After the Battle

The chief came running out of the mansion at about the same time that we finished killing the 10 dark wraiths.

It took him this long because he was in one of the rooms in the far back.

“Mister Locke! What happened here?”

“A dark wraith attack. But don’t worry, we killed them all.”

“…I’m sorry that I wasn’t of any use.”

“No, don’t worry about it.”

We had killed them so quickly that he never had a chance of reaching us in time to help.

If anything, I was impressed by his speed.

Kathe flapped her wings and wagged her tail as she flew towards us.

“I just finished my work as well.”

“Now you will be safe in the mansion even if there is another attack.”

Kathe was gently holding Luchila in her right hand.

“Thank you, Miss Kathe and Miss Luchila.”

The chief said with a bow.

“Oh, it’s nothing! I was just helping.”

Luchila bowed while still being held up in the air.

“Cluck-cluck!”

Gerberga poked his head out of my jacket and clucked at Luchila.

I think he was praising her for doing so well.

Serulis must have then realized that we weren’t fighting anymore.

“We finished over here! What about you?”

She shouted loudly. They were about 300 steps away.

“We killed all the lesser vampires.”

Shia said smugly. Her tail was wagging.

I had kept Magic Detection on even during the fight, and so I was aware of the situation over there as well.

Serulis and Shia had killed all of the lessers before we had finished with the dark wraiths.

While lessers were weak, it was still impressive that they did it so quickly.

“Thank you. Shia and Serulis. We just finished here too.”

“We’ll meet you as soon as we finish dealing with the bodies.”

“No, we can do it together. We’re on our way.”

I answered. But just then, I detected something small that I hadn’t noticed during the battle.

For a second, I thought it was a magic stone from a lesser vampire, but it seemed even smaller than that.

Lessers were weak monsters. But that was really just in comparison to other vampires.

They were actually on the stronger end of the spectrum when looking at all monsters. And so their magic stones held quite a lot of magic.

And that was why I didn’t believe it was from a lesser vampire.

“Kathe, what is that?”

I asked while activating Magic Exploration.

This was necessary to find out what was causing it.

“What do you mean?”

“Is there something here?”

Kathe and Luchila asked. At the same time, they also activated Magic Search and Magic Exploration.

It was quite impressive that Luchila was able to use both at once.

“Just in case, return to the mansion and prepare for an attack.”

“Yes. I understand. Please be careful.”

I told the chief before running on ahead. Nia, Grulf, Kathe, and Luchila followed.

Kathe was still holding Luchila in her right hand.

“Did you find anything?”

“Groof!”

Nia and Grulf asked worriedly as they ran.

“I detected the presence of weak magical energy. I decided to find out what it is.”

“I see. You cannot be too careful.”

“Groof!”

Nia and Grulf were still enthusiastic in spite of being tired.

Then Luchila said,

“I don’t know what it is. Where is it that you are detecting it?”

“Hm? That? Is that what you are talking about?”

It was so faint that even Luchila couldn’t find it.

However, Kathe was the wind dragon ruler, and seemed to notice it.

“Hmm. But, Locke, that is incredibly weak. It’s probably just some fragment from a magic stone.”

“No, it’s different. In fact, it’s because it is so weak that I’m suspicious. Perhaps something is being concealed.”

“Oh?”

Kathe did not seem very convinced. She probably thought that I was being paranoid.

Well, it would be best if that turned out to be the case.

“Well then, I will go ahead and see what it is.”

“Thanks.”

“AHHHH!!”

Kathe suddenly increased her speed. Luchila was so surprised that she screamed.

I continued to run at a speed that Nia could keep up with.

“Kathe. What’s the rush?”

“We killed all the lesser vampires you know?”

Serulis and Shia looked worried as they removed the magic stones from the corpses of the lesser vampires.

“Locke has detected a suspicious source of magic energy.”

“Suspicious? It’s not a magic stone?”

“Locke says that it isn’t.”

“Then he must be right. Serulis, we should be careful.”

“Ye-yes!”

And so Serulis and Shia stopped gathering the stones and prepared to fight.

In the meantime, Kathe and Luchila got closer to the source.