Fortress of Flames (4)
"This is the key facility for drawing up the lava we use as material."
Before them stretched a pool so vast it would have easily swallowed an ordinary public swimming pool, its surface seething and bubbling with molten lava.
"If you think of it as a river, this place is the spring that feeds it. We've connected pipes here to draw the lava in."
"It doesn't feel as hot as I expected?"
"This lava isn't only for the Dragon's Breath—it's used all over the fortress—so it needs daily maintenance. If the work environment were too hot, no one could get anything done. We've used cooling agents and magic tools to bring it down to something more like a muggy warmth."
Just as Orson said, even with lava boiling right in front of their noses, Rosaria and her party felt only as if they'd stepped into a low-temperature dry sauna at a bathhouse.
"So, old man! What's the problem, exactly?"
"There's nothing wrong with the Dragon's Breath itself. Operation and test runs are both perfect."
"The problem is… the lava used as fuel."
"I heard earlier… that you can't feel the Salamanders' power in the lava?"
"That's right, kid."
"As you know, lava is what supports a large part of this fortress, including the Dragon's Breath."
"Having settled beneath a volcano, we've built countless civilizations on this seething lava."
"From simply forging a single nail to the countless weapons we export to every nation—all of it is made using this lava."
"And the reason that's possible is because the fire spirits dwell within this fortress's lava."
"But recently, the Salamanders' activity has suddenly dropped off dramatically. Naturally, the spirits' power no longer dwells in the lava, and the Dragon's Breath has stopped operating as a result."
"Ordinary iron can still be made with regular lava, but refining rare metals for magic tools and the like has become extremely difficult. We're analyzing why this is happening on our end as well, but… so far we haven't gotten anywhere…"
Explaining the lava problem for the Dragon's Breath and the current situation, Orson let out a deep sigh and rubbed the corners of his eyes as if the whole thing were a headache.
They could scrape by for the moment, but if the Dragon's Breath stopped running for good, the dwarves would be in serious trouble.
"Ahem… Anyway, take a look. I don't really expect it'll help much, but if you solve it, great—if not, well, nothing we can do."
Having guided Rosaria there, Orson shrugged as he spoke.
He didn't seem to hold any great expectations.
In truth, Orson wasn't counting on them for much. He was interested that they had a spirit mage, a mage, and an item made from a branch of the World Tree that grew in the elves' Great Forest—but spirit mages and mages existed here too, and even they had no idea what was going on.
So after giving Rosaria a light pat on the shoulder, Orson said he had some business to take care of and left them alone.
"Well, shall we take a look?"
"Think you can do it?"
"We've got to try, at least."
"Magic and spirits follow different paths, but I can at least check the mana contained in the lava."
In that situation, the first to move was Felix.
"Just a moment… Mm, okay… Hmm… Hmmm…?"
Closing his eyes and concentrating briefly, Felix then focused mana into his eyes and began examining the lava pool.
"See anything?"
"There really is mana in there. I can feel it inside the lava. It's not the kind that naturally drifts through nature—it's artificial mana of some kind… Hmm… Something's… something's off."
"What's off?"
"It's like… traces of mana left behind after something moved away in a hurry. The spirits were definitely here, but right now there's no sign of them at all…"
"So the fire spirits really did leave?"
"…From the circumstances, it seems that way… but I can't tell anything more from this alone."
In Felix's vision, the fire-element mana left in the lava was visible, but the beings that had been emitting that mana seemed to have already vanished—leaving only emptiness.
"So there's no way?"
"…I don't know. Honestly, I'm a complete outsider when it comes to spirits…"
"Isn't there another way? This is finally our chance to process dragon scales ourselves…"
What Felix had seen was information the dwarves here already knew, and there were far too few clues to go any further—so they all slumped their shoulders, the mood sinking.
Then—
—Mom!
"Oh, Ariel."
—Where are we?
Ariel, who usually spent her time in the spirit realm, suddenly appeared at Rosaria's side and asked.
"This is where the dwarves live."
—Huuung… I seeee. I'm hungry!
"That's the first thing you say the moment you show up… I'll get you something later."
—Okay!
Rosaria couldn't help a small laugh at Ariel's free-spirited, food-obsessed nature, and gently stroked her head as she spoke.
Then—
"Wait, Oppa. What if Ariel could try something?"
"Ariel?"
"Yeah! She's a spirit too, so she might be able to do something."
Watching quietly, Felix snapped his fingers as if something had occurred to him.
They were divided into fire and wind, but ultimately they were spirits of the same kind—so there might be a way.
"Hmm… Ariel?"
—Whaat?
"Do you know where the fire spirits around here are?"
—Fire spiiirits?
"Yeah. I need to ask them something. Can you find them?"
—Just a secc…
Thinking Felix's suggestion made sense, Rosaria immediately asked Ariel, who was sitting on her shoulder. Ariel closed her eyes and began concentrating.
—Oveer there. They're over there.
After a brief focus, Ariel stretched out her hand as if she'd found something, and Rosaria's party followed the direction of her fingertip with their eyes.
"Over there? I don't see anything."
"What is there?"
But to Felix and Louis, all they could see was the right-hand wall.
However—
"…That—is that it?"
To Rosaria's eyes, it looked a little different.
What she'd thought was just a rock wall, on closer inspection, seemed to have forms drifting about.
Rosaria began walking slowly in that direction.
As she did, the forms that had been vague from a distance came into sharp focus, and their true nature entered her vision.
—It's a human. A human.
—What's going on here…?
—A human we've never seen.
They were about Ariel's size.
But their colors and forms were distinctly different.
If Ariel's form was like wind wrapped around her entire body, these ones looked as if they were dressed entirely in burning garments.
Not simply burning, either.
Like a skirt made of inverted red roses, with an impressive blazing red light.
Their features were also considerably sharper than Ariel's—looks that truly suited fire.
These were the spirits of flame.
Salamanders.
"Um, excuse me…?"
—She's coming closer!
—Should we burn her?
—Let's do it!
When Rosaria discovered them and strode forward to speak, the Salamanders immediately flared the flames across their bodies even more fiercely.
Rosaria quickly shook her head and said she just wanted to talk for a moment, but their intensity didn't diminish.
Then—
—Don't bully Mom!
Ariel interposed herself between them, raising her hands high and shouting.
—A spirit.
—A wind spirit.
—Why is she here?
—She's with a human.
The Salamanders began murmuring at Ariel's sudden appearance.
—But that human… she smells nice.
—You're right.
—Maybe she's not a bad person?
"Uh, huh?"
The Salamanders completely extinguished their fiery intensity and slowly emerged from the rock wall they'd been clinging to, approaching Rosaria—leaving her flustered.
—This human. Good human!
—Here, it's comfortable.
—I like the warm feeling.
"…Is this… okay?"
—This spot is mine! Heehee!
As the Salamanders settled on Rosaria's shoulders and head, giggling and blooming with laughter, Rosaria felt a little awkward.
Meanwhile Ariel, whose usual perch had been stolen, climbed onto Rosaria's hand as if she refused to give up that spot and beamed.
"Oppa! Are you okay!?"
"Hyung! Are you all right!?"
"Yeah! Somehow… it seems fine!"
When Felix's group, watching from a distance, called out, Rosaria looked their way and gave them an okay sign.
From Felix's perspective, Salamanders that had appeared from empty air had approached with such intensity they looked ready to set everything ablaze—then suddenly started clinging to Rosaria's body.
"What are you seeing? I don't get any of this."
Meanwhile Louis, who had neither mana nor a spirit mage's talent, could only tilt his head, completely lost as to what was going on.
"Now's your chance, Oppa! Ask them quick!"
"Oh, right. Hey, kids?"
—What?
—What's up?
"Don't you guys live in that lava over there?"
—That's right!
—Lava is warm and nice!
—It makes our bodies feel all floaty!
"But lately they say your forms haven't been visible in the lava… what happened?"
—That's…
—Uuu… uu…
—We're scared!
When she asked why they'd vanished from the lava they always lived in, the spirits who'd been smiling so brightly just moments before immediately grew dejected, trailing off.
It wasn't simply low energy—they looked as if they were afraid of something.
"What are you scared of? What happened?"
Rosaria immediately pressed for the reason at the Salamanders' appearance.
—They're taking us away…
—The other kids got caught too…
—It's so scary…!
The Salamanders gradually began to open up.
"Taking you? Someone's taking you?"
As the Salamanders started trembling so hard they seemed afraid even to speak, Rosaria grew serious as well.
Here in Karak-Zar, serious events they knew nothing about were unfolding beneath the surface—or rather, beneath the lava.