“Have you made up your mind to leave that child here?” the blacksmith asked, his voice hard as ever.

“No, but here,” my father replied calmly, ignoring the question. He pulled out a letter from his jacket.

The blacksmith’s face twisted the second he saw the letter—a plain envelope, except for a faint grayish hue mixed into the paper.

“…From Akane, huh? You sure brought me some troublesome stuff,” he muttered, looking distinctly displeased as he reluctantly took the envelope from my father’s hand.

He started reading, and with every line, his face became more and more sour. Clearly, it had more impact than he’d expected.

I hoped this would be enough to get the conversation moving smoothly… but before I could think any further, the blacksmith lifted his head and, with an angry grunt, ripped the letter to shreds.

“What!?” I blurted out, just as the blacksmith began speaking.

“It’s no good. No good at all. Even if it’s from Akane, this time I can’t listen. A human. A human has to stay behind.”

Dad jumped in at that, not wasting a moment. “If that’s the case, Sensei, please explain why. If we understand the reason, Kamiarizuki can help.”

The blacksmith shook his head, his face a mixture of frustration and resignation. “Akane already knows. There’s no way she doesn’t.”

Gone was the smirk from his expression; now he just looked tired and drained.

“No matter how many times you say it, I need a human here. Otherwise, it won’t hold up.”

“What won’t?” Dad pressed.

The blacksmith stayed silent, a bead of sweat tracing down his cheek. Sensing a chance to get some answers, I spoke up.

“Does this have something to do with the ‘Immortal Realm’?”

The instant I said it, the blacksmith’s face went pale. His reaction was a dead giveaway—he definitely knew something about the Immortal Realm. Just as I opened my mouth to ask more, a gurgling sound echoed from the well behind us.

Instinctively, I turned to look. A pale blue hand was reaching out of the well. It touched the ground, brushing aside dead leaves with a dry rustle. My magic-blocking lens caught sight of a thick, dark aura spilling out of the well.

What… is that?

Barely had I registered the sight when a creature crawled out of the well.

“One… one life… two eyes…” it mumbled in a rasping voice.

“—’Wind Slash!'” I shouted, channeling magic into my hand.

The monster’s body emerged, grotesque and malformed. Its face looked like a bloated baby, but its body was shriveled and frail like an old man’s, with unnaturally long, bony arms extending up to three meters.

Worst of all, it had four eyes instead of two.

My spell struck with a slicing sound. The creature’s pale arm was severed, and its head and torso were split in half, my magic powerful enough to cut through the trees behind it, sending one toppling to the ground with a loud crack.

Nina-chan’s hand tightened around my arm, and Aya-chan let out a shocked cry as she took in the scene.

“A monster!? But there’s no one here!”

Thinking the monster was dead, Aya seemed relieved. But I knew better and took a step forward, turning to warn her.

“No, Aya-chan. It’s not dead yet.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the creature’s right arm extended and gripped a nearby tree, using it to launch itself into the air. At the same time, the severed head and left arm fused together into a new, grotesque shape.

It looked like a giant snake with a baby’s head stuck on the end of a skeletal arm, slithering its way toward us.

“Four eyes… then… two lives…” the creature hissed.

Wait… is that how it works?

The monster’s physiology was beyond me, but I focused on one of the heads, channeling magic to refine my aim. Both my gaze and my spell, ‘Guiding Threads,’ narrowed as I concentrated.

“‘Sky Piercer!'” I chanted, firing a high-pressure stream of water through the thread.

With a loud splat, the water punched a hole through the monster’s head. The vacuum left behind crushed the head inward, the flesh caving in with a wet squelch.

Huh… Is my spell stronger than usual?

Then I remembered: we were standing in an area with an unusually high concentration of magical energy. That must be why.

As I took care of the creature crawling on the ground, Dad shot down the one in the air with perfect timing.

It’s easy to forget that Dad can do long-range magic too; he usually fights up close.

I turned to look at the creature’s remains, expecting them to dissipate into black mist… but something was wrong.

Instead of disappearing, bubbles started forming at the severed points, like batter on a hot griddle. If you had a fear of clusters, this would definitely trigger it. Suddenly, the bubbles grew, covering the monster’s body.

I thought it only had two lives…?

At that moment, the blacksmith shouted from the doorway.

“Burn it! It won’t die unless you burn it!”

Hearing his words, I immediately summoned two threads of Guiding Threads to wrap around the monster. Then, I infused the threads with fire magic.

“‘Flame Cocoon!'” I called, conjuring a vortex of spinning flames around the monster.

The flames engulfed it, burning intensely, and in the blink of an eye, it dissolved into black mist.

Finally, I let out a sigh of relief. It was over.

I quickly turned back to the blacksmith, suspicion flaring up in my mind.

“How did you know it needed to be burned? Are you… keeping monsters here?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Like anyone could tame those things,” he spat out bitterly.

“Then what was that?” I asked.

But before I could press further, he slammed the half-open door shut.

“Enough! Enough of this nonsense! I’ve got nothing to say to you people. Get lost! If you’re not leaving the girl, go tell Akane’s sister to send someone else!”

With a final yell, he shut the door with a resounding thud.

“If you can’t do that, then just leave! There’s nothing more to say!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the mountains.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep