Soul of Searing Steel

As dusk settled, evening in the main city of Moldavia became lively and raucous.

Adventurers and hunters, returning from the Dark Forest and the Great Ajax Mountains swarmed the nearby commercial streets and taverns after turning in their reaping for rewards. While the adventurers who had labored for over a dozen days know that they should not be using all their rewards at once, they understood that lavishing for a night was the best method to unwind.

Thus, the glint of gold coins twinkled over the bar counter as hearty laughter and clinging goblets echoed across the street.

A little further ahead of the well-lit commercial street was the square in the middle of the city. Even as dull sunset shone, it was soon replaced by another light.

The front end of the Central Square had initially been a pool used as a fire-prevention reservoir. However, after Joshua took over things as liege it went through multiple renovations and was now a large-scale fountain. Apart from providing clean water that could be consumed directly after being purified by magic circles, the pool could transform into several water elementals when necessary that extinguished any detected fire incident—an object of both fashion and function. Its only flaw was perhaps that it was unusable during winter since the mages who built were not yet capable of transmuting water and ice elements.

There was also an ice-blue crystalline gem placed at the heart of the fountain. Apart from being the core of the magic circle, it was a source of luminescence during night time. Come nightfall, cool pale-blue radiance would refract the fountain, emitting a luscious sight that was a welcome attraction for the citizens.

Now, the sun had set and cold icy-blue light was refracted out towards the fore of the square. Out of the blue, two men who wore mage robes suddenly appeared before the fountain.

“Barnil, what do you think about this city?”

The one who spoke was a rather young ‘adolescent’ wearing black robes, his flaxen hair tied in a jumble behind his head. That unkempt appearance of his was more befitting of a wandering poet than a mage. At the moment, he was smiling subtly as he studied the passing crowd around the fountain and in front of him. “Never thought that there’d be such a bustling town in the North—the number of adventurers here really exceeds my expectations.”

“It’s alright,” the elderly man who stood beside the youth replied. A stark contrast to the younger man, his graying hair was combed tidily and his clothing had not one thread loose. His brow tightened as he poured his attention towards the icy-blue crystal in front of him even as he replied his companion distractedly. “It certainly does not compare against the Triplet Mountain Holy City, the Seven Council Capital or the White Tower—but as the main city of a count’s domain, its basic facilities are excellent.”

As he spoke, a pale-blue sphere of light shone over his hand. With a point of Barnil’s finger, the sphere seeped into the gem core and he breathed a sigh, his solemn expression promptly relaxing. “What sort of minor character made that circle? Just look at the runes—the third sequence through to the seventh are all filled with omissions or errors, it hurts to look at it!”

At present, the gem core was abruptly emitting a dazzling light. Rainbow colors flashed all around it as if it was an actual rainbow that appeared after rain. Barnil grinned as he watched the scene while muttering to himself pridefully.

“I’ve given him slight adjustments while adding the function to transmute all elements including water, earth, fire, wind, light, and shadow. When the time comes, the summons wouldn’t be just ordinary Iron-class water elementals—there would even be complex Silver-advanced elementals!”

Nonetheless, Barnil sighed emotionally after his own grandstanding as if still dissatisfied.

“Still, the ingredients are too poor. Otherwise, it would not be a stretch to summon an elder water elemental with this pool for me!”

“The great Legendary ‘Rune Master’, very much an old codger with obsessive-compulsive disorder.” The youth who resembled a wandering poet shook his head.

In the past few decades, the youth had seen countless similar cases—his old friend had always behaved that way. Whenever they paired up for an adventure in the continent, Barnil frequently could not stop himself from shifting the local protection circle, causing them to appear on wanted lists in many different places.

Even now, smaller nations in the West Mountains were still posting a reward for the pair, their crimes being ‘destruction of public sanitary places’ that would leave those who read the notice between laughter and tears. After all, nobody told Barnil to eject sewage contents from the aqueducts up to the streets—even the palace—when the water recycling system he adjusted reactivated. How majestic that spectacle had been…

That was why the youth complained somewhat helplessly even now. “This place is ultimately the domain of that ‘Savior’. Changing a magical formation in the city so casually would make people think that we are some blackmailers trying to make a backdoor—surely you don’t want us to get into another meaningless wanted list again?”

“It’s fine, William. I’m just buffing its original function—he could revert it at worst,” Barnil replied contentedly, turning his head away from the gem that had recovered its ice-blue color albeit now having a rainbow radiance at its bottom.

Barnil and his best friend walked towards a nearby alley where an unusual tavern stood.

It was now evening and the tavern doors were wide open. Warm yellow light shone out of the windows, but as many adventurers walked past they never glanced inside or showed the intention of entering—as if it did not exist.

Nobody noticed the two spellcasters standing nearby the crowded fountain intending to discuss and actually cast some spells. Even the artificial intelligence that monitors the city was fooled—everyone walked past them as if it was perfectly natural without turning an inch towards them.

“He’s back.” Suddenly, the poet called William stopped in his tracks. The utterly disheveled spellcaster who was actually a serious man blinked, before smiling lightly. “It seems that our mission has already been accomplished. We could leave.”

“Leaving so early?” Barnil asked hesitantly as he stroked his own beard. “We’ve yet to greet that Tower Intelligence that’s so intent on monitoring us, and it’s quite a rare occasion for us to come out here too—I, for one, don’t want to return to the Eastern Plains so early.”

“Then you wish to meet him?” William asked in return.

“Of course not,” the older man quickly replied, his eyes narrowing. “It’s not time yet.”

Then, the corners of Barnil’s mouth rose slightly, and his tone became a little sly. “If we meet now, there wouldn’t be any reason to stay in the Northern Empire. I still want to walk around…”

Pausing for a moment, the aged spellcaster looked towards the Great Ajax Volcano.

“… To this land where Ancient Dragons appear,” he added leisurely.