake off that tail as fast as possible.

‘Let’s think carefully. If I went this way…….’

I began walking along a detour instead of the route I originally intended to take.

I walked down a main street of the city, where lava flowed through the drainage channels instead of water, and the tail behind me continued to follow.

‘That building was where they quenched large quantities of hot metal all at once. At this hour, it should be…….’

I stopped in front of a blacksmith’s workshop as I walked.

When I suddenly stopped, the tails behind me also halted in a hurry, hiding themselves naturally.

A few seconds later.

Tssshhhh―!

An enormous amount of steam burst out from the blacksmith.

My figure was instantly concealed by that tremendous cloud of steam.

“Siri. Come quickly.”

Before the steam dissipated, I pulled Siri with me and swiftly hid inside a nearby alley.

Once the steam finally cleared…….

“What? He disappeared!”

“What? Hurry and find him! Do you see him anywhere nearby?”

The four who had been tailing me looked around in panic.

But thanks to hiding well inside the alley, they couldn’t find me.

“He couldn’t have gone far. That way, let’s check over there!”

The four, flustered, ran off in the wrong direction in search of me.

Once their figures completely vanished from sight, I slowly stepped out of the alley with Siri.

“Woof?”

“Follow me. Let’s get out of here.”

After that, Siri and I quickly left the city and headed southeast of Muktaba.

Once we left the city, I immediately understood just how well-built and safe that city had been.

“Ugh? Ahh… how was I supposed to get through here.”

The rivers of lava grew more numerous, wider, and fiercer.

On top of that, large and small volcanoes in the vicinity occasionally erupted, spewing lava.

Yet even in such an environment, plants and trees grew, and I even saw a few animals.

‘This really was a fantasy world.’

I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at the pitch-black trees scattered around.

How creatures lived in a place filled with volcanoes and lava… maybe that was only possible because this was truly a fantasy world.

‘And I felt like I was slowly becoming a part of that fantasy world too.’

Coughing a little, I continued forward.

Perhaps because this was a place where volcanoes erupted and lava overflowed, the air seemed to contain many toxic gases.

A normal person would have suffered abnormalities in their body from breathing this air.

But I endured thanks to strengthening my body with aura.

And Siri……

“Woof woof woof! Warurururu!”

She was happily swimming in the nearby lava.

From the way she looked, she was a dog splashing around in water—but thinking about how that wasn’t water but lava… once again reminded me Siri truly was a Hellhound.

“Hey, I get that you’re excited, but come out now. We’re almost there.”

“Woof!”

“Oh, and if you’re going to shake off the lava, don’t do it near me. If lava splashes on me, I’m screwed.”

It was a relief Siri understood what I said.

Otherwise, I would’ve ended up taking a shower in the lava she shook off.

‘Still, I was glad Siri was here. To get the Water Rune, I would need to use Peregrie’s power, but I also needed Siri’s strength.’

The monster I needed to defeat to obtain the Water Rune was the Lava Golem.

Lava Golems were one of the monsters commonly seen in Muktaba.

However, hundreds of years ago, one Lava Golem had, for some unknown reason, acquired the Water Rune, and since then it had turned the southeastern region of Muktaba into its territory for centuries.

‘Throughout long years, countless people tried to defeat that Lava Golem but all failed, and even the past heads of the Isrinbloom Ducal Family essentially gave up.’

Strictly speaking, a head of the Isrinbloom Ducal Family could have easily defeated that Lava Golem.

But because of its special nature, they would have needed to risk their health—or even their lives—so all past heads simply left it alone.

Meaning, because of that one monster, they gave up the entire southeastern territory of their domain.

‘But that ends today. Because today I’m going to defeat that Lava Golem.’

Either I defeated it, or I died—but honestly, I felt like I could defeat it.

Of course, I needed a bit of preparation to do that.

Crossing the rivers of lava, I kept walking for that preparation, and eventually reached the destination.

In the middle of the natural environment where volcanoes erupted and lava rivers flowed.

There was a small stone house.

And in front of that house sat an old man on a chair.

It was exactly as I had seen in the game.

“It’s been a while since someone came here. And a young lad like you, at that.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Akuz.”

“Oh, you know me? And how do you know me?”

“I’ve heard many rumors about you, Mr. Akuz.”

“Rumors about me? Ah, you mean the ones related to defeating that strange Lava Golem? Everyone must’ve called me a lunatic, but you think differently?”

“Yes. I thought differently. So I came to ask. The way to defeat that Lava Golem that no one has managed to defeat for hundreds of years.”

“…Ha.”

The old man looked at me with an amused expression.

“I can’t just tell you. Unless you give me a mountain of gold coins, information of this caliber can’t be sold.”

“……”

“Seeing you quiet, you must be the same as the others. Thinking there’s no way you’d pay gold coins just to hear the words of this crazy old man……”

“What are you talking about?”

I smirked and pulled out a handful of gold coins from my pocket.

“I’m perfectly willing to listen to Mr. Akuz’s story.”

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